The Pentateuch was the first text to be treated as scripture in ancient Judaism. Collections of laws dating from the third and second millennia BCE have survived from ancient Sumer, Babylon, Assyria and Anatolia. Pentateuchal laws and instructions receive little attention in the biblical accounts of Israel's history after settlement in the land. A political concern for shaping communal identity governs much of Deuteronomy. The Torah's normative authority in the Persian period arose from its status as officially recognised temple law governing the ritual and financial affairs of the Judaean and Samaritan temples. In a personal divine oracle, the Aaronide high priest receives the authority to rule definitively about correct ritual practice and to teach the regulations in Israel. The Torah and the Aaronide dynasties of high priests both came to prominence in the early part of the Persian period.