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THE BIBLE UNEARTHED: THE MAKING OF A RELIGION -- ILLUSTRATED SCREENPLAY & SCREENCAP GALLERY |
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We are now at the end of the 7th century, B.C.
A young KING, JOSIAH [?], that we have learnt by now [?] REIGNS in Judah. [?] He has the mission of conquering the territories of THE LOST KINGDOM OF ISRAEL. He BELIEVES he has both the means to succeed, and the duty.
The Assyrian empire was in decline. All of its efforts were focused on problems that had arisen in the northeast.
[Israel Finkelstein] THE DREAM of a UNITED ISRAEL was not possible to fulfill as long as the Assyrian empire was there. But when the Assyrians pull out, things become possible. And [according to the Bible] JOSIAH, KING OF JUDAH, embarks on this GREAT IDEA, GREAT ADVENTURE. He PLANS to take over the territories of the now-destroyed NORTHERN KINGDOM, and by doing that he plans to reunify THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL -- all of them -- under one king of THE LINEAGE OF DAVID in Jerusalem. And here the STORY of the Book of Joshua, the conquest of Joshua, and the STORY of the great empire of David and Solomon, play an important role, because the conquest of Joshua delineates the territories that Josiah [?] WISHES to take over. And the GREAT EMPIRE of David and Solomon GIVES THE MODEL for the great Israelite empire to come.
[Narrator] We are almost at the end of THIS STORY. The Biblical saga of the conquest, written in the past tense, provides a PROMISE FOR THE FUTURE. An Ideal.
Joshua's conquest is in fact the conquest that Josiah [?] hoped to achieve.
[Thomas Romer, University of Lausanne] So while Josiah's STORY in the Bible is quite brief, there is no doubt at all that the narrator wants to present him as THE NEW DAVID.
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