Biblica_2:Layout 1 21-11-2011 13:02 Pagina 427 The Deceptive Pen of Scribes: Judean Reworking of the Bethel Tradition as a Program for Assuming Israelite Identity As P. R. Davies asks, “Why did Judeans call themselves ‘Israel’?” 1 Among biblical scholars, there has been much discussion around this intriguing question 2. Insofar as “Israel” was for centuries associated with the Northern Kingdom, with which Judah had fluctuating political rela- tions, Judah’s calling themselves “Israel” is not necessarily a matter of course. In a recently published article in this journal, N. Na’aman proposes a fresh argument. “The adaptation of the Israelite identity by the Judahite scribes and elite was motivated by the desire to take over the highly pres- tigious vacant heritage of the Northern Kingdom”, he claims, “just as As- syria had sought to take possession of the highly prestigious heritage of ancient Mesopotamia” 3. The significance of Na’aman’s proposal must be understood in the con- text of other solutions to the problem of accounting for Judah’s assumption of Israelite identity. The first alternative solution is the now popular notion of the alleged migration of northern refugees in the wake of the Assyrian crisis, refugees who supposedly brought their endangered traditions to the south. It has been assumed that the pan-Israelite identity arose as a result of Judean officials’ attempts to control the amalgamated population that re- sulted from the alleged migration 4. Though attractive in many regards, this first solution is undermined by the lack of evidence on the migration and is 1 P.R. DAVIES, The Origins of Biblical Israel (LHBOTS 485; New York 2007) 1. 2 See P.R. DAVIES, In Search of “Ancient Israel” (JSOTSup 148; Sheffield 1992) for the groundbreaking work on this issue. For a history of research, see idem, Origins, 5-24. 3 N. NA’AMAN, “The Israelite-Judahite Struggle for the Patrimony of Ancient Israel”, Bib 91 (2010) 17. 4 E.g., I. FINKELSTEIN – N.A. SILBERMAN, “Temple and Dynasty: Hezekiah, the Remaking of Judah and the Rise of the Pan-Israelite Ideology”, JSOT 30 (2006) 259-285; ID., The Bible Unearthed. Archaeology’s New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts (New York 2001); and ID., David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible’s Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition (New York 2006). For a notable variation, though not explicitly based on the immigration of the refugees, see R.G. KRATZ, The Composition of the Narrative Books of the Old Testament (London 2005) 181-182, 209, 218-219, 304-306, 309-319; ID., “Israel als Staat und als Volk”, ZTK 97 (2000) 1-17; ID., “Israel in the Book of Isaiah”, JSOT 31 (2006) 103-128.