Biblica_2:Layout 1 21-11-2011 13:02 Pagina 429 429 THE DECEPTIVE PEN OF SCRIBES Assyria, created original propagandist work, and reworked the foundational epic to serve Assyrian interests 12. This analogous sequence of events indeed makes Josiah’s reform look strikingly similar to that of Assyria. The Deuteronomist’s (Dtr) presentation in 2 Kgs 23 affirms Josiah’s claim on Northern territories and even ex- tended it to one of the most important sanctuaries of the North, namely Bethel (2 Kgs 23,15-20) 13. Josiah then celebrates the major Israelite religious festival, Passover, in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 23,21-23). Dtr also claims, based on a treaty motif 14, that the fall of Samaria is a manifestation of divine abandonment of northern Israelite monarchy (2 Kgs 17,7-24) and promotes the idea of a divine choice of Judah, perhaps as an ideal covenant partner with YHWH, through Josiah’s faithfulness (2 Kgs 23,21-25). Na’aman carries his argument only this far, without pushing further to the last, and arguably most important, point of the analogy, in which the conquering group rewrites the other’s tradition. To be sure, the above- established analogy — of Assyria and Babylon to Judah and Israel — is significant enough 15. Yet one can make a convincing case that Judean scribes also made analogous attempts to rework northern tradition as part of their program to assume the newly vacant Israelite identity when Judeans were negotiating with new reality after the sudden fall of the Northern Kingdom. The sole purpose of this article is, therefore, to demonstrate, through one telling example, Judean scribes’ reworking of the northern tradition as part of Judean identity reformulation. By con- sidering the Jacob story, particularly the Bethel account (Gen 28,10-22), I would like to demonstrate that the skillful — or deceptive from a Northern point of view — pen of the Judean scribes reworked this northern tradition and thus attempted to rewrite the past once and for all. 12 See NA’AMAN, “Patrimony”, 9-12 for a more detailed discussion. 13 Whether there is a fundamentum in re to this literary claim is another question, of course. I do not share the confidence in the historicity of Josiah’s northern campaign that Na’aman displays in “Patrimony”, 18-21. My reservation about the historicity does not, however, diminish the significance of this literary presentation of Josiah’s campaign. Important for our purposes is the sheer fact that such literary claims have been made, assuming that they exhibit the motivation of the scribes intended to make certain points by doing so. 14 The treaty motif constitutes the heart of Deuteronomy. What makes Israel the people of YHWH is fidelity to the mutual covenant, the breach of which will only forfeit Israelhood. Note that the Assyrian Tukulti-Ninurta epic that frequently relies on a treaty motif as well to highlight the divine abandonment of the Babylonian king. MACHINIST, “Literature”, 458, 464. 15 In “Patrimony”, Na’aman further argues that Josiah may have plundered the scrolls from Bethel (20). Although attractive, this must remain a conjecture, due to a lack of evidence.