ely to have been divided among "two Deuteronomic author-editors," with the first ending at about the time of the death of Josiah (c. 609 BCE). This writer judged every king on the basis of religious loyalty, with David as the standard. His theme is that national success depends on obedience to the national God, as set forth in Deuteronomy. Cardinal sins are worship in the "high places" outside of Jerusalem and idolatry. Every king of the northern kingdom (Israel) failed to meet the standard . . . .
The second Deuteronomist wrote about 550 B.C., during the Babylonian Exile. By that time, Judah had also fallen, and so could not be considered superior to Israel. Again national apostasy had brought divine judgment and punishment . . . . So reasoned the second Deuteronomist, who added that part of the story concerned with events after the reign of Josiah, and inserted comments of his own in earlier sections of the narrative (May & Metzger, 1965, p. 413).
Problematic for biblical scholars is the exact chronology of the reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah--the s
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