Jewry 34. Mini Reich of Judah under Josiah - 4 books of Moses as propaganda for a reunification

from: Israel Finkelstein / Neil A. Silberman: The Bible unearthed. Archeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts; The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2001; German edition has got the title "No trombones before Jericho" (orig. German: "Keine Posaunen vor Jericho"): edition C.H.Beck oHG, Munich 2002;

From the German version "Keine Posaunen vor Jericho" of DTV, Munich 2004, second edition of 2005. All page indications refer to the German version. I hope the page numbers are not very different.

Josiah - the allegedly most fair-minded king of Judah

OT claims:

-- Josiah is said having ruled for 31 years as the most fair-minded king of Judah

-- Josiah is said having been the climax in the manner of a metaphysic moment as were the faked figures of Abraham, Mose or David (p.295)

-- during his government he is a great hope for a national "salvation" (p.296)

-- Josiah is said having been a turn around from a "bad" king to a "good" king

-- Josiah is said having been a loyal successor of faked king David (2d book of Kings 22,2)

-- tanks to his justice Josiah is said having done decisive good deeds (p.298).

Josiah according to the documents and archeology

639 B.C.
Mini kingdom of Judah: enthronement of Josiah with 8 years

Josiah is an 8 years old child king (p.302). In the Judean leading clique there is a dream of holiness and unity of the land of Israel (p.109).

Structures of the mini kingdom of Judah under child king Josiah

Mini kingdom of Judah consists only of a tiny core with the alleged tribes of Judah, Simeon, and a little part of the territory of the alleged tribe of Benjamin (p.109).

According to Finkelstein / Silberman this mini kingdom of Judah under child king Josiah has got a population of about 75,000 inhabitants [this corresponds to canton of Schaffhausen in 2001 or of the town of Bayreuth in 2004]. About 20% of the population are living in Jerusalem. In the Judean highlands the population is living in very dense conditions (p.310).

In the East and in the South there exist complete nets of villages. In the region of Shfela this density is much less (p.310).

About the 8 years old boy Josiah and his early life there is hardly any news. As an adult king he is said having been followed the laws of Moses and having missioned (p.296).

[Addition: It can be admitted that the child king hardly wrote anything by himself, but from the beginning to the end was in the hands of his "advisors". The same procedures can be stated with child kings in the European, Arab, or also in the Chinese culture].

King Josiah with seals without pictures - and the writing gets authority

Josiah's governance is confirmed by seals. These new seals under Josiah mostly have pictures and names, but sometimes only have got a flower decoration with a name without any picture (p.309).

The seals in the neighbor states of Ammon and in Moab have the same development and resign to pictures. According to Finkelstein / Silberman that is an evidence that the capacity for reading and writing has been spread in the whole state.Writing gets authority, and seals can be made without pictures now (p.309).

Historians mean that the seals without pictures would be a breakthrough of the picture-less religion of God (p.309).

Assyria is retreating on - and there are expansion plans of mini Reich of Judah

Assyria is retreating it's frontiers in the ex kingdom of Israel [Assyrian province of Samaria] giving up Bethel (p.108). The responsibles in Judah mean that now would be the moment for a "unification of all Israelites" (p.110).

Mini Reich of Judah is beginning with planning for a new expansion for a reconquest of ex kingdom of Israel. The troops of the mini Reich of Judah mean that they could use the opportunity of a vacuum of power for the reconquest of ex kingdom of Israel (p.108).

Publications with a new "Holy Scripture" in mini Reich of Judah in Jerusalem

In fact the "one god movement" under child king of Josiah is taking over the power in the state now. The writers of the OT are distributing their books with their view of history, and with all the invented stories provoking new hopes (p.295). They achieve provoking a messianic atmosphere (p.305).

The new "holy books" with their statal epos of Mose and with the laws are literally a completely new dimension of manipulation for the region of Judah. It's the first time that a historical statal identity is claimed (p.310). Monopoly having survived as a mini state of Judah until this time is used fully for an own historiography (p.244).

The responsibles around child king Josiah especially want to eliminate the religious center in the ex northern Reich of Israel, Bethel, so Jerusalem would have the monopoly of cults, and that's why the texts of the OT are written always against the "North Reich" [with all possible calumniations] (p.185).

According to Finkelstein / Silberman the books of Moses are the "creative expression of a mighty religions reform movement flouring during the Late Iron Age in kingdom of Judah. Well, there might be a certain historical core that is true in these stories, but they are mainly an ideology and world view of the writers." (p.34-35).

[In fact the "one god movement" is a religious racist terrorist movement with the aim of the elimination of all other cults with whose the population has lived well until that moment].

The new religious "one god identity" in the mini kingdom of Judah

Kingdom of Judah is - whereas there is only a tiny kingdom - with or without consciousness the patron of the mental intellectual [religious racist] "1 god movement" (p.297).

The invented books of Moses are the mean supporting religious reforms and claims for territories of the kingdom of Judah (p.35) creating a new pan Israeli identity (p.107). Add to this the books of Moses are corrected many times in the following centuries, or redacted or censored. The books themselves have an effect in the current policy and in the political development of the Middle East (p.35).

[Worst is the claim for a big Empire between Nile river and Euphrates river for a big Jewish Empire, claimed in first book of Moses 15,18, not corrected until today].

The books of Moses 1 to 4 are said giving a "past" to Judah

-- the myth of Israel in the books of Moses 1 to 4 is said supporting the identity (p.306)

-- the past of shepherds of the "patriarchs" of Israel is a dreamy romantic vision (p.58)

-- the tradition of the patriarchs is presented as a kind of pious prehistory as if there had been a "one god dominance" already in Moses' times (p.59)

-- the sequence of the episodes of the patriarchs is arbitrary (p.58)

-- the power of the legend invents a rise from the folks of shepherds to the temple of Jerusalem (p.60)

-- the books of Moses claim that the populations of the kingdoms of Judah (in the South) and Israel (in the North) would be one single family (p.60)

-- the books of Moses are a propagandistic trial giving the population of Judah and Israel an older past as it is in fact, because thenational consciousness had been created only a short time before (p.59).

The episodes of the patriarchs express dreams of Judah in the 7th century B.C. with a postulation of superiority against the neighbors. The promise claims that Judah would never collapse. At the same time the Israelites of the collapsed northern Reich is rated as an outsider in respect of Judah. The northern and southern tradition are absorbed in the same way underlining an invented superiority of Judah (p.58).

By a special story there are the claims of Judah expressed for Assyrian occupied land of Israel: In Genesis 14 the faked Abraham is expelling the Mesopotamian kings to Dan and Damascus, with the liberation of his nephew Lot from a stay as hostage of the Mesopotamian kings included (Genesis 14,14-15) (p.59).

Judah considers the northern Reich of Israel quasi as a heritage (p.59).

And also the racist instruction of the prevention of marriages with the newly settled deported peoples from Mesopotamia in ex kingdom of Israel is not missing in the books of Moses (p.59).

The new classification of the Jews and the Canaanites

This new "holy book" claims the first time in the world that Jews are not Canaanites:
-- Canaanites and Israeli are classified as different, and the Canaanites are systematically degraded
-- mixed marriages are prohibited (p.304).

As the population can the first time read and write, the "holy books" have a great effect. But one has to consider that these "holy books" are the preparation for a new great war (p.304), and under a child king...

The new justification for the collapse of the northern Reich of Israel: "sinful" kings

OT is using certain stories, texts, and archives. The aim is among others to find a new theological justification for the collapse of the northern kingdom of Israel in 720 B.C. By this all kings of the North Reich of Israel are presented in a negative way, mostly with the reproach of deeds "which displeased to the Lord", "sins" etc. (p.243).

The long time of life of the northern kingdom of Israel is justified by the fact that the "sinful" kings also had their merits (p.244). The climax of the stories about the North Reich in the chronicle of the books of Kings is not king Ahab, not king Jeroboam II or the collapse, but is the necrology with the list of all the alleged "sins" of northern Reich of Israel (p.244-245).

The prophets of the northern Reich of Israel are not cited in the OT, respectively according to OT they are said having been "false prophets" (p.244).

According to the invented OT the collapse of the northern kingdom of Israel is said having been a warning that Judah not will loose it's heritage, too. By this argumentation of the "collapse" the clique of power around the child king Josiah, later Josiah himself and also his successors, always install a harder legislation in religious questions (p.245-246).

Above all OT is inventing that there was always a "1 god belief" (p.270).

[resp. in the OT counts: Only the "1 god belief" is a "good" belief].

The invention of a new past with the holy tribe of Judah

The "1 god movement" tries to prevail with geographic manipulations now:

-- kingdom of Judah is presented as if there had been always a special position for Judah

-- the patriarchs are said having been buried in the cave of Machapelah

-- the tribe of Judah is said having received the order governing the other tribes (Genesis 49,8)

-- Judeans are said having kept a special loyalty to the commandments of God

-- and faked king David is said having been born in the village of Bethlehem and is said having occupied the town of Jerusalem which is said having been the holy hot spot for the population of Israel in these times already (p.249).

The "Holy Scriptures" as a propaganda for the reunification with the northern ex kingdom of Israel

Well, these books of Moses should manipulate the Jews in Israel for a reunification movement. Kingdom of Judah has to tell the lie to the population of the ex kingdom of Israel in the North

-- that in former times there had been a common occupation of all the land

-- and that these inhabitants would belong to the kingdom of Judah now (p.111).

The theology of the 7th century B.C. develops a connection between the heirs of an alleged "David" and the fate of the whole population of Israel (p.161). The invented stories about a David and a Solomon with their foundations of kingdoms and conquests serve as a vision for another Empire unifying all Israelites to one single goal of an expansion (p.161), quasi as a prophecy (p.162).

To reach these goals there are new laws published claiming that there will be a revenge of God when they are not obeyed (Deuteronomy and Deuteronomistic History) (p.268, 269).

[It seems strange that the writers of the OT are not conscious of the fact of the overextention of the borderlines as it seems].

Josiah as a new "David" - the installation of a desire of the dimensions of Abraham

Josiah is said to be a new "David" for a re-installation of the glory of the alleged ancestors, but with harsh loyalty to God without "idolatry" and without "sin" as committed under the alleged Solomon (p.162).

The clique of power under the child king Josiah is proclaiming Josiah as a successor of an invented kingdom of the kings David and Solomon which is much too big. The clique of power is painting a picture of the past of Israel with a Reich of David in Abraham's dimensions provoking a political desire with the OT that Israel should be big again, according to 1st book of Kings 5,5 at least a uniform Reich from Dan down to Beersheba (p.162).

Well, the past was another one with a developed state in the North (Omrids) and with a shepherd region in the South. But truth is not important in the OT (S.167-168).

Judah and Jerusalem want to push through the claim to leadership with this "Holy Scripture"

Judah as the "survivor" of the two kingdoms Israel and Judah has got the important conserved temple of God of Israel.

The leading clique wants to present this and the surviving of the Assyrian attacks with this statal epos spreading a new statal idea and enforcing the unity in Judah as also of the scattered Israeli communities in Assyria (p.57). Judah considers itself as a natural heir of all Israeli territories. And with this idea these stories of the patriarchs (books of Moses) are created (p.57).

The invented common past with 4 books of Moses - religious cleansing under child king Josiah

The oldest books of the Bible, the first 4 books of Moses [later called "Pentateuch" with the 5th book of Moses] were written all in the 7th century B.C. in Jerusalem (p.16).

And now comes the religious cleansing. AT claims:

The clique of power around child king of Josiah wants to put through the monopoly of cult in Jerusalem claiming for example that the Israeli inhabitants in Assyrian occupied "northern Reich" had to come to perform their cult in Jerusalem. By this the clique of power is disqualifying the cult in the northern territory resp. the cult in the "northern Reich" is qualified as "bad" (p.186).

According to the moral in the OT child king Josiah has to neutralize the sins of Salomon and Jeroboam, so "Judah" will flourish: There is a religious cleansing needed, above all the destruction of the center of cults in the North, Bethel (p.186).

The Jewish temple of Jerusalem is said to be unique because
-- there are no international relations maintained
-- there are no other gods or religious symbols adhered
as it is the case in other temples of other religions (p.13).

The flood of other influences from outside shall be eliminated declaring all traces of other beliefs as atrocities by king Josiah (descendant of David in it's 16th generation). OT indicates that the foreign beliefs are even the cause for the collapse of the Reich of Israel (p.13).

[Now all other religions are declared as scapegoats in a religious racist way. Christianity will repeat this criminal tactics later].

The relegious cleansing: Private households are going on adhering Astarte

In the ruins of bigger Judean locations in the private houses archeology finds many figurines of women which can be allocated to the end of the 7th century, with women holding their breasts in their hands. According to Finkelstein / Silberman these figurines are generally identified as goddess Astarte. It seems that the reforms of the government of Josiah did not have an effect in all private houses (p.309).

[For example it's possible that these figurines were banned from public buildings and sold to private people where the figurines were not prohibited].

Jerusalem's plans for another expansion - and there is needed a fictive conquest under "Joshua" which had been once already...

Stating that there is another expansion needed, any government presents the vision that there had been one already, and also the government of child king Josiah is doing this with the forged Moses book:

There are parallels to the book of Joshua
The mini kingdom of Judah under Josiah is planning a pan Israelite kingdom with the temple in Judah as a center (p.13). The fictive expansion by a conquest of the hilly countries in the north in book of Joshua corresponds to the re-expansion of the kingdom of Judah to the traditional "bread basket" of the country, an indispensable fertile region (p.109).

There are parallels to the book of Judges: The syndrome of "David" of the child king of Josiah
The description of a boy of "David" winning against a "Goliath" in the book of Judges corresponds with the fantasy that the new child king, the boy Josiah, is considered as a second "David" (p.139).

There are parallels to the book of Judges: Mortal racism against members of other religions
Tn the books of Judges the population with other religions in the country is considered as a danger as it is also considered a danger by the clique of power under child king Josiah (p.138).

And there is the justification of the Assyrian occupation of the ex kingdom of Israel in the book of Joshua

The book of Joshua has to find a plausible religious justification for the Assyrian occupation of northern ex kingdom of Israel. So, the writers of the book of Joshua state that the whole occupation had happened
-- because the Jews had not behaved enough holy
-- because they had not destroyed all idolatry
-- because they had adhered to other gods
-- because they had not considered the purity requirements etc. (p.110).

King Josiah's real claims of power and the parallelizations in the book of Joshua with the fictive conquest

-- Jericho and Ai in the region of Bethel are the first imperialist goals of Joshua - and accidentally these are important posts left by the Assyrian army leaving the Assyrian province of Samaria [ex kingdom of Israel]

-- Jericho is the southeastern outpost of the northern Reich of Israel and also the southeastern outpost of the Assyrian province of Samaria

-- until the Assyrian occupation Bethel is the cultural center of the northern Reich of Israel and is hated by the "1 god movement", and Bethel is a focus of the Assyrian settlement of non Israelite population then (p.108).

The real request not to be destroyed: the integration of the Assyrian deportees

In the book of Joshua the Gibeonites are requesting not to be eliminated. This could be a paralleled action to the requests of the successors of the Assyrian population which was settled in the ex kingdom of Israel: This Assyrian population will request at the clique of power of mini kingdom of Judah not to be eliminated but to be integrated (p.108).

For example there is the question of the integration of the population of Avvim (Joshua 18,23). Certain bible researcher mean that in Avvim were settled Assyrian deportees from Awa (2d book of Kings 17,24) (p.108).

The fictive victory against a northern coalition in the book of Joshua is the best "vision"

The depiction of the conquest is the vision for the plans of the clique of power of child king Josiah, and every Jew who is reading the book of Joshua and agrees with it, is expressing with this the desire and conviction of the Jewish leadership of that time (p.110). The conquest under the faked Joshua is a vision for a future conquest of the whole ex kingdom of Israel under the clique of power of the child king Josiah (p.109).

The similarity of the names of king Josiah and the faked war leader Joshua also seems to be wanted. King Josiah shall present himself as the "savior of the whole people of Israel" (p.110).

[Addition: the 4 books of Moses are a war book - and there are other war books

So, the book of Joshua is a precise manipulation of the subconsciousness of the Jewish population for an imperial war. The 4 books of Moses are like an antique and racist war book with racism against other religions and with imperialist goals claiming an empire from the Nile river to the Euphrates river. Other dictatorships also have written their war books ending in self destruction...]

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