The Fall of Jerusalem and the Rise of the Torah

The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 bce is arguably the most tremendous disaster in the Hebrew Bible. How this decisive date relates to the development of the Pentateuch, however, is highly controversial. Is the trauma of Jerusalem reflected in the five books of Moses? This question is addressed from multiple perspectives in this volume. Israel Finkelstein and Lester L. Grabbe discuss the archaeological and historical data. Experts in Pentateuchal criticism from diverse international backgrounds present a rich panorama of relevant themes, including biblical historiography, contacts with Mesopotamian culture before and during the Babylonian exile, and the issue of cultic discontinuity caused by the destruction and restoration of Jerusalem's temple.I. The Fall of Jerusalem: Archaeological, Historical and Literary Perspectives
Israel Finkelstein: Jerusalem and Judah 600-200 bce. Implications for Understanding Pentateuchal Texts - Lester L. Grabbe: The Last Days of Judah and the Roots of the Pentateuch. What Does History Tell Us? - Peter Dubovský: Suspicious Similarities. A Comparative Study of the Falls of Samaria and Jerusalem - Jean-Pierre Sonnet: The Siege of Jerusalem between Rhetorical Maximalism (Deuteronomy 28) and Narrative Minimalism (2 Kings 25)

II. The Rise of the Torah: Exemplary Texts and Issues
Angelika Berlejung: Living in the Land of Shinar. Reflections on Exile in Genesis 11:1-9? - Jean Louis Ska: Why Does the Pentateuch Speak so Much of Torah and so Little of Jerusalem? - Konrad Schmid: Divine Legislation in the Pentateuch in its Late Judean and Neo-Babylonian Context - Eckart Otto: Born out of Ruins. The Catastrophe of Jerusalem as Accoucheur to the Pentateuch in the Book of Deuteronomy - Nili Wazana: The Law of the King (Deuteronomy 17:14-20) in the Light of Empire and Destruction

III. Priestly and Cultic (Dis-)continuities
Nathan MacDonald: Aaron's Failure and the Fall of the Hebrew Kingdoms - Jeffrey Stackert: Political Allegory in the Priestly Source. The Destruction of Jerusalem, the Exile and their Alternatives - Dominik Markl: The Wilderness Sanctuary as the Archetype of Continuity between the Pre- and the Postexilic Temples of Jerusalem - Christophe Nihan: Cult Centralization and the Torah Traditions in Chronicles

IV. Prophetic Transformations
Georg Fischer: Don't Forget Jerusalem's Destruction! The Perspective of the Book of Jeremiah - Bernard M. Levinson: Zedekiah's Release of Slaves as the Babylonians Besiege Jerusalem. Jeremiah 34 and the Formation of the Pentateuch - Ronald Hendel: Remembering the Exodus in the Wake of Catastrophe

Dis-aster: Reflection and Perspective
Jean-Pierre Sonnet: The Writing of the Disaster. Resilience and Fortschreibung