01_VanSeters_copiaaaa_01_25 28/04/15 11:15 Pagina 23 DATING THE YAHWIST’S HISTORY: PRINCIPLES AND PERSPECTIVES 23 identity. Consequently, this raises the following queries: how does dating the Yahwist to the latter years of the Babylonian exile, for in- stance, answer the question why the religion of the Jews in J, whether patriarchal or Mosaic, reflects no form of worship that includes a temple or priesthood, and even Aaron, the Levite, never functions as a priest, even though J still allows for the construction of altars and the offering of sacrifices from earliest times onward? Or how is it that the author of this extensive narrative, in contrast to Deuteronomy, the Deuteronomistic history and the pre-exilic prophets, assumes that YHWH, the god of the Israelites, is the creator and supreme deity, and has so little to say about religious apostasy? The answer to these and other such questions lies in dating the Yahwist to the appropriate historical context. That context was the period of the Babylonian exile when there was no centralized tem- ple worship in Jerusalem and consequently no functioning priest- hood, which had been thoroughly discredited by the prophets of the late monarchy. Instead of the dire threats of punishment and disaster that apostasy entails in the early prophets and Deuteronomy, in the diaspora of Babylonia and Egypt it is now a matter of choice be- tween serving YHWH or the gods of the nations among whom they live: Fear YHWH then, and worship him in loyalty and truth. Banish the gods whom your fathers worshipped beside the Euphrates and in Egypt, and worship YHWH. But if it does not please you to worship YHWH, choose here and now whom you will worship: the gods whom your forefathers worshipped beside the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But I and my family, we will worship YHWH (Josh 24,14-15) 39. In contrast to the threats of Joshua’s speech in Joshua 23, in this speech of Joshua the focus now is entirely on forgiveness of the past, obedience to this one supreme deity in the present and trust in the divine promises and future destiny of the nation. This corre- sponds completely with the message of Second Isaiah. 39 For the attribution of Joshua 24 to the Yahwist see J. VAN SETERS, “Joshua 24 and the Problem of Tradition in the Old Testament”, In the Shelter of Elyon. Essays in Honor of G.W. ALSTRÖM (eds. W.B. BARRACK – J. R. SPENCER) (JSOTSS 31; Sheffield 1984) 139-158.