A reforma de Josias: uma análise histórica e arqueológica à luz das pesquisas atuais

Abstract

The book of 2Kgs 22-23 brings the pericope of the religious reform promoted by king Josiah during his reign, in the middle of the seventh century B.C. For a long time, academic research has foundedif in the biblical text to interpret and build knowledge about the Levant during the Bronze Ages, from the Iron to the advent of Jesus Christ. Today, however, archaeology has shed new light through finds that often contest the biblical account. In the case of Josiah's pericope, archaeology has shown that although it is grounded in historical facts, these were reinterpreted from a deuteronomist perspective in order to present a clearly theological message. Thus, this research aims to relate the biblical text with more current data provided by archaeology to understand the true story that underlies the message. Therefore, this work was divided into three chapters: presentation of the interpretative theories of 2Kgs 22-23 and their different strands; survey of comments made by researchers and biblists on the excerpt in question; analysis of the reform of Josias based on archaeological research and its most recent findings. What the reader will realize at the end is that, although 2Kgs 22- 23 uses real historical facts as the basis for the narrative, these serve only for the contextualization of a deuteronomist message that reinterpreted them under theological bias, as a myth of origin, in order to spread a precept of cultic centralization in the temple of Jerusalem and in the existence of one god, YHWH