It is possible with Bleek to explain the
transcendence of history as Mosaicity; such a view is not to be
argued against. But it is also possible with Noldeke to insist
that an invention so bold cannot possibly be imputed to the
spirit of the exilic and post-exilic time, which in everything
is only anxiously concerned to cleave to what is old and to
restore it; and such a contention deserves and admits of refutation.
It is not the case that the Jews had any profound respect for their
ancient history; rather they condemned the whole earlier
development, and allowed only the Mosaic time along with its
Davidic reflex to stand; in other words, not history but the
ideal. The theocratic ideal was from the exile onwards the centre
of all thought and effort, and it annihilated the sense for
objective truth, all regard and interest for the actual facts as
they had been handed down. It is well known that there never
have been more audacious history-makers than the Rabbins. But
Chronicles affords evidence sufficient that this evil propensity
goes back to a very early time, its root the dominating
influence of the Law, being the root of Judaism itself.
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