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Deuteronomy and the prophetic attitude to sacrifice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
Extract
It has long been a matter of debate whether the prophetic strictures upon sacrifice implied total repudiation of the cult, or only condemnation of its abuses and perversions. An attempt will be made in this article to summarise the scholarly judgments on one aspect of this problem, and to assess their value. The thesis to be considered is that Deuteronomy preserves a true or reliable deposit of prophetic religion, and therefore a dependable interpretation of the prophetic attitude to sacrifice.
Four main arguments have been employed in defence of the argument that Deuteronomy demonstrates prophetic moderatism.
The first argument is to the effect that Deuteronomy did not regard the prophets as inflexibly opposed to the sacrifical cult. Piepenbring contends that prophecy before the exile ascribed some value to external worship.1 Guillaume argues that ‘Deuteronomy was promulagated to put the ideals of the prophets into practice…. It is all but incredible that the Deuteronomic generation should have so misunderstood the meaning of the prophets whose teaching they endeavoured to carry into effect.’2 Rowley writes: ‘If ex hypothesi the Book of Deuteronomy reflects the teachings of the eighth-century prophets, it might be supposed that its authors would have understood those teachings, and that therefore its recognition of the legitimate place of a purified and regulated sacrificial cultus … reflects the like recognition of the eighth-century prophets.’3
This claim, however, is not above suspicion.
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- Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1959
References
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page 80 note 1 
or P. 75 Amos 5.7, 24, 6.12; Hos. 10.12; Isa. 1.21, 26, 5.7., 16, 23, 10.22, 11.4, 5, 16.5, 26.9, 10, 28.17, 32.1, 16, 17, 33.5; Mic. 6.5, 7.9; Jer. 4.2, 9.23, 23.5, 33.15, 51.10. 
Amos 5.7, 15, 24, 6.12; Hos. 2.21, 10.4, 12.7; Isa. 1.17, 21, 27, 4.4, 5.7, 16, 9.6, 16.5, 26.8, 9, 32.1, 16, 33.5; Jer. 4.2, 5.1, 7.5 9.23, 21.12, 22.3, 15, 23–5. 33.15.
page 80 note 2 Hos. 2.21, 4.1, 6.6, 10.12.
page 80 note 3 Isa. 1.21, 26, 8.2, 11.5, 25.1.
page 80 note 4 Jer. 3.7, 10, 14, 18.8, 23.22, 26.3, 34.15, 44.5.