The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles

Abstract

The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles, by Isaac Kalimi. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2005. Pp. xii + 473. $44.50 (hardcover). ISBN 1575060582. The question of how Israelite historiographical writers might have used earlier is an intriguing one, and an obvious place to begin examining the question is with Samuel-Kings and Chronicles. It is widely (though not universally) believed that the writer of 1-2 Chronicles used 1-2 Samuel and 1-2 Kings as his major (or even exclusive) source. One can hardly say that the relationship between these writings has been neglected, but up to now there has been full study of how the Chronicler used Samuel-Kings. Isaac Kalimi has filled this gap with a detailed and comprehensive catalogue of the way in which the Chronicler worked. The study originally appeared in German in 1995 and in Hebrew in 2000, but the English version has been revised and expanded with additional bibliography and material and can thus be considered a new edition. Kalimi begins with an introductory chapter that explains what he is setting out to do and surveys the present state of research on the question. He also notes some methodological points, mainly focusing on the question of whether the textual version of Samuel-Kings likely to have been used by the Chronicler was the same as the MT. Although he discusses the Septuagint version to some extent, he decides to use the MT of both Samuel-Kings and Chronicles. This is a point that could be debated at greater length (especially in light of the Qumran Cave 4 material), but one has to accept that Kalimi has made a legitimate decision. Where one could have wished for greater discussion, however, concerns the relationship between Samuel-Kings and Chronicles: Is it a case of dependence of the latter on the former? A. Graeme AuId recently revived the hypothesis that both depended on a common source longer extant (Kings without Privilege: David and Moses in the Story of the Bible's Kings [Edinburgh: T&T Clark 1994]). Kalimi dismisses this with a single sentence in a footnote (p. 4 n. 11). Auld may be wrong-few seem to have followed him in this interpretation-but as a recent serious proposal it should have been given a proper discussion by Kalimi. After his introductory chapter, most of the rest of the study is devoted to considering the different ways in which the Chronicler has adapted the text of Samuel-Kings (chs. 1-19). Each chapter looks at a particular mode of exegesis or adaptation, such as historiographical revision, additions, omissions, harmonization, allusion, creation of chiasms, creation of inclusion, simile, and numerical patterns. A number of the chapters are further subdivided into a particular sort of the technique in question (e.g., revision, harmonization), but each type of revision is illustrated with a number of examples. These are well presented and clearly explained. The study will serve as a database of examples for further research or for teaching. It is a well-catalogued and extremely useful collection of material. Chapter 20 is different from those that precede it. Having shown the Chronicler's mastery of his historiographical-literary method in nineteen chapters, Kalimi then shows where the ancient author was deficient by giving examples of inconsistency, disharmony, and historical mistakes. The final chapter draws a number of conclusions. A major emphasis is the literary creativity of the author: no longer is he to be viewed as a passive scribe-copier but as an inspired artist with a variegated range of literary and historiographical talent-a skilled professional historian with sophisticated writing methods at his disposal (p. 407). He was thus also acting in some way analogously to a historian, in that he drew on his sources to create a historical narrative (even if we regard his product as far removed from history in a modern sense). …