The Former Prophets and historiography

Abstract

The books of the Former Prophets tell a connected history-like story. Beginning with triumphal conquest (Joshua), the story moves through premonarchic disorder (Judges) and the emergence of kingship (1 and 2 Samuel), to a moralizing description of the deeds of the kings of Israel and Judah, and finally to the catastrophic collapse of each kingdom (1 and 2 Kings). For the most part, this story is told and evaluated from a perspective derived from Deuteronomy. Despite the unity provided by thematic and chronological linkages, however, the final form of each of the four books also has its own authenticity as an independent literary work. CONNECTIONS AND DIVISIONS The connected narrative of the Former Prophets is established by plot linkages between the four books (and back to narratives reported in Deuteronomy), by the intermittent appearance of linguistic features rooted in the book of Deuteronomy, by an evolution of common themes, and by the binding force of pervasive structural patterns. The most evident book-to-book linkages include • Initiation in Deuteronomy of subjects that later unfold in Joshua: Joshua's task (Deut 1:38; 3:28; 31:3, 7; Josh 1:2–9), Canaanite fear (Deut 2:25; Josh 2:9–12), tribes east of the Jordan (Deut 3:18–20; Josh 1:12–15), and the death of the wilderness generation (Deut 1:35; 2:14–16; Josh 5:4–7). • From Deuteronomy 31:7–8; 34:1–6 to Joshua 1:1–9 (transition from Moses to Joshua). • From Joshua 24:29–31 to Judges 2:6–10 (death of Joshua and dismissal of the national assembly). • From Judges 13:1, 5; 15:20; 16:31 (Samson begins to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines for twenty of their forty-year oppression) to 1 Samuel 4:1–7:2 (further oppression by them) and then to 1 Samuel 7:7–14 (victorious exploits of Samuel). • From 2 Samuel 15–20 to 1 Kings 1 (sequential insurgencies of Absalom, Sheba, and Adonijah). Language and theology echoing Deuteronomy also provide connecting factors among these books. Deuteronomistic language is concentrated at points of theological commentary such as Joshua 1 and 23, 1 Samuel 12, 1 Kings 8, and 2 Kings 17. However, it is also extensively distributed in smaller interpretive units such as Joshua 2:10–11, Judges 2:7–23 and 10:6–8, 1 Kings 2:2–4, and the summary judgments on the kings of Israel and Judah. (Deuteronomistic language is markedly less visible in Samuel than elsewhere.) However, this does not mean that every element of Deuteronomy's theology is faithfully reproduced, especially with regard to kingship and the legitimacy of pre-Solomonic altars.