Volume 17, Issue 2, 2025, pages 260-285

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64438/sbsLIMS5248
Published online: 2025-12-01
Published in print: 2025-12-30

Abstract: This study identifies a single coherent theological motif in the Deuteronomistic historical literature: the theme of idolatry leading to destruction. It examines selected words and phrases related to the sin of idolatry and its subsequent punishment in their immediate contexts, in order to discern how these elements interlink throughout the Deuteronomistic corpus. First, it investigates the description of the crucial transgression denoted by the verb pair “to serve” ( דבע ( and “to worship” ( הוח hishtafel) other gods. Next, it analyses the expression “to mislead into sin” ( אטח hiphil) in the Books of Kings, a phrase that describes the effects of sinful behaviour on the people and underscores the irreversibility of the transgression. Finally, the discussion focuses on the rhetoric of Moses’ and Joshua’s warnings of “destruction” ( דבא ( — the inevitable consequence of idolatry — which was ultimately fulfilled during the Babylonian king’s invasion. This motif of self-destruction as a result of idolatry thus links Joshua’s final warning against idolatry to Manasseh’s polytheistic, idolatrous actions, thereby outlining the theological and relatively straightforward solution.