The Persuasive Portrayal of David and Solomon in Chronicles
The Persuasive Portrayal of David and Solomon in Chronicles

Author: Suk-Il Ahn

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2018-02-01

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 1532604939

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This study examines the speeches and prayers in the David-Solomon narrative in Chronicles and seeks to demonstrate that the Chronicler's portrayal of David and Solomon attempts to establish the Yehudite community's identity. Is the covenantal relationship still valid in the Persian period? The author asserts that as a commitment to YHWH involving the worship of YHWH through the Jerusalem temple, the covenantal relationship between YHWH and Israel continues even into the Persian period. This study employs Kennedy's rhetorical method with the new categories of the narrative situation and the Chronicler's situation being used to further delineate his concept of the narrative situation. The Chronicler's portrayal of David and Solomon through speeches and prayers serves to persuade his audience of the significance of the Jerusalem temple, reformulating the Yehudite community identity as a cultic community in the Persian period.

Symbol, Service, and Song
Symbol, Service, and Song

Author: J. Nathan Clayton

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2021-11-09

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 1532686773

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In the Old Testament, the Levites stand as key ministry leaders for the worship of the people of God, from their origins with Moses and the tabernacle, to their service at the Jerusalem temple, to their roles in the postexilic period. This study proposes a multidimensional reading of the texts centered on the Levites in the Davidic narratives of 1 Chronicles 10–29. From a literary point of view, the notion that the Levites are closely associated with the symbol of God’s presence is explored. From a historical perspective, the roles of the Levites in expanding the service to God and his people is examined. And from a theological perspective, the means by which the Levites facilitate the song of God’s people is studied. Overall, this work seeks to defend the idea that these texts contribute significantly to the rhetorical argumentation, the historiographic method, and the biblical-theological meaning of the canonical books of Chronicles generally, and of the Davidic narratives of 1 Chronicles 10–29 specifically, as they emphasize the central role played by proper Levitical worship leadership at the time of David and during the challenging situation of the Chronicler’s Yehudite postexilic audience.

Judgment and Salvation
Judgment and Salvation

Author: Dustin G. Burlet

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2022-11-03

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 166679547X

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This book contends the text of the Noachian deluge narrative categorically underscores all God did to preserve life in spite of the disaster. Despite the picture of devastation that the narrative depicts, the prominent emphasis of the text is on deliverance and redemption, i.e., salvation, not judgment. The focus of the Genesis flood is acutely bent towards God's salvific rather than punitive purposes. The arc of salvation within the flood narrative can be broken down into two main ideas. Firstly, God's intention for creation is not thwarted, and, secondly, God commits himself to his intentions of creation. God's intention for creation can be stated thus: the establishment of order via covenant showing the sanctity of human life and the upholding of all life. This involves, in particular, humanity as his image bearers, including the lex talionis (life-for-life) principle.

Illuminating Counsel
Illuminating Counsel

Author: Jonathan Teram

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2020-12-18

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1532672381

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Illuminating Counsel: How the Least Holy Books of the Hebrew Bible Explore Life’s Most Important Issues is a study of eleven books of the Hebrew Bible, known collectively as the Ketuvim, or “Writings.” Judaism considers these books to be less holy than the other books of the Hebrew Bible. Most people don’t even know the Jewish order of the books of the Hebrew Bible is different than the Christian order. Many people seem to think the Hebrew Bible is antiquated and has little relevance to modern life. Even Christians, who value the Hebrew Bible as “Holy Scripture,” tend to favor the New Testament. Herein it is argued that the least holy books of the Hebrew Bible are life-changing pieces of literature. Their poetry and prose cover virtually every emotion, every behavior, and every aspect of the human condition. They are as relevant to the committed nonreligious as they are to the religious. So, if you want to plunge the depths of literary sublimity; if you want to explore what it means to be human, to struggle with your mortality, to go through death’s dark valley and come out on the other side, to confront your pain and in so doing find healing, then I invite you to read on and discover how the Hebrew Bible illuminates counsel.

The Lure of Transcendence and the Audacity of Prayer
The Lure of Transcendence and the Audacity of Prayer

Author: Samuel E. Balentine

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Published: 2022-06-24

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 3161611039

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The discourse of prayer responds to the abiding lure of transcendence. From Gilgamesh to the primordial human beings in Eden to Odysseus, the quest for ultimate truths has summoned forth all manner of human effort - courageous, desperate, pious, impious, successful, failed, invited, forbidden - and like all such lures, one can never be certain whether the glimmer of transcendence is that of a bright and shining star that illuminates the shadows or only a shiny object that seduces one into an inescapable darkness (a fishing lure, for example). In this study, Samuel E. Balentine demonstrates how prayer's invocation of God transgresses the limits of human beings. The author shows how inviting, let alone commanding God to speak may be the "acme of bardic pretention," but in the ancient world such transgression characterizes the audacity of prayer.

The Persuasive Appeal of the Chronicler
The Persuasive Appeal of the Chronicler

Author: Rodney K. Duke

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 1990-01-01

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1850752281

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Drawing on ancient rhetorical principles, this work brings a novel approach to the exploration of the literary dynamics of the books of Chronicles. Contrary to those who have viewed the Chronicler as ploddy and dull, Duke maintains that the Chronicler understood the historiographical demands of his day. Utilizing traditions, genealogical material, speeches of authoritative characters and paradigmatic portrayal of events and characters, and moving from a cautious inductive presentation of his thesis to a more propositional form of argumentation, the Chronicler retold the story of Israel with skill and artistry.

1 & 2 Kings
1 & 2 Kings

Author: Lynn Jost

Publisher: MennoMedia, Inc.

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 151380264X

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Violence on the streets. Military expansion. Consumerism. Policies exploiting people and natural resources. Harassment and abuse: 1 & 2 Kings could hardly be more relevant. In the thirty-fourth volume of the Believers Church Bible Commentary series, Old Testament scholar Lynn Jost claims 1 & 2 Kings were written to form a community that would embrace the Ten Commandments and the Great Shema and would champion righteousness and compassion. Jost traces the characteristics of royal justice, with its systems of excess and indulgence, as well as the court intrigue, succession politics, interfamily rivalries, and prophetic judgment that mark the books. Through it all, Israel remains in a covenant relationship with a delivering God. Through it all, God calls the leaders and the people to practice justice, protect shalom, and live righteously. In vivid and accessible prose, Jost invites pastors, scholars, and lay readers to read 1 & 2 Kings as books of promise—ones that gesture toward a faithful God who rescues, judges, commands, and provides. About the Believers Church Bible Commentary series This readable commentary series is for all who seek more fully to understand the original message of Scripture and its meaning for today—Sunday school teachers, members of Bible study groups, students, pastors, and other seekers. –From the Series Foreword

Jeroboam's Royal Drama
Jeroboam's Royal Drama

Author: Keith Bodner

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-01-26

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 0199601879

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This book explores the characterization of Jeroboam in 1 Kings 11-14, tracing the rise and fall of this notorious figure. Close analysis of the Hebrew text reveals a literary achievement of great subtlety and suggests the arrival of Jeroboam's kingship can be read as a direct response to scandalous activity within the Solomonic empire.

The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity
The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity

Author: Nathan Lovell

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-02-11

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 0567695336

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Nathan Lovell proposes that 1 and 2 Kings might be read as a work of written history, produced with the explicit purpose of shaping the communal identity of its first readers in the Babylonian exile. By drawing on sociological approaches to the role historiography plays in the construction of political identity, Lovell argues the book of Kings is intended to reconstruct a sense of Israelite identity in the context of these losses, and that the book of Kings moves beyond providing a reason for the exile in Israel's history, and beyond even connecting its exilic audience to that history. The book recalls the past in order to demonstrate what it means to be Israel in the (exilic) present, and to encourage hope for the Israelite nation in the future. After developing a reading strategy for 1–2 Kings that treats the book as a coherent narrative, Lovell examines the construction of Israelite identity within Kings under the headings of covenant, nationhood, land, and rule. In each case he suggests that the narrative of the book creates room for a genuine but temporary expression of Israelite identity in exile: genuine to show that it remains possible for Israel to be Yahweh's people during the exile, but temporary to encourage hope for a future restoration.