Introduction to the Deuteronomistic History

1
Introduction to the Deuteronomistic History

• APTS-BIB509-2006

2
1. Terminology

• 1.1 "The traditional terminology of the Hebrew
  Bible included the books of Joshua, Judges,
  Samuel, and Kings within the second part of the
  Hebrew canon, which was designated 'Prophets'.
  That this division was at least as early as the
  Hellenistic period is testified to by the
  Prologue to the book of Sirach, and by Josephus,
  Philo, and the NT. The further traditional
  canonical division within the Prophets of the
  'former' and 'later' distinguished the first four
  historical books from the prophetic books of
  Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve. This
  terminology first emerged in the Middle Ages (cf.
  Sotah 48b).

Former Prophets
3
1. Terminology

• However, the two references in Zechariah to the
  'former prophets' (1.4 7.7) offer a certain
  biblical warrant for the later terminology."
  Childs, IOTS, 230
• Zech. 1.4 "Do not be like your ancestors, to whom
  the former prophets proclaimed, "Thus says the
  LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and
  from your evil deeds." But they did not hear or
  heed me, says the LORD."
• Zech 7.7 "Were not these the words that the LORD
  proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem
  was inhabited and in prosperity, along with the
  towns around it, and when the Negeb and the
  Shephelah were inhabited?"

4
1. Terminology

• 1.2 "The deuteronomic history is a shorthand
  designation of fairly recent vintage for the
  books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, with
  Deuteronomy often recognized as the introduction
  to them. It has been common to refer to these
  books as The Former Prophets because of the
  important role the prophetic word plays in the
  narrative. Perhaps most commonly, however, the
  general label of Historical Books has been
  given to them, because of their obvious concern
  to relate the history of Israel from the entrance
  into the land to the time of the Babylonian
  exile." Fretheim, Deuteronomic History, 15-16

Deuteronomic History Deuteronomistic History
Historical Books
5
1. Terminology

• Antony F. Campbell's hypothesis of a prophetic
  source and redaction in his Of Prophets and
  Kings A Late Ninth-Century Document (1 Samuel
  1-2 Kings 10), Washington, D.C. The Catholic
  Biblical Association of America, 1986. "The
  Fundamental purpose of this study is threefold
  firstly, to present the evidence for an early
  document, extending from 1 Sam 11 to 2 Kgs 1028
  and deriving from northern prophetic circles
  toward the end of the ninth century B.C.
  secondly, to identify the text of this document,
  without appeal to emendation or dislocation of
  the present OT text and thirdly, to consider its
  significance and some of the consequences which
  derive from it." Campbell, A Late Ninth-Century
  Document, 1

6
2. Continuous History Gen 2 Kgs

• 1. "First of all, the book of Joshua resumes the
  story at the point where Deuteronomy ends. Deut
  34 tells of the death of Moses and his burial in
  an unknown grave in Moab. The book of Joshua
  begins with the account of Joshua's assumption of
  leadership after the death of Moses." Hayes, An
  Introduction to OT Study, 202

7
2. Continuous History Gen 2 Kgs

• 2. "Secondly, much of the Pentateuch assumes what
  in the story only becomes reality in Joshua - the
  possession of the land." Hayes, An Introduction
  to OT Study, 203
• 3. "Thirdly, parallel and often contradictory
  traditions in the Former Prophets have been
  viewed as evidence of parallel sources or
  documents." Hayes, An Introduction to OT Study,
  203

8
3. Canonical Shape

• 3.1 Close but distinct relations to the
  Pentateuch
• 3.1.1 "...in the final form of the Hebrew Bible
  the first five books have been clearly separated
  from the subsequent history as a Pentateuch . . .
  the final shape of the Hebrew canon is
  unambiguous in maintaining the literary integrity
  of the Pentateuch." Childs, IOTS, 232-3

9
3. Canonical Shape

• 3.1.2 "The book of Joshua does not function
  simply as an extension of the book of
  Deuteronomy. Rather, Joshua cites Deuteronomy in
  its canonical form as the 'Book of the Torah'
  (se4per hattora4h). Moreover, within the canon
  Deuteronomy is never assigned an integrity all
  its own apart from the laws of Exodus. This means
  that Joshua's references to Deuteronomy includes
  the entire law which is now encompassed within
  the Pentateuch." Childs, IOTS, 233

10
3. Canonical Shape

• 3.2 The Relation of Joshua to the other
  Historical Books
• 3.2.1 "The history of the nation from its
  conquest of the land to its destruction by the
  Babylonians is not arranged according to a clear
  literary pattern of prophecy and fulfillment."
  Childs, IOTS, 234

11
3. Canonical Shape

• 3.2.2 ". . . theological interpretation of
  Israel's history in terms of the working out of
  the stipulations of the Book of the Law."
  Childs, IOTS, 234
• 3.2.3 ". . . at crucial points in the history
  long 'Deuteronomic' speeches are inserted, which
  interpret theologically the course of Israel's in
  the light of the Book of the Law (Deut 27f Josh
  1.2ff 22.1ff Judg 2.6ff 1 Sam 12 1 Kgs 8 2
  Kgs 17 24)." Childs, 234

12
4. History Historiography

• 4.1 Definition of History
• "History is the intellectual form in which a
  civilization renders account to itself of its
  past." Huizinga's definition in Van Seters,
  John, In Search of History, 1
• "In its most comprehensive sense history may be
  said to furnish a description of phenomena in
  process of continuous change of all that has
  happened in human life and in natural life."
  Harrison, IOT, 291

13
4. History Historiography

• 4.2 Types of Historical Writing
• "Narrative. The simplest form of narrative
  history consists of annals but even annals, by
  what they record and by what they leave
  unrecorded, afford some key to outlook of the
  annalist.... It is objective, it never moralizes,
  and yet it leaves the impression that the writer
  was fully aware that David's trouble with his
  sons was due to his own lack of self-discipline,
  though this is never said." North, C.R.,
  "History," IDB, 2, 608

14
4. History Historiography

• 4.2 Types of Historical Writing
• "Didactic. Most OT historical writing is
  didactic, 'history with a purpose.' This applies
  particularly to the historical retrospects in
  Deuteronomy and to the books of Judges and Kings
  . . . . The Deuteronomic historians were more
  concerned to point the moral for their
  contemporaries than to give an unbiased account
  of the past." North, C.R., "History," IDB, 2,
  608

15
4. History Historiography

• 4.2 Types of Historical Writing
• "Scientific. A modern academic historian must
  write as well as he can, but he is more concerned
  to show how events are related to the
  economic-social and spiritual movements from
  which they derive, than to be entertaining or
  instructive. The last thing he will do is
  moralize, though he may, if his work is on a big
  canvas, attempt a philosophy of history.' Of
  this genetic' type of history there is nothing
  in the OT...." North, C.R., "History," IDB, 2,
  608

16
4. History Historiography

• 4.3 Ways to identify history writing in ancient
  Israel
• 4.3.1 Van Seters, John, In Search of History,
  4-5
• History writing is a specific form of tradition
  in its own right. Any explanation of the genre as
  merely the accidental accumulation of traditional
  material is inadequate.
• History writing is not primarily the accurate
  reporting of past events. It also considers the
  reason for recalling the past and the
  significance given to past events.

17
4. History Historiography

• History writing examines the causes of present
  conditions and circumstances. In antiquity these
  causes are primarily moral-who is responsible for
  a state of affairs? (It goes without saying, of
  course that modern scientific theories about
  causation or laws of evidence cannot be applied
  to the ancient writer.)

18
4. History Historiography

• History writing is national or corporate in
  character. Therefore, merely reporting the deeds
  of the king may be only biographical unless these
  are viewed as part of the national history.
• History writing is part of the literary tradition
  and plays a significant role in the corporate
  tradition of the people.

19
4. History Historiography

• 4.3.2 DeVries, Simon J., Word Biblical
  Commentary 1 Kings (xxxiii)
• It must derive its information from authenticated
  sources, treating this information with due
  respect and discretion
• It must trace an organic line of development from
  beginning to end
• It must show the interaction of cause and effect
  in a realistic way and
• It must offer a believable and essentially
  reliable portrait of the persons involved.

20
4. History Historiography

• 4.3.3 Historical and Chronological Genres
• King Lists
• Royal Inscriptions
• Chronicles
• Dtr History "The genius of the Dtr history is
  that it attempted such a wide-ranging integration
  of forms in order to set forth within one work
  the whole foundation of Israelite society." van
  Seters, In Search of History, 357

21
5. One Comprehensive History

• 5.1 The Unity of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges,
  Samuel and Kings
• "The purpose of this work is basically hortatory
  (exhortation), and in that sense it is continuous
  with the book of Deuteronomy, which is often
  described as 'preached law.'" Fretheim,
  Deuteronomic History, 18

22
5. One Comprehensive History

• 5.2 The Word of God and its Fulfillment
• "...first the word of God is reported by a
  prophet, then a description of events follows
  with the explicit statement that these events
  happened according to the word of the God' (or a
  statement similar in meaning) appears to be
  operating in the relationship between the two
  largest segments of the work. The first
  segmentation of the Deuteronomic History results
  in separating the Book of Deuteronomy from Joshua
  - 2 Kgs. We thereby see that Deuteronomy, in that
  it is almost totally a number of Mosaic speeches,
  functions as an expression of the prophetic word
  of God, and that Joshua-2 Kgs mainly recounts
  events that constitute its exactly observed
  fulfillment." Polzin, Moses and the
  Deuteronomist, 19

23
5. One Comprehensive History

• "The Book of Deuteronomy contains thirty-four
  chapters. Almost all of the book consists of
  reported speech, mostly in direct discourse and
  mostly of Moses, whereas only about fifty-six
  verses are reporting speech, the Deuteronomic
  narrator's, which forms the context for Moses
  direct utterances. On the other hand, Joshua - 2
  Kgs is predominantly reporting speech, that of
  the narrator, with a significantly smaller amount
  of reported speech scattered throughout.
  (However, here the disproportion between
  reporting and reported speech is not as great as
  in Deuteronomy.) In Deuteronomy, reported speech
  of its hero is emphasized in Joshua -

24
5. One Comprehensive History

• 2 Kgs, the reporting speech of its narrator is
  dominant. It is as though the Deuteronomist is
  telling us in Deuteronomy, 'Here is what God has
  prophesied concerning Israel,' but in Joshua - 2
  Kgs, 'This how God's word has been exactly
  fulfilled in Israel's history from the settlement
  to the destruction of Jerusalem." Polzin, R.
  Moses and the Deuteronomist, 19
• "...the general point of view of Joshua - 2 Kgs
  taken as a whole how Israel's history is
  dependent upon the word of God that is the Book
  of Deuteronomy." Polzin, R. Moses and the
  Deuteronomist, 20

25
5. One Comprehensive History

• 5.3 Deuteronomy as the Repository of Standards
  for Historical Analysis
• "The most important of these are the graciousness
  of Yahweh's covenant, the evils of idolatry and a
  Non-centralized cult, and the inevitability of
  punishment and reward. The primary covenant is
  the one made by Moses. The Abrahamic, Joshuanic,
  and Davidic covenants are always secondary to it.
  Thus the king is always thought of as subordinate
  to the covenant...." Freedman, D.N. IBDSupp,
  227

26
5. One Comprehensive History

• "If DHEd accepted the promise of the land to the
  fathers, he regarded it only as a simple promise,
  to be fulfilled once, and therefore largely
  devoid of content after the Conquest. His hopes
  are pinned exclusively to the Josianic reforms
  and the adherence to the Mosaic covenant they
  imply." Freedman, IDBSupp, 227

27
6. Major Themes

• 6.1 Judgment Martin Noth
• "For him, the corpus was designed only to show
  that God's actions leading to the destruction of
  Israel and Judah were justified. Thus, the past
  was used only in order to explain the present,
  and no hope was articulated for the future."
  Fretheim, Deuteronomic History, 19

28
6. Major Themes

• 6.2 Repentance von Rad
• "He understood the materials not fundamentally to
  be a history of Israel, but to be an account of
  the word of God as it functioned within the
  ongoing life of Israel. Thus, Yahweh's word is
  active in the history of Judah, creating that
  history, and that in a double capacity (1) as
  law, judging and destroying (2) as gospel, i.e.,
  in the David prophecy, which was constantly being
  fulfilled - saving and forgiving.'" Fretheim,
  Deuteronomic History, 19

29
6. Major Themes

• "Thus, there is a fusion of the Mosaic and
  Davidic traditions, and the result is a
  relatively simple message for the people of God
  Repent, and trust God's promise, which will not
  fail. The instructional and hortatory language
  make sense only if there is hope for the future."
  Fretheim, Deuteronomic History, 19

30
6. Major Themes

• 6.3 Repentance Wolff
• "Wolff emphasized the repentance theme, and
  demonstrated the important role it played in key
  passages (1 Kgs 8.46-53). He would disagree with
  von Rad, however regarding the specific character
  of the hope. Wolff would stress that certain
  passages (1 Kgs 2.3-4 9.5-7) makes the Davidic
  covenant conditional upon obedience, and because
  of the kings' disobedience, this covenant was no
  longer in force. hence, uncertainties reign at
  the end of 2 Kgs (25.27-30), which contains no
  allusion to any Davidic covenant. In the absence
  of any specific hope, Israel could only trust
  that, given God's response to repentant people in
  the past, there would be a

31
6. Major Themes

• comparable response in the future God would
  hear and forgive (1 Kgs 8.34ff)." Fretheim,
  "Deuteronomic History, 19-20
• Deut 30.1-10 (Note especially vv2, 8, 10 bwv)

32
6. Major Themes

• 6.4 Good Brueggemann
• Deut 30.1-10 (Note especially v9, bwj)
• "...alongside the 'repentance' motif a
  counter-theme which motivates Israel to repent
  and which offers promises and assurances to
  Israel when she repents. This dimension of
  Kerygma is found in the word 'good'."
  Brueggemann, "The Kerygma of the Deuteronomistic
  Historian," Interpretation, XXII, 10-1968, 387

33
6. Major Themes

• Manifested in
• Israel as the doer of good gt Covenant
  Responsibility Deut 5.28 18.17 1 Sam 12.23 1
  Kgs 8.36 2 Kgs 20.3.
• Israel as the recipient of good Deut 30.15 (good
  life) 30.5,9.
• Land as good
• Good in the word Jos 21.45 23.14ff 1 Kgs 8.56.
• Davidic house as vehicle for good

34
6. Major Themes

• 6.5 No other gods Fretheim
• "...that the first (and second, in the reformed
  numbering) commandment (i.e., Deut 5.7-10)
  together with a certain understanding of God,
  constitutes the heart of the concern of the
  deuteronomic historian." Fretheim, Deuteronomic
  History, 21
• "A key question raised by the exile is stated 1
  Kgs 9.8 and Deut 29.24ff. Why has the Lord done
  thus to this land and to this house?'.... The
  focus of the response is on unfaithfulness to
  God, manifested fundamentally in the worship of
  other gods." Fretheim, Deuteronomic History, 21

35
6. Major Themes

• 6.5 No other gods Fretheim
• "The language of 'forsaking' the covenant is
  oriented, almost exclusively, in terms of the
  first commandment. (Deut 29.25-26 Josh 23.16
  Deut 17.2-3 31.16,20 Judg 2.20 1 Kgs 11.9-11
  2 Kgs 17.15)" Fretheim, Deuteronomic History,
  22

36
7. The Structure of the Histroy

• "According to Noth, the deuteronomistic historian
  divided the history of Israel into five major
  periods (1) the history of the Mosaic period,
  (2) the period of the conquest, (3) the age of
  the Judges, (4) Saul, David, and Solomon, (5) the
  era of Israelite and Judean kings." Hayes, An
  Introduction to Old Testament Study, 208
• "In the first, the editor provides the original
  book of Deuteronomy with an introduction (Deut
  1-3DH 4.1-40PHEd) and various epilogues (27,
  29-34).... Part two of the work, the book of
  Joshua, narrates the conquest of Canaan.... The
  third part of DH (Judges - 1 Sam

37
7. The Structure of the Histroy

• 7) describes the difficulties of pre-monarchic
  Israel and traces the origins of the monarchy....
  Part four details the rise of monarchic
  government and its greatest glories (1 Sam 7 - 1
  Kgs 8). The concluding section (1 Kgs 9 - 2 Kgs
  23.25) reviews the progressive decline of the
  divided' monarchy." Freedman, "Deuteronomic
  History, The," IDBSupp, 226