Hezekiah and the Compositional History of the Book of KingsThis study explores one of the oldest and most central issues of the Hebrew Bible -- the compositional history of 1--2 Kings. Its approach does not proceed from the assumption prevalent since the time of de Wette, namely, that the origins of 1--2 Kings should be explained through a process of Deuteronomistic literary redaction rooted in the Josianic reform. Rather, this study reads 1--2 Kings through the lens of other texts with similar genres existing in its historical context. More precisely, the texts under question belong to the genre of "chronography": kinglists, chronicles, and royal inscriptions, possessing similar or, in some cases, identical structures and motifs to those found in 1--2 Kings. This study includes a literary-critical analysis of every main structural feature of the regnal framework: regnal year totals, synchronisms, geographic filiations, naming the queen mother, source citations, death and burial formulae, regnal evaluations, royal predecessor-formula, and cultic reports. It also seeks to determine the extent of the original framework by mapping its opening and conclusion. The results of the study indicate that the framework's opening was in Solomon's account and its original climax was in Hezekiah's account and represented the latter as a royal YHWHist par excellence excellence, the restorer of order who limited sacrificial space to Jerusalem. The genealogical structure of this Hezekian History emerges from the Davidic royal ideology rooted in Jerusalem. There is no decisive indication that calls for the original framework structure's classification as Deuteronomistic or Josianic. The author of the framework wrote during the early-to-mid seventh century B.C.E. and reported the major historical events surrounding Hezekiah's reign, including the survival of Jerusalem in 701 B.C.E. -- in the B1 narrative -- as well as his centralizing reform. |
Contents
The Framework of Kings as | 46 |
The Basic Framework of Kings 62 | 62 |
The Regnal Evaluations | 124 |
The Cultic Reports | 178 |
Solomons Account and the Beginning | 208 |
The Story of the Division of the Kingdom | 266 |
The Evaluation of Hezekiahs Account | 319 |
5 78 | 343 |
34 | 381 |
The Hezekian History in Its Historical Context | 394 |
Final Conclusions | 411 |
The Hezekian History | 419 |
| 437 | |
| 469 | |
| 503 | |
The Story of the Deliverance of Jerusalem in 2 | 353 |
Common terms and phrases
Abijam Ahab Ahaz Ahaziah altar argued Assyrian B1 narrative Baal Baasha Babylonian bāmôt Book of Kings bronze serpent burial notice century B.C.E. Chronicles City of David context contrast cultic reports deities Deut Deuteronomistic Deuteronomistic History dynasty earlier epilogue eyes of YHWH fathers formulae framework of 1-2 framework of Kings Gibeon Heze Hezekiah's Hezekiah's account Hezekiah's reform HH-framework Ibid idem Isaiah Israel Israel and Judah Israelite Jehoram Jehoshaphat Jepsen Jeroboam Jerusalem Josiah's Judahite Judahite kings king of Judah kinglists kings of Israel later literary LXX 3 Reg LXX¹ Manasseh Marduk mention MT 1 Kgs Na'aman northern kings original pre-Dtr prologue Prophecy prophetic Provan Rabshakeh's redactional regnal regnal evaluations regnal year total Rehoboam royal inscriptions Samaria Samuel Seters Shechem Solomon source citations Spieckermann synchronisms synchronistic Talshir temple texts tion Trebolle Uzza verb Weippert Wellhausen worship YHWH YHWH's אֲשֶׁר דִּבְרֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מֶלֶךְ עָשָׂה