Babylon and the Bible
The data obtained by the Biblical archaeology in the 20th century corrected the conclusions drawn by Biblical criticism. It became clear that such events as the Canaan conquest and the rise of a unified state under King Solomon are of a legendary character though having some historical background. Thus, it has become impossible to attribute the Pentateuch to the Golden Age of Solomon. The contemporary science attributes the corpus of main books of the Bible, from the Book of Genesis to the Second Kings, to the period of the Babylonian captivity (6th century BC).It is usually spoken of the Deuteronomist version of the Bible i.e. the version of the Biblical story according to the views of the author of the Book of Deuteronomy.Under the influence of the Babylonian catastrophe (587 BC) the Deuteronomist changed the concept of the book: the fulfillment of God's promise on Mount Sinai given to the Jewish people of Canaan was delayed for the time being. The Book of Joshua tells us about taking possession of the Promised Land. It was excluded from the Pentateuch and included into the series of prophet books that provide an understanding of the national catastrophe. It was the period of the Persian rule that the codification of the Bible took place.The Persians aimed at provision of each of the conquered peoples with the legislation fully corresponding to this people's customs. The Torah became such a legislation for the Hebrew. Complemented by the Prophets it was brought from Babylon to Palestine where it was spread through public readings, first at market places and then in synagogues. When the Biblical canon was being composed in Babylon, its authors used the royal archives as well as some other written sources (the book of God's wrath, royal chronicles) and rich oral tradition containing much information on the ancient times. The 20th century science started considering the Bible as a consolidated narrative with a theological concept. That is how the science of Biblical theology came to life.
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