For the earliest period of the history of Israel, all that precedes the building of the temple, not a trace can be found of any sanctuary of exclusive legitimacy. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote
As we learn from the New Testament, the Jews and the Samaritans in the days of Jesus were not agreed on the question which was the proper place of worship, but that there could be only one was taken to be as certain as the unity of God Himself. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote
And finally, it was Deuteronomy that brought about the historical result of Josiah’s reformation. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote
A judgment pronounced in accordance with the facts can therefore assign to it an historical place only within that movement of reformation which was brought to a victorious issue by King Josiah. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote
From the building of the temple of Solomon, which is also treated as a leading epoch in chronology, a new period in the history of worship is accordingly dated, – and to a certain extent with justice. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote
Until the building of Solomon’s temple the unity of worship according to it had, properly speaking, never had any existence; and, moreover, it is easy to read between the lines that even after that date it was more a pious wish than a practical demand. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote
All writers of the Chaldaean period associate monotheism in the closest way with unity of worship. Julius Wellhausen Read Quote