Rather than being written as history, the Deuteronomistic history – Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings – was intended to illustrate a theological scheme in which Israel and her leaders are judged by their obedience to the teachings and laws ( the covenant ) set down in the book of Deuteronomy.

The earliest parts of the book are possibly chapters 2 – 11, the story of the conquest ; more certain is that this section was then incorporated into an early form of Joshua that was part of then original Deuteronomistic history, written late in the reign of king Josiah ( reigned 640 – 609 BCE ); it seems clear that the book was not completed until after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586, and possibly not until after the return from the Babylonian exile late in the 6th century.

There is now general agreement that Joshua was composed as part of a larger work, the Deuteronomistic history, stretching from Deuteronomy to Kings.

The overarching theological theme of the Deuteronomistic history is faithfulness ( and its obverse, faithlessness ) and God's mercy ( and its obverse, his anger ).

The Deuteronomistic history draws parallels in proper leadership between Moses, Joshua and Josiah.

The answers were recorded in the works of the prophets Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Second Isaiah, and in the Deuteronomistic history, the collection of historical works from Joshua to Kings: God had not abandoned Israel ; Israel had abandoned God, and the Babylonian exile was God's punishment for Israel's lack of faith.

It was in this period that the Pentateuch ( or Torah, to give the Hebrew name ) was composed, by detaching the book of Deuteronomy from the Deuteronomistic history and adding it to the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers.

Judges forms part of Deuteronomistic history, a theologically-oriented history of Israel from the entry into Canaan to the destruction of the Temple.

Noth maintained that the history was written in the early Exilic period ( 6th century BCE ) in order to demonstrate how Israel's history was worked out in accordance with the theology expressed in the book of Deuteronomy ( which thus provides the name " Deuteronomistic ").

Modern scholarly thinking is that the books originated by combining a number of independent texts of various ages when the larger Deuteronomistic history ( the Former Prophets plus Deuteronomy ) was being composed in the period c. 630-540 BCE.

Although details remain disputed, the vast majority of recent studies agree with Martin Noth's thesis, published in 1943, that the book of Samuel was composed as part of the Deuteronomistic history, the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings.

The most common view today accepts Martin Noth's thesis that Kings concludes a unified series of books which reflect the language and theology of the Book of Deuteronomy, and which biblical scholars therefore call the Deuteronomistic history.

The editors / authors of the Deuteronomistic history cite a number of sources, including ( for example ) a " Book of the Acts of Solomon " and, frequently, the " Annals of the Kings of Judah " and a separate book, " Chronicles of the Kings of Israel ".

* de Pury, Albert, Römer, Thomas, Macchi, Jean-Daniel " Israël constructs its history: Deuteronomistic historiography in recent research " ( Sheffield Academic Press, 2000 )

They are mentioned over 250 times, the majority in the Deuteronomistic history ( the series of " history " books from Joshua to 2 Kings ), and are depicted as the archenemies of the Israelites, a serious and recurring threat before being subdued by David.

According to the theory of the Deuteronomistic history proposed by Martin Noth and widely accepted, Deuteronomy was a product of the court of Josiah ( late 7th century ) before being used as the introduction to a comprehensive history of Israel written in the early part of the 6th century ; later still it was detached from the history and used to round off the Pentateuch.

( Chronicles begins by reprising the history of the Torah and the Deuteronomistic history, with some differences over details.

* Martin Noth ( 1902-1968 ): developed tradition history and undertook important work on the origins of the Pentateuch and the Deuteronomistic History.

In Deuteronomistic theology, " rest " meant Israel's unthreatened possession of the land, the achievement of which began with the conquests of Joshua.

The essence of Deuteronomistic theology is that Israel has entered into a covenant ( a treaty, a binding agreement ) with the god Yahweh, under which they agree to accept Yahweh as their god ( hence the phrase " god of Israel ") and Yahweh promises them a land where they can live in peace and prosperity.

In 1 Samuel 9: 6-20, Samuel is seen as a local “ seer .” The Deuteronomistic Historians preserved this view of Samuel while contributing him as “ the first of prophets to articulate the failure of Israel to live up to its covenant with God .” For the Deuteronomistic Historians, Samuel was extension of Moses and continuing Moses ’ function as a prophet, judge, and a priest which made historical Samuel uncertain.

The trauma of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586, and the exile which followed, led to much theological reflection on the meaning of the tragedy, and the Deuteronomistic history was written as an explanation: Israel had been unfaithful to Yahweh, and the exile was God's punishment.

Scholars differ over how much of the book is from Jeremiah himself and how much from later disciples, but the French scholar Thomas Romer has recently identified two Deuteronomistic " redactions " ( editings ) of the book of Jeremiah some time before the end of the Exile ( pre-539 BCE ) – a process which also involved the prophetic books of Amos and Hosea.

According to Coogan, this episode is part of the Deuteronomistic history, written in the southern kingdom of Judah, after the fall of the Northern kingdom, which was biased against the northern kingdom.

The later Historical books ( see Deuteronomistic history ) include most of the biblical references, almost 200 of which are in the Book of Judges and the Books of Samuel, where the term is used to denote the southern coastal region to the west of the ancient Kingdom of Judah.

The " supplementary " approach is exemplified in the work of John Van Seters, who places the composition of J ( which he, unlike the " fragmentists ", sees as a complete document ) in the 6th century as an introduction to the Deuteronomistic history ( the history of Israel that takes up the series of books from Joshua to Kings ).

The " supplementary " approach is exemplified in the work of John Van Seters, who places the composition of J ( which he, unlike the " fragmentists ", sees as a complete document ) in the 6th century BCE as an introduction to the Deuteronomistic history ( the history of Israel that takes up the series of books from Joshua to Kings ).

The tradition of the landowners was based on the old Deuteronomistic tradition, which had existed since at least the 6th century BCE and had its roots even earlier ; that of the priestly families was composed to " correct " and " complete " the landowners ' composition.

The episodes belong to the story of David's ascent to power, which is commonly regarded as one of the sources of the Deuteronomistic history, and to its later additions.

Joshua thus illustrates the central Deuteronomistic message, that obedience leads to success and disobedience to ruin.

The first was the late 7th century Deuteronomistic reform of official Judean religion under king Josiah, who banned many elements of the old polytheistic cult from the Temple, and the sudden collapse of Assyria and the rise of Babylon to take its place ; the second was exile of the royal court, the priests and other members of the ruling elite following the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem c. 586 BCE.

* Noth, Martin, " Uberlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien ", 1943 ; English translation as " The Deuteronomistic History ", Sheffield, 1981, and " The Chronicler's History ", Sheffield, 1987.

The Deuteronomistic Historians, writing in Judah, saw northern Israel as a sinful kingdom, divinely punished for its idolatry and iniquity by being destroyed by the Assyrians in 720 BCE.

Variations of the documentary hypothesis remain popular especially in America and Israel, and the identification of distinctive Deuteronomistic and Priestly theologies and vocabularies remains widespread, but they are used to form new approaches suggesting that the books were combined gradually over time by the slow accumulation of " fragments " of text, or that a basic text was " supplemented " by later authors / editors.

The story of Rahab would therefore provide an answer as to how a Canaanite group became part of Israel in spite of the Deuteronomistic injunction to kill all Canaanites and not to intermarry with them ()()

The Deuteronomistic historians “ incorporated a variety of previously existing sources into their narrative of life in early Israel ” and the story of Ehud is one such example of a “ previously existing source ”, that has been edited to include “ the cyclical pattern ” typical of the stories of the major judges.

Additionally, though the Chronicler's principal source is the Deuteronomistic History, coming primarily, as stated above, from the books of 2 Samuel and 1 – 2 Kings and other public records and sources ( see above ), the Chronicler also uses other biblical sources, particularly from the Pentateuch, as redacted and put together by P ( the Priestly Source ).

Coogan suggests that Saul ’ s birth narrative was transferred to Samuel by the Deuteronomistic Historians.

Coogan argues that the story of Ehud was likely a folk tale of local origin that was edited by the Deuteronomistic historians.

Historical-critical biblical scholarship generally accepts that this scroll — an early predecessor of the Torah — was written by the priests driven by ideological interest to centralize power under Josiah in the Temple in Jerusalem, and that the core narrative from Joshua to 2 Kings up to Josiah's reign comprises a " Deuteronomistic History " ( DtrH ) written during Josiah's reign.

As the version in Exodus and 1 Kings are written by Deuteronomistic historians based in the southern kingdom of Judah, there is a proclivity to expose the Israelites as unfaithful.