As in texts of Deuteronomistic provenance, the narrative assumes the existence of a ‘book of the law of the Lord’ (variously defined in Deut. 28.61, Josh. 1.8; II Kings 14.6; Neh. 8.8, etc.). It is also presumed that the people are expected to know (and therefore learn) the laws in order that they may keep them (cf. Deut. 5.1, ‘and you shall learn them and be careful to do them’). However, this is the only instance in which the teaching of the law is described not in the future but as a specific historical event.
