The Reform of King Josiah and the Composition of the Deuteronomistic History

This work defends the thesis that 1 and 2 Kings arose in redactional phases. It looks at how the first author described the history of Judah and Israel from Solomon to Hezekiah (1 Kings 3 - 2 Kings 20). A second redactor, inspired by Deuteronomy, completed the history up to King Josiah and altered the work of his predecessor. The work of these two redactors was limited to Kings. A third redactor, also inspired by Deuteronomy, completed the history up to the exile. Unlike the preceding authors, he reworked the whole of the deuteronomistic history. The first part of this study subjects the regnal formulae to a critical analysis. The second part studies 2 Kings 23:1-30 as a text case in detecting the redactional structure of Kings.