Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Dora Smith" <villandra AT austin.rr.com>]

Well, proving that documents were often buried with cornerstones doesn't
prove that this is where the book Josiah found came from!

Yours,
Dora Smith
Austin, Texas
villandra AT austin.rr.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Read, James C" <K0434995 AT kingston.ac.uk>
To: "Dave Washburn" <dwashbur AT nyx.net>
Cc: <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 02, 2005 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Josiah's book of the Law


> Excellent research!
> This would show that the Torah was in its canonical form when Solomon
built
> the temple.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org on behalf of Dave Washburn
> Sent: Tue 8/2/2005 4:09 PM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Josiah's book of the Law
>
> The recent discussion that included Josiah and the discovery during his
day
> triggered a memory of something I read a long time ago, and I want to toss
it
> out for discussion if nobody minds.
>
> Merrill F. Unger, in his book "Archaeology and the Old Testament" (Grand
> Rapids: Zondervan, 1954) p. 281 says in part that "it was customary in
> ancient times to place documents in the foundations of buildings as is
done
> even to the present day [1954, at least]."  He suggests that the Book of
the
> Law that Josiah's priests discovered had been placed in the cornerstone of
> the Temple by Solomon, and that during the extensive repairs to the Temple
> that Josiah directed, the stone masons and carpenters came across this
> deposit and reported it to the priests.  Hence the rediscovery of the Book
of
> the Law.  Unger also notes that Nabonidus, around the 6th century BC (BCE
if
> you prefer) liked to dig into foundations of buildings to see what sorts
of
> documents were cached away therein.
>
> I'm wondering what folks here think of this idea as an explanation of the
> discovery during Josiah's reign.
>
> --
> Dave Washburn
> http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
> "Well, if I'd wanted a safe life, I guess I wouldn't have
> married a man who studies rocks." - Betty Armstrong (Fay Masterson)
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