1. Max I. Dimont Jews, God and History (1962) I. 4 'Religion is packaged'

2. "Why did the Jews of Judah survive whereas the Jews of Israel did not?" Two ideas: 1) canonization of part of Holy Scripture > the Word of God 2) The "packaging" of Judaism: making it independent of any physical place.

3. Josiah - Attributed his reforms of Judaism to G-d. - Dimont describes Josiah as having J and E fused into Deuteronomy. However, this is inconsistent with more recent scholarship. - Dimont acknowledges possibility that Deuteronomy was rediscovered.

4. Charismatic authority Dimont argues that Josiah's reforms gave jews a desire to follow the Mosaic law of their own volition.

5. The Prophets Dimont claims that the essence of successive prophets' teachings was that morality was more important than ritual.

6. Babylonian Captivity Jews replaced The Temple with synagogues Jews replaced ritual with prayer Dimont argues a) Josiah and the prophets' innovations were a precursor of these ones, b) this is why the Jews of Judah were able to survive where the Jews of Israel didn't.

7. Babylonian Captivity Jews exposed to flourishing intellectual culture. When the Persian king Cyrus conquered the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem, they didn't all desire to go immediately.

8. Rebuilding of the Temple Jews who returned to Jerusalem built the Second Temple (the Western Wall). Persians did not let the Jews have a king so they were ruled by a High Priest in collaboration with a popular assembly.

9. Nehemiah & Ezra Nehemiah was a Jew appointed as the Persian governor of Jerusalem Ezra led the second wave of Jews who returned from Babylon to Jerusalem Ban on intermarriage Canonisation of the Torah Midrash (exposition) Synagogues as well as the Temple

10. Dimont + Watson? In what ways are Watson & Dimont's accounts of the Jewish exile in Babylon consistent? In what ways are Watson & Dimont's accounts of the Jewish exile in Babylon inconsistent?