I went to synagogue this morning. That was quite the experience but I'll leave that for another place and time. :-)
I was reading Wanderings: Chaim Potok's History of the Jews this afternoon. It just so happened that I picked up right with the historical setting of the writing of Deuteronomy. I thought I might share some of what he says here.
The Assyrian empire was dominating most of the civilized world at that time. The lands they hadn't taken over, they had forced to become "vassals" meaning the leaders had to sign a treaty declaring their allegiance and a huge portion of their income to Assyria. Obviously, a lot of nations were resentful of the Assyrians, so rebellion was always lurking right beneath the surface.
King Hezekiah, at the prompting of Isaiah, refused to take either option. Judah neither accepted Assyria's demand that they sign a vassal treaty nor allied with the rebels. King Hezekiah, instead, rebuilt the temple and declared allegiance to God. Through a miraculous series of events, Jerusalem was seized and then abandoned by the Assyrians, and Hezekiah was able to rule in peace.
His son, Manasseh, as you probably know, was a terrible king. The Assyrians never forced their religion or culture on the nations they conquered, but Manasseh willfully embraced them. He "paganized Judah with a conviction fed by tenacity and will." Pagan worship abounded. Manasseh also ignored Isaiah's warnings and signed a treaty to be a vassal to Assyria.
Eventually, Manasseh died and Josiah became king. He turned back to God. When he asked that the scribes bring the scroll to him and read, it was Deuteronomy that they read. They "found" it (or brought what was written during Hezekiah's reign out of hiding where it had been while Manasseh was king). Rather than merely directing that people turn their hearts to God rather than the gods of the Assyrians, Josiah (through the reading of Deuteronomy) centralized the worship of the people. He ordered the destruction of all places of worship outside of Jerusalem.
In rejecting the religion and culture of the Assyrians, the people were publicly declaring their allegiance to YHWH rather than the Assyrians. This was an act of war.
According to Chaim Potok, "this treaty [Deuteronomy] forever changed the relationship of the people to YHWH." I especially like this statement:
"Cultic allegiance began to shift from the local sacrificial altars, which were everywhere in the land, to the temple in Jerusalem. Since more of the tribe of Judah lived outside Jerusalem, this reform made possible the ultimate allegiance to a mode of worship whose focus was a book, the covenant, and a liturgy devoid of the act of sacrifice."
This morning, as I sat through an impossibly long recitation in Hebrew of blessings and curses, I wondered where this all came from. I like Chaim Potok's answer. This is a people signing a treaty with their god that declares their allegiance to none other than YHWH. It is a declaration of who they are ("my father was a wandering Aramean") and the consequences greater than any enemies can exact, both negative and positive, of staying true to that declaration.
What became of Josiah's act of war against the Assyrians? This scroll was "discovered" in 622 B.C. By 605 B.C., through internal strife and external attacks, the Assyrian empire had been utterly destroyed. A few hundred years later, when Alexander the Great came through the land, his army marched just a few miles south of what had been their wealthiest city without even knowing it had been there.
Them there words is powerful stuff, I'd say.
