Sacred Dan: Religious Tradition and Cultic Practice in Judges 17-18

An introduction reviews previous scholarship, and concludes that the cultic aspects of Judges 17—18 have not been examined in any depth. It then goes on to deal with the historical and redactional issues which previous scholars have found interesting. The issues of provenance and dating are then examined with the conclusion that the text was written down in the immediate aftermath of the Assyrian conquest of Dan in an attempt to preserve its sacred traditions. The text therefore reflects th...