Q&A: De Wette
De Wette
Question
A question for the Rabbi, and maybe also for experts in biblical criticism. De Wette’s claim is that the Book of Deuteronomy was fabricated by the priests of Jerusalem in order to create centralization of Temple worship and thus accumulate economic and political power. Of course, I take claims of this sort with a grain of salt. I read that indeed in earlier periods (Samuel, Solomon, David) they did in fact offer sacrifices in various places. My question is whether this claim is correct, and what the traditional way is to deal with claims like these.
Thank you to the Rabbi for the time he invests.
Answer
I’m not knowledgeable in biblical criticism, among other things because of arguments of this sort. These are little quips fit for a Sheva Brachot speech, which for some reason in those wings of academia are taken as scholarly articles. And may we merit children—mazal tov, mazal tov…