Approaches to the “Chosen Place”: Accessing a Biblical Concept.By Rannfrid I. Thelle.

Abstract

T he theory of a Deuteronomistic History has come under sustained criticism in recent years, and Thelle’s book is a further attempt to consign Noth’s theory to history. Rather than proposing an alternative diachronic theory, Thelle seeks to read the history’s constituent books on their own terms with a synchronic reading stategy. This attempt to look with ‘fresh eyes’ requires disentangling the concept of the chosen place from three other issues: dating biblical books, Josiah’s reform, and the idea of a deuteronomistic school and editing. Thelle’s key observation is that Deuteronomy’s idea of the chosen place should not be harmonized with Kings’ idea of the chosen city. In Deuteronomy the chosen place is the centralized location where cultic activity takes place, whilst in Kings the chosen city is associated with privileged divine protection and the unique position of David. These key observations lead Thelle to develop two lines of argument. First, she argues that Deuteronomy’s legislation on cultic matters, such as sacrifice, Sabbath, and the festivals, brings it closer to the rest of the Tetrateuch than is usually recognized. Since Deuteronomy says very little about crucial cultic issues, such as a sanctuary and an altar, these can justly be assumed from the previous books, which say far more about these matters. Secondly, Thelle argues that Deuteronomy’s relationship to the Former Prophets is rather more tangential than a theory of a Deuteronomistic History would suggest. An analysis of 2 Kings 22–3 does not support the view that Josiah undertook a reform inspired by Deuteronomy, and an examination of the presentation of kingship in the Former Prophets highlights a number of differences from Deuteronomy’s law of the king.