Historical Books

Abstract

Historical Books Christopher T. Begg, Atilla Bodor, Janet A. Timbie, and Francis M. Macatangay 2048. [Judges 17–21] David J. h. Beldman, The Completion of Judges: Strategies of Ending in Judges 17–21 (Siphrut 21; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2017). Pp. ix + 166. $39.50. ISBN 978-1-57506-496-3. The last five chapters of the Book of Judges (chaps. 17–21) contain some shocking and bizarre stories, and precisely how these relate to the rest of the book is a major question in scholarship. Drawing on literary and hermeneutical studies, B. reexamines Judges 17–21 with a view to discerning the "strategies of ending" that are at work in these chapters. Among these strategies identified by B. are what he calls "the strategy of completion," "the strategy of circularity," and "the strategy of entrapment." He also devotes attention to the temporal configuration and especially the non-linear chronology that chaps. 17–21 operate with. The result is a number of fresh insights into the place and function of Judges 17–21 in the context of the whole book. Framed by an introduction and a bibliography and indexes, B.'s book comprises five chapters as follows: (1) The Composition of Judges: A Selective Survey; (2) The End of the Narrative: Emplotment and the Configuration of Time in Narrative Theory; (3) Strategy of Circularity in Judges 17–21; (4) The Strategy of Entrapment in Judges 17–21; and (5) Narrative Temporality and the Strategy of Ending in Judges. [Adapted and expanded from published abstract—C.T.B.] 2049. [Samuel; Kings; Chronicles; Isaiah] A. Graeme Auld, Life in Kings: Reshaping the Royal Story in the Hebrew Bible (Ancient Israel and Its Literature 30; Atlanta: SBL Press, 2017). Pp. viii + 321. Paper $39.95. ISBN 978-1-62847-171-0. Building on a lifetime of research and writing, A. examines the passages in Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah that recount the same stories or contain similar vocabulary, all in order to advance his argument that Samuel and Kings were organic developments of a deftly crafted, prophetically interpreted, shared narrative he calls the Book of Two Houses—a work focused on the house of the David and the house of Yhwh in Jerusalem. A.'s critique of the dominant approach to the narrative books in the Hebrew Bible challenges the widely accepted relationship among Deuteronomy, cultic centralization, and King Josiah's reform. In reevaluating the prevailing understanding of the composition of the Book of Kings, A. also proposes a new understanding of key evidence in the ongoing debate about the historical development of Biblical Hebrew. At the end of his study, A. presents his reconstruction of the synoptic material within Kings in Hebrew together with an English translation. The book's 12 component chapters are titled respectively: (1) The Story So Far; (2) Life; (3) More Words; (4) God-King Communication in Jerusalem; (5) Cultic Matters: The Synoptic Tradition; (6) Toward the Synoptic Narrative; (7) Samuel Revisited; (8) Prophets and Kings in Israel; (9) Rewriting Judah's Kings; (10) Isaiah and Hezekiah; (11) Reading Written Kings; and (12) Shared Text Sampled. The work concludes with a bibliography and Hebrew Bible and author indexes. [Adapted and expanded from published abstract—C.T.B.] [End Page 673] 2050. [Samuel–Kings] Jan Rückl, A Sure House: Studies on the Dynastic Promise to David in the Books of Samuel and Kings (OBO 281; Fribourg: Academic Press; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2016). Pp. vi + 356. $138. ISBN 978-3-7278-1800-4 (Academic Press), 978-3-525-54407-5 (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht). This monograph is the published version of R.'s dissertation done under the auspices of the Charles University of Prague and the University of Lausanne, with M. Prudky and T. Römer as its co-directors. It studies the texts referring to the dynastic promise to David in the Books of Samuel and Kings, as well as in the "Law of the King" of Deut 17:14-20, with attention to the text-critical problems posed by the relevant texts. The emergence of 2 Sam 7:1-17 may be construed in two possible historical contexts. In the "exilic" period, the...