21 THE ISRAELITE-JUDAHITE STRUGGLE is notably absent in the prophecies of Isaiah and Micah 47. Some texts (in particular Exod 15,1-17 ; 1 Kgs 12,28 ; Ps 78) hint that the Exodus tradition was known also in Judah in the pre-Exilic period 48 ; but whether the Passover feast was celebrated there before the time of Josiah remains unknown. According to 2 Kgs 23,21-23, Josiah celebrated the feast of Passover, “as it is written in this book of the covenant ”, but its celebration is presented as a great innovation (“ For no such Passover there had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah”). In all probability, Josiah’s celebration of the Passover feast in the temple was part of his efforts to integrate northern Israelite traditions into his kingdom, just as Tukulti-Ninurta’s and Sennacherib’s celebration of the Akitu festival in Ashur was a way of integrating the Babylonian festival into Assyria. Historiographical compositions featuring the name “Israel” as the ethnic-religious designation of all YHWH devotees should be considered as part of this effort to gain control over the heritage of t h e Northern Kingdom. Unfortunately, the date of these compositions is still a subject of debate among scholars. The dating is particularly significant for the story of the Exodus, which some scholars date to the pre-exilic period and others to the exilic period 49. If the former option (which I support) is accepted, it may be understood as part of the effort to promote Josiah’s reforms by S. DECK,“ Kein Exodus bei Jesaja?”, Ich bewirke das Heil und erschaffe 47 das Unheil (Jesaja 45,7). Studien zur Botschaft der Propheten. Festschrift für Lothar Ruppert zum 65. Geburtstag (eds. F. DIETRICH – B. WILLMES) (FzB 88 ; Würtzburg 1988) 31-47, suggested that Isaiah alluded to the Exodus in some of his prophecies. However, the evidence she brought is ambiguous and her claim is not convincing. Y. HOFFMAN, “A North Israelite Typological Myth and a Judaean 48 Historical Tradition: The Exodus in Hosea and Amos”, VT 39 (1989) 169-182; G. DAVIES, “Was There an Exodus?”, In Search of Pre-Exilic Israel. Proceedings of the Oxford Old Testament Seminar (ed. J. DAY) (London – New York 2004) 26-27. The date of the composition of the Exodus story is an element of the 49 much broader debate over the composition of the Pentateuch, the Hexateuch and the Enneateuch. The suggestions that the life of Moses and the Exodus story are the original introduction of the Deuteronomistic history and that it was written in the pre-exilic period make good sense. But this issue is too broad and complicated to be discussed here.