Prophets, Priests, and Promises : Essays on the Deuteronomistic History, Chronicles, and Ezra-Nehemiah

This volume presents collected essays of Gary N. Knoppers (19562018) on the historical books of the Hebrew Bible, among them seven thoroughly revised and eight newly published ones. An introduction by H.G.M. Williamson acknowledges their significance for Knoppers oeuvre. Shortly before his untimely death Gary Knoppers prepared a number of articles on the historical books in the Hebrew Bible for this volume. Many had not previously been published and the others were heavily revised. They combine a fine attention to historical method with sensitivity for literary-critical analysis, constructive use of classical as well as other sources for comparative evidence, and wide-ranging attention to economic, social, religious, and political circumstances relating in particular to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. Knoppers advances many new suggestions about significant themes in these texts, about how they relate one to another, and about the light they shed on the various communities’ self-consciousness at a time when new religious identities were being forged. Contents Preface Sources Abbreviations Introduction Part 1 History and Historiography in Ancient Judah Chapter 1 Constructing the Israelite Past in Ancient Judah (I) 1 Introductory Observations 2 Chronological Segmentation and Typology in Deuteronomistic Historiography Chapter 2 From Israel to Judah in the Deuteronomistic Writing: A History of Calamities? 1 Challenges Posed by Deuteronomy’s Mandate for the Unification of Yahwistic Worship 2 From the Steppes of Moab to the City of David 3 “Cast from My Presence”: The Promises Annulled? 4 From Solomon to the End of the Davidic Kingdom 5 Conclusions Chapter 3 Constructing the Israelite Past in Ancient Judah (II) 1 Introductory Observations 2 Selectivity and Segmentation in Ezra-Nehemiah 3 Selection and Segmentation in the Chronistic Writing 4 Conclusions Part 2 Mimesis, Prophetic Succession, and Scribal Prophecy Chapter 4 Synoptic Texts, Mimesis, and the Problem of “Rewritten Bible” 1 Old is Good: An Overview of Mimesis in the Ancient World 2 Reliving the Past? Examples of Mimetic Literature in the Ancient World 3 Rewritten Bible or Mimesis? 4 Out with the Old, In with the New: Disputes and Dangers in the Use of Mimesis 4.1 Parody 4.2 Plagiarism 5 Conclusions Chapter 5 Theft or Mimesis? The Non-Citation of Older Writings in Chronicles 1 Chronicles and Joshua 2 The Source Citations in Chronicles and in Kings 3 Conclusions Chapter 6 “As It is Written”: What Were the Chronicler’s Prophetic Sources? 1 Prophetic Sources in Chronicles: Recent Studies 2 Written Prophetic Works—Unity amid Diversity? 3 Prophetic Sources and the Evaluation of the Past 4 Conclusions Chapter 7 “Yhwh will Raise Up for You a Prophet like Me”: Prophetic Succession in Chronicles 1 Introduction 2 The Prophetic Legislation in Deuteronomy and Its Afterlife in Chronicles 3 Overview of Prophetic Succession in the Monarchy 4 The United Monarchy 5 The Judahite Monarchy from Rehoboam to Ahaz 6 Regeneration and Degeneration: From Hezekiah to the Babylonian Exile 7 Conclusions Part 3 David, the Torah, and the Temple Chapter 8 David’s Relation to Moses: The Contexts, Contents, and Conditions of the Davidic Promises 1 Temple, Dynasty, and People in 2 Samuel 7 2 Unconditional and Conditional: The Davidic Promises in Chronicles 3 Conditional and Promissory: The Davidic Promises in Psalm 132 4 Unconditional yet Renounced: The Davidic Promises in Psalm 89 5 Conclusions Chapter 9 Blood, Toil, and Treasure: Royal (Mis)appropriations in Samuel-Kings and Chronicles 1 The Deuteronomistic Depiction of the Monarchy 1.1 Solomon 1.2 The Dual Monarchies 1.3 The Babylonian Conquests 2 The Chronistic Writing 2.1 The United Monarchy 2.2 The Judahite Monarchy 2.3 The Babylonian Exile(s) 2.4 Renewal in the Persian Period Chapter 10 Yhwh’s Rejection of the House Built for His Name: On the Significance of Anti-temple Rhetoric in the Deuteronomistic History 1 Israel in Exile: The Last Petition in Solomon’s Prayer 2 “Once So Exalted”: The Temple in the Second Theophany to Solomon 3 Do Manasseh’s Sins Level the Differences between Israel and Judah? 4 Conclusions Part 4 From Exile to Diaspora Chapter 11 Defeat, Depopulation, and Displacement: The Judahite Exile of the Eighth Century BCE 1 Judah’s Demise in the Context of Monarchic History 2 Judah Much Diminished: The Reign of Ahaz (743–728 BCE) 3 From “Terror and Desolation” to Renewal: The Reign of Hezekiah (727–698 BCE) 4 Hezekiah’s Reign in Context 5 Conclusions Chapter 12 “Wrath without Remediation”: The Babylonian Exile and the Question of Immediate Retribution in Chronicles 1 Immediate Retribution vs. Accumulation of Guilt 2 “He Humbled Himself Greatly”: Manasseh (697–642 BCE) 3 The Early Manasseh Redivivus: Amon (642–640 BCE) 4 “He Walked in the Ways of David his Ancestor”: Josiah (639–609 BCE) 5 A Private Exodus to Egypt: Jehoahaz (609 BCE) 6 Banished to Babylon: Jehoiakim (609–598 BCE) 7 A Personal Exile: Jehoiachin (598–597 BCE) 8 The Democratization of Responsibility for Exile under Zedekiah (597–586 BCE) 9 Conclusions Chapter 13 Whodunit? The Unlikely Disappearance of Zerubbabel 1 A Restoration Realized or a Restoration Rejected? 2 Royal Davidic Hopes in the Persian/Early Hellenistic Period 3 Royal Ideology in Ezra-Nehemiah: Native or Imperial? 4 A New Axis Mundi for Judah 5 Conclusions Chapter 14 Argumentum e silentio? Mizpah and Ramat Raḥel in Ezra-Nehemiah 1 The Problem 1.1 Tell en-Naṣbeh (Mizpah) 1.2 Ramat Raḥel 1.3 Ramat Raḥel and Mizpah in Ezra-Nehemiah 2 Four Possible Reasons for the Silence 3 Ezra-Nehemiah’s Reorientation of the Centre and the Periphery Chapter 15 Ethnicity and Change: The Judean Communities of Babylon and Jerusalem in the Story of Ezra 1 The Genealogy of Identity: Introducing the Person and Mission of Ezra 2 Teaching and Practicing Torah in the Homeland 3 Ethnicity, Geography, and Community Identity 4 Conclusions Index of Ancient Sources "Shortly before his untimely death Gary Knoppers prepared a number of articles on the historical books in the Hebrew Bible for this volume. Many had not previously been published and the others were heavily revised. They combine a fine attention to historical method with sensitivity for literary-critical analysis, constructive use of classical as well as other sources for comparative evidence, and wide-ranging attention to economic, social, religious, and political circumstances relating in particular to the Persian and early Hellenistic periods. Knoppers advances many new suggestions about significant themes in these texts, about how they relate one to another, and about the light they shed on the various communities' self-consciousness at a time when new religious identities were being forged"-- Page 4 de la couverture