Preliminary Material -- Introduction -- The Sins of Jeroboam -- Jeroboam, Prophecy, and Josiah -- The Fall of Jeroboam -- Innovation as Renovation: Josiah and 'The Scroll of the Torah ' -- Josiah's Reforms: Recovering The Davidic-Solomonic Kingdom -- Cult and Kingdom: The Deuteronomistic Presentation of the Monarchy -- Bibliography -- Index of Citations -- Index of Authors.
This book offers a new analysis of Nathan's Oracle in 2 Samuel 7 and its echoes in the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. First, it deals separately with the main issues raised in 2 Samuel 7: the disqualification of David as temple builder and the nature of the Divine promise made to him that the House of David will rule forever. In dealing with both elements similar texts from the Ancient Near East are consulted. After a thorough analysis of these two elements, an intertextual study is offered in which the allusions to Nathan's Oracle in the Books Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are discussed. The purpose is to define the various functions of these allusions or echoes. This evaluation takes into account the changing circumstances of the Davidic dynasty, as well as the different agendas of the books in which Nathan's Oracle is incorporated in.
Current scholarly debate over the historical character of David’s rule generally considers the biblical portrait to represent David as king of Judah first, and subsequently over “all Israel.” The ninth-century Tel Dan inscription, which refers to the “House of David” (byt dwd), is often taken as evidence for the dynasty of Judah. Mahri Leonard-Fleckman argues, however, that references to Judah in the story of David as king do not suffice to constitute a coherent stratum of material about Judah as a political entity. Comparing the “house of . . .” terminology in the ninth-century Tel Dan inscription with early first-millennium Assyrian usage, then giving close examination to the “house of David” materials in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings, she understands the “house of David” as a small body politic connected to David, but distinct from any Judean dynastic context. One implication is that the identification of Judah as a later southern kingdom may have less to do with an Israelite secession from Jerusalem than with an Israelite rejection of David’s lineage and the subsequent redactional creation of Judah-centric language on the part of a Davidic coterie. Leonard-Fleckman’s arguments suggest a rethinking of the rise of monarchy in Israel.
This book rethinks the problem of Israelite kingship by examining how the male royal body and its self-presentation figured in the governance of the dual monarchies of Israel and Judah. As such, this is a reopening of old questions and an opening to new ones.
This volume contains 20 articles by leading scholars on the king and Messiah, mostly in the Old Testament, but also in the ancient Near East and post-biblical Judaism and New Testament. This volume is a major contribution to the study of kingship and messianism in the Old Testament in particular, but also in the ancient Near East more generally, and in post-biblical Judaism and the New Testament. It contains contributions by 20 scholars originally presented to the Oxford Old Testament Seminar. Part I, on the ancient Near East, has contributions by John Baines and W.G. Lambert. Part II, on the Old Testament, has essays by John Day, Gary Knoppers, Alison Salvesen, Carol Smith, Katharine Dell, Deborah Rooke, S.E. Gillingham, H.G.M. Williamson, J.G. McConville, Knut Heim, Paul Joyce, Rex Mason, John Barton and David Reimer. Part III, on post-biblical Judaism and the New Testament, is by William Horbury, George Brooke, Philip Alexander and Christopher Rowland. This noteworthy volume has many fresh insights and is essential reading for all concerned with kingship and messianism.
Assyria—the missing link in the superpower oppressor type in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament—still suffers from modern scholarly neglect. The Characterization of an Empire aims to alleviate this neglect while also elucidating the historical biblical books that convey characterizations of Assyrians. The narratological insights gained throughout this study contribute to biblical literary studies at rigorous, detailed, sometimes deep, and sometimes complex levels. Thus, this book offers to be not only a contribution to the general corpus of biblical literary studies, but also an expansion of our paradigms regarding the detail, depth, and complexity at which narratological intention and artistry function in the biblical text.
Joseph examines the narrative techniques used in the Deuteronomistic History to portray Israels kings. While David is constructed as a model of adherence to the covenant, Jeroboam is constructed as the ideal opposite; other kings are characterized along one or the other of these two models. The narrative functions didactically, instructing kings and the people of Judah regarding the consequences of disobedience. Joseph identifies differences between pre-exilic and exilic redactions in the Deuteronomistic History, offering a deepened understanding of the worldview and theology of this important biblical work.
