“Per non entrare nel Tempio” (2Re 23,11aβ). Storia dell’interpretazione di un sintagma

In 2 Kgs 23:11aβ are described interventions arranged by Josiah to wipe out the tracks of Canaanite idolatrous cults, that is the removal of the horses and chariot of the Sun. In MT there is the locution “mibbōʾ [țāmēʾ] bêt-JHWH,” “so as not to go [impure] into YHWH’s temple;” in the Septuagint’s Version, it corresponds to ἐν τῇ εἰσόδῳ οἴκου κυρίου, that supposes Hebrew archetype “mebōʾ bêt-JHWH,” “at the entrance of YHWH’s temple,” by which it is indicated the simply location of those idols. The MT expression, rather than to a free interpretation or to a misunderstanding of the original, might be due to a later correction: so it was introduced into the text the purpose specification that inspired the 2 measures Josiah’s, that is to avoid any possible contact with religious syncretism, attested the Temple until to the Exile.