Counterfeit Davids: Davidic Restoration and the Architecture of 1-2 Kings

Abstract

1–2 Kings makes extensive use of what Moshe Garsiel has called ‘comparative structures’ in that the biographies of Jeroboam and Omri are analogous to David’s biography. Kings thus presents these kings as ‘counterfeit Davids’, and their dynasties as ‘counterfeit Davidic dynasties’. Further, the end of each of these counterfeit dynasties – the northern kingdom and the Omride dynasty – foreshadows the end of the Davidic dynasty in a number of particulars. Each dynasty’s end is, moreover, followed by a revival of the Davidic dynasty: the Omride dynasty is followed by the restoration under Joash, and the fall of the northern kingdom is followed by the reign of the reforming Hezekiah. In this, too, these dynasties foreshadow the end of the Davidic dynasty in 2 Kings 25, which is followed by the exaltation of Jehoiachin. Hence, 1–2 Kings consists of three embedded narratives – the story of the Davidic dynasty, the story of the northern kingdom, and the story of the Omride dynasty – and each of these has a similar shape. Each dynasty begins with a David-like figure; each ends in a similar fashion; and each is followed by a restoration of hope for the Davidic dynasty.