One other fact is significant: the domestic feasts and sacrifices of single families, which in David’s time must still have been general, gradually declined and lost their importance as social circles widened and life became more public.

And finally, it was Deuteronomy that brought about the historical result of Josiah’s reformation.

To my thinking, this: – that the Priestly Code rests upon the result which is only the aim of Deuteronomy.

From the building of the temple of Solomon, which is also treated as a leading epoch in chronology, a new period in the history of worship is accordingly dated, – and to a certain extent with justice.

All writers of the Chaldaean period associate monotheism in the closest way with unity of worship.

It is only in the case of the Priestly Code that opinions differ widely; for it tries hard to imitate the costume of the Mosaic period, and, with whatever success, to disguise its own.

The stone which Jacob consecrated at Bethel the generation of the living continues to anoint, paying the tithes which of old he vowed to the house of God there.

The revision of the books of Judges, Samuel, and Kings, undertaken towards the end of the Babylonian exile, a revision much more thorough than is commonly assumed, condemns as heretical the whole age of the Kings.

And finally, it was Deuteronomy that brought about the historical result of Josiah's reformation.

The Priestly Code preponderates over the rest of the legislation in force, as well as in bulk; in all matters of primary importance it is the normal and final authority.