It has recently struck me how completely the Little History of Deuteronomy 26 renders the Patriarchal narratives otiose, a rather surreal prequel to the real story, where the descendants of the perishing Syrian become a great nation in Egypt and are led into their true identity by Moses. You have to think like that, I suppose, if the cry of ‘Jerusalem only!’ Is to be raised and the patriarchal sanctuary of Bethel to be smashed and vilified per the lifework of Josiah and, as you suggest Shaphan - and maybe Huldah?
It has recently struck me how completely the Little History of Deuteronomy 26 renders the Patriarchal narratives otiose, a rather surreal prequel to the real story, where the descendants of the perishing Syrian become a great nation in Egypt and are led into their true identity by Moses. You have to think like that, I suppose, if the cry of ‘Jerusalem only!’ Is to be raised and the patriarchal sanctuary of Bethel to be smashed and vilified per the lifework of Josiah and, as you suggest Shaphan - and maybe Huldah?