The Compositional History of the Book of Kings
An Analysis of the Evaluative Frameworks in 1 Kings 14–2 Kings 25
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Beschreibung
How did the book of Kings come to have its present shape? Samson Olanrewaju examines the formulas used to evaluate each Israelite and Judean king and argues that their variations reflect the work of successive scribes, from the ninth century BCE through the post-exilic period. The result is a new, stratified model of the composition of Kings.
Samson Olanrewaju investigates the composition of the book of Kings through an analysis of the formal regnal evaluations of Israelite and Judean kings found in 1 Kgs 14-2 Kgs 25*. Using source- and redaction-critical approaches, he postulates that the earliest edition of the book of Kings (Kings Edition0), commissioned by Amaziah's court in early eighth-century Judah, documents the reigns of Judean kings from Rehoboam through Jehoash ben Ahaziah. Kings Edition0 was subsequently updated with the accounts and evaluations of Amaziah, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, resulting in Kings Edition1.
Kings Edition1, a document produced by pro-Assyrian groups operating within Manasseh's court in seventh-century Judah, retained the Judah-centric orientation of its predecessor (Kings Edition0), concentrating on the reigns of Jehoash ben Ahaziah's successors rather than on synchronized lists of Judean and Israelite rulers. Such synchronizations were introduced in Kings Edition2, a sixth-century Deuteronomistic edition of the book of Kings produced by an exilic editor who was also responsible for the regnal evaluations of Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, Jehoahaz, and Jehoiakim as well as the northern entries of Nadab, Baasha, Omri, and Ahaziah.
Furthermore, the polemical references to idolatrous Judean bamot found in the regnal evaluations of "good" Judean kings are attributable to the Deuteronomistic editor of Kings Edition2. This early exilic edition of Kings subsequently evolved into Kings Edition3 through revisions and expansions undertaken by late/post-exilic redactors, who incorporated the northern entries of Jehoash, Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah as well as the southern entries of Abijam, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.
Autor*in
Samson Olanrewaju
Born 1986; 2025 PhD (Hebrew Bible) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Themen in »The Compositional History of the Book of Kings«
Ancient Israel Ancient Judah biblical redaction Book of Kings compositional history Deuteronomistic history exilic period Hebrew Bible Israelite kings Judean kings Old Testament redaction criticism regnal evaluations source criticism textual criticism