Josiah’s Lost ‘Book of the Law’: Deuteronomy?

2 Kings 22-23 narrates a memorable event in Israel’s history.  Indeed, King Josiah’s fortuitous discovery of the long-lost “book of the law” is one of the few bright moments in the otherwise tragic era of the late Davidic dynasty in Israel.  As early as Jerome (342-420 AD), the suggestion has repeatedly been made that this lost book recovered in Josiah’s reign is in fact Deuteronomy.  In their Introduction to the Old Testament, Longman and Dillard provide a cumulative argument supporting this identification of Josiah’s “book of the law” with Deuteronomy:

“There was good reason to suggest that Josiah’s law book was either Deuteronomy itself or some earlier alternate edition of material that eventually became the book.  The book of Kings was widely recognized to have been influenced by the laws of Deuteronomy in general.  Features of Josiah’s response to the law book suggest his acting under the influence of laws largely unique to Deuteronomy: (1) Deuteronomy 12 required the destruction of Canaanite high places and conducting worship at a centralized sanctuary, and Josiah follows these provisions (2 Kings 23:4-20).  (2) Whereas Exodus 12 provided for observing Passover in the confines of the family, Deuteronomy 16 set the observance at the central sanctuary.  Passover under Josiah was observed in accord with the specifications of Deuteronomy 16 instead of those in Exodus 12 (2 Kings 23:21-22).  (3) Deuteronomy also enjoined the elimination of mediums, spiritists, and diviners from Israel; Israel was not to hear the will of God through these means, but rather through the prophets (Deut. 18:14-22).  Josiah removed the mediums and spiritists in order to fulfill the requirements of the law book (2 Kings 23:24) and sought direction from a prophetess (22:14).  (4) The book presented to Josiah contained a series of curses (2 Kings 22:13, 19), probably those in Deuteronomy 28.  (5) Deuteronomy requires of kings in Israel that they rule in accordance with a copy of the law (Deut. 17:18-19), precisely the action attributed to Josiah (2 Kings 22:11, 23:2-3).  (6) The law book was identified as a ‘Book of the Covenant’ (23:2), confirmed when later critical studies demonstrated the structural affinities between Deuteronomy and covenants written in the ancient Near East.  (7) The Kings account also reflects the ‘name theology’ of Deuteronomy (Deut. 12:5, 11; 2 Kings 23:27) and reiterates the inevitability of divine judgment as already announced in Deuteronomy (Deut. 31:24-29; 2 Kings 22:16-20; 23:26-27).” (Tremper Longman and Raymond Dillard, Introduction to the Old Testament, 2^nd ed., pp. 105-06)

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