The Washington herald., 1911-07-30

Conceivably the book Of the covenant
may have been one of three things; II
may have been the whole Pentateuch,
which was also known as the book OF
the law; it may have been Ex.. xxi:23,
which is expressly called the book of the
covenant in Ex., xxiv:7, and it may have
been Deuteronomy, which, as We have
seen, goes by both those names.
Now. il cannot have been the Penta-
teuch, for that was much too long; the
book discovered was short enough to
have been read twice in one day ii Kings,
xxi :S-lO), and the impression made by
its heterogeneous contents. including as
it does romantic narratives like the
patriarchal stories as well as laws,
could not have been so swift and ter
rible as that which the discovered book
obviously made upon Josiah. Nor again
can IL have been the short book OF the
covenant imbedded in Exodus, for the
simple reason that some OF the most
important points in the reformation
based upon the book are not toucheo III
that book at all.
Ry a process of elimination, then, we
seem shut up to the book of Deuteron-
omy. In point of fact, this book meets
the facts of the case completely. Point
for point, the details Of the reformation
are paralleled by injunctions in Deute-
ronomy OF these the most outstanding
are: % the abolition of the ldolatrous
high places and the concentration of the
worship at a single sanctuary I'm the
book of Kings, of course, at Jerusalem) I
C0 the abolition of the worship OF the
heavenly bodies; 90 the celebration OF
the Passover, and % the expulsion OF
the wizards and OWNERS. Deuteronomy
is the only code in which all these. en-
actments are combined, and there can De
practically no doubt that. in some longer
or shorter form. that was the book dis
covered during the temple repairs.
Like most of the books In the oio ano
New Testaments alike, the book OF
deuteronomy was written to quicken the
moral and religious life of the time. It's
most fundamental enactment was the
abolition of the high places and the CEN
tralizatiop of worship. The reasons Tor
this demand were not far to seek. Under
the influence of Canaanitish Baansm,
worship at the local sanctuaries or hlgh
places had so completely deter1orateo tna',
in many of its aspects, It had become not
only degrading but positively immoral, as
we learn from the luridly eloquent pages
of Amos and Hosea (Amos. HIS; Hos,
iv:19.
But by the end of the eighth century, or
some time in the early part OF the sew
.enth, it began to be felt by men OF prac-
teal piety that the only real remedy lay
In abolishing the local shrines altogether.
Good men had not hitherto been hostile
to them; we find Elijah. for example,
sorrowfully complaining that the affairs
of those shrines had been thrown down
n Kings. xix:10)'s But the situation was
now SO deplorable that the removal OF
the high places was nothing less than
Religious and moral Aecessity. ana wor-
ship had to be centralized In the sane
tuary at Jerusalem. 'the place chosen
by Jehovah your God out Of all your
tribes to set His name there (Deut''
xii:5).
But though this Capitalization and
control of the worship Is the starting
point Of Deuteronomy. the range OF the
book is very wide In the eloquent words
OF PRINCIPAL Smith, deuteronomy covers
every department Of the national life
not the worship alone, nor merely the
duties and rights OF the priesthood, put
the monarchy, the discharge Of Justice.
the character and judgment OF prophecy.