the preceding chapters have relied heavily on information found in the Bible, but the Bible itself, the book now in our hands, has not yet appeared in the story. What is the Bible? How did Judaism and then Christianity come to be based on this book? What does it mean for any religion to be based on a book? Other ancient religions were not grounded in books at all; why did Judaism go down a different path?

As before, it will help to begin with certain narratives. A report in 2 Kings 23 describes an incident that took place in Jerusalem during the reign of King Josiah (640–609 BCE): in the course of a major renovation of the Temple building, a book was found that caused a revolution in the life of the nation (see “King Josiah's Book”). The book contained (or was said to contain) teachings of Moses himself, the founder of Israel's religion, and the people saw they had been living in violation of those teachings for untold generations. King Josiah set out to enforce these previously unknown teachings and placed them at the foundation of national life; for this act he was remembered as a king who “returned to YHWH with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the teaching of Moses; there was never another like him” (2 Kings 23:25).