Exodus (Word Biblical Themes) 9780310115014, 9780849907937, 0310115019

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
PREFACE
THE THEME OF EXODUS: GOD IS, HERE
THE SEQUENCE OF STORY
THE SEQUENCE OF REQUIREMENT
THE SEQUENCE OF MEMORY
NOTES
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX OF SCRIPTURES

Citation preview

General Editor

David A. Hubbard Old Testament Editor

John D. W. Watts New Testament Editor

Ralph P. Martin

WORD BIBLICAL THEMES Exodus JOHN DURHAM

ZONDERVAN ACADEM IC

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC Exodus Copyright © 1990 by Word, Incorporated Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-11501-4 (softcover) Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Durham, John I. Exodus: John I. Durham. p.  cm. Includes bibliographical references and index [if applicable]. ISBN 978-0-849-90793-7 1. Bible. O.T. Exodus—­Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. II. Series. BS1245.2.D87 1990 222’.1206—dc20090-37368 Unless otherwise indicated, quotations from the Bible in this volume are the author’s own translation. Those from the book of Exodus are from the author’s volume, Word Biblical Commentary/Exodus, vol. 3. Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—­electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—­except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 /LSC/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In grateful memory of John Isaac and Lula Frances Durham and in glad appreciation of Doc and DeDa Bailey, Parentes O m nes

CONTENTS

Foreword Preface 1. T he Them e of Exodus: G od Is, H ere 2. T he Sequence o f Story G od keeping his promise G od revealing his Presence G od proving his Presence G od providing and guiding by his Presence G od presenting his Presence Israel responding to G od’s Presence G od setttles down in Israel’s m idst 3. T he Sequence of Requirem ent How the requirem ents are applied to life Yahweh’s principles for covenant life w ith his Presence T he application o f Yahweh’s principles Yahweh’s restatem ent o f his principles 4. T he Sequence o f M emory Two lists of special names Contents

ix xi 1 9 12 18 29 46 56 66 79 81 84 86 89 93 97 100 vii

Two rituals of remembrance Three hymns of remembrance T he places, the objects, the persons, the acts of remembrance Notes Selected Bibliography Index of Scriptures

viii

104 108 112 123 127 129

EXODUS

FOREWORD

Finding the great themes of the books of the Bible is essential to the study of G od’s W ord and to the preaching and teaching of its truths. These themes and ideas are often like precious gems: they lie beneath the surface and can only be discovered w ith some difficulty. Commentaries are m ost useful to this discovery process, b u t they are n o t usually designed to help the reader to trace im portant subjects systematically w ithin a given book of Scripture. This series, Quick-Reference Bible Topics, addresses this need by bringing together, w ithin a few pages, all of w hat is contained in a biblical book on the subjects that are thought to be most significant to that book. A companion series to the W ord Biblical Commentary, this series distills the theo­ logical essence of a book of Scripture as interpreted in the more technical series and serves it up in ways th at will en­ rich the preaching, teaching, worship, and discipleship of G od’s people. Exodus is an exciting, eventful book. John D urham ’s commentary on Exodus in the W ord Biblical Commentary Foreword

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series (vol. 3) showed how the presence o f G od w ith his people is a major concern o f the book of Exodus. Now he has moved beyond th at to w rite about this and other fea­ tures that make Exodus the im portant book th at it is. T he preacher and the teacher, as well as earnest Bible students, will find insights here th at will make reading, teaching, and preaching texts from Exodus easier and more meaningful. This can help make the W ord of G od “come alive.” Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky

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John D.W. W atts O ld Testament Editor Word Biblical Commentary Quick-Reference Bible Topics

EXODUS

PREFACE

T he com pletion in 1984 o f my W ord Biblical Com m en­ tary on Exodus, despite its bulk, left me still w ith things I w anted to say about this soaring second book in the Bible th at is in them atic term s so fully the first book of the Bible. I felt myself w anting to provide, in a m ore compact form, a survey o f the varied expressions o f the central theological them e of the book o f Exodus, the Presence o f G od in th e life o f his own people. I was also eager to share, in a brief and nontechnical presentation, a summary o f the seven years o f w ork presented in the translation, supporting notes, and commentary of th at W BC Exodus. John W atts’s invitation in May of 1988 to prepare this volume gave me the opportunity to do precisely th a t (In these pages, w hen the W ord Biblical Commentary volume is referred to, it will be identified as W BC 3— W ord Biblical Commentary, Volume 3.) As always, there are many to whom a debt of gratitude, far surpassing courtesy, m ust be extended. First and foremost, I must express my appreciation to, as well as for, my wife Betty, who was a partner in this writing as she is in every dimension Preface

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of my life. Hers is a lovely companionship of nurture that engages every day of life as a gift that is brand-new. To my caring congregation, the Greenwich Baptist C hurch, I am grateful for a measure o f affirmation and tru st that keeps me wanting to say and teach more this week than last week. A nd to my secretary M rs. M arian Lein who typed all this from my penciled scribble while fulfilling a wide range of additional duties, I here record my thanks. I have sought to provide, in the pages that follow, enough references to the text o f Exodus to enable the reader to “keep the place”— my suggestion is that the biblical text be kept in one hand as this volume is read in the other hand. I have w ritten in the hope that the reader might be guided in reading w ith understanding the text of Exodus, for which neither this book nor any other can ever be any substitute. W hen Moses protested to Yahweh his limitations of articularity in the face of w hat he was expected to do in Egypt, Yahweh rem inded him, “W ho p ut a m outh on a man? W ho makes him m ute or deaf or able to see or blind? Is it n ot I, Yahweh? Now get going. . . . ”

(Exod4:ll, 12a) I believe I know how Moses felt before this rem inder. I know how he felt after it. John I Durham June 1989 Greenwich, Connecticut

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EXODUS

1 THE THEME OF EXODUS: GOD IS, HERE

The book of Exodus begins in the book o f Genesis. T here it is that Israel and his sons, faced w ith famine, travel dow n from Canaanland to the Delta of Egypt, where the good management of one of their own has created a surplus food bank. They journey w ithout knowing th at it is Joseph who will be their benefactor, w ithout awareness th at G od has gone to Egypt before them all. Joseph knows, and in due course he says to his brothers, “You did not send me here, it was G od” (Gen 45:8), and “you had in m ind harm ing me— G od had in m ind something good” (Gen 50:20). To Joseph, the dreamer, the incredible history of his life in Egypt am ounted to more than fortunate coincidence. G od had sent him ahead of the brothers as a means of snatching life from death (Gen 45:5), to preserve his people of purpose (Gen 45:7) for an undertaking o f a proportion too vast for even Joseph to have dream t T he scope of that undertaking is suggested in the call o f A bra­ ham (Gen 12:1-3). Its need is dramatized in th e primeval The Theme of Exodus

1

history o f Genesis 1-11 and powerfully presented by the open ending of the Babel story th at concludes it (Gen 11:1— 9). Its reason lies in G od’s patient passion for the hum an family he has made. Its end lies beyond anything Joseph, o r even we ourselves, can have thought, and it will be in proc­ ess as long as the hum an family continues its exciting and creative existence. So it is th at the book of Exodus continues the narrative o f the book o f Genesis by telling us w hat has occurred since Joseph expressed the wish, on his deathbed, th at he be in­ cluded in the trip back from Egypt to the land prom ised to his fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This return trip is simply assumed by Joseph as inevitable (Gen 50:22-26). T he opening lines of the book of Exodus rem ind us, by repeating in summary form the genealogy of Genesis 46:8-27, th at the story is now being continued. They refer also to the transi­ tion made inevitable by mortality, and report th e fulfillm ent o f G od’s promise o f progeny making equally needful his parallel promise of land. Such a continuation is remarkable enough as the story o f a particular people, w hich it clearly is. Yet it is even m ore remarkable as a story o f every people w ho suffer oppression and pain and the need o f rescue. They are Israel, and so our ancestors in faith, these sons so carefully named. T heir sur­ vival is at stake, we are soon to learn, in the narrative o f the Pharaoh’s attem pt to manage them . B ut if we recall th e uni­ versal beginning to the story so obviously being continued here, we have to recognize that these “seventy souls” are also us. As the poet o f Deuteronom y 32:8 sings it, “In the Supreme G od’s legacy to the nations, in H is division o f the sons of hum ankind, H e established the limits of the peoples correspondent to the counting o f the Sons of Israel.”

2

EXODUS

This remarkable statem ent, too often and incorrectly em ended by translators and commentators at least from the tim e of the Septuagint, is entirely consonant w ith the ancien t gazetteer o f Genesis 10, w hich lists seventy nations as descendent from Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the three sons o f Noah. T he nations before Israel are counted as seventy, and here in Exodus, the book of Israel's birth, the nation of Israel is also counted, at its very foundation, as seventy.1 T hus the book o f Exodus may be seen as a beginning begun already in the Book o f Beginning, Genesis, and at the same time itself the beginning o f a story th at is even yet a long way from its end. For the book o f Exodus is th e begin­ ning o f th e O ld Testament, and therefore o f the Bible; it is the account o f the beginning o f the nation o f Israel, and therefore the account of th e beginning o f the kingdom o f G od— and the first confession o f a coming of G od th at we Christians have come to call Incarnation. T here is an extensive range of literary form in the book o f Exodus, from prose to poetry, from story to specification, from prayer to proclamation, from commandment to covenant formulary, from building plans to protocols o f social behavior, from miracle-narratives to revelations o f mystery, from etiology to ritual, from the characterization o f hum ans to the description o f the Divine. However, every sentence o f it, even every syllable o f it, has an incredibly unified theolog­ ical purpose, a purpose th at melds the m ost disparate com­ ponents imaginable into a single, glorious whole, pulsating w ith a single confession. This confession is made in every way imaginable: stated, th en restated, declared, described, illustrated, symbolized, set fo rth in m etaphor, in ritual, in story, in requirem ent, in architecture, in dialogue, in geographic term s, in promises, in disobedience and its consequences, in appearances and disappearances, in epiphany so awe-filling as to inspire flight

The Theme of Exodus

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and yet cause frozen immobility. Forty chapters of an almost infinite variety, the book of Exodus still has b u t a single end, and is just a series of variations on a single, simple theme. Every w ord of the forty chapters in some way serves that single, simple theme. A ll th at is superfluous of it, or ancillary to it, has long since been w orn away. T he book of Exodus is the farthest thing from a literary unity, a fact which every honest reader of its text has noticed since early in the C hristian era, at least O ne of the m ost fascinating aspects of the book is the way it tumbles over itself in its rush to declare its incredible good news, the m anner in which it has been stretched apart here and there to make way for yet other sequences setting forth its p o in t This literary diversity, indeed, has presented such a mare’s nest to the source-form-tradition-redaction-canon critics that no tw o of them have proposed the same apportionm ent, or a common pedigree, for the theoretical pericopae of the book of Exodus. Yet this complex collection o f different-shaped and different-sounding literary pieces has been woven into one unvaried theological assertion, and the exposition o f that assertion forms the insistent purpose o f the book. T hat as­ sertion, summed up in its simplest statem ent in the special covenant name of God, Yahweh (a name defined in the O ld Testament only in this book) may be stated succinctly: G od is here, or better still, G od is, here. T he story of the book of Exodus is a story of G od’s Presence. Every tu rn of its ongoing narrative is a part o f a cumulative confession of the palpable reality of His Near­ ness. The covenantal formulary of the book of Exodus is a response to G od’s Presence. Every general and particular requirem ent of its life-shaping obligation is a part of a stud­ ied response to the astonishing revelation that he has come to be w ith his people. T he liturgical expectation o f the book of Exodus is a rem inder of G od’s Presence. Every w ord and 4

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every action of its ritual ceremony is a protocol o f memory designed to keep Israel aware that he is always and immedi­ ately at hand. The architectural-implemental symbolism of the book of Exodus is a pictographic representation of G od’s Presence. Every material and each dimension of the Taber­ nacle, the furnishings w ithin it and the space and the altar before it, are a prom pting of sensory perception to the con­ tinuing signal, “H e is here. He is, here.” Thus the book of Exodus is, in a remarkably singular way, a one-theme book of the Bible, a book that focuses a spectrum of theological confession, implication, and symbolism in the presentation of a single assertion of faith. Given the book’s composite nature in literary source and form alone— not to m ention its diverse liturgical, legal, and political interests— this uniform ity of theological emphasis is almost incredible. Almost incredible, however, only until one remembers what the theological emphasis is. For the confession that G od has come, and is here, is nothing less than the subject of the Bible, both O ld Testament and New Testament alike. In a way, the book of Exodus anticipates all the rest of the Bible. A nd in a way, the book of Exodus may be taken as a symbol, perhaps even an anticipatory summary, of the major emphasis of the entire Bible. I have sought elsewhere, in the W ord Biblical Commen­ tary Exodus, 1987, (henceforth called W BC 3) to dem onstrate in detail how this is true. There,2 I have suggested that the whole of the book of Exodus can be seen as an expression of “the theology o f Yahweh present w ith and in the m idst of his people Israel,” a theme attested to by the narratives of Israel’s rescue and by the provisions for Israel’s response. N one of this is to suggest th at the book of Exodus is n o t a complex tangle o f traditions derived from the theologicalliterary legacy o f many years and many contexts of need in many places. A cursory reading o f the text o f Exodus, even in English translation, is sufficient to establish th at much, The Theme of Exodus

5

and the history of the literary-critical analysis of Exodus from the last quarter of the nineteenth century forward is a cumulative presentation of ever-smaller and more diverse pieces. A nd yet we have the book in forty chapters that fairly cry out to be considered as a whole. W hatever we may notice in the way of repetition or inconsistency in these chapters, and however obvious may be the seams stitching the chapters together, the book of Exodus has a canonical form, a form in w hich it has been transm itted through the centuries, a form given it by theological literati whose interest was the confes­ sion of faith. T he dissection of the book into its proposed sources and contexts of expression has contributed to our understanding of the book as it came into being. B ut of equal im portance, at least, is the book of Exodus in the only form about which we can be absolutely certain, the form in which we have received it as one part of the text of the Bible. T he assem­ bled book has an integrity all its own, different from the sources upon which it is dependent. It sets forth a message and an emphasis that none o f those sources, insofar as we can recover them , can be seen to have presented. T hat mes­ sage and that emphasis are theological. They confess the Presence of G od and give the evidence for the confession, as well as its implications for Israel’s life in faith. The subject of this slim volume is this confession, in all the forms in which the book of Exodus presents it. I regard the book of Exodus as the book th at gives the prim ary pre­ sentation of the them e of the Bible, the book, therefore, that influences the shape of the Bible as no other one book does, the book that may thus be considered, in a way, the begin­ ning of the Bible. I have attem pted in the chapters that follow to survey the book’s presentation of this them e by summarizing and discussing as three separate blocks of mate­ rial the three obvious layers of Exodus in its biblical form: a 6

EXODUS

story layer, a requirem ent layer, and a layer concerned w ith making the story real and the requirem ents urgent to each new generation— a memory layer. I have entitled these layers “sequences,” both to suggest the single purpose of material we see in separate places in the canonical form o f Exodus and also to emphasize th at the layers, while separate in subject, are presentations o f one theme. Each o f the layers is dictated by, and is an expression of, the one them e, Presence of God, and each of them has been considered in the sequence o f their logical developm ent. Event precedes report (story), report becomes the basis o f expectation (requirement), and repetition (memory) keeps both event and its report current and real. In the presentation th at follows, textual questions and problems of translation, source- and form -literary proposals, the reconstruction of historical circumstances, the compara­ tive evaluation of commentary and monograph theory are om itted as outside the concern of this focused survey o f the them e of Exodus and its varied expressions. These m atters have been treated repeatedly and in detail elsewhere, by myself and by many others. W hether any o f these treat­ m ents are even minimally adequate remains to be dem on­ strated, probably in discussion w ith Moses, Joshua, and A aron in some context of existence yet to come. I regard them all as im portant, as the W ord Biblical Com m entary Exodus will show, b u t they are outside the purview o f the present survey of themes. T he story sequence of the book of Exodus, as the prim ary and narrative presentation of its them e, has been considered first. T hat story, the story of G od’s Presence w ith his people Israel, is related in Exodus 1:8-6:13; 6:28-11:10; 12:21— 50; 13:17-14:31; 15:19-18:12; 19:1-20:21; 24:1-18; 32:1-34:9, 29-35; 40:34-38. In th e canonical form o f the book o f Exodus, this story has been pulled apart at appropriate points to allow the insertion o f material having to do w ith The Theme of Exodus

7

requirem ents posed by the reality of G od’s Presence and w ith the remembrance of that reality to the generations beyond the story, those for whom the past m ust become present if a requirem ent is to be taken seriously. T he in­ serted passages of requirem ent— 18:13-27; 20:1—17; 20:2223:33; 34:10-28— have been considered the second se­ quence, and the inserted passages of remembrance— 1:1-7; 6:14-27; 12:1-20; 13:1-16; 15:1-18; 25:1-31:18; 35:140:33—have been considered the th ird sequence, though the requirem ent and remembrance sequences often blend in reciprocal concern. Thus I have attem pted to deal w ith the them e of the book of Exodus, and the them es th at them e has stimulated in a quite thematic way, w ith the them e and its subthemes dictat­ ing the sequence o f treatm ent This is not a theory o f the sequence of composition o f th e book of Exodus, though it may suggest hints in such a direction. It is rather an attem pt to take the them e and its subthemes as they are, in a narra­ tive w ith defining addenda that have been a guidance to a great many believers across at least tw o dozen centuries. I confess at the onset th at I am one of them , and I find great honor in belonging to a process of belief at the beginning of which stands the towering b u t stammering figure of Moses, son o f the Levite Amram and his wife Jochebed.

8

EXODUS

2 THE SEQUENCE OF STORY

T he place of story in hum an experience has yet to be appreciated adequately, except by young children, for whom the nourishing connection betw een imagination and experience remains unbroken. T he young, of whatever chronolog­ ical age, accept imagination and reality as one. T he word fantasy is a grown-up invention designed to cover the em­ barrassment produced by a loss of the gift for dreaming. A nd the use of “story” as a euphemism for “lie” is a serious adult miscalculation, n o t least since one of the more eager re­ quests children make of adults is, “Tell me a story.” Story is im portant to each of us, and at every level of our existence. We each have a story, and a thick cord of a story made up of many stories. W hat and who we are at any given point in the time-line of our living is an amalgam of event, influence, and response; and our recollection and recounting of that amalgam is a story that is part af c t, part perception, and all truth. Event is followed immediately by memory. Thus is begun a process of selection that preserves, in accord w ith a complex variety of influences, only w hat is o f first The Sequence of Story

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importance to the one w ho remembers and reports the remembrance. W hen this process o f recounting moves from an individ­ ual to a community level, the major difference in the process is the function of many memories and the addition of more controlling influences. A nd th e end of the process, insofar as it ever has an end, is in this case both more universal and m ore refined. T he Bible is a product o f such a process, and the initial event and memory at its foundation is the event and memory of the Exodus. N orthrop Frye has made the provocative suggestion that “as the Exodus is the definitive deliverance and the type of all the rest [of “the rises and restorations”], we may say that mythically the Exodus is th e only thing that really happens in th e O ld Testament.”1W hile such a statem ent may seem at first to be an excessive oversimplification, I w ould suggest th at we may go beyond it, as Frye proceeds to do,2 though he follows a somewhat different path. T he Exodus is n o t “the only thing that really happens in th e O ld Testament,” even in m ythopoeic term s—b u t it is the event which, along w ith its recollection and recounting, shapes n o t just the O ld Testament b u t the entire Bible. W hile this point has been accepted along them atic lines, and in reference to specific biblical books for some tim e,3 it is now being given broader application along literary, theologi­ cal, and even sociological lines.4 T he story retold in th e narrative sequence o f th e book o f Exodus is n o t only a real story, it is my story as a C hris­ tian, and th e “my story” o f Jews and, in a very different way, th e “my story” o f oppressed and yearning people o f m any tim es and in many places.5 Its reach into o u r lives is guaranteed first o f all by o u r ow n deep need: We w ant the G od w ho came th en to come now, and we need th e Pres­ ence th a t settled am ongst Israel at Sinai to settle am ongst us now. T here is a sensation th a t somehow we are reading 10

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autobiography w hen we read th e Exodus story believingly, a feeling o f déjá vu, an aura o f expectancy. T he barriers o f tim e and distance fall away, and we are somehow there, o r there is somehow here, because th e story o f G od’s coming and th e response o f th e sons (and daughters) o f Israel is n o t only th e story o f th e Bible— it is th e story o f every hum an being. T hink then, as you read the following summary o f the sequence of story in the book o f Exodus, th at you are read­ ing a diary you once kept, or th at you are hearing a remem­ brance o f your ow n pilgrimage of struggle from oppression to freedom. Each one of us has an Egypt, a wilderness, and a promised land; and each one o f us is on a journey from the fragm entation of our own special enslavements to the wholeness o f the place where we can be absolutely free, in G od’s Presence. We do n o t have to travel to the Nile D elta o r to the Sinai D esert to be in those places of the soul, and we are not bound in our own story by the constraints o f any time. T he sequence o f story in th e book o f Exodus is perm e­ ated w ith w hat H arold Bloom has called “the uncanny,”6 the reach from the past that bum s like a laser through the layers o f repression and pretense and self-assurance to pull us up short, to confront us w ith the reality that is timeless because it is the single, ultim ate reality of hum an existence: God. It is by no means fortuitous th at G od is revealed in the story o f Exodus as YHW H, “the One W ho Always Is.”7 It is a logically sequential emphasis th at reminds Israel at the far end o f the O ld Testament story, in a program for th e revival o f the covenant-faith th at returned to the story o f the Exodus, “H ear, Israel: Y H W H is our God, Y H W H [who is] O ne” (Deut 6:4). Is it any w onder th at Jesus, according to the Gospel of M ark (12:29), should begin his recitation o f the first o f all the commandments w ith this confession, o r that the first theologian o f the C hristian faith should w rite rapturously to the C hurch at Ephesus o f “one body and one The Sequence of Story

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Spirit, . . . one hope . . . , one Lord, one faith, one bap­ tism, one G od and Father of us all, the one before all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6). As our G od is O ne, so also our story is one. W hatever its forms, its images, its details o f time and place, its language and its syntax, its simplicity or its sophistication, its breadth or its lim itation of exposure, its familiarity or its exclusivity, our story is one story. A nd finally, it has but tw o characters. Ultimately, it will have b u t O ne. God keeping his promise T he beginning of the sequence of story in the book o f Exodus is determ ined in one way by the ending o f the se­ quence of story in the book of Genesis. There the family who by G od’s own covenant-promise belongs in the fair and fecund land o f Canaan is instead, if by reason of necessity, in the delta land of Egypt They have come there from hunger, and they have found a hospitable sanctuary in a context o f favorable disposition. They do n o t belong there, however, and the very first sentence of the Exodus story gives us notice of th e move­ m ent o f the winds o f change. A new Pharaoh has come to the seat of power, and while our interest is fixed on th e identity of this unnam ed king, th e interest o f the narrator of the story is fixed on a far more crucial point: This leader has no experience o f Joseph and thus no disposition o f favor tow ard Joseph’s family. T hat family, we have been rem inded by th e first sequence o f m emory in the book o f Exodus (1:1-7, see pp. 100-102), has been growing rapidly from its beginning in Jacob’s twelve sons— so rapidly, in fact, th at they have become “a teem ing swarm.” T hat very language is norm ally used to refer to great shoals off i sh (Gen 1:21; Ezek 47:9), infestations o f small rodents and reptiles (Lev 11:29-30), and even the flood o f frogs th at 12

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inundates the Pharaoh, his court, and his country in the second o f the proving mighty acts (Exod 8:1-15). T he first sequence of memory thus provides a bridge full of prospect, from the promise of G od to the Fathers in faith to the fulfillm ent of that promise in the destiny of their de­ scendants. These are the called-out Fathers, and their descen­ dants are the election family, and their story is the beginning o f the salvation history, the account of God’s making a way back for the hum an family in rebellion. G od’s promise to the Fathers was twofold: a numberless progeny and an expansive land (Gen 12:1-2; 15:5, 18-21; 17:3-8). Exodus 1:1-7 leans backward toward the first part of that promise by naming the twelve fathers who represent the foundation of its fulfillm ent and by reporting the amazing proliferation o f their offspring. We are thus prepared for the necessary next step, the provi­ sion of the land G od has promised. As always (see pp. 97100), the sequence of memory has a theological purpose— a point we m ust not allow our concern for demography or historical identification to obscure. Thus are we reminded, at the very outset o f the Exodus story, that w hat is happening in the Egyptian Delta is o f God. The listing of Jacob’s sons, the report of the rapid growth of their families, the allusion to th e form er favor Joseph enjoyed— all these describe the unfolding process o f election, and prepare us for the story to come. G od is placed at the center of events in Egypt indirectly, w ithout being m entioned even once. A nd the grand schemes of the Pharaoh o f Egypt to control and to lim it this people o f Israel are know n to us for w hat they are: a futile waste o f energy and time. It is a beginning like the beginning of Genesis 22 or the book of Job or the Passion narratives of the Gospels: we know how the terrible story will come out, and thus it holds for us no horror, only hope. This hope is enhanced by th e rem arkable tension o f the blessing o f G od’s m ultiplication o f Israel (the positive The Sequence o f Story

13

fulfillm ent o f p art one o f his covenant-promise) w ith th e awful oppression this blessing provokes. This positive, w ithout the constraint o f Joseph’s high position, con­ tributes to a horrendous negative. T he m ore num erous Israel becomes, th e nearer they are to the fulfillment o f th e second p art o f G od’s covenant-prom ise— b u t th e m ore nu ­ merous they become, the greater is the new Pharaoh’s fear o f them as a threat, and the m ore draconian, therefore, are his measures o f control and containment. There is a subtle psychology at w ork in this narrative: the good which G od does for Israel increases the harm at­ tem pted toward them by Pharaoh. T he dramatic multiplica­ tion of their num ber brings closer the time w hen they will be able to manage and defend a land all their own; b u t it also makes their Egyptian neighbors ever more fearful o f them and thus ever less hospitable tow ard them . T he rapid expan­ sion of their num ber makes their need of their ow n place more and more urgent, but it also seems to make their going to such a place less and less possible as the Pharaoh piles restriction onto requirem ent. O f course this tension is n o t coincidence— it is a narra­ tive in medias res, into w hich we are drawn by both empathy and theology. Though G od is m entioned in the book of Exodus for the first time in its seventeenth verse, and then only in connection w ith the reverence o f the midwives, his Presence is implicit from the opening, “A nd these are the names” of 1:1. H e is the determ inant force behind all th at is taking place, including the increasing recalcitrance o f the Pharaoh himself. We are in the hands of a brilliant theo­ logian who is also a m aster storyteller. H e has woven the traditions available to him into a fabric so engaging th at it virtually makes his points by induction. Even the names he gives us are all laden w ith meaning, from Reuben, “Behold, a son!” to Joseph, “Increasing O ne.” Even “Fair O ne” and “Fragrant O ne,” the tw o believing and therefore blessed 14

EXODUS

midwives, are a part o f th e cumulative lesson, which is de­ clared betw een the lines: “G od is, here.” T he electing, calling G od of the Fathers has n o t relaxed his attention upon his people, n o t even for a m om ent Thus while the Pharaoh is attem pting to wear the Israelites down, body and spirit, by unrem itting hard labor, and to bring into check their high rate of healthy births by genocide, at first in secret and then as public policy, the G od w ho Is, and who is here, is at w ork to set into m otion step one of the fulfillm ent of the second half of his covenant-promise. C oincident w ith these events, a m an o f the family o f Levi had taken to wife a young woman w ho was also Levite. T he wife became pregnant and gave b irth to a son. (2:1-2) This son, w ho is given the Egyptian name Moses, “boychild,” the Hebrew yeled o r our own English “lad” or “kid,” is the beginning of G od’s move to bring Israel to him self and to the land he promised to their Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. By a w onderfully w itty piece o f table-turning, this Hebrew boy-child throw n into the Nile as the Pharaoh has commanded, protected by the provision o f a w aterproof container, is rescued by the daughter of the Pharaoh w ho desires him dead, the father of the next king o f Egypt, for whom the boy-child, in m anhood, will become a nemesis. Then, to add ridicule onto joke, the boy’s ow n m other is p u t on the payroll o f the Pharaoh as wet-nurse-in-residence! It is as delicious a piece o f wool-pulling as one m ight wish for, and there can be no doubt at all by whose design all these events transpire. From the narrative of the faith o f the midwives (1:17-21) to the corporate cry o f oppressed Israel w hen this Pharaoh dies (2:23-25), there is no direct m ention o f G od in this narrative; b u t we never once can have even the slightest doubt about the reality o f his electing Presence. The Sequence of Story

15

By the engaging compactness of biblical narrative, Moses is taken from infancy to manhood. We are given no relief by digression. The account is moved steadily and suspensefully forward, w ithout one wasted word. Moses’ fatal blow against an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew reveals th at he has n o t been compromised by his adoptive Egyptian family. But the result of this action is that he is ostracized by both his adoptive nation and by his biological family. To the Egyptians, he has become a m urderous criminal. To the Israelites, he has be­ come a liability, bringing them small advantage b u t trem en­ dous risk. He is left w ith litde choice, and his flight to Midian shows that his m other has given him more than milk: Midian is where the other branch of the family, the Hagar-IshmaelKeturah-Esau descendancy, is know n to have a nomadic resi­ dence (see pp. 51-53). Midian is for Moses a strange new land, but also an old familiar land. The other side of the family of his Fathers is there. But much more im portant, the God of his Father is there, and is worshiped there. Moses’ arrival in Mid­ ian, and his surprising reception there, are further evidence of the providence of the calling, electing God. This point is made dramatically by w hat happens next, and by Moses’ own summary interpretation of these events. H e meets the seven daughters of a priest of M idian whose name is “Companion of G od,” and w ho is a priest who worships YHW H (Exod 18:10-11). Moses defends these girls against the bullying herdsm en who habitually delay their watering o f their father’s flock, thus endearing him self to these sisters, to one of them particularly, and to their father. In another flash of compact narrative, Moses settles down w ith the M idianite priest and becomes a husband and then a father. Following this event, Moses offers his under­ standing of all that has happened to him. H e names his new son “Stranger T here,” explaining, “a stranger have I been in a land foreign to me” (Exod 2:22). 16

EXODUS

Moses, belonging neither to the Egyptians in Egypt nor to his own people in oppressive bondage there, has come at last to a place of belonging. He has a wife in Midian, a son, sisters-in-law, and a father-in-law, at least For the first time in his life, he has a home. In Egypt, he was a sojourner, a tourist, a foreigner. In M idian, he is a resident, a native son, one member o f an accepting family. A nd we are struck by the steady unfolding of God’s providential arrangements for the people of his purpose. B ut Moses’ people in Egypt are still strangers in a land that is foreign to them . T heir fathers, and his, w ent there for a temporary stay in the time of Joseph. As his stay there has come to an end, so must theirs. And, deftly, that is the direc­ tion which this brilliant narrative now takes. “Now while these many days were passing,” says th e storyteller, yet another point o f turning was reached, and passed, in Egypt T he Pharaoh of Moses’ birth, early man­ hood, and criminal flight died. As has always been the case, in every nation ruled by power, this death m eant transition, and those whose lot was bad hoped for some change for the better. For the very first tim e in the sequence of story in Exodus, th e sons o f Israel cry out for help to G od (2:23), hoping for some relief, some slight improvement o f their difficult circumstances. This is graphically suggested in this summary verse by the use twice of the w ord ‘avodah, “agonized labor,” by the verb and the noun for “groaning,” and by tw o separate verbs for “cry out in need.” “A nd so of course G od heard”— he always hears the earnest cry of his people if it is honest— and hearing, he remembered the covenant-promise to the Fathers, w ho are named, to make unmistakably clear w hat is now to take place. The sequence of story is begun w ith a report of change, a change that makes the fulfillm ent of the first part of G od’s covenant-promise more a liability than an asset. A nd so this prologue to its main sequence is ended w ith a The Sequence of Story

17

report o f yet another change, one th at is to make their life in Egypt harder still. Similarly, the first sequence o f memory begins the book of Exodus w ith a listing o f “the names of the sons of Israel,” a looking back to the covenant-promise and a looking forw ard to its fulfillm ent. A nd it is echoed at both the begin­ ning of the prologue to the sequence of story (“the people o f th e sons of Israel,” the Pharaoh calls them , 1:9) and here at its conclusion (“the sons o f Israel,” 2:23, and the “covenant w ith Abraham, w ith Isaac, and w ith Jacob,” 2:24). T he whole th ru st of this introductory prologue to the sequence of story, then, is G od keeping his promise to his election-people— to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Jacob’s twelve sons, and now to the rapidly multiplying families o f these sons. T he first part o f the promise has come to suffi­ cient fulfillm ent to require the beginning o f the fulfillm ent o f the second part. G od has remembered. Indeed, he has never forgotten. W hat he has done in the past guarantees w hat he will do in the future. T he plight of the present is to be short-lived. G od knows the suffering o f Israel, “by expe­ rience” (2:25), and he has already been at w ork for them , long before their cry for help. G od revealing h is P resen ce T he hero of the sequence o f story in the book of Exodus, as indeed in the book of Exodus as a whole, is God. As we have seen, though G od is m entioned at only tw o points in th e first tw o chapters (and at that in b u t six o f the fortyseven verses making up those tw o chapters) his promise and therefore his activity are implicit in every line o f th at pro­ logue. T he story moves next to G od’s revelation of his Pres­ ence to Moses, a sudden and dramatic announcem ent th at he has been at hand all along. It is as if Moses turns a com er in the desolate wilderness of Sinai and finds G od awaiting 18

EXODUS

him there. T he surprise, from the reader’s point of view, is th at Moses was surprised. B ut then those o f us w ho could be expected most of all to know are often the ones w ho are m ost of all surprised by G od’s self-revelation. This narrative has frequently been called the account of the call of Moses. Obviously, it includes the report o f th at call experience, b u t this is a narrative about God, n o t Moses. Moses here is the representative recipient o f G od’s self-revelation. H is call experience is a response to this reve­ lation of G od’s Presence. Even his protests at his call are a carefully framed opportunity for us to be told m ore about G od’s adequacy than about Moses’ inadequacies. Moses is a medium of the message o f the revelation, b u t he is by no means the sole object o f i t So also is Israel to be, at the climax o f the story sequence o f Exodus, a medium o f a message of revelation. G od’s revelation o f his Presence be­ gins w ith Moses and w ith Israel; b u t it does n o t in any sense end w ith them . Thus does every feature of the story drive tow ard a single purpose, the purpose of establishing th at G od is, and is here. Everything superfluous to th at purpose has either been om itted or in some way bent tow ard its service. This concentration of the sequence o f story in Exodus is obvious as long as the narrative is read o r heard as a whole, as it was intended to be. T he biblical scholarship o f the century following 1875, invaluable though many o f its con­ tributions certainly are, has trained our eyes to look too much on the supposed pieces o f the narratives o f the Bible and n o t enough on the narratives as a whole. We have too often treated the sequences o f story in the Bible in a way which would seem to us utterly absurd were we to try it on the sequences of story o f Dickens or Tolstoy or Hugo or M ann. We m ust n o t neglect w hat R obert A lter has called th e “composite artistry” o f the biblical narratives8 if we are to understand the real subject and purpose o f these stories. The Sequence of Story

19

O f no sequence o f story in the O ld Testament is this more true than it is o f the sequence of the story of G od’s selfrevelation in Exodus. Deep in the wilderness around M ount H oreb (“Desolate Waste”), while attending his family’s flock, Moses experi­ ences a theophany. It is im portant th at we keep in m ind th at this report follows immediately upon the statem ent that G od has heard the m ultiplied cries o f Israel in Egypt, has seen them , and knows by experience their suffering. His purpose in Israel has been under way since Abraham. H is promise to Abraham and his election of Abraham’s deseendancy is coming rapidly to fulfillm ent. W ithin the cruci­ ble of Israel’s oppression, he has molded a deliverer, and even as their cry for help comes to a crescendo, G od reveals both his Presence and his intention to Moses. The flaming thornbush that attracts Moses’ attention is of course a theophanic symbol. T he storyteller describes it as the appearance o f a mal'akh, “the messenger of YHW H in a blaze of fire from the middle o f a thom bush.” W hat Moses sees is the form, apparently, o f the thornbush, for w hat draws him toward this sight is the fact that despite the fire, the thornbush retains its form: “the thornbush, envel­ oped in the flame, was still the thom bush— none of it was destroyed!” This strange fire is the fire of guidance in the wilderness (Exod 13:21-22), the fire of Sinai (Exod 19:18; D eut 4:12,15,33), the fire o f the flaming sword constantly turning in every direction and guarding th e way to the tree of life (Gen 3:24). N orthrop Frye has called it “the fire of life,”9 and Samuel Terrien has described it as “a symbol of prom pt becoming,” that “does n o t consume its own fuel and survives its own death” and “suggests the slow and sus­ tained becoming of historical transform ation.”10 As poetic as these elegant and somewhat abstract de­ scriptions are, the Exodus narrative is far m ore direct: T he th o rnbush all aflame b u t unconsum ed is the visible symbol 20

EXODUS

o f the Presence of God, an "unusual sight” th at attracts Moses’ attention. O nce he approaches the bush for a closer look, the sight of a symbol is displaced by th e sound o f G od’s voice. As always in the O ld Testament, the visual dimension of the Presence o f God is deemphasized, and the audible dimen­ sion is given primacy. The self-revelation of G od is deliber­ ately non-iconic, deliberately conceptual, and focused on specific, action-oriented event This is precisely the reason why all accounts of God’s appearances throughout the O ld Testament are only vaguely visual, involving obviously everchangeable forms such as fire (as here) or cloud (Exod 14:19— 20; Isa 6:1-4) or man-messenger-God (as in G en 18 and 19) or “something like a mosaic pavement of lapis lazuli, like the span of the heavens in depth” (Exod 24:10) or all God’s “goodness” passing by (Exod 33:18-34:9). Here, as in every other case in the O ld Testament, the word almost immedi­ ately eclipses the image, which functions almost solely as an attention-getter. Thus before Moses can look closely at the thornbush, he hears a voice calling his name. H e responds and learns that he is on holy ground and hearing the voice of the G od of his father (3:6), who is the G od also of the three great Fathers in faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. T hat voice is the subject of this story, n o t the fire and not Moses. A nd the announce­ m ent the voice makes is the one which the beginning o f the Exodus sequence of story has prepared us to expect: YHW H, fully aware of his covenant-promise to the Fathers and of the difficult plight of Israel in Egypt, is now about to set into m otion the fulfillm ent of the second part of his promise. He is bringing the multiplying progeny out o f Egypt and into the land he has in m ind for them , “a good and roomy land, a land gushing w ith milk and honey” (3:8), where they can fulfill the purpose of their election. Moses further learns that he is to be the one sent, the The Sequence of Story

21

chosen deliverer w ho is to lead Israel forth from Pharaoh's tight grip. This revelation draws from Moses a protest o f inadequacy, and this protest is the storyteller’s brilliant springboard into th e heart of his narrative. Moses’ inade­ quacy is real. H is protest is no exaggeration. G od him self does n o t deny his frightened “W ho am I, th at I am to go along to Pharaoh, th at I am to bring the sons of Israel forth out o f Egypt?” (3:11) It is by no means Moses who is qualified to deliver Israel from the Pharaoh’s bondage. G od has never once had such an option in view. As the subsequent narra­ tive repeatedly shows, w hat is to be done, in Egypt and beyond it, can only be done by G od himself. T hat is the point o f the revelation on H oreb, and of the announcem ent th at G od is beginning the deliverance phase of his w ork of election for and w ith Israel. A t the very outset of this proc­ ess, G od establishes w ho and how he is. W ho and how Moses is is entirely secondary. To Moses’ thrice-repeated emphatic I, G od replies in­ stantly, “T he point is, I AM w ith you” (3:12). Moses has the wrong I emphasized. How like us, whenever we are faced w ith a challenge, to think first of ourselves and the resources we lack. T he teller o f the sequence of story in Exodus knows his reader because he knows himself, and knows him self be­ cause he knows God. A nd by this brilliant tu rn of the narra­ tive of Horeb, he pulls us, in sympathy, into Moses’ position, and so prepares us for the real lesson he wants and needs to teach. “I AM w ith you,” says God, the real hero and center o f this entire account This declaration appropriately shifts our attention, along w ith that of Moses, to the real issue: It is God w ho has elected Moses, and us, and it is not w hat Moses, or we ourselves, can and cannot do that is im portant, it is w hat God can do. To that question, Moses turns immediately, and the way is opened for the single most im portant revelation of the Bible, a revelation for w hich we are now prepared by G od’s emphatic I AM, 'ehyeh in Hebrew. 22

EXODUS

“Suppose I do go to Israel in Egypt,” Moses says, “and report that I am sent by the G od of their fathers— they may well say ‘So what?’ W hat then am I to say to them?” (3:13) Moses' use o f the tide “the G od of your fathers,” an echo of th e title given to him by the voice from the thornbush in Exodus 3:6, makes clear that the question he anticipates from Israel, no doubt the very question rising in his own mind, has little to do w ith identity and much to do w ith authority. Though the literal translation of the question posed by Moses is, “W hat is his name?” the meaning of the question m ust be understood in the light o f Moses' protest of 3:11 and God’s response to it. It m ust be understood in the light of the broader significance of the Hebrew w ord shem, “name,” and of the answer G od gives in 3:14. Shem in reference to G od is (like th e nouns kabod, “glory,” and panim, “face”) a reference to G od’s Presence. T he O xford H ebrew Lexicon defines shem as th e equivalent o f “reputation” and as an embodi­ m ent of “th e (revealed) character” o f Y H W H .11 G od’s an­ swer to Moses’ question is a description o f his “revealed character,” an assertion of his eternal being, a claim of au­ thority, and a summary o f his self-revelation. By no means is this answer a name. In effect, Moses asks God, “Just w hat are You able to do?” Thus is G od’s answer unmistakably clear, taken quite literally, and w ithout any of the em endation, ingenious sub­ stitution, or imaginative im position th at have frequently been heaped upon i t “Ehyeh ,asher ’ehyeh, ” G od says, “I AM the O ne W ho Always Is.” This response is anticipated by G od’s emphatic “I AM ” in 3:12 and echoed by his state­ m ent to Moses for Israel at the end of 3:14, “I AM has sent me forth to you.” M ore literally still, the answer o f 3:14 is “I AM th at I AM ,” or even “I AM always I AM .” Ehyeh occurs once in 3:12, and three times in 3:14, and becomes th e basis The Sequence of Story

23

for th e revelation of the tetragram YHW H, a name generally transliterated “Yahweh,” in 3:15. D . J. M cC arthy refers to “the spell o f repetition” cast by these four “I AM s”12 and J. P. Fokkelm an notes th at the explanation o f the nam e is given before the name itself is given.13 N orthrop Frye suggests, “we m ight come closer to w hat is m eant in the Bible by th e w ord ‘G od' if we under­ stood it as a verb, and n o t a verb of simple asserted existence b u t a verb implying a process accomplishing itself.”14 T he late R oland de Vaux has proposed th at “I AM th at I A M ” is equivalent to “I am Yahweh” (“͐ ani YHW H ”),15the self-confessional, self-revealing phrase th at occurs so frequently in th e O ld Testam ent in a varied series o f forms. T he play of these words based on the verb hayah, “to be,” obscured in English translation, is obvious in Hebrew: hayah ’ehyeh yihyeh Yahweh ’ehyeh ’asher ’ehyeh

“to be” “I am” “he is” “The O ne W ho Always Is” “I am that I am”

T he usual personal pronoun plus a participle is replaced by 'ani Yahweh

“I (am) the O ne W ho Always Is”

T he 'ani, “I,” functions as ’ehyeh, “I am,” and Yahweh, “the O ne W ho Always Is” functions as a participial form o f the irregular verb hayah, “to be.” This phrase, then, is fur­ ther compacted to “I (am) H e,” equal to “I (am) the O ne,” as in these powerful confessions in Deutero-Isaiah: “I (am) the O ne W ho Always Is, no other is— M older of right, C reator of dark, 24

EXODUS

M aker of wholeness, C reator of ‘wrong’— I (am) the O ne W ho Always Is, M aker of all these things.” (Isa 45:6-7) “I (am) first and I (am) last — apart from me, there is no G od.” (Isa 44:6) “I, I (am) He, Canceler of your rebellions for my own good —your sins I just won’t think about.” (Isa 43:25) In each o f these references, as in the 6,823 occurrences o f Y H W H in th e O ld Testam ent, th e special m eaning o f th e unique name is at least implicit; often it is explicit.16 This tetragram is, in a way, G od’s foundational and u lti­ m ate self-revelation in the O ld Testam ent. T hus th e signif­ icance o f Exodus 3:14-17, th e only passage in th e O ld Testam ent in w hich G od him self is represented giving th e explanation o f his ow n special name, cannot be overstated. In a way, these verses are a com pact summary o f the entire sequence of story in th e book o f Exodus— G od is; really, he is. W ithout beginning, w ithout ending, before any be­ ginning and beyond any ending we can imagine, an eternal Presence, eternally in th e present tense, always b o th here and there, never once leaving his people (which is to say th e hum an family entire) n o t even for an instant, the O ne W ho Always Is. W hat remains is that this eternal, never-absent Presence be dem onstrated and proven beyond any doubting, first to Moses, then to Israel, and then to Pharaoh, his government, and the people of Egypt Having connected his name Yahweh w ith the title, “the G od of the Fathers . . . Abraham . . . Isaac . . . Jacob” The Sequence of Story

25

(3:15, b u t also 3:6, 13, 16), the O ne W ho Always Is pro­ ceeds to anticipate th at proof by predicting as impending the Exodus from Egypt, the fulfillm ent o f the covenant-promise of land, and the necessary coercion of th e Pharaoh and his nation to this intention. In a dramatic preview of w hat is to come, and in a repetition of the m otif o f 3:11-12, th at it is he alone who will be able to bring these predictions to fulfill­ m ent, Yahweh declares emphatically (“Now I know very well,” 3:19) that no power save his can induce the Pharaoh to release Israel. Yahweh therefore will stretch forth his hand, and for from being merely cooperative, the Pharaoh will drive Israel from the Delta, and the Egyptians will load them down w ith expensive gifts as they go. In this promise, the sequence of story through w hat is now Exodus 13 is briefly summed up, and the narrator turns immediately to the first step in Yahweh’s dem onstration of his eternally present Being, the persuasion of Moses, his deliverer. The three signs given to Moses as symbols to Israel and to Egypt of the authority w ith which he comes to them from Yahweh have a triple function in the sequence o f story. T he first function of these signs is the one made obvious by Moses’ concern about his ow n credibility: “Look here, they w on’t tru st me, and they w on’t pay attention to my report” (4:1). T he second function of the signs is Moses’ concern about Yahweh's credibility, a concern th at permeates this narrative from 3:13 through 4:17. It is Yahweh in whom Moses and Israel and the Egyptians m ust believe if the Exodus is to take place. Moses is b u t a messenger, the one w ho is to announce and then interpret a series of staggering events. There is yet, however, a th ird function o f the signs; it is the m ost im portant if least obvious: its target is those n o t a part of the historical Exodus w ho have yet to be convinced and so to come to belief. T he signs are the first h in t o f the proof of Yahweh’s Presence, the anticipation of the sequence 26

EXODUS

o f extraordinary events by w hich the generations yet to come, ourselves included, can become a part o f the theo­ logical Exodus, the Exodus in faith, the ongoing Exodus, the never-ending opportunity for Exodus. We, too, are elected as recipients of the self-revelation, as channels o f election, as a people in a m ovement of Exodus. A t the same time, the three signs, along w ith the ques­ tions that call them forth, present us w ith a tension o f doubt and belief. O n the one hand, Moses and Israel yearn for the freedom they think they cannot have, hoping for a relation­ ship they believe will be denied them . O n the other hand, Yahweh acts to establish the tru th o f his claim of Being, to dem onstrate the reality of his Presence. It is a tension be­ tw een whose polarities we ourselves vacillate, so in this addi­ tional way this ancient story is our story. T he signs of the staff which became a serpent and of the Nile water changed to blood on the dry earth (the first dem onstrated, the second only predicted here) are of course perform ed by the Yahweh-Moses partnership in Egypt The sign of th e skin-diseased hand is n o t repeated in Egypt though a m uch m ore severe infection of skin disease afflicts Miriam in the Sinai-to-Paran wilderness (Num 12), as a result of h er rebellion against the authority of Moses. If there was an original narrative of Moses’ employing this sign in Egypt it may have been om itted in the final sequence of story in the book of Exodus because of the negative implications o f this infectious skin disease.17 Moses’ fu rth er resistance even after Yahweh’s dem onstra­ tion o f tw o signs and the prediction o f a third is a dramatic indication of the tension betw een tru st and doubt, confi­ dence and lack of confidence, obedience and rebellion throughout the sequence of story in Exodus. Yahweh ’s un­ derstandably irritated response includes yet another empha­ sis o f his claim of Being: his twice-repeated and doubly emphatic assertion, “I AM w ith your m outh.” Moses at last The Sequence of Story

27

capitulated (“Pardon, Lord: please send anybody you w ant to send,” 4:13), and A aron is introduced as Moses’ spokesper­ son, just as Moses is himself Yahweh’s spokesperson. O nce more, it is made unquestionably clear to us that the Presence and the power that will count in Egypt, as anywhere else, is Yahweh’s, and that w hat Yahweh will do there is an addi­ tional dimension of his self-revelation. So Moses sets off for Egypt, w ith Jethro’s blessing (4:18), and w ith the further assurance of Yahweh that Moses is empowered to do the w ondrous deeds he has just witnessed. Yahweh also announces his plan to make the Pharaoh’s m ind obstinate as a means of proving beyond any cavil, Israelite or Egyptian, that he is both present and in control. In the Yahweh-Moses partnership, Moses is to deliver the announcem ents and the warnings, then put into m otion the signs Yahweh has empowered. Yahweh will prevent the Pharaoh from being convinced prematurely, from coming around too soon, before the events and causes that prom pt the Exodus are know n to have only one possible explana­ tion: the powerful Presence of Yahweh in Egypt, and w ith his people Israel. By allusion to w hat is now the ten th of the mighty acts w ith w hich Yahweh intends to prove his Presence, the con­ trast betw een the power of Yahweh and that of the divine representative of Egypt’s gods, the Pharaoh, is made. Yah­ weh declares that his son, his firstborn, Israel, m ust be per­ m itted to leave Egypt to worship him, warning Pharaoh, w ith a pointedly parallel phrase, that “your son, your first­ born,” will otherwise be killed. It is the announcem ent o f how things are to be, the preview of the conclusion to the proof of the Presence acts, and also the reason for that con­ clusion. Many times over in the sequence of story through Exodus 15, this declaration is remade. T he strange narrative of Yahweh’s fearful encounter w ith Moses during the journey from M idian to Egypt has 28

EXODUS

apparently been included in the sequence o f story at this point as a means of assurance. Moses, like all the rest of the Israelites of th e Exodus and the wilderness wandering, could n o t be perm itted to bypass the im portant symbol-inthe-flesh of the covenant commitment. B om in Egypt and reared in Pharaoh’s household, Moses could be assumed to have had at m ost only the partial circumcision o f the Egyp­ tians, a “disgrace” according to Joshua 5:9. T hus at the beginning o f his w ork as Yahweh’s deliverer, Moses had to be properly circumcised, just as the new generation b om in the wilderness had to be circumcised, even though they were adults. By this act, the “disgrace” of their neglect was rolled away, and the place where this occurred came to be called Gilgal, “roll-away” (Josh 5:2-9). The paragraph is a difficult one, n o t least because of the ambiguity o f its pronouns and its apparent reference to halfobscure practices connected apparently w ith both puberty and marriage. As the sequence of story now stands, how­ ever, this passage provides a dramatic, if somewhat startling, conclusion to Yahweh’s revelation of his Presence and the difference that Presence demands. It is followed only by brief notices of Moses’ rendezvous w ith A aron and their arrival and favorable reception by Israel in Egypt. G od proving h is P resence Despite the positive reception given initially by Israel to Moses and Aaron, and to their announcem ent of Yahweh’s impending rescue (4:29-31), the first approach to Pharaoh ends disastrously. N ot only is their request for Israel’s release for a pilgrimage to Yahweh turned down— it is put down as absurd and as an indication th at Israel does n o t have suffi­ cient w ork to keep them busy. T he outcome o f w hat was to be the first step to freedom is thus a quick-march deeper into oppressive slave labor. T he people of Israel are to meet, The Sequence of Story

29

w ithout reduction, the quotas of bricks expected o f them and gather the chopped straw heretofore supplied them by their Egyptian masters. W hen these quotas are n o t m et, the Israelite section leaders are whipped by their Egyptian bosses. This, in turn, leads them to protest their treatm ent to Pharaoh himself, who gives them the reason for their new hardship: “Lazy is w hat you are, lazy you are indeed, saying, ‘Let us go; let us offer sacrifice to Yahweh.’ Now go get to work! Straw will n o t be provided you, and you will produce the full measure of bricks!” (5:17-18). Thus do the section leaders tu rn on Moses and Aaron, and thus does Moses tu rn on Yahweh: “W hy have you sent me here for this?” (5:22) In view of the high promise con­ nected w ith Yahweh’s revelation of him self on H oreb/Sinai, the question seems a reasonable one. T he negative response of Pharaoh and the acceleration of hardship for Israel am ount to an apparent cancellation of Yahweh’s claims of Presence and power. Indeed, the Pharaoh arrogantly pleads ignorance of any Yahweh and indifference therefore to his commands and to the requests of his people Israel. A nd, as the Pharaoh cancels all Moses’ plans w ith apparent im­ punity, even Moses’ confidence in Yahweh is underm ined. C an Yahweh really save his elect people from further Egyp­ tian oppression? Has not their situation deteriorated rather than improved? Has Yahweh’s self-revelation been m isun­ derstood, or misleading, or has it come to a sudden, defeated halt? This pattern of divine promise apparently negated is a didactic device that recurs in biblical narrative. H ere as else­ w here18 it provides a dramatic focus for what actually hap­ pens by giving the appearance that w hat G od has promised is simply not possible. Pharaoh is thus allowed to set him self 30

EXODUS

up for a terrible fall—Yahweh even assists him in his fool­ hardy display of hubris. Alm ost w ithout our realizing it, the sequence of story has drawn us into a m ighty contest, upon whose outcome rests the ultim ate fete o f Israel, and thus o f Yahweh’s own purpose o f redem ption for the hum an family. T he form of the narrative through the final escape of the Exodus itself is set by this introductory account in 5:1— 6:1, as is the tension upon w hich the story is th ru st forward. Before the contest is continued, th e sequence o f story o f the book o f Exodus is interrupted by an appropriate re­ m inder of Israel’s covenantal com m itm ent from th e tim e o f th e Fathers: Abraham , Isaac, and Jacob. Beginning w ith a fourfold repetition o f the self-proclam atory statem ent, “I am th e O ne W ho Always Is” ('ani Y H W H , 6:2,6-8), this section specifies th e continuing fulfillm ent o f th e covenant-prom ise to th e Fathers in the im pending Exodus from Egypt, justifies by genealogy th e choice o f first A aron th en Moses as Yahweh’s partners in th e deliverance, and moves into a preview o f the proof-of-Presence chapters in 7:8-11:10, 12:21-50. This inserted section, one of three lengthy blocks of ma­ terial (6:2—7:7; 25:1-31:18; 35:1-40:33) setting fo rth priestly and liturgical interests, is often regarded as an interruption of the continuity of narrative of Exodus, in part a duplica­ tion of inform ation given already and in part a supplem ent to that information. A consideration of this section as a p art o f the whole of the sequence o f story of the book o f Exodus, however, rather than as a block of inserted material, gives it a somewhat different appearance. W hat we have here, at the m ost appropriate point in the sequence of story, precisely w hen things are looking bad for Yahweh’s promise and so for Yahweh’s people, is a rem inder o f the covenant-promise to the Fathers, of the consequent election of Israel, and of Yahweh’s self-revelation of his event-bringing Presence to Moses on Horeb. The Sequence of Story

31

In a way, Exodus 6:2-13 renews the very beginning o f the book of Exodus, a part of the sequence of memory (see below, pp. 100-102) from the priestly circle. It also reempha­ sizes the essential dictum of faith presented to Moses on H oreb/Sinai and summed up in the special name YHWH, “The O ne W ho Always Is.” A nd it provides a justification, in another inserted sequence of memory, for the signifi­ cant role of Aaron, the prototypical “chief” or “high” priest. T hen it resumes the narrative sequence after these urgent rem inders at the very point at which the movement tow ard Exodus runs into the brick wall of the Pharaoh’s ignorance and self-congratulating arrogance. T he 6:2-7:7 passage is not, therefore, a duplicatory inter­ ruption of the sequence of story. It is rather a didactic aside in medias res, an essential lesson at a teachable m om ent of need, a rem inder at a point of initial difficulty (before the far more difficult circumstances yet to come) of tw o essential realities: (1) the covenant-promise of Israel’s election by Yahweh and (2) the Presence of Yahweh moving to fulfill that promise. W hat remains is th e proof of that Presence, and that proof is made in the progress tow ard the fulfillm ent of the promise. As the sequence of story continues, heading into greater difficulties and more discouragements, we have been given a bright N orth Star by w hich to guide our course: it is Yahweh w ho has promised, and Yahweh is, here. W hatever happens in the moment, we m ust live according to the longer view faith affords us. The gauntlet Pharaoh has throw n down in his arrogant ignorance, “who is Yahweh?” (5:2), is taken up by Moses and A aron in their next reported audience w ith Pharaoh. They make “a w ondrous deed” (7:9) to establish their authority and the credibility o f their claims about Yahweh. This won­ drous deed is a variation on the sign of the staff-become-aserpent given first to Moses on H oreb (4:2-5) and then

32

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presumably to Israel in Egypt (4:30), a variation dramatically augmented. W here Moses saw his staff transformed into a nachash, a “serpent” he clearly assumed to be dangerous, this same staff, now called “Aaron’s staff,” becomes in front of Pharaoh a tannin, a “m onstrous snake” (7:10). Nachash is a generic term , the equivalent of the common use in American English of the word snake. Tannin, at least in most of its fifteen O ld Testament occurrences (I suggest in all of them), refers to a reptile of horrendous proportions, such as the prim ordial sea monster. The connection of Pharaoh w ith this term (Ezekiel calls the Pharaoh a tannin in 29:3 and 32:2, and DeuteroIsaiah implies as much, Isaiah 51:9) underscores its use here. Thus the “m onstrous snake” which Moses’ staff becomes before Pharaoh is a dramatic expansion of the sign of the staff, and a clear prediction of how things are going to tu rn o u t The prim ordial sea m onster is a plaything to Yahweh, so the Pharaoh of Egypt can hardly be more. W hen Yahweh changes A aron’s staff into a tannin (an allusion to the sea m onster and a derisive nickname for Pharaoh) and the Pharaoh’s “wise scholars and magicians” repeat “by their arcane arts” this same incredible transform ation, “then, sud­ denly, A aron’s staff gobbled up all their staffs!” (7:12c). The use of “staff” instead of “m onstrous snake” in this statem ent is a further rem inder of the sign in progress as well as an announcem ent of Yahweh’s superiority. T he statem ent that Pharaoh remained unconvinced by this double miracle is no surprise to us— we have been told already that such would be the case (3:19; 4:21-23). We have also been told already th at Yahweh will rain upon Pharaoh and his Egypt “an array of extraordinary deeds,” after which Pharaoh will be eager for an Exodus of Israel (3:20). To that array of proving deeds, the sequence of story now moves, and we know already what the outcome is going to be.

The Sequence of Story

33

T he language by w hich the extraordinary deeds are de­ scribed as “plagues” is inappropriate, except perhaps from the perspective of the Egyptians, w ho suffer their effects. These deeds are Yahweh’s proving actions, by which he demonstrates in progressive fashion the reality of his claim o f Being and Presence, to Israel, to Egypt, and finally to Pharaoh’s court and to Pharaoh himself. They are nothing less than actions o f self-revelation on Yahweh’s part. Any attem pt to explain these mighty acts as exaggerated natural phenomena is likewise inappropriate. They are specif­ ically called “extraordinary deeds” (3:20), “great deeds o f vin­ dication” (6:6; 7:4), “signs and wondrous deeds” (7:3), “an act of a God” (by Pharaoh’s learned men, 8:19), “my whole arse­ nal of blows” (by Yahweh, 9:14), and “stroke of judgm ent” (also by Yahweh, 11:1), and their specific intent is to demon­ strate beyond any question Yahweh’s incomparability (note 8:10 and 9:14). They are a means of theological statement, not a description of unusual natural history in the delta of Egypt, and they are presented in the sequence of story of Exodus as miracles. W hatever opinions we may have about the nature of the miraculous, the meaning of Yahweh’s mighty acts for the sequence of story of Exodus will be seriously distorted if we attem pt to rationalize their miraculous content We m ust also keep in m ind the cumulative impact these “wondrous deeds” are intended to have, n o t only upon Israel and upon the Egyptians and Pharaoh, b u t also upon the suc­ cessive hearers and readers of this sequence of story. We are given from the start of that sequence the confession the mighty acts are to demonstrate: Yahweh is, Yahweh is here, Yahweh is here keeping his promise of salvation to his cove­ nant people. All who doubt that confession in any way are left, by the mighty acts, w ith no reason for further doubt. Even the last resister to belief, the Pharaoh himself, is able to hold out only because Yahweh, in order to make the proof

34

EXODUS

completely obvious, prolongs Pharaoh’s resolve n o t to give in. First Israel, then “the learned m en” of Egypt, then the courtiers of Pharaoh and the Egyptian people come to belief. But the Pharaoh, because of Yahweh’s firming of his resolve, holds out beyond all reason. The verses of the sequence of story depicting this resistance, seen all together, show the dramatic repetition o f this im portant theme: A n ticipating the Resistance:

3:19: 4:21: 5:2:

7:3:

“Now I know very well that the king of Egypt will not give you permission to go. . . .” “And I will make his mind obstinate, and he will not send out the people.” But Pharaoh replied, “Who is Yahweh, that I should pay attention to his voice, and so send out Israel? I have no knowledge of Yahweh, and Israel, I am not about to send out!” “At the same time, I will make Pharaoh stubbornminded, then pile up signs and wondrous deeds in the land of Egypt; Pharaoh will pay no attention to you. . . .”

T h e Resistance in A ction:

7:13: 7:14: 7:22-23:

8:15:

But the mind of Pharaoh was unchanged. He paid no attention to them, just as Yahweh had predicted. So Yahweh said to Moses, “The mind of Pharaoh is heavy and dull; he refuses to send out the people.” So Pharaoh’s mind was again obstinate; he paid no attention to them, just as Yahweh had predicted. Pharaoh turned his back on them, entered his palace, and put the whole business out of his mind. The minute Pharaoh saw that there was an end to the frogs, however, he steeled his mind and would pay no attention to them, just as Yahweh had predicted.

The Sequence of Story

35

8:19:

8:32:

9:7:

9:34-35:

Then the learned men said to Pharaoh, “This is an act of a God.” But Pharaoh’s mind remained obsti­ nate, and he would pay no attention to them, just as Yahweh had predicted. Once again, however, Pharaoh steeled his mind, this time as well, and he would not send out the people. Yet when Pharaoh sent out and saw that not even a single animal from the livestock of Israel had died, Pharaoh’s mind remained heavy and dull, and he did not send out the people. Yet Pharaoh, seeing that the rain and the hail and the thunderclaps stopped, gave in once more to wrong­ headedness, and so steeled his mind; he did, and the members of his court did. Thus Pharaoh’s mind re­ mained unchanged, and he did not send out the Is­ raelites, as Yahweh had predicted through Moses.

Yahw eh Reinforcing the Resistance:

9:12:

9:16:

10:1-2:

36

Yet Yahweh made obstinate the mind of Pharaoh, so he paid no attention to them, just as Yahweh had predicted to Moses. “In fact for this one reason alone will I cause you still to stand firm, to the end that I show you my strength, in result of which my name will be cele­ brated throughout the earth.” Next, Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh— because I have made heavy and dull both his mind and the minds of the members of his court, to the end that I be taken seriously through these signs of mine right in their own territory, and to the end that you may recount again and again in the hear­ ing of your son and your grandson that I amused myself aggravating the Egyptians, and that I set my signs against them in order that you may know by experience that I am Yahweh.” Thus: EXODUS

10:20:

10:27:

11:9-10:

Yahweh once more made Pharaoh’s mind obstinate, however, and he did not send out the sons of Israel. At that very moment, Yahweh made Pharaoh’s mind obstinate, and he did not consent to their going out Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Pharaoh will pay no attention to you: my purpose is that my wondrous deeds may be many in the land of Egypt.” So Moses and Aaron did all these wondrous deeds in Pharaoh’s presence, and Yahweh made Pharaoh’s heart obstinate, and he did not send out the sons of Israel from his land.

Even after the Pharaoh has at last been allowed by Yahweh to relent, following the devastation of the tenth mighty act, with its threat of term ination for the Egyptian nation, Yahweh once again turns Pharaoh’s mind. Though Israel has fled the delta w ith the eager consent of Pharaoh and his nation, Yahweh’s proof of his Presence remains unfinished still: 14:4:

14:8:

14:17—18:

“. . . I will make Pharaoh’s mind obstinate; he will come chasing after them, and I will win myself glory over Pharaoh and all his force, so that the Egyptians will know by experience that I am Yahweh.” Thus Yahweh made obstinate the mind of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so that he chased after the sons of Israel. . . . “. . . Just watch me making the Egyptians’ minds obstinate, so that they will come after them, en­ abling me to win myself glory over Pharaoh and over all his infantry, over his chariotry and over his riders. Thus the Egyptians will know by experi­ ence that I am Yahweh, in my winning glory for myself over Pharaoh and over his chariotry and over his riders.”

The Sequence of Story

37

W ith this final forced resistance o f Pharaoh, and th e total defeat th at follows it, the proof of Yahweh’s Presence, to the Egyptians and to Israel, is both complete and effective. T he Egyptians’ force o f “six hundred crack chariots” (14:6) was drowned in the onrush of the m anipulated sea. A nd as for Israel, safe and dry on the Sinai side of the sea, 14:30-31:

Thus did Yahweh rescue Israel that day from the power of the Egyptians. Israel saw the Egyp­ tians dead upon the edge of the sea, and Israel saw the great power that Yahweh unleashed against the Egyptians. So the people were in awe of Yahweh— and in consequence, they put their trust in Yah­ weh and in Moses, his servant

The climactic celebration of this proof, and also, in its root form the oldest, is the victory hym n of Moses and M iriam in Exodus 15:1-21, often called “the Song of the Sea,” and is treated more fully as a part of the sequence of memory (see below, pp. 108-12). In its present and obviously m uch ex­ panded form, this hym n celebrates the proof of Yahweh’s Presence in the victory over the Pharaoh and his forces at the Sea (15:1b—12, 21). Also it celebrates this proof in the guid­ ance of Israel through the wilderness into the promised land, in the paralysis through fear of those who would deny Israel access to that land and those who would vie w ith Israel for its control and possession (15:13-16), and even in the fulfillm ent of the ancient covenant-promise in the establishment o f Israel in that land w ith Yahweh dwelling amongst them and ruling “forever and w ithout interruption” (15:17-18). The conclusion to the hymn, in fact, makes reference to the Tem­ ple built by Solomon on the hill of Zion, the “new Sinai,” and to the Jerusalem theology of Yahweh’s unending kingship from there (compare 15:17-18 w ith Psalms 47, 93, 96-99). T he hymn is thus a summary of Yahweh’s salvation of, and 38

EXODUS

special provision for, his elect people Israel, across at least three centuries. T he nucleus of this hymn, however, is its dramatic state­ m ent o f Yahweh’s real and incomparable19Presence. Yahweh is called “m ight” and “song of Praise,” “salvation,” “G od,” and “G od of my father,” and “a w arrior,” and is described as the one who has throw n “Pharaoh’s chariots and his whole force into the sea.” Pharaoh indeed is depicted as an arrogant egomaniac buoyed by a groundless self-confidence: “I will chase, I will catch, I will loot, My battle lust will satisfy itself, I will empty, I will possess!” (15:9) A nd Yahweh is presented as one w ho has at his command the ancient primeval deep, and w ho has b u t to blow w ith his wind to send this proud king and all his force sinking down like lead into the collected waters (15:8,10). T he end of all this, the end also of the sequence of proving mighty acts is the recurring rhetorical question, “W ho is like you among the gods, Yahweh? W ho is like you, magnificent in holiness, awesome in praiseworthy deeds, doing the extraordinary?” (15:11) This is w hat the mighty acts and Egypt are all about, the establishment beyond any question o f the powerful, all­ ruling, and saving Presence of Yahweh. It is a proof th at is presented, w ith an inexorable and progressive rhythm , by the developm ent of a rising series of parallel themes. T he The Sequence of Story

39

first of these themes is the belief of Israel, superficially per­ suaded w ith ease (4:29-31) b ut just as easily lapsing again and again into disbelief (5:20-21; 14:10-12). The second of them is the belief o f Pharaoh’s “wise schol­ ars and magicians,” his advisers, his people, and ultimately the Pharaoh himself. T he third of them is the divinely prom pted disbelief of the Pharaoh, by which Yahweh’s proof of his Presence is carried beyond any conceivable need for further dem onstration. A nd the fourth o f them , an invisible but ever-present motif, is our own belief in Yahweh’s acting Presence, the belief of all who hear or read or in any other way come to know this sequence of self-revelation. Thus are the mighty acts presented as an accelerating sequence of self-revelation, following the authenticating prologue miracle o f the rod and the m onstrous snake (7:813). The first o f them , the changing o f water from the river Nile into blood (the extent of the transform ation varied ac­ cording to the source of the narrative), is immediately dupli­ cated by “the learned m en of Egypt” (7:14-25). Because o f this duplication, Pharaoh, w ho has already confessed his total ignorance of Yahweh (5:1-2) is n o t even slightly im­ pressed, and therefore is convinced of nothing. T he second mighty act, the teeming m ultiplication of the frogs along the Nile (8:1-5, also w ith a varied report), is also duplicated by the “learned m en,” a tie of discom forting result, as it served more to aggravate Pharaoh’s problem than to provide him w ith a victory. O nce the frogs are killed by Yahweh, Pharaoh remains indifferent both to the Hebrews and to their G od Yahweh. W ith the third mighty act, there is the beginning o f a breakthrough. T he learned m en of Egypt are unable to tu rn “the loose soil of the earth” into a swarm of gnats, and they even advise Pharaoh that the blanket o f gnats aggravating Egypt is “an act of a G od” (8:16-19). Still the Pharaoh does n o t believe, despite the confession o f his wonder-workers 40

EXODUS

th at their power, though considerable, has been surpassed. So there follows th e fourth mighty act, a devastating mixed swarm of flying insects which, according to the tradition preserved by Psalm 78:45, “ate on” the Egyptians (8:20-32). This time there is a second breakthrough: T he Pharaoh is concerned enough by the effect of this annoyance to pro­ pose a concession, giving Moses permission to offer sacri­ fices in Egypt, and when th at proves unacceptable, to take Israel into the nearby wilderness for such worship. H e has even come to enough belief to request Moses to “pray in my behalf” (8:28e). W hen th e insect swarm departs, however, he cancels the permission he has given, raising a question about his sincerity to start w ith. The fifth mighty act, “a decimating epidemic” throughout the Egyptians’ livestock (9:1-7), appears to have some effect on Pharaoh until he learns that the epidemic has not affected Israel’s livestock. Perhaps he thinks the epidemic a curious and passing fluke, or perhaps he is too reluctant to risk losing the Israelite flocks and herds. W hatever the case, he will n o t perm it Israel to depart Egypt. T he sixth mighty act, an infec­ tion of inflamed swellings breaking into septic sores on hu ­ mans and animals alike (9:8-12) produces the additional breakthrough of a total defeat of Egypt’s learned men. They not only cannot duplicate the infection, but they are helpless to prevent it even in their own bodies. This time, for the first time, Yahweh’s strengthening of Pharaoh’s resistance implies that he is about to come to belief. W ith Yahweh’s interfer­ ence, however, that belief is of course impossible. T he seventh mighty act, a destructive and death-dealing hailstorm (9:13-35), reveals a fu rth er breakthrough: Some members of the court o f Pharaoh, his closest advisers, have come to belief in Yahweh’s word, and they heed Moses’ warning. Israel is spared the storm , while every unprotected person, animal, and crop outside the land o f G oshen suf­ fers devastation. Pharaoh for th e first tim e confesses his The Sequence of Story

41

wrongheadedness, and his guilt, and his people’s guilt, and promises Moses and Israel w ith determ ination, “I will send you out; you shall certainly stay no longer.” But once more, after the storm, Pharaoh “steeled his m ind,” along w ith the unconvinced members of his court. A nd this time, appar­ ently, it was w ithout any interference from Yahweh. T hus once more, Israel remained stuck in Egypt. In the eighth and n in th of the mighty acts, Yahweh again prevents w hat appears to be impending belief and surrender by Pharaoh. T he eighth m ighty act brings upon Egypt a vast blanket o f swarming locusts th at proceeds to devour the sprouting vegetation w hich has escaped the devastating hail­ storm (10:1-20). T he prediction o f this agricultural last straw brings an additional breakthrough in th e belief of all Pharaoh’s closest advisers, his courtiers, w ho ask, “Just how long is this impasse to bring ruin upon us?” They advo­ cate compliance w ith Yahweh’s dem and for Israel’s release. Pharaoh appears once again to be weakening, b u t the nego­ tiations break dow n because o f his insistence th at only th e “able-bodied m en” go out o f Egypt to worship, a condition designed to prevent Israel’s departure for good. Therefore the locust swarm arrives, and Pharaoh calls for Moses and A aron, confesses his guilt, and asks for prayer to Yahweh for forgiveness. W hen this prayer is made, how ­ ever, and the locusts are gone, Yahweh once m ore inter­ venes, preventing Pharaoh’s belief and thus his fu rth er cooperation. T he n in th mighty act, th e descent o f an eerie darkness over the entire land of Egypt (except for th e places o f Israel’s dwelling), follows m uch the same pattern, albeit m ore briefly (10:21-29). Pharaoh, groping in the thick dark­ ness along w ith his people, sends for Moses and makes the greatest concession to th at point: A ll Israel may go out to worship Yahweh, leaving behind only their livestock. W hen Moses refuses even this condition, before Pharaoh can make any response of his own, Yahweh again makes his 42

EXODUS

m ind obstinate, and he orders Moses to get out and never to return, on pain of death. T he ten th mighty act is announced by Yahweh as “one final stroke of judgm ent” th at will prom pt Pharaoh to allow, indeed to demand, an unrestricted exodus (11:1-10). Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ report o f this announcem ent is n o t given, though Moses’ furious departure from Pharaoh (ll:8e) and the summary reference to Yahweh intervening to make Pharaoh’s heart obstinate (11:9-10) leave no doubt as to w hat it was. W hen the ten th mighty act befalls Egypt, and the firstborn of man and beast alike have been struck dead, the final breakthrough is made. Pharaoh grants Israel unconditional perm ission to leave Egypt. H e even requests, in w hat may be taken as his own confession o f belief, “bless even me” (12:32d). T here is now no interference from Yah­ weh, and at last the Exodus takes place, to the great relief o f all the surviving Egyptians. As we have seen already, however, Yahweh intervenes yet once more, even after the Exodus has taken place, to the u tter panic of Israel and then the total destruction of Pharaoh and his elite chariot corps. This ultimate proof of Yahweh’s Pres­ ence to Pharaoh can hardly be for Pharaoh’s benefit, since it includes Pharaoh’s death. Further, while Yahweh’s accel­ erating pressure on Pharaoh makes sense so long as Pharaoh arrogantly doubts Yahweh’s power, if n o t his existence, why would Yahweh himself prevent Pharaoh from making the moves of faith Yahweh has been attempting to bring Pharaoh to make? The contemporary reader may well wonder why m ention of such incredible and miraculous reverses have been given no notice in the amply kept Egyptian records of the eighteenth and the nineteenth dynasties. A nd more impor­ tant still, how could Yahweh use another hum an being, even one as apparently narcissistic and unpleasant as Pharaoh, as a pawn to prove a point to Israel, a people both separate from and a burden to Egypt? The Sequence of Story

43

T he answer to these varied questions is one. To under­ stand it, we m ust open ourselves to the very different con­ text from which and for w hich this sequence of story was originally w ritten. To begin w ith, w hat we have here m ust be interpreted as a theological confession of belief, and n o t as an historical record in narrative form. W hatever histori­ cal core may lie behind any o f the sequence of story in the book o f Exodus, th at story in its present form is m ythopoeic narrative, a sequence of confession in symbols, the presentation o f th e tru th th at is m ore true than simple fact. T hat there was an Egypt, a sojourn there o f some o f A bra­ ham’s descendants, an oppression o f those descendants by a new and unfavorable dynasty, an ensuing conflict and an eventual separation, even an escape, can hardly be doubted. B ut th at historical core, long since lost to us irretrievably in centuries of layers o f confessional overlay, is n o t the con­ cern o f th e sequence o f story o f Exodus. We read these lines too m uch as we w ould a newspaper account, asking o f them the questions such an account m ight stimulate. We need rather to read them as we w ould read a hym n, a prayer, a credo, a serm on w ritten by D ante or Shakespeare or M ilton. W hat happens to the Pharaoh in Yahweh’s proving of his Presence is similar to w hat happens to Job in Yahweh’s prov­ ing of the integrity of “my servant Job.” We are told at the beginning of the book of Job that Job is nonpareil in all the earth, “an innocent and righteous man who has rever­ ence for G od and turns his back to evil” (Job 1:8; 2:3). All th at is to come upon him is a dem onstration of th at in­ tegrity— so we are told throughout the sequence of story proving Yahweh’s Presence that Yahweh’s purpose is, pre­ cisely, that proof. It is a proof in four dimensions, as I have indicated already. Yet it is, in a way, a proof beyond those dimensions, a universalized proof, in which the Pharaoh o f

44

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Egypt is a symbol of the great sea m onster of the deep, defeated by Yahweh in the ordering which made life on earth a possibility, and in which Israel is a symbol of every and any people of faith, of whatever time and of whatever place. This sequence of story announces that G od is, that G od is here, and that his Presence means help, and rescue, and the eventual trium ph, on his terms and by his schedule, of his intention. To ask w hether G od actually uses (and abuses) one hum an being, no m atter how nasty that person might be, to teach a lesson to another hum an being, or to many other hum an beings, is to think of G od in blatantly anthropom or­ phic terms, and thus to m isunderstand him completely. We are here dealing w ith theology, exuberantly confessed. To say that those who composed and compiled the sequence of story of the book of Exodus have presented us w ith a picture of G od that troubles us is far more a condemnation o f the narrowness of our view and far more an indictm ent of the poverty of our theological imagination than it is of theirs. The question, “W hat really happened at the sea of reeds?” is not only irrelevant to the sequence of story and the sequence of memory in Exodus, it is a question that diverts us alto­ gether from the purpose and impact of those sequences. It is a question that reveals an adult weakness to use intellect, and then, inevitably, emotion, in the contem plation of texts for which only faith is an adequate resource. The real happening at the sea was the proof o f Yahweh’s Presence, the demonstra­ tion that Yahweh is here, revealing his Presence in his deeds. The Hebrew singers and storytellers used the language of their time to tell us about it. O ur attempts to read that lan­ guage only as we read the language of our time is at best ignorant and lazy, and at w orst an avoidance for selfish rea­ sons o f what the biblical story is actually saying to us about God’s Presence and G od’s salvation.

The Sequence of Story

45

G od pro v id in g a n d guiding by his P resen ce As Israel journeys onward from the rescue at the sea into the wilderness, and heads tow ard the place where they are to m eet Yahweh in worship, his proof to them of his Presence is augmented. T he provision involves physical nourishm ent (meeting the need of both food and water) and protection from marauding enemies. T he guidance involves direction through a barren, uncharted desert and m ountain land to the place where Yahweh would present him self to them . This fu rth er dem onstration o f Yahweh’s Presence is a testi­ mony of the continuation o f his providence in the election o f his covenant people. Interw oven w ith these them es o f dem onstration, provi­ sion and guidance, is the them e of Israel’s dissatisfaction, set fo rth in the sequence o f story by the narratives of bickering, complaint, and rebellion, narratives th at extend beyond the book of Exodus into the book of Numbers (Num 11,13-14, 16-17, 20). This interweaving is in effect a continuation o f the tension in the sequence o f story created first by the reluctance of Moses, then continued by the stubbornness o f the Egyptians, especially th at of Pharaoh— both on his own and also as a result o f Yahweh’s interference. W hatever Yah­ weh attempts, in the pursuit o f his purpose w ith and for Israel, there is always opposition o f some kind from some quarter. From the beginning, however, we know by faith how this story will come out, and that no opposition to Yahweh’s intention and providence can come to any ulti­ mate trium ph. Indeed, the narrative device of this section o f th e sequence o f story of Exodus is th at Israel’s need and Israel’s opposition serve only to call forth fu rth er demon­ strations o f Yahweh’s already proven Presence. T he first such com plaint calling fo rth a dem onstration arises from a need for potable w ater (15:22-27). A rriving at a source o f w ater after three days’ dry travel, Israel 46

EXODUS

“grum bled against M oses” w hen they found th a t w ater too bitter to drink. M oses called o u t to Yahweh for help in this crisis, and Yahweh showed him a kind o f w ood th at w ould remove the w ater’s bitterness. T he wood, like M oses’ staff, is a symbol o f Yahweh’s miracle-making power. W hen the w ater became potable, Yahweh, his Presence in provision thus dem onstrated, invited Israel to make a response. It is a revelation and a response th at seems almost to be a preview o f Sinai: A t th at very spot, he [Yahweh] established for them a requirem ent and a divine guidance and there he pu t them on trial; thus he said, “If you will pay careful attention to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do th e right thing according to his standard, and be obedient to his commandments, and m eet all his requirem ents, all the diseases th at I put upon the Egyptians I will no t p u t upon you: for I am Yahweh your healer.” (Exod 15:25-26) O n the one hand, this assertion and promise of Yahweh is a reminder of the Presence-proving mighty acts in Egypt; on the other hand, it is an anticipation of the Sinai revelation and the Sinai covenant. T he provision of drinkable w ater demon­ strates Yahweh’s Presence w ith Israel in the wilderness, and more, it attests to the continuing effectiveness of his provi­ dential care. T hat Presence and the guidance and provision it effects raise the question of an appropriate response. A nd Yahweh’s statement sets forth the options of response, speci­ fying the standard accompaniments of ancient Near Eastern covenant-making: blessing (in this case, protection and heal­ ing) for obedience and judgment for disobedience. The state­ m ent even ends w ith the statement w ith which the Sinai revelation of covenant requirem ent begins, “I am Yahweh” (15:26 vis-à-vis 20:2). The Sequence of Story

47

The second complaint of Israel in the wilderness is a cry for food. W hat had become of the flocks and herds Moses had so insisted on bringing out of Egypt (10:24-26, “not a hoof is to remain here”) after only six weeks (16:1) of journey we are not told. But the grumbling against Moses and Aaron was unanimous: “you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole crowd by starvation!” The people initially address this complaint to Moses and Aaron as a direction of access, not of accusation. That is, the real object of complaint (and the only one who can provide any remedy for it) is Yahweh. As Moses says: “N ot against us are your grumblings, but against Yahweh” (16:8). Thus again does Yahweh dem onstrate the Presence he has proven by providing for Israel’s need— Israel’s com­ plaints are presented throughout the sequence of story no t as stimuli to Yahweh’s provision, b u t as embarrassing lapses o f m istrust and even unbelief. Israel was told, “Approach the Presence of Yahweh.” W hen they turned to face the wilder­ ness (the direction of their travel), Yahweh’s glory— his kabod or Presence— appeared in a cloud (16:10), and Moses was told to say to Israel, “Between dusk and dawn, you are to eat meat, and in the m orning you are to be stuffed w ith bread; then you will know by experience that I am Yahweh your G od.” (Exod 16:12) The remedy o f Israel’s need is anticipated in this promise, in term s reflecting the almost hum orous excess of Israel’s com­ plaint, and the purpose of that remedy is stated succinctly: T he Presence is to be dem onstrated by provision, and Israel is to know that Yahweh is, and is here, by their experience of his providence. T hat very evening the promise of meat was fulfilled, and in the m orning that followed, so also was the promise of 48

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bread— a double dem onstration of Yahweh’s providential Presence. Both the quails and manna are clearly regarded, wherever m entioned in the Bible (see also Num 11; Ps 78:2329; Ps 105:40; John 6:31-33; 1 C or 10:2-4), as miraculously provided. A ttem pts to explain them as naturalistic phenom ­ ena of some sort are inappropriate, as misplaced as are the similar attempts to explain the mighty acts in Egypt. The quails are only briefly m entioned in the sequence o f story of th e book of Exodus; a fuller account of their arrival, their gathering, and their consum ption is given in the paral­ lel, b u t expanded, narrative of Numbers 11. T he m anna is described much more fully here, and much more briefly in Numbers 11. T he manna was entirely strange to the Is­ raelites—thus their name for it, m an Hu, “w hat is it?” They regarded it as a kind of miracle bread, a view enhanced by its miraculous adequacy to their daily need and by its miracu­ lous m ultiplication for the sabbath, w hen they were n o t to harvest it. A nd Yahweh gave instructions that one day’s ra­ tion of it for one person be kept so that the generations of Israel yet to come could see for themselves this dem onstra­ tion of Yahweh’s providing Presence. As the journey toward Yahweh’s m ountain continued, a second water crisis arose, at a place called Rephidim, desig­ nated by Exodus 19:1-2 and Numbers 33:15 as the final place of encampment before Sinai. This time, there is no water of any kind, and again the people grumble against Moses. They accuse him once more of an Exodus th at can only end in death, this time of thirst (17:3; in 14:11-12, they expected death at the hands of the pursuing Egyptians; in 16:3, death by starvation). Yet again, however, Yahweh’s proven Presence is demon­ strated, this time as Yahweh directs Moses to “a rock in H oreb” on which he will be standing, and w hich yields a spring of fresh water w hen Moses, following Yahweh’s in­ struction, strikes it w ith his rod. The designation of this The Sequence of Story

49

rock as “in H oreb” connects this miracle of supply w ith the m ountain of Yahweh’s revelation of his Presence to Moses, and it also confirms the proxim ity of the wilderness destina­ tion toward which Moses is leading Israel. Because of their complaining, even in the face of all they have experienced, Moses calls the place of their encampment “Testing and Dissatisfaction” (Massah and M eribah). The justification of this accusation by descriptive name is a trenchant summary of Israel’s unbelievable disbelief and an indication of the continuing tension of the sequence of story of the book of Exodus: They had asked, “Is Yahweh present w ith us, or not?” He had promised to be present, of course. A nd he had proven that Presence, beyond any reasonable doubt and beyond even the Pharaoh’s divinely pressured doubt. He had dem onstrated th at Presence, by his provision of water and meat and bread in the barrenness of the wilderness. A nd yet his own chosen people, the elect descen­ dants of Abraham, those who had seen it all w ith their own eyes, could still somehow doubt, and actually ask, “Is Yahweh present w ith us, or not?” Already their greatest doubt and their most incredible disobedience are in view, and beyond that the litany o f doubts and disobedience of every disbeliev­ ing believer throughout the range of the O ld Testament story, the biblical story, and even our own story of belief and disbelief. Also at Rephidim, Israel encountered the first in w hat was to be a series of armed enemies intent on blocking their way. O nce again, Yahweh must dem onstrate his proven Presence, this time by enabling Israel’s forces to defeat the forces of Amalek, who had joined battle w ith them. Moses took up a position on a hilltop overlooking the battlefield and lifted his hands, perhaps holding “the staff of G od.” Israel was able to prevail against Amalek only as long as Moses continued hold­ ing up his hands; thus w hen Moses grew tired, A aron and H ur, the son of Caleb, supported his hands until Joshua had 50

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defeated the Amalekites. The involvement of Yahweh in this deliverance is emphasized n ot only by th e reference to the staff of God, and by th e divine encouragement (or perhaps even power) transm itted through Moses' uplifted hands. M ore specifically it is underlined still by Yahweh’s promis­ sory curse utterly to “efface the recollection of Amalek,” a curse Moses is to w rite down in “the book” (perhaps “The Book of the Wars of Yahweh” quoted in Numbers 21:14-15). Yahweh’s involvement is also emphasized by the altar nam ed “Yahweh is my standard,” a name explained so: “Because a hand has been against Yah’s throne, there will be battle betw een Yahweh and Amalek, from one generation to another” (17:15-16). T he interference of Amalek w ith Israel’s progress tow ard H oreb/Sinai is taken by \ as an attack upon himself, and it becomes an opportunity for yet another dem onstration of his Presence w ith Israel, this tíme in providential protection and the enhancem ent o f mil­ itary skills and strength. T he final narratives of Yahweh’s provision and guidance in the sequence o f story in the book of Exodus b oth involve Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro/R euel/H obab. T he first o f those narratives (18:1-12) is a narrative of reunion; the sec­ ond o f them (18:13-27) is a narrative of guidance. T he first one provides a logical conclusion to the story of Moses’ departure from his family in M idian and his retu rn to Egypt to bring fo rth his people Israel. T he second is an im portant anticipation o f w hat is to transpire in Yahweh’s presentation o f his Presence to Israel assembled at Sinai. A nd it is also an instructive memory of th e beginnings of Israel’s legal sys­ tem — one th at is illuminating for the sequence of require­ m ent extending from Exodus 20 through Exodus 23 (see pp. 86-93). T he narrative of reunion is an appropriate ending o f the Exodus story, w ith its summary, for Jethro’s benefit, o f all th at had transpired in Egypt and at the sea. In them atic The Sequence of Story

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term s also, it is the im portant conclusion to the separation m otif set forth repeatedly in the sequence of story in the book of Genesis and hinted at in the account of Moses’ discovery of home in M idian (Exod 2:16-22). This narrative, therefore, seems logically in place. T he narrative o f guidance, however, seems, at least in term s of a logical sequence, to be out o f place, presupposing as it does th e application to living o f the requirem ents and instructions of Yahweh (see pp. 89-93) th at have yet to be given in the Exodus sequence o f story. Indeed, it w ould appear to fit th e sequence o f story better following Exodus 24, after the covenant w ith Yahweh has been sol­ emnized, or even following Exodus 34, after th at covenant has been renewed and Israel is making ready to depart Sinai. This problem o f sequence cannot have been over­ looked by the compilers o f the book o f Exodus, so the narrative o f guidance m ust have been placed w here it is for some good reason. I suggest th at the reason is them atic and theological. T he separation m otif is reflected in the stories o f Cain (Gen 4:10-16), Hagar and Ishmael (Gen 21:8-21), K eturah’s sons (Gen 25:1— 6), and Esau (Gen 25:19-34; 27:1-45; 28:6-9; 32:3-6; 33:1-20). O ver against these stories of nomadic wan­ dering in the East are the stories of those who settle into a life in locations more or less fixed in the land promised: Seth (Gen 5:3), Isaac (Gen 24:1-10; 25:6), and Jacob (Gen 28:1-5; 33:12—18; 35:5-15). T he only meeting in later life of the half-brothers Ishmael and Isaac was at their father’s burial at the cave of M achpelah (Gen 25:9, 11-18). Jacob and Esau, following their reunion upon Jacob’s return from Paddanaram, were not able to dwell in the same area (Gen 36:6-8). T he subsequent journey of Jacob and his sons to Egypt, following the travel and the prosperity there of Joseph, amounts to a further separation from the Esau branch of the family, nowhere m entioned in the O ld Testament as having

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any connection whatever w ith the famine in Canaan, the sojourn in Egypt, or the Exodus from there. A t the begin­ ning of the sequence of story in Exodus, therefore, the family of Abraham, Yahweh’s election-people, stands di­ vided, separated into tw o branches by the greed, jealousy, and strife that followed them. Consequently, it is a m atter of urgency th at the family be reunited before Yahweh’s great presentation to them of his Presence, his invitation of them into covenantal response, and his fulfillm ent for them of his promise of land. So Moses becomes the medium of reconciliation and re­ union of the tw o parts of Abraham’s family: His newfound family in M idian turns out to be, in what I have elsewhere called “one of those remarkable connections so recurrent in the Bible,”20 just the other branch of his ancestral family. Jethro becomes the symbol of the C ain/K eturah/Ishm ael/ Esau side of the family— the nomadic, “Eastern,” transJordan side. A aron becomes the symbol o f the Seth/S arah/ Isaac/Jacob side, the settled, “W estern,” promised-land side. In the communion meal symbolizing this reunion, for this reason, the principal figures are Jethro and Aaron. Moses is not m entioned as even having a part in that meal, and it is Jethro, not Aaron, who receives and distributes the meat and the bread (Exod 18:12). T he references to Moses’ tw o sons at the beginning o f this account of reunion are a fu rth er testim ony to these connections. Jethro has kept Moses’ family during his ab­ sence; he now brings Zipporah and the tw o boys (only one is m entioned in Exodus 2:21-22 and 4:25, though 4:20 refers to “sons”) to rejoin Moses “in the wilderness where he was camped, there at the m ountain of G od” (18:5). T he interpretation of G ershom ’s name, “a stranger have I been in a land foreign to m e” is repeated (see 2:22) in reference to Moses’ stay in Egypt, and the second son’s name is given as Eliezer, “my G od is help,” in reference to the deliverance o f The Sequence of Story

53

the Exodus: “T he G od of my father was my help; thus he rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword” (18:4). Jethro is reported to have heard about the Exodus, and perhaps also the mighty acts of Yahweh and the dem onstra­ tions of his proven Presence— for th at reason he came to Sinai, bringing Moses’ family to him. Even so, however, Jethro quite naturally has to hear the w onderful report at first hand, from Moses himself. U pon hearing it, Jethro blesses Yahweh, summarizing Moses’ proof and dem onstration of the Presence of Yahweh, and making a confession o f faith in Yahweh th at is all his own: “Now I know for certain th at Yahweh is greater than all the gods” (18:11a). This con­ fession, and th e fact that Jethro presides at the com m union meal—w hen added to his role in guiding Moses in applying the principles of life in covenant w ith Yahweh, and consid­ ered w ith the fact th at Yahweh presents him self to Moses and Israel in the territory of M idianite nomadism— has given rise to the supposition that Moses first learned about Yahweh from Jethro. T he narrative of guidance in Exodus 18:13-17, however logically a non sequitur it may be, meshes w ith the prepara­ tion of Israel for Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence. Just as the tw o sides of the family of Abraham need to be re­ united before Yahweh comes to them , so also does Moses need instruction in the application to life o f Yahweh’s re­ quirem ents and instruction. O nce again, it is Jethro who stands out as the figure of authority, Jethro w ho gives Moses pointed and detailed counsel, counsel Moses is reported as following to the letter and w ithout question. Indeed, Jethro represents the counsel he gives as a divine command (18:23), the obedience of which will ensure G od’s Presence (18:19). T he whole impression of this narrative is consonant w ith the picture of Jethro as Moses’ m entor, and A aron’s, in all m atters relating both to the worship of Yahweh and also to life in obedience w ith Yahweh’s expectation.

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T he stim ulus for Jethro’s advice to M oses is th e obvi­ ously impossible w orkload th e people’s needs have placed upon Moses. They m ust wait long hours for M oses to get to them and th eir requests, and th e num ber o f them needing an interpretation of th e divine “requirem ents and instruc­ tions” is rapidly exceeding th e tim e and energy M oses has to give. Moses’ explanation is th at th e inquiries of th e peo­ ple are actually inquiries o f G od. T he im plication is th at only Moses, as th e interm ediary passing along Yahweh’s instructions, is in a position, o r has th e authority, to deal w ith them . Jethro’s advice is linked to this valid point. Moses m ust continue his role as authoritative intermediary, b u t he m ust save his time and strength for th at unique task by delegating responsibility to carefully chosen “m en o f ability” and integrity for the routine, repeated problems for w hich divine guidance has already been obtained and successfully applied. Jethro says, “Every complex problem, they shall bring to you, and every routine problem they shall deal w ith. T hus will things be lighter for you: they will carry the load w ith you. If you follow this procedure, as G od charges you to do, th en you will he able to stand up under the pressure, and all this people as well will go to their ow n place satisfied.” (18:22b-23) This advice Moses followed to the letter, and w hen he had selected these “leaders” and “set them in charge” of units o f the people of decreasing size from a thousand to ten, They decided cases for the people on a continuing basis: th e difficult problems, they brought straight to Moses; every routine problem, they dealt w ith. (18:26) The Sequence of Story

55

W hat we are given here, albeit in a somewhat developed form, is an ancient tradition of the origin and working of the legal system of Israel, w ith its A ncient Near Eastern distinc­ tion betw een laws of principle, universal in application (apodictic laws), and laws of situation, restricted in application (casuistic laws) and based on precedents and solutions previ­ ously successful. T he them e that has drawn these Jethro narratives to their present location, as I have said already, is the preparation of Israel for Yahweh’s presentation to them of his Presence. T hat preparation comes first in the reunion of the divided descendants of Abraham, second in the instruction Jethro gives for worshiping Yahweh and for applying to life the principles of living in covenant w ith him — principles soon to be revealed in the sequence of story as an integral part of Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence. By placing these Jethro narratives here, before the giving of the requirem ents and instructions w ith which they are in one way or another concerned, the storytellers of Exodus have given a striking emphasis to the need for special preparation for the unique moments of faith. A nd they have, at the same time, given an im portant rem inder of the desert origins of Israel’s faith. G od p resen tin g h is P resence Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence to Israel while the nation was gathered on the plain before H oreb/Sinai is the very center of the sequence of story of the book of Exodus. In a way, it is the center also of the sequence o f story of the O ld Testament, and of the Bible, taken as a whole, for the coming of G od is the subject of the biblical story. The account of the presentation, the event toward which the entire sequence of story of Exodus has been moving, is resonant with an excitement the contemporary reader tends too often to miss. A fter so many weeks of turm oil in Egypt; 56

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after the heart-stopping suspense of the final, unbelievable release, the hope-shattering pursuit and the miraculous res­ cue at the sea; after the frightening shortages and wonderful provisions of the wilderness; and after the arrival of Israel at Horeb/Sinai (the mountain about which Moses had told them so often and toward which he had led them so urgently), the people’s expectancy had to have been at manic levels. The narrative of Yahweh’s self-revelation— even at this distance, and despite much rearrangem ent and some over­ lay— still tingles w ith excitement. It continues a suspense that has been building from the beginning of the sequence of story, and sets in m otion an imagery that echoes in every O ld Testament reference to the coming of God. Following the further notice (cf. 18:5) of Israel’s arrival at Sinai, we are told that “Moses w ent up towards G od.” As it now stands, Exodus 19 includes at this point both a covenant-renewal sequence of memory (19:3b— 6), a response to it (19:7-8), and a further authorization of Moses (19:9). T he narrative of Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence thus actually begins w ith his instructions for the preparation of Israel (19:10-15). These instructions, which serve to heighten the drama of the moment of self-revelation, make the point that the pro­ tocols of dress and readiness for the arrival of Yahweh’s Presence are a reflection of the specialness of the experience. The people are to be “set apart for holiness” by: 1. washing their clothes, 2. contemplating the experience before them for tw o days, 3. learning the boundaries of Yahweh’s powerful holi­ ness, boundaries they are not to cross, upon pain of death, and 4. abstaining from sexual intercourse— in keeping w ith the requirem ents reflected elsewhere in such pas­ sages as 1 Samuel 21:1-6 and Leviticus 15:16-33. The Sequence of Story

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Since both ritual uncleanness and holiness are regarded in the O ld Testament as communicable by any physical con­ tact, even an indirect one, the boundaries of the people’s approach to Yahweh’s m ountain were to be protected by the stoning or shooting (by archers or slingers) of any person or beast w ho violated them . These preparations made, and these prohibitions ob­ served, on the third day after Israel’s arrival at Sinai, at day­ break, the awesome event, long anticipated, happened. T he report of it even now rumbles w ith an ominous, distant thun­ der and echoes w ith the eerie vibrato of the ram’s horn draw­ ing nearer. We can almost feel the prickly static of the lightning near at hand, and find ourselves half eager and half reluctant to peer through the brightness of its licking illumi­ nation into the thick cloud and heavy smoke as the whole m ountain shakes beneath our feet. The experience of H oreb/ Sinai is our experience. The sequence of story in Exodus puts us there, if we read it w ith faith. Despite Moses’ interm ediary role the im portant original insistence of this account— that Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence was to all Israel— still shines through. This essential emphasis is clearly made by (1) the preparation o f all the people for the advent o f the third day, a preparation justified by the statem ent, “They are to be completely ready by the third day, because on the third day Yahweh will come down, before the eyes of the whole people, onto M ount Sinai” (19:11); (2) the report that, w hen the third day arrived, “Moses led the people out from the camp to encounter G od” (19:17a); (3) the reaction of the people to their experi­ ence of Yahweh’s self-revelation of his Presence, “and all the people were experiencing the rumblings of thunder and the bolts of lightning and the sound of the ram’s h o rn and the m ountain smoking: and as the people took it in, they trem bled and drew some distance back” (20:18); and (4) the continuing tradition th at Yahweh’s own voice, sounding

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fo rth from the fire, was heard by all the people: “These words [the Ten Commandments] Yahweh spoke to all your congregation before the m ountain, from w ithin the fire, the cloud and the heavy darkness, a great voice.” (D eut 5:22; see also D eut 4:11-14,32-33,35-36; 5:4,23-26). It is an experience absolutely unique in the biblical record. T he only narrative even generally parallel to it is the story in Acts 2 o f the advent, upon the confused disciples, of the Holy Spirit of God. Well might Israel have been terrified to the point o f death, even before they heard Yahweh speaking. A nd then that voice came—who can imagine the sound of it? W hat it spoke was this: “I am Yahweh, your God, who brought you forth from the land of Egypt. . . . You are not to have other gods. You are not to make for yourself a shaped image. . . . You are n o t to employ the name o f Yahweh your G od to an empty purpose. . . . Remember the sabbath day. . . . Give honor to your father and your m other. . . . You are n o t to kill. You are not to commit adultery. You are n o t to steal. You are n o t to give against your neighbor a lying testimony. You are not to desire for yourself the house of your neighbor.” (Exod 20:2-4a, 7a, 8a, 12a, 13-17a) This succinct form of the Ten Commandments is my at­ tem pt to suggest their original and briefer statem ent, a com­ pactness that justifies the designation “the Ten W ords” in Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 and 10:4. We may rea­ sonably surmise an even briefer, more memorable form for The Sequence of Story

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these ten principles o f living in covenant relationship w ith Yahweh, especially in view o f their inclusion in th e se­ quence of story of Yahweh’s self-revelation of his Presence on M ount H oreb/Sinai. As th at story now stands, both in the book of Exodus and in other recollections of it in Deuteronom y 4 and 5 and elsewhere in the O ld Testament, these ten principles are that presentation— an integral part, indeed the essential part— of Yahweh’s theophany to Israel. They are not to be taken out of the sequence of story as disruptive o f it (as some literary critics have done) for they are that story, n o t an intrusion into i t T heir beginning is a repetition of Yahweh’s self-presenta­ tion (“I am Yahweh”), a link w ith the fathers (“your G od”), and a summary o f the proof and dem onstration o f his Pres­ ence (“w ho brought you fo rth from the land o f Egypt”). T heir order describes the tension of revelation and re­ sponse th at the H oreb/Sinai presentation o f Presence is: T he first four commandments are principles guiding Is­ rael’s relationship to Yahweh; th e last six are principles guiding Israel’s relationships to one another and to the larger hum an family because of their relationship w ith Yah­ weh. These commandments are th e fundam ental pattern for Israel’s response to Yahweh’s self-revelation, through their daily worship and by their daily behavior. T he statem ent “I am Yahweh” is a declaration, as we have seen, o f Yahweh’s real and active Presence in Israel’s midst. T he Ten W ords th at follow are an explanation by expecta­ tion of w hat and how Yahweh is, and is here. They identify and describe the Yahweh w ho has come to Israel by stating w hat he requires o f those w ho know th at he is and is here. They set fo rth a covenant of being w ith the G od w ho is— Israel is to be a certain way because o f the way Yahweh is— “the O ne W ho Always Is.” They are a gift to an Israel needing to know how to live in G od’s company. Yahweh’s theophanic address to Israel is therefore 60

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introduced with a statement of his nature (“I am Yahweh”) and continues with a statement of their identity (“your God, who brought you forth from the land of Egypt”). It then moves on to a compact summary of what this means for their living. The first of Yahweh’s expectations is absolute priority and total loyalty. Those who are to be as his people are to have no other gods—they are to seek out and worship him alone. T he next three expectations are descriptions of how Israel is and is not to express devotion to Yahweh. They are n o t to use any shaped image as a means of focus for their worship, individual or corporate. They must worship him as he is, mysterious and invisible, and n o t as they m ight envision him to be or w ant him to be. They are to be completely serious about Yahweh’s Presence among them , respecting his Pres­ ence as symbolized by the gift of his name, Yahweh. T hat name and Presence is n ot to be used “to em pty purpose.” In relation to this priority— this acceptance of Yahweh as he presents himself, and this respect for the Presence declared by his name— Israel is also to observe w ithout lapse the final day o f each week (the day of stopping kept by Yahweh him ­ self) as a day th at belongs to Yahweh. It is a day set aside for remembering w ho he is so that Israel may know and remem­ ber w ho they are. As the second, third, and fourth of the commandments are extensions of the first commandment, so the final six com­ mandments are built on the foundation laid by the first four. As Yahweh is to be honored for his priority above all life, so one’s father and m other are to be honored for their priority, in Yahweh’s ordering, in the lives of their children. Though this fifth commandment has frequently been directed (by par­ ents especially) toward children, its primary address here is toward adult children, those who are responsible above all for obedience to the covenant, those who are to guide the young and keep the old. T he sixth of Yahweh’s words is a prohibition against any The Sequence of Story

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act o f killing, the introduction o f violence into the covenant community. T he prohibition is n o t against the killing o f war or capital punishm ent, both of w hich the law o f the O ld Testament permits. It refers to a standard of conduct w ithin the covenant community th at Yahweh expects, and is thus primarily a religious prohibition and n o t a social one. T he same can be said of the seventh o f Yahweh’s words. T he prohibition against adultery here is religious rather than social: A dultery is a denial o f Israel’s specialness and, there­ fore, a denial o f Yahweh’s specialness. For this reason, adul­ tery becomes the charge against the covenant community for the worship of idols (Exod 32:21-34; Isa 57:1-13; Jer 3:6-9; Ezek 23:36-49); adultery was for Israel a turning away from commitment to Yahweh. So also the eighth o f Yah­ weh’s words is a prohibition against an activity th at breaches Israel’s unique human-divine relationship by breaching hu ­ man relationships through the destruction o f tru s t This commandment forbids stealing o f any kind. The last tw o of Yahweh’s Ten W ords prohibit, respec­ tively, the compromise of the reputation of another member of the covenant community, through a lying testimony, and the compromise of one’s own integrity, through an obsessive lusting after something that belongs to another. The reputation of one’s neighbor in the covenant commu­ nity was im portant to that neighbor for obvious reasons. It was im portant to the potential slanderer because of the im­ portance to himself as well as to the whole community o f congenial relationships. Above all, Yahweh’s reputation as God of the community was also at stake. Behavior inimical to Yahweh’s expectation would erode the witness Israel was called to be. T he tenth of the Ten W ords similarly prohibits behavior th at may lead to the disintegration o f personal integrity, and so is, in a way, a kind o f summary com m andm ent Desiring for oneself th at which belongs to another could provide the 62

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gateway to the violation of any other one, or even to all, of the other commandments. As in the commandment preceding it, this commandment, too, is first o f all religious and no t social in its concern. T he expanded statem ent of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and ten th of the commandments is an indication of w hich o f the fundam ental principles o f living in covenant w ith Yahweh gave Israel the greatest difficulty. T he longer the statem ent, the more detailed its specification o f people, reasons, or rewards for obedience, the m ore probable is a history o f avoidance, loophole chasing and rationalization. In the second, fourth, and ten th commandments in particu­ lar, the seams o f expansion are especially obvious, and they indicate a history of struggle on Israel’s part to become the people Yahweh desired them to be. These expansions belong, however, to the sequence o f re­ quirem ent in the book of Exodus and n ot to the theophanic address of Yahweh to Israel presented as so central a part of the sequence of story. T hat sequence is best read as a dramatic continuum moving from Moses’ preparation o f Israel for Yahweh’s theophany (the central feature of w hich is his statement of the Ten Words) to the report of Israel’s reac­ tion after experiencing this event and then to their response to the event in the making, breaking and remaking of covenantal commitment. T he sequence o f Yahweh’s presentation o f his Presence to Israel at H oreb/Sinai thus moves from 19:l-3a to 19:10-20a to 20:1-21. T he pow erful tension o f this sequence is far more obvious w hen presented in a serial reading, om itting the interpolations made for a variety of reasons: In the th ird m onth o f the Exodus o f the sons o f Israel from the land o f Egypt, on th e very day they came to th e wilderness o f Sinai . . . Moses w ent up tow ards C od. . . . So Yahweh said to Moses, "G o to th e The Sequence of Story

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people, and set them apart for holiness today and tomorrow. They are to wash their clothes. They are to be completely ready by the th ird day, because on the th ird day Yahweh will come down, before the eyes o f the w hole people, onto M ount Sinai, You are to estab­ lish boundaries for the people all around, warning, ‘Be careful about going up onto the m ountain, or even touching its outcropping: all w ho touch the m ountain will certainly be executed— no hand is to touch him; rather is he to be stoned to death o r m ortally shot, w hether beast or m an he is n o t to live.’ W ith the draw n-out signal of the bell-horn, they are to come up to the m ountain." So Moses w ent down from the m ountain to the peo­ ple. T hen he set the people apart for holiness, and they washed their clothes. Next, he said to the people, “Be completely ready by the third day. D o n o t have inter­ course w ith a woman.” A nd so it was, on the third day, w hen the m orning was breaking, that there were rumblings of thunder and flashes of lightning, and a heavy cloud upon the m ountain. The sound of a ram’s h o rn was very strong, so much so that all the people in the camp were terri­ fied. T hen Moses led the people out from the camp to encounter God. They took a position at the bottom of the mountain. T he whole of M ount Sinai was smoking from the Presence o f Yahweh, who came down upon it in the fire— indeed, the smoke of it boiled up like smoke from the pottery-kiln, and the whole m ountain shook violently. The sound of the ram’s horn mean­ while was moving, and growing very strong. . . . Thus Yahweh came down upon M ount Sinai, to the top of the m ountain. . . . T hen Yahweh21 spoke all these words, saying,

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“I am Yahweh, your God, w ho brought you forth from the land of Egypt. . . . You are n ot to have other gods. . . . You are not to make for yourself a shaped image......... You are not to employ the name of Yahweh your G od to empty purpose. . . . Remember the sabbath day. . . . Give honor to your father and your m other. . . . You are n o t to kill. You are not to commit adultery. You are n o t to steal. You are n o t to give against your neighbor a lying testimony. You are n o t to desire for yourself the house of your neighbor. . . .” A nd all the people were experiencing the rumblings of thunder and the bolts of lightning and the sound of the ram’s horn and the m ountain smoking: and as the peo­ ple took it in, they trem bled and drew some distance back. T hen they said to Moses, “You speak w ith us, and we promise we’ll hear—b u t don’t let G od keep speak­ ing w ith us, lest we die!” But Moses replied to the peo­ ple, “D on’t be afraid, for it is w ith the purpose of giving you the experience that G od has come, so that rever­ ence for him might grip you and prevent you from sin­ ning.” So the people took a position at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where G od was. T he conclusion to the story of Yahweh’s self-revelation on H oreb/Sinai is thus a brief notice of Israel’s response to this fascinating and frightening event, an anticipation of the

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role Moses is to have (as Yahweh’s spokesman to them and as their spokesman to Yahweh) and also a h in t of w hat is to come in the way of their response, both positive and nega­ tive. T hat tw o-part response forms the conclusion to the sequence of story in the book of Exodus, and to that double conclusion we now turn. Israel resp o n d in g to G od’s P resence Israel’s response to Yahweh’s presentation o f his Pres­ ence to them at H oreb/Sinai follows immediately, in the sequence o f story, after the narrative o f frightened response in Exod 20:18-21. T he large block o f m aterial explicating and applying the Ten W ords, Exodus 20:22-23:33, is a p art o f th e sequence o f requirem ent o f the book o f Exodus, inserted at a point appropriate to its purpose b u t neverthe­ less posing an inevitable disruption o f th e dram atic flow and tension of the sequence o f story. So also Exodus 25:131:18, a p art of the sequence o f m em ory o f th e book o f Exodus, is intrusive o f the continuation o f the narrative o f Israel’s response— it too is inserted into the story at a logi­ cally appropriate point, b u t these chapters o f instruction and specification o f the media o f th e w orship o f Yahweh obscure, in th eir present location, and w ith their emphasis o n w orship and daily life in com m itm ent to Yahweh, th e m om entum o f the story o f Israel’s response. T hat momentum is set off by Yahweh’s appearance to, and address of, Israel. It then progresses from a loyal response to a negation of that response (in a betrayal that is disloyalty), to a crisis in which Yahweh threatens to withdraw altogether his Presence just given, and finally to a resolution of that crisis and a renewal of covenant relationship. The insertion of the collection of legal-religious requirements applying the ten principles Yahweh has stated, and of the array of symbolic objects designed to aid worship in Yahweh’s Presence,

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stretches the sequence of the story of response apart at tw o vital points. Once the inserted material is removed, the se­ quence of story is immediately and obviously restored, as this reading of these verses together, in comparison w ith their location in the received text, makes clear: 20:21:

24:1-2:

So the people took a position at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. Then to Moses he said, “Climb up toward Yahweh: you, and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and bow down in worship at a respectful distance. Moses by himself is to come close to Yahweh—the others are not to come close, nor are the people to climb up with him.”

A t this point there is a narrative describing the ceremony o f the entry of the people of Israel into covenant w ith Yah­ weh (24:3-8), followed by the movement up onto the m oun­ tain of the group of leaders specified in Exod 24:1, where they experience “a vision of G od” and partake of a commu­ nion meal (vv 9-11). T hen Yahweh calls Moses fu rth er up onto the m ountain still, first w ith Joshua and then alone (vv 12-14). T he sequence of story then continues: 24:15-18:

So Moses climbed up higher on the mountain, and the cloud concealed the mountain. Thus the glory of Yahweh settled onto Mount Sinai, and the cloud concealed it six days; then on the seventh day Yahweh called out to Moses from the midst of the cloud. The spectacle of the glory of Yahweh, to the eyes of the sons of Israel, was like a consum­ ing fire at the mountain’s peak. Then Moses went into the midst of the cloud, climbing up higher on the mountain. In fact, Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

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32:1:

Then the people realized that Moses was long overdue coming down from the mountain, and so they came together against Aaron, and they said to him. “Get busy! Make gods for us who can lead us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we have no idea what has become of him.”

T he sequence of story in th e book of Exodus continues this narrative of rebellion and covenant breaking through its compromising course to the account of Yahweh’s mercy and the subsequent renewal o f his covenant relationship w ith Israel. H ere as throughout the sequence, the dom inant them e is Yahweh’s Presence and the difference in living that it demands. T he them atic structure of the sequence o f story is b uilt on the revelation, the proving, and the presentation of that Presence. This is so to such an intense and obsessive degree that when, suddenly and unbelievably, Israel’s behav­ ior raises the prospect of Yahweh’s disappointed withdrawal, the impact is staggering. W hat Yahweh has given to Israel, above all, is himself. Israel’s doubt, because of Moses’ absence, amounts to a rejec­ tion of that g ift T he whole sequence of story is suddenly reversed. Israel, alone in the wilderness, this people so newly become God’s people, can only become a nonpeople, whose situation is far worse than it ever was in the dependent bondage of Egypt. It is a powerful and stark presentation of the reality of Israel’s position throughout history, a paradigm also of the church. W hat is the situation of a community of faith w ith no faith? How can a godly people be godly if they are God-less? W hat is to become of a people who are a people only because G od is among them , if G od departs from them? W hen absence replaces Presence w hat happens to hope? T he Presence of Yahweh is the keystone of the architec­ ture of the sequence of story in Exodus, and the possibility 68

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of its withdrawal plunges the narrative into chaos. Israel is left w ith no place to go and no reason to be. This shrill and panic-bringing dissonance is entirely deliberate, brilliantly achieved, and, w ithout the additions that blunt its sharp counterpoint to most of the rest of th e sequence of story in Exodus, it is powerfully effective. The tension of the struggle in Egypt w ith an ambivalent Pharaoh, of the miraculous rescue at the sea, and of the various shortages and perils of the wilderness is resolved w ith Israel’s arrival at Sinai. There, the divided family of Abraham is at long last reunited. Amidst joyous celebration, Moses prepares the people for Yahweh’s arrival “on the third day.” This expectation creates a new kind of tension, one only increased by Yahweh’s advent and the sound of his voice from the fire and the thick cloud upon the m ountain. W hen a terrified Israel pleads w ith Moses to spare them any such experience in their future, he reassures them: Yahweh’s advent to them has their faith as its purpose, th at they might have reverence for him, and so be prevented from sinning (Exod 20:20). This reassurance serves the function, in the sequence o f story, o f anticipating, at the unlikeliest point imaginable, w hat is actually to occur. In other words, Yahweh’s proof of his Presence, and his dem onstration o f it, and his A dvent in presentation of it, do n o t work. They are somehow, incredi­ bly, not enough for Israel. In Egypt, w hen conditions grow more difficult, they com­ plain. A t the sea, w hen the Pharaoh’s pursuit seems about to snatch failure from the arms o f success, they forget all they have seen and whimper about graves. In the wilderness, w hen thirst and hunger overtake them , they whine as though they have never been freed, rescued, and guided— moaning about the great cuisine they enjoyed as slaves in Egypt. A t H oreb/Sinai, w hen the event toward which Moses has drawn them (and for which they have longed and The Sequence of Story

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prepared themselves) actually arrives, they are terrified and plead w ith Moses to spare them any such encounter in the future. Indeed, they complain about their blessing as though it were a curse. How can we imagine that, w ith the entry o f these people into covenant w ith Yahweh, things are to be any different? How can they hope to see more than they have seen, or experience more than they have experi­ enced already? T he point, o f course, is th a t they have n o t seen, despite their looking, and have n o t really experienced w hat has happened all around them . They are a paradigm o f th e com m unity th at claims to believe, yet does not, really, in every age. T heir making o f covenant w ith Yahweh, solem n and impressive though its symbolic ceremony, seems almost too good to be true following so m any doubts after so many rescues and mercies. G iven the sequence o f story preceding it, and th e terrible narrative o f covenant breaking th at we know will follow it, we may be excused for thinking o f Joshua 24, and o f Joshua’s reluctance to perm it Israel to enter into a covenantal com m itm ent th at he fears they will n o t keep. Moses’ climb up Sinai at Yahweh’s command, accompa­ nied by Aaron, his sons Nadab and A bihu, and seventy o f Israel’s elders has, in th e present composite of the sequence o f story,22 a double purpose. First, Moses is to receive and pass along to Israel the term s, the symbols, and th e cere­ mony of the people’s entry into covenant w ith Yahweh. Second, Moses and Israel’s leaders are to receive an en­ hancem ent o f their authority as leaders in a unique, and still more intim ate, experience of Yahweh’s Presence. Following Yahweh’s instructions, Moses repeats to the peo­ ple the guiding principles of life in covenant w ith Yahweh, then builds at the base of H oreb/Sinai an altar and twelve stone pillars, the former a symbol of Yahweh’s Presence, the latter a symbol of the presence of each of the twelve tribes. 70

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Next, he delegates young men to offer the wholly burned offerings and the completion sacrifices that are standard ac­ companiments of covenant making in the O ld Testament. From these sacrifices, Moses takes the blood, dashes half of it upon the altar representing Yahweh’s Presence and, after reading out “the book of the covenant,” dashes the second half of the blood upon the people, w ith these words: “See now the blood of the covenant that Yahweh has contracted w ith you, a covenant made specific by all these words” (24:8). “All these words” refers both to the Ten Commandments and to the extended and specific application of them repre­ sented by the sequence of requirem ent of 20:22-23:33 (see pp. 89-93). Then, well up on the mountain, Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the elders (representing the “m en of ability” which Jethro had counseled Moses to single out) experience by Yahweh’s invitation a special vision of his Presence, and eat and drink together a meal of communion. The obvious pur­ pose of this unique event is the equipm ent and authentication of Israel’s leaders for the tasks of presentation, interpretation, and guidance they are to undertake. T heir “seeing,” their vi­ sion, o f “the G od of Israel” is absolutely unique in the O ld Testam ent W hat they literally see is described as “something like a mosaic pavement of lapis lazuli, like the span of the heavens in depth” (24:10). It is a composite suggestion, a re­ flection of the midnight blue of an endless night sky and the precious building blocks of divine dwelling places, not unlike our own “pearly gates and streets of gold.” Every w ord of this covenant-making narrative is, in some way, a variation of the them e of Yahweh’s Presence and Israel’s logical, expected, and hoped-for response. Moses is then called higher up the m ountain, where he is to be given additional instructions for both Israel and the leaders, while Israel on the plain below is treated to “the spectacle of the glory of Yahweh” at the top o f the m ountain. The Sequence of Story

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T he note at the very end o f this narrative, th at Moses was a long tim e up on the m ountain in Yahweh’s Presence, prepares us for the unexpected tu rn the sequence of story in the book of Exodus takes as it now moves tow ard its conclusion. As we have seen already, taking the block of text inserted from the sequence of memory (Exod 25-31) out of the se­ quence of story restores the original, dramatic narrative. T hen Exodus 24:18 and 32:1, read consecutively, present the problem. Moses’ long absence gives rise once again to Israel’s doubt, and then to rising panic. These are the people who doubted and feared following the ten mighty acts, the deliv­ erance at the sea, the variety of provision and guidance in the wilderness, and even the long-expected and carefully prepared for presentation by Yahweh of his Presence at H oreb/Sinal Now, immediately after their great experience of that moment, and despite w hat they have seen w ith their own eyes and heard w ith their own ears, they grow afraid w ith Moses gone and in that fear they ask A aron to “make gods for us who can lead us.” Demanding golden jewelry from the people of Israel, A aron “made a calf w ith a shaped sheathing.” This object was received w ith acclamation as symbolic of the power that made possible their exodus from Egypt. A aron’s construc­ tion of an altar before this image, and his declaration of “a sacred feast day for Yahweh,” make plain that Israel is here attem pting to worship Yahweh, not some new and different deity o r array of deities. Israel’s sin w ith the golden calf is n o t an attem pted displacement or replacement of Yahweh, b u t rather an attem pt to worship him in ways of their choos­ ing instead of in ways specified by him. They even attem pt to mimic their covenant ceremony w ith Yahweh, offering “wholly burned offerings” and bringing “completion offer­ ings” (cf. 24:5), but their desire for a visible symbol of their invisible C od has been denied them already. 72

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The mystery of G od’s holy divinity requires us to receive and to worship G od on his terms, n o t ours. G od m ust be m et at a place, and in a m anner, of his choosing. His choices are almost always surprising to us, precisely because our choices are almost always so predictably self-oriented. O ur life in faith must struggle constantly to be open to his guid­ ance, in both our worship and our com m itm ent T he lesson of the golden calf is that self-oriented worship is always a disaster, for both faith and behavior. In the light of the sequence of story to this point in Exodus, we can hardly be surprised at Israel’s foolish aban­ donm ent of the covenantal com m itm ent Given the contin­ ued record of complaining, doubting, and wishy-washiness, we m ight well have expected this defection. A stonishm ent gives way to disgust in the ancient memory of the event that is preserved for us in Psalm 106:19-20: They made a calf at Horeb, They bowed themselves down to an overlaid image. They swapped their Presence for a likeness of a grass-eating bull. It is one more turning back, worse than all the rest, for this time Israel, and n o t just Yahweh, has made promises. Yahweh’s Presence has brought deliverance and guidance and provision and unique relationship. Israel’s selfishness has met that Presence w ith doubt and complaint and fear and an attem pt at manipulation. T he response to the revelation has turned from praise to rebellion. The anger of Moses at this turning is predictable. The judgment of Yahweh is astonishing. Moses shatters the tablets on which Yahweh had w ritten the Ten Words, in a graphic reflection of what Israel has done. T hen he grinds the golden calf into powder, mixes it w ith water, and forces Israel to drink the mixture. Next, he sends the loyal Levites through The Sequence of Story

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the camp, swords in hand, slaying the rebels, whatever their relationship. Finally, he returns up the m ountain tow ard Yahweh to plead w ith Yahweh on Israel’s behalf. Probably, Exodus 3234 is a composite account,23 and those various actions by Moses, along w ith Yahweh’s responses and the interaction betw een the tw o, represent layers of tradition. In its present composite form, however, this sequence of story has a trem endous impact, w ith Moses’ anger and almost panicstricken attem pts to correct the terrible wrong suggesting a futile anticipation of w hat Yahweh’s judgm ent m ust in­ evitably be. By every standard of ancient N ear Eastern covenant mak­ ing, the result of Israel’s willful violation o f the commitment so willingly and so solemnly made should be abandonm ent of the relationship, curse replacing blessing. T hat is exactly w hat Yahweh proposes to do. H e is, w ith their violation o f the term s of the covenant, under no further obligation to them . He n o t only can abandon Israel w ithout further ado, he really should do so. Com m itm ent has given way to com­ promise, and the response to the revelation of G od’s Pres­ ence has turned from praise to rebellion. T here is no surprise in the severity of Yahweh’s proposals of severance and destruction; the surprise is n o t in w hat Yahweh pro­ poses to do but in w hat Yahweh does do. A t first, Yahweh proposes to bring Israel to an end as his nation, and to make of Moses alone a great nation (32:10). From this course of action Moses dissuades Yahweh by re­ m inding him of w hat the Egyptians m ight say, “For an evil purpose he brought them out, to slaughter them in the mountains, and to obliterate them from the face of the land” (32:12), and of his promise to the Fathers of a numberless progeny and a wide land (32:13). Next, Yahweh commands Moses and Israel to leave H oreb/Sinai, the place of his Presence, announcing th at 74

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while he will send a messenger before them to clear the prom ised land o f opposition to them , he will no longer travel in their m idst or go up among them into the land he has given to their Fathers (33:1-2). This “dreadful news” is understandably received by Israel w ith great lam entation— here and henceforth, they put away all festive dress (33:4). They no longer have any cause for celebration, w ith Yahweh gone fro m them . This desperate situation prom pts M oses to ask Yahweh to set aside w hat he has proposed to do, w hat indeed he has every right: to do, and to go up w ith Israel through the wilderness and into th e land prom ised to them . W ithout Yahweh’s Presence, this people, w ho have only just becom e a people, will be once m ore a nonpeople: it is only in his Presence th at M oses and Israel are “separated from all th e people w ho are upon th e surface of the earth” (33:16). A nd so it is that Yahweh decides what he will do w ith Israel (cf. 32:34 and 33:5e). C ontrary to all expectation, against what Yahweh himself has said that he would do, and in violation of w hat is correct by all the standards of covenantal obligation, Yahweh decides to remain bound to the people who have rejected him, to go up w ith them in spite of their rebellion, to show them grace instead of just and fair pay­ m ent, to give them blessing instead of curse. U nderstandably elated, Moses boldly asks Yahweh to show him his glory, th at is, his Presence. This request sets in m otion a second revelation to Moses of Yahweh’s special nature. T he first such request, made by Moses in his first m eeting w ith Yahweh on H oreb/Sinai, prom pted the reve­ lation o f the special name Yahweh, “th e O ne W ho Always Is,” along w ith Yahweh’s explanation o f its meaning (3:1314). This first request led to Yahweh’s declaration “I AM, I REALLY AM ,” and the gift of the special name containing th at confession. T he second request of Moses prom pts Yahweh’s own The Sequence of Story

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description of how he is, a description that begins where the first response to Moses left off, w ith the special name, Yahweh. Thus at the beginning of the sequence of story in Exodus Yahweh declares to Moses, “I AM, and my name saying that is: Yahweh.” A nd here at the conclusion to the sequence of story, Yahweh declares to Moses, “Yahweh! Yah­ weh! This is how I AM .” These tw o special gifts of knowing are like brackets of revelation enclosing their own exposi­ tion, for nearly every line of the narrative betw een them illustrates them . Yahweh is tenderly protective o f Moses, arranging for him to ascend the m ountain for the special revelation he is to receive, guiding him to a place of special shelter, and in­ structing him to prepare replacement tablets for the Ten W ords, in anticipation of the renewal of Israel’s shattered covenant relationship. Then, w hen Yahweh’s instructions have been followed, and Moses is safely in the “fissure o f the rocky cliff,” Yahweh descends onto the m ountain “in the cloud,” passes in front of Moses, and calls out: “Yahweh! Yahweh! — a G od compassionate and favorably disposed; — reluctant to grow angry, and full of unchanging love and reliableness; — keeping unchanging love for the thousands; — taking away guilt and transgression and sin; — certainly not neglecting just punishm ent, holding responsible for the guilt of the fathers both sons and grandsons, to the third and fourth generations.” (34:6-7) Moses’ immediate response to this profound self-descrip­ tion by Yahweh was to bow low to the ground, prostrating himself in worship. No other response would seem appro­ priate. Simply reading this magnificent recital should be

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enough to prom pt in any believer a similar response, since it is the one place in th e entire Bible where G od is represented describing him self in detail. T here is little reason to doubt th at this description repre­ sents an ancient confession of belief about Yahweh. It is directly reflected in eight O ld Testament passages (Num 14:18; N eh 9:17; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13; Jon 4:2; Nah 1:3) and alluded to in other places in the O ld Testa­ m ent. Its summary listing, and the m anner in which pieces and even phrases of it appear elsewhere in the O ld Testa­ m ent suggest that this description grew to its present form across many years, and was subject to alteration and expan­ sion to fit varying circumstances. Its content here supports such a view, for the description handily summarizes the se­ quence of story in the book of Exodus. Yahweh has been compassionate toward Israel in Egyptian bondage, and favorably disposed tow ard them , has rescued them and brought them to himself. Despite all their com­ plaining, at the sea and in the wilderness and even at H oreb/ Sinai, he has been slow to anger and consistent in his un ­ changing love toward them. Now, despite the negation, from their side, of the covenant relationship, he has (by agreeing to continue along w ith them) taken away their guilt, their transgression, and their sin. Even so, for their own sake, he has taken seriously their disobedience o f their own free promise, and is holding them responsible for it. They re­ main, though forgiven and disciplined, Yahweh’s own pos­ session, his people, despite their stubbornness, just as Moses asks (34:9). Thus is it both possible and necessary for th e broken covenant to be remade. This renewal Yahweh proceeds to initiate, n o t by a review o f each of the Ten W ords b u t by emphasizing the commandments (and specific applications o f them) th at have been violated in the making and the worshiping of the golden calf. Yahweh announces, “Look: I The Sequence of Story

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am making a covenant” (34:10). A nd the emphasis of this covenant is precisely the point at which Israel compromised the first covenant, absolute and undiluted loyalty to Yahweh, and to Yahweh alone. For this reason, the very first direct command of this covenant-renewal sequence is a command to Israel to avoid compromising entanglem ents w ith the peoples w ho will be their neighbors in the land o f prom ise (34:12-13). Follow­ ing this command is a sequence o f requirem ent (see pp. 93-95) th at begins w ith th e first tw o o f the Ten W ords, the tw o violated first of all in the making and the w orship o f the golden calf. T he sequence moves on th en to a sum­ mary series o f seven requirem ents, directly linked to th e kinds o f compromise th at w ould lead unavoidably to th e violation o f these first tw o o f the Ten Com m andm ents (34:18-26). The covenant-renewal sequence ends w ith a command to Moses to w rite down these words (designed to prevent an­ other golden-calf-type lapse) and w ith a note that Yahweh24 w rote down on the stone tablets, once more, the Ten W ords. N o account is given of any ceremony of renewal parallel to the one described in Exod 24, b u t we may well assume that one took place, laying particular stress on total loyalty and commitment to Yahweh, whose “very name” is “Jealous,” and whose jealousy is justified, because it is jealousy only of those who have made promises to him. Such a report of a ceremony o f covenant renewal would have made an appropriate ending to the sequence of story in the book of Exodus. T he fact th at no such ending is pro­ vided, we m ust remember, is primarily because the sequence of this story does n o t end w ith the end of Exodus, or o f Leviticus, or even of Numbers. T he story of Israel’s response to the revelation of G od’s Presence concludes w ith a kind of supplem entary postscript

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reestablishing th e authority of Moses as Yahweh’s spokes­ m an after the debacle of the golden calf. We are told that Moses, descending from H oreb/Sinai after his long period in Yahweh’s Presence, had a shining face. So obvious was this condition that A aron and the Israelites were frightened by him. W hen Moses called out to them , and then spoke to Israel’s leaders w ithout harm ful results, Israel too ap­ proached him. O u t of regard for the people’s feelings, Moses began wearing a veil in their presence except w hen he was reporting to them some w ord from Yahweh. O n those occa­ sions, out of respect for Yahweh’s W ord and symbolizing the divine authority of the words he spoke, Moses left off th e veil. T he donning of the veil thus signified the differ­ ence betw een Moses’ own words and those he reported from Yahweh. W hereas Moses’ first descent from H oreb/Sinai w ith the stone tablets containing Yahweh’s Ten W ords m et w ith re­ jection and chaotic orgy, this second descent, w ith the new tablets, m et w ith acceptance and an awed respect. Israel’s response to Yahweh’s Presence became once m ore both w orshipful and obedient For a while. Each one o f us, in a quite personal way, knows both how long and, sometimes, at least, why. G od settles dow n in Isra e l’s m idst There is one brief note more in th e sequence o f story in the book o f Exodus. It comes following the final sequence o f memory, w hich describes the im plem entation of Yah­ weh’s instructions for th e media o f Israel’s worship in his Presence. W hen Moses and those assisting him com plete all the w ork o f building the Tabernacle, its C ourt, its furnish­ ings, and the priestly vestm ents and equipm ent, Yahweh’s Presence fills the Tabernacle. This brief ending paragraph to

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the sequence of story in the book o f Exodus is exultant, almost hymnic in nature. We are very nearly given the im­ pression that Yahweh, eager to take up his residence among this people for whom and from whom he has suffered so much, comes rapidly b u t majestically into the place symbol­ izing his Presence, as soon as it is ready. A nd there in their midst, Yahweh guides his people Israel, in their travels and in their living.

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3 THE SEQUENCE OF REQUIREMENT

As I have noted, at the end o f chapter 1 and at the begin­ ning of chapter 2, the sequence of story in Exodus has been pulled apart at appropriate points for the insertion of w hat I call sequences of requirement and sequences o f memory. This rearrangement of w hat came to be the canonical form o f our book of Exodus took place, in all probability, across a lengthy period of time and in successive layers related to the evolving need of the community of belief. It was done so brilliantly that the book o f Exodus that has come down to us presents us w ith a quite remarkable unity. So remarkable is this unity, indeed, that we are tem pted to think of Exodus, w hen we first begin to read it, as an uninterrupted contin­ uum. We can almost understand the tradition that ascribed this text, along w ith the other four books of the Pentateuch, to Moses. U pon a closer reading, however, the seams of the book of Exodus become more and more obvious to us. D ifferent literary styles, distinctive sets of special terms, unique em­ phases, contrasting sets of particular concerns, repeated and The Sequence of Requirement

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conflicting versions o f the same events, and the presence side by side o f sections of narratives, sections o f ceremony, sections of religious requirem ent, sections of social regula­ tion, and sections of liturgical arrangem ent and symbol— all give us an increasing sense of the patchw ork quilt appear­ ance of Exodus. A t the same time, however, upon a sensitive reading of all of Exodus, or even large sections of it, we cannot escape an impression of wholeness, a certain sense of oneness, the unity that strikes us on a first reading. This unity is of course a unity of theme. Everywhere Exodus is a report and exposition of the theological theme, Yahweh’s Presence among his peo­ ple, among those who believe, at least some of the time, both that he is and is here, and who struggle, therefore, to live in accord w ith such a reality. In the Exodus volume of th e W ord Biblical Commentary, I have attem pted to examine Exodus in some detail in its com ponent parts. In that same volume, however, I have also tried to present a translation and a commentary treatm ent that w ould present the them atic consistency of Exodus, and would make plain our need to think as carefully of the oneness of the book of Exodus that we have as we do o f the variety of separate narratives, and legal and liturgical collections, th at may have preceded it. My concern in this compact survey is to emphasize this oneness of them e by presenting in sequence the three major types of material th at are woven together in Exodus, each in its own separate sequence. This admittedly artificial appor­ tionm ent of the text has three advantages: • It enables us to perceive the full weight o f each o f the three components, apart from the interweaving of the other two. • It enables us to see how consistently the one m otivat­ ing them e o f Presence governs each com ponent, no 82

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m atter how different its separate styles and ap­ proaches. • It gives us a clearer perception o f the unity the canoni­ cal Exodus presents to us by showing how its separate parts work. The sequence of story in the book of Exodus presents us w ith a narrative account of the revelation, the proving, the demonstration, and the presentation of Yahweh’s Presence and a narrative account of Israel’s response to that sequence of A dvent The sequence of story is thus above all a record of events. As event inevitably prompts reaction, so the event of Yahweh’s coming and his subsequent invitation of Israel into covenant prompts reaction. T hat reaction is given guidance by a sequence of requirement, setting forth an application of the principles of living in the Presence of Yahweh. By “re­ quirem ent” I mean to suggest all that is generally referred to by such term s as “law” (in both general and particular state­ ment) and “commandment” (in both simple and expanded form). “Requirem ent” here is a general term , inclusive of the principles of life in covenant w ith Yahweh and the applica­ tions of those principles. The events recorded in the sequence o f story in the book of Exodus occur, of course, as all events do, only once in time. If the requirem ent that an event stimulates is to be kept by those who come after, the event must somehow be kept alive, a m atter of the present rather than o f the past. That, of course, is where the third com ponent, the sequence o f memory, comes into play. In no book of the O ld Testa­ m ent are these tw o additional sequences, crucially supple­ m ental to the sequence of story, presented so effectively as they are in the book of Exodus. T here are three sequences of requirem ent in Exodus, and one brief section in the sequence of story describing how these requirem ents were applied. Each of the requirem ents The Sequence of Requirement

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listed is a specific response to the need o f Israel to live and work differently because o f the reality of Yahweh’s Presence.T heir declaration, no less than the declaration of the story of Exodus, is that G od is, and is here. H ow the requirements are applied to life In the present arrangement of Exodus, a brief description of how Yahweh’s principles for living in covenant w ith him are to be applied is given in the sequence o f story when Israel first arrives at Sinai, even before Yahweh’s self-revelation and giving of those principles. T hat description is included as a part of the narrative of the rendezvous of Moses and Israel w ith Jethro and Moses’ family. The story has been discussed above, as a narrative of guidance. O f concern here is the description o f how Moses is to apply Yahweh’s principles for life in his Presence, a description given before the principles themselves are given, probably because of a need to present the Jethro traditions all in one place. As we have seen already, Jethro, who has been m entor and man-in-charge to Moses, A aron, and Joshua, critiques Moses’ procedure in applying Yahweh’s “requirem ents and instructions” to Israel’s everyday problems. U pon his advice, Moses divides the problems being brought to him into tw o categories. He delegates authority for dealing w ith repetitive situations to a series of carefully selected “m en o f ability, who have reverence for God, m en of firmness who hate a dishonest profit” (18:21). This division of the problems falls into “complex” problems and “routine” problems. T he com­ plex, which involve a new application o f the “requirem ents and instructions” of Yahweh to a situation w ithout prece­ dent, Moses must deal w ith him self because the application may involve the consultation of Yahweh. The routine, for which such consultation is either unnecessary or has previ­ ously been made, can be handled by the “able m en.” Thus 84

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does Moses reduce both his own workload and the waiting period for those w ho wish to consult him. T he resultant pattern of application is as follows: Yahweh, Revealing H im selfy Yahweh’s Principles for Living in His Presence Given at H oreb/Sinai to All Israel The Basic Application of These Principles Is Universal and U nconditional Any Special A pplication R equired by a U nique Situation Is Made First by Moses A ny Special Application R equired by a Recurrence o f a U nique Situation Is Made by Moses’ “Able M en” According to Already Established Precedent Israel, Yahweh’s Covenant People T he movement o f application is from the source o f guid­ ance, Yahweh, to those in need o f guidance, Israel. T he movement o f guidance is from universal principles to the particular situation posed by a specific set o f circumstances. T he authority for guidance is ultimately Yahweh, b u t estab­ lished solutions of guidance may be repeated continually if th e conditions calling for guidance are the same. T he entire process is operative because of, and under th e inspiration of, Yahweh’s Presence. Indeed, apart from th at Presence the The Sequence of Requirement

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principles w ould be unnecessary, w ith neither source no r purpose. W hat we have here— set into the sequence o f story describing the revelation, the proving, the dem onstra­ tion, and the presentation of th at Presence— is yet another attestation of the reality of th at Presence. In all likelihood, it is an ancient tradition o f the beginning of Israel’s legal system. Y ahw eh’s p rin cip les fo r co v en an t life w ith h is P resen ce The Ten Commandments, in w hat I have described above (see pp. 58-63) as their compact original form 1 (the Ten W ords m entioned in Exodus 34:28 and D euteronom y 4:13 and 10:4) are a part of the sequence o f story in Exodus. They are presented as a crucial part o f the revelation of Yahweh’s Presence at H oreb/Sinai. They are the words of Yahweh himself, heard n o t just by Moses, b u t by Israel along w ith Moses, w hen the people were assembled after careful prepa­ ration at the foot of the m ountain. A ny attem pt to remove the commandments from the sequence o f story o r to relo­ cate them is thus both misguided and misleading. The commandments as they are presented to us in Exodus 20, however, are also a sequence o f requirem ent within the sequence of story. They function as an integral p art of the story of H oreb/Sinai, but they constitute, as well, the foundation for all o f Yahweh’s “requirem ents and in­ structions,” his fundam ental principles for life in covenant relationship w ith his Presence. As they stand in the received text o f Exodus, six o u t o f ten of these basic principles have an expanded form , and the additions to them make quite clear th at they were re­ ceived and applied as fundam ental requirem ents. These Ten Com m andm ents are th e principles for living in covenant th at are given specific application in th e largest 86

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sequence o f requirem ent in th e book of Exodus, “T he Book o f the C ovenant” o f 20:22-23:33. T he basic implication of these ten principles for living in covenant w ith Yahweh’s Presence has been set forth already, as a part o f the survey of the sequence of story. T hat basic implication has, however, been supplem ented in the com­ mandments th at have been expanded, and this supplem enta­ tion is strictly a part of the sequence of requirem ent and does n o t belong to the sequence o f story. M ost extensively supplem ented are the four command­ m ents having to do w ith the prim ary aspect o f Israel’s exis­ tence, the relationship w ith Yahweh. It is understandable th at these commandments were the ones m ost difficult to obey. They are still, because they require that G od be given first place in our lives, absolutely and w ithout reservation, and th at everything connected w ith him in any way be taken seriously.2 O nly G od is to be god to those w ho enter into covenant w ith him (20:3). G od must be taken on his term s alone; he will n o t present him self to us on our term s. We are n o t to impose on him a form, a concept, a behavior, or even a theology inconsistent w ith w ho and w hat and how he is. H e is jealous, justifiably so, o f those w ho have made promises to him. H e takes us seriously and expects us to take him seri­ ously (20:4-6). H is name, the symbol o f his Presence among us, m ust be treated w ith consonant respect; failure to do so is the equivalent o f a failure of belief and will inevitably provoke punishm ent (20:7). T he day of his rest, the sabbath, is to be a day set apart for holiness, for the recreation th at joyful worship is. N o labor is to be undertaken on th at day, either directly o r through some substitutionary person o r animal. G od rests on the seventh day and expects those in covenant w ith him to do so as well (20:8-11). T he six commandments guiding Israel’s relationship w ith other members o f the covenant community and w ith the The Sequence of Requirement

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hum an family beyond th at community are n o t so fully ex­ panded. This is in part, no doubt, because they were— w ith the exception of the fifth commandment and the ten th commandment— somewhat easier to obey. Despite their hum an direction, however, these commandments too are requirem ents of Yahweh, and keeping them honors him. T he requirem ent of respect for one’s parents, a requirem ent addressed prim arily to adults (for whom parental care as well as child care is a basic responsibility), was apparently so poorly kept th at it alone among the commandments came to have a reward tacked onto it. This supplem ent has a double edge: a long life for honoring one’s parents, a short life for dishonoring them (20:12). Rebellion against one’s parents could be a capital offense by O ld Testam ent law (21:15,17; Lev 20:9; D eut 21:18-21; 27:16). T he sixth, seventh, eighth and n inth commandments re­ ceived no expansion. The ten th commandment, somewhat easier to abuse, received a supplem ent somewhat akin to that added to the fourth commandment, closing loopholes for abuse. In a way, indeed, the ten th commandment serves as a summary requirem ent, descriptive as m uch of an attitude as of a deed. Taken as such, it forms a kind o f matching bracket to the first commandment: T he first principle of life in covenant requires an uncompromising loyalty to Yahweh; this one requires an attitude o f heart and m ind that would close off much of the possibility of violating the other prin­ ciples of life in covenant These ten basic principles o f living in relationship w ith Yahweh’s Presence thus set forth his fundam ental expecta­ tions of his people, and so constitute, both logically and actually, the first sequence o f requirem ent in the book o f Exodus. T he question o f how these principles were to be applied to the circumstances and problems of everyday liv­ ing is taken up by the second, and necessarily most complex, of the sequences of requirem ent.

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T he application of Yahweh’s orinciples T he longest o f the three sequences of requirem ent in Exodus has been inserted into the sequence of story imme­ diately after the account of Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence upon H oreb/Sinai and o f his giving directly to Israel his ten principles for living in covenant w ith him. This location is entirely appropriate, since this collection o f “guiding decisions” and “guiding principles” is a summary o f concrete application of the principles stated by the Ten W ords, made to m eet the needs arising from the problems o f everyday living. These specific applications were arrived at and p u t into practice along the lines described in the narrative of Jethro’s advice in Exodus 18:13-27. They are perhaps the clearest example in the O ld Testament of the transition from the basic requirem ents o f Yahweh’s covenant law to the more specialized application of those requirem ents made neces­ sary by the occurrence o f particular situations o f need. Like such other collections o f O ld Testament legal mate­ rial as the “Holiness Code” o f Leviticus 17-26 or the wideranging laws of Deuteronom y 12-26, this “Book of the Covenant,” so named from the reference of Exodus 24:7,3 is a diverse collection. It reflects a wide range of contexts and probably the passage of a long period of time. It is made up o f laws applying the principles o f the Ten W ords, and other principles derivative from them , to particular life situations. It also has laws setting forth entirely new principles con­ nected w ith the Ten W ords in only th e most general ways. T he first type, the case laws which we may call “guiding decisions,” make up most o f the first half of the collection, roughly 21:1-22:17. T he second type, the universally applicable laws we may call “guiding principles,” make up m ost of the second half, roughly 22:18-23:19. The entire collection is n ot given unity The Sequence of Requirement

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by any commonality of literary form or subject m atter, how­ ever, b u t by its presentation as guidance originating in Yahweh and by its single purpose, the shaping of Israel’s life in covenant w ith Yahweh’s Presence. A pointed indication of this unity of origin and purpose is given in the beginning of this lengthy sequence o f require­ m ent, w ith its clear reference to Yahweh’s presentation of his Presence on H oreb/Sinai and its specification o f the divine authority for the entire collection: So Yahweh said to Moses, “H ere is w hat you are to say to the sons o f Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that from the heavens I have spoken w ith you.’” (20:22) A further indication of this same unity is made by the beginning (20:23) and the ending (23:32-33) of th e entire collection, each of which is, in content and application, a summary of the first tw o principles set forth in the “Ten W ords.” I have set forth in my commentary (WBC 3) a detailed analysis and explanation of the Book of the Covenant.4 My purpose here is to deal w ith the “guiding decisions” and “guiding principles” as reflections of th e Presence and Response-to-the-Presence them es that govern the sequence o f requirem ent in the book of Exodus, just as they govern also the sequence o f story and th e sequence of memory. T hat many of these laws are an application to specific situa­ tions in Israel’s life is obvious. Some commentators, indeed, have worked out lists of equivalents.5 Too rigid a connection of the Ten W ords to this diverse collection is a mistake, however. T he prim ary bond betw een the tw o lies in the guidance they offer Israel for living in response to Yahweh’s Presence among them . W hether a given “guiding decision” or a given “guiding principle” can be linked to a given commandment is, in the final analysis, 90

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quite irrelevant. Every part o f the sequence of requirem ent is from the same source and to the same end. T hus the instructions about the building and the use of altars (20:24-26) are intended to guard against the diluting influence of syncretism. T he collection of “guiding deci­ sions” related to th e treatm ent o f slaves and th e establish­ m ent of their rights (21:2-11) is a reflection of Yahweh’s concern for every hum an being. T he collection dealing w ith harm done to others, w hether it is brought about deliber­ ately or through negligence, and w hether it results in death or injury (21:12-36), is an indication of Yahweh’s desire for concord and harm ony among those in covenant w ith him. T he collection concerned w ith property— w hether live­ stock, crops, money or other possessions, including virgin daughters (22:1-17)— is connected w ith Yahweh’s dem and for honesty in all relationships among his people (cf. 20:17). The three offenses for which the death penalty is speci­ fied (22:18-20) each represent an attack upon Yahweh him ­ self, the first by an attem pt to escape or alter his will, the second as a sexual deviation reflecting syncretism, the th ird as a violation of the first of the Ten W ords. T he collection of “guiding principles” sympathetic to the cause of the defenseless “newcomer,” the widow, the or­ phan, or the poor is a rem inder th at Yahweh, in Israel’s midst, will hear the distressed cries of such persons and “will be furious” (22:21-27). This them e is sounded repeatedly by the great prophets o f the eighth and seventh centuries. O f course, Israel is n o t to “make light” o f G od by ignoring his “guiding principles,” by showing disrespect for a leader in the covenant community, by holding back from Yahweh’s use th at to which he is entitled, or by eating food improperly gained. Since Yahweh among them is holy, so also m ust they be holy (22:28-31). T he collection of “guiding principles” and “guiding deci­ sions” th at begin the final chapter o f this lengthiest of the The Sequence of Requirement

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sequences o f requirem ent is also concerned w ith ethical and humane behavior. Like 22:21-27, it addresses honest testimony in legal matters, humaneness toward animals, even those belonging to an enemy, and fair treatm ent o f “newcomers” (23:1-9). Yahweh present among Israel de­ mands of them truth, honesty, and kindness. T he require­ m ent of seventh-year rest for the land, and seventh-day rest for Israel, their slaves, their “newcomers,” and their animals is o f course an expansion o f the principle o f the fourth commandment. It is a recognition of Yahweh at hand and pausing that they m ight pause (23:10-12). Exodus 23.T3 is a kind o f summary requirement, a restate­ m ent in a way of the first com m andm ent It functions there­ fore as a conclusion to the “guiding decisions” and the “guiding principles.” The requirem ents that follow it am ount to a supplementary addendum dealing w ith the calendar of the sacred festivals (23:14-17) and w ith miscellaneous in­ structions related to sacrifices and offerings (23:18-19). T he three sacred festivals are linked to the three climactic ingatherings of the agricultural year: the first grain harvest (of the w inter barley), th e early crop harvest (of w heat and spelt) seven weeks later, and the final autum nal harvest (of all the crops). O n each o f these occasions, every Israelite male was “to appear in the Presence o f the Lord, Yahweh” (23:17), in testimony of his Presence among them in the giving of the bounty o f the crops. T he miscellany dealing w ith sacrifices and offerings is an even more specific applica­ tion of the first of the Ten W ords than 23:13, w hich intro­ duces this addendum. T he final section (23:20-33) of this longest of the three sequences of requirem ent functions as a kind of epilogue to the entire Book of the Covenant. It is much broader than the conclusion it is sometimes made out to be, for its orienta­ tion is toward Yahweh, and undiluted loyalty to Yahweh, rather than toward the preceding collection of requirements.

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Its emphasis is upon serving and worshiping Yahweh alone (23:20-24). It looks forward to the fulfillm ent of the second part of Yahweh’s covenant-promise in the settlem ent of the land promised to the Fathers, a land to be vacated by Israel’s competitors gradually (23:27-30), a land the borders of which are the expanded borders of Davidic-Solomonic glory (23:31). Thus the theme of this ending of the Book of the Covenant is, like that of its beginning in 20:22-23, the application o f the guiding principles laid down in these first tw o o f the Ten Words. A nd the warning accompanying this explanation is that any openness, in any manner, to the other gods available to Israel for worship, will lead to entrapm ent, disobedience, and failure (23:24,32). Yahweh’s restatement of his principles This sequence of requirem ent is largely repetitive, in that m ost of the principles listed in it or inferred by it have been given already in either the Ten W ords or in the Book of the C ovenant Its difference from w hat we are given elsewhere lies largely in its focus. T hat focus is one o f context This sequence has been woven into the narrative of Israel’s first disobedience of the covenantal commitment as an account of the renewal of th e shattered covenant relationship. Its orientation, therefore, is dictated by the circumstances o f disobedience which first led to the violation o f Israel’s covenantal commitment. Thus this sequence emphasizes total loyalty to Yahweh (as opposed to the disloyalty o f mak­ ing and worshiping the golden calf). It deliberately pulls together the principles from the Ten W ords and the applica­ tion o f them in the Book of the Covenant th at would pre­ vent the kind o f disloyalty Israel had just shown. The first, the second (34:14-17), and the third (34:21) of the commandments are stressed, and the keeping of the calendar of the harvest festivals (34:18, 22-24, 26a) which involve an The Sequence of Requirement

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acknowledgement of Yahweh as provider, in Yahweh’s Pres­ ence. The tem ptation to give credit to the agricultural deities of Israel’s neighbors is thus ruled out, as is the tem ptation to honor their fertility deities: The firstborn of flock, of herd, and of each family in Israel belongs only to Yahweh present among them (34:19-20). They are to keep leaven from the sacrifices and respect the special sanctity of Passover (34:25), and they are not to boil a kid in its m other’s milk (34:26b), both requirements protective against syncretistic influence. Some o f the requirem ents listed here replicate in verbatim (or near-verbatim) form requirem ents listed in 23:12-19. A nd the emphasis here, as there, is upon a complete, un ­ compromising loyalty to Yahweh. Thus w hen Yahweh says, at the beginning of this sequence, “Look: I am making a covenant” (34:10), and at the end of it, to Moses, “you your­ self w rite these words, for on the basis of these words I have made a covenant w ith you and w ith Israel” (34:27), we are being given a directed renewal, a renewal shaped by the disobedience th at has disrupted the covenant relationship and made its renewal a necessity. This emphasis is fu rth er underscored by the recurrence (see 20:5) of the m otif of Yahweh’s justified jealousy: “Indeed you are n o t to bow down in worship to an­ other god, because Yahweh’s very name is ‘Jealous’: he is a jealous G od.” (34:14) O nce more in relation to Yahweh’s covenant require­ m ents, the fulfillm ent of the promise of land is anticipated, and w ith a double implication. T he promise will be fulfilled to those in an obedient covenant relationship w ith Yahweh’s Presence—b u t they are to guard themselves carefully against any alliance w ith the people already living in that land w hich m ight prom pt them once again to a shattering of their covenantal promises to Yahweh (34:14-16). EXODUS

“These words” which Moses is to w rite down as a basis for making yet again a covenant, by Yahweh and for Israel (34:27), are specifically the focused words of renewal, di­ rected to the point o f the disruption: Israel’s divided, com­ promised loyalty. M ore broadly, of course, all the words, o f both principle and application, o f law and covenantal living by it, are summed up in that phrase. A nd this third and last of the sequences of requirem ent in the book of Exodus ends as the very first of them began, w ith a reference to the ten principles of Yahweh for life in covenant w ith his Presence: H e w rote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten W ords. (34:28c)

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4 THE SEQUENCE OF MEMORY

Exodus, like th e rest o f the Bible o f w hich it is a part, may be said to have begun in an event, an event th at led in tu rn to a sequence of events. T he report o f th at event and the other events it prom pted became th e sequence of story th at forms the framework of Exodus. T he event of Exodus, o f course, is the coming of the Presence o f Yahweh, the “O ne W ho Always Is.” T hat event, and its report, in turn, gave rise also to a sequence of requirem ent, a series of expectations guiding the response of Israel to the revelation th at the God who is, is here. These expectations, set forth as both common obliga­ tions and also as obligations unique to special situations, am ount to a validation of the report of event. They do so because the keeping of requirem ent is the surest evidence that the report of the event has been believed, and th at the event has thus been taken seriously. T he revelation o f Yahweh’s Presence to Moses on H oreb/ Sinai led to a proving of the reality and power o f that Presence to Israel and to the Egyptians. T hat proof was supported by a dem onstration of Yahweh’s Presence to The Sequence of Memory

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Israel in the wilderness, and it was brought to a dramatic and powerful climax by the theophany to all Israel at H oreb/ Sinai. A n integral part of th at theophany to Israel was the revelation of the ten principles of living in response to Yahweh’s Presence here among us; and th at revelation became the basis of an array of guidance in applying the ten princi­ ples to problems of daily life. Revelation stimulated re­ sponse, and response needed requirem ent to guide it. T he “law of Moses,” in both its general and its specific statem ent, is the summary of that requirem ent, the road map for jour­ ney in covenant w ith Yahweh. Event thus led to report, and report became the basis of expectation. Those who reported the event, to begin w ith, were those who had experienced it. A nd they were the ones for whom a response, of some kind, was inevitable. Even the negative response of the golden calf was yet a response. But w hat of those o f generations still to come— those for whom the bad times in Egypt, the Exodus from oppression, the deliverance at the sea, the provision in the wilderness, and even the theophany and the awesome speaking at Sinai would be someone else’s story? W hy should they respond, to a covenant they had not made? How could they see a deliverance they had n o t shared as their deliverance, and how could the Presence so real to those w ho had gone before them be real also to them? It is, in a way, th e pressing question of every faith in any time, th e necessary and con­ stant preoccupation o f every leader of worship, w hether pastor, priest, or parent. The answer to these questions lies in w hat M artin N oth has called “actualization” or “re-presentation.”1Re-presentation is remembrance and renewal through confession o f faith, through the retelling o f the story of the events o f faith, through the ceremonies and the symbols of worship. As N oth has put it, “‘Re-presentation’ is based then on this: th at G od and his activity always are, here and now, though 98

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hum an beings, in their unavoidable temporalness, cannot com prehend this here and nowness except by re-presenting the activity o f G od again and again in their w orship.”2 As D euteronom y 5:2-3 puts it, “Yahweh our G od contracted w ith us a covenant at Horeb. N ot merely w ith our fathers did Yahweh contract this covenant— rather w ith us, we ourselves, those right here, all o f us living right now!” This same insistence is present in the revelation to Moses o f the name Yahweh, the name th at above all symbolizes G od’s Being and Presence, the name about w hich Yahweh says “This is my name from now on, and this is to bring me to m ind generation after generation” (Exod 3:15d). “Yahweh” is to be G od’s zeker, the “remembrance” th at will make his Presence real to the generations of Israel yet to come. Such is the point also of Psalm 111:4, which declares: “Remembrance [zeker] creates his extraordinary deeds.” There are seven sequences of memory in the book of Ex­ odus, each in its own separate way presenting an array of reminders, all of them supplemental to the sequences of story and requirement. These sequences of memory are in­ tended as catalysts of re-presentation, designed to actualize as here and now the past events that provoke present faith. The memories they call up, and sometimes even create, have the effect of making events in time timeless. These memories— names heavy with history, rituals summarizing crucial times and events, hymns reviewing the past and leaning into the future, visible symbols of Yahweh’s constant nearness— are each and all a means of making event real and so of making requirem ent not only justified but also a happy privilege. They function in ways similar to the favorite texts and hymns The Sequence of Memory

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of our worship. O r, at a much higher and more solemn level, they function as does the reflection of Holy Week, or the Communion of the Lord’s Supper, or th e joy of the worship of Advent and Christmas Eve. The single continuous and persistent rem inder of the book of Exodus, and indeed of the entire O ld Testament, is of course the tetragram itself, the name Yahweh, the “O ne W ho Always Is,” occurring some 6,823 or more3 times throughout the O ld Testament. Every time this name was seen, every time it was pronounced,4 it was a confessional re-presentation of the G od who is and is here.5 Indeed the sequence o f the story o f Yahweh’s deeds and the sequence of the statem ent o f Yahweh’s requirem ents, often repeated, be­ came both an illustration of the meaning of the name Yah­ weh and a means of re-presentation. The poetic summary of covenant theology now located in Exodus 19:4-6, and no doubt employed as a set piece for ceremonies of covenant renewal, serves as an example: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and that I then lifted you upon wings of eagles and brought you to myself. So now, if you will pay very careful attention to my voice, and keep my covenant, then you will be my own special treasure from among all peoples — for to me belongs the whole earth— and you yourselves will be my own kingdom of priests and holy people.” Two lists of special names T he first tw o of the seven sequences of memory in the book of Exodus are lists of names, lists th at on a first reading

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may seem to have only a rem ote connection w ith th e se­ quence o f story or the sequence of requirem ent in Exodus. T he first of them gives to Exodus its Hebrew tide, w e'elleh shemot, “and these are the names.” T he second of them is an obvious attem pt to legitimize A aron, by tracing in detail his lineage from Levi. B oth lists may well strike the reader o f the English text as largely unpronounceable and em inently skippable. These lists, however, deserve a closer look. The names they record frequently have a theologically confessional sig­ nificance all their own. The lists themselves are a reflection of the intense interest of ancient Israel’s theological histori­ ans and worship leaders in having the right people in the right place at the right time, and in charge o f things. B ut m ost of all, these lists present us w ith tw o interlinked sequences of memory, a theological-historical means of re-presenting, as here and now, Israel’s significant religious p ast A partial listing o f the names th at clearly have a theologi­ cal meaning will establish the first point: Reuben Simeon Levi Joseph Yachin Shaul Amram Yitshar C hebron Uzziel Yochebed Zikri Mishael Eltsaphan

“Behold, a son!” (connoting a special blessing in the O ld Testament),6 1:2 “H e Surely Heard!” “Joined” “Increasing O ne,” 1:5 “H e Makes Firm ,” 6:157 “A sked For” “Exalted People,” 6:18 “First O il” “U niter” “My M ight Is El” “Yahweh’s H onor,” 6:20 “My Remembrance,” 6:21 “W ho Is T hat Is God?,” 6:22 “G od Has Treasured”

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Sitri Elisheva A bihu Eleazar Elqanah

“My H iding Place” “My G od Is Seven,” 6:23 “My Father Is H e” “G od Has Aided” “G od Has C reated,” 6:24

As for the second point, the list in Exodus 1:1-5 includes the names also listed in the summaries of Genesis 35:22-26, 46:8-27, 49:3-27, and Deuteronomy 27:12-13 (compare also Deuteronomy 33:2-29, which is missing the name of Simeon). This list emphasizes the direct descent from the pa­ triarchal Fathers themselves to the generation sojourning in Egypt, the proof of Yahweh’s Presence there, and the Exodus through the wilderness to H oreb/Sinai—the mountain of his nearness, his guidance, and his covenant w ith Israel. These twelve tribal fathers are each the great-grandsons of the Father in faith himself, Abraham, the grandsons of Isaac, and the sons of Jacob/Israel. A more legitimate line of predecessors could hardly be imagined, for these sons are the beginning of the fulfillm ent o f the promise o f a vast progeny, and they are themselves the fathers of the genera­ tion who are to see the beginning of the fulfillm ent o f the promise of land. These twelve sons are the bridge from the Fathers to the future. By the time they die, that future, promised over and over to Abraham, has already become the present: Israel’s progeny has become “a teeming swarm.” Indeed, they became so many they were a strength to be reckoned w ith by their num bers alone. T he land was simply filled w ith them . (Exod 1:7) A nd, as Galatians 3:29 makes plain, these fathers in faith are, through faith, our fathers too. The list in Exodus 6:14-27 confirms this legitimacy still further. It traces the genealogy of the first tw o sons of 102

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Jacob/Israel through their first generation, and the geneal­ ogy of the third son, Levi, through his first three generations (to A aron and Moses), and the genealogy of A aron through his second generation, to Pinchas. This concentration on A aron, him self presented as in “the seventh generation from Abraham” (counting Abraham as the first generation of Yahweh’s call), is of course an attem pt to lend authority to the house of A aron, as the preem inent priestly family. But the much larger purpose o f this list here is to embrace both A aron and Moses as appro­ priate descendants of the covenant-promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and A aron being absolutely the right people in the right place at the right time, taking the charge given them by Yahweh himself. M ore im portant still is the presentation of these tw o lists as interlinked sequences of memory. Each of them brings the past into the present and impels the present tow ard the future. They do so not only by the listing o f the names of those who have come before the Exodus, those w ho have in Yahweh’s multiplying Presence become a vital part of mak­ ing the Exodus a necessity. They also do so by listing the names of those w ho would lead that Exodus, and be present at, and a vital part of, the b irth of Yahweh’s special posses­ sion, his priestly and holy people. These leaders bring th at people into the future Yahweh is opening, a future A braham had been told would hold a blessing for “every family of the earth” (Gen 12:3), a company that includes us. For Israel, every one of the names had its own special im portance, calling the past into the present by the memory o f faces and of faith, o f adventures, of deeds, of sacrifices, of miracles. T he fact that the names th at are know n to us— Abraham, Isaac, Jacob/Israel, Reuben, Levi, Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, A aron, Moses— are fewer in num ber by no means alters these lists as a stimulus to keeping the story and honoring the requirem ents of faith. They are like the names The Sequence of Memory

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of those members o f our own families w ho have made us w hat we are. T he simple calling out of such names, even in the silent hearing of our hearts, is enough to make the past present, and the future a greater privilege and greater responsibility. Family names, given names, nicknam es, names o f inti­ m ate familiarity— they are the m ost effective sequence o f memory o f all, for they call to our present n o t merely event h u t personhood, n o t just example b u t heritage, n o t only remembrance of persons past b u t necessity in the present moment. A nd these are the names . . . (1:1) Thus did the boy grow. His m other . . . called his name “Moses.” (2:10) T hen Moses said, “Show me, please, your glory.” Yahweh replied, “I will call out the name Yahweh in your presence.” (33:18-19) H e took his place beside him there, and he called out the name, Yahweh. (34:5) A nd the angel said to her, “. . . you are to call his name Jesus.” (Luke 1:30— 31) Therefore G od . . . gave him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven, on earth and in the deep, and every tongue confess, “Jesus C hrist is Lord, to the glory of G od the Father.” (Phil 2:9-11) Two rituals of remembrance T he related requirem ents of the ritual of Passover and Unleavened Bread and the dedication to Yahweh of every 104

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firstborn life in Israel function in Exodus as requirem ents of recollection. They have been inserted into the sequence of story as sequences of memory (as have the lists of names of 1:1-5 and 6:14-27) at those points in the story that provide their justification. T heir purpose, then, is to call from the past to the present that story, to make the fathers’ Exodus experience the Exodus experience also of the sons and the sons’ sons, down all the generations. T heir parallels, in our own remembrance in and for worship, are the service of communion and the service of the dedication (or chris­ tening or baptism) of new born children. This note of recollection is sounded w ithin the tw o se­ quences themselves. O f Passover/Unleavened Bread, the text says, “This day is to be for you a day of remembering. You are to observe it, a day sacred to Yahweh, generation after generation: you shall observe it as a requirem ent forever” (12:14). O f the dedication to Yahweh of every first­ born life, the text says, “Keep in mind this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the non-status of slaves, because by strength of power Yahweh brought you out thence. . . . You shall explain to your son on that day as follows: ‘This is because of what Yahweh did for me in my coming out of Egypt’ A nd it is to be for you a sign upon your hand and a reminder between your eyes, in order that the instruc­ tion of Yahweh may be in your speech, because w ith a strong power Yahweh has brought you forth from Egypt. So you are to keep this requirement at its scheduled time year after year.” (13:3,8-10) The origin of the Passover meal of a flock animal in a nomadic spring festival and the origin of the eating of unleav­ ened bread cakes in a spring harvest festival have been fre­ quently pointed o u t8 It is not the origin of the observance o f The Sequence of Memory

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Passover/Unleavened Bread that is of first importance here, however. W hile such a tradition was certainly an asset to the keeping of these requirements, the purpose for keeping them , firmly fixed in the re-presentation of the Exodus experience, was that the successive generations of Israel might remember, and so bring that experience from the past into the present. The Passover, to be celebrated in “the first of th e year’s m onths,” was a memory of the meal carefully, but hastily, prepared and eaten w ith unleavened bread cakes and bitter herbs. The main course of this meal was a yearling male of the flock, either a lamb or a goat, from which also some blood was used to mark “the tw o doorposts and the lintel they support” of the houses where Israel dwelled. T he unleavened bread cakes were a symbol of the haste necessary in the preparation o f this meal— note the se­ quence o f story at Exodus 12:34: So the people took up their dough before it could rise; their breadboards were wrapped up in their coats and carried upon their backs. W ith this reference it is instructive to compare the report, at Exodus 12:39, of what happened at the first stop in the journey of the Exodus: A t the first stop, they baked the dough which they had brought from Egypt into round, flat, unleavened breadcakes— it had not risen, because they were pushed out of Egypt and had no chance to linger, indeed they had packed no food for themselves. T he bitter herbs were in memory of the bitter experience o f the oppressive bondage in Egypt. T he consecration in Israel of every first-born life, of the hum an family or of the herd or the flock, is a second ritual 106

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o f remembrance connected w ith the Exodus experience. Like Passover/Unleavened Bread, this ritual too appears to have had an ancient, pre-Exodus origin, perhaps even in connection w ith hum an sacrifice. In the sequence of mem­ ory in the book o f Exodus, however, it has been linked to Israel’s obligation to make a grateful response to Yahweh's protection of Israel’s firstborn during the devastation of Egypt’s firstborn. In Exodus 13:3-10 the instructions given in 12:14-20 are substantially repeated, as a part o f the speci­ fications connected w ith th e sacrifice or the substitutionary replacem ent o f the firstborn. This expensive requirem ent, too, was a means o f bringing th e Exodus experience from the past into the present, as a timeless act o f the perpetually present Yahweh: “It is necessary, w hen your son asks you, in due course, ‘W hat is this?’ th at you say to him, ‘W ith a strong power, Yahweh brought us out of Egypt, from the non­ status of slaves. For w hen Pharaoh was stubbornminded about sending us forth, then Yahweh killed all the firstborn of the land o f Egypt, from hum an firstborn to the firstborn of domesticated animals. For that rea­ son, I am sacrificing to Yahweh all the males that open the womb, except all my firstborn sons, whom I am replacing.'” (13:14-15) T he detailed specification regarding these rituals of re­ membrance, and their establishment as requirem ents of Yah­ weh forever, make plain that they were seriously regarded. It is hardly fortuitous th at each of the tw o major elem ents of the Passover meal had a prehistory separate from the other. T heir combination, in this one festival, linked the separate festive occasions o f tw o distinct occupations, th at of the nomadic flock keepers and th at o f the settled land cultiva­ tors. But their function in com bination was to stimulate the The Sequence of Memory

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memory of faith, in the time o f the year that has always spoken of new life and new beginnings. T he flock animal thoroughly roasted and consumed by a household (12:3-4), the taste of unleavened bread cakes and bitter herbs, the accompanying recitation o f the story of the tenth mighty act and the Exodus it provoked, after so much disappoint' m ent—this ritual of remembrance was so that a new genera­ tion m ight taste and smell and feel the anxiety and euphoria of the fathers’ deliverance as their deliverance. T he costly requirem ent of every firstborn life, likewise, was so that the successive generations of Israel m ight realize w ith gratitude the seriousness of their obligation to Yahweh. This second ritual gave Israel a taste o f the Exodus experi­ ence in a different dimension o f life. First, a hasty meal, w ith bread made quickly, and w ith a taste of bitter along w ith a taste of sweet; second, a perpetual requirem ent of ransom from oppression. In such a m anner, Yahweh’s past Presence will always continue as Yahweh’s Presence now. We should n o t be surprised that Jesus made these rituals of remem­ brance the basis of our own C hristian re-presentation of his Passion on our behalf, or that the church has made so much of “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin o f the w orld,” or that we should confess a grateful belief in the vicarious suffering of “the first-born o f all creation.” In this way we know Easter to be reality here and now and for us, an event th at happens as fact in our lives on the first day o f every week. Three hymns of remembrance No sequence o f memory in worship is likely to lack a po­ etic and musical dimension. The singing of God’s praise is certainly a vital part of the worship of ancient Israel, as the book of Psalms alone is sufficient to show. It is, therefore, no surprise that Yahweh’s powerful Presence in the constitutive 108

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event of Israel’s faith would be celebrated in a hymn of eclec­ tic form which was expanded across th e years to celebrate additional events regarded as testimony to his Presence. The point of origin for this hym n is undoubtedly Yahweh’s deliverance o f Israel at the sea: “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has risen proudly: horse and chariot alike he has cast into the sea!” (Exod 15:1,21) A t least this stanza, and perhaps also some part o f the first o f the three hymns woven here into one can be taken as con­ tem porary in origin w ith the deliverance being celebrated. This point of departure, however, is simply a beginning medium for the message of Exodus, th at the incomparable Yahweh is dramatically and effectively present among his people. In a way, this hym n in three parts is a summary o f the foundational theological premise of all o f Exodus and, therefore, of the O ld Testament as well: Yahweh’s sovereign Presence rescues, protects, and establishes those who, by faith, would be his own people. T he bulk of the hym n (15: lb —12), as we w ould expect, given its setting, is concerned w ith Yahweh’s delivering Presence at the sea. Its tw o supplem entary divisions deal respectively w ith the guidance o f Israel, by Yahweh’s Pres­ ence, through the wilderness (vv 13a, 14-16) and w ith the leading of Israel to the place where his Presence dwells in holiness (vv 13b, 17-18). Each one o f the three hymns presents Yahweh as entirely incomparable: First hymn:

“W ho is like you among the gods, Yahweh?

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W ho is like you, magnificent in holiness, awesome in praiseworthy deeds, doing the extraordinary?” (v 11) Second hymn:

“T he peoples have heard— they are worried. . . . Terror and dread have fallen over them — against the greatness o f your arm, they are struck dumb as stone.” (vv 14a, 16)

T hird hymn:

"Yahweh reigns forever w ithout interruption.” (v 18)

In close connection w ith this emphasis, a recurrent one in the O ld Testament, the special name of Presence, Yah­ weh, the “O ne W ho Always Is,” is sounded as a dom inant chord. In the first line of the first hym n (15:1) and in the last line of the third hymn (v 18), this confessional name is set; and counting these tw o occurrences and the shorter form Yah in verse 2, the name is sounded ten times in the eight­ een verses of the three hymns. In addition, it is the antecedent of no fewer than thirtysix pronouns in the same eighteen verses. A ltogether, th at is forty-six references to Yahweh in eighteen verses— small wonder that verse 3b declares, “Yahweh is his name!” Yahweh is the name of his incomparability: T he fact th at he is, and is here, and always is, and always is doing things for his people— these attributes make Yahweh unlike any o f the gods worshiped by Israel’s neighbors, and in their times o f incomprehensible lapse, by Israel’s people themselves. Thus does the first hym n (15: lb - 12), the foundation for this composite celebration of the pow erful Presence of Yah­ weh in Israel, sing the song of Yahweh’s great victory over

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Pharaoh’s formidable force at th e sea. Pharaoh is repre­ sented as confident of his victory over Israel (v 9), b u t he is swept aside by Yahweh, w ho manipulates n o t only the wa­ ters and currents o f the sea, b u t even the “ancient deeps” th at he brought under control in the creation o f the w orld (vv 5, 8).9 T he second hym n (15:13a, 14-16), in logical sequence, commemorates the guidance of Israel through the wilderness and through an array of competing peoples, all of whom, despite their undoubted military prowess, are de­ scribed as being overcome by weak-kneed anguish w hen they hear o f the mighty arm of the incomparable and uncon­ querable Yahweh. T he third hym n (15:13b, 17-18) con­ cludes the confessional recital by celebrating the arrival o f Israel at Zion, the new Sinai, the place of Yahweh’s dwelling among his people in the great Temple built by Solom on in David’s city, Jerusalem. A series of additional motifs interlace this composite poem, each of them attesting Yahweh’s incomparable Presence among his people. His control of the primordial deep, his defeat of the Pharaoh (who is sometimes connected w ith the chaotic deep), and his stunning impression of the peoples who might oppose Israel are supplemented by other references. These recall his action toward Israel as a redeeming kinsman (see also Exodus 6:5-8) and his creation of Israel as his own people, his “firstborn son” (4:22), “established” by him in the promised land to which he has brought them (15:17). A nd finally, this entire tapestry of themes is capped by a reference to the continuing and uninterrupted kingship of Yahweh, his perm anent rule (15:18). So three hymnic memories, each o f a different and succes­ sive mighty accomplishment of Yahweh’s Presence, have been woven together in rhythm ic re-presentation of the Ex­ odus experience. As we have seen, that experience was made necessary by the fulfillm ent of the first part of Yahweh’s The Sequence of Memory

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covenant-promise to the Fathers. T hen in turn, the Exodus made necessary the movement into the promised land and into the new Sinai, M ount Zion in Jerusalem, in fulfillm ent of the second part o f that covenant-promise. H ow many times over this poem was recited, and sung in worship, we cannot calculate. Each of those times, however, Yahweh (“the O ne W ho Always Is H ere”) was remembered. H e still is. We remember Yahweh and the revelation of his Presence in the sequence of story in the book o f Exodus, w hen we sing “Rock o f Ages, C left for M e”—just as we bring to m ind C hrist and his Passion w hen we sing “O Sacred Head, Now W ounded.” O u r singing, no less than Israel’s, is a re-presenting sequence o f memory. The places, the objects, the persons, the acts of remembrance T he concluding sequence of memory in the book o f Exodus is a sequence of thirteen chapters. It is inserted into the sequence of story as a series of Yahweh’s instructions for the media of Israel’s worship in his Presence (25:1-31:18) and as a report of Israel’s obedience to those instructions (35:1-40:33). These tw o parts o f this sequence of memory are logically placed into the sequence of story. T he instruc­ tions immediately follow the account of Israel’s entry into covenant w ith Yahweh, and the obedience of those instruc­ tions follows the account of the renewal of that covenant after the disobedience w ith the golden calf. W hile the tw o sections deal necessarily w ith many of the same concerns, and are therefore inevitably repetitive, they are n o t the mirror-image parallels they are sometimes made out to be. T heir repetitions have a didactic purpose, their sequencing is logically different, and their emphases reflect separate ap­ proaches to a single theme. Indeed, a more appropriate conclusion to the book of

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Exodus than the one provided by this lengthy sequence of memory can hardly be imagined, because it presents in so single-minded a m anner the fundam ental them e of Exodus, the Presence of Yahweh. For this reason, despite the length of the sequence and the often painstaking detail of the in­ structions given in its thirteen chapters, it can be given them atic summary in fairly brief compass. T he tw o parts of the sequence are an extended prepara­ tion for the worship of Yahweh by the people who have covenanted w ith him and w ith each other to live in his Presence. T heir premise is worship as confession. They be­ gin w ith a call for an offering of special materials for the manufacture of the symbols, the spaces, and the equipm ent of that worship (25:1-9; cf. 35:4-9). They end w ith an an­ nouncem ent of the satisfactory com pletion of all the w ork instructed by Yahweh (40:1-33). The tw o parts of the sequence and also the book of Exodus itself are then brought to conclusion by a solemn report of the one m om ent tow ard which the combined se­ quences o f story, requirem ent, and memory have all been moving: the settlem ent in Israel’s camp of the glorious Pres­ ence of Yahweh (40:34-40). It is an entirely apt conclusion that is at the same time a beginning, for the final phrase o f Exodus is a reference to Yahweh’s Presence now w ith Israel “throughout all their joumeyings.” T he first section of this sequence o f memory moves for­ ward from the assumption that, following the acceptance of the conditions o f the covenant w ith Yahweh, Israel m ust make preparation for his residence among them . “They are to make me a holy place,” says Yahweh, “and I will dwell in their midst” (25:8). This them e is the recurrent, almost obsessive, m otif o f the entire section, which moves in a logical progression from the instructions for the making o f the A rk to the instruc­ tions for the implements kept near the A rk, to the plan for The Sequence o f Memory

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the sanctuary and m ost holy shelter of the Presence (the Tabernacle). N ext the section moves to the A ltar o f B urnt Offerings outside the Tabernacle, and the Tabernacle Fore­ court in which it is placed, to the special vestm ents o f the priests and the directions for their authority-giving prepara­ tion, to a miscellany dealing w ith special accessories o f w or­ ship, w ith the artisans w ho are to make them all, and w ith the special worship occasions of atonem ent and sabbath. T he second section begins w here the first one left off, w ith the sabbath, and the artisans w ho are to perform the labor of manufacture. It then moves to the narrative o f con­ struction (which m entions first the Tabernacle, and then the A rk and the implements of the Presence kept near it), then to the equipm ent o f the Tabernacle C ourt and th e C ou rt itself. Finally (following a summary o f the metals used in the Tabernacle and its Courtyard), the section moves to an ac­ count of the making of the sacral vestm ents, to a summary o f the fulfillm ent of Yahweh’s instructions and an account o f the setting up and the consecration o f the Tabernacle and the cleansing of the priests in preparation for worship. The constant theme throughout the thirteen chapters of the tw o sections, the m otif symbolized and depicted and cele­ brated in every conceivable way, is that Yahweh, who is, is here. N o space, no object, no material, no person, and no movement is mentioned anywhere in these chapters that is n ot a reminder of Yahweh’s Presence. We are presented here w ith architecture as worship and w ith movement as liturgy, w ith objects and motion as remembrance and re-presentation. It is a lesson we have largely lost, and one we need urgently to relearn. O ur church buildings are too devoid of remembrance and too preoccupied w ith practicality, and the sacerdotal pres­ ence in our services of worship is altogether too person- and personality-oriented. Each structure, each space, each object, each person, each act in this sequence o f memory serves as a rem inder o f

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th e basic point o f th e sequence o f story in th e book o f Exodus and as justification o f each expectation in the se­ quence of requirem ent. T he materials to be used in m aking th e media o f w orship were to be only the best available, were to be given freely (25:1-9, paralleled by 35:4-9), and were given, so joyously and so abundantly th at a halt had to be called w hen th e am ount o f gifts became so excessive th at they created an obstruction (35:1-36:7). A nd at th e very end o f this extensive accum ulation o f rem em brance, Yahw eh comes, settling upon th e array o f rem inders, im buing them w ith his glory. T he A rk and the A rk-Cover (25:10-22, paralleled by 37:1-9) represented the place o f supreme focus for Israel’s attention to the Presence o f Yahweh: W here the A rk was, Yahweh promised to m eet Moses “by appointm ent,” and said, “I will speak w ith you, from above the A rk-Cover, from betw een the tw o cherubs upon the A rk o f the Testimony” (25:22). “T he Table of the Presence” (Num 4:7) was an object near the A rk on w hich were to be placed containers for bread, incense (Lev 24:7), and wine (25:23-30), suggesting Yahweh’s Presence in the gift o f sustenance. T he Lampstand (25:31-40), w ith its bud-and-bloom symbolism and its seven burning lamps, was a rem inder of Yahweh’s Presence everwakeful and life-giving (compare Jeremiah 1:11-12 and Psalm 121:4 and probably also Num bers 17:1-11). Each o f these objects m ost intim ately associated w ith Yahweh’s Presence was either overlaid w ith pure gold or made entirely of it. T he Tabernacle, the shelter for these opulent rem inders o f the Presence, was similarly made o f the best available materials, b u t was to be arranged in tw o sections o f nearness (26:1-37). Its H oliest Space, the place where the A rk and the A rk-Cover were positioned, was to be set apart by an elabo­ rately embroidered curtain. W ithin and near this H oly o f Holies only the most precious and rare materials were used; The Sequence of Memory

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farther from it, in the Holy Space o f the rem ainder o f the Tabernacle, special (but less precious and rare) materials were used. Even the movement into the holiness of the Tabernacle was in this way surrounded by a heightened and increasing awareness of Yahweh’s Presence. T he Tabernacle was to stand in the center of Israel’s camp, and w ithin that Holy Space was a Holiest Space, made unmistakable by the rising value o f the materials leading to it and into it. The construction of this Tabernacle, however, gave yet another im portant reminder: It was entirely portable, and could be conveniently relocated. Yahweh’s Presence was n o t to be considered stationary. Israel was in covenant w ith a moving Presence. It is an emphasis of remembrance th at we would do well to imitate, given our tendency to isolate G od and m atters religious from our daily living, and our relega­ tion of them to the church buildings we visit only at care­ fully scheduled times. The A ltar (27:1-8) and the Tabernacle C ourt surrounding both it and th e Tabernacle (vv 9-19) are of course similarly portable, and a further suggestion of the movement toward and away from the m ost intim ate space of Yahweh’s Pres­ ence. T he metal accessories and overlay of this altar were to be made of copper, as were the pedestals supporting the shielding draperies of the Tabernacle C ourt. A nything (and o f course anyone) coming close to Yahweh’s Presence m ust always be good, better, best. This too is an emphasis o f recollection we very m uch need. T he Holy Spaces and their furnishings having been de­ scribed, the sequence of memory moves next to a descrip­ tion o f the elaborate vestm ents and the ordination of the priests. By their m inistry o f worship they joined the three circles o f nearness to Yahweh: the Tabernacle C ourt, the Holy Space, and the H oliest Space o f the Tabernacle itself. T he priests, referred to as A aron and his sons, were yet another rem inder o f Yahweh’s Presence. T heir vestm ents

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(28:1-43, paralleled by 39:1-31) were specifically symbolic o f th at Presence: T he Ephod of gold, the material used most often for the objects closest to Yahweh’s Presence, includes also the engraved onyx-stones through which Israel was to be brought to m ind in Yahweh’s Presence. T he Breastpiece of Judgment, attached to the Ephod, was through its twelve engraved gemstones to keep Israel before Yahweh and to signify the glow of the Presence through Israel The U rim and the Thummim placed inside this Breastpiece were to suggest Yahweh’s judgment and specific direction of his people. The Robe of the Ephod was a rem inder of Yahweh’s plenty and nearness, and the engraved Flower on the Turban was a rem inder that Israel and all that Israel undertook were set apart to Yahweh— made what they were by him and in need of becoming what they were called to be in his Presence. In sum, every article of the sacral vestments made the same point, each w ith its own specific accent: Yahweh Is here, we are his, and we must both know this and show this.10 These priestly vestments were designed specifically to call the worshipers’ attention to the object of, and so the reasons for, worship. They disguised the worship leader’s personal­ ity instead o f calling attention to it. They were, rightly, a denial of the self-puffing tendency so obvious in so many places where the worship of G od should be taking place. T he authority-granting ordination of “A aron and his sons” (29:1-46, paralleled by Lev 8:1-33), likewise, was also an attestation of Yahweh’s Presence, in his provision for Israel’s sustenance, both physical and spiritual. Indeed, this section ends w ith a remarkable summary of the promise o f Yahweh’s Presence sounded in the first nineteen chapters of Exodus, turning the “proof of the Presence” narratives in The Sequence of Memory

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the sequence o f story into a “Presence-giving proof” confes­ sion in the m inistry of worship in Yahweh’s Presence: “So I will dwell in the m idst o f the sons of Israel, and I will be their God, and they will know th at I am Yahweh their G od who brought them forth from the land o f Egypt on account of my dwelling in their midst. I am Yahweh their G od.” (Exod 29:45-46) Following the chapters o f instruction for the building of the A rk and the Ark-Cover, the Table, the Lampstand, the Tabernacle, the A ltar, the Tabernacle C ourt, for the making o f the vestm ents of the priests, and for the ordination of the priests, there are three appendices, giving further instruc­ tions regarding the preparation o f Israel for worship in Yah­ weh’s Presence. T he first appendix deals w ith four accessories to th at w or­ ship: (1) the G olden A ltar o f the Special Formula Incense (30:1-10, paralleled by 37:25-28), (2) the “m ost holy” incense to be used on it (30:34-38), (3) the Bronze Laver for Cerem o­ nial A blutions (30:17— 21, paralleled by 38:8), and (4) the Special Formula A nointing O il (30:22-33). T he golden incense altar and the special and expensive m ixture burned upon it were fu rth er indications of the uniqueness of the H oliest Space of Yahweh’s Presence, be­ fore which the altar was placed and the special incense was burned. T he special and expensive oil for anointing the fur­ nishings o f worship and th e priests was also a testim ony o f the difference made necessary by Yahweh’s Presence, as was the Laver for Ceremonial Ablutions: T he priests were to wash their feet before approaching the Tabernacle in w hich were the special symbols of focus of Yahweh’s Presence, and they were to wash their hands before handling the imple­ m ents o f his Presence. T he instructions for the payment o f the atonem ent money (30:11-16) appear to have been 118

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located in th e middle o f this first appendix because o f Israel’s need to provide for the upkeep o f the Tabernacle, its fur­ nishings, and equipment. T he second appendix is a report of Yahweh’s designation o f th e artisans w ho are to undertake the w ork specified by his instructions for the media of worship (31:1-11, paralleled by 35:10-19; 35:30-36:1). T he artisan in charge is to be Bezalel, whose name means "In El’s protecting shadow,” and whose native ability Yahweh has augmented w ith additional wisdom, discernm ent, and skill. Bezalel is to have an assist­ ant, Oholiab, w ho is similarly to have a divine enhancem ent for the complex w ork at hand, as also are all the w orkm en to be employed. As only the best materials, are appropriate to the worship of Yahweh’s Presence, so also only the m ost artistic m inds and the m ost skilled hands are appropriate to undertake the molding of these materials. T he third and final appendix is a list o f instructions for the keeping o f the sabbath (31:12-18, paralleled by 35:1-3). This list, a considerable elaboration o f the fourth command­ m ent, is an appropriate conclusion to the first seven chap­ ters of this longest sequence o f memory, in its rem inder o f the requirem ent o f a day regularly set apart for remembering Yahweh and w hat it means to be his people. T he sabbath was to become “a sign” betw een Yahweh and Israel, “a perpetual covenant,” “a sign in perpetuity” (31:13,16-17). As Yahweh him self “rested and so caught his breath” on the seventh day (31:17), so Israel was to do, th at they m ight remember and better know his Presence. T he second section of this longest o f the sequences of memory reports, as we have seen, th e fulfillm ent of Yah­ weh’s instructions for the media of worship in his Presence. T he materials called for were given by Israel in complicating abundance. T hen th e Tabernacle, w ith its furnishings and equipm ent, and the Tabernacle C ourt, and its equipm ent, were duly b u ilt The Sequence of Memory

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T he metals used in this w ork am ounted to astonishing totals, a lavish testimony to the im portance given to symbolizing the nearness of Yahweh’s Presence: Approximately 2,210 pounds of gold, 7,601 pounds of silver, and 5,330 pounds of copper are reported (38:24-29).11 T he weaving, sewing, and decoration o f the sacral vestments of the priest are described, w ith a sevenfold repetition (39:1, 5, 7, 21, 26-27,31) o f the statem ent that this w ork was done “exactly as Yahweh had commanded M oses,” and a final summary o f the fulfillm ent of all Yahweh’s instructions is made, using m uch the same phrase (39:42-43). T hen, at last, the Tabernacle was set up and its furnish­ ings arranged, and A aron and his sons were anointed to their special w ork o f worship. A stimulus had been pro­ vided for each o f the five senses in the range o f the acts o f worship these priests were to carry out. N o avenue of mem­ ory is neglected in the construction o f the Tabernacle and its equipm ent, in the authorization and attire o f the priest­ hood, and in the acts of worship they were to offer and to guide— acts described in m inute detail in Leviticus. In every conceivable way, the Tabernacle, its C ourtyard, their fur­ nishings and equipm ent, and the vestm ents of the priest are a multi-media declaration of the fundam ental them e of the book of Exodus,12 the Presence here o f the “O ne W ho Always Is.” So also should the places and the persons which stand at the center of our worship be a remembrance o f the Presence, the mercy, and the saving activity o f our G od— the “O ne W ho [still] Always Is.” There does not exist in the Bible a book more perm eated w ith its purpose or more consistently and constantly an expression of its them e than the book of Exodus. T he an­ nouncem ent that G od is, here, is made, in one way or another, in its every paragraph, and very nearly in its every sentence. It is an announcem ent o f wide-ranging implica­ tions, and yet it is a confession summed up in the single

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four-consonant name YHW H, Yahweh, the “O ne W ho Always Is.”

A t the beginning of the book of Exodus, indeed in its very first verse, we are given the report of a journey of Jacob/Israel’s twelve sons. They w ent down into Egypt, in a journey we can remember, from the sequence of story in Genesis, as one guided and accompanied by Yahweh. The heart of Exodus describes another journey, undertaken by a much-multiplied Israel— and also guided and accompanied by Yahweh— out of Egypt to Yahweh’s special m ountain, H oreb/Sinai There, as never before, Israel learned w hat Yahweh’s companionship meant. A nd so at the end of the book of Exodus, still further journ eyings beckon—b u t they too will be undertaken w ith the guidance and in the com­ pany of Yahweh, th e “O ne W ho Always Is.” He is, still, this guiding and accompanying God, and he is, still, here. N o one of us has to live beyond or w ithout his Presence. That, at last, is the them e of the book of Exodus. Small w onder that Yahweh should keep calling out to us “T he O ne W ho Always Is! T he O ne W ho Always Is!” (Exod 34:6)— despite manifold evidences to the contrary, we still have difficulty believing him, just as Israel did so many proofs ago. Yet he is, still, and he is still here. Before life, w ithin life, beyond life, he is still. A nd if the center of our worship were different, and our knowledge of the sequences of story and requirem ent and memory in the Bible were more complete, and if our behavior were more an acknowl­ edgement of his will than of our wants, we w ould know th at he is and that he is here. Thus does G od cry out to us still, “T he O ne W ho Always Is! The O ne W ho Always Is!” A nd thus does he wait for our response, given honestly as well as earnestly, “H e is, and he is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!” The Sequence of Memory

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NOTES

Chapter 1 The Theme of Exodus: God Is Here 1. Compare the suggestion of Michael Goldberg, Jew and Christians Getting Our Stories Straight: The Exodus and the Passion-Resurrection (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985), 26: “The story also tells us right from the start that it is more than just a story about Israel; as a master story, it is about all humankind.” 2. See especially the summary statement, “The Book of Exodus as a Whole,” xix-xxiv. 3. See the brief summaries in Exodus, WBC 3, pp. xxvixxxiv and the eighty-three pericopae bibliographies, passim. Chapter 2 The Sequence of Story 1. Northrop Frye, The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982), 171. 2. “On the same principle the resurrection of Christ, around which the New Testament revolves, must be, f orm the New Testament's point of view, the antitype of the Exodus.” Ibid., 171-72. 3. See for example Harald Sahlin’s article, “The New Exodus of Salvation According to S t Paul” in The Root of the Vine, ed. Anton Fridrichsen (London: A. and C. Black, 1953), 81-95, and Bernhard W. Anderson’s “Exodus Typology in Second Isaiah,” in Israel’s Prophetic Heritage, ed. B. W. Anderson and W. Harrelson (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1962), 177-95. Notes

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4. Note the fascinating theory of Michael Goldberg, who calls the Exodus narrative “the Jewish master story” that both informs and forms the lives of human beings in Jews a n d Christians Get­ ting O u r Stories Straight: T he Exodus a n d the Passion-Resurrection (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985). And compare the approach of J. P. Fokkelman, who says the Exodus “provides a foundation for the whole Bible” in “Exodus" in The Literary G uide to the Bible, ed. Robert Alter and Frank Kermode (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1987), 56-65. 5. Michael Walzer, Exodus a n d Revolution (New York: Basic Books, 1985). 6. See “Exodus: From J to K, or the Uncanniness of the Yahwist,” in Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Jewish Bible, ed. David Rosenberg (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987), 9-26. 7. See Exodus, WBC 3 (Waco, Tex.: Word Books, 1987), 27-41. 8. See The Art o f Biblical N arrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), 131-54. 9. Frye, op. cit., 161-62. 10. In The Elusive Presence: Tow ard a N ew Biblical Theology (New York: Harper and Row, 1978), 110-50. 11. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds., A Hebrew a n d English Lexicon o f the O ld T estam ent (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952), 1027-28. 12. “Exod 3:14: History, Philology and Theology.” C atholic Biblical Q uarterly 40 (1978): 311-22. 13. In “Exodus,” op. cit., 63. 14. Frye, 17. 15. In “The Revelation of the Divine Name YHWH” in Proclamation a n d Presence, eds. John I Durham and J. R. Porter. New corrected edition (Macon, Ga.: Mercer University Press, 1983), 70-71. 16. See the extensive summary review of Tryggve N. D. Mettinger, In Search o f God: T h e M e a n in g a n d Message o f the Everlasting N am es, trans, by Frederick H. Cryer (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), 14-49. 17. See further WBC 3, pp. 45-46. 124

EXODUS

18. As for example in the patriarchal stories of Genesis 12, or the history of Israel in and beyond the Babylonian exile. 19. For a helpful survey of this important theme, see C. J. Labuschagne, T h e Incomparability o f Yahweh in the O ld Testa­ m e n t (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1966). 20. See Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 238-53. 21. So reads the Septuagint; the Masoretic text has “God” (’Elohim ).

22. For a detailed consideration of the “jigsaw-puzzle appear­ ance” of Exodus 24, see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 340-48. 23. See more fully on this point Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 41619, 426-28, 435-36, 440-42, 445-46, 450-52, 458-60, 465-66. 24. The text says, “He wrote”—for a justification of my view that Yahweh, not Moses, is the antecedent of this pronoun, see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 457, 462-63. Chapter 3 The Sequence of Requirement 1. See more fully the summary review of Eduard Nielsen, T he Ten C om m andm ents in N ew Perspective, Studies in Biblical Theol­ ogy 7, second series. Transí. D. J. Bourke (London: SCM Press, 1968), 78-93, and Walter Harrelson, T he Ten C om m andm ents a n d H u m a n Rights (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980), 33-42. 2. John I Durham, “Christians and the Ten Command­ ments,” A d va n c ed Bible S tu d y (a publication of the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, Nashville, Tenn.), vol. 7, no. 4, (July-September 1977), 39-125. 3. See also the references in 2 Kings 23:2, 21; 2 Chronicles 34:30, which probably refer to some part, probably a large part, of the book of Deuteronomy. 4. See Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 305-37. 5. See, for example, Delbert R. Hillers, Covenant: The History o f a Biblical Idea (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1969), 89-97, and, more generally, Nahum M. Sama, Exploring Exodus: T he Her­ itage o f Biblical Israel (New York: Schocken Books, 1986), 130-89. Chapter 4 The Sequence of Memory 1. Noth’s article, which appeared originally in Evangelische Theologie 12 (1952), 6-16, can be found in English as “The Notes

125

‘Representation’ of the Old Testament in Proclamation” in In ­ terpretation 15 (1961), 50-60 and in C. Westermann, ed., Essays on O ld Testam ent H erm eneutics (Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press, 1963), 76-88. 2. “D ie Vergegenwa ̈r tigung des A .T . in der Verkündigung, ” Evangelische Theologie 12 (1952), 13. 3. See Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 287-88. 4. Note Exodus 3:15-16; 33:19; 34:6-8; Numbers 6:22-27; see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 39-40, 452-54. 5. See pp. 20-28, and note the comment of Tryggve N. D. Mettinger, In Search o f G od: T h e M e a n in g a n d Message o f the Everlasting N am es, transí. F. H. Cryer (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988), 40: “We could perhaps affirm that the biblical di­ vine Name expresses the conviction o f God’s active and helpful presence, not as an expression about the past, but rather as a statement of confidence about the present and future: ‘He Is [here and is now helping].’” 6. On the meaning of this name, and of the other eleven sons of Jacob/Israel, see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 4-5. 7. For the meanings of all the names in the list of 6:14-25, see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 80-83. 8. See the extensive survey of “The Primitive Passover” of J. B. Segal, T h e H ebrew Passover, from Earliest T im es to A.D. 70 (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), 155-88. 9. For a fuller treatment of this important point, see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 199-207, and the bibliography cited there. 10. Exodus, WBC 3, p. 390. 11. On the calculation of these totals, see Exodus, WBC 3, pp. 490-91. 12. See, for a fascinating and detailed summary of this point, Menahem Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in A n cie n t Israel (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978), 149-259.

126

EXODUS

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Buber, Martin. Moses: T h e Revelation a n d the C ovenant. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958. Childs, Brevard S. T h e Book of Exodus. Old Testament Library. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1974. Daube, David. T h e Exodus Pattern in the Bible. All Souls Studies, II. London: Faber and Faber, 1963. Durham, John I. Exodus. Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 3. Waco, Tex.: Word Books 1987. Goldberg, Michael. Jews a n d Christians G etting O u r Stories Straight: T h e Exodus a n d the Passion-Resurrection. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1985. Haran, Menahem. Temples a n d Temple-Service in A n c ie n t Israel. Winona Lake, In.: Eisenbrauns, 1985. Originally published by Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978. Harrelson, Walter. T h e T en C o m m a n d m en ts a n d Human Rights. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980. Herrmann, Siegfried. Israel in Egypt. Studies in Biblical Theology, second series, 27. Translated by Margaret Kohl. London: SCM Press, 1973. Hillers, Delbert R. C ovenant: T h e History o f a Biblical Idea. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1969. Hyatt, J. Philip. Exodus. New Century Bible. London: Oliphants, Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1971. Selected Bibliography

127

Knight, George A. F. Theology as N arration. Edinburgh: Handsel Press, 1976. McCarthy, D. J. O ld Testam ent C ovenant: A Survey of C urrent Opinions. Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press, 1972. Mettinger, Tryggve N. D. In Search o f God: T h e M e a n in g a n d Message o f the Everlasting N am es. Translated by Frederick H. Cryer. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1988. Nicholson, E. W. Exodus a n d Sinai in History a n d Tradition. Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press, 1973. Sama, Nahum M. Exploring Exodus: T h e Heritage o f Biblical Israel. New York: Schocken Books, 1986. Segal, J. B. T h e Hebrew Passover, from Earliest T im es to A.D. 70. London Oriental Series, 12. London: Oxford University Press, 1963. Terrien, Samuel. T h e Elusive Presence: Toward a N ew Biblical Theology. Religious Perspectives, 26. San Francisco: Harper and Row 1978. deVaux, Roland. Ancient Israel. Vol. 2: Religious Institutions. Translated by John McHugh. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965. Walzer, Michael. Exodus a n d Revolution. New York: Basic Books 1985. Zimmerli, Walther. I A m Yahweh. Translated by Douglas W. Stott. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982.

128

EXODUS

INDEX OF SCRIPTURES

O LD TESTAMENT

Genesis M l 1-21 3:24 4:10-16 5:3 10 11:1-9 12:1-2 12:1-3 12:3 15:5 15:18-21 17:3-8 18 19 21:8-21 22 24:1-10 25:1-6 25:9 25:11-18 25:19-34 27:1-45 28:1-5

2 12 20 52 52 3 2 13 1 103 13 13 13 21 21 52 13 52 52 52 52 52 52 52

Index o f Scriptures

28:6-9 32:3-6 33:1-20 33:12-18 35:5-15 35:22-26 36:6-8 45:5 45:7 45:8 46:8-27 49:3-27 50:20 50:22-26

52 52 52 52 52 102 52 1 1 1 2 , 102 102 1 2

Exodus 1:1 1:1-5 1:1-7 1:2 1:5 1:7 1:8-6:13 1:9 1:17-21 2:1-2 2:10

1 4 ,104 102,105 8 , 1 2 ,13 101 101 102 7 18 15 15 104

2:16-22 2:21-22 2:22 2:23 2:23-25 2:24 2:25 3:6 3:8 3:11 3:11-12 3:12 3:13 3:13-14 3:13-14:17 3:14 3:14-17 3:15 3:15-16 3:16 3:19 3:20 4:1 4:2-5 4 :ll-12a 4:13 4:17

52 53 16,53 1 7 ,18 15 18 18 2 1 ,2 3 ,26 21 2 2 ,23 26 2 2 ,23 2 3 ,26 75 26 2 3 ,124 25 2 4 ,2 6 ,99 126 26 2 6 ,3 3 ,35 3 3 ,34 26 32 xii 28 26

129

4:18 4:20 4:21 4:21-23 4:22 4:25 4:29-31 4:30 5:1-2 5:1— 6:1 5:2 5:17-18 5:20-21 5:22 6:2 6:2-13 6:2-7:7 6:5-8 6:6 6:6-8 6:14-25 6:14-27 6:15 6:18 6:20 6:21 6:22 6:23 6:24 6:28-11:10 7:3 7:4 7:8-11:10 7:8-13 7:9 7:10 7:12 7:13 7:14 7:14-25 7:22-23 8:1-5 8:1-15 8:10 8:15 8:16-19 8:19 8:20-32 8:28 8:32

130

28 53 35 33 111 53 29,40 33 40 31 3 2 ,35 30 40 30 31 32 3 1 ,32 111 34 31 126 8 , 102,105 101 101 101 101 101 102 102 7 3 4 ,35 34 31 40 32 33 33 35 35 40 35 40 13 34 35 40 34,36 41 41 36

9:1-7 9:7 9:8-12 9:12 9:13-35 9:14 9:16 9:34-35 10:1-2 10:1-20 10:20 10:21-29 10:24-26 10:27 11:1 11:1-10 11:8 11:9-10 12:1-20 13:3-4 12:14 12:14-20 12:21-50 12:32 12:34 12:39 13 13:1-16 13:3 13:3-10 13:8-10 13:14-15 13:17-14:31 13:21-22 14:4 14:6 14:8 14:10-12 14:11-12 14:17-18 14:19-20 14:30-31 15 15:1 15:2 15:1-12 15:1-18 15:1-21 15:3 15:5

41 36 41 36 41 34 36 36 36 42 37 42 48 37 34 43 43 3 7 ,43 8 108 105 107 7 , 31 43 106 106 26 8 105 107 105 107 7 20 37 38 37 40 49 37 21 38 28 109-10 110 3 8 ,109-10 8 38 110 111

15:8 15:9 15:10 15:11 15:13-16 15:13,17-18 15:14, 16 15:17 15:17-18 15:18 15:19-18:12 15:21 15:22-27 15:25-26 15:26 16:1 16:3 16:8 16:10 16:12 17:3 17:15-16 18:1-12 18:4 18:5 18:10-11 18:11 18:12 18:13-17 18:13-27 18:19 18:21 18:22-23 18:23 18:26 19 19:1-2 19:l-3a 19:1-20:21 19:3-6 19:4-6 19:7-8 19:9 19:10-15 19:10-20 19:11 19:17 19:18 20 20:1-17

39, 111 39, 111 39 3 9 ,110 3 8 ,109, 111 109, 111 110 111 38 110-11 7 3 8 ,109 46 47 47 48 49 48 48 48 49 51 51 54 5 3 ,57 16 54 53 54 8 , 5 1 ,89 54 84 55 54 55 57 49 63 7 57 100 57 57 57 63 58 58 20 5 1 ,86 8

EXODUS

20:1-21 20:2 20:2-4 20:3 20:4-6 20:5 20:7 20:8 20:8-11 20:12 20:13-17 20:17 20:18 20:18-21 20:20 20:21 20:22 20:22-23:33 20:23 20:24-26 21:1-22:17 21:2-11 21:12-36 21:15 21:17 22:1-17 22:18-20 22:18-23:19 22:21-27 22:28-31 23 23:1-9 23:10-12 23:12-19 23:13 23:14-17 23:18-19 23:20-24 23:20-33 23:27-30 23:31 23:32 23:32-33 24 24:1 24:1-2 24:1-18 24:3-8 24:5

63 47 59 87 87 94 5 9 ,87 59 87 5 9 ,88 59 91 58 66 69 67 90 8 , 6 6 ,71, 8 7 ,93 90 91 89 91 91 88 88 91 91 89 91-92 91 51 92 92 94 92 92 92, 93 92 93 93 93 90 5 2 ,7 8 ,125 67 67 7 67 72

Index of Scriptures

24:8 24:9-11 24:12-14 24:15-18 24:18 24:7 24:10 24:18 25:1-9 25:1-31:18 25:8 25:10-22 25:23-30 25:31-40 25-31 26:1-37 27:1-8 27:9-19 28:1-43 29-35 29:1-46 29:45-46 30:1-10 30:11-16 30:17-21 30:22-33 30:34-38 31:1-11 31:12-18 31:13 31:16-17 31:17 32:1 32-34 32:10 32:12 32:13 32:1-34:9 32:21-34 32:34 33:1-2 33:4 33:5 33:16 33:18-19 33:18-34:9 33:19 34 34:5

71 67 67 67 72 89 2 1 ,71 72 113,115 8 , 3 1 ,66, 112 113 115 115 115 72 115 116 116 117 7 117 118 118 118 118 118 118 119 119 119 119 119 6 8 ,72 74-75 74 74 74 7 62 75 75 75 75 75 104 21 126 52 104

34:6 34:6-7 34:6-8 34.9 34:10 34:10-28 34:12-13 34:14-16 34:14-17 34:18 34:18-26 34:19-20 34:21 34:22-24 34:25 34:26 34:27 34:28 35:1-36:7 35:1-40:33 35:1-3 35:4-9 35:10-19 35:30-36:1 37:1-9 37:25-28 38:8 38:24-29 39:1 39:1-31 39:5 39:7 39:21 39:26-27 39:31 39:42-43 40:1-33 40:34-38 40:34-40

121 76 126 77 7 8 ,94 8 78 94 93 93 78 94 93 93 94 93-94 94-95 5 9 ,8 6 ,95 115 8 , 3 1 ,112 119 113,115 119 119 115 118 118 120 120 117 120 120 120 120 120 120 113 7 113

Leviticus 8:1-33 11:29-30 15:16-33 17-26 20:9 24:7

117 12 57 89 89 115

Numbers 4:7 6:22-27

115 126

131

11 12 13-14 14:18 16-17 17:1-11 20 21:14-15 33:15 Deuteronomy 4 4:11-14 4:12 4:13 4:15 4:32-33 4:33 4:35-36 5 5:2-3 5:4 5:22 5:23-26 6:4

10:4 12-26 21:18-21 27:12-13 27:16 32:8 33:2-29 Joshua 5:2-9 5:9 24 1 Samuel 21:1-6

132

4 6 ,49 27 46 77 46 115 46 51 49

60 59 20 5 9 ,86 20 59 20 59 60 99 59 59 59 11 5 9 ,86 89 88 102 88 2 102

29 29 70

57

2 Kings 23:2 23:21

125 125

2 Chronicles 34:30

125

Nehemiah 9:17 Job 1:8 2:3 Psalms 47 78:23-29 78:45 86:15 93 96 97 98 99 103:8 105:40 106:19-20 111:4 121:4 145:8 Isaiah 6:1-4 43:25 44:6 45:6-7 51:9 57:1-13 Jeremiah 1:11-12 3:6-9

Ezekiel 23:36-49 29:3 32:2 47:9

62 33 33 12

Joel 2:13

77

Jonah 4:2

77

Nahum 1:3

77

77

44 44

38 49 41 77 38 38 38 38 38 77 49 73 99 115 77

21 25 25 25 33 62

115 62

N EW TESTAMENT

Mark 12:29

11

Luke 1:30-31

104

John 5:2-9 6:31-33

29 49

Acts 2

59

1 Corinthians 10:2-4

49

Galatians 3:29

102

Ephesians 4:4-6

12

Philippians 2:9-11

104

EXODUS

WORD BIBLICAL THEMES Joshua TRENT C. BUTLER

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC Joshua Copyright © 1991 by Word, Incorporated Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-11576-2 (softcover) Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Butler, Trent C. Joshua: Trent C. Butler. p.  cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-849-93247-2 1. Bible. O.T. Joshua—­Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. II. Series. BS1295.2.B87 1991 222’.206—dc2090-28364 Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—­electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—­except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 /LSC/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Foreword Preface Introduction Method o f Approach Themes in Joshua 1. Leadership of the People of God Moses, the shadow behind Israel’s leaders Leadership pointing to the past Leadership through action 2. The Land God Gave Land as gift Land as possession Land as inheritance Land by lot Land under the ban Land of rest 3. The Law That Leads G od’s People Torah defined Joshua’s call to obey Torah Torah as community responsibility Torah and daily life Torah obedience as love Torah and disobedience Torah as covenant keeping

vii ix 1 2 6 23 23 28 32 35 35 40 42 43 44 48 51 51 52 54 55 55 56 57

V

The Word of Yahweh Word of God and written Torah Functions o f word of God The faithful word 4. Loyalty T hat Characterizes G od’s People Loyalty as unique to Israel Loyalty in community Loyalty as individual devotion Loyalty as covenant commitment 5. The Lord Behind History God who speaks God who acts in history God who makes demands G od is present Epilog: The People of G od Notes Index of Scriptures

VI

57 58 58 61 63 63 64 68 68 75 76 79 95 105 111 116 119

CO N TEN TS

FOREWORD

Finding the great themes of the books of the Bible is essen­ tial to the study o f G od’s Word, and to the preaching and teaching of its truths. But these themes or ideas are often like precious gems; they lie beneath the surface and can only be discovered with some difficulty. The large commentaries are most useful to this discovery process, but they are not usually designed to help the student trace the important subjects within a given book of Scripture. The Quick-Reference Bible Topics meet this need by bringing together, within a few pages, all o f what is contained in a bibli­ cal volume on the subjects that are thought to be most signifi­ cant to that volume. A companion series to the Word Biblical Commentary, these books seek to distill the theological essence of the biblical books as interpreted in the more technical series and to serve it up in ways that will enrich the preaching, teaching, worship, and discipleship o f G od’s people. Joshua is an up-beat narrative about the fulfillment o f G od’s promises to an obedient people. It is the natural sequel to Deuteronomy. Dr. Trent Butler builds on his intensive research vii

for his Word Biblical Commentary on Joshua to sketch the dominate themes o f this intensely theological book. This volume is sent forth in the hope that it will contribute to the vitality of God’s people as we, too, try to occupy the promised land which G od has for us. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky

viii

John D.W. Watts Old Testament Editor Word Biblical Commentary Quick-Reference Bible Topics

Foreword

PREFACE

Learning biblical languages, researching for articles in scholarly journals, writing commentaries, all of the work the biblical scholar does has one ultimate goal— understanding the major topics Scripture teaches and helping the church under­ stand and bring to life those topics. In that sense this small volume represents the completion of the work on Joshua begun so many years ago and brought to major expression in the Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 7. The present book seeks to summarize the lessons learned from Joshua in writing the commentary and make those lessons available to a wider audience. A ll translations of Joshua in this book come from the commentary. This volume is released to its wider audience with the prayer that it will help the church better understand the church’s na­ ture as G od’s people and help it to know its Lord. The volume is also released in gratitude to the editors and to numerous colleagues who have encouraged and inspired me to continue working in the book of Joshua. This book is due in no small part to my son Kevin and his assistance on the computer, and ix

to my wife and her patience in letting me retire to the study for one more book. Certainly other topics could be dealt with from Joshua. Also, the themes chosen for exposition here could be dealt with more clearly and comprehensively. I hope the present work will in­ spire readers to search Joshua and all o f G od’s Word to find the truths he has taught his people and to determine how those truths should impact a believer’s life. In this work, I have quoted from my own translation o f Joshua as found in the volume o f the Word Biblical Commentary. When reference is made to that book, Volume 7, it is abbreviated W BC 7:— (page number). It is appropriate that I release this volume to the publisher at the Christmas season when one greater than Joshua took up the same Hebrew name and came to deliver G od’s people, not alone from enemies occupying the Promised Land, but from the ultimate enemy Sin, thus giving us salvation that reaches into the promised world to come. I release this manuscript with the prayer that it may help its readers face anew the call to com­ mitment to be loyal people o f the Lord in, over, and above history, and that it may call forth faith to know and follow be­ cause “I will put my laws into their minds, and I will write them upon their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Heb 8:10 nasb ). Trent C . Butler Brentwood, Tennessee

x

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

The assignment: write a brief study on the themes of the book of Joshua. This raises a probing question: How does one dis­ cover themes that are both important within the narrative structure of Joshua and are o f interest to readers approaching the twenty-first century? The task calk for research into the nature o f biblical narrative and sensitivity to the concerns of the modem church and world. Research into biblical narrative literature has only recently begun to ask questions concerning how to determine and define narrative themes. Final answers are not yet available. Individual scholars have proposed numerous methods o f approach to bib­ lical themes. Thus we are compelled to describe our approach to biblical narrative as we begin this volume. The following lines will sketch one possible method for determining which themes are important within the narrative structure of biblical literature. We will then apply the method to the book o f Joshua to determine significant themes. The remaining chapters will take up each theme and trace its meaning within the book with occasional references to the modem situation.

1

Method of approach The type of literature To know the themes of a piece of literature, we must know the kind of literature with which we are dealing. We will ex­ pect different things from satire, comedy, biography, court records, personal letters, and historical research. Most often, the type of literature will reveal the major theme of a book. A salvation oracle from a prophet or priest requires us to deal with the topic of salvation. A hymn of praise points to the topics o f praise and worship. A letter calls forth the theme o f rela­ tionships between the writer and recipients. A n apocalyptic work makes investigation of persecution and future hope para­ mount. The list could be extended indefinitely. The point is clear. The major theme of a work is more than the sum o f major vo­ cabulary items the writer used. A salvation oracle may never use the word salvation. A hymn may not explicitly mention worship. No one vocabulary item will define the relationship between writer and recipient of a letter. Only knowledge of the type of literature can give the necessary information to lead to the literary work’s major theme.

The literary structure The type of literature represents a general category with many individual literary works within the category. Comparing the individual works and finding their common elements and intention lets us define the category. Part of the definition will include general structural elements which recur in most pieces of literature that belong to the literary type. Thus a lament may be described as having the following elements: address to God, statement of the complaint, expression o f trust in G od’s help, plea for G od’s help in the specific situation, description of

2

JOSHUA

enemies, and a concluding vow to praise and honor God for deliverance.1 Such general structural elements of a literary type find spe­ cific form in the individual work of literature. The structure of the individual work gives clues as to the major themes. Where the work varies from the usual structural elements of the literary type, where it creates new elements, where it repeats or other­ wise gives special emphasis to elements, what it places in the introduction and conclusion— all these elements o f literary structure provide strong evidence of the major theme o f the work. In one way or another the specific structure will point to the major point of discussion between author and audience, will show how various sides respond to the point of discussion, and will describe the author’s solution to the situation. The author’s solution will either affirm and expand that o f the audience, or it will modify or deny that o f the audience. Important topics appear both at the point of affirmation and at the point(s) of denial. This means an author can have both negative and positive themes. Such topics come to light as we study the lit­ erary structure of the individual work.

Vocabulary and vocabulary fields A topic can appear without ties to specific vocabulary as noted above, but a writer often highlights a theme by repeat­ ing certain key terms and phrases. The writer may use such terms because the audience uses them and finds strong em otional support in them. The writer may make very subtle or not so subtle shifts in meaning by placing these important terms in new contexts or by illustrating them in ways that give new definitions to old words. Vocabulary items, as such, do not constitute literary or theological themes. Rather, literary themes emerge from (1) the interaction among related vocabulary items and (2) the distinctions between the audience’s understanding Introduction

3

o f these vocabulary items and the author’s definition o f those items. Themes emerge from vocabulary or word study not simply through classical dictionary definitions but through examination o f their functions in the context of the literary work and in the social/theological context of the audience.

Characterization Characterization creates literary themes. A writer, even of history, chooses heroes and villains carefully. Heroes become in some sense role models for the audience. The goals the hero seeks to attain, the hero’s actions, the hero’s speeches, and the hero’s final fete combine to set forth an understanding o f hu­ man purpose and destiny. Sim ilar portrayal o f the villain(s) provides the n egative th em e(s). Sim ilarly, h eroic goals unfulfilled and a villain’s goals undefeated may represent liter­ ary themes specifically directed to the new generation repre­ sented by the audience.

Transition points Delay in action and transition points often allow the author to interject important topical statements. These may appear indifferent forms: repeated ritual acts; long speeches; summary statements; character description; theological definitions. Such statements al­ low the author to address the contemporary audience as well as to make historical descriptions. Precisely at such transition points in the narrative, we expect to discover the points of tension which the author addresses and the options which the reading or listening audience faces.

Larger literary context The larger literary context serves as a checkpoint by which to judge whether the criteria stated above have been used correctly 4

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to isolate the writer’s themes. If the context under immediate consideration is part of a larger literary whole, then the topics emphasized will prove to be significant within the larger liter­ ary work. Topics from the smaller context not taken up in the larger context should not be emphasized as major themes by modem study. Thus, in the present study of the book of Joshua, we must concentrate on topics which stretch forward through the Former Prophets—Judges, Samuel, Kings. We may also want to see how Joshua carries forward themes from its immediate literary predecessor— the P entateuch (G en esis through Deuteronomy). From the standpoint o f evangelical Christian­ ity, we will want to look at an even larger context, that of the New Testament. How does the New Testament expand the themes of Joshua in light of the supreme revelation in Jesus Christ?

Limits Our own literary work cannot be infinite and endless. We must choose to examine only certain topics, not all those found in Joshua. We will want to examine those themes that (1) ap­ pear to have major significance in the book of Joshua, (2) ei­ ther are unique to Joshua in the biblical literature, on the one hand, or appear to be significant in light of the New Testament, and (3) seem to have the potential to speak to significant needs of the contemporary church and world. Such a statem ent must be modified somewhat. We must not elim inate a statem ent simply because we see no potential meaning for the modem world, for a major theme in biblical literature stands there pre­ cisely through the working of the Holy Spirit and has strong potential for meaning as the Spirit continues to work in the life o f the church and its individual members. Still, we seek to work with topics for which modem application is most appar­ ent in hopes of being an instrument of the Spirit in speaking to the lives of his people. Introduction

5

Themes in Joshua The method described could be extended, adding other lit­ erary techniques to refine the method and establish an even longer list of themes. We will use these six methodological cri­ teria to determine themes in the book of Joshua.

Joshua as biography Joshua represents a complex type o f literature. It is closely associated with Judges, Samuel, and Kings—books whose subject matter is historical events and persons. Thus, our first impres­ sion is to classify the book as history writing and define history writing to determine the overarching themes o f Joshua. This approach is only a first step, however. History writing is too large a category to deal with. Royal annals, chronicles, personal diaries, oral traditions, political propaganda. . . one can go on and on with various literary types that belong to the major category o f history writing. We must ask what kind o f history writing the book of Joshua represents. In so doing, we must consider the Jews’ traditional classification of Joshua as part of the Former Prophets. In a real sense, Joshua is history writing from a prophetic perspective. That is, the book of Joshua does not simply choose selected historical facts and line them up in chronological order. Joshua expects those historical facts to provide insight into the meaning of life in G od’s world under God’s direction. It expects G od’s people to understand life in the present with him in light o f life in the past with him. Similarly, it points to hope for life in the future because of the reality o f a life of hope in the past. The facts of past history become a literary tool for the inspired writer to provide a spiritual message for the present. Only be­ cause the book of Joshua has this inspired prophetic element do we continue to seek out its themes and employ those themes to guide our life under God.

6

JOSHUA

To say the book of Joshua has a prophetic element or is pro­ phetic history writing still does not define its literary type. Prophecy can be presented in the familiar collections of oracles or prophetic speeches that we see in Isaiah or Micah. It can be presented in the question and answer mode of Habakkuk, the narrative style of Jonah, the woes of Amos or Nahum, the priestly style of M alachi, or the apocalyptic combination o f narrative and vision of Daniel. Prophecy is more a personal function than a literary type. We still must ask the literary nature of the pro­ phetic history in the book of Joshua. To determine literary structure, we must look at the indi­ vidual elements of structure in the book of Joshua. How can we in one sentence describe each of the sections of Joshua? The following picture develops.2 1 :1 -9 1 :1 0 -1 8 2 :1 -2 4 3 :1 -5 :1 5 :2 -9

5: 10-12 5 :1 3 -1 5 6 :1 -2 7 7 :1 -5 7 :6 -9 7 :1 0 -2 6 8 :1 -2 9 8 :3 0 -3 5

Introduction

Joshua is inducted into Moses’ office. Joshua functions as commander of Israel and of East Jordan troops. Joshua sends spies to see the land; they report back to him. Joshua directs the crossing of the Jordan and re­ ceives the renown of Moses. Joshua sanctifies the negligent people by circum­ cising them. The sanctified people celebrate Passover. Joshua passes the test administered by the Prince of the Host of Yahweh. Jericho is given into Joshua’s hands. Joshua leads a futile attack against A i after Achan’s sin and the spies’ foolish advice. Joshua leads a public lamentation ceremony. Joshua leads a public trial at Yahweh’s command. Joshua captures A i. Joshua builds an altar and leads a covenant cer­ emony according to the law o f Moses. 7

9 :1 -2 9 :3 9 :4 -1 4 9 :1 5 9 :1 6 -2 1

9 :2 2 -2 3 9 :2 4 -2 7 1 0 :1 -5 1 0 :6 -1 4 1 0 :1 5 -4 3 1 1 :1 -4 1 1 :5 -1 5 1 1 :1 6 -2 3 1 2 :1 -2 4 1 3 :1 -7 1 3 :8 -3 3 1 4 :1 -5 1 4 :6 -1 5 15:1-17:18 18:1-19:48 1 9 :4 9 -5 0 19:51

8

Southern kings gather for war against Joshua. Gibeon seeks peace because o f fame o f Joshua. Gibeonites come to Joshua with evidence, but men o f Israel make him accept evidence. Joshua accepts men’s decision and makes covenant o f peace. M en o f Israel make foolish expedition against Gibeonite cities but do not capture anything or anyone. Joshua curses Gibeonites to perpetual cultic service. Joshua graciously rescues Gibeonites from men of Israel and gives them place as cultic servants. Southern kings hear of exploits o f Joshua and gather for battle. Gibeonites appeal to Joshua, who defeats the kings. Joshua directs punishment and pursuit mission. Northern kings gather to battle Israel. Joshua captures northern kings and land following Yahweh’s commands through Moses. Joshua’s accomplishments summarized as fulfillment o f the law o f Moses. Joshua’s accomplishments are listed parallel to those o f Moses. Yahweh describes land that remains to Joshua. Moses’ allotments summarized. Eleazar and Joshua begin allotm ent process ac­ cording to the law o f Moses Joshua blesses Caleb with his inheritance. Judah, including C aleb, and Joseph, including Ephraim and Manasseh, receive their lots, Joshua leads other seven tribes to spy out and take their inheritance. Joshua receives an inheritance. Eleazar and Joshua complete the distribution.

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Joshua obeys Yahweh as given in Moses’ commands and sets up cities of refuge. Eleazar and Joshua obey Yahweh’s will as given in 2 1 :1 -4 2 Moses’ commands and provide cities for the land­ less Levites. 2 1 :4 3 -4 5 Yahweh fulfilled all His promises. Joshua sends the obedient eastern tribes home 2 2 :1 -8 across Jordan. Phinehas, the priest, settles an altar dispute be­ 2 2 :9 -3 4 tween eastern and western tribes. 2 3 :1 -1 6 Joshua delivers his farewell sermon, admonishing the tribes to obedience. 2 4 :1 -2 8 Joshua leads tribes in covenant commitment to Yahweh. 2 4 :9 -2 3 Joshua, Joseph, and Eleazar are buried. 2 0 :1 -9

Looking at the individual units reveals quite clearly that the narrative structure o f the book of Joshua has one center. Joshua is the actor on stage at every important juncture. The book of Joshua tells the story of Joshua. The subject of the lead sentences of the book of Joshua is Joshua. The further the book continues, the greater the fame and glory of Joshua. The narrative structure of the book does not concentrate so much on conquest and land distribution as it does on the person and work o f Joshua. The concentration o f the narrative structure is not total, however. A t important points, Joshua disappears briefly. He does not explicitly lead the Passover celebration (5:10-12), but he had prepared Israel to celebrate Passover by circumcising the men. Joshua heard a word from Yahweh or initiated an action to begin each major section (1:1; 2:1; 3:1; 4:1; 5:2; 6:2) until chapter 7. There, the sons o f Israel (7:1)— represented in the one man Achan— initiated the action. Only under this heading did Joshua undertake a futile action (7:2). Even then, Joshua’s actions under G od’s leadership finally corrected the situation. Again, Joshua is the major actor (8:1, 30) or the one causing Introduction

9

the enemies’ actions (9:1-3) until a major wrong is commit­ ted. Then the men o f Israel accept the Gibeonites’ evidence, having failed to inquire of Yahweh (9:14). Joshua then made peace and signed an agreement to let the Gibeonites live (9:15). Finally, Joshua graciously rescued the Gibeonites from the sons of Israel (9:26). Joshua again took first place in the allotment of the land (13:1), but Eleazar also shared the spotlight, even being men­ tioned before Joshua (14:1; 17:4; 19:51). Still, when an action occurred, the actor was Joshua (14:13; 15:13; 17:14-18). This continued in chapter 20, where Joshua set up the cities of refuge; but in chapter 21 Eleazar appeared again beside Joshua. In 22:2 Joshua acted alone, dismissing the eastern tribes and preaching to them to be faithful to the law of Moses. Suddenly in 22:10-34, Joshua disappeared. Phinehas, the priest, occupied center stage to settle the altar dispute between east and west. C an we explain Joshua’s lapses from the stage? Perhaps! In the early chapters Joshua disappeared in the time of blame. The narration shifts the center of attention away from Joshua only when Israel violates the law of Moses. In the second half of the book, Joshua is called to share the central actions with the priest when cultic actions take place at a worship center. When the problem becomes totally cultic, the priest alone is involved. Thus, context appears to dictate when Joshua must yield the central position to another character. Such brief exits do not change the central structure of the book. They only show Joshua’s willingness to work with other officials and to acknowledge the limits o f his role. The book remains a story about Joshua, the leader par excellence. In some sense the lit­ erary type of the book is biography, documenting the life of a leader in Israel after Moses. That biography is then structured in a particular way to make its unique points and present its unique themes. Showing that Joshua is a biography of a leader leads us far down the path to the book’s major themes. A biography sets up

10

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the central figure as a person of importance whose example be­ comes a role model to follow or to avoid. A biography forces us to look at personal themes rather than abstract themes. In this case the biography of a leader means we must look at personal leadership themes. We must determine what makes Joshua a leader, what tasks a leader faces, where a leader gets leadership in accomplishing those tasks, and how a leader faces failure as well as success. To know exactly how to do this, we must go still further. We must follow the outline of the method given above to better define the themes inherent in a biography o f a leader.

Literary structure of the biography Biography can be a complex genre using many literary tech­ niques to give historical perspective and character development of the central character and several other major personalities. Flashbacks, monologs, personal descriptions, conversations, dreams, personal reflections, moving back and forth among several contemporaneous events, and other complex literary techniques allow biographers to delve deep into personality make-up and present psychological analysis of people in all their complexity. The book of Joshua is much simpler in its tech­ niques and much more direct in its structure. It describes the character’s actions and presents the character in dialog, par­ ticularly in dialog with God. A s elsewhere in the Ancient Near East, biography had the office and function of the person as its theme, not the personal character traits and emotions. Biography featured the public life rather than the private, per­ sonal affairs of its subject. Life and office became practically identical. Biography was much more interested in the typical that later generations could emulate and repeat rather than in individual fate. In dealing with the public rather than the private person, biography often began with the public birth—the installation Introduction

11

into office—not with the private birth to a mother. The installa­ tion report opening the biography often introduced the major themes taken up in the biography proper. Such topics include se­ curing peace from external and internal enemies, establishing social justice within the nation, and preserving the purity of the cult Thus in the book of Joshua, the center of attention is Joshua and his office. The book begins with a report of his installation in office as leader of the conquest and of the division of the land. These functions establish peace with enemies externally and internally, setting up a society at rest, thus a society with social justice and a pure cult. The book tells how Joshua carried out these public functions. A ll private details— even names of family members—are passed over without mention. We do not meet Joshua, the individual person; we meet Joshua, the na­ tional leader. In his official function Joshua secures peace for the people and peace among the people. He lays the demands o f the Law of Moses before the people to secure social justice. He delivers a divine ultimatum as to their choice o f G od, seeking to ensure the purity of the cult. Structural elements easily separate the book of Joshua into distinct units. Chapter 1 initiates Joshua into his office and sets out the task facing Israel, including the tribes east of the Jordan. Chapters 2 through 5 show Joshua’s effective leadership and make him and the people cultically ready to fulfill the mission G od has set before them. Chapters 6 through 11 show Joshua obediently overcoming all opposition to conquer the land. Chapter 12 summarizes the conquest and closes the first half o f the book. Chapter 13 shows the second stage o f Joshua’s mission—apportioning the land west o f Jordan as Moses had apportioned that east o f Jordan. Joshua had to do this even though much o f the promised land remained to be conquered. Chapters 14 through 17 show how land was provided for Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh. Chapters 18 and 19 show how Joshua motivated the remaining 7 tribes to determine and possess their allotment.

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Chapters 20 and 21 set up a just social system for inadvert­ ent murderers and for landless priests. The second half of the book then finds its conclusion in the summary statement of 21:43-45. Joshua had solved the problems with external foes. Chapter 22 establishes internal peace among feuding tribes and sets forth the basic rule o f cultic purity agreed to by all the people. Chapters 23 and 24 conclude the book with Joshua’s sermon and his leading Israel to renew the covenant with God. The biographical epilog (24:29-33) then reports Joshua’s death and burial, the fulfillment o f the promise to Joseph to bury his re­ mains in the promised land, and the death and burial of Eleazar the priest. The structure of Joshua thus can be outlined as follows: I. The Introduction: Joshua’s initiation as leader after and under Moses (1:1-18) II. The Body: Joshua establishes external and internal rest (2:1-21:45) A . Joshua leads in conquest o f the land (2:1-12:24) 1. Joshua helps the people prepare for conquest (2:1-5:15) 2. Joshua leads the people to conquer the land (6:1-11:15) 3. Joshua’s conquest summarized (11:16-12:24) B. Joshua and Eleazar demonstrate social justice in action distributing the land (13:1-19:51) C . Joshua establishes justice and peace for underprivi­ leged (20:1-21:42) D. Summary: G od fulfilled all his promises (21:43-45) III. Conclusion: Joshua and Eleazar establish cultic purity (22:1-24:28) A . Joshua commissions the eastern tribes (22:1-6) B. Phinehas leads to cultic agreement among the tribes (22:7-34) Introduction

13

IV.

C . Joshua leads people to covenant agreement (23:1— 24:28) Epilog: Leaders buried and promises kept (24:29-33)

The structure of the book o f Joshua thus leads us to look at seven basic themes: (1) Leadership after Moses (2) Rest (3) The land (4) Justice (5) Pure worship (6) Divine promises (7) Covenant religion The methodological areas studied below may provide further themes or new structure for these themes.

Vocabulary fields of the book of Joshua Special words punctuate the inspired biography o f Joshua. With these words, the author underlined themes the readers needed to ponder. Using the outline above, words can be se­ lected which recur frequently and which carry thematic weight for the author. Obviously, some words will occur many times without carrying them atic weight—such as “to be,” “and,” “have,” “say”—and other words necessary to carry normal nar­ rative along. A vocabulary review shows that some words recur in all sections o f the book: “Yahweh,” “Joshua,” “M oses,” “land,” “giving,” “possession/inheritance,” “rest,” “servant of Yahweh,” “Reuben,” and “G ad.” Other words such as “Torah,” “obey,” “ban,” “covenant,” and “altar” influence some sections but not all. Still other words—such as “ark of the covenant,” "rebel,” “loyal,” “dread by the inhabitants”—play significant roles in individual sections or even in isolated narratives, but do appear in other sections of the book. Further study of transition points 14

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in the book may help explain the diffusion and concentration of vocabulary items. For the moment, let us note that the vo­ cabulary items of significance can be organized under a few categories: 1. Leadership Joshua Moses Great Until this day

2. Land Giving Possession Inheritance Rest Oath to fathers Ban Land Lot

4 . Loyalty Covenant Servant Reuben Loyal Rebel Faithful

3 . Law Torah Word Obey Commandment

5 . Lord Yahweh With you Ark Wonders Anger

Characterization in the book of Joshua Strangely for our taste, characterization does not play a strong role for the author of the biography of Joshua. This apparently results from the nature of Near Eastern biography with its em­ phasis on office more than on office-holder. The individual character traits of Joshua disappear behind the official of Moses carrying out the commands of Torah and the spoken words of Yahweh and thus accomplishing his mission. The author never takes time to step back from the action to describe Joshua or to picture Joshua in repose or in reflection. Rather, Joshua remains in constant action throughout the book’s twenty-four chapters. Introduction

15

The simple-minded devotion to action shows the inspired writer’s understanding o f leadership o f Israel after M oses. Leadership consists in obedient action much more than in devel­ oping a public image dominated by certain popular personality traits.

Transition points in the book of Joshua Certain key transition sections sparkle with diamonds o f theological truth in somewhat irregular intervals through the book o f Joshua. Each o f the individual conquest narratives as well as the other individual narratives o f the book have impor­ tant themes which a total study of Joshua must investigate, but the transitions show us where the author chose to place the narrative weight. A t least the following elements stand out as compositional markers leading us down the path to the key themes of Joshua. 1. Theological prologue: leader and people defined (1 :1 -1 8 ). Here we find divine marching orders for Israelite leadership af­ ter Moses, the chain o f command in Israel illustrated, and the call for national unity. The Israelite leader has a clear task— take the land; a sure guidebook—the Torah o f Moses; and a reassuring promise— I am with you. He has other leaders to help him accomplish the task, and he has assurance from the tribes most tempted not to participate— they will obey his leadership. 2. Culitc interlude: worship as the center of identity (8:30-35). This passage shocks modem readers by intruding on the conti­ nuity of the conquest narratives. The story turns from war to worship, from G ilgal to Shechem, and from conquest to cov­ enant. The author used the transition shock to call attention to important themes—place o f worship, allegiance to Torah, chain o f command, universal instruction in Torah, and fulfill­ ment o f Torah. Joshua must not be read as a simple book of holy war, conquest, and selfish grabbing o f land. It must be seen rather as pointing to leadership after Moses in the light o f the 16

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Torah of Moses. Only after we have taken a break in the action to learn this lesson should we return to the action of conquest and learn the rest of the story. 3. Theological summary: promises fulfilled (1 1 :2 3 ). Ten chapters (2-11) lay out the conquest narratives. One transi­ tional verse gives the meaning. The major goal of the conquest narrative deals not with human activity and human achieve­ ment. Conquest narrative does not become a manual for future battle; nor does it become a universally valid theology of warfare. Conquest narrative points to God’s faithfulness, to Israel’s posses­ sion by grace, and to God’s goal for his people— rest from battle. 4. Theological review: the task ahead (1 3 :1 -7 ). N arrative breaks the bonds o f past history, pointing beyond itself to fu­ ture goals. N o leader dies without new fields to conquer. New tasks and new challenges stare each new generation and its leaders in the face. Joshua faced old age (note the artistic in­ clusion joining 13:1 and 23:1) with a large conquest task re­ maining. A s so often in biblical narrative, the author used divine monolog to make this important transition. Incompleteness and a task remaining did not mean Joshua had failed as leader. Rather, it called for new trust in G od to fulfill new promises and for new commitment to the parallel task of distributing the land. Fair distribution took priority over total destruction o f enemies and total conquest o f land. (The first chapters o f Judges return to this theme.) 5. Theological acclamation: God is faithfid (21.43-45). Repeti­ tion among transition statements underlines the importance of a theme. The conquest summary underlined God’s faithfulness (11:23). The distribution summary does the same. A task remain­ ing and land unconquered do not detract from God’s faithfulness. They only reassure the new generation called to cooperate with God in bringing new promises to fulfillment. G od’s people have no basis for com plaint God is perfectly faithful. His Word proves true in human history. N o enemy threatens God. He defeats ev­ ery one he faces when and how he chooses. Introduction

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6. A theological program: life with God anywhere (22:1-6). The speech of a hero can mark transition as easily as divine speech. W hen such speech forms a literary inclusion with previous transition material, as 22:1-6 does with 1:12-18, then the reader seeking important themes must certainly pay close attention to the passage. The literary signals are especially important for the modem reader here, for we are tempted to see 22:1-6 as an interlude preparing for the interesting story to follow. Thus, at the first reading, we pass over it without marking its thematic importance. A s the author turned to the task of the future in 13:1-7, so the future stands in perspective here. The unity of God’s people must endure the strains o f rest even more than the stress of war. The unity of God’s people must endure even the absence o f symbols and of the rites of unity. The unity o f G od’s people comes from obedience to the Torah of Moses. Such unity can be preserved no matter where G od’s people live and no matter what worship conveniences they are missing. 7. Theological justification: leave Torah, lose land (23:1-16). M ost narrative books have important introductory and con­ cluding transition statements, moving into and out of the major story line. Joshua doubles up on the exit transition, presenting first the hero’s concluding speech and then the concluding ritual (ch 24). Both point to the future. Past promises are secure (11:23; 21:43-45). Future promises stand tied to human com­ mitment. The message reaches the people through the chain o f command. The message calls for awareness o f the past, knowledge o f the task remaining, confidence in G od to ac­ complish the task, commitment to obey God’s Torah and to love him, and trust in G od strong enough to avoid the temp­ tation of other gods. The message centers on warning. Fulfillment o f promises can turn to fulfillment of threats. Life in the land without Torah will mean life without the land. 8. Theological hope: covenant with God (24:1-28). A unique covenant ceremony pairs with Joshua’s farewell address to conclude the book of Joshua. This models Israel’s hope for identity in all 18

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ages. The story has featured fighting and land distribution. The conclusion features Joshua’s intense efforts to bond Israel to God through covenant ritual and personal commitment. A gain, the place is Shechem, as in the transition ritual at 8:30-35. The mediators are the officials in Joshua’s chain of command. The in­ troduction is historical review. The featured performer is not Joshua nor his armies, but Yahweh, the G od who fights and forms Israel’s history. The conclusion is a call for absolute commitment to this God, a commitment that excludes all other commitments and that admits the impossible nature of fulfilling the commitment. The result is the covenant between Yahweh and Israel based on To­ rah. That is the basis for life in the inherited land. These eight transition sections guide us to themes in Joshua. Taken together, they represent a call to unity among God’s people in following God’s Torah to be faithful members of God’s covenant, resisting all temptations to follow other gods, and depending on G od to complete the unfinished task through new leaders like Joshua. Meanwhile, God’s people rest from battle, enjoying life in the land God has faithfully given in fulfillment o f all his promises. God’s faithfulness stands proven in history. The future will render a verdict on Israel’s faithfulness. Stem , concluding warnings in the book of Joshua caution the reader not to be too optim istic concerning Israel’s faithfulness or concerning God’s leniency with an unfaithful people.

Larger literary context A few general and quite apparent observations would be appropriate. The book of Joshua builds strongly on the foundation of Deuteronomy, a foundation based on a covenant structure of faithfulness to Torah centered in the D ecalog (D eut 5 ). Deuteronomy looks for one people to serve one G od at one sanctuary or face the covenant curses. Such service is a service of love of God and devotion to his word.3 Introduction

19

Judges follows Joshua and provides the reverse side of life. A s Joshua is the biography of a faithful leader in the shadow of Moses, so Judges is the biography of a faithless nation in the shadow of their sin because they lack faithful leadership and need a king.4 First Samuel then shows G od providing a king for his people; but the very first king foreshadows the history of kingship, being more willing to meet immediate needs with human actions than to meditate on Torah, understand God, and wait for his actions. The failed leadership o f Saul contrasts with the pious leadership examples o f Samuel before G od and David waiting to come after him.5Second Samuel features God’s covenant king for His covenant people. Here is the beginning o f what Joshua could not provide—permanent leadership for G od’s people. Second Samuel gives for David what the book of Joshua did not give for Joshua—characterization. Precisely, that characterization separates David from Joshua, for it shows the weakness and sin o f David, something never seen in Joshua.6 Joshua thus stands as the model for leadership in Israel, while David stands as the human example o f leadership— strongly committed to Yahweh, yet fully involved in the world and its strong temptations. Here another nuance of leadership theology appears. Leadership is not condemned to destruction for occasional unfaithfulness. Joshua 24 had already noted the impossibility o f total faithfulness. Rather, the condemnation o f leadership comes only in Kings. First and Second Kings show the demise o f united Israel and the destruction of the two separated kingdoms.7 Such destruc­ tion is not explained in terms of warfare and political/military strength. Destruction is explained in terms o f leadership un­ faithful to G od’s Torah. The precedent set by Joshua and by David was not enough. The covenant warnings of Deuteronomy and o f Joshua 23-24 faded into ancient tradition which mod­ em kings refused to believe. Saul’s course of reliance on human strategy and the obvious need for strong actions in the face of crisis became the model for kingship in Israel and in Judah.

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The example o f Canaan and Phoenicia depending on various gods for various actions replaced the demand for a unified people at a unified worship place worshiping and trusting one God. This short rehearsal o f themes from Deuteronomy, Judges, Samuel, and Kings shows the themes isolated in Joshua repre­ sent themes of the larger context Deuteronomy through Kings centers on leadership of the one people o f G od seeking to pro­ vide rest in the land through covenant faithfulness to the one God, a faithfulness seen in obedience to Torah. The slow train named Method has reached its destination. The type of literature has raised LEADERSHIP as the pervad­ ing theme o f Joshua. Structure has revealed leadership after Moses, rest from battle, life in the land, justice, pure worship, divine promise, and covenant as central themes. Vocabulary has pointed out leadership, land, law, loyalty, and Lord as organizing themes around which m ajor vocabulary items can be studied. The transition statements focus on leadership, unity, covenant, life in the land, and the call for faithfulness to match God’s faithfulness. We will use the organizing categories of the vocabulary sec­ tion as the organizing principle for the work that follows and will seek to study the themes of Joshua under those categories. These will all point us to one final question, the question we consider key to Joshua and to Old Testament theology as a whole, namely: Who are the people of God? We will address that question in a concluding epilog.

Introduction

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1 LEADERSHIP OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD

The biography of Joshua answers the basic question: W hat is the leader of G od’s people like? The word leader does not occur. No one narrative or transition section explicitly describes leadership. The central leader, Joshua, occupies no office known by later Israel. Still, literary type and structure show that lead­ ership is the overarching theme of the book of Joshua. Study of the larger literary context only fortifies this conclusion. To study leadership is to study the person of Joshua, the demands placed on him, his actions, and his titles.

Moses, the shadow behind Israel's leaders Leadership in the book of Joshua begins with Moses, not Joshua. Joshua is only the official or minister of Moses (1:1). He is not a slave or servant. He is a youthful page freely serving his master.8 As such, Joshua had made many youthful mistakes. He went up the holy mountain with Moses (Exod 24:13). Coming down, Joshua reported to Moses that he heard the sound of war in the Israelite camp below (Exod 32:17), but Moses corrects his impression, noting that it was the sound of singing (v 18). 23

Then in the wilderness God sent his Spirit upon the elders near the Tent of M eeting, even two who stayed in the camp rather than go to the tent received the Spirit. Joshua protested, asking Moses to make them quit prophesying (Num 11:28), apparently an attem pt to protect M oses’ exclusive position. Moses corrected him, expressing his desire that all God’s people could be prophets. He may also have been protecting the Tent o f meeting as the place of revelation, since he apparently had a permanent position there (Exod 32:11). Joshua 1 marked the transition point in Joshua’s life and ministry. He moved from minister of Moses to the installed leader o f God’s people. Youthful mistakes o f the past did not matter. It was time to forsake such defensive behavior and as­ sume responsibility. Assuming leadership did not mean moving out of the shadow o f Moses, however. Rather, for Joshua, it meant moving further into that shadow. Death did not remove Moses from the Israelite scene. Death only moved Moses’ mode o f leadership from m ortal human leader to eternal director through the Word, the inspired Torah he left behind. Every leader who came after Joshua would face the same situation. Leadership in Israel meant fo llowship o f the Torah of Moses. Joshua’s first instructions from God did not concern military strategy; they concerned the leader’s guidebook (1:7-8). Leadership in Israel m eant devoted study o f G od’s Word (compare Deuteronomy 17:18-20.) Such study was not to be in crisis, or of an intermittent nature. It was to be daily study. Only a leader devoted to Torah study could demand such study from the people. Only such a devoted leader could meet the criteria of Torah God uses to judge leaders (compare 2 Kings 17:34-40). Torah sparked renewal and hope for G od’s leader (compare 2 Kings 22-23). Leadership for God’s people is thus tied tightly to Torah, the Law of Moses. To be a leader is to be a follower of Moses and his Torah. The call to leadership was not a call to rebellion, to military coup, to the establishment of one’s personal style and image. The 24

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call to leadership was a call to more o f the same, to following the tradition, to staying on Torah’s path without any deviation. The result would be courage, conviction, prudence, prosperity, and success—for devotion of Torah guaranteed the presence of God. Leadership in the shadow of Moses set the model for servantleadership, for Moses was the “servant o f Yahweh” (Josh 1:1). This tide placed Moses in a different category than Joshua. Joshua’s title related him to Moses. He was Moses’ official or minister (Josh 1:1). Moses’ title related him to Yahweh as his servant. The title is not unique to the book o f Joshua. Moses humbly, reverently appropriated the title to himself in seeking to de­ cline God’s call to leadership (Exod 4:10). In so doing he iden­ tified him self with a slave bought with money (Exod 13:3,14). The Exodus event clim axed with Israel recognizing that Moses was Yahweh’s servant so that the people put their trust in him and in Yahweh (Exod 14:31). In so doing they used “servant” in an entirely different sense. “Servant” in this context meant a high government official or advisor to the king. The Hebrew term could be applied to Pharaoh’s officials (Exod 5:15— 16; 7:20; 9:20 and others). In his own eyes the meek Moses kneeled as God’s slave. In the eyes o f Israel he stood tall, earning their complete trust as Yahweh’s highest representative. For the inspired writers of the Old Testament, that was Moses’ style o f leadership, a style seldom transferred or attributed to others. Moses was the one leader remembered consistently as the servant o f Yahweh (Josh 1:1-2, 7, 13-14; 8:31, 33; 9:24; 11:12, 15; 12:6; 13:8; 14:7; 18:7; 22:2, 4 -5; compare 1 Kings 8:53,56; 2 Kings 18:12; 21:8). Even Israel’s latest literature named Moses as Yahweh’s ser­ vant (Neh 1:7-8; 2 Chron 1:3; 24:6; Mal 3:22). Moses was the esteemed servant without parallel. His leadership had freed Is­ rael from slavery and established the nation. The Torah he gave led Israel throughout its history, no matter what its political status or organization. His Torah explained Israel’s destruction and loss of national power. For Israel, to speak of the servant of Leadership o f the People o f G od

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Yahweh was to speak of Moses. Prophets could be called “ser­ vant of Yahweh” (1 Kings 14:18; 2 Kings 17:13). Kings, especially David, could be called God’s servant (2 Sam 3:18; 7:8). Because o f David, his servant, G od promised to preserve his people and kingdom (1 Kings 11:13; 2 Kings 19:34). Because the people forgot the Torah of Moses, G od’s servant, David’s political kingdom disappeared from history (2 Kings 21:8-15; compare 23:25-28). The prophet proclaimed hope for a new servant, a humble, suffering servant who would be a mediator for the people with God (Isa 53), imagery certainly pointing forward to Jesus of Nazareth, but imagery drawn partly from the history of Moses, the servant of Yahweh. The shadow of Moses thus extended beyond his death (Deut 34:5) over the nation’s entire history. The first Israelite leader to work in that shadow was Joshua. He shared with Moses the self-identity o f slave o f Yahweh, pleading for Yahweh’s mercy (Josh 5:14). Such prayer came to characterize Israel’s prayer tradition (Pss 86:2; 116:16; 123:2). However, never in his lifetime does the biblical record indicate that Joshua earned the respectful title, “servant of Yahweh.” He constantly stood in the shadow o f Moses, the servant of Yahweh, studying the Torah of Moses and fulfilling the com­ mands and promises of Moses. Finally, Joshua obtained the title, “servant of Yahweh”— at his death (Josh 24:29). In life he served as the minister of Moses. In death he became the servant of Yahweh. Thus he finally received that title one could not confer upon oneself except as a title of humility in prayer. The title was not basically a kingly title, used to exercise rule and authority over others, as it could easily become in a royal court. Rather, “servant of Yahweh” was a title conferred on a leader by the followers who recognized in the leader perfect obedience to Yahweh. For Israel, of course, perfect obedience to Yahweh meant perfect obedience to the Torah of Moses. God’s first commission to Joshua concerned dedication to the Torah of Moses (1:7-9). That task, received

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at Moses’ death, Joshua faithfully pursued and kept until his own death. Thus he became known as “servant of Yahweh.” A sad note appears at this point. Joshua willingly served in Moses’ shadow. A t Joshua’s death the nation stepped out of that shadow. N o one came forward to serve in the shadow of Joshua, much less in the shadow of Moses. Joshua left an impact on the people he led. “Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who extended beyond Joshua’s time and who knew all the work of Yahweh which he did for Israel” (24:31). Joshua did not leave a new leader behind as had Moses. “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord, nor yet the work He had done for Israel” (Judg 2:10 n a s b ) . Disregard for the shadow of Moses dominated a whole era of Israel’s history, an era summarized as “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes (Judg 21:25 n a s b ) . A s leader, Joshua failed at one point. Leadership should produce leaders for the next generation. Joshua dedicated him­ self to the Torah of Moses but did not train someone else to do the same. Thus his leadership died out at his death. A t many points Joshua represented the supreme example of leadership in the shadow of Moses. He maintained an effective chain of command. He began by working through the national officials (1:10; 3:2). He concluded his ministry by summoning the officials at many levels of authority for final instructions and encouragement (Josh 23:2; compare 8:33). Joshua reminded them of God’s history with them and then concluded a covenant with them (ch 24). He left behind elders who effectively led the people (24:31). Joshua not only worked with the chain o f command to communicate God’s will to the people. He also cooperated with the priests God had set up to lead in the religious side of Israel’s life. Joshua led the priests to assume prominent leadership roles at the Jordan miracle (chs 3-4) and in the conquest of Canaan (ch 6). Thus Joshua maintained the social order Moses had set Leadership o f the People o f God

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up, giving the priests custody of the ark o f the covenant. Joshua acknowledged other roles of the priests. C hief Priest Eleazar played a prominent role in allotting the land (14:1; 17:4; 19:51; 21:1). Thus his burial is noted as parallel to that of Joshua (24:33). Joshua worked not only with his compatriot Eleazar but also with the younger Phinehas (22:13), letting the young priest settle the unity-threatening religious dispute with his own genera­ tion rather than taking matters in his own hands. Joshua thus knew how to share leadership with authorized religious officials. He also knew how to share leadership with representatives of the people. He cooperated with the “heads of the fathers o f the tribes of the sons of Israel” (14:1) in distributing the land. These are apparently the same people as the “chiefs” o f 17:4. When a particular tribe had trouble, its leaders could readily approach Joshua and the other leaders, challenging Joshua and his chain of command to do what Moses had commanded (21:1). In a dif­ ferent approach, a leadership team from the tribes worked with the priest to prevent a split among the tribes (22:14, 21,30-31). Joshua, then, did not perform as a one-man show. He studied Moses’ Torah, used Moses’ organization, and successfully led the people with the help of various levels of leadership among the people.

Leadership pointing to the past Joshua tried to help future generations. He left memorials to teach them the way o f Yahweh. Israel’s landscapes lay strewn with items pointing the people o f God to their past history with Yahweh. An Israelite tourist guide could easily follow Joshua’s tracks, stopping to explain the lessons from Joshua’s experiences with God. Parents had reason to remember Joshua as they took children to worship or on pilgrimage. Joshua had left behind a program to teach young children their nation’s history with God. Israel had difficulty forgetting Joshua’s story, which was actually God’s story; for throughout the land lay markers of the past calling forth faith in the future. We can hear the tour leader now: 28

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“Here at Gilgal we see twelve stones standing tall. They came from the River Jordan, where the faithful priests stood as they held the ark o f the covenant high, marking the dry land God had created through the flooding Jordan. These stones call forth the praise o f G od from his people. He made it possible for us to cross the Jordan and have a homeland. The story of that crossing reminds us o f another. Remember the other time God led his people through the currents? O f course, in similar fashion to the Jordan crossing, Israel had crossed the dry sea out o f the land of Egypt, fleeing from slavery (Josh 4 :9 ,2 2 -2 3 ). Israel has no excuse for forgetting God. These stones remind us; indeed, they call the whole earth to know ‘the hand o f Yahweh that it is strong in order that you may have respectful awe before Yahweh all the days’ (2:24). “Even the name of Israel’s first camp in the promised land tells us a story. Here we stand on Gibeath-haaralotha, or as we say today, ‘the hill of foreskins.’ Joshua led Israel to identify themselves anew as the obedient people of God. He directed a ritual in which all eligible males were circumcised, a ritual Israel had neglected during the wilderness wanderings. This neglect, along with their slavery in Egypt, made Israel a reproach in God’s eyes and in the eyes of their neighbors. Joshua, the man of Moses’ Torah, rolled away that reproach. Thus he could call the first camp site— here at ‘the hill o f foreskins’— G ilgal, meaning ‘rolled away’ (5:9). This day we come to G ilgal and remember the God who rolls away our shame as we obediently serve him. “Joshua’s memorials point us to the bad times as well as the good,” continues our guide. “Come with me to the Valley of Achor, or, more appropriately, the Valley of Aching (7:24). Look at this great pile of stones. It reminds us of Israel’s aching, and especially of the aching of the family of Achan. You know the story. Achan refused to obey G od’s command. He took a robe and some gold and silver from the war loot after the vic­ torious battle of Jericho. In so doing, he caused Israel to lose the first battle of A i. God called on Joshua to exercise leadership Leadership o f the People o f God

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in the realm of justice as well as in war. Through prayer and ritual Joshua followed God’s instructions, found the guilty man, and led Israel to execute proper punishment. These memorial stones at Achor point us to obey God and avoid the ache of his punishment. “Nearby, we see another heap of ruins. This is A i, aptly named for our day, since A i means, ‘The Ruin.’ Having resolved the case of Achan’s aching, Joshua led Israel to capture and destroy A i. The heap of ruins here shows us the reward God’s people reap as they follow God’s plans for life (8:28). A second heap stands here at A i. It is a burial heap. Joshua sentenced the king of A i to the humiliating death by hanging, then fol­ lowed Moses’ Torah (Deut 21:22-23) by removing the body at sunset and burying it. This heap of stones marks A i’s city gate and the final resting place for A i’s king, who dared oppose God and his people (8:29). “Even as God’s people go to worship, we find a memorial from Joshua. We notice servants drawing water from the wells and cutting wood to prepare for our sacrifices. These are the G ibeonites, who tricked Israel into signing a peace treaty. Joshua’s leadership turned even a treacherous peace treaty with foreign enemies into an advantage for God’s people. The trickery of Gibeon produced needed laborers for God’s worship in the place God chose (9:27). “Our tour of Israel takes us next to Makkedah,” asserts our guide. “Here we see the famous cave. You cannot enter the cave, however. Joshua led the people to close up the cave’s mouth with large stones, for the cave is the burial place for the five southern kings who formed a coalition against Joshua. Again, Joshua humiliated them, then followed Moses’ Law in taking their bodies down from the tree and burying them in this cave before sunset (10:27). G od’s opponents cannot hide. No cave is too deep or dark for God and his people to discover its occupants. Look at the cave. Remember the power of God over any enemies who threaten you. 30

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“Joshua’s memorials do not always point us to the dead. Liv­ ing memorials he left behind point us to the task that lies ahead. Joshua did not defeat all the people occupying the promised land. Some continue to live among us and threaten our exist­ ence (13:13; 15:63; 16:10). Peoples and land remain to be conquered before God’s plan and our mission are accomplished. “Joshua’s leadership, like that of all mortals, had its limits. Old age (13:1; 23:1) caught up even with him. He had to leave part of the task to future generations (compare Judg 1:1-36; 2:1-5,20-23; 3:1-4). “Such generations had a role model to follow. Joshua was not the only faithful leader of his day. Caleb, his faithful cohort among Israel’s original spies (Num 13:6), remained faithful and illustrated how to take the land assigned the tribes (Josh 14:6-15). Every time we go down to Hebron, we remember the faithful example of Caleb and the task that still remains (compare Judg 1:9-20). “We need to turn our attention to one other place— Shechem. Here we find, perhaps, Joshua’s most important me­ morials. Here stands an altar Joshua built. On its stones we see copies of Moses’ Torah. We remember how Joshua taught Israel the Torah, calling both blessing and cursing upon them as Moses had taught (Josh 8:30-35; compare Deut 27). Joshua thus left us the practice of gathering all Israel together to hear G od’s Torah and to commit ourselves to that Torah. Joshua did more than that. A t the end of his days he gathered us once more to Shechem and led us to commit ourselves to G od’s covenant. He wrote down our commitment in the Torah and set up a stone of witness. Every time we see the altar at Shechem and the memorial stone here, we recall our commitment. We cannot plead ignorance. We have pledged to obey God. When, instead, we deny him, then these memorials from Joshua witness against us and call us back to our commitment. “This is a good note on which to conclude our tour of Joshua’s memorials scattered for us over the promised land he led us to Leadership o f the People o f God

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occupy. I hope you have learned the lesson o f past memorials. Joshua’s leadership and that o f all good leaders is not limited to the problems o f the present. Joshua, the good leader, looked forward and set up concrete memorials to let God’s people rememher many things, namely, what G od had done; what happened to those who opposed God; the example o f faithful heroes of the past; the task that remained unfinished; and the commit­ ment to G od and to his covenant that should never die.” [Methodobgical note: We have used the book’s expression “until this day” to follow Joshua’s leadership in establishing memorials. We have not exhausted every use o f the expression, for the phrase does not always point to memorials present at the time o f the author o f the book o f Joshua. O n some occa­ sions the expression “until this day” pointed to Joshua’ day and realities which did not point to concrete memorials beyond that day. (See Joshua 22:3,17; 23:8-9.)]

Leadership through action Joshua stepped from the shadow of Moses to lead by example. Both God and the eastern tribes challenged him to action, ac­ tion characterized by “conviction and courage” (1 :6 ,1 8 ). The remainder o f the book shows that Joshua accepted the chal­ lenge. He showed conviction in his constant attention to Moses’ Torah, in his handling the case o f Achan’s rebellion (ch 7), and in his final speech and covenant mediation. Only a person of conviction could face Israel with such de­ mands. Only a person of conviction could interpret Israel’s past as a past o f false gods, gods o f the fathers beyond the river and in Egypt (24:15-16). Only a person of conviction could know the holy jealousy of God so well that he could bluntly tell Israel, “You are not able to serve Yahweh, because a holy G od is he, a jealous deity is he, one who will not forgive your sins and transgressions.” (24:19) 32

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Joshua strode forth in action because he had conviction about the nature o f G od and the history o f his people. Only a person o f such conviction can lead G od’s people. The next generation lost its convictions, dabbled a bit with each god they encountered, faced G od’s judgment, and looked for a leader with conviction to lead them back to their covenant commitment with G od (book of Judges). Joshua showed not only conviction but also courage in leading G od’s people. His courage enabled Joshua to risk look­ ing foolish in order to carry out G od’s commission and guide the people into fulfillment of G od’s promises. Courage called the east Jordan tribes to forsake the comfort o f territory won and homes settled to show their loyalty and unity with the other tribes (chapter 1). Courage challenged purity-conscious priests to step into the flooding Jordan River carrying the precious A rk of the Covenant. Courage was required from grown men, faced with the need to endure circumcision to symbolize their commitment to G od (chapter 5). Courage called the priests to circle a fortified enemy city daily, blowing trumpets against the world’s oldest habitation and expecting the walls to fall (chapter 6). Courage led people into battle. Courage demanded people divide the land according to G od’s lots rather than according to the strength and pressures individual tribes might exert. Courage allotted some o f the best land to levitical priests to fulfill G od’s teaching (chapter 21). Leadership is going down G od’s path with conviction and courage. Such conviction and courage come because the leader knows G od’s presence, the presence that was with Moses (1 :6 ,1 8 ). In summary, leadership normally includes planning: setting goals; determining strategy to achieve the goals; allotting re­ sources in ways that will set priorities to achieve the goals. Here it appears that Joshua had a definite advantage. God had already set the goals. In most cases he determined the strategy for each action. He promised the necessary resources. O n occasion, as Leadership o f the People o f God

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with the battle strategy o f A i, Joshua set up some strategy, but more often God provided the battle plans. Joshua simply had to have the faith to execute G od’s plans. Joshua’s leadership operated in the shadow o f M oses. It worked through tribal, national, and priestly organizations. It sought to leave memorials to provide leadership and courage for God’s people far beyond Joshua’s lifetime. Joshua’s leadership worked to accomplish the tasks God had set out and to fulfill commands o f the Torah of Moses. It unified the tribes in taking the land, distributing the land, and in committing themselves to G od’s covenant. But Joshua’s leadership failed in one crucial point. It did not train leadership for the future, leadership which could maintain the unity of the people and continue the loyal commitment to G od’s covenant. Still the verdict on Joshua is unanimous. He was great. God made him great (3 :7 ), a greatness com parable only to the greatness o f Moses (4:14). W hat one element characterized that greatness? People knew God was with Joshua as the Lord had been with Moses (3:7; compare 1:5; 6:27). Human greatness rests on divine presence. The greatest office a human can occupy is that of “servant o f Yahweh.”

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JOSHUA

2 THE LAND GOD GAVE

Leadership for Joshua had one focus: gaining the promised land for God’s people. But what, in the book of Joshua, is sig­ nificant about this land? It is land which must be conquered, possessed, and distributed. It is also land not possessed, land that remains. Before all this, it is land that has been promised, is being given, and should be inherited. It is land under G od’s holy ban. The topic of land thus reveals itself as a theme with complexity, a theme viewed within the book from different perspectives. To understand it in all its complexity, we must examine land from each of these perspectives.

Land as gift Above all else in the book of Joshua, the land is a gift, “the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel” (1:2). This can be stated both with a participle indicating present action (1:2) and with a Hebrew perfect tense indicating past action (1:3). Even before Israel crossed the Jordan, the land was theirs. God is giving and had given it to them. The gift is assured. No questions remained. N o room for doubt was left. 35

Still, the gift did not come without action. Israel had to receive the gift. Israel had to follow God’s instructions, cross the Jordan, and possess the land (1:11). G od had not made an idealistic gift without roots in reality. G od had made a gift; he expected it to have concrete form. He had a gift. He wanted his people to own and control that gift. Israel, about to cross the Jordan, had reason to believe they could possess the gift. Part of Israel had already possessed their gift, their land (1:13-15). Land in Joshua thus has two parts— land possessed east o f the Jordan and land to be possessed west o f the Jordan. Both parts were G od’s gift to his people; both parts were the concern of all Israel. The part that had possessed the gift was not relieved of responsibility. That part must co­ operate until all the land was possessed. This land as gift was not just a theological ideal Israel had dreamed up. It was a reality the occupants of the land recog­ nized (2:9). The gossip network worked in Canaan to let the peoples west of the Jordan know precisely what was happening east of the Jordan. For them it was obvious that ordinary human power could not have accomplished what Israel had accom­ plished. Yahweh had acted in Egypt and beyond the Jordan. Now he was poised to act in Jericho. Who knew that better than a Canaanite prostitute who greeted Jericho’s tourists? Rahab, the prostitute, knew how her people reacted to the news: courage disappeared, replaced by dread and fear (2:9,11; compare 2:24; 5:1). They waited fear­ fully for Yahweh to cause Israel to possess what he had given. Israel, too, knew Yahweh would let them possess the gift. Israel’s representatives bargained with the prostitute on that basis (2:14) and testified to Joshua o f God’s gift, a testimony based on their experience with the faithful prostitute (2:24). They had more than that one experience on which to base their confidence in Yahweh’s gift. Israel’s history rested on the promise of the land to Abraham (G en 12:7) and his descendants (Exod 6:4). Joshua’s commission rested on that promise (Josh 1:6), 36

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but no generation could rest assured they would see the promise fulfilled. The rebellious wilderness generation had heard Yahweh swear they would not see the land (5:6). Even Joshua’s generation, commissioned to fulfill the prom­ ise, could not idly anticipate winning every city. Yahweh could give an unfaithful people into the hands o f the enemy (7:7). Normally before each battle, Israel heard Yahweh’s specific promise to give the enemy into Israel’s hand (6 :2 ,1 6 ; 8 :7 ,1 8 ; 10:8, 19; 11:6). Typically, also, Yahweh gave each enemy into Israel’s hands (20:30, 32; 11:8). So under Joshua’s leadership, his generation o f Israelites saw the promise to Abraham become reality (21:43). Israel had received the gift of the land. The gift o f the land theme thus displays part of its complex­ ity. We must ask the question: When does God give the enemy and the land into Israel’s hand, and when does he give Israel into the enemy’s hand? Joshua phrased the question in a drastic form— “Alas, O Lord Yahweh, why have you so certainly caused this people to pass over the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorites to bring about our destruction? If only we had been content to live beyond Jordan” (7:7). Threat to the gift brings an even greater threat, one to the integrity o f God; for if Israel’s name is cut off from the earth, “then what will you do for your great name?” (7:9b). Giving the land is thus more than simple military action with assured results. Giving the land is the way God chose to establish both his and his people’s reputation in the world. Even such great stakes did not guarantee immediate success. G od had shown patience in working and waiting with the wilderness generation. He was willing to show the same patience and make the same demands on the conquest generation. He could explain their defeat: “Israel has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant which I commanded them” (7:11). Only a faithful covenant people could expect to receive the gift of the land. The history of promise never made the gift au­ tomatic for a particular generation. The gift continued to be The Land God G ave

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reserved for a people o f covenant, not for a people craving ex­ otic goods and wealth. The land as gift changed meaning at one specific moment in history. A promise became reality. A hope became a posses­ sion. A theological teaching became a personal testimony to a living experience. When this happened, the mode of commu­ nication also changed. Now one could say, “their inheritance which Moses had given to them beyond the Jordan eastward” (13:8), or they could refer to Joshua giving land to C aleb (14:13), and even to the sons of Israel giving land to Joshua (19:49-50). The gift of land could now be located in time, in space, and by human agency. Now the gift had concrete boundaries encompassing specific cities. Now one could know if the entire gift had been received or if more should be expected. One could know that “there remains a great amount o f land to possess” (13:1) and could explicitly describe the boundaries of the remaining land (13:2-6). Land as gift was not simply a mass of community property. The gift had specific recipients. Moses gave land to each tribe east o f the Jordan “for their clans” (13:15, 24, 29). Land was not up for grabs to the strongest military leaders, the richest bidder, or the most clever political opportunist. Land was for each clan among God’s people. Land was not a human property available to be awarded as prizes for service to the country and its leader. Land was God’s gift to the families of his people to be used to support the family and to unite the tribe. This becomes evident with the one tribe that did not par­ ticipate in the gift of the land. Levi had been set aside for G od’s service (Num 18:20; Deut 18:1-2). N o member of the tribe needed farm lands to work. They did need cities in which they could live among the people as they served God and his worship place. The Levites received no gift of land (Josh 13:14,33; 14:3— 4; 18:7). They received places to dwell with enough land for their cattle to graze (ch 21). Such cattle would provide food, clothing, and— especially— animals for sacrifice. 38

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Levites lived in the cities. They did not exercise political control, nor did they own the sown land where farmers grew crops (21:12). G ift of land thus suited the needs of each of the tribes. This did not mean each tribe got all it wanted (17:14). It also did not mean all the land was given without human labor. Israel had to fight for its land. If the Joseph tribes wanted a larger gift, they had to fulfill God’s commission to cut down the forests and prepare the land for agricultural use (17:15-18). Note that in clearing the land they faced strong opposition. They had to clear the land in faith that God would give it to them by defeating their enemies. G ift of land had to be received in faith that the God who promised was strong enough to deliver on his promises. G ift fulfilled promise (21:43). It also symbolized threat. G ift was not guaranteed eternally. Israel could forfeit the gift. Trust in nations and their gods rather than trust in Yahweh threatened disaster. A n unfaithful Israel would “wander away lost off this good land which Yahweh, your God, has given to you” (23:13b). The God who had proved faithful to his words of promise would also prove faithful to his words of threat (23:14-15). Faithless Israel faced destruction (23:15). Yahweh remained sovereign even over His past promises and past actions. He controlled all land. He had given Mount Seir to Esau and the Edomites while letting his people go down and eventually endure slavery in Egypt (24:4). He could take the land he had given Israel and give it to someone else. Israel had not earned the land nor constructed its material improvements (24:13). The land as gift stood as symbol calling for faithful service to the Giver of the land (24:13-18). Land was tied to covenant. Land belonged to covenant people and only to cov­ enant people. Otherwise, the people wandered off the land into Exile, waiting for G od’s next move without any grounds to command how, when, or if God would act. Only the future history of Israel and the future words and acts of God would determine if the gift of land would remain in Israel’s hands. The Land. God Gave

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Land as possession Land as gift had to become land as possession. Joshua’s first command to the people said, “Prepare provisions for yourselves, because within three days you (pl) will be crossing over this Jordan to enter in order to possess the land which Yahweh your G od is giving you to possess it” (1:11). Scholars have argued long and hard about a supposed basic meaning of the Hebrew term yarash (see W BC 7:17). Does M icah 6:15 prove its meaning is “to tread upon?” Do Genesis 15:3-4 and Jeremiah 49:1-2 show that “inherit” was the origi­ nal emphasis? Or do the numerous appearances in Deuteronomy point to a technical military term? We may never know if a single meaning existed in the mind of any Hebrew speaker or what that meaning might have been. The word has developed a complexity of meaning beyond any simple English word and beyond any simple definition. For our purposes, a traditional use can be shown to lie behind yarash in the book of Joshua. This use appears in the blessing Rebekah received from her family that her descendants would “possess the gate of those who hate them” (G en 24:60). Study of Deuteronomy (2 :1 2 ,2 1 -2 2 ,2 4 ,3 1 ; 4:47; 6:18) confirms this meaning; compare further Numbers 13:30; 21:24,32,35; 33:53. To “possess” includes “to dispossess.” It involves taking land by force from someone who occupies the land. It means winning the right to transfer the title o f the land from the defeated to the victor. In other contexts, yarash may mean something else, but in the context o f conquest in Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua, yarash means “dispossess and take over.” This is the way G od chose to complete the link between promise to patriarch (G en 15:7) and life in the land (Josh 1:11; compare G en 22:17; 28:4; Num 33:53; Deut 1 :8 ,2 1 ,3 9 ; 3:12, 18, 20; 31:3). G od’s gift o f land thus involved human partici­ pation in battle. In Joshua 3:10 Joshua could use a form of yarash to say Israel’s G od would “drive out” or “dispossess” the long 40

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list o f peoples then inhabiting the land. “Dispossession” was G od’s activity as well as Israel’s. (Compare 8:7.) Possession of land involved all Israel. Moses gave the tribes east of the Jordan possession o f their land. T hat did not com­ plete their participation in land possession activities. They, too, had to cross the Jordan armed for battle to help the tribes west of the Jordan gain possession o f their land (1:14—15). Tribes having won their land were not free to exercise possession of that land until all the tribes could exercise land possession rights (22:4, 9; Hebrew achuzzah). God did not intend Israel to be a loosely related collection of fiercely independent tribes. He called the tribes o f Israel to gain their identity as part o f the one people of God, each acting on behalf o f the other. Israel’s G od even provided an option for his people east of the Jordan. If they thought their land was ritually impure be­ cause the chosen worship place was not in their territory, then they could move west o f the Jordan. G od would provide a pos­ session for them there. Trying to set up worship in opposition to Yahweh’s way was not the answer. Trusting him to provide them a possession in the “land o f the possession o f Yahweh” was (22:19; Hebrew achuzzah). After their series of military actions, Israel had destroyed the many city state kings of the land and possessed their land both east (1 2 :1 ,6 ) and west (12:7) o f the Jordan. G od had fulfilled his promise (11:23), but still “there remains a great amount of land to possess” (13:1). Possession o f the land was not only a past event. It was also a future goal. Joshua’s advanced age in­ terrupted the parade o f possession. So did the tribes’ failure or inability to dispossess some o f the native inhabitants (13:13; 15:63; 16:10; 17:12-13; compare 19:47). This left the rest o f the task to another generation, but the next generation did not fulfill the task. They could not blame Yahweh. He had “dispossessed” the nations (23:9; compare 21:43). He stopped only when Israel stuck with the nations rather than with Yahweh (23:8, 12-13). The blame lay with The Land G od G ave

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Israel. They lacked the committed leadership to accomplish the task. Only with David did the proper leadership in M oses' shadow come forth to com plete the task. Still, the divine promise stood: “I will dispossess them before the sons of Israel” (13:6; compare 23:5). The example o f Joshua’s generation also stood. As Caleb phrased it, “If, however, Yahweh be with me, then I will dispossess them, just as Yahweh spoke” (14:12; compare 15:14). Joshua’s challenge to his generation called succeeding generations to action: “How long will you prove yourselves to be lazy cowards in regard to entering to possess the land which Yahweh, the G od of your fathers, has given you?” (18:3).

Land as inheritance Yahweh gave Israel the land to possess as an inheritance from him. The image created here is significant. A n inheritance passes to a new generation at the death o f the patriarch. God was the father passing his inheritance on to his sons. This in­ heritance proves unique. The Father did not die, nor did the sons get sovereign, everlasting control of the inheritance. Here we see the limits o f human language used to symbolize and communicate truths about the reality o f human relationships with God. G od the Father wanted to share with his children from his “estate.” He willingly gave them the land he controlled. He let them control his property. Why? Because He had prom­ ised the patriarchal fathers he would give them the inheritance (1:6). Right to possess an inherited homeland belonged to Israel by virtue of divine oath sworn to a previous generation, not by virtue of land laws they could enforce in human society. Israel’s inheritance remained an inheritance Yahweh had to give, one they had to (dis)possess. Interestingly, the term inheritance or homeland (Hebrew, nachalah) does not appear in the first half of the body of the book (chs 2-12). Rather, it becomes important only after the con­ quest is complete and the distribution of the land begins. God 42

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commanded Joshua to distribute the land as an inheritance, even the uncontrolled, unconquered land that remained (13:6). The tribes east of the Jordan had their inheritance from Moses (13:8). The service of God in making sacrifices for him consti­ tuted the Levites’ inheritance (13:14, 33). N o territory, only cities and pastures, formed their inheritance (ch 21). Joshua’s task was to define the inheritance of the nine and a half tribes (13:7). He accomplished this in chapters 14-19, with the help of Eleazar and his lot (14:1-2). Caleb’s inheritance was unique, sworn to him “forever” because “you remained totally loyal to Yahweh, my God” (14:9). Inheritance was tied so closely to the clan or family that daughters received inheritance to protect family claims when no sons were available to claim the inheritance (17:4-6). The inheritance involved concrete boundaries that could be surveyed and written up (18:4). The ultimate action for Joshua was to let the people go, each clan to its inheritance (24:28). Gift pointed back to the promise God made to the patriarchs. Possession pointed to present ownership wrested from previous inhabitants. Inheritance pointed to claims for the future. N o government or private action seeking to assure ownership of the clan’s posses­ sion would ever be valid, for inheritance rights came from God, not from human agencies. (Compare 1 Kings 21:3.)

Land by lot Divine inheritance easily left room for human manipulation. A tribe could claim its territory was too small (17:14). Or a tribal territory might be too large (19:9). Past promises had to be fulfilled (14:9), and each family’s claims had to be considered (17:3-6). How could humans make decisions with divine author­ ity? How could they avoid the dangers of human manipulation? G od had the answer. Joshua did not make decisions alone. He had a selected commission with representatives from each tribe survey the land and divide it into appropriate portions. Then he The Land God G ave

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relied upon Eleazar the priest to symbolize God’s presence in the activity. The decision itself as to which tribe got which territory be­ came quite “mechanical.” The lot decided. This followed God’s instructions through Moses (Num 26:52-56; 33:54). The lots were apparently stone objects used to gain impartial decisions, decisions usually interpreted as coming from G od (Prov 16:33). Casting lots was often connected with the high priest (Lev 16:8), but pagan sailors also cast lots (Jon 1:7). We would expect Eleazar to be present to cast the lots for Joshua. Such expectations ap­ pear to be confirmed, since the lots were cast in Shiloh at the tent of meeting (18:1; 19:51). Still, the text surprises us. Usually no actor is named. Again, we would surmise that the passive constructions favor divine action by the divine represen­ tative— the priest. One text names the thrower o f the lots: “Joshua threw the lots for them in Shiloh before Yahweh” (18:10; compare v 6). Israel did not have to fear human manipulation o f land claims as the tribes received their inheritances. Human manipulation disappeared because “mechanical” lots were used to show God’s will as Moses commanded and because Joshua, the great, re­ spected leader in Moses’ shadow, threw the lots. The lot fell for each tribe and for each o f the Levitical families. The mysteri­ ous lot had faithfully determined Israel’s property claims once and for all. The lots’ results stood written in Joshua’s records. New inheritance claims came only within a clan or family. The family’s claims had been allotted. N o room for human manipula­ tion remained. Faithful Joshua had carried out the commands G od gave Moses. Israel could not ask for anything more.

Land under the ban Holy war9 is the major theme o f the book o f Joshua if one listens to most theological discussions of the book. Indeed, the systematic theologian may want to reflect on the function and 44

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meaning of the image o f God, the Warrior, in the book o f Joshua and elsewhere in Scripture. The theologian may seek to de­ scribe the adequacy o f that image of God in light o f the Bible’s em phasis on the Suffering Servant, the G ood Shepherd, the Prince o f Peace, and the crucified Messiah. In so doing the theologian must deal honestly with the structure and contents o f Joshua. The book o f Joshua does not explain the nature or reason for war. It does not reflect upon the image o f G od, the Warrior. Joshua assumes war as a human activity; indeed, as the human activity by which territory changes hands among nations. Joshua joins the members o f its environment in assuming that divine power and authority is revealed through human wars. For the book o f Joshua, the question never comes down to, “Would God fight?” or “Why would God fight?” or “Is it moral to speak of God participating in the bloodshed of war?" The book of Joshua focuses on God’s promise to the fathers. He bound him self to give his people the land. To give them the land, other people had to lose the land. Deuteronomy used this situation to warn Israel against human pride, explaining that the gift o f the land did not reflect Israel’s righteousness. It reflected the occupying nations’ wickedness (D eut 9 :4 -6 ; compare Lev 18:24-25,27-28; Deut 18:12). Judges explained the remaining nations as needed to teach untrained generations of Israelites the art o f warfare (3:1-2). Joshua does not explain why the nations lost the land. It simply underlines God’s positive note. God promised to give the land. He did give the land. Israel possessed and inherited the land. For Joshua, the question is how a land occupied by strong enemies with ancient claims can be transferred to a young, up­ start nation without experience or power. Joshua’s answer is quite simple. Israel possessed the land through the ban (Hebrew cherem). The ban represented God’s way of doing war to protect Israel from the temptation to worship other gods (Deut 7:1-4). The same treatment awaited an Israelite city which fell to the The Land. God Gave

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seduction of foreign gods (Deut 18:12-17). The ban was not Israel’s normal procedure in warfare. Normally, Israel would of­ fer a city the opportunity to surrender peacefully (Deut 20:10). A rebellious city faced the ban, but then only the males stood under the ban (Deut 20:13-14). The total ban was God’s spe­ cial warfare technique on the cities of the promised land to preserve the infant nation’s religious fidelity (Deut 20:16-18). The book of Joshua presumes the deuteronomic regulations for conquest and Deuteronomy’s stories of Moses applying the ban east of the Jordon (Josh 2:10; compare Deut 2:34; 3:6). Joshua centers attention on how Israel reacted to G od’s way of war. They could be self-seeking, wanting human glory rather than glory for God. They could be greedy, wanting war’s booty for themselves rather than giving it to God. They could be sly and conniving, pretending to follow G od’s instructions but doing so only halfway. The ban tested Israel’s faithfulness. How would they react? Jericho presented the first test (6:18). Would covetousness prove Israel’s downfall, so that “you would then set up the camp o f Israel for the ban” (6:18)? C an banning Israel be banned? Apparently not. “They set everything in the city under the ban, male and female, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkey were devoted to the sword” (6:21). “The city they burned with fire and everything which was in it. Only the silver and the gold and the utensils o f bronze and iron they gave to the treasury house o f Yahweh” (6:24). A las! That was not the whole story. “The sons o f Israel dis­ regarded the ban. Achan . . . took part of the banned goods. Then the anger o f Yahweh burned against the sons o f Israel” (7:1). A n Israel polluted by sin became overconfident, deciding its own strategy for battle (7:3). They met defeat. Why? “Israel has sinned. They have transgressed my covenant which I com­ manded them. They have taken from the banned goods, stolen, deceived, and put them among their own things. Unable to stand before their enemies, the sons o f Israel turn their backs 46

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to their enemies, because they have become banned goods. Never again will I be with you if you do not banish the banned goods from your midst” (7:11-12). The ban represented God’s covenant. Breaking the ban broke Israel’s covenant relationship with God. It transferred Israel from being God’s people to being God’s banned goods, from victors to vanquished, from sanctified to sinners. Refusal to carry out the ban was theft and deception. G od took the ban seriously, so seriously that only capital punishment could remove Israel from God’s list of banned goods (7:15). Israel learned the dramatic lesson. They put A i to the ban (8:26). Here, however, exceptions were made, “according to the word of Yahweh, which he commanded Joshua" (8:27). Rules for the ban were not absolute. G od’s direct command could modify ban laws as he chose. The ban was not an inflex­ ible system of an inflexible God. It was a divine test to determine the loyalty of a people as well as a divine method to deliver an uncontaminated gift of land to his people. It was also a method which cost the inhabitants of the land their confidence, bringing fear to their heads (2:10; 10:1-2). Thus Yahweh’s method became Joshua’s method (10:28,35, 37, 39). “Everything that breathed he put to the ban just as Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded” (10:40; compare 11:12, 21). The obedient Joshua found that God made his task easier. “For it had been Yahweh’s idea to harden their hearts to en­ counter Israel in battle in order that they could put them to the ban without their having opportunity to plead for mercy. Indeed, this was so that they might annihilate them just as Yahweh commanded Moses” (11:20). W hat then is the message of the ban for the book of Joshua? To protect Israel against the major sin o f idolatry, God commanded her not to show mercy to the enemy. To enable her to keep the commandment, God caused her enemies to fight her rather than seek mercy and peace. (W BC 7:130) The Land God Gave

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To forsake the ban was to forsake Yahweh. Israel did that once (7:1). It brought a lesson Israel never forgot (22:20). Israel possessed G od’s gift of land because God placed that land under the ban and because Israel under Joshua obediently carried out the ban. Ideally, Israel should have had the perfect situation—possession of a land with no one left to tempt them to forsake Yahweh. The ideal did not match reality. Reality described what remained: “a great amount of land to possess” (13:1). T hat meant a great number of foreign people with a great number of foreign gods giving Israel a great number of temptations. Israel faced the future with a great challenge. They faced it with the experience of G od’s ban, a ban which proved G od’s power to give Israel the land. They faced the challenge with G od’s promise to deliver that land to them. Seldom again would they put an enemy under the ban. Why? Because seldom again would they have a leader like Joshua. Instead, they had im patient leaders like Saul (1 Sam 15). Wars of conquest gradually turned to wars of defense against invaders, wars in which the laws of ban did not apply. God remained active in Israel’s battles on and off the battlefield, and G od’s inspired spokes­ men, looking to the future, prophesied continued protection of and a prosperous future for his people. Such language underlined G od’s active involvement in all aspects of the life of his people against any temptation to see G od as a passive observer o f hu­ man life. Such language also declared G od’s deliverance from trials and tribulations where only divine activity could explain such deliverance. Finally, such language testified to the sover­ eignty of G od over every type o f opponent which might claim power that belonged only to the one God. The ban meant no power could oppose Yahweh and emerge victorious.

The land of rest The ban was an intermediate word for Israel. It provided a means for an end. It was not the goal. The goal for Israel in the 48

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book of Joshua was rest (1:13,15). “Rest” says little to the English' speaking world, but for the Hebrew-speaking world, nuach brought great meaning. Rest was the spiritual and physical condition of the person God delivered from trouble (Ps 116:7). One of life’s great complaints was that I “have found no rest” (Jer 45:3 n a s b ). The Temple was God’s “resting place” (Ps 132:8 n a s b ). Rest was the needed change of routine from daily labor (Exod 20:12; Deut 5:14). The king’s word could be “comfort­ ing” (2 Sam 14:17 n a s b , with a form of the Hebrew nuach). “To rest” was to stand still and firm as did the feet of the priests in the Jordan River (Josh 3:13) or as did the stones set firmly in the ground (4:38). God’s goal for Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness was to give them rest (Exod 33:14), a theme repeated in Deuteronomy (3:20; 12:9-10; 25:19). Rest was a national goal, not a tribal or individual one. N o tribe or group o f tribes was to enjoy rest “until Yahweh gives rest to your brothers just as to you” (Josh 1:15). After helping the Israelites capture Jericho, Rahab and her clan received their reward—rest outside but near the camp of Israel (6:23). In 11:23 Israel had “rest” from war, but that rep­ resents another Hebrew word (shoqtah), emphasizing still, quiet, silent, inactivity (compare 14:15; Judg 3:11; 5:31; 8:28; P s 8 3 :l). “Rest” (nuach) means more. “Rest” was the fulfillment of God’s promise to the fathers with no enemies to threaten them (Josh 21:44). W hat G od promised Moses (Exod 33:14) and the East Jordan tribes (1:13-15; 22:4), he brought to pass in his­ tory. Rest is not a theoretical, spiritual state enjoyed by indi­ viduals; it is a “state o f the union” the nation enjoys. Rest is a lasting state (23:1) measured in months and years. Rest offers G od’s people a choice. They may choose to reject G od’s rest (see Isa 28:12). Thus Joshua concluded his ministry among Israel with a final sermon (ch 23) and a covenant cer­ emony (ch 24) calling on Israel to accept G od’s rest by obeying His word. But Israel refused to listen. Rest was lost and regained as an intermittent possession (Judges). The Land God Gave

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Finally, David led the nation to enjoy anew G od’s rest (2 Sam 7 :1,9-11). That prepared the way for God’s promise to “establish the throne o f his (Solom on’s) kingdom forever” (2 Sam 7:13 n a s b ; compare 1 Kings 8:56). But that did not solve the problem. The future was not secure. Moses had already painted the picture of a dreary future for a disobedient people: “the Lord will scatter you among all peoples. . . . and among those nations you shall find no rest (targia), and there shall be no resting place (manoach) for the sole of your foot” (Deut 28:65 n a s b ).

Rest can be a reality for Israel. It can be a goal lost and looked forward to again. It can even be a goal regained. W hatever stage Israel finds herself in, rest is a term with a concrete content. It represents freedom from enemy op­ pression and deadly war. It represents life lived with God by the gift of G od---- Rest, not war, is the ultimate goal of Israel---- B u t . . . rest could be won only through war (W BC 7:22). Thus, rest for God’s people in God’s land comes through G od’s ban. This is the theme of land in Joshua. Land is a distinct geo­ graphical location(l:4, chs 13-21) as well as a promise to the fathers, a gift from God, a possession for a specific generation of people, an inheritance pointing to long-term possession through the gen­ erations. Land does not come into possession through magical means. Land is claimed by other people. God’s people must wage war under God’s conditions to gain possession of the gift. But continuing war is not the goal. The ban is not the eternal prac­ tice. Even possession of the land is not the final purpose for the book of Joshua. The theme of land possession points to rest. God prepared land for his people in order to prepare them for His kind of life, the life of rest.

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3 THE LAW THAT LEADS GOD’S PEOPLE

G od’s people could possess G od’s gift o f land and enjoy rest because God had given them the way that leads to rest. That way is law or to use the more far-reaching Hebrew term—Torah.10 Torah ordinarily meant instruction, particularly instruction one received from a priest on religious questions (Jer 18:18; Ezek 7:26; Hos 4:6; Hag 2:11-13). In like manner, Isaiah’s teaching was Torah for his followers (Isa 8:16). Wise men produced Torah (Prov 13:14), a practice with roots stretching back into Israelite family life (Prov 1:8; 4 :4 ,1 1 ). Above all, Torah was instruction God gave his people for obedient living in commitment to him (G en 26:5). Israel was supposed to do everything possible to remember and testify to God’s Torah (Exod 13:9). God tested to see if they would be faithful to keep Torah (Exod 16:4), but Israel could not pass the test (Exod 16:28).

Torah defined Torah referred, then, to teaching, particularly God’s teach­ ing, received in several forms. Som e forms o f Torah came 51

through oral teaching. T hat instruction might be passed on by word o f mouth for generations. Some Torah might be written down. Normally, however, when Israel heard the word “Torah,” it signified one thing; the Torah of Moses. Moses’ chief task had been to teach Israel God’s way (Exod 18:20). His teaching soon appeared in written form. Some was written on stone tablets (Exod 24:12) and some in the book of the covenant which Moses read to Israel (Exod 24:7). Ultimately, Moses’ Torah became a large book filled with the teachings G od had given his people through Moses (Deut 28:58; 30:10; 31:24), a book stored by the ark of the covenant in the worship place (Deut 31:26). A s such it warned God’s people of the curses they could bring down on themselves, but it also served as a constant guide to the leader of God’s people: when he (the king Yahweh chooses) sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for him self a copy o f this law (Torah) on a scroll in the presence o f the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days o f his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, by carefully observing all the words o f this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted up above his countrymen (literally brothers) and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or the left, in order that he and his sons may continue long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel. (Deut 17:18-20 NASB)

Joshua’s call to obey Torah Yahweh did not choose a king in Joshua’s generation. In­ stead, he installed Joshua as the prime example o f a leader in the shadow of Moses. G od’s commissioning speech to Joshua centered in faithfulness to Torah: “Just have great conviction and courage to obey carefully the whole Torah which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn away from it to the 52

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right nor to the left so that you may prudently prosper every­ where you go. This book of the Torah shall not depart from your lips. You shall meditate upon it day and night in order that you may obey carefully according to everything which is written in it, because then you shall make your paths successful, and then you will be prudently prosperous” (Josh 1:7-8) Torah, in the book of Joshua, is first of all the leader’s leader. Torah programmed Joshua for success and wisdom. A leader in Joshua’s position would expect to spend time recruiting and training an army, gathering public support, and studying military strategy. God had another path for Joshua. He called Joshua to solitary study of Moses’ Law. Why? G od did not need a leader with such natural ability and military genius that he could win by his own wits. Such a leader would simply become proud and self-confident, ignoring God and his way of life. Solomon and Rehoboam served later as prime examples of this. G od’s plan for a leader was to avoid all opportunity for pride (Deut 17:20). G od wanted a leader to know God’s role in the people’s military history, G od’s call to covenant obedience, and G od’s promise to be present and lead to victory, giving Is­ rael the land. Only extended experience with God’s Torah could produce that type of person. Torah obedience was not a lifestyle that rulers imposed on the lower classes. Torah obedience was a lifestyle that leaders modeled before the people they led. To­ rah obedience was the only path to success (compare 2 Kings 17:37; 22-23). The call to Torah obedience placed the leader in an awk­ ward position. He was not the principal lawmaker for his people. He was a law-taker. He did not stand in a position to claim new revelation from God, revelation which updated or superseded previous revelation. The basic rules for the life of the people as individuals and as a people stood ready at hand for each gen­ eration of Israelite leaders after Moses. New insights concerning life with God and continuing historical acts of God might find their way into inspired writings (Prophets and Writings), but such The Law That Leads G od’s People

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writings still only supplemented the irreplaceable Torah. From first to last in the nation’s history, leader and people searched Torah to know God’s will. They knew Torah was the criterion for judgment in their lives before God. The leader had many functions, but all other duties became subservient to the daily duty to study and follow Torah. “Only he who obeyed Moses the leader of Israel could expect success in his leadership endeavors” (W BC 7:19). Joshua set the example for all of Israel’s leaders after Joshua. In the midst of the campaigns of conquest, he led the people to the place God chose— Shechem. There he built the altar as God commanded through the Torah of Moses (8:30-31). He copied the Torah for the people to see (8:32). He carried out the covenant ceremony as Moses commanded. He read the Torah to the people, reading every word (8:33-35). Torah was not a secret book the leader could use to control and dominate the people. The people did not have to wait for the leader’s good pleasure to know G od’s teaching. G od com­ manded that the leader teach the people. Obediently, Joshua did so. Torah obedience became public priority number one for every person dwelling in Israel. This meant no class of people in Israel had a monopoly on God’s will. Nothing gave one person closer access to G od than another. Social class, education, gender, citizenship, family roots, clan history—none of these at times imposing qualifications—singled out one person for closer relationship to God than another. “Women and children, and the aliens active among them” (8:35) had rights and re­ sponsibilities to hear and heed God’s Torah.

Torah as community responsibility Knowing Torah, moreover, was not a contest at which one person took pride in excelling over another. Keeping Torah was both an individual and a corporate function. When one person disobeyed Torah, the entire community suffered (Josh 7). The sin of one person brought the entire community to Shechem to 54

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renew covenant and rehearse Torah (8:30-35). Each individual had responsibility before God and before the community to keep Torah. The community as a whole and as a group of individuals had responsibility to see that no one transgressed the Torah. The community which dealt properly with transgression and re­ newed covenant commitment to Torah could expect to hear the leader bless the people as Moses commanded (8:33). Thus, they could regain their identity as covenant people of God. “With the law of Moses and the leadership of Joshua, Israel could again pass over into the covenant, be the people of God, and enjoy the blessings o f God” (W BC 7:95).

Torah and daily life Torah gave direction to all of life. Since Torah was so impor­ tant for Israel’s leaders and in Israel’s public ceremonies, one could easily conclude that Torah directed public life, that is, political and worship life, but that daily life on the farm or in the village required a different kind of direction. The temptation lay near to turn to the model of the original inhabitants o f the land for direction. Such a model centered on the cult o f Baal and its promise of fertility for family, flocks, and fields. Joshua showed such a model had no claim in Israel. He sent the East Jordan tribes back across the river with one command ringing in their ears, “Only, be exceedingly careful to obey the com­ mandments and the Torah, which Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded you, to love Yahweh, your God, and to walk in all his ways and to obey his commandments and to cleave to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your being” (Josh 22:5).

Torah obedience as love Here we learn the nature of Torah. Torah is more than an objective set of rules forced on an unwilling, or at best, neutral people. Torah obedience is not a human effort to win G od’s The Law That Leads G od’s People

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favor and thus to ensure personal security with God and perpetual safety in the land. Long before Jesus summarized the com ­ mandments in terms o f love (M att 22:34-40), Joshua summoned the East Jordan tribes to Torah obedience, an obedience best il­ lustrated in love o f God (Josh 23:11). Love of G od is more than an emotional attachment. Love of God is a moral attachment, an attachment so intense that one commits oneself to obey G od’s Torah without question. Such obedience does not transform the free human creation into a moral robot. Such obedience stems from trusting love so deep that it knows the Beloved would never have moral expectations that led to less than the best for the people loved. Torah obedience “is the definition o f the people of God. The human-God relationship is not a legalism done in fear, nor a business transaction done with pride of achievement. It is a love and devotion relationship, obeying and worshiping out of free choice” (W BC 7:245).

Torah and disobedience Torah allows no excuses for disobedience. The people re­ turning to their land in rest heard Joshua set before them the same demand God had originally set before him (23:6; compare 1:7). Such a demand did not come in ideal circumstances. God, through Joshua, sent the people out to live in the land while remnants of the nations still lived among them (23:7). Torah obedience should come despite the strongest o f temptations. Foreign worship and alien gods would constantly lure Israel to follow them and forsake Yahweh. Torah would constantly call Israel back to Yahweh. Trust in the G od of Torah should al­ ways prove stronger than the call o f false gods and false worship, but such trust was not easy. Such trust required “great courage” (23:6). The book of Joshua left Israel with the haunting question, Did Israel have the strength and courage required to follow Torah rather than succumb to the lure o f Baal and the other gods native to the land? 56

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Torah as covenant keeping Torah obedience is covenant keeping, for the words of covenant are written in the book of Torah (24:26). The covenant relation­ ship is the Torah relationship, a relationship requiring courage, love, devotion, and total commitment. To make covenant words on a par with Torah words is to modify the definition o f Torah. The ending of the book of Joshua implies that Torah of Moses is not G od’s only Torah. “Joshua wrote these words in the book of the Torah of God” (24:26). The Torah of Moses stood tall in the com­ manding position over all Israel’s history, but God had further instructions for His covenant people. Such words may consciously advocate adding the book of Joshua to Torah o f Moses, leading to Israel’s larger canon o f Scripture. Such words called Israel to remain faithful to Torah of Moses while at the same time listening to the words of faithful leaders who called them to covenant obe­ dience. The covenant words, explaining and calling for obedience to Torah of Moses, could also be written into the Torah of God. Torah was not the only writing preserving the word of God. The “book of the upright” (Josh 10:13) preserved words that became part of Scripture (compare 1 Samuel 1:18 and the early Greek translation of 1 Kings 8:12-13). God worked in many ways to preserve his word, even using writings that eventually faded from history. Such writings proved to be God’s intermediate step on the way from proclamation of word in history to preservation of word in the Bible. (Compare Joshua 18:9, a border description which may lie behind the following chapters of Joshua. )

The Word of Yahweh Torah is not the only vocabulary item used for authoritative directions from God. The book o f Joshua also points to the spoken word of God. Different Hebrew vocabulary items are used to talk about oral word of God. Both the noun formulation, “word o f God,” and the verbal formulation, “Yahweh said,” are used. The Law That Leads G od’s People

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Word of Qod and written Torah Hebrew root vocabulary items dabar and 'amar appear with little distinction in meaning. The verbs communicate Israel’s belief that God’s word came in direct oral form as well as in the written form of the Torah of Moses. God spoke to Joshua di­ rectly, giving directions, for example, for Joshua’s leadership and Israel’s actions (1:1-9). Such oral speech by God sent Joshua back to Moses’ Torah. The implication here is that Israel knew G od speaking in two ways: oral and written. The two ways were complementary, not contradictory. One manner o f speaking pointed the listener to the other. New oral revelation did not try to replace traditional written revelation. Rather, the oral word of God reinforced his written word. Such reinforcement could include interpretation for a specific situation. God told Joshua the specific regulations for the ban on A i (8:27) though Moses had already taught the general regulations (Deut 20:16-18; compare Josh 11:6, 9). A t other times Joshua carried out Moses’ command totally (Josh 10:40; 11:12). A s situations changed, God brought a new word giving directions for the new situation. God gave Joshua explicit in­ structions to carry out the conquest of the entire land with explicit descriptions o f the land’s boundaries (1:1—4). Joshua became old, and much work remained unfinished (13:1). God recognized Joshua’s age, personal needs, and limits. He issued another word that turned Joshua from conquest to land distri­ bution (13:1-7). Again this oral word was related to the Torah o f Moses, simply showing when to carry out the original word Moses received (14:5).

Functions of word of God G od’s word was not limited to one mode or one function of speech. He did not always face Israel and Joshua with commands in the imperative mode. He also addressed encouraging words to 58

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Joshua (3:7). Such words gave Joshua a motivation to carry out God’s commands. These words pointed to a sign of divine presence in Joshua’s actions with Israel. Word of God thus functioned both to give his people directions and to lead them to follow those directions. Such encouraging, directing words followed Israel step by step through the land (6:2-5; 8 :1,18; 10:8; 11:6). Chapter 3 shows another facet of the word of God. Joshua served as mediator of God’s word. God spoke to Joshua, and Joshua relayed the message to the people. The people recog­ nized what God was doing and followed Joshua’s commands, knowing they came from God (compare 4:8). Addition of the Hebrew word tsiwwah to our vocabulary items for word of God leads another step forward here: “But the priests who carry the ark were standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was com plete which Yahweh commanded Joshua to speak to the people according to all which Moses commanded Joshua” (4:10). Careful reading of chapters 3 and 4 shows that God directed each step Joshua and the people took in crossing the Jordan. This direction came in the form of oral word of God to Joshua. This is summarized in 4:8: “The sons of Israel acted just as Joshua had commanded. They carried twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan just as Yahweh had spoken to Joshua.” We are tempted to ask, “How does Moses fit into this picture?’ This calls us to a closer look. The summary in 4:10 reaches back further than to 3:1 It marks the conclusion to all that began in chapter 1 and relates specifi­ cally to 1:3, then on back to Deuteronomy 11:22-25; 32:44-47. God promised Moses an obedient Israel would conquer the land. He told Moses to lead the people to the edge of the land and pre­ pare the people to cross the Jordan into the promised land under Joshua. Joshua 4:10 shows that Israel was God’s obedient people, ready to receive God’s promises to Moses. Action of the moment might feature conversation between God and Joshua for the people; ultimately, however, even word of God to Joshua fulfilled word of God to Moses (compare Josh 20:1-2). Torah formed the foundation The Law That Leads God's People

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for all of God’s conversation with his people. The entire conquest followed the plan God gave Moses to give to Joshua (11:15,23). G od’s conversation with Joshua filled still another function for Joshua. It interpreted what G od was doing for his people at the present moment. G od not only commanded Joshua to cir­ cumcise the people (ch 5). He also interpreted the meaning of that particular circumcision rite. Through the circumcision, G od “rolled the disgrace of Israel away from you” (5:9). Israel was not simply an obedient people ready for conquest. They were a purified people no longer tainted by the social disgrace o f slavery in Egypt nor by the cultic disgrace of uncircumcision in the wilderness. Israel became aware o f their freedom from disgrace and thus their renewed freedom to serve God because G od spoke to Joshua. A s often in the early Old Testament narratives, God’s word did not always come directly from Yahweh. A t times it came from a messenger seen as a man (Josh 5:13-15; compare Gen 18). The messenger revealed to Joshua the holy nature of the place where they met, at the same time connecting Joshua to Moses and his call to service through the same speech pattern (Exod 3:5). G od’s oral word for Israel could become a word of judgment for a sinful people (Josh 7:10-13). The word of judgment served not simply to supply information and condemn. It became a word o f guidance, leading Israel to the way to restore the covenant relationship. Restoration o f covenant relationship demanded drastic action, in Israel’s case in Joshua 7, capital punishment for the guilty family. This word o f judgment thus shows how serious God takes his demands for obedience. When his people took his word with the same seriousness, they became a restored people. A restored people could again hear G od’s word o f en­ couragement and direction to take the land (8:1). G od’s word for any one situation was not autom atic and predictable. G od expected his people to inquire after his word (9:14). When they did not, they found themselves acting against G od’s will. Again, G od directed them through the situation,

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but only after a serious breach of God's directions and a dispute among the people threatened to divide G od’s people. Moses and Joshua could not claim a monopoly on G od’s word. G od also spoke to the Levites (13:14,33; compare Num 18:20; Deut 10:9; 18:2). The Levites, however, had to go to Joshua to en­ sure he carr i ed out G od’s word to them (Josh 21:2). Joshua was also not the only person who knew the word o f God as given to Moses. Caleb remembered G od’s promise to him and his clan through Moses. He acted on this word, asking Joshua to fulfill it (14:6; 15:13; com pare N um bersl4:24; Deuteronomy 1:36). Joshua and G od honored such forthright faith (Josh 14:13). Women could act in similar fashion, asking the rights Moses gave them be recognized (Josh 17:4; compare Numbers 27:1-11). They had obeyed Moses (Num 36:1-12) and claimed their land rights from Joshua. The book of Joshua reminds us of one other important element o f G od’s word. G od could communicate to his people without words. He gave to them the mysterious device know as the lot. With this they could determine his will for distributing the land. Lots were apparently stone objects used to gain impartial decisions. The people saw them as more than just impartial decision-givers. They saw the lots as mediators o f G od’s decision, thus G od’s silent word (see Joshua 14:2; 15:1; 16:1; 17:1; 21:4). The lot was probably used in identifying Achan as the culprit in Joshua 7. Using the lot, Israel learned what “Yahweh commanded by the hand of Moses by lot” (21:8).

The faithful word G od’s word could be commanding, directing, encouraging, judging, or simply communicating information. It could come through Moses, through Joshua, through a messenger, to Levites, or to Caleb. It could be spoken, written, or even silent. It could apply to men, to women, to priests, or to the nation. One thing remained the same. God was faithful to his word. “N ot a single The Law That Leads God's People

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word fell from every good word which Yahweh spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came to pass” (21:45). W hatever situation Israel found itself in, one constant remained. She could not blame God. “God had faithfully done for Israel what he promised. Blame belonged on Israel’s shoulders, not G od’s” (W BC 7:235). Thus “the faithful community of God reads his­ tory as the story of G od’s directing promises” (W BC 7:236). Past history with G od’s word means one can trust that word for the future. Trust in that word runs in two directions. God will bring the blessings He promises (23:5), but people of G od must also remember, “it will be the case that just as every good word which Yahweh, your God, spoke to you has come upon you, just so Yahweh will bring upon you every evil word until he has destroyed you from upon this good land which Yahweh, your God, has given to you” (23:15). The good word of promise is not a static object which creates an eternal condition. G od’s word is a dynamic reality, going forth in written and oral forms to his people, calling to covenant obedience. It changes a people without land to a conquering nation controlling all the land. Equally, it can change a disobedient nation in charge o f its destiny to a slave people carried off their land in utter defeat. G od’s word remains in control of history, calling forth a faithful people to study Torah (23:6), follow him, and see his good words come to pass. Such a Torah-studying people cannot pay atten­ tion only to good words with promises of blessing; they must listen equally as carefully to the evil word with its threat of judgment and curse. Both are the authoritative word of the one God. That word points us to look back and see what God has done (24:2-13) so that we can look at the present to see that word’s demand on us (24:14-24) and can look to the future to know how he will respond to us as he continues to act in the history of his people (ch 23).

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4 LOYALTY THAT CHARACTERIZES GOD'S PEOPLE

The book of Joshua identifies one major characteristic that separates the people of God from all other people. Yahweh’s people have no other gods. They are absolutely loyal to Yahweh. Modem Christians see nothing unusual here. Loyalty to the one God is the only option they know. Many today could not even name another god. A large percentage have no personal acquaintance with people who worship another god. In our culture the only options have traditionally been: to worship or not to worship. Then we choose our denomination and fight the other ones.

Loyalty as unique to Israel Israel’s culture was quite different. Everyone worshiped someone. Everyone but Israel worshiped more than one someone. The quest was not loyal devotion to one god to the exclusion of others. The quest was loyalty to a personal god while not offending the other gods who controlled the many different arenas of life. Religiously, one had to cover all bases. In such a 63

world, Yahweh distinguished himself among the gods. He called for absolute devotion to him self and rejection o f anyone else. He was all or nothing at all. H is call separated him from all other religious practice. To worship Yahweh meant to break the rules o f Near Eastern religious custom. It meant to snub other peoples and their religious traditions. It meant to deny the reli­ gious practices which objective observation might claim to have worked adequately through the long centuries in the land of Palestine. To worship Yahweh, to obey Torah, meant to be odd, different from all the other peoples o f the world.

Loyalty in community The East Jordan tribes represent one side of this identity of loyalty. They represent community loyalty, loyalty to the people of God. Israel learned community in the tedious classroom of history. Their tradition gave them few examples of loyalty. Isaac and Ishmael, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers— all modelled self-interest, jealousy, separation, rivalry, and even ha­ tred. Only in their brief better moments did unity and community shine forth. After Joshua, the period of the Judges would feature brief cooperative actions separated by long periods o f isolation. Tribal jealousy and even tribal annihilation marked this period for Israel. N ext Saul and David struggled for leadership. Then David faced opposition from his own sons. Solomon’s united reign led to the dissatisfaction of the northern tribes and their decision to follow Jeroboam rather than Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Separation continued through the end o f the kingdoms and into the Exile. Exile thrust Israel’s people into all parts o f the world. The Diaspora became a continuing reality. Return from Exile introduced other divisions—people from Exile and people who had faithfully cared for the homeland; people who returned faithfully to the land and people who chose to stay behind in Babylon; people in the land and the diaspora scattered over the earth. Gradually, the split between Jews and Samaritans emerged and deepened. 64

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Finally, sects such as the Essenes gave vivid life to the different theological viewpoints within the one people of God. The rise of the Christian church brought a split that appeared to be final. Through all this, the book of Joshua offered an example of the community loyalty God expected and of how to deal with threats to that loyalty. The example centered in the East Jordan tribes—Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. They had no personal reason to appear in the activities of the book of Joshua. They had conquered their land. Moses had given them their tribal inheritances. God had given them rest. They were ready to settle down and enjoy life in the land. But Joshua quickly interrupted such plans. Pointing them to G od’s word through Moses, Joshua called the East Jordan tribes to arms in support of their West Jordan kin (Josh 1:12-15). N o one tribe was to enjoy possession of its inheritance until all the tribes could find rest in their inheritances. The East Jordan answer serves as a model for all the people of God: “Everything which you have commanded us, we will do; everywhere you send us, we will go” (1:16). Community loyalty places personal desire under the com­ mand of G od’s chosen leader. The leader whose actions reflect God’s presence gains the absolute obedience of the people. They are willing to promise, “Every man who rebels against your or­ der and does not obey your words to the last detail which you command us shall be put to death” (1:18). The East Jordan tribes had learned the meaning of being part of the people of God. Israel was not a loosely organized group, joining together only in crisis situations. Israel was not just a people with sim ilar worship patterns joining for occasional national worship ser­ vices. Israel was a unified body. Threat to Israel did not lie in geographical differences. It lay in the threat to lose their sense of loyalty. N o matter where people lived or what their personal economic situation, Israel had to remain one body dedicated to one land. The call for Israel to act went out to all Israel, not a part of Israel. When any one part did not possess its inherited Loyalty That Characterizes G od’s People

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land in rest, no part of Israel could rest. Rest and land possession came to all at once. Thus the East Jordan armies left their houses and families to cross the Jordan in march of conquest (4:12). The movement goes in the other direction. When the book of Joshua lists Israel’s accomplishments in conquering the land, it begins not with the accomplishments listed in Joshua. It begins with the accomplishments of the East Jordan tribes (12:1-6). Every care is taken to emphasize the work of all Israel. N o group can laud itself over other groups within God’s people. When G od’s people function properly, all can point to the part they played. Together under God they conquered the land, inherit­ ance enough for all the tribes of Israel. Similarly, before land is apportioned to the West Jordan tribes, the inherited land of the East Jordan tribes is listed (13:1-33). To list Israel’s land is to list the land of twelve tribes, not just that of those Joshua led west of the Jordan. Even when the land distribution action simply shifts locations, the point is renewed that the East Jordan tribes are part of Israel and have allotments given by Moses (18:7). East Jordan tribes were not forgotten when Israel set up cit­ ies of refuge (20:8) nor when Israel established cities for the Levites (21:7, 36-39). The action of the book may center in conquest and distribution of West Jordan, but the theme of the book is the community loyalty of all twelve tribes. A subpoint here is the tribe of Levi. The cultic tribe of priestly helpers did not expect a tribal allotment. Still, the allotments repeatedly include Levi among the tribes and explain why Levi did not have an allotment (13:14,33; 18:7). A concluding act o f land allotment is to give cities where the Levites can live and carry out their responsibilities even though they do not have an of­ ficial territory. These cities of the Levites form another joining element in Israel, for the cities come from each of the tribes (ch 21). East Jordan tribes may be separated from the main body of Israel geographically by the Jordan River. Levites may be separated sociologically by their cultic function and by their 66

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status as not owning land and not forming a political subgroup. Both remain solid parts of the community of Israel. Israel cannot be described without describing East Jordan tribes and Levites. Community loyalty is an overarching characteristic of Israel. The East Jordan tribes and community loyalty take center stage in chapter 22. They kept their word spoken in chapter 1 (1:12-15; 22:1-4). They joined all Israel in having obligation to obey the Torah (22:5). They received Joshua’s blessing (22:6-8) and could possess their land (22:9). There they faced the problem: isolation. How did a people separated geographically maintain their community loyalty? Their answer: build an altar of witness to remind them of the religious and historical ties that bound them to their people west of the Jordan. This created a greater problem. Had the search for commu­ nity loyalty violated the command of Torah obedience? Tribes of West Jordan thought so. Moses allowed no other altars except where Yahweh chose. A separate altar meant separate worship. The altar could not be a sign of community loyalty. It repre­ sented community division. Worse, it represented apostasy from Yahweh. It represented a refusal to learn the lesson of history, history which occurred east of the Jordan in Peor (Num 25). It represented a threat to the entire community of G od’s people. The West Jordan tribes did not react in jealousy or with a view to their own superiority. They had a solution, one that involved sacrifice on their part. They were willing to share their inherited land with the East Jordan tribes to preserve community loyalty and to prevent divine wrath (22:19-20). Such drastic action was unnecessary. East Jordan tribes had acted to preserve community loyalty, not disrupt it; to main­ tain loyalty to Yahweh, not to rebel against him. They were looking to the future and protecting themselves against future dangers, against being forgotten or unwanted among the com­ munity called Israel. They wanted a witness all could use to remember the ties between east and west. The one thing which joined east and west was the common witness to Yahweh as Loyalty That Characterizes G od’s People

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the one God. This was the social and religious cement which held community loyalty together. “C ult and geography could separate. Proclamation of Yahweh as the present G od unified” (W BC, 7:250).

Loyalty as individual devotion Community loyalty was matched by individual loyalty. In the book o f Joshua, Caleb stands out as the supreme example of individual loyalty. “I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of Yahweh, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. I re­ turned the word to him just as it was on my heart. My brothers who went up with me caused the heart o f the people to melt, but I remained totally loyal to Yahweh, my G od.” (14:7-8) Caleb carried out the task G od sent him on and brought back the report God expected. He let neither human fear nor crowd frenzy detour him from the faith. He was loyal to his community and to his God. He received his reward (14:14). Such individual loyalty lay at the root o f all that was Israel. Only with indi­ viduals expressing full commitment to Yahweh and his will could Israel hope for community loyalty. In the book of Joshua and through much o f the Old Testament, individual loyalty seems to take a back seat to community loyalty. The example o f Caleb reminds us of the strong role of individuals in forming the community covenant loyalty that stands as the backbone of Israel’s identity.

Loyalty as covenant commitment Individual and community loyalty find their concrete expres­ sion in the covenant. God made covenants with two individuals

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before He made the covenant with the nation. Both individual covenants had results reaching far beyond the individual. With Noah, God promised that a flood would never again destroy the earth and its life (G en 9:1 1 ,1 5 ). With Abraham, G od es­ tablished the covenant o f circumcision, promising to make Abraham the father of a great nation and to give that nation a land to live in (G en 17:1-14). G od remembered his covenant with Abraham and acted in the Exodus to fulfill that covenant (Exod 2:24; 6:4-5). Through Moses, G od established his covenant with the people Israel in the wilderness at the holy mountain. This covenant Israel was called to keep. Through it G od would make Israel a holy na­ tion, a kingdom of priests, a personal possession (Exod 19:5-6). This was a covenant of obedience based on experience of God’s saving power. T h e people o f Israel freely com m itted them selves to obey covenant law and be people of Yahweh (Exod 19:8; 24:3). The covenant regulations became a book Moses could read to the people, eliciting the people’s renewed commitment to keep the covenant (Exod 24:7-8). This is the foundation for the book of Deuteronomy which sees the Ten Commandments as the cen ter o f th e coven an t (D eut 4 :1 3 ). T h e teach in gs o f Deuteronomy reflect the covenant God made or renewed with the people in Moab, reinforcing the covenant made at the holy mountain (Deut 29:1). It is a covenant for future generations (Deut 29:14-15) and has two possible responses: obedience or rebellion, with corresponding results: blessing or curse (Deut27-28). The basis o f covenant was the Law or Torah Moses wrote and placed beside the ark of the covenant (Deut 31:9,25-26). The word covenant is a relatively rare word in the book o f Joshua except for the formulaic name o f the symbol o f G od’s presence—the ark of the covenant. The reality o f covenant dominates the entire book. Having crossed the Jordan, Israel delayed conquest activities until the people had “rolled away” their social disgrace o f slavery in Egypt and their national Loyalty That Characterizes God’s People

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disgrace of not keeping the covenant o f Abraham through cir­ cumcision. They ate the Passover meal, remembering the Exo­ dus and wilderness experiences and the covenant commitment which went with those experiences (Josh 5). The first battle resulted in breaking G od’s covenant and facing the conse­ quences (7:11, 15). For the first time, Israel learned in practical historical event rather than in the more theoretical sermons of Moses what breaking God’s covenant brought. The punishment of Achan and his family impressed upon Israel the sovereign seriousness of God in his expectations of his people and of his commitment to his threatened curses as well as to his promised blessings. Covenant was not an interesting game one played spasmodically with God. Covenant was: • a relationship one constantly maintained; • a relationship initiated by God; • a relationship based on God’s saving actions; • a relationship desired by the people because of the love and power God had displayed for them; • a relationship demanding loyal obedience to the Torah from the people; • a relationship to which the people had freely committed themselves; • a relationship which did not stand permanent and certain no matter how the people acted; but • a relationship which must be daily kept or formally renewed. Joshua interrupted battle plans to take his people to the place God had chosen—Shechem—and there renew God’s covenant with his people (8:30-35). Such covenant renewal returned to the basis o f the covenant—G od’s Torah. Joshua used every means possible to impress upon the people the contents o f To­ rah. He wrote it. He read it. He gave the blessings and the curses. He let every person hear every word. Only with the serious na­ ture o f covenant fresh in their memories could Israel proceed 70

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with its plans for conquest. Conquest belonged to a covenant people, not to a greedy people. Soon, however, Israel compromised covenant. Israel did not investigate the situation closely enough and made a covenant with the Gibeonites. This covenant came when Israel did not inquire of Yahweh (9:14). This covenant explicitly violated the Torah of Moses and the Covenant of Yahweh (Deut 7:2). Joshua saved the day for Israel. He brought Gibeon under the curse (Josh 9:23), rather than Israel, and made Gibeon subservient to Israel. Rather than separating Israel from her covenant with God, the incident came to make Gibeonites an essential part of Israel’s preparations for worship of God. Having so narrowly missed covenant disaster, Israel could conclude the conquest. In fact, the covenant with the Gibeonites became the rallying point for the next enemies Israel would meet (Josh 10:1). The importance of covenant for the book o f Joshua becomes evident in chapters 23 and 24. The climactic chapters of the book turn to covenant forms and covenant language to identify the nature of G od’s people and show the goal o f conquest. Chapter 23 reminds Israel o f covenant threat: “When you transgress the covenant of Yahweh, your God, that he commanded you, and you go off and serve other gods and bow down in worship to them, then the anger o f Yahweh will bum against you and you will quickly wander away, lost from this good land which he has given to you.” (23:16) Covenant threat means breaking of relationship with God in favor of other gods. It means refusing to love God (23:11). It means not obeying Torah. It means loss o f land. It means forfeiture of divine gift. It means curse rather than blessing. It means rest is not the final word for people in the land. Blessing will last only as long as total faithfulness to Yahweh lasts. Loyalty That Characterizes God’s People

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W hen Israel begins to experiment with other gods, trying to be like the nations and worship every god possible, doom is imminent. Doom means loss of the promised and given land. Doom means aimless wandering, searching for a home like the ancient patriarchal father. Doom means destruction, death, disintegration of the people of God. (W BC 7:257) Doom is not the final word. Renewal is. Chapter 24 shows how a people under threat can come to G od’s place of worship and renew the covenant. Covenant renewal means memory of what G od has done in the past. It means recognition o f who G od is. It means free commitment to Yahweh in full knowledge o f his jealousy and o f his total commitment to the blessings and curses o f the covenant. It means risking commitment to the impossible. Human logic leads people away from covenant renewal. Logic says covenant renewal is the option of desperation or hallucina­ tion. Covenant renewal appears to be human promise without chance o f fulfillment. Covenant renewal appears to be guaran­ teed breaking of the covenant and thus guaranteed punishment from God. Covenant renewal appears to be an invitation to G od to bring on the covenant curses. Still, Israel enters the covenant. Why? “Far be it from us, the forsaking o f Yahweh to serve other gods, for Yahweh is our God. He is the one who brought us up and our fathers from the land o f Egypt, from the house o f service, and who did before our eyes these great signs. He protected us in all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. Yahweh drove out all the peoples, indeed the Amorite living in the land, from before us. Yes, we will also serve Yahweh, because he is our G od.” Israel enters the cov­ enant anew not because of something Israel can do to keep the covenant. Israel enters the covenant because she knows what Yahweh has done and can do. Yahweh has provided all the 72

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necessary evidence. His acts in history have shown he and he alone is Israel’s God. Israel thus found themselves without any options. Only one G od proved great enough to serve. Only one G od proved to deserve their loyalty. Only one God fulfilled the conditions to be God. Yahweh had proved to be the only God. Israel knew their limitations. They could not serve God. They must meet G od with their failures. Still, they had no other place to turn. The compelling evidence o f national and personal history with Yahweh provided all the reason necessary to pledge loyalty to him in covenant renewal. In such renewal Israel confessed that G od’s covenant expectations were fair and were good for their lives. Israel confessed that they should follow G od’s way of life. Israel chose loyalty to G od as the path they wanted to take. Covenant thus defined loyalty for Israel. Covenant meant one people served one God by obeying one Torah in all situa­ tions. Covenant loyalty thus joined individuals and tribes into the covenant community. Covenant loyalty marked Israel off from all other peoples as the one people loyal to only one God for all areas o f life. Covenant loyalty identified Israel as the people of the Lord o f history.

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5 THE LORD BEHIND HISTORY

Joshua is the star of the book of Joshua, commanding center stage throughout the book. The hero, however, is Yahweh, the living Lord of Israel and Israel’s history.12Joshua calls others to action. He gives commands. He receives credit for victories. He becomes great. Joshua is involved in all the action, but Yahweh remains sovereign. Often, he gives opening directions and then apparently disappears from the action to let Joshua occupy the stage of history; but ultimately and actually, Yahweh has initiated and concluded the action. He has caused events to turn out the way they did. Final praise goes to Yahweh, not to Joshua. Joshua may appear to have the limelight, but Yahweh stands behind the decisive acts. He is the hero. The central topic of the book o f Joshua is thus Yahweh, the God of Israel; but how does one describe Yahweh? The book takes little time in offering adjectives or titles to describe God. Often it assumes readers already understand the basic nature of God. In fact, it assumes that the reader knows the promises to the patriarchs and the acts of the Exodus. The reader is ex­ pected to know the name of God—Yahweh—and its meaning 75

(Exod 3 :6 ). The reader is expected to know Joshua’s previous preparation for leadership under G od (Deut 1:37-38; 3:21-22, 28; 31:2-8, 14-15, 23). One is expected to understand the covenant relationship G od initiated (Exod 19-24; 34). The reader can retell the religious history o f Abraham and Jacob beyond the river with other gods. The book of Joshua does not try to introduce Yahweh to Israel or to the readers of the book. The writer, instead, tries to reemphasize with new examples what the reader should already know but can so easily forget. In many ways, the book of Joshua is a review o f the topic o f Yahweh, the G od of Israel. The inspired author leads readers to remember that God speaks, acts in history, demands, faithfully fulfills his word, gives, is angry and jealous, and is present with his people.

God, who speaks The opening and basic statement o f the book of Joshua about G od is a simple one: G od speaks. The Old Testament knows nothing of an absentee landlord God or an impersonal Creator who leaves and ignores his creation. The G od o f the O ld Tes­ tament, and especially o f the book o f Joshua, is the G od who consistently maintains contact with his people, giving his word to direct their life. We reviewed much o f the evidence at this point in looking at the Torah or Law of G od as it was expressed in the word o f God. Here we need to reflect upon the meaning o f G od’s speaking for our consideration o f the nature o f G od himself. To say that God speaks to his people is to say that God is personal. G od enters into conversation with his people. He does not treat his people as puppets or robots. He respects their free­ dom, outlining his plans for them and letting them choose to follow his plans or those o f their own conceiving. He does this in every area o f their life. He calls a leader (1:1-9). He en­ courages the leader (3:7-8). He guides them in establishing ways to communicate their history and their faith to future 76

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generations (4:1-3). He directs the actions of the people in their history (4:15-16), but not when the people do not ask for di­ rection (9:14). He establishes rituals to ensure the people are in right relationship with God (5 :2 ,9 ). He sanctifies the leader of the people, preparing him for the tasks ahead (5:15). He gives instructions for battle (6:2—5; 8:1-2; 10:8; 11:6). He condemns a sinful people but shows them how to deal with their sinful­ ness (7:10-15). He recognizes the physical condition of his aged leader and adjusts plans accordingly (13:1-7). He sets up cities of refuge, establishing a system of justice for inadvertent killings (20:1-6). He recites his history with his people to encourage a new generation to follow him and renew the covenant with him (24:2-13). G od’s direct speech drives the book o f Joshua forward, af­ fecting battle, ritual, and legal systems, as well as the direct personal relationship between G od and people. Life of the people of God thus depends upon the spoken word of God. If God does not speak, God’s people are without direction in ev­ ery area of life. Speech of God is something more than past event recorded in community memory or in written Torah. A s we have seen above in discussing the Law o f God, word of G od delivered in the past plays a dynamic and central role in the book of Joshua. G od’s people do not survive simply on those authoritative words from the past. They need something more. They need words which give direction to new situations arising in the present. People of God live in this dynamic interaction between words from the past and words for the present. Words from the past remain authoritative. They must be fulfilled. They may be promises to the fathers still to be fulfilled, commands from the past governing the covenant relationship as the command to love (22:5), promises to individuals or groups which the people must recognize and fulfill (14:6-14; 17:36), or threats for the future (23:15-16). Each word from the past has meaning for the present. Such words from the past do not The Lord Behind History

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cover all situations. G od’s people need more. They need the word o f the present to thrust G od’s people into action on his mission for today. They need to know who G od’s choice for present leadership is. They need to receive encouragement for leader and people facing tough choices. They need conviction of present sin and assurance that forgiveness is available. They need direction away from current actions when new situations and conditions call for a change of plans. They need a call to covenant renewal. They need a new understanding of the se­ rious bond the covenant forms between G od and people. In a sense, the people o f the book always need more than the canon of Scripture. They also need the personal witness of the G od who speaks, directing them to the book and directing into the arena of modem life with its demands and situations. They need to know how under current conditions "to obey the commandments and the Torah, which Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded you, to love Yahweh, your God, and to walk in all his ways and to obey his commandments and to cleave to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your being.” (22:5) G od’s people can find out how to do this because Yahweh, the God of Israel, is a God who spoke in the past and who con­ tinues to speak in the present day. The God who gave his Word still gives his word. Modem readers of the book of Joshua ask one further ques­ tion: How did (does) God speak to his people? Here the book o f Joshua offers little assistance. It simply assumes that God speaks, that his people understand his word, and that his people face the decision to obey or not to obey that word. Normally, the “how” question is ignored. In chapter 5 the mysterious figure of the “prince of the host o f Yahweh” represents G od to Joshua. In determining the tribal territories, the more objective “lot” is used. Otherwise, language 78

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o f normal human conversation appears. God speaks like a per­ son to a person, usually Joshua. The Bible thus does not give a “canonical” method by which God must speak to his people. Rather, the Bible leaves the freedom for G od to speak as he chooses. The Bible assumes that God’s people can hear his voice and respond to it. Thus, conversation between God and his people can occur as portrayed in Joshua 7:6-15. The biblical question is not how God speaks nor how people hear. The biblical question is: Do people listen and respond? The book of Joshua joins the entire biblical canon in calling people to expect God to speak and in challenging them to follow the message they receive. A major aspect of God’s nature is his ability to speak like a person. The G od of the Bible is the God who has spoken and who continues to speak.

God who acts in History The God of Joshua puts actions to his words. He tells Joshua what to do and then provides the promised results. The narra­ tive generally describes the activities o f Joshua and the people. They cross the river. They carry stones. They set up ambushes. They march around walls. They discover kings in caves. They spy out land. They announce boundaries. They listen to Joshua speak. The overwhelming majority of action verbs in the book have Joshua or the people as subjects. Divine acts and human acts The concluding and transition sentences most often feature Yahweh as subject. The people have acted. Yahweh has brought the results. Joshua’s introductory summary in 1:11 displays this theme: “Prepare provisions for yourselves, because within three days you will be crossing over this Jordan to enter in order to The Lord Behind History

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possess the land which Yahweh your G od is giving you to possess it.” Israel must prepare provisions. Israel must cross the Jordan. Israel must enter the land and possess it. A ll along, however, Yahweh gives the land. This is the nature of Yahweh, the G od o f Israel. He acts in the history of his people, but he acts along­ side of and through the actions of his people. Yahweh is not the lone cham pion like a G oliath, marching out alone to challenge the enemy by himself. Instead, G od is the leader of a people. He plots the course of action. He speaks with his people and communicates his plan. They accept the plan and move out in action. A s they do, they find God fulfills his promise, prepares their way, and lets them accomplish their purpose even against overwhelming odds. The action of God is normally accompa­ nied by action of his people, action he has called them to take. Responses to divine acts G od acts in different ways to fulfill his purposes in history. The book of Joshua illustrates some o f these. He uses the gossip systems of the enemy people to frighten them and prepare them for defeat (2:8-11; compare 9:9-11; 10:1-2; 11:1). Such gossip systems even teach lessons about the nature o f God himself. It caused Rahab to confess, “Yahweh your God it is who is G od in heaven above and upon the earth below” (2:11; compare Deut 4:39; 1 Kgs 8:23). Other nations often confessed that their gods had led them into battle and brought victory. M ost nations had specific gods of war who were expected to lead their armies to victory. Such gods o f war might or might not be the high, national god. Such gods could face challenges from other gods. Wars in heaven could ensue. A god or a group of gods could challenge the heavenly regime and come away victorious. The god leading a nation’s armies might face serious challenges in the heavenly 80

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realm. Victory as god on earth did not secure the god’s claim as eternal ruler of the heavens. The reverse case was also true. Claim as the national god ruling the heavens did not set a god up for eternal security. The god’s fortunes often depended upon the nation’s fortunes in battle. Thus, the major gods o f Egypt took differing roles in the heavenly realms as the different dy­ nasties came and went. The gods of Babylon took new forms and identities as historical fortunes changed or as the whims of kings gave loyalty to one rather than the other. Israel’s god was different. Yahweh was the G od of heaven and earth. Earthly fortunes might lead people, particularly en­ em ies, to confess or not confess Yahweh’s unique nature. Yahweh’s great acts in Egypt and east o f the Jordan could acti­ vate the gossip chain and terrify the inhabitants of Canaan. His acts in history testified to his eternal power and dominion. They could lead people to recognize G od’s nature. Such acts did not change Yahweh’s nature or increase his realm. He was Lord of heaven and earth by nature, not by historical act. He had no need to fear that another god could rob him of territory or limit his rule in heaven through earthly acts. Yahweh had no competition, in reality. N o other god existed who could compete with him. Historical acts only gave evidence of eternal reality. G od was the only God in heaven and on earth. Through the story o f Rahab, Israel confessed this eternal nature of Yahweh. Sadly, Israel could not learn the lesson for long. Yahweh’s acts were not the only reality in Israel’s history. Israel’s refusal to learn the lesson o f those acts was the parallel reality. Israel kept searching for other gods on earth who could complement and supplement the acts of Yahweh. They wanted to compartmentalize Yahweh into the god of war or the god of politics. They were quite generous with other gods, offering them places beside Yahweh in the Temple and in the local high places. They gladly let the foreign gods take over responsibility for fertility or for protection of the family or for protection of the dead. Israel suffered through a long, torturous history of idolatry The Lord Behind History

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because they would not learn the lessons of God’s acts in history, a lesson that Rahab, the Canaanite prostitute, readily learned. Israel did learn enough of the history lesson to proceed with the conquest. The spies came back to Joshua from Jericho with a far different report than the spies brought back to Moses from Hebron: “They told Joshua that Yahweh had given into our hand the whole land. A ll the inhabitants of the land even melt before us” (Josh 2:24; contrast Num 13:25—33). God had used reports of Canaanite gossip channels to help convince Israel what it should have learned in the Exodus. Yahweh had no peers. He alone was Lord of heaven and earth.

Divine acts as wonders The acts of Yahweh were not simply normal historical events for which Israel gave credit to Yahweh. The acts were far beyond what people normally expect in history. Yahweh could work with the priests in the ark of the covenant “in order that you may know the way which you are to follow, since you have never passed over in the way” (Josh 3:4). Israel looked for more. They looked to Yahweh to “perform wonders among you” (3:5). This Hebrew word (niphla'o th) is not a major vocabulary item in the book of Joshua. In fact, it occurs only the one time. Where it occurs is important. It introduces the entire conquest narrative. It becomes the subject heading for all that is to follow. Every act of conquest is one of the “wonders” o f God. No matter how intensely Israel works to fight the enemy, the final result is a divine “wonder.” A wonder describes hu­ man reaction to events totally unexpected in the human realm. They are unusual, impossible, miraculous. Such events astound human observers. They lead the human witness to recognize human limitations and to praise God for his greatness and power. Thus, wonders belong to the language of praise and appear in the great majority of cases in biblical psalms. Wonders are God’s historical actions which far exceed all human expectations. 82

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In this sense, wonders are not necessarily the breaking of “natural laws.” Rather, they are the exceeding of human imagi­ nation. Wonders are G od’s acts delivering his people or his worshiper from an impossible historical situation. In the book of Joshua, the “wonders” center on the crossing of the Jordan in parallel to the crossing of the Red Sea done “on the morrow” (3:5); but wonders are not limited to that one event. The morrow extends through the entire conquest event. W hat Yahweh did to give Israel the land was Yahweh’s wonders for Israel. The ability to cross the river and take the land did not come from normal human capabilities. Such ability came only because Yahweh was working in Israel’s history on their behalf. The living God Such wonders had two results. They drove out the native inhabitants of the land and proved the presence o f the “living G od” (3:10; compare Hos 2:1; Pss 18:47; 42:3; 84:3; Deut 5:23; 1 Sam 17:26; 2 Kgs 19:4, 26; Jer 10:10; 23:26; Dan 6:21). This title, like that of the God of heaven and earth, gains meaning only in contrast to the other gods of Israel’s environment. Such gods depended on their worshipers for life. They had to be created by the worshiper from gold, silver, and wood. They had to be painted or plated, and fed, and carried in procession. They had to be placed on the divine throne in their temples. Israel could easily see Yahweh in the same light. In fact, Israel often wanted to. Israel wanted to build bull images to represent God’s presence. They were tempted to look upon the ark o f the covenant as the throne upon which God sat and which they could carry in processions to represent his presence. They desired to see their sacrifices as necessary to G od’s well-being. They tended to confine God to his house in their Temple. They sometimes succumbed to the idolatrous notion of creating Yahweh in the image of Baal. God and his inspired writers would not let Israel The Lord Behind History

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do that without warning. Yahweh was not like the gods o f the nations. Yahweh was different. He had a life of his own apart from the actions and buildings of his people. Yahweh was dis­ tinctive. He was the one and only “living God.” Only Yahweh is active and alive. Only Yahweh intervenes in the affairs o f His people. G od’s actions for his people prove his power and demonstrate the nature of his person. (W BC 7:46-47) This became most clear in the conquest. Yahweh had no Temple, nor had Israel built any image to represent him. The ark o f the covenant represented his presence but offered noth­ ing visible to prove that presence. G od had to act in Israel’s history to prove his presence as the only living God. By leading his people across the Jordan and by giving them victory over their enemies and possession of enemy territory, Yahweh proved his vitality, power, and life. He had life in and o f him self with­ out any creative action on the part o f his people. He was the source o f their life, not the result of their living actions. The God whose presence Israel saw symbolized in the ark of the covenant was the only “living G od.” Thus he and he alone was “Lord of all the earth” (3:11,13; compare M ic 4:13; Zech 4:14; 6:5; Ps 97:5; 114:7). This title carried multiple meaning for Israel because the Hebrew term for “earth” carried multiple meanings. It could mean “land.” A s such it pointed to Yahweh as the God o f the land of Canaan. The gods of the people in­ habiting the land before Israel claimed to be god of the land. They made false claims. Before Israel set foot on the land, Yahweh was god of all the land. Canaanite gods faced their limits. They were the gods of the people who worshiped them. They were the gods of Canaan. They could call themselves “god o f the earth,” but that earth had severe limits. Yahweh appeared to many to be in the same category. He had to fight to get land, and then could claim to be G od only 84

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of the land he conquered. Israel knew differently. Yahweh faced no territorial lim its. “Land” m eant more than the land o f Canaan. It meant the entire earth. It included all kingdoms and all kings. Yahweh was G od o f the land and o f the whole earth no matter how great or small the kingdom his people ruled at the moment. Israel’s loss of territory or status did not affect Yahweh’s realm. The one who rode the ark o f the covenant was “Lord o f all the earth.” This theological theme gave Israel hope throughout her ex­ istence. Israel could rule the kingdom of David and Solomon, or Israel could languish in exile in Babylon. This did not affect the power o f Yahweh. He remained the Lord o f all the earth with ability and authority to act once more in history to give Israel the land and establish the people anew. History depended on Yahweh’s purposes and plans, not on one nation’s military fortunes.

Divine acts and worship G od’s acts in history thus provided meaning for the titles Israel used to describe God. God’s acts also gave content to Israel’s worship and teaching. Parents could use the memorials Israel left scattered over the land to teach children the lessons of history. Such lessons did not center on human heroes or on dates and places. Such lessons centered on what Yahweh had done for his people (4:6-7, 20-24). The lessons o f history had a much wider audience than children in view. The memorial stones were set up at G ilgal, Israel’s early worship center. There Israel came to worship. There Israel observed Passover (5:10). The memorial stones taught Israel at worship the reason for worship. They worshiped the God who had given them the land, the God who dried up the Red Sea and the Jordan River to establish his people in the land promised to the fathers. Such knowledge should lead Israel to worship and to “have respectful awe before Yahweh all the days” (4:24). The stones’ audience The Lord Behind History

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extended beyond Israel and their worship. They testified “so that all the peoples of the earth might know the hand of Yahweh that it is strong” (4:24). This focus on witness to the nations is a natural comple­ ment to the titles of Yahweh. If he is the only living God, the Lord of heaven and earth, the Lord of all the earth, then he is the only reasonable object of worship for all the peoples of the earth. Israel cannot expect jealously to protect a monopoly on Yahweh. Israel must expect the actions to witness to Rahab and her Canaanite friends. Israel must expect Yahweh’s acts in his­ tory to call forth praise from all peoples, not just Israel. A ll too often, however, Israel sought alone to worship Yahweh while joining the nations in the worship of their gods. Israel answered the call o f Baal and Ashteroth, of Marduk and Ashur to come and worship. Israel failed to call all the peoples of the earth to know the hand of Yahweh. The actions behind the book of Joshua and the writing of the book were done for Israel’s benefit. Israel should have learned the lessons of history. She should have seen that God’s plan involved the nations as well as Israel. Israel should have understood that the God of all the earth had purposes far beyond one nation. Israel remembered the promise to the fathers that Israel would gain the land. Israel conveniently ignored the call to the patriarchs to provide blessing for the nations. G od’s historical acts provided the evi­ dence that God had power over the nations. They also provided Israel evidence of G od’s continuing concern for the nations. A t times Israel acknowledged the first evidence. Seldom did Israel accept the consequences of the second, even though the nations learned the lesson of fear (5:1).

Divine acts as judgment G od’s acts in history did not always bring immediate posi­ tive results for Israel. The lesson of the wilderness stood always before them. In Egypt and in the wilderness Israel had become 86

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a disgrace. In G od’s purposes “the men of war coming out of Egypt were finished off who did not listen obediently to the voice of Yahweh” (5:6). God could work in history to judge Israel as well as to give them victory. Judging Israel did not mean cutting off Israel. Just as he let a generation die in the wilderness, so he raised up a new generation to accomplish his plans and possess the land (5:7). God’s actions did not lead to a com er where God had no new options. G od’s actions led to a people who were willing to let him work with and through them to accomplish his purposes. The meaning o f G od’s acts in history was not always clear to God’s people or even to God’s chosen leader. Especially was this true of G od’s acts of judgment. Such acts apparently threatened G od’s people. After the initial defeat at A i, Joshua had no doubt God was still a Lord of all the earth, active in history. The problem was in how the Lord was acting. Had he played a treacherous trick on Israel, planning to destroy them rather than give them the land? Joshua asked, “Alas, O Lord Yahweh, why have you so certainly caused this people to pass over the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Am orites to bring about our destruction?” (7:7). Such honest, straightforward conversation with God proved the only way to learn his plans and the meaning of his actions. Human logic concluded that Yahweh had reversed the course of all he had done. The confession of faith evoked by the gossip channels’ report of Yahweh’s deeds would turn to derision. Worse, it would mean defeat for God’s people and thus great damage among the nations to Yahweh’s reputation (7:9). Certainly, that was not G od’s purpose. God responded to Joshua to show the problem. Divine acts and covenant G od’s acts in history grow out of the covenant relationship. G od did not act in a capricious way, one time helping Israel, the next defeating them in random fashion. God worked as Israel’s covenant partner. Israel sinned. They broke the covenant. The Lord Behind History

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T hat meant one thing. “The sons of Israel turn their backs to their enemies because they have become banned goods” (7:12). A s seen in the discussion above, Israel executed the ban as G od’s way o f giving them the land. When Israel failed to ex­ ecute the ban, Israel became banned. Israel had to deal with the sin, the breaking o f covenant in their midst, before they could expect Yahweh to act in history on their behalf. This theme, though difficult to explain, is important in Joshua and through the Old Testament. Covenant obedience does not earn G od’s support in battle. Israel does not come before G od with claims on God: You must act as we want because we have acted as the covenant laid out. Both as obedient people and as disobedient people, Israel comes before G od as a dependent people. His actions have preceded their knowledge o f him. His actions have made them his servants long before they have entered his covenant. Covenant obedience is a response to previous divine action. Cov­ enant obedience does not make demands upon God. Covenant obedience maintains the relationship in which G od can con­ tinue the actions for his people which he had earlier begun and promised. Covenant disobedience severs the relationship, leading God to act in a new way. G od’s action is now one of action to restore the relationship rather than to maintain his saving works for his people, works which continue the fulfill­ ment of his purposes and promises. To continue to be the agent and recipient of G od’s saving acts, Israel had to find G od’s way of restoring the covenant re­ lationship. God graciously pointed the way to restoration. The way of restoration may seem harsh. The sinner had made him­ self an enemy of God. Thus, he had to be treated as the other enemies who lived in the land. He had to become part of the banned goods and suffer the destruction all banned goods suffered (7:15). Even the one who suffered such punishment recognized its justice. Therefore, prior to punishment, he had to “set forth glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and give him praise” (7:19).

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The act of punishment thus witnessed to G od’s justice and to his right to expect praise from his people. When the ban was completed, the way to covenant renewal was again open. T hat way led through renewed battle and victory, showing God acting again for Israel, and through Shechem and covenant renewal worship, in which Israel as a whole committed them­ selves anew to the covenant relationship. Thus Israel learned the nature of God’s wonders, G od’s saving acts in their history. Historical acts begin in God’s plans for his people. They embrace the people into the covenant relationship which God initiates and the people freely accept. The acts continue as they complete G od’s purpose, fulfill his promises to the fathers, and testify to the covenant relationship with his faithful people.

Different kinds of divine acts God acts for his people in history in different ways. The people of Israel performed elaborate ritual acts at Jericho. The walls fell flat. The text does not explicitly say God made the walk fa ll, but certainly that is what the reader is expected to understand (6:20). Joshua executed intricate military strategy in the second battle of A i, but the result was already known, for “I have given into your hand the King o f The Ruin and his people and his city and his land” (8:1). G od even gave explicit military instructions (8:18). W hen Adoni-Zedek of Jerusalem and his southern coalition challenged Joshua, “Yahweh threw them into a panic” (10:10; compare Exod 14; Judg 4; 1 Sam 7). This set them up for Israel to destroy them. God participated in this, too, sending down well-aimed hailstones to kill the enemy and not harm Israel (10:11). Joshua asked for more. He needed daylight to complete his mission. G od supplied the daylight by acting against the gods o f the enemies. He made the sun and moon stand still in the sky (10:13). Thus, G od acted through Joshua to show his power over the symbols of the great gods of the enemies. The Lord Behind History

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One sentence summarized all this, “There has never been a day like it before or since when Yahweh listened to the voice o f man, for Yahweh fought for Israel” (10:14). God could fight for his people by listening to and bringing to pass the prayer of his leader. Joshua could even promise the Israelite chiefs that “Yahweh will act accordingly against all your enemies when­ ever you are fighting them” (10:25). The promise came true. “A ll these kings and their land Joshua captured at one time because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel” (10:42). Fighting the enemies of his people is part of the nature of Yahweh. He may use various ways to accomplish the task. He may let the human leader gain glory as well as himself (6:27). He may use what we would call natural miracles as in the falling o f the Jericho walls or ‘suspending the movement’ o f the heavenly bodies. He may simply use good military strategy as in the defeat of A i or the pursuit of the southern kings and the destruction of the northern kings. The means are not important. The central theme is that Yahweh carries out his plans for his people, acting for them in ways they cannot act for themselves.

Divine love and divine destruction Such language causes problems for many people. They do not want to talk of a God who wages war. They want only to speak of a God who loves. It is somehow more satisfying to the human mind to have a God who calls for us to love and who demonstrates that love continuously. The question must be raised: How is love demonstrated in an imperfect world filled with human evil and satanic powers? Does love not demonstrate itself in opposing such evil, in de­ feating evil and allowing the powers of good and love to prevail? But, the retort comes, how can defeating a whole country of people, including women and children and animals, be part of a plan of love, a plan o f making God’s good prevail and doing away with evil? The question allows no quick, slick, simple 90

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answer. Human logic does not have the power to justify the slaying of innocents. Human power does not have the right to take one historical example and use it as a precedence case for following the same strategy in a different human situation. That the Bible reports one instance of God using force to rid the world o f evil nations does not justify people using G od’s name and military means to fight current battles and destroy current populations. A t most, the biblical theologian must in faith say that G od’s ways of dealing with evil are justified because God is just. In the fighting of the conquest, G od demonstrated clearly that he is willing and able to become involved in the most difficult situations his people face. He is willing to participate in the situa­ tions filled with moral uncertainty just as much as he is willing to participate in situations where love and good obviously prevail. God does not isolate his actions to those places and times where his goodness and love can obviously and easily reveal themselves. He also acts in cases where humanity sees only darkness and despair. He operates, however, in light of eternal plans, plans of which humans can know only in part. G od’s justice and goodness can be judged only on the basis o f such plans and only on the basis of his eternal definitions, not on the basis of our finite viewpoints and our limited definitions. The book of Joshua explicitly raises the moral problem a notch further: “For it had been Yahweh’s idea to harden their hearts to encounter Israel in battle in order that they could put them to the ban without their having opportunity to plead for mercy. In­ deed this was so that they might annihilate them just as Yahweh commanded Moses” (11:20). God caused people to oppose his people and have no opportunity to become a part of his people. Can this be justified? Has the book of Joshua presented a less than biblical view of God? Is this the Old Testament God working in ways for beneath that of the New Testament Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? Or have we missed the inspired narrative’s point? The focus is on what God has done for his people Israel. The Lord Behind History

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Israelite obedience was made easier by G od, who caused the inhabitants o f the land to resist any temptation to plead for peace---- Here is a biblical lesson which has always been difficult for the people o f G od to learn. Deuteronomy commanded Israel to obey God, destroy the inhabitants, have no mercy, make no covenant, make no marriages (7:1-3). Such a command had a divine purpose. It removed the temptations to follow other gods. From the days of the Judges and especially from the period of Solom on onward, the great temptation was to make political alliances through covenants and political marriages between royal families (1 Kgs 11:1-8; 16:31; 20:30-43). To protect Israel against the major sin of idolatry, God commanded her not to show mercy to the enemy. To enable her to keep his commandment, G od caused her enemies to fight her rather than seek mercy and peace (W BC 7:130). G od’s actions in history encompassed more than simply working through Israel to bring his plans to pass. He worked in the hearts of even the enemies to accomplish his purposes. In this way, too, he showed that he was, indeed, Lord of all the earth. N o people could withstand him. He could work with them in any way he chose. He was sovereign even over the mental ca­ pacities of the enemies. Because of this, Israel could testify, “N ot a single man stood before them from all their enemies; rather all their enemies, Yahweh gave into their hand. Not a single word fell from every good word which Yahweh spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came to pass” (23:44-45).

Divine acts and future generations G od’s acts in history are not limited to one particular era. He worked through Joshua to give Israel the land. Joshua became old and advanced in years, ready to retire from the conquest task. G od led him to retire, but only after Yahweh promised to 92

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keep up the fight: “all the inhabitants o f the hill country from Lebanon unto M israphoth Mayim, all the Sidonians, I will dispossess them before the sons of Israel, only cause it to fall to Israel for an inheritance just as I commanded you” (13:6). The era o f Joshua would pass. The fighting o f Yahweh for his people would continue. G od’s purposes would come to pass despite the passing of mighty leaders. Neither Moses nor Joshua was necessary for God to act in history. God could and would act how and when he chose. The remainder o f the Bible and of human history testifies to this. God has acted, acts, and will continue to act for his people to bring his purpose to comple­ tions. This is biblical testimony. M odem historians and philosophers o f language have a problem with such statements. They want history to be the realm of human actions and thus expect the historian to explain events through the rules o f cause and effect, rules that pre­ sumably can be repeated in similar circumstances. They do not necessarily want to eliminate faith and God from human dis­ cussion. They simply want to bracket God out of the discussion when they are doing scientific history. Thus, they may not want to give the title history writing to a book such as Joshua. It be­ comes simply a source book for the modem historian to use in reconstructing history, but cannot be graced with the title a work o f history. Such treatment of the book o f Joshua and its events can be defended by human logic and with specific defi­ nitions of history. Such logic and rules o f definition ignore the biblical perspective on history and the biblical view o f God. The Bible refuses to isolate God in his heavenly palace, aloof from the actions of human history. Likewise, the Bible refuses to grant humans the power to explain all events on earth through the rules of cause and effect. The Bible portrays his­ tory in the language of faith, not in the language o f the “sci­ entific historian.” The language o f faith sees more at work than does the language of the “scientific historian.” The language of faith sees human history as a cooperative effort between God The Lord Behind History

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and his people to establish divine purposes. It sees God working to empower his people to accomplish his purposes. It sees G od as the primary cause of human history. This is not to say God is the only cause and that human actions are always divinely caused. The Bible goes to great lengths to describe human pride and rebellion in its exercise of freedom to oppose divine plans and actions. The Bible thus describes human history as a battleground in which forces of evil combat G od for the minds, the wills, the hearts o f people. Both the forces o f evil and G od work through human agency to accomplish their purposes. History is not simply a battle between God and Satan. H is­ tory encompasses all human actions. Human actions are not, however, simple actions resulting from totally free human de­ cisions. Human actions are actions resulting from people with commitments. Some human commitments are to other human beings in love, trust, and joint action. Some human commit­ ments are to powers of evil in outright rebellion against what the person knows to be right and good. Some human commitments are to God and his purposes. The complex interactions of these human commitments—which may all lie in the depths of a single individual— eventually give the im petus to human history. Explanation of human commitment, human will, hu­ man decision-making requires more than mere descriptions of cause and effect. Such explanation also invokes those forces that work to influence such commitments. The Bible and Christian faith hold to God as a major Actor in such explanations. The Bible and Christian faith go further. They hold that God is not content simply to work through human beings. A t times God chooses to work within the events of history. N o video camera can record such actions. N o physical eye can describe the hows and wherefores of such actions. On the other side, some events are beyond human imagination. N o human causes suffice to explain the events. The major such event is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Once the reality of that event is granted, the possibility of God’s 94

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actions in human history cannot be denied. The question then becomes not, does God work in history? but, in what ways does he work and in what events has he worked? The biblical record testifies to many events in which God works. The language of faith then extends that testimony to say that the possibility, yea, the probability, exists that God continues to work in human history.

God who makes demands God speaks. God acts in history. G od makes demands. The covenant relationship is not a one-sided relationship with no expectations on Israel. Rather, the relationship makes impos­ sible demands. “You are not able to serve Yahweh, because a holy God is he, a jealous deity is he, one who will not forgive your sins and transgressions. If you should forsake Yahweh and serve strange, foreign gods, he will turn and do evil to you. He will finish you off after having been so good to you.” (24:19-20) This part of G od’s nature provides the tension of the bibli­ cal narrative. An all-giving, always forgiving god would make no demands on the people. The people would stand under no threat. The conclusion of the story would be assured from the first. Threat, punishment, loss of power, exile would all be im­ possible. The story would feature one victory after another by a self-indulgent people. G od is not like that, so the story is not like that. Israel’s story is one of trying to meet God’s demands, a story with tremendous successes and horrendous failures. The book of Joshua has its share o f both. God makes leadership demands. To be leader of God’s people is not a position of honor to be enjoyed and rewarded. The leader o f G od’s people must listen to the demands of God. The Lord Behind History

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Leadership in Israel is leadership following G od’s orders, not unfettered leadership accomplishing personal desires. A t every turn Joshua turned to Yahweh for direction prior to issuing or­ ders to the people. Yahweh’s orders did not always follow the dictates o f human reason. Cross a flooded river. March openly around a walled city for seven days. Circumcise adult males. Search out and destroy a family of your own people. Make a strong, wily enemy people servants in your own worship place with daily contact with government officials. Stop the success­ ful conquest in the final phases just because the leader is getting old. Take important cities away from tribes to give them to priests. Such demands would not fill the pages of military strat­ egy published by most military academies. They did fill G od’s strategy demands on Joshua. The demands of leadership continued away from the field of action. God called on Joshua to study the Torah of Moses con­ tinually. The leader had to subject himself to religious tradition, to the teachings of his predecessor. The leader was not called on to initiate brilliant strategy of his own and to reformulate the expectations of the people in his own image. Rather, the leader had to carry on the methods and demands o f the previous generation of leadership. New leaders expect the right to cre­ ate new leadership styles and new directions for the people. Leaders want to place their own imprint on the life and history of the people. Joshua was called to imitate and continue more of the same much more than to set personal, individual marks on the nation’s history. Leadership demands called for courage and strength. Joshua had to become the first role model for Israel’s leadership in the shadow of Moses and his Torah. A s such, he had to trace a path unlike that the people might expect. They would look for lead­ ers like those in Egypt or in Canaan. They would look for strong personal initiative. They would expect a leader who exhibited his power for all to see to impress his own people and the enemy. Yahweh demanded that Joshua retreat to the study with the 96

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Torah of Moses. Did it take more courage to follow the N ear Eastern leadership role model or the M osaic model? Joshua also had to lead a people not fully committed to the M osaic Law, as the example of Achan showed quite early. Did Joshua have the courage to enforce the Law o f Moses in the face o f popular opposition? Was Joshua willing to stake his leadership on G od’s demands and directions, or would he compromise those demands to satisfy the desires o f the people? Leadership demands placed Joshua against Near Eastern models, against personal desires o f the people, and against political and military situations with seemingly little chance o f success. Could he face these and meet G od’s basic command: “Have I not commanded you, ‘Have conviction and courage. Do not tremble or get all shook up, for with you is Yahweh your God everywhere you go’?” (1:9). Was G od’s promise o f his presence sufficient reason to follow his leadership demands in face of other lead­ ership styles and demands? That was the basic question Joshua faced. The book of Joshua illustrates Joshua’s faithfulness in following God’s demands. He listened to divine orders, relayed these to his leadership staff or to the people, and carried them out just as they were given. He thus became a role model for all future leaders of God’s people. This became clear in his very first confrontation with the people. He faced the group most likely to give him trouble, the people from East o f Jordan who already had their assigned territories and had no obvious reason to cross the Jordan and continue the battle. Joshua showed them he knew the Torah o f Moses. He also showed them he had a plan for the future, a plan which made further demands on their time and commitment to the people Israel. They swore allegiance to him, recognizing that he con­ tinued the leadership style of Moses: “According to all the way in which we have obeyed Moses, so we will obey you---- Every man who rebels against your order and does not obey your words to the last detail which you command us shall be put to death” (1:17-18). The Lord Behind History

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The people East of Jordan recognized one need in Joshua’s life, the same need Yahweh had pointed out—conviction and courage (1:18; compare vv. 6, 7, 9). A courageous leader who stuck to his convictions could meet Yahweh’s leadership de­ mands. Such a leader could expect the fo llowship o f G od’s people. Such a leader had to meet one other implied demand of God: He had to recognize that he was not the fu lly-empow­ ered, independent leader. Yahweh had a heavenly army much more powerful than any earthly army. That army had a “prince o f the host of Yahweh” (5.T4). Joshua had to obey commands from on high and recognize leadership higher than his own before he could effectively issue commands to God’s people. Joshua led the earthly hierarchy, but he stood in a chain of command. He had to obey a higher general’s orders.

Ritual demands Yahweh also had ritual demands. The reader of Joshua comes away with memories of battles and conquest. The student of the structure o f the book of Joshua realizes that religious ritual surrounds, and to a large extent dominates, the stories of battle and conquest. Priests lead the way through the Jordan and around Jericho. Circum cision, Passover, and acknowledgem ent o f holy ground prepare the way to Jericho. Prayer and religious ritual determine the fate o f Achan and enable Israel to rebound from defeat to capture A i. Rededication to the Torah o f Moses and covenant of God interrupt the conquest narrative almost before it has begun. The priest and the lot play an important role in the distribution of territories to the tribes. The process is in­ terrupted as the tribes regather at Shiloh around the tent of meeting. The death of the high priest plays a crucial role in the law of the cities of refu ge. The last distribution of territory is to the levitic priests. The final story of the book is a dispute over the place 98

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of worship, settled by the priest. The final actions are a cov­ enant sermon and covenant renewal ceremony. The demands of worship thus dominate the structure of Joshua and probably should dominate the themes we study from the book to a greater extent than they usually do. 1. Study of Torah. Yahweh’s first ritual demand is the study of Torah. This is for the leader, Joshua, but it is also for the people. Covenant renewal is time for lessons in Torah (chs 8; 24). The people must know God’s history with his people and God’s expectations of his people. Because the people know both God’s actions and G od’s demands, they are ready to commit themselves to obey God’s covenant demands: “Far be it from us, the forsaking of Yahweh to serve other gods, for Yahweh is our God. He is the one who brought us up and our fathers from the land of Egypt, from the house of service, and who did before our eyes these great signs. He protected us in all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. Yahweh drove out all the peoples, indeed the Amorite living in the land, from before us. Yes, we also will serve Yahweh, because He is our God.” (24:16-18) The study of Torah leads the people to know God, his acts, and his demands. Such knowledge results in a pledge to serve God and meet his requirements. In ritual God’s people learn and give themselves to the God who demands. 2. Leadership of priests. Yahweh’s second ritual demand is the leadership of priests. Joshua was the leader, but he had con­ stantly to recognize the important role of religious leaders. The priests led through the Jordan. The priests led around Jericho. The priests participated in the distribution of land. The priests mediated the dispute over the worship place of the East Jordan tribes. The priests lived among each of the tribes. Political and military leadership was not enough. God had reserved certain The Lord Behind History

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places for the priests. Leaders such as Joshua had to recognize the priests’ role and encourage them in performing that role. A n important part o f that role was to keep before the people the ark of the covenant, symbolizing the presence o f God. Priests, not Joshua, had charge of the worship place and the symbol o f G od being with his people. In his demands, G od had divided leadership responsibility. Leaders had to accept G od’s way o f dividing leadership rather than seeking to gain more power at the expense o f someone else. Joshua provided a role model in letting the priests exercise their prescribed functions while limiting him self to those areas in which G od gave him leadership authority. 3. Worship requirements. The third ritual demand centered on worship requirements. God expected male members of the community to undergo circumcision as a sign o f the covenant people o f Abraham and as a symbol of a new generation com­ mitted to the demands of Yahweh and cleansed by Yahweh. Circumcision was done in the traditional way God expected— with flint knives rather than the newly-invented metal ones. He expected them to keep Passover, remembering G od’s acts in Egypt and committing themselves to till the land and depend upon its fruits for their food. G od expected them to worship where he chose. Thus they went to Shechem to renew the covenant. Likewise the East Jordan tribes’ altar was a witness but not an altar of worship. Also, the tent of meeting was set up, and the second portion of the distribution of the land occurred at Shiloh. Worship was not a human plan displaying human ca­ pabilities to God. Worship was a human response to G od’s great acts, a response made following the way G od had demanded. 4. Covenant demands. The final ritual demand centered on covenant. This was an extension o f the worship demand and has been discussed above under loyalty. God expected his people to gather at Shechem and renew the covenant, learning anew G od’s demands and committing themselves to those demands. Here Israel gained identity as the people of the G od who had 100

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acted in their history and thus had the right to make covenant demands, which they willingly chose to follow. Ethical demands God’s demands could be summarized as ethical demands. The center o f Torah demands were ethical. The book o f Joshua summarizes these in one sentence: “Only, be exceedingly careful to obey the commandments and the Torah, which M oses, the servant o f Yahweh, commanded you, to love Yahweh, your God, and to walk in all his ways and to obey his commandments and to cleave to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your being.” (22:5) G od’s demands are not based on a tyrant/helpless vassal re­ lationship. They are based on a relationship between a G od of love whose people love him in return. This love of God shows itself in all he has done for his people, calling the patriarchs, freeing the slaves in Egypt, making the covenant, guiding the people through the wilderness, and giving them the land. His love is also shown in his anger and jealousy. G od’s anger bums against his covenant people when they break the cov­ enant (7:1). G od’s anger guards the trust relationship. Israel broke the trust relationship they had with God. They refused to do what they had committed themselves to do. They stole part of the banned goods they had devoted to Yahweh. Anger is the response to a breach of that trust Anger is the response that shows God takes the relationship seriously and expects the agreed-upon demands of the relationship to be fulfilled. N ot to react in anger would mean that G od had not intended for Is­ rael to take the relationship seriously and that G od did not take the relationship seriously. Lack o f anger would mean shallow commitment. Absence of anger would mean the relationship The Lord Behind History

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could be an off-again, on-again arrangement at either party’s whim. The covenant was not simply a business deal with both parties signing a contract for a specified time or until a better deal came along. The covenant was an emotional commitment of the very heart and being of God and of Israel. Such emotional commitments bring em otional responses when they are broken. Israel learned the hard way that God took the covenant commitment seriously and responded in burning anger when Israel refused to take it seriously. Anger was not an eternal emotion o f God. God showed Israel how to respond to his anger. He provided ritual action, indeed radical ritual action, Israel could take (ch 7). When Israel did take the covenant relationship seriously enough to fall on her knees before G od and seek to renew the relationship, then God led them back in the way. When Israel followed God’s way back, then “Yahweh repented of his burning rage” (7:26). G od’s jealousy is another part of his emotional attachment to the covenant people. Jealousy in our terms is the reaction of a lover against the person who steals the heart of the beloved. The Canaanites attributed such emotions to their gods. Rival gods entered into lovers’ quarrels. For Yahweh, jealousy took another turn: It was both jealous and zealous. In his zeal to protect and maintain his love relationship with Israel, God placed demands upon his beloved people. He expected them to be holy, morally pure and perfect, just as he was. He expected them to be faithful, committed only to him as he was committed only to them. He loves them so much that he wants their undivided love in return. He will not share them with any other god. God turns his jealous indignation against the un­ faithful worshiper, not against the rival lover. He punishes the people who try to serve him along with some other god. God’s jealousy cannot tolerate this. He has given undi­ vided love and wants the same from them (cf. Exod 20:5; 34:14-16). (W BC 7:275) 102

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Uniquely, the jealousy o f God means God’s people cannot serve him: “You are not able to serve Yahweh, because a holy God is he, a jealous deity is he, one who will not forgive your sins and transgressions” (24:19). The nature o f God himself prevents Israel from serving him. His holy purity and jealous love both tie him in total devotion to his people and tie them off from fulfilling his demands. This has drastic consequences. G od will not forgive Israel’s sins (cf. Exod 23:21). His expectations of them are too high. His love for them is too great. He cannot easily ignore their wrongdoings, their casual flirtations with other gods. The gods of the neighbors would simply wait for the worshiper to come back. Yahweh goes out to discipline the errant lover until she returns. (W BC 7:275) Still, Israel does not think these demands are too high. In fa c e of the warning of God’s holy jealousy, Israel insists, “N o, but it is Yahweh we will serve!” The holy jealousy of G od is not a repulsive attribute which terrifies His people. It is part of the attraction of God. Only a God who expects so much and loves so exclusively can fulfill our expectations. We do not want to worship one who loves and leaves as we do. We commit ourselves to the One whose expectations are so high we can never fulfill them, but whose nature is so perfect that He can expect and demand no less because He expects and performs those demands for Himself.

Go d is faithful God expects his leader and his people to know and follow Torah. Central to Torah are the promises God made to the fa­ thers. A s seen above, the gift of land is basic to these promises. G od has not truly created a people until he has given them land of their own to till and rule independently of any other The Lord Behind History

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peoples or nation. The book o f Joshua centers on this aspect of God. G od’s speech, opening the book, promises, “Every place where the sole of your foot steps, to you I have given it, precisely as I told M oses---- it is you who will cause this people to inherit the land which I made an oath with their fathers to give to them.” (1 :3 ,6 ) G od faithfully remembers the promises o f Torah just as he expects the people to remember the demands o f Torah. G od promised to fulfill that oath to the fathers, but only to a faith ' ful generation (5:6). The generation o f Joshua was the faithful generation. “Joshua took all the land, according to all which Yahweh spoke to Moses” (11:22). The climax o f the conquest narrative reaffirms this: “Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to everything which he had sworn to their fath ers.. . . N ot a single word fell from every good word which Yahweh spoke to the house o f Israel. Everything came to pass” (21:43-45). If we had to isolate from the conquest narratives of the book of Joshua the one theme the writer wished to impress upon the readers, it was this: Yahweh has done his part. He is faithful. You can see what he has done in the past. You know you can trust him for the future. The corollary to this theme is similar: If you are in trouble, you cannot blame Yahweh. Past history shows his nature. He is faithful to keep his promises. The book of Joshua goes even one step further. If you are in trouble, you had better look at Yahweh’s demands and your faithfulness. Why? Because Yahweh is not only faithful to his promises. He is also faithful to his warnings: “You all know with all your hearts and with all your being that not one word has fallen from all the good words which 104

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Yahweh, your God, spoke concerning you. They all have come to pass for you. N ot one word has fallen from among them. And it will be the case that just as every good word which Yahweh, your God, spoke to you has come upon you just so Yahweh will bring upon you every evil word until he has destroyed you from upon this good land which Yahweh, your God, has given to you. When you trans­ gress the covenant o f Yahweh, your God, that he com­ manded you, and you go off and serve other gods and bow down in worship to them, then the anger o f Yahweh will bum against you and you will quickly wander away lost from upon this good land which he has given to you.” (21:14-16) God is faithful to his promises and to his threats. The lesson is clear. His people must be faithful, too.

God is present G od’s faithfulness shows itself in his presence.13 The theme o f presence is the repeated sign in chapter 1. G od promised Joshua victory over all his enemies. The only evidence Joshua had that victory would actually come was the promise of G od’s presence (1:5). That presence was not a new theme. Joshua had seen evidence of God’s presence previously, for it was the power of presence with Moses. Leadership in Israel had one necessary quality. The leader had to have G od’s presence, the same pres­ ence that had been with Moses. The presence was an unlimited presence. Joshua did not have to go to the place o f worship. He did not have to be sure the priests were with him. He did not have to ensure he had taken the ark of covenant. Sanctuary, priests, a rk . . . all could symbolize G od’s presence, but none was nec­ essary. G od was present “everywhere you go” (1:9). Thus, Joshua could have conviction and courage. He had no reason to tremble or to lose heart. He never had to rely on his own power and ability. He always had G od’s power and The Lord. Behind History

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ability to call upon. God called his leader to service, but that was never solitary service. It was always service in the eternal presence of God. Israel expected God to be present with their leader. The East Jordan tribes answered Joshua’s call to cross the Jordan with a united Israel with one demand: “According to all the way in which we have obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only let Yahweh your God be with you just as he was with Moses” (1:17). Joshua had to lead just as Moses had led. Joshua could not presume to lead in his own strength. He had to lead in the strength o f the One who had been with Moses. Joshua could meet that condition. Yahweh had made that promise in calling Joshua to service. The understanding that God was present with his people had a long history in Israel. It rooted in the life of the patriarchs. G od promised to be with them on their long, fearful journeys through unknown territories (Gen 28:15; 31:3; Exod 3:12). The theme was part of Israel’s understanding of holy war, war in which God directed his people to carry out certain instructions such as the ban and in which he promised to lead them with his presence. This is the meaning in the opening chapter of Joshua in its more limited sense (compare Num 14:43; Judg 6:11-16; 1 Sam 17:37; 2 Sam 7:9). Thus, the theme of divine presence appears in the laws of Deuteronomy only in the laws for battle (Deut 20:1-4). The narrative of Deuteronomy speaks o f G od’s presence in the wilderness wanderings (2:7) and in Joshua’s preparation for conquest (3 1 :6 ,8 ,2 3 ). The theme o f divine presence expresses one o f the basic roots o f Israelite faith, the be­ lief that Yahweh is the G od of Israel who accompanies, leads, protects, fights, and goes with the men he has chosen for his work. (W BC 7:12) Divine presence was not simply an invisible, unprovable promise. Divine presence brought specific accomplishments. For

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Joshua, this meant victory in battle—victory the people could see. God used the victory to do two things in the midst o f the people o f Israel. He made Joshua great, and he gave evidence that his presence was with Joshua just as it had been with Moses (3:7). This at least implies a definition of human greatness for Is­ rael. Israel could recognize human greatness through achievements of the human leader, but Israel knew that those achievements did not come through the leader’s own ability and skill. Those achievements pointed beyond the leader. They pointed to G od and his presence. Human greatness was a direct result of divine presence. This meant that human greatness brought recogni­ tion for the individual, but its basic result was to bring praise to God. The great human was simply an agent allowing God to work out his purposes and achieve his plans through his presence. To recognize that presence, Israel turned to its original great hero— Moses. Israel knew the story o f Moses and what he had accomplished. Israel knew that those accomplishments came through the presence o f Yahweh. Anytime another Israelite leader accomplished acts similar to Moses’ feats, Israel knew God was present with that leader. The leader did not take time to revel in his own greatness. Instead, he or she gave credit to God’s presence and turned to the next task in God’s commands. In Joshua’s case the evidence for divine presence was simple. Yahweh would drive out the inhabitants of the promised land. Then Israel would know beyond any doubt that the living God, Yahweh, the God of Israel, was present among his people (3:10). The battle of Jericho presented the first clear piece of evidence. There “Yahweh was with Joshua, and his reputation was in all the land” (6:27). This implies that Joshua’s feat at Jericho did more than show Israel that Yahweh was present with him and among them. It witnessed to everyone in the land of Canaan that Yahweh was with Joshua, building Joshua’s reputation. One may even take the statement a step further. A s seen above, in The Lord Behind History

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Hebrew “land” and “earth” are the same word. The writer of the book of Joshua may have intended for the readers to see the full implication of what Yahweh was doing through Joshua. Yahweh was making Joshua’s name great and thus proving his divine presence throughout the entire earth. Presence of God was not an unconditional, eternal guarantee. God’s presence came to a faithful covenant people. When Israel broke the covenant, they heard a different kind of word from Yahweh: “Never again will I be with you if you do not banish the banned goods from your midst” (7:12). Instead of enforcing G od’s ban on the goods captured in Jericho, Israel in the person o f Achan had taken some o f the banned goods for themselves. This transformed Israel into “banned goods.” A people under the ban could not expect the presence of God with them. The holy G od could not be present with a sinful people. The pres­ ence of the holy God with banned goods led to the destruction of the banned goods. Apparently, the whole plan of the book of Joshua could not be accomplished. Israel had refused to be the faithful generation which could experience G od’s presence. The key promise to Joshua in the book is the presence of G od. Divine presence is the prayer o f the people for Joshua, the basis of Joshua’s exaltation, and the hope of possessing the land. Passing over the covenant has let all this pass away. A ll is not totally hopeless. There is a big ‘if.’ Obedient people will destroy the banned goods in their midst and again experience divine presence. Israel must choose between the presence o f God and the presence of banned goods. (W BC 7:85) To experience the divine presence, Israel had to be the people o f the covenant. Otherwise they were choosing to be the people o f the covenant curses. To be G od’s people is to experi­ ence G od’s presence. N ot to experience God’s presence is to be banned goods, apart from G od, under the covenant curse, and 108

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in danger of destruction which was the eventual fate of banned goods. Joshua did not have a monopoly on divine presence. G od promised his presence to leaders carrying out his purpose. Caleb called on the divine presence as the guarantee o f his success in driving the mighty Anakim out o f Hebron and other cities (14:12). Phinehas, the priest, could testify to G od’s presence among all the people as a result of solving the threatened civil war between East and West Jordan tribes. When it became evident that no wrong had been committed and the tribes were still united in purpose, the priest declared, “Today we know that Yahweh is in our midst, because you have not disobeyed Yahweh in this disobedience. In that way, you have delivered the sons o f Israel from the hand o f Yahweh” (22:31). Disobedient Israel would have to face the threat o f divine punishment. Obedient Israel could live in the blessing and protection of the presence of Yahweh. T hat presence not only led G od’s people as they traveled in unknown places and guar­ anteed victory as God led his people into battle. T hat presence also witnessed to the unity and obedience o f his people. That presence guided the people to solve problems which threatened the very life of the nation. Amidst the arguments of men, the promised presence of G od reveals itself and brings peace. (W BC 7:249) For the book of Joshua, G od is the One who speaks, who demands, who acts in history, who is faithful, and, above all, who is present with his people. It is this God who makes cov­ enant with his people and guides them to victory over the people o f the promised land and who leads them to distribute the land fairly among the tribes. It is this G od who calls them to service even knowing they cannot meet his zealous, jealous demands, nor escape his anger, and must face the threat o f loss o f land and exile. Still, this G od is so great and perfect that Israel can The Lord Behind History

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only commit themselves to serve him, knowing the impossibility of the task. God accepts such a people as his covenant people and seeks to lead them further along the path to accomplish his purposes.

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EPILOQ THE PEOPLE OF GOD

The Old Testament as a whole, and the book of Joshua in particular, have a wide variety of themes. In the pages above, we have been able to touch on only a few of those topics. Study of the individual themes, however, does not tell the whole story. One must look further than the individual parts. One must ask the purpose, the intention of the whole. Having looked at leadership, land, law, loyalty, and Lord, we still do not have the larger picture. W hat is the total theme, the overarching goal of the book of Joshua? The present writer thinks the goal of the book, and quite probably of the Old Testament as a whole, is to give identity to the people of God.14The Bible is written by members of the people of God to a larger group. This larger group claims to be people of God. In the eyes of the inspired writer, however, they do not all give evidence of the marks of God’s people. The inspired book o f Joshua in its entirety provides a standard with which people who claim to be a part of G od’s covenant people can examine themselves and see if they really meet God’s test. That test involves a series of questions.

Ill

1. Have you committed yourself to the covenant God has made with his people? For Israel this was a public commitment as part o f the people of God. It involved the ceremonies apparent in 8:30-35 and in chapter 24. It meant having listened to the en­ tire Torah of God read publicly. It meant having rehearsed God’s history with his people. It meant knowing the serious nature of being the people of the G od who expressed him self not only in presence and love but also in anger and jealousy. It meant say­ ing publicly with God’s people, “Yahweh, our God, we will serve. His voice we will obey” (24:24). 2. Are you willing to accept the consequences of that commit­ ment? Com m itm ent to Yahweh sets you off from all your neighbors. They had freedom to worship all the gods they could find—to participate in the exciting, alluring worship rituals connected with the fertility gods. They had freedom to go to another god for help when the god they were calling on did not seem to be able to give help at the present moment in the present kind of need. In freedom they could call on the ancient traditions o f the land, which seemed to have worked well enough for many generations. They could worship at the many ancient worship places which had been used in the land for centuries. They did not have to limit themselves to the one place Yahweh chose for them. They were free to use their creative talents to form images o f their gods and ensure the presence of those gods among them. To commit oneself to the covenant of Yahweh was to give up all these freedoms and to worship where Yahweh said to worship without any image to ensure that Yahweh was even present. It was to agree to worship him and him alone, knowing the threats Yahweh had made against those unfaithful to him: “You are not able to serve Yahweh, because a holy G od is he, a jealous deity is he, one who will not forgive your sins and transgressions. If you should forsake Yahweh and serve strange, foreign gods, he will turn and do evil to you. 112

JO SH U A

He will finish you off after having been so good to you all.” (24:19-20) 3. Do you know why you serve Yahweh? Yahweh is different from all other gods. He is not limited to one area o f life. He is not just the god o f the sun or the god of fertility or the god of the household or the god o f war. Yahweh is the G od who proved his power when he had no people, when the fathers had other gods whom they “served beyond the rivers and in Egypt” (24:14). Yahweh is the G od who could begin to build his kingdom with one person: “I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and caused him to go through all the land of Canaan” (24:3). Yahweh is the only G od o f fertility. “I multiplied his seed” (24:3), fulfilling his promise to Abraham and the fathers and producing the nation o f Israel. Yahweh is the G od of the wanderer, leading Abraham from M esopotamia to Canaan and Israel from Egypt through the wilderness (compare 2 4 :3 ,7 ). Yahweh is the God over the nations. Israel’s enemies had two m ajor homes— M esopotam ia and Egypt. Yahweh took Abraham from Mesopotamia and Israel from Egypt. In Canaan, Israel faced smaller enemies all around. “I gave to Esau [the Edomites] Mount Seir” (24:4). “1 brought you all to the land of the Amorites, the ones who dwell beyond the Jordan. They fought you, and I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land” (24:7-8). Yahweh is the G od over all prophets. “B alak ,. . . king of Moab, rose and fought against Israel. He sent and called Balaam, the son of Beor, to curse you. But I did not consent to listen to Balaam, and he actually blessed you. I delivered you from his hand” (24:9-10). Yahweh is the G od of war. “I struck Egypt---- Your eyes saw what I did in Egypt---- The lords of Jericho— the Amorites, Epilog: The People o f God

113

the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites—fought against you. I gave them into your han d.. . . But it was not by your sword nor by your bow. I gave to you a land in which you did not exert yourself and cities which you did not build, and you lived in them” (24:5, 7 ,1 1 -1 3 ). Yahweh is the God of agriculture. “(I also gave) vineyards and olive orchards, which though you did not plant, you are eating” (24:13). Yahweh is the God who controlled the land and gave it to whom he pleased. He gave it to show his faithfulness to his word: “Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it” (21:43). Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth and sovereign in war, is above all the God who shapes rest and peace for his people. “Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to everything which he had sworn to their fathers” (21:44). You serve Yahweh because he is different from all other gods. His difference attracts you. His difference proves his claim to be the only God who can exert influence over your lives. His difference justifies his demand for exclusive allegiance. His dif­ ference makes you willing to choose in freedom to serve him and put aside all other gods. You serve Yahweh because of who he is and what you choose. 4. Do you know God’s Torah demands on Israel? Have you paid attention to the covenant ceremonies? Have you realized that the reading of Torah is more than a public ritual done for pomp and circumstance? Have you seen Torah directed to you per­ sonally, calling you to embrace its demands as the lifestyle you choose, the lifestyle God has set out as the best for you? Do you see Torah as God’s gracious gift to you setting out the boundary lines of life with God and giving you freedom to shape your life within those boundary lines? Are you willing to share Torah with all those with whom G od shares it—“including women and children, and the aliens 1 14

JO SH U A

active among you” (8:35)? Will you witness against yourself that you have submitted your life to Torah no matter what the con­ sequence? 5. Do you understand the one word that summarizes Torah? Are you ready to make love the central characteristic of your life? “Only be exceedingly careful to obey the commandments and the Torah which Moses, the servant of Yahweh, commanded you, to love Yahweh, your God” (22:5). “You must guard your­ selves carefully to love Yahweh, your God” (23:11). Being people o f God does not mean drearily keeping a series o f laws in order to be good or to escape punishment. Being people of God does not mean keeping a Torah scorecard to show how good you are and stroke your pride. Nor does it mean cowering in fear, looking behind every rock, knowing that be­ hind the next turn God will have someone waiting to jump out and get you because he found the one place you stepped across the Torah boundary. Being people of God is being in love with the most wonderful Person you ever met. It means joyfully searching for ways to please the Beloved because o f the wonder o f the love that dominates your life. It is celebrating a lifelong love affair with the living God, the Lord of all the earth. Such a love affair calls for courage, for faith, and for conviction as you live in G od’s rest. That is the book of Joshua, a summary o f the people o f God committed to the covenant, accepting the consequences of that commitment, knowing why they serve God, knowing the demands o f Torah, understanding love as the center of Torah. Joshua shows how God defined and demonstrated leadership, gave land and law, demanded loyalty, and acted as Lord. Joshua holds up what once was and invites people to believe it can happen again.

Epilog: The People o f God

115

NOTES

1. For a discussion of laments, see A. A. Anderson, Psalms, New Century Bible Commentary (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1972), 1,36-39; Claus Westermann, Praise and Lament in the Psalms (Atlanta: John Knox, 1981); Leslie C. Allen, Psalms, Word Biblical Themes (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1987), 59-74; Trent C. Butler, “Piety in the Psalms,” Review and Expositor 81 (Summer, 1984), 385-94. 2. This is worked out mote fully in Trent C. Butler, “The Form of the Book of Joshua and Its Significance for Old Testament Research,” an unpublished paper delivered at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Anaheim, Calif., Nov., 1985. 3. See Deuteronomy commentaries for further development of these themes: John D. W. Watts, “Deuteronomy,” The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), I, 175-296; Gerhard von Rad, Deuteronomy, The Old Testament Library (Phila­ delphia: The Westminster Press, 1970); P. C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1976); A. D. H. Mayes, Deuteronomy, The New Century Bible Commentary (London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1979).

116

C O LO SS1A N S

4. See Edward R. Dalglish, “Judges” The Broadman Bible Com­ mentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), II, 377-463; J. Alberto Soggin, Judges, The Old Testament Library (Philadelphia, The Westminster Press, 1981); Trent C. Butler, “The Royal Theme in the Book of Judges,” an unpublished paper delivered at the annual meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature, Anaheim, California, November, 1989. 5. See Ben E Philbeck, Jr., “ 1 and 2 Samuel,” The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), III, 1-145; Ralph W. Klein, 1 Samuel, Word Biblical Commentary 10 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1983). 6. See A. A. Anderson, 2 Samuel, Word Biblical Commentary 11 (Dallas, Tex.: Word, 1989); Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theol­ ogy (London: Oliver & Boyd Ltd., 1962), 1,306-26. 7. See M. Pierce Matheney, Jr., and Roy L. Honeycutt, Jr., “1 Kings” and “2 Kings,” The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), 246-396; Simon J. DeVries, I Kings, Word Biblical Commentary 12 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1985); T. R. Hobbs, 2 Kings, Word Biblical Commentary 13 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1985). 8. For further discussion of Joshua’s “office,” see Word Biblical Commentary 7,9-10. 9. On holy war theology, see Gwilym H. Jones, “The Concept of Holy War,” The World ofAncient Israel, ed.R .E. Clements (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 299-321; Elmer A. Martens, God’s Design (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1981), 44-46, 60-63, 204-6; John H. Yoder, ‘“To Your Tents, O Israel’: The Legacy of Israel’s Ex­ perience with Holy War,” Studies in Religion 18 (1989), 345-62. 10. For a theological discussion of law, see Brevard S. Childs, Old Testament Theology in a Canonical Context (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), 50-62; R. E. Clements, Old Testament Theology (London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1978), 104-30.

117

11. For a discussion of covenant, see Trent C. Butler, “Covenant,” Holman Bible Dictionary (Nashville: Holman, 1991), 308-12; R. Davidson, “Covenant Ideology in Ancient Israel,” The World of An­ cient Israel, ed. R. E. Clements (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 323-48. 12. For an overview of the biblical understanding of history, see Trent C. Butler, notes and “Summary of the Doctrine of History,” Disciple’s Study Bible (Nashville: Holman, 1988), 1680-81,1855-57. 13. Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1978), has used divine “presence” as the central theme for bib­ lical theology. 14. For a brief overview of “people of God,” see R. E. Clements, Old Testament Theology, 79—103.

118

COLOSSIANS

INDEX OF SCRIPTURES

Genesis 9:11 9:15 12:7 15:3-4 15:7 17:1-14 18 22:17 24:60 26:5 28:4 28:15 31:3

69 69 36 40 40 69 60 40 40 51 40 106 106

Exodus 2:24 3 3:5 3:12 4:10 5:15-16 6 6:4 6:4-5 7:20 9:10

69 76 60 106 25 25 76 36 69 25 25

13:3,14 13:9 14 14:31 16:4 16:28 18:20 19-24 19:5-6 19:8 20:5 20:12 23:21 24:3 24:7 24:7-8 24:12 24:13 32:11 32:17,18 33:14 34 34:14-16

25 51 89 25 51 51 52 76 69 69 102 49 103 69 52 69 52 23 24 23 49 76 102

Leviticus 16:8 18:24-25

44 45

18:27-28

45

Numbers 11:28 13:6 13:25-33 13:30 14:24 14:43 18:20 21:24 21:32 21:35 25 26:52-56 27:1-11 33:53 33:54 36:1-12

24 31 82 40 61 106 38,60 40 40 40 67 44 61 40 44 61

Deuteronomy 1:8 1:21 1:36 1:37-38 1:39 2:7

40 40 61 76 40 106 119

2:12 2:21-22 2:24 2:31 2:34 3:6 3:12 3:18 3:20 3:21-22 3:28 4:13 4:39 4:47 5 5:14 5:23 6:18 7:1-4 7:2 9:4-6 10:9 11:22-25 12:9-10 17:18-20 17:20 18:1-2 18:2 18:12 18:12-17 20:1-4 20:10 20:13-14 20:16-18 21:22-23 25:19 27-28 27 28:58 28:65 29:1 29:14-15 30:10 31:2-8 31:3 31:6 31:8 31:9 31:14-15 31:23 31:24

120

40 40 40 40 46 46 40 40 40,49 76 76 69 80 40 19 49 83 40 45 71 45 60 59 49 24,52 53 38 60 45 45 106 46 46 46,58 30 49 69 31 52 50 69 69 52 76 40 106 106 69 76 76,106 52

31:25-26 31:26 32:44-47 34:5 Joshua 1:1-18

69 52 59 26

12-13,16, 24,33,105 1:1 9,23,25 1:1-9 7,76 58 1:1-4 1:1-2 25 1:2 35 13 35,59,104 50 1:4 1:5 34,105 32,33,36,42, 1:6 98,104 1:7-9 26 1:7-8 24,53 25,56,98 1:7 1:9 97-98,105 1:10-18 7 1:10 27,33 1:11 36,40,79-80 1:12-18 18 1:12-15 65,67 1:13-15 36,49 25 1:13-14 1:13 48 1:14-15 41 48-49 1:15 65 1:16 1:17-18 97 106 1:17 1:18 32,65,98 2:1-21:45 13 2:1-11:23 17 13,42 2:1-12:24 12-13 2:1-5:15 7 2:1-24 2:1 9 2:8-11 80 2:9 36 2:10 46-47 2:11 36,80 36 2:14 29,36,82 2:24 3:1—5:1 7 27,59 3:1-4:24 59 3:1-17

9 3:1 3:2 27 82 3:4 3:5 82-83 76 3:7-8 3:7 34,58,107 40,83,107 3:10 3:11 84 3:13 49,84 9 4:1 85 4:6-7 4:8 59 4:9 29 4:10 59 4:12 66 4:14 34 4:15-16 77 85 4:20-24 29 4:22-23 85-86 4:24 49 4:38 5:1-15 33,59,70,78 5:1 36,86 5:2-9 7 5:2 9,77 5:6 37,87,104 5:7 87 5:9 29,59,77 5:10-12 7,9 85 5:10 5:13-15 7,60 26,98 5:14 5:15 77 6:1-11:23 12-13 7,27,33 6:1-27 6:2-5 58,77 6:2 9,37 6:16 37 6:18 46 89 6:20 6:21 46 49 6:23 46 6:24 34,90,107 6:27 7:1-26 32,54,60-61, 102 7:1-5 7 7:1-3 92 7:1 9,46-47,101 7:2 9 7:3 46 C O LO SSIA N S

7:6-15 7:6-9 7:7 7:9 7:10-26 7:10-15 7:10-13 7:11-12 7:11 7:12 7:15 7:19 7:24 7:26 8:1-29 8:1-2 8:1 8:7 8:18 8:26 8:27 8:28 8:29 8:30-35 8:30 8:31 8:33-35 8:33 8:35 9:1-3 9:1-2 9:3 9:4-14 9:9-11 9:14 9:15 9:16-21 9:22-23 9:23 9:24-27 9:24 9:26 9:27 10:1-5 10:1-2 10:1 10:6-14 10:8 10:10 10:11

79 7 37,87 37,87 7 77 60 47 37,70 88,108 47,70,88 88 29 102 7,99 77 9,58,60,89 37,41 37,58-89 47 58 30 30 7,16,19, 31,54,70,112 9 25 54 25,27,55 54,114 10 8 8 8 80 10,60,71,77 8,10 8 8 71 8 25 10 30 8 47,80 71 8 37,58,77 89 89

Index o f Scriptures

57,89 90 8 37 90 30 47 47 47 47 47,58 90 8 80 8 37,58,77 37 58 25,47,58 25,59 13 8 47,91 47 104 17-18,41, 49,59 8,12 66 41 25,41 41 50 13 12,66 8,17-18,77 10,17,31,38, 41,48,58 38 42-43,93 43 8 25,38,43 31,41 38,43,60,66 38 38 38 38,43,60,66 43 12

10:13 10:14 10:15-43 10:19 10:25 10:27 10:28 10.35 10:37 10:39 10:40 10:42 11:1-4 11:1 11:5-15 11:6 11:8 11:9 11:12 11:15 11:16-12:24 11:16-23 11:20 11:21 11:22 11:23 12:1-24 12:1-6 12:1 12:6 12:7 13:1-21:42 13:1-19:51 13:1-33 13:1-7 13:1 13:2-6 13:6 13:7 13:8-33 13:8 13:13 13:14 13:15 13:24 13:29 13:33 14:1-19:48 14:1-17:18

14:1-5 8 10,27-28 14:1 14:1-2 43 14:2 61 38 14:3-4 14:5 58 14:6-15 8,31 77 14:6-14 14:6 61 14:7-8 68 25 14:7 14:9 43 14:12 42,109 14:13 10,38,61 68 14:14 14:15 49 15:1-17:18 8 15:1 61 10,61 15:13 42 15:14 15:63 31,41 16:1 61 16:10 31,41 61 17:1 43 17:3-6 43 17:4-6 10,28 17:4 17:12-13 41 17:14-18 10 39,43,61 17:14 39 17:15-18 17:36 77 18:1-19:48 8,12 18:1 44 18:3 42 43 18:4 18:6 44 25,38,66 18:7 18:9 57 18:10 44 19:9 43 19:47 41 19:49-50 8,38 19:51 8,10,28,44 20:1-21:42 13 20:1-9 9-10 20:1-6 77 20:1-2 59 20:8 66 20:30 37 20:32 37

121

21:1-42

9-10,33,38, 43,66 21:1 28, 21:2 60 61 21:4 66 21:7 21:8 61 21:12 39 21:14-16 104-5 21:36-39 66 21:43-45 9,13,17-18, 104 21:43 37,39,41,114 21:44 49,114 21:45 61 2 2 :1 -2 4 :2 8 13 13,67 22:1-34 67 22:1-4 22:1-6 13,18 9 22:1-8 22:2 10,25 22:3 32 41,49 22:4 22:4-5 25 22:5 55,67,77-78, 101,115 22:6-8 67 13 22:7-34 9 22:9-34 22:9 41,67 10 22:10-34 22:13 28 28 22:14 32 22:17 22:19-20 67 22:19 41 22:20 47 22:21 28 28 22:30-31 109 22:31 2 3 :1 -2 4 :2 8 13-14, 20,71 9,18,49, 23:1-16 62,71 17,31,49 23:1 23:2 27 23:5 42,62 23:6 56,62 56 23:7 23:8-9 32 23:8 41

122

23:9 23:11 23:12-13 23:13 23:14-15 23:15-16 23:15 23:16 23:44-45 24:1-28 24:2-13 24:3 24:4 24:5 24:7-8 24:7 24:9-10 24:11-13 24:13-18 24:13 24:14-24 24:14 24:15-16 24:16-18 24:19-20 24:19 24:24 24:26 24:28 24:29-33 24:29 24:31 24:33 Judges 1:1-36 1:9-20 2:1-5 2:10 2:20-23 3:1-4 3:1-2 3:11 4

5:31 6:11-16 8:28 21:25 1 Samuel 1:18

41 55,71,115 41 39 39 77 39,62 71 92 9,18,20,49, 72,99,112 62,77 113 39,113 114 113 113-14 113 114 39 39,114 62 113 32 72,99 95,112 32,103 112 56-57 43 9,13-14 26 27 28 20,33,49 31 31 31 27 31 31 45 49 89 49 106 49 27 20 57

7 15 17:26 1737

89 48 83 106

2 Samuel 3:18 7:1 7:8 7:9-11 7:9 7:13 14:17

20 26 49 26 49 106 50 49

1 Kings 8:12-13 8:23 8:53 8:56 11:1-8 11:13 14:18 16:31 20:30-43 21:3

20 57 80 25 25,50 92 26 25-26 92 92 43

2 Kings 17:13 17:37 18:12 19:4 19 :26 19:34 21:8 21:8-15 22-23 23:25-28

20 25-26 53 25 83 83 26 25 26 24,53 26

2 Chronicles 1:3 24:6

25 25

Nehemiah 1:7-8

25

Psalms 18:47 42:3 83:1 84:3 86:2

83 83 49 83 26

COLOSSIANS

97:5 114:7 116:7 116:16 123:2 132:8

84 84 49 26 26 49

Proverbs 1:8 4:4 4:11 13:14 16:33

51 51 51 51 44

Isaiah 8:16 28:12 53

51 49 26

Jeremiah 10:10 18:18 23:26 45:3 49:1-2

83 51 83 49 40

Ezekiel 7:26

51

Daniel 6:21

83

Hosea 2:1 4:6

83 51

Jonah 1:7

44

Micah 4:13 6:15

84 40

Haggai 2:11-13

51

Zechariah 4:14 6:5

84 84

Malachi 3:22

25

Matthew 22:34-40

55

OTHER LITERATURE NASB New American Standard Bible

Index of Scriptures

123

WORD BIBLICAL THEMES 1 and 2 Kings T. R. HOBBS

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC 1 and 2 Kings Copyright © 1989 by Word, Incorporated Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-11485-7 (softcover) Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Hobbs, T. R. (T. Raymond) 1 and 2 Kings: T. R. Hobbs. p.  cm. Biography: p. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-849-90795-1 1. Bible. O.T. Kings—­Criticism, interpretations, etc. I. Title. II Title: First and Second Kings. III. Series BS1335.2.H62 1989 222’.506—dc2089-16468 Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures are from the Revised Standard version of the Bible. Copyright © 1952 [2nd edition 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations indicated WBC are from the author’s own translation in the Word Biblical Commentary, 2 Kings. Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—­electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—­except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 /LSC/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedicated to the Memory o f Michael Hobbs (1939-1988)

CONTENTS

Foreword Preface 1. Introduction The perspective o f 1 and 2 Kings Sources Structure Historical background 1 and 2 Kings’ place in Scripture 2. Kings The role o f kings in Israel Kings and Torah Royal examples In the final analysis 3. Prophets The nature o f prophecy in Israel Prophets and kings Prophets and politics Prophets and history Elijah and Elisha vii

ix xi 1 1 4 6 7 11 13 13 16 18 21 27 27 30 31 33 34 Contents

4. The People o f G od The nature o f G od's people “Israel” Responsibility People and covenant Worship 5. The Covenanted Land W hat and where? Center and boundaries U se and mismanagement Shrinking limits Land and loss 6. Sin and Judgment The language o f sin Sin, judgment, and law Judgment 7. Hope, and the Anger o f God Context The anger o f G od Hope Restoring fortunes 8. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index of Scriptures

1, 2 KINGS

41 41 44 45 46 50 53 53 55 56 58 60 65 65 69 74 77 77 78 81 83 89 95 97 101

viii

FOREWORD

Finding the great themes o f the books o f the Bible is essential to the study of God’s Word, and to the preaching and teaching o f its truths. But these themes or ideas are often like precious gems; they lie beneath the surface and can only be discovered with some difficulty. The large com­ mentaries are most useful to this discovery process, but they are not usually designed to help the student trace the impor­ tant subjects within a given book o f Scripture. The Word Biblical Themes meet this need by bringing together, within a few pages, all o f what is contained in a biblical volume on the subjects that are thought to be m ost significant to that volume. A companion series to the Word Biblical Commentary, these books seek to distill the theo­ logical essence o f the biblical books as interpreted in the more technical series and to serve it up in ways that will enrich the preaching, teaching, worship, and discipleship o f G od’s people The Books o f Kings narrate that exciting and important period o f Israel’s history when kings and prophets walked ix

Foreword

the land. God was at work through them-—sometimes, in spite o f them. In this volume, Professor T. R. Hobbs has caught the heart o f the writers’ insights and allows us to share that vision and feel those convictions. This volume is sent forth in the hope that it will con­ tribute to the vitality o f G od’s people, renewed by the Word and the Spirit and ever in need of renewal. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky

1, 2 KINGS

Joh n D . W. W atts O ld Testam ent E ditor W ord B ib lic a l C o m m en tary

x

PREFACE

The books o f 1 and 2 Kings comprise a masterful state­ ment about the history o f G od with his people at a very important time in that history. From the end o f the eleventh century B.C. to the early part o f the sixth century B.C ., Israel experimented with having a monarchy. These books cover a period slightly shorter than this. Commentaries on the books o f Kings (see, for example, W BC 12 and 13*) provide for a close and careful exami­ nation o f the text, the language, the variant readings, the historical background, and the final construction o f the narrative. That work is invaluable, and any serious student o f this part o f the O ld Testament needs to wrestle with the same problem s and issues with which the com­ mentaries deal. However, there is also great value in stepping back to ex­ amine the full canvas, and to sketch in broad strokes some of the major themes which emerge from a study o f the books. * word Biblical Commentary, Volumes 12 and 13.

xi

Preface

Not only is this o f great value, but it is also a welcome task, and I am grateful to the O ld Testament Editor o f the Word Biblical Commentary, Dr. John D. W. Watts, for the invita­ tion to tackle it In such a task one must always be wary o f the danger of systematizing a work which was written in an ordered and disciplined, but unsystematic form. That is, the themes which I have chosen to expound in this volume are themes which I think are o f value, and I think they are o f value because they impress me as such when I read the text Such a thematic approach is a perfectly sound method o f biblical study— as long as one is aware o f what one is doing. The danger is, o f course, in supposing that such themes are all that can be said about the rich narrative o f 1 and 2 Kings. The narrative under discussion is a well-crafted one which rewards the readers each time they come to it seek­ ing insight and understanding. It is a story o f faithfulness and apostasy, o f courage and cowardice, o f remarkable wis­ dom and equally remarkable stupidity. Like all good stories it has its heroes and villains, but also like all good stories it often surprises the reader with the image reflected from its pages as if from a mirror. That is the genius o f these books. That is also the way these books function as the Word o f God. Like David listening to the story told by the outraged Nathan, we all too often fail to recognize our own reflec­ tion and we condemn too easily the faults and sins o f oth­ ers— faults and sins that we ourselves could rightly own. It is my hope that the readers o f this small volume will be encouraged by its pages to read again the books it seeks to expound. N o writer on the books o f Kings can be unaware o f the contribution made to his or her understanding o f the short, but effective, work o f Jacques Ellul, The Politics of God and the Politics of M an.1 Ellul concentrated on 2 Kings, and brought to bear on the book his understanding o f politics 1, 2 KINGS

xii

and theology. He developed an approach quite different from the one we will take. Ellul chose to concentrate on various characters and has provided a very valuable and stimulating study which is to be recommended. A number o f people have encouraged and assisted me in the writing o f this study, and deserve my thanks. This book was completed during the first part o f a sabbatical leave, and I would like to thank the principal o f McMaster Divinity College, Dr. Melvyn Hillmer, as well as the senate and board o f trustees for providing the opportunity to concentrate on writing for an extended period o f time. My colleague, Dr. Stuart Frayne, Hurlburt Professor o f Preaching at Mc­ Master Divinity College, read the completed manuscript and from his wisdom, experience, and common sense made nu­ merous suggestions for improvement For this act o f kind­ ness I am very grateful. Any errors and clumsiness o f style that remain are entirely my responsibility. Two items o f information are in order concerning cer­ tain abbreviations used in this volume: (1) References in the text which refer to the companion volumes in the Word Biblical Commentary are abbreviated, e.g., W BC 12:322, indicating a reference to Volume 12, p. 322. Volume 12 is 1 Kings in the Word Biblical Commentary, and Volume 13 is 2 Kings. (2) In some instances, verse numbers in the Hebrew Bible differ from those in English versions. W hen such a reference is cited, the Hebrew enumeration will be given first, followed by the English verse number(s) in brackets. In the early stages o f the writing o f this book my brother, Michael Hobbs, died of cancer. I loved him and will miss him, and to his fond memory this book is dedicated. T. R. Hobbs McMaster University

xiii

Preface

1

INTRODUCTION

The perspective of 1 an d 2 K in gs The division between 1 and 2 Kings is quite artificial and occurred relatively late in the books' history. The material from the first chapter o f 1 Kings to the last o f 2 Kings should be treated as one literary u n it A s we shall see, it is a composition using information from many sources, but in its final form it is a unity. In Jewish tradition, this part o f what Christians know as the O ld Testament has been desig­ nated part o f the “Former Prophets," and m odem critical scholarship has seen Kings as part o f the “deuteronomistic history." W hat do these terms mean? W hat relationship do these books, which are usually seen as “history,” have to the prophets? Further, what do 1 and 2 Kings have to do with the book o f Deuteronomy? First, it will be helpful to note the differences between 1 and 2 Kings, and those parts o f the books o f Chronicles which cover the same period o f Israelite and Judaic history. The books o f Chronicles are concerned with different

1

Introduction

aspects o f the same history—the origin and development o f religious ritual and religious personnel in that history. For example, a comparison o f the two accounts o f the reform o f Josiah (2 Kgs 22,23; 2 Chr 34,35) shows that the Chronicles account pays far more attention to the role o f the priests in the reform, and the practice o f the Passover, which Josiah reinstated in Jerusalem. Further, the reign and reform o f Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18-20; 2 Chr 29-32) is treated in a similar fashion by the chronicler. Such comparisons clearly show the emphasis o f the chronicler, but what o f the writer o f l and 2 Kings? It is important to note what the chronicler omits in his retelling o f the accounts o f 1 and 2 Kings, which he probably had before him when he wrote. Nothing is found in Chroni­ cles o f the activities o f the great prophets o f Israel N o men­ tion is made o f the role o f Isaiah in the reign o f Hezekiah. And, most important o f all, nothing o f the activities o f the great prophets Elijah and Elisha is found in Chronicles. This omission throws into sharp focus their presence in such a large part o f 1 and 2 Kings. So, a major difference between the two accounts is that the writer o f 1 and 2 Kings includes much more material about the prophets in his history. But we can say more. Beyond the stories about prophets, the writer o f 1 and 2 Kings tends to look at the history he is writing from the prophetic point of view. Prominent in his scheme o f things is the Word o f God, uttered by the prophet It often determines the history that follows. The same con­ cern for correct worship o f God, for proper treatment o f society’s marginalized persons, that is found in the poetry o f the prophets is also found in 1 and 2 Kings. This double emphasis— on the stories about prophets on the one hand, and the historic role o f the prophets on the other— provides 1 and 2 Kings with a distinct prophetic flavor. But what does Kings have to do with Deuteronomy? After all, that is surely the source of the term deuteronomistic. The 1, 2 KINGS

2

same material designated “Former Prophets” (Joshua through 2 Kings) in Jewish tradition is called deuteronomistic history (often Dtr for short) for reasons o f literary style and presenta­ tion. Literary style is, o f course, often a difficult thing to detect, but it is not impossible. The book o f Deuteronomy, for example, has long been regarded as distinct from the rest o f the Pentateuch because o f its marked style. It tends to be pedantic and to have a Hebrew dialect which can be called crude. Its sentences are relatively short and there is a tend­ ency to use the same words, or clusters o f words, over and over again. (The reader is referred to the works o f Driver and Weinfeld for several examples o f the style.)1 In addition to this, the book o f Deuteronomy is presented as one long speech of Moses. Unlike the other books of the Pentateuch, action is kept to a minimum. Instead, ideas are presented, usually in a homiletic or didactic manner. In Deuteronomy, Moses persuades, cajoles, threatens, and en­ courages with the spoken word. In the deuteronomistic his­ tory as a whole, and in 1 and 2 Kings in particular, speeches, spoken prayers, or editorial comments accomplish the same purpose. Further, it is in these speeches— e.g., Joshua’s at Shechem (Josh 23, 24) or Samuel’s at Mizpah (1 Sam 8), or prayers (e.g., Solomon’s at the dedication o f the temple, 1 Kgs 8), or prophetic comments (2 Sam 7; 1 Kgs 18), or other im­ portant comments (1 Kgs 4; 9)—that the deuteronomistic ten­ dencies o f the history become clear. But beyond this, when Israel and Judah are seen going into exile, the evaluation o f the history at that point bears remark­ able similarity to the judgments found in the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 4 and 28 anticipate the apostasy, judgment, and exile o f the people. And the reforms carried out by Josiah (2 Kgs 22, 23) have long been recognized as dependent upon the standards set down in Deuteronomy. W hat does this tell us about the author o f 1 and 2 Kings (and indeed o f the whole deuteronomistic history)? He is a 3

Introduction

“deuteronomist” insofar as he sees in the book o f Deuteron­ omy the standards which the people o f Israel and Judah must maintain in their public and religious lives in order to be called the people o f God, and to remain bound to him in covenant This does not mean, o f course, that the other books o f the Pentateuch are unimportant, any more than the choice o f one particular Christian theologian over another as one’s favorite, means that the others are o f no value. It was simply the author’s decision that the message o f Deuteronomy, exemplified in the history o f the people, needed to be heard again. Sources The writer did not just sit down and write a story. He chose instead to compile a cohesive narrative o f the history o f his people, which would demonstrate the validity o f the principles set out in the book o f Deuteronomy. To be true to the past he needed to rely on known contemporary under­ standings o f the past, and to be true to his overall task he needed to offer his readers a narrative worth reading. To accomplish the first part o f this task he used many extant literary sources—like any good historian— and also tradi­ tions about the p ast It will be helpful for an tinderstanding o f the work to mention some o f these sources. Undoubtedly our writer was dependent upon written records from archival sources. He was writing during the Exile (ca. 500 B.C .). To give some perspective to the material he is dealing with, he was removed one hundred years from Josiah, two hundred years from Hezekiah, three hundred years from Elijah and Elisha, and four hundred from the reign o f Solomon. A s in m ost ancient Near Eastern central­ ized bureaucratic administrations, records were kept in Israel and Judah, and must have been used for the kind o f historical narrative we find in 1 and 2 Kings. These records 1, 2 KINGS

4

would include incidents from the reigns o f former kings, matters o f foreign policy, records from the original building and subsequent repairs o f the temple. The beginning of 1 Kings (chs 1,2) is seen by many scholars as the conclusion to the “Throne Succession Story” o f King David’s reign. It has also been argued that at times the writer lapses into a detectable archival style, thus betraying the source o f his information. Be that as it may, the narrative o f 1 and 2 Kings is no haphazard or fanciful creation, but is in part a careful compilation from a variety o f official sources. The writer’s familiarity with the prophetic tradition shows he also had access to the stories about the prophets. The precise relationship between the account o f Hezekiah’s reign in 2 Kings 18-20 and the account o f the same events in Isaiah 36-38 is difficult to determine, but our writer was fully aware o f the role o f this major prophet in these critical events in Judah’s history. He was familiar enough, too, with those prophetic circles that had preserved the stories o f the deeds o f the two great prophets Elijah and Elisha. These stories had been preserved and were undoubtedly retold as inspiration to others who followed in their steps, so that by the time o f the prophet Amos (ca. 750 B.C.) there was already a consciousness o f stand' ing in the tradition o f “[Yahweh’s] servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Alongside the stories o f these major figures are brief anec­ dotes o f the activities o f other prophets—Ahijah of Shiloh (1 Kgs 11:29-39), the anonymous prophet from Judah (1 Kgs 13), Jonah ben Amittai (2 Kgs 14:25)—and the overall impression is o f a story unfolding according to the Word of God through the prophets. Other material o f a nonarchival nature, such as the tradition o f Solomon’s gift o f wisdom (1 Kgs 3) and the visit o f the Queen o f Sheba (1 Kgs 10), was also used. The matter o f the unity o f the books o f 1 and 2 Kings is vigorously debated among scholars, and centers around the 5

Introduction

so-called double redaction o f the deuteronomistic history. This is the theory that there was an original deuteronomistic history written during the reign o f Josiah, and that this ver­ sion was edited and expanded during the period of the Exile. The purpose o f the new edition was to take account of the events that followed the death of Josiah. Readers of DeVries’s commentary on 1 Kings (WBC 12:lii) will note that he allows for a considerable number o f “postdeuteronomistic addi­ tions” to the text o f 1 Kings, which included “instructional” and “ideological” material. In my work on 2 Kings (WBC 13:xxii-xxv), I found that the number o f such additions was minimal and unimportant My position then, as now, is that the arguments for an earlier edition o f the history written during the reign o f Josiah, have not been persuasive. Such differences in matters o f scholarly opinion will per­ sist Ancient books were not protected by copyright or any­ thing like it, and in some cases there is strong evidence for additions being made to a biblical book. An example o f this is Jeremiah 52, which is almost an exact copy o f 2 Kings 24:18-25:30, and which comes after the statement “Thus af r are the words o f Jeremiah” (Jer 51:64). This should not be interpreted in a negative way. The fact that a document is reinterpreted by later generations o f readers testifies to the power o f the work and o f its message.

Structure Like style, structure is sometimes a subjective matter, and what one interpreter sees as structure, another will n o t Structure is often something which we impose on a text to help us in our reading o f it Ancient literature is not always easy to read. Its literary conventions are not those with which the twentieth-century reader is familiar. The tenden­ cies in Hebrew narrative to switch subjects arbitrarily, to 1, 2 KINGS

6

avoid descriptive passages, and to use repetition can be con' fusing, so it is helpful if the reader can put the narrative into some kind o f recognizable framework. However, in such an exercise, we must always bear in mind that this framework is what the reader sees, not necessarily what the writer con­ sciously intended. The opening chapters of 2 Kings continue the story o f the prophetic presence in Israel with the depiction o f Elijah’s de­ parture and the succession of Elisha. The chapters are in the form of what some interpreters call an “inversion,” or, to use the more technical phrase, an extended chiasmus. This is a device in which ideas, words, and themes are repeated in reverse order and in a different setting. It is the opinion of some that the whole of 1 and 2 Kings is constructed in this way; that there is a progression from Solomon, through the division o f the kingdom and the local wars, through the reigns of Omri and Ahab, and into the activities o f the great prophets Elijah and Elisha. Here a turning point comes in the narrative and previous events are now mirrored, as the for­ tunes o f Israel and Judah are reversed and the steps are re­ traced though the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah until the land is lost and the grandeur of Solomon’s reign and the size o f his territory are nothing but a memory. There is value in this hypothesis, and since we are attempting to sketch the large picture rather than the small details, it might be helpful for the reader to bear this pattern in mind H istorical background The historical background o f a book such as 1 or 2 Kings is important as an aid to tinderstanding. It does not tell us everything we need to know about an author, but it does help fill in some o f the necessary detail. Here we make a distinction between the writer’s own historical background

7

Introduction

T h e M onarchy in Israel/Ju d ah b .c

E gypt

XXII Dyn 930 Shishak (925) 920 910

Judah

Israel

A ram

Mesopotamia

Solomon (960-927) Rehoboam (926-910) Abijah (909-907) Asa (906-878)

900 890

Jeroboam (927-906)

Nadab (905-904) Baasha (903-882) Ben Hadad I Elah (881-880)

Zimri

880 Jehoshaphat (877-853) 870

Omri (879-869) Ben Hadad II Ahab (868-854)

860

850 840

830

Qarqar (853) Jehoram (852-841) Ahaziah (840) Athaliah (839-833) Joash (832-803)

820 810 Amaziah (802-786) 800 790 Uzziah (785-760) 780 770 760

Jotham (759-744)

Shalmaneser III

Ahaziah (853-852) Jehoram Hazael Jehu (839-822)

Jehoahaz (821-805) Jehoash (804-789) Jeroboam (788-748)

Adad Nirari III

B..C .E G Y P T JU D A H IS R lM O 750X ID Y N

(743-728)

Zechariah (747) Shallum (747) Menahem A h az (746-735)

740

Tiglath-pileser

Rezin

P ek ah i(735-734) (734-731) Hoshea (730-722)

730 Hezekiah (727-699

086

Sargon II

Fall of Sam aria (722)

720 710T irh ak 700

Shalmaneser V

Sennacherib (?)

Manasseh (698-644)

690

Esarhaddon Asshurbanipal Amon Josiah (641-610) Necho 600

Jehoahaz (609) Jehoiakim (608-598) Jehoiachin (598) Zedekiah (598-586)

Nebuchadrezzar

590 F all of Jerusalem

570 these dates are approximate and based on the newly developed chronological scheme of J. H. Hayes and P. K. Hooker in A New Chronology for the Kings o f Israel and Judah.2 In the above chart, only those foreign rulers who threatened Israel and Judah with invasion are listed. The arrows show the origins and approximate times of invasion of, or attacks upon, Judah and Israel during the time of the monarchy.

and the background o f the events he describes. In the first case, it is clear that the books were completed during the Exile o f Judah in Babylon. The last events described in Kings provide us with the necessary clue for this. Jerusalem had been sacked twice in just over a decade, during the reign o f Jehoiakim (597 B.C.) and again during the reign o f his succes­ sor, Zedekiah (586 B.C.). The royal family had been taken into exile with the leading citizens o f the land; and all that was important to Judah—temple, king, land—had been lo st The writer, who must have experienced these last events, tries to make sense o f this tragedy in terms o f the religious traditions o f his people, which included the Ex­ odus, the Law-giving at Sinai, and the covenant. A s Robert Polzin has expressed it It is as though the Deuteronomist is telling us in Deuteronomy, “Here is what G od has prophesied con­ cerning Israel,” but in Joshua-2 Kings, “This is how God’s word has been exactly fulfilled in Israel’s history from the settlement to the destruction o f Jerusalem and the Exile.”3 This story begins with the close o f the reign o f David (1 Kgs 1,2). W hat follows is a history o f the monarchy in Israel and Judah. It is a history o f great promise under Solomon, the wise temple-builder and architect o f a powerful adminis­ trative empire. But it is also a story o f a promise squandered, as ideals are lo st Both commentaries provide detailed analy­ ses o f questions o f history as well as a chronology o f the period from Solomon (ca. 960 B.C.) to the close o f the mon­ archy (586 B.C .), so there is no need to repeat the details here. Instead, the chart on pages 8-9 provides a general guide to the fortunes o f Israel and Judah during this period. The arrows indicate periods and direction o f political and mili­ tary pressure 1, 2 KINGS

10

1 an d 2 K ings' place in Scripture The books o f 1 and 2 Kings stand in their own right as a major part o f the deuteronomistic history. In fact, they form the climactic ending to the whole story o f G od’s history with his people up to the time o f writing. Beyond this, the books also form a source o f information for the later work o f the writer o f 1 and 2 Chronicles. Undoubtedly, the tradition o f Solomon’s wisdom and the achievements o f the courtiers o f Hezekiah have influenced the formation o f the book of Proverbs (Prov 25:1), as well as other parts o f the Wisdom Tradition. Within the context o f the prophetic tradition and the literature which emerged from it, found now in what is known as the “Latter Proph­ ets” (Isaiah through Malachi), these books provide a series o f historical examples o f the force o f the prophetic word. One can imagine as one listens to the preaching o f Amos or Hosea, Jeremiah or Isaiah, that standing in the shadows nodding approval are the ghosts o f Elijah and Elisha. The same concerns for the less fortunate, for moral responsibil­ ity o f leaders, and for the proper understanding o f history as G od’s history, are present throughout the prophetic tradi­ tion. Indeed, the figure o f Elijah, like that o f Moses, enters into the hopes o f that tradition as the coming kingdom o f G od is anticipated (Mal 3:24 [4:5]). In the eschatological hopes o f sections o f Judaism in the period we know as the “intertestamental period,” both Eli­ jah and M oses continue their roles as harbingers o f the coming kingdom. But for us it is the influence o f 1 and 2 Kings on the New Testament that is m ost im portant In the New Testam ent some o f the same interests we find in the O ld Testament are present while others have tindergone some transformation. One might expect Jesus, who was raised as a first-century Jew, to use in his teachings illustrations from the Hebrew Scriptures, and he does— 11

Introduction

but from a different perspective. For example, Solomon, rather than being seen as an example o f wisdom, is used by Jesus as an example o f ostentation (Matt 6:29). In the Gospels, Jesus is portrayed as patterning much o f his ministry on that o f the prophets, particularly the work of Elijah and Elisha. In the transfiguration o f Jesus, as recorded in the opening verses o f Mark 9, Jesus is accompa­ nied by two prophetic giants, Moses and Elijah. He acknowl­ edges openly the role o f Elijah played by John the Baptist (Matt 11:13; Mark 9:11-13). H is concern for widows (Luke 7:11—17), for Gentiles (Mark 7:24-30), and for the hungry (Mark 6:30-44) reflects the concerns o f both Elijah and Elisha. That these two prophets influenced his understand­ ing of his ministry is seen most clearly in Luke 4:24-27, in which he holds them up as models o f concern. The Letter to the Hebrews sums up the impact o f the narratives o f Elijah and Elisha, among others, when it lists those past heroes o f the faith who . . . through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced jus­ tice, received promises, . . . escaped the edge o f the sword, won strength out o f weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. (Heb 11:33-34)

1, 2 KINGS

12

2

KINGS

The role of kings in Israel Much o f the narrative o f Kings is taken up with stories o f varying lengths about the kings o f the united Israel and the kings o f the separate nations o f Israel and Judah. But to understand the richness o f this narrative we need to step back a little into the early history o f the monarchy. The historical beginnings of kingship in Israel are given to uS earlier in the deuteronomistic history, in 1 Samuel 1-12, with its story o f the transition and transformation o f Israel from a tribal society to a monarchy. This transition was adifficult one because it meant some major changes for Israel in her political and social structures and in her understanding o f her relationship with God. The difficulties, both anticipated and experienced, are found mirrored in Samuel’s reaction to the original request by the elders for a king. The reaction is at first negative and kingship is judged as a rejection o f God’s king' ship (1 Sam 8:6-9). But eventually Samuel acquiesces to the move and at the command o f God grants the elders’ request 13

Kings

The story o f the request for a king, especially in 1 Samuel 8-12, has been the subject of much scholarly debate, and most of the debate has centered around the question o f a double view o f kingship in these chapters. Many believe that this double view, with a positive and negative element, re­ flects the original literary sources used by the deuteronomist, one with a positive outlook on monarchy, and one with a negative one. This is entirely possible. The subsequent his­ tory o f the monarchy shows that both attitudes were present throughout. Some prophets, for example Isaiah, accepted the institution o f kingship and worked within its framework (Isa 7:1-17; 11:1-16), whereas others, such as Hosea, found the institution a hindrance to the people’s understanding of God (Hos 5:1; 7:7; 8:4). It is also important, however, to see what the final effect o f this narrative is. It is not a clumsy collection o f sources with conflicting viewpoints, but a clever portrayal o f the opposing reactions to kingship which would have evolved at the time. Such a move would not necessarily have met with universal approval since so many had so much to lose as well as gain. The narrative o f the monarchy’s founding reflects the ambivalence which greeted it. Forms and models for kingship were available through­ out the ancient Near East at this time, and the elders cer­ tainly wished to take advantage o f what those forms had to offer by way o f a style o f ruling. After all, they wanted a king “like all the nations” (1 Sam 8:5). A t the same time, each nation’s version o f kingship was unique to that nation. And while comparisons are helpful, to complete the picture we also need to look at the distinctive features o f Israelite kingship. W hat kingship offered Israel was on the one hand "more taxes, military conscription, arbitrary police, the impossibil­ ity o f limiting power,”1 and even the danger o f the “repaganization o f Israel.”2 And it is clear that there are dangers 1, 2 KINGS

14

in the move, as Samuel so clearly points out (1 Sam 8:10-14). But, on the other hand, the introduction o f kingship also offered new opportunities for worship and understanding. Monarchy was rationalized for two very good reasons. First, there was a serious military threat (the Philistines) to the very life o f Israel. Second, the old regime represented by Samuel’s sons was corrupt and not up to dealing with the new challenge. In practical terms, monarchy meant a centralization o f power in one person and his administration. This, it seems, was the price which the elders were willing to pay for secu­ rity and safety (1 Sam 8:19-22). Connected to this central­ ization o f power was the development o f a symbolic center, Jerusalem, in which a new theology was bom . The symbols included the temple, the palace, and the trappings o f monar­ chy, together with the ideological support known as the “David-Zion traditions.” These are the religious ideas which became associated with the new institution. They provide a new focus for the notions o f G od’s faithfulness, election o f Israel, and protec­ tion o f his people (e.g., Ps 2). They also offer support for the new institution and give it validity. These traditions find their clearest form in the covenant with David, which has its first exposition in 2 Samuel 7, but is expanded and restated in Psalms 89, 110, and 132, among others. The covenant captures the essence o f the importance o f the new institu­ tion. David (and his successors) are chosen by G od as a symbol o f his faithfulness. David is promised (not uncondi­ tionally) a continuing dynasty in Jerusalem. But this new opportunity also presents a new challenge. The deuteronomist’s history o f the period o f the judges is hardly a flattering one, and already an early experiment with kingship had failed (Judg 8:22-9:57). Stability had come with Samuel, but cannot continue. The unspoken question is, can the new institution o f monarchy preserve and perpetuate the 15

Kings

old covenant values? Will the difference between authority and despotism be maintained? Will kingship succeed?

Kings an d Torah O ne o f the distinguishing features o f Israelite kingship is its relationship to the Torah (lit: “instruction.” This term captures the broader concept much better than the more common translation, “Law.”) Ancient Near Eastern nations such as the Hittites, the peoples o f Mesopotamia, all had “law-codes” dealing with the daily life o f their citizens— regulating matters o f property, relationships, management o f resources, and sexual access. But whereas these other law-codes have come down to us with the names o f kings attached— the Lipit-Ishtar Code, the Hammurabi Code, the Laws o f Eshnunna— the Torah o f Israel is always “the Torah o f M oses.” Its originator was not a king, but one who spoke with G od face to face, and who is remembered not as a ruler, but rather as a prophet (Deut 18:18). This places the Israelite king’s relationship to the Torah and to G od on an entirely different footing than that o f the kings o f neigh­ boring nations. He is not the proclaimer o f the Torah, but is him self under its rule. A s one scholar has put it, “the king’s power was not unrestrained and was repeatedly checked by the terms o f G od’s covenant with his people. Deuteronomy, which acts as a prologue to the deuteronomistic history, anticipates this in chapters 16-18, particu­ larly in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 with the so-called Torah o f the king. But again, this is not a torah from the king, but a torah which regulates the behavior o f the king. It is inter­ esting to note in 1 Samuel 8:11 that Samuel describes the possible behavior o f a despotic king as “the mishpat o f the king.” This is the word which elsewhere in the Old Testa­ ment is often translated “judgm ent” There might be a touch 1, 2 KINGS

16

o f irony here, almost as if Samuel is saying, “This is how a king will be judged.” With this in mind, it seems plausible that the “rights and duties o f the kingship” (1 Sam 10:25) which Samuel gave to the people have something to do with this “royal torah.” In 2 Kings 11:12, when the Davidic monarchy was restored after a brief interval, Jehoash is given “testimonies” at his coronation. This is a legal term, and possibly refers to the same thing. Another aspect o f the monarchy in Israel, at least in the case o f David (2 Sam 5:1-5), Reboboam (1 Kgs 12:1-20), and the restored Jehoash (2 Kgs 11:4), is that the reign o f a king is negotiated with the elders and representatives o f the people. In 2 Kings 11:14, these negotiations are called a “covenant,” and covenants have stipulations or regulations governing them. It is clear that there are some limits on the monarchy in Israel, and recently some scholars have argued that Deu­ teronomy 16-18 forms a kind o f constitution o f the monar­ chy, that is, the conditions under which a king would be allowed. To be noted is that his power is not absolute. It is to be shared by judges, priests, and prophets. The royal Torah in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 and Samuel’s exposition o f it in 1 Samuel 8:10-18 have reminded many interpreters of Solomon, but the image here is o f any king in Israel, or in the ancient Near East in general. Here is de­ scribed the potential for abuse and the costs o f the new sys­ tem. Deuteronomy 17:14-20 expressly prohibits abuse in terms o f self-aggrandizement and too many marriage alliances with foreign nations. The counter to abuse is the copy of “this torah” which he is to keep before him. In 2 Samuel 7, we find the covenant with David and his successors. The Lord will provide David with a “house” (i.e., dynasty; note the play on words). David and his successors will be corrected and punished if they sin (v 14), yet God’s

17

Kings

faithfulness will remain. More than once in the ongoing his­ tory o f the monarchy these sentiments are repeated in thor­ oughly deuteronomistic language. In 1 Kings 2:1-4 David’s last words to Solomon include the admonition to obey the Torah o f Moses, that the promise o f G od might be fulfilled. In 1 Kings 9:1-9, further exposition is found in God’s re­ sponse to Solomon. Here, not only is the fate o f the monar­ chy in the balance (vv 4,5), but also the possibility of exile of the entire people is raised (vv 6-9). To summarize, the limitations o f kingship in Israel entail the king’s submission to the Torah, exclusive worship o f God, and proper treatment o f the people. Royal exam ples If Polzin’s characterization o f the relationship o f Deu­ teronomy to the deuteronomistic history is correct (see In­ troduction), then the narrative o f 1 and 2 Kings will provide many illustrations o f how this is worked out in the history o f Israel and Judah. However, we should be aware that al­ though Polzin is correct when the entire history is viewed from beginning to end, when the reader begins at 1 Kings 1 there is a slightly different perspective. Given what we know o f the beginnings o f kingship in Israel, when we begin to read the opening sentences o f 1 Kings we cannot claim the omniscience o f the author, but we are faced instead with the question o f how the ensuing history will expound the principles o f Deuteronomy. The simplest answer is, o f course, by telling a story. But this is a story with its own literary conventions, which are not immediately recognizable to the modem reader. To our eyes the treatment o f the material appears uneven, repetitive, and arbitrary. But, if we take it on its own terms we find it to be a richly textured story, with no small measure o f irony. We also find that on occasion the writer invites us to pause with him 1, 2 KINGS

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and examine the characters o f the kings in more detail. This practice o f slowing down the pace of a narrative, so that a relatively short incident is given long coverage, is a literary device which some have called “retardation." It is obvious that the writer devotes a lot o f space to some kings and little to others. This does not mean that those given small coverage are any less important, but rather that those on whom he dwells are particularly appropriate for illustrating his main themes. The space devoted to them gives him opportunity to develop their characters by describing the actions they per­ form. Let us look at a selection o f the kings he treats. 1 and 2 Kings begins with the close o f the reign o f David (1 Kgs 1, 2). This section is regarded by many as a “succes­ sion narrative,” an account o f the reasons why Solomon became king after David— after all, he was not the oldest o f David’s sons. The David we encounter here is not the David o f the early days. Instead he is an old and weak man (1 Kgs 1:1). He is ignorant o f the affairs o f his court (1 Kgs 1:11), and he is manipulated by both Nathan and Bathsheba (1 Kgs 1:12-27). Finally he takes some measure o f control (1 Kgs 1:28— 37), and offers his charge to Solomon (1 Kgs 2:1-9) before he dies. But the main actors in these opening chap­ ters are Nathan, Bathsheba, and Solomon. In fact, it is to the success o f Solomon that these chapters direct us. Solomon has more space devoted to him in 1 and 2 Kings than any other king except David, and the reasons for this are several. First, because of all he accomplished it is likely that there were more records from the reign o f Solomon than any subsequent king. Second, in the writer’s scheme o f things the succession o f Solomon was very important for showing in no uncertain terms the fulfillment of the promise o f 2 Samuel 7. Third, the ultimate story of Solomon provided a perfect illus­ tration o f the writer’s theological viewpoint The lesson of Solomon is one which was emphasized very early in the negotiations for monarchy. Solomon did indeed 19

Kings

accomplish a great deal. He won a civil war and overcame a challenge to his succession (1 Kgs 1,2). As king, he set out to build the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 6) and when that was completed he then built a large palace complex for his court (1 Kgs 7). He gained wisdom (1 Kgs 3), developed trade throughout his empire, and became known throughout the world for his wealth and wisdom (1 Kgs 4,10). But this narra­ tive from 1 Kings 1-10 is almost a setup for the fall which followed. A simple but vital principle was given early in the history o f kingship, when Samuel was tempted to anoint the most physically impressive o f Jesse’s sons. G od said, “D o not look on his appearance or on the height o f his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the h eart” (1 Sam 16:7) It is the heart, the will o f Solomon which is turned away to other gods by the wives he married for political reasons (1 Kgs 11:4). He died, not famous, or universally known, but as an apostate. His kingdom is threatened, and the dark side of the covenant promise, the side o f judgment now reveals itself. In the stories o f Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Solomon’s suc­ cessors, it is this theme which is illustrated. Rehoboam wrecked the negotiations for the royal covenant with Israel by listening to the “young men” who spumed the advice o f the elders o f Israel and led the king to abuse his people with harsh slave labor (1 Kgs 12). Jeroboam, like all headstrong revolutionaries, was motivated initially by the welfare o f his people, but eventually led them into deeper and deeper apostasy (1 Kgs 12,13). By the time o f Omri and Ahab, the rift between the repre­ sentatives o f God and the will of the king had become deep. In all the confrontations between the house of Omri and the prophet o f the Lord, the king broke the covenant law (1 Kgs 1, 2 KINGS

20

21:1—15) and despised the word of God given by the prophet (1 Kgs 22:5-28), only to finally fell victim to judgment (1 Kgs 22:29-36). The same pattern is echoed later by the Judean Jehoiakim in his confrontations with the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 36). Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18-20), like Solomon, began well. He in­ troduced worship reforms in Jerusalem, and rid the city of many practices o f Canaanite worship. But he faltered when Sennacherib invaded (2 Kgs 19:1-7), and consequently be­ came sick with a symbolic skin disease (2 Kgs 20:1-11). He also allowed a potential enemy a foretaste o f the temple and palace treasures when he showed them off to Babylonian visi­ tors (2 Kgs 20:12-19). Finally, there is Josiah (2 Kgs 22:1-23:30) who, like Hezekiah, did so well with his reforms, and his rebellion against Assyria. O f Josiah it is said that he was unequaled in virtue— yet he died a tragic and untimely death at Megiddo (2 Kgs 23:28-30). Each o f these portraits is done with skill and subtlety, and each serves as an illustration o f the growing apostasy o f the people o f Israel and Judah, led by their kings. Ellul is correct in stating that such presentations are not for imitation. But neither are they simply for reading. They are, rather, for meditation because in each o f these kings is found an atti­ tude o f the human heart.

In the fin a l an alysis Throughout Kings the writer repeats a formula o f evalua­ tion, either “he did evil in the eyes o f the Lord” or “he did what was right in the eyes o f the Lord.” This formula recalls the standards by which these kings were to be evaluated, not human standards but divine ones. It also, incidentally, sets the limits to what we can know o f these kings, because the writer uses only that which illustrates this perspective. 21

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Although the formula is used o f almost every king and sounds almost mechanical, it is, in af c t, used in a subtle way which has important consequences for our theological un­ derstanding o f 1 and 2 Kings. In the first place, all the kings o f the northern nation o f Israel who are evaluated are judged to be apostates. There is one king, Hoshea, who is damned with the feint praise that he is not as bad as his predecessors (2 Kgs 17:2). And there are two, Zimri and Shallum, who are not judged at all (1 Kgs 16:1—13; 2 Kgs 15:13-15), no doubt due to their remarkably short reigns. But the rest are damned. And for each, the fault is that o f following in the sins o f Jeroboam ben Nebat, who at the beginning o f the separate history o f Israel deliberately set her on a course o f apostasy. For Jeroboam, rejection o f the house o f David (1 Kgs 12:16) meant rejection o f David’s G od as well. There is a biblical principle, expounded by the writer o f 1 and 2 Kings, that the sons should not be punished for the sins o f the fathers (2 Kgs 14:6), but this is not the principle at work here. It is one thing for a son or successor to be absolved o f blame for the sin o f a father, but it is quite another thing when the son and his successors deliberately choose to imitate the actions o f the father. Jeroboam was an apostate, and none o f the successive Israelite kings chose to alter this course. Some, like Omri and Ahab, chose to fur­ ther the apostasy and are condemned as being the worst kings ever (1 Kgs 16:25,30-34). This brings them into seri­ ous confrontation with the spokesmen o f God, Elijah and Elisha. The judgment o f the writer o f Kings is that no king in Israel ever attained the ideal. In the words o f another biblical writer, and in another context, “all have sinned and fell short o f the glory o f God” (Rom 3:23). With the nation of Judah, matters are a little more compli­ cated. O f the twenty monarchs after Solomon, including Athaliah the usurper (2 Kgs 11), eight are accounted as good. They are Asa (1 Kgs 15:14), Jehoshaphat (1 Kgs 22:43), Jehoash 1, 2 KINGS

22

(2 Kgs 12:2), Amaziah, with qualifications 2 Kgs 14:3,4), Azariah (2 Kgs 15:3), Jotham (2 Kgs 15:34), Hezekiah (2 Kgs 18:3), and Josiah (2 Kgs 22:2). The standard o f behav­ ior is set by David, whose heart was faithful to God. Some, like Hezekiah and especially Josiah, were very faithful. O f the twelve remaining, Athaliah is not evaluated, probably because she was not a “legitimate” monarch o f the southern kingdom. Note that there is no formal introduction or dis­ missal o f her reign. The eleven left are all judged as apostate. They either follow the ways o f Rehoboam, or imitate the kings o f Israel. Six are compared to Manasseh, either directly or by implication. The strongest condemnation o f all is re­ served for Manasseh himself. O f him it is said that he “behaved . . . according to the disgusting actions o f the nations whom Yahweh had driven out before the Israelites.” (2 Kgs 21:2 W BC). The accusation is telling on two counts. First, it shows that in the author’s mind, the standard of behavior is the deuteronomic law (see Deut 18:9—14). And, second, it is the most damning o f all accusations because it shows that Manasseh acted as though the giving o f the land — a promise o f the Exodus and Sinai covenant according to Deuteronomy—had never taken place. He, like Ahab, chose to live “before the covenant.” In Judah, there is a mixture o f obedience and disobedience, o f faithfulness and apostasy. It is tempting to view these judgments o f the deuteronomist’s in a way that makes his theological evaluation o f the two nations, Israel and Judah, sound mechanical. They had sinned, therefore they were punished. But he does not mistreat his sources by forcing them into this rigid scheme. He is aware that the history of a nation is never so neat and tidy. There are aberrations, differences, and ambiguities which must be accommodated. In fact, in his treatment o f the kings o f Israel and Judah, there are surprises. One o f the blessings of keeping the covenant is “length of days,” or long life. Conversely, disobedience leads to being 23

Kings

"cut off.” However, the apostate king Ahab, who is most strongly condemned for his sins, reigned a total o f twenty-two years (1 Kgs 16:29-22:40). Jehu reigned for twenty-eight years (2 Kgs 9:1-10:36), Jeroboam II reigned for forty-one years (2 Kgs 14:23-29), and Manasseh for an impressive fifty-five years (2 Kgs 21:1-18). In af c t, o f the twenty-seven “bad” kings of Israel and Judah, one (Manasseh) reigned for over fifty years, one (Jeroboam II) reigned for over forty years, five reigned for over twenty years, and eight for more than ten years. There seems to be no hard and fast correlation between faithfulness and length o f reign. Nor are material prosperity and territorial expansion restricted to “good” kings either. In af c t, after David and Solomon, the two kingdoms see their greatest expansion (2 Kgs 14:25) during the reigns o f Jeroboam II in the north (a bad king) and his contemporary Uzziah in the south (a good but leprous king). The most significant losses in the south happened during the reigns o f the good kings Hezekiah and Josiah. Another interesting treatment by the author is o f those kings generally regarded as good. They include Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoash, Amaziah (qualified), Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah— all o f Judah. The fete o f most o f these is anomalous. Asa dies with a disease o f the feet (1 Kgs 15:23) which some believe may have been gout (disfigurement had a strong negative symbolic meaning in the Bible). Jehoash o f Judah was not only a good king, restorer o f the Davidic dynasty, but also a reformer o f the temple. He died prematurely, assassinated by his own peo­ ple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 12:19-21). Amaziah also was assassi­ nated (2 Kgs 14:17-22). Azariah (Uzziah) died a leper (2 Kgs 15:5). Hezekiah’s kingdom suffered invasion and he him­ self—another great reformer— suffered from skin disease (2 Kgs 20:1-11). Finally, Josiah, the greatest reformer, died 1, 2 KINGS

24

prematurely at the hands o f an invading foreign king (2 Kgs 23:28-30). W hat is the significance then o f the anomalous fates o f the good and bad kings o f Israel and Judah? First, it is clear that the writer offers a much more complex interpretation o f the history than a simplistic “sin and judgment” model. He takes sin seriously, and he takes the judgment o f the Exile seriously; but he interprets the history from a fuller perspec­ tive. O n the one hand are the kings o f Israel and Judah, acting as though they were free, making their own choices (frequently the wrong ones); and on the other hand is God, truly acting as a free agent From the beginning, under the leadership o f her kings, the nation o f Israel as a whole has chosen to live in apostasy and under judgm ent This is estab­ lished very clearly in the record o f the reign o f Jeroboam ben Nebat (1 Kgs 12,13). There are temporary delays o f the judgment and occasional enlargements o f territory and growth in prosperity, but these do not prevent the eventual judgm ent They happen because o f God’s grace and mercy (2 Kgs 13:5,22; 14:25-27). Many o f the kings o f Judah behaved “in the ways o f the kings o f Israel.” Here and in prophetic literature (e.g., Jer 3, 4) the implication is that Judah can therefore expect the same consequences (2 Kgs 17:19). Thus it is that “good” kings can do nothing to halt the inevitable move toward judgment. Their deformities, sicknesses, and untimely deaths cast a long shadow on Judah’s history as well. The delay in judgment for Judah is not due to any human action, but “for my own sake and for the sake o f my servant David” (1 Kgs 11:11-13; 2 Kgs 19:34; 20:5-6). Thus a picture is drawn, as Ellul points out, o f kings and humans acting in seeming independence— yet with each act further enslav­ ing them— and o f G od acting in freedom, bound only by his word and his honor. 25

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3

PROPHETS

The nature of prophecy in Israel Prophets are no strangers to readers o f the O ld Testament In the traditional Jewish reckoning, prophetic material makes up one third o f the Hebrew Bible—the Tanak, a word coined from the initial letters o f the Hebrew words for “Law” (Torah), “Prophets” (Nebi’im), and “Writings” (Kethubim). The prophets appear on its pages as men and women who declared the Word of God for specific human situations. They had a special relationship with God which gave them peculiar insight into the nature o f historical situations (an insight which was often at odds with the generally accepted view of things), and unique understanding o f the nature and will of God. The best way o f conveying the essence of prophecy is to let one of them speak for himself (italics are mine). B u t as fo r m e, I am filled w ith pow er, w ith the Sp irit o f the L o r d , an d w ith justice and m ight,

27

Prophets

to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. (Mic 3:8) The historical origins o f prophecy are obscure, and a vari­ ety o f people in the early days o f Israel’s life in Canaan were called prophets— for example, Deborah and Samuel, who were both otherwise known as judges. Gideon’s call to de­ feat the Midianites (Judg 6) is remarkably similar to the call o f Jeremiah (Jer 1:4-10), but he too was better known as a judge. W hat emerges in the prophetic tradition, as Israel’s history develops, is the consciousness that the prophets have o f standing in a great tradition o f speakers for God, a tradi­ tion that began with the prophet par excellence, Moses. This is especially true in Deuteronomy and the deuteronomistic history. In Deuteronomy 18:18 the perpetuation o f a Mosaic prophetic tradition is promised, and many o f the subsequent prophets follow in Moses’ footsteps. These foot­ steps follow the path o f the covenant between G od and his people. Like Moses, many o f the prophets act as negotiators between the two partners, praying for the people on the one hand, but declaring the Word o f G od without compromise on the other. The covenant involved an exclusive worship o f the God o f Israel who rescued her from Egypt This is a theme which echoes again and again in the literature o f the prophets. Like Elijah, the true prophet is jealous for the Lord. But beyond this, the covenant involved a moral imperative o f mutual car­ ing and support among the people o f God. Each member o f the covenant community was special and was to be cared for by others. Finally, the covenant involved an absolute depend­ ence upon God for help, deliverance, and sustenance. These ideas form the framework from which the prophets operated. Another interesting feature about the prophetic tradition is that it became most vocal during the time o f the monarchy. The prophets became the watchdogs o f the monarchy. This 1, 2 KINGS

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link between prophet and king became so strong that when the monarchy disappeared during the Exile, Jewish tradition maintained that prophecy also ceased—to be revived again only at the coming o f the Messiah, a point well appreciated by the writer o f Acts (see especially Peter’s speech in Acts 2:14-40). Like Moses, many prophets found themselves to be critics o f the status quo, especially when what passed for the status quo was detrimental to the covenant ideals. It was often the case that this status quo was established and maintained by the king. The prophets’ attitude o f confrontation with established power gave rise to the uncompromising nature of biblical prophecy. Each prophet speaks with the unshakable conviction that the Word o f G od is to be listened to and obeyed. There are no half measures. Two ways are set out, one leading to life, the other to death. The people must choose. To refuse to choose is to opt for death (1 Kgs 18:21). The language o f the biblical prophets is therefore strong and forceful. It is often full o f hyperbole, as the passion o f the prophet for the Word o f G od and the well-being o f the audience takes over. A t times it is almost as though language is inadequate to express what is in the mind o f the prophet. “Fire in the bones” is experienced, but how does one give voice to it? Because o f the nature o f the task the prophets were given, and because o f the nature o f the circumstances into which they were thrust, the prophet’s involvement in the task was absolute. Prophecy allowed for no compromise, and as a result the personal lives o f the prophets were deeply af­ fected. Few were married— and to never marry was unusual in ancient Israel. Many were alone and rejected, and many were persecuted. They lived for the Word o f God, which they received through visions, through dreams, through un­ derstanding and reflection— which they then passed on to the people. They were, in the words o f one o f their number, 29

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watchmen, burdened with a heavy responsibility, which was not for the weak.

Prophets an d kings Prophets abound in Kings. That faithful friend and advi­ sor to David, the prophet Nathan, was active in the struggle for the succession, and he took part in the anointing o f the new king, Solomon. In 1 Kings 11:11—13 Solomon is ad­ dressed by God, presumably through a prophet, concerning his apostasy. It was by a prophet, Ahijah o f Shiloh, that G od announced to Jeroboam that the kingdom would be split after the death o f Solomon (1 Kgs 11:29-39). W hen the northern nation seceded, and the southern king Rehoboam wanted to force them back into a united kingdom through war, it Was a prophet, Shemaiah, who thwarted this move (1 Kgs 12:22-24). An anonymous “man o f G od” (one o f the terms for a prophet) prophesied against Israel and foretold the rise o f Josiah (1 Kgs 13:1-10). But as that chapter shows, even the prophet himself was subject to the Word o f God; he died because o f disobedience. Ahijah o f Shiloh reappears in 1 Kings 14:2-15. He cannot be tricked by Jeroboam, and he announces the coming demise o f the dynasty o f Jeroboam, and raises the possibility o f a future exile o f Israel Lesser-known prophets appear in the narrative, such as Jehu ben Hananiah who foretold the destruction o f the house o f Baasha (1 Kgs 16:1-4). Even Joshua ben Nun was given prophetic status (1 Kgs 16:34) when Hiel restored Jericho. During the activities o f Elijah, at least one hundred faithful prophets were persecuted by Jezebel (1 Kgs 18:4). From 1 Kings 20:13-15 we learn that one part o f a prophet’s role was advice in warfare. Later in the same chapter (vv 35-43) another anonymous prophet appears before the king on a matter o f foreign policy—how to treat a captured enemy 1, 2 KINGS

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king. These roles are found again in 1 Kings 22:1-28 as the majority o f court prophets advise in favor o f the campaign against Ramoth Gilead, and find in their midst one dissenting voice (vv 13-23), that of Micaiah ben Imlah. Other prophets appear in the narrative, such as Jonah ben Amittai (2 Kgs 14:25) and Isaiah o f Jerusalem (2 Kgs 19:1— 20:19). Huldah the prophetess (2 Kgs 22:14) advises Josiah on the content and meaning of the book o f Torah found during his repairs o f the temple. Anonymous prophets (2 Kgs 21:1015) condemn the reign of Manasseh for its wickedness and corruption. Finally, when the writer o f 1 and 2 Kings wishes to summarize the moral condition o f the people and their kings, he turns to general prophetic statements which capture his meaning well (2 Kgs 17:13,23; 23:27; 24:2-4). In addition to knowing and using the royal archives, the writer o f Kings must have had access to countless stories of prophets throughout the history o f Israel and Judah which had been preserved by the faithful followers and supporters o f the prophets. Taking these with the stories o f the kings and the political fortunes and misfortunes o f the kings and prophets, our writer weaves an historical narrative which sees things clearly sub specie aeternitatis. It is history, but history interpreted according to the will o f God in that history. It is a powerful exposition o f the statement made by Amos o f Tekoa that “surely the Lord does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). Prophets an d politics W hen one surveys the role o f the prophets in 1 and 2 Kings, the question o f the prophets’ relationship to political life inevitably arises. In our minds so much o f what prophets do in these narratives can come under a political label rather than a religious one. But we have to remember that this kind o f distinction between religious and political, or sacred and 31

Prophets

secular, is our distinction, one that would not have been recognized by the ancient Israelite. In the ancient Near East in general, and in ancient Israel and Judah in particular, all o f life was seen as having some connection with religion or religious ideology. The nature o f “politics” for Israel consisted in the acknowledgement o f a group identity: one people (Israel), one G od (Yahweh), and obedience to the covenant instructions which bound them together. It would be impossible, for example, to go through the law-codes o f the O ld Testament and to separate out the “religious” from the “secular.” All law presupposes the existence and identity o f Israel’s God, Yahweh, as the deliverer from Egypt Israel’s identity as a people is to be seen only in relation­ ship to her God. She is the “bride” o f Yahweh (Hos 1-3, Jer 2:1-10), the “son” of Yahweh (Hos 11:1), his “special people,” his “heritage.” Israel does not have an identity apart from God. Therefore, members of this community live their lives in light o f this relationship with God. Nothing—whether it be agriculture, family life, neighborly relations, warfare, or government— can be seen apart from God. Deuteronomy makes this very plain, and this concept is carried into the deuteronomistic history. It is understandable that the prophets’ speaking out (on behalf of God) on matters o f national policy appears political from our point o f view. But every aspect o f Israel’s life was seen by them as being under the judgment of God. Nathan’s involvement in the succession intrigue as the death o f David approached is to be seen not just as political, but also as con­ nected to God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7. The involve­ ment o f Ahijah and Shemaiah in the split of the kingdoms is indeed involvement in political activity (1 Kgs ll:29ff; 12:22ff), but it has a religious and moral dimension as well— these events are a judgment o f God on the people. In af c t, all the prophetic pronouncements in 1 and 2 Kings relate to the 1, 2 KINGS

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political life o f the people, since the political life is the arena in which the ideology (covenant) is to be worked out in prac­ tice. Therefore, apostasy has political as well as religious con­ sequences. A s other prophets were to expound, mistreatment o f one’s own people, especially the poor and marginalized, is not only a social scandal, but a religious sin. Prophets an d history According to the deuteronomistic history, the role o f the prophet is not simply one o f meddling in the political life o f the people. The role o f the prophet is far more important and one might say, awe-inspiring, because the prophet and the Word o f G od he or she utters is at the heart o f the meaning o f history. A s Gerhard von Rad put it: There . . . exists . . . an inter-relationship between the words o f Jahweh and history in the sense that Jahweh’s word, once uttered, reaches its goal under all circumstances in history.1 This is not a magical relationship between word and his­ torical action, nor is it a relationship caused by what von Rad called “the power inherent in” the word. For the deuteronomist, history makes sense only as the fulfillment o f G od’s Word. The history o f Israel and Judah, from the perspective o f the deuteronomist and his contemporaries, had ended in disaster, the Exile. How was this to be understood? Was it the result o f an abandonment by God? O r was there some other purpose to it all? The deuteronomist presents it as the inevitable conclusion to the action o f the Word o f G od in history. One way o f developing this theme was by showing that major events in the life and history o f Israel and Judah were not merely fortuitous, nor the result o f capriciousness on 33

Prophets

the part o f God, but given purpose by the Word o f God. Von Rad has done a great service by listing the eleven “promise-fulfillment” texts in 1 and 2 Kings. Premise 2 Sam 7:13 1 Kgs 11:29-39 1 Kgs 13 1 Kgs 14:6-16 1 Kgs 16:1-4 Josh 6:26 1 Kgs 22:17 1 Kgs 21:21-23 2 Kgs 1:6 2 Kgs 21:10-15 2 Kgs 22:15-20

Fulfillment 1 Kgs 8:20 1 Kgs 12:15b 2 Kgs 23:16-18 1 Kgs 15:29 1 Kgs 16:12 1 Kgs 16:34 1 Kgs 22:35-40 1 Kgs 21:27-29 2 Kgs 1:17 2 Kgs 24:2 2 Kgs 23:302

The history o f Israel and Judah are not so much controlled as given meaning, and that meaning comes by the Word o f God given through the prophets. A s we have seen, there is freedom for men and women to act within this history, but ulti­ mately, there is no escape from moral responsibility. God’s Word continually interrupts human activity to evaluate and to pass judgment Nowhere is this more clear in 1 and 2 Kings than in the stories associated with the personalities and ac­ tions o f the two great prophets Elijah and Elisha. E lijah an d Elisha Elijah and Elisha deserve separate treatment Almost onethird o f the material in 1 and 2 Kings is devoted to their activities. They step onto the stage o f Israelite history at a time o f crisis. Omri had established a firm hold on the north­ ern kingdom, and his son Ahab consolidated that hold in a way similar to Solomon’s—by an extensive building program 1, 2 KINGS

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and by alliances with neighboring countries. Ahab married Jezebel, daughter o f the king o f Tyre and, by all accounts, became controlled by this woman o f very strong character. For Israel’s worship o f Yahweh, the alliance between Ahab and Jezebel was a disaster. Baalism was established throughout the country, and open conflict broke out between the agents o f Jezebel and the worshipers o f Yahweh. Ahab acquiesced in this policy, and the worship o f Yahweh—the G od who had rescued Israel from Egypt—was in danger o f extinc­ tion. It is into this setting that Elijah comes. 1 Kings 17-2 Kings 2 is taken up with stories o f Elijah, almost without a break, and 2 Kings 2-13 covers the ministry o f Elisha, with a brief detour into the activities o f Elisha’s protege, Jehu, in chapters 9 and 10 and a look at the events in the south in chapters 11 and 12. These stories, which are quite varied in form and purpose, were undoubtedly taken from a corpus o f stories about these prophets collected by their supporters and followers, the “sons o f the prophets.” There are some slight differences in the presentation o f the stories connected with each prophet The Elijah stories tend to be longer, and in their present form each story takes up a chapter, whereas the Elisha stories move from theme to theme quite quickly. (In the W BC 12, 13, attention is paid to the literary presentation o f these stories and their narrative and plot development, and that material does not need re­ peating here.) A significant feature of both collections o f sto­ ries is that Elijah and Elisha are presented as very human characters, both o f whom have doubts and disappointments in their ministries. The relationship o f the two prophets is fascinating. A t one point Elisha is referred to as the one “who poured water on the hands o f Elijah” (2 Kgs 3:11), and at another point as one who “ministered to” Elijah (1 Kgs 19:21). Both o f these refer­ ences point to a close relationship o f master and servant or teacher and disciple, although little of this is given any form 35

Prophets

in the rest o f the stories. This close relationship is reflected in the story o f the departure o f Elijah in 2 Kings 2, when Elisha alone is allowed to cross the Jordan and witness the depar­ ture, whereas the other followers, the “sons o f the prophets,” stand at a distance. Elijah makes his appearance in the O ld Testament in a very abrupt manner in 1 Kings 17:1. This might well be for literary effect, but it also indicates that the original readers were prob­ ably familiar with the man, and for them he needed no intro­ duction. Although the “sons o f the prophets” are mentioned in the collection o f Elijah stories (1 Kgs 20:35-43), it is not in direct association with Elijah. These supporters o f the proph­ ets (see WBC 13:25-27) were obviously active during Elijah’s time, but it was during the ministry o f Elisha that the con­ nections are most closely seen. It is quite possible that Elisha was originally an “outsider” to this group. His appointing in 1 Kings 19:19-21, and the story o f his succession in 2 Kings 2:1-18, appear as if they might be making a strong case for Elisha’s assumption o f the mantle o f Elijah against some op­ position from the group itself. Whatever the precise relationship, it is clear that a third figure, who binds the two together, is Moses. The story o f Elijah’s departure in 2 Kings 2:1-18 has too many allusions to events in the life o f Moses and Joshua for it to be acciden­ tal. The precise point o f the Jordan crossing is the same, the actions are the same, and, like Moses, Elijah has no visible grave. Elisha becomes Elijah’s Joshua, commissioned to carry on the prophetic task on this side o f the Jordan. G od had not left himself without witness (cf. Acts 14:17) at this, a crucial time in the history o f Israel—the years following the death o f the apostate Ahab (2 Kgs 1:1). The question that arises is, can things improve, or will they get worse? Elisha the prophet offers answers to this question. If we move back to the stories o f Elijah and examine them, several well-worn prophetic themes emerge. In the 1, 2 KINGS

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first stories o f the widow in Zarephath (1 Kgs 17:8-16,17-24), the dominant theme is reciprocal compassion. In a time of famine, Elijah has been provided for by G od (1 Kgs 17:1-7) until the food is exhausted. He is then sent to Zarephath, in Gentile territory, where a widow has been chosen to provide for him. Her complaints quickly give way to willingness to assist the prophet o f God, and she and her son are provided for as well. In the story o f the death and revival o f the widow’s son (1 Kgs 17:17-24) a similar compassion is shown. Through prayer Elijah restores the son to his mother. In 1 Kings 18, the issue is exclusive worship of Yahweh, a matter over which conflict had broken out between Jezebel’s supporters and the worshipers o f Yahweh. It was a question o f the very survival o f the name and reputation o f Yahweh in the north. If Jezebel had her way, the northern kingdom would lose its distinctiveness and its identity as a partner in the covenant with God. No more serious question could be faced by a prophet o f God. The Carmel confrontation demonstrates the absolute incomparability o f Yahweh. And Elijah’s mocking o f the prophets o f Baal (1 Kgs 18:25-29) anticipates the similar derision o f false gods by the great prophet o f the Exile (Isa 44:9-20), and echoes the wonder expressed in Deuteronomy4:6-7,32-40, at the uniqueness o f Israel and her experience with God. On these matters the prophet will brook no compromise. The next chapter, 1 Kings 19, deals with the matter o f the prophetic task. Here, Elijah is disillusioned and obvi­ ously somewhat depressed. H is vision is blurred by his selfcenteredness. H e retreats eventually to Horeb, wishing to die. G od’s response is simple. Elijah is to stand once again where M oses stood. He is, in effect, recommissioned. So Elijah returns to continue his work— to raise up kings, to appoint a successor, and to continue to champion the cause o f the covenant. Elijah’s whole being was subject to this commission. 37

Prophets

The best-known story o f Elijah concerns Naboth's vine­ yard, and Ahab and Jezebel’s cowardly maneuvers to wrest it from him (1 Kgs 21). The issue here is justice, based on the covenant The divisions o f the land o f promise in Joshua 13-18 are based on the notion that the land is a gift from G od (see ch 5 below). Each tribe and each tribal member is granted a place in that promise; therefore, it is a sin to remove a neighbor’s landmark (Deut 19:14; 27:17), and a disruption o f the covenant to take someone else’s land. Thus it is that when Elijah confronts Ahab on the matter, he uses very specific language, “Have you killed, and also taken possession?" (1 Kgs 21:19). It is the language o f the Deca­ logue, which forbids both murder (Deut 5:17) and the covet­ ing o f a neighbor’s field (Deut 5:21). Each o f these themes is repeated in one form or another in the stories o f Elisha Elisha, too, shows compassion to those in need (2 Kgs 4:1-4); is jealous for the exclusive worship of Yahweh (2 Kgs 3:13,14); experiences doubts and despair over his prophetic task (2 Kgs 6:32,33); and is concerned with matters o f justice (2 Kgs 8:7-15). The deuteronomic law com­ manded care for the powerless in society— the widow, the orphan, and the stranger (Deut 14:29; 16:11,14). And it is precisely these people who experience the care and compas­ sion o f the two great prophets Elijah and Elisha Apart from these two prophets, so powerfully portrayed in these stories, several other characters stand o u t A s one might expect, however, the kings and their courtiers are rarely shown in a sympathetic light Ahab is the arch apostate who finds a worthy opponent in Elijah. Ahaziah’s claim to fame is a fall down some stairs, an illness, and a search for healing in a foreign country (2 Kgs 1). The two kings in 2 Kings 3 panic when they find themselves lost in the desert (2 Kgs 3:10). The kings o f Israel and Syria misin­ terpret the need o f Naaman, and almost begin a war over the issue o f his visit to Elisha (2 Kgs 5:1-7). Court officials fare 1, 2 KINGS

38

no better. The pompons arrogance o f the captain's disbeliev­ ing reaction to Elisha’s prophecy in 2 Kings 7:1,2 results in his untimely death (2 Kgs 7:16-20). On the other hand, it is frequently the lesser known and the unimportant who become agents o f healing, restoration, and fulfillment. In 2 Kings 3:11 it is a servant o f the king o f Israel who guides the panic-stricken kings to seek out Elisha. In 2 Kings 5:2,3 it is a young Hebrew slave-girl who begins the process o f Naaman’s healing. In 2 Kings 7 it is the un­ likely quartet o f outcast lepers who discover that the Syrian army besieging Samaria has fled and who carry the good news to the king. Even Gehazi, the discredited servant o f Elisha, helps in the restoration o f the Shunemite's land when she returns from exile (2 Kgs 8:5). There is a wonder­ ful principle at work here. Paul captured it well in his first letter to Corinth. For consider your call . . . not many o f you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were power­ ful, not many were o f noble birth; but G od chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, G od chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, G od chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are. . . . (1 C or 1:26-28) Jesus himself chose the “ignorant and unlearned” to follow him. He associated with tax collectors, and accepted those whom others deemed unacceptable. In Elijah and Elisha, Israel knew that “there was a prophet in Israel,” and that “there was a G od in Israel” This is a theme repeated many times in the narratives (1 Kgs 17:24; 2 Kgs 1:3,16; 3:11; 4:9; 5:2,3), and recognized more often by foreigners than by Israelites! Elijah earned the reputation o f a “troubler o f Israel” (1 Kgs 18:17) and Elisha earned the 39

Prophets

respect o f kings (2 Kgs 8:7-10; 13:14), but they had in com­ mon the heart and soul o f prophecy: the uncompromising championship o f the Word o f G od in human affairs. In George Mendenhall’s words, they had a vision o f a Transcendent deity whose govern­ ance over the historical process made inevitable the de­ struction o f a petty political power that regarded the deity as a mere security blanket with which to cover up . . . oppression and corruption.3

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4

THE PEOPLE OF GOD

In 1 and 2 Kings, monarchs reign over and lead their people, but are themselves under a higher law. Alongside them, prophets proclaim that higher law with their utter­ ances o f the divine Word. They stand as guardians of society, proclaiming the will o f the covenant God, Yahweh, and play­ ing an intermediary role between the people and God. Thus, both kings and prophets represent forms o f leadership. A third form o f leadership is that o f the priest, who, while not absent from 1 and 2 Kings, is certainly not very prominent. But what o f the people, who are led by both king and prophet? How are they understood in Kings? The nature of G od's people The writer o f 1 and 2 Kings would have had a consider­ able knowledge o f the history o f the people o f Israel and Judah, and o f the early literature o f the people. The history o f Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors o f Israel whose

41

T he People o f G od

stories are recorded in sections o f Genesis, would have been familiar to him in some form, and he acknowledges the covenant with the patriarchs (2 Kgs 13:23; 17:15). The tradi­ tions about the slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, the wilderness wanderings, and the covenant at Sinai are all clearly known and cited by him (2 Kgs 17:7-18). Further, the role o f Moses, the architect o f the newly-freed society, was also part o f his knowledge. These facts are crucial elements in the forma­ tion o f the notion o f the “people o f G od.” They are founda­ tional to Israel’s self-understanding, and part o f the personal and public history o f the writer. We ought also to guard against reading too many mod­ em , Western concepts into the term “people.” U nfortu­ nately this occurs all too often in O ld Testament studies, but we cannot stress enough some o f the differences in meaning between a biblical (i.e., ancient Mediterranean) understanding o f “people” and a m odem N orth American understanding. Biblical terms like “people o f Israel” carry with them quite different sets o f meaning than terms like “people o f Canada” or “the American people.” The latter terms encompass a variety o f different ethnic backgrounds and languages, something that would have been unthink­ able in the ancient Near East. For us, binding forces are mainly symbolic, like the flag, the country, or a political ideology. In the biblical world, the binding force was kinship— real or supposed. A ll came from one father, Abraham, and all were therefore related. In the Bible this is seen m ost clearly in the stories o f the twelve sons o f Jacob/ Israel, who become tribal heads. Even though the socio­ political form o f the people o f G od underwent several far-reaching changes throughout biblical history— from tribal clan, to tribal league, to monarchy, to priestly theoc­ racy— it never lost this sense o f belonging. This sense o f group identity was always very strong, so much so, that 1, 2 KINGS

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even at the end o f the biblical period o f their history, this people is still known as “Israel” (Mal 1:1). The outward form that this people took prior to the mon­ archy was that of a theocracy; they were a people ruled by G od and his Law. This Law was given to Moses at Sinai and formed the basis of the community after Sinai. In Joshua and Judges, the Law is presupposed as foundational to the life and well-being of the people. A glance at these books will show that kinship predominated the people’s self-understanding. What political life existed was dominated by males, and politi­ cal decisions were made almost exclusively by male elders. Even in those relatively early days, priests, prophets, and judges shared various combined religious, civil, and military powers among them— as is seen in the careers of Deborah, Gideon, Samuel, and, of course, Moses. Many decisions were made at the local, that is village and town level. The story of Ruth offers a good example o f this. A s we have seen, a decisive shift comes with the advent o f monarchy, and our writer is fully aware of the nature o f this shift. He understands well the nature o f monarchical society. In this society there was a lessening o f the power and in­ fluence o f the elders (1 Kgs 12:6-11), and a concomitant growth in the power of the newly created center o f society, the king’s court (2 Sam 8:15; 1 Kgs 4:1-6). Decisions that will affect the entire population o f Israel are now made by a small group, and an impersonal administration is empow­ ered to carry out those decisions. Tasks are shared among a different set o f people, some known, some unknown, and some even non-Israelite. Dominating the whole scene is the political will o f the central figure, the king. In such circum­ stances, the fate and well-being o f the people o f G od as­ sumes a new importance. God, o f course, remains faithful, but the loyalty and faithfulness o f the people is now put to new tests. 43

The People o f G od

“ Israel” For the modem reader, the use o f “Israel” (the older term for the people o f God) in 1 and 2 Kings may cause some confusion, stemming from the fact that the term now has a broader meaning, while still retaining some o f the old. It is clear that the term is applied to the populace of the tribes, then under control of the monarchy. Solomon, after his vic­ tory in the civil war following the death of David, becomes king over “all Israel” (1 Kgs 4:1), that is, the territory left to him by David. The same meaning is implied in the use of “Israel” in 1 Kings 6:1, and possibly 8:1. Elsewhere, this terri­ tory is also called “the kingdom” (1 Kgs 11:31). In other passages, however, a clear distinction is made be­ tween Judah, the southern kingdom following the split after Solomon's death, and Israel, the northern kingdom consist­ ing o f ten tribes. Thus in 1 Kings 1:35 and 4:35, the phrase “Israel and Judah” applies to what previously was referred to as “all Israel.” The distinction is maintained in 1 Kings 13 in the story of the man o f God from Judah and the prophet from Israel In the same vein, Jeroboam’s appeal to the northern tribes to reject Rehoboam’s attitude and rule is prefaced with the phrase “O Israel!” (1 Kgs 12:16). Further, the phrase “my people Israel,” which is used in 2 Samuel 7:8 of the entire covenant community, is used in 1 Kings 16:2 exclusively of the northern kingdom. Yet there persists throughout 1 and 2 Kings an understand­ ing o f “Israel” as referring to all the recipients of God’s grace at the Exodus, as hearers of his Law at Sinai, and partners in the covenant with him. Thus when Solomon is made king, he asks for an understanding mind to govern “thy great people” (1 Kgs 3:9; see also 8:41). When the kingdom is split, it is the result o f Solomon’s disobedience to a law which God gave to “the people o f Israel” (1 Kgs 11:2, see Deut 17:17), and by way of contrast, Hezekiah removed from the temple the bronze 1, 2 KINGS

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cult object which “the people o f Israel” had revered since the time of Moses (2 Kgs 18:4). Finally, when kings o f either the north or south are ad­ dressed in prophetic terms in 1 and 2 Kings, they are addressed by the “G od o f Israel” (in other words, the G od o f Sinai and o f the covenant). It is this G od who announces through the prophet Elijah that a drought will come on the northern nation o f Israel (1 Kgs 17:1), but it is also this same G od who announces to Josiah through Huldah the prophetess the consequences o f the breaking o f the cove­ nant (2 Kgs 22:15). There is, then, some ambiguity in the terminology used to refer to the people, but no discontinuity. Ultimately, for the writer o f the history o f the monarchy, all the people o f G od are bound by the covenant to the same G od regard­ less o f whether they are known as “Israel” or “Judah.” This position is basic to the prophetic tradition, which had to face the same ambiguity. A t times, the northern nation o f Israel is addressed (Hos 4:1; 5:1) and, at times, the southern nation o f Judah is (Jer 4:3). O n occasion, the ambiguity is lessened by the use o f specific references to places such as Samaria or Jerusalem (Mic 1:5), but on other occasions the ambiguity remains. However, the continuity remains also, no matter what the outward political form o f the people. Responsibility Although the fundamental concept of the people of God applies to Israel in one form or another throughout the Old Testament, the shift in political structure from tribal to monarchical does have an effect on one aspect o f Israel’s existence. In the period o f the judges, responsibility for Is­ rael’s disobedience and apostasy rests entirely with the people. It is consistently “the people of Israel” who “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (e.g., Judg 2:11; 3:7,12; 4:1; 6:1). 45

The People o f G od

In the period o f the monarchy, our writer makes plain time and again that it is now the monarchs who “did what was evil in the sight o f the Lord” (e g., 1 Kgs 15:26,34). In so doing, the kings followed in the ways of the archapostate Jeroboam, and “made Israel to sin” (1 Kgs 15:25,26). Increased power o f leadership involved increased responsibility to lead properly. It is this point which is taken up by some o f the prophets, such as Jeremiah, who are placed in opposition to the leaders o f Israel and Judah (Jer 1:18,19; Mic 3:1,9). But good leadership, in part, is dependent upon a willing­ ness to be led well, and the new system in no way absolves the people o f their own responsibility to worship and fear Yahweh. Shepherds have an enormous responsibility for those whom G od has given into their charge, and numerous prophetic voices have been raised to make this point (Jer 19-23; Ezek 34). But ultimately it is the lament o f the prophet that “my people have . forsaken me, the fountain o f living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, bro­ ken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). Being in the tradition o f the prophetic outlook on human affairs, our writer is fully aware of this (see 1 Kgs 14:21,22). People an d covenant In the O ld Testament as a whole, and certainly in the understanding of our writer, the basis for the relationship between G od and his people, and the justification for God’s claim to their obedience and reverence, is the covenant (berith). No other concept has dominated the discussion on the Old Testament more than the covenant, and the atten­ tion is well-deserved. It is a central topic, o f great importance to the understanding o f the nature o f the people o f G od in 1 and 2 Kings and elsewhere. To describe the notion o f covenant as “a formal agreement or treaty between two parties, with each assuming some obli1, 2 KINGS

46

gation” is correct, but only partly so. Although many parallels have been found in the political world o f the ancient Near East, the concept cannot be confined to the world o f politics, particularly politics as we understand it. Strictly speaking, a covenant is not a business contract, although trading partners form “covenants” with each other to further trade. Some scholars have emphasized the element o f obligation laid upon the partners in a covenant; but again, it is this, and more than this. Other kinds o f agreements are encompassed by the term, such as the agreement between two close friends, David and Jonathan (1 Sam 18:3), which certainly transcends any concept o f a formal contract. Interpreters have long been aware o f the many parallels between the O ld Testament idea o f covenant and the nu­ merous treaties drawn up between nations o f the ancient Near E ast Some o f the treaty texts date from as early as the fifteenth century B .C ., and as late as the seventh. They span much o f the history o f Israel in O ld Testament times. So much o f the language and form is the same that it ap­ pears that O ld Testament writers and leaders saw the cove­ nant concept as a perfect illustration o f the relationship o f G od to his people. There is nothing unusual in this; other biblical writers have taken institutions o f daily life in the biblical world and used them as illustrations o f spiritual concepts. The language o f salvation is the language o f war­ fare and slavery. G od is likened to a warrior or a father, and the people o f G od are regarded as a family. If the inter­ national treaty was so widespread, then it would have pro­ vided an excellent aid to understanding Israel’s relationship to God. International treaties have been classified into two types: the parity treaty, an agreement between (more or less) equals; and the suzerainty treaty, an agreement between a conquer­ ing overlord and a vassal. The unequal relationship between G od and Israel is well-illustrated by this latter form, and the 47

The People o f G od

book o f Deuteronomy shows a remarkably close affinity to the pattern and language o f the known suzerainty treaty texts. Yet if we understand the analogy only as a formal political one, we have not fully understood the nature o f the relationship between G od and Israel. Aside from the fact that illus­ trations tend to be incomplete, they must be understood properly. Although the treaty texts are from the realm o f international politics, we must not view that realm as though it were a duplicate o f modem politics. We need to see it in the social and cultural context o f the ancient Near East, especially in light o f the way relationships were perceived and how they functioned. From the perspective o f our individualistic way o f perceiv­ ing and living our lives, it is difficult for us to understand that in the ancient (and modem) Mediterranean world, relation­ ships had a much stronger element o f dependence, especially dependence upon persons with power. A s one writer has recently expressed it, “Ideal superiors are benevolent auto­ crats or paternalists, good ‘fathers’ on whom subordinates like to depend.” The relationship between suzerain and vassal is not so much that between “boss and underling,” as be­ tween “patron and client,” with mutual dependence being a prominent element o f the bond between the two. The vassal/ client is dependent on the suzerain/patron for protection and status; in turn, the patron is dependent upon the client for respect and honor. To a large extent it is the “good name” o f the patron that the client is responsible for in keeping his side o f the relation­ ship. Thus it is that the suzerain/patron always presents him­ self in an extended, self-serving introduction in the treaty texts. Thus it is too, that G od prefaces the Decalogue with a self-presentation claiming honor and exclusive worship. This understanding o f the relationship between partners o f a covenant is also seen in another model from the ancient 1, 2 KINGS

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Near East, the “covenant o f grant,” a gift o f land and status to a client king by a god. This form is thought to offer some insight into the background to the covenant with David. This rather lengthy diversion into the notion o f covenant is important as background to its use in 1 and 2 Kings. It stresses the element o f the personal relationship between the two partners, an element which tends to get lost if the covenant is seen only in rather cold political terms. In 1 and 2 Kings the term “covenant” is applied to a num­ ber o f situations. The trade agreement between Solomon and Hiram o f Tyre (1 Kgs 5:26 [5:12]) and the agreement bringing an end to war between Israel and Syria (1 Kgs 15:19; 20:34), are called “covenants,” and would probably have been formal­ ized in the same way that many parity and suzerainty treaties were. W hen Jehoiada the priest conspires to overthrow the usurper queen Athaliah, he allies himself with the palace guard in a “covenant” (2 Kgs 11:4). When the revolt is over, God, king, and people are reunited in a “covenant” (2 Kgs 11:17) reminiscent o f the agreement between David and the northern tribes (2 Sam 5:3) and the agreement between Rehoboam and the northern tribes left in tatters by Solomon (1 Kgs 12:6-16). Basic to Israel’s understanding o f her status before G od is the agreement made between G od and Israel’s ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Reminiscent o f the “covenant o f grant,” its strongest element is the notion o f “gift.” It repre­ sents an act o f grace, o f munificence. It is recalled as such in 2 Kings 13:23, and its rejection is lamented in 2 Kings 17:15. Its twin is the covenant made between G od and Israel at Sinai, when the Torah was given to order the life o f the covenant people. Because o f the nature o f these books as part o f the deuteronomistic history, it is no surprise to see this covenant referred to again and again in 1 and 2 Kings. Its most impor­ tant symbol, the ark o f the covenant, is at the very center o f 49

T he People o f G od

Israel’s life, in its most sacred place, the Holy o f Holies (1 Kgs 6:19; 8:1-21). Centuries later, Josiah’s workmen redis­ covered the covenant Torah, and he attempted to restore the covenant to its rightful place in the life o f God’s people (2 Kgs 23:2-21). The tragedy is that in spite o f God’s faithfulness to Israel (1 Kgs 8:23), most references to the covenant in 1 and 2 Kings are o f Israel’s rejection o f it King Solomon, appointed as leader and example o f the people o f God, fails to keep the covenant (1 Kgs 11:11). Elijah’s lament recalls the incessant indictment o f the book o f Judges that the people had forsaken the covenant (1 Kgs 19:11,14). Finally, the north­ ern kingdom is judged for rejecting the covenant with G od (2 Kgs 17:35,38; 18:12).

Worship To give honor to the senior partner in the covenant, to protect his name and reputation as a faithful client, and to ascribe to him his proper attributes are the correct actions and attitudes o f the vassal. In religious terms, this is called "worship.” The Decalogue, so fundamental to Israel’s life and faith, begins with the words 'I am the LORD your G od, who brought you out o f the land o f Egypt, out o f the house o f bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness o f anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the L o r d your G od am a jealous God.’ (Deut 5:6-9a) This encapsulates the commitment involved in a covenant relationship. It involves exclusive honor to one, not favors

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scattered promiscuously to many. G od is Israel’s God, and Israel is God’s people. Given the nature o f a covenant relationship, the terms used o f the attitude o f one partner to another are personal ones like “serve” ('abad), “fear” (yareh), and “love” (’aheb). These terms are staples o f the vocabulary o f Deuteronomy and the deuteronomistic history. Outward forms o f worship pertaining to the covenant were the temple in Jerusalem, which stood as a symbol o f G od’s abiding presence with the people; the sacrificial sys­ tem, by which the worshiper could be absolved o f sin or express his devotion to God; and the ark o f the covenant, always a reminder o f God’s commitment and faithfulness to Israel Important though these outward forms were, a more important element was a will to worship on the part o f the people—the right attitude o f heart and mind, and subsequent behavior consistent with what was said and done in worship. It is the judgment o f the writer o f Kings that this will was mostly absent from Israel Solomon’s heart was turned away from God (1 Kgs 11:2), and this was not simply a temporary lapse of attention, but a deliberate, w illful and consistent atti­ tude (1 Kgs 11:11). Most subsequent kings followed su it The reforms carried out by some were unsuccessful not because they were not well-intentioned, but because the general will o f the people was otherwise. A t least, that was the opinion o f their own prophets. W hen the people were taken into exile, the cause for judgment was simple: They did not worship God. They did not give to G od the service, the fear, and the love which was rightfully his. Elijah’s com­ plaint in 2 Kings 1 that the king does not know that “there is a G od in Israel” is sounded time and again throughout their history. In the final analysis, since Israel’s heart was not willing to worship, the symbols lost their validity, and our writer ends 51

The People of God

his history o f the people with the sad picture o f the city, temple, and people being plundered and destroyed by a for­ eigner. This sets a serious theological problem before us. Knowing what we do o f the chosenness o f Israel and the covenant-faithfulness (hesed) o f God, what significance does this have for the future o f the people? We shall attempt an answer to this in a later chapter, but first we turn to another important topic, that o f the land.

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5

THE COVENANTED L A N D

W hat an d where? The land which Israel occupied for much o f her early history, and which she eventually lost, has an importance in world history far beyond its size. Geographically, the land forms part o f the fertile crescent, that great arc o f watered and arable land which stretches from the northern shore o f the m odem Arabian Gulf, along the valley o f the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and along the eastern shore o f the Mediterranean Sea, until it reaches the border o f Egypt at Wadi el-Arish (the Brook o f Egypt in the O ld Testament). The land occupied by Israel comprises only a small section o f this great crescent, and in the frequently noted limits o f “Dan to Beersheba,” the land was about the size o f the state of Vermont But that small tract o f land formed a vital link in the crescent, which was a major trading route o f the ancient world. Historically, it was a link between the great civiliza­ tions and empires o f North Africa (Egypt) and the land o f 53

The Covenanted Land

Akkad (Assyria and Babylon). It frequently passed into the hands o f one or the other, relieved by brief periods of “independence” when the threats and problems were more local. Beyond this, however, the Bible looks on this land as a symbol, a gift from G od and an integral element in the covenant relationship between G od and the people. It is at the center o f the promise to Abraham (Gen 15:7; 17:1— 8). It is (he goal o f the Exodus (Exod 3:7-12), and with the system­ atic conquest under Joshua, the land is received as a gift. W hen Israel had settled in the land, there developed a basic understanding o f the relationship between people and land which is so important in the O ld Testament Here, in the land, Israel can find rest and peace (Josh 21:44). The subse­ quent relationship between the people and the land was perceived in such a way that any threat to the land, any invasion or penetration o f its borders, was understood as a serious threat to the covenant community itself. Therefore, during the period o f the judges such invasions were resisted with force. During the period o f the monarchy this percep­ tion was strengthened by the establishment o f fortresses and garrisons along the borders (1 Kgs 9:15), the develop­ ment o f a strong physical center (Jerusalem, temple, and palace), and the growth o f the status o f the king, especially under David and Solomon. This was a safe land (2 Sam 7:8-11), a prosperous land (Deut 8:7-10) that was given, not earned (Deut 8:17,18). It is in this light that the “ordnance survey” o f the land in Joshua 13-19 is to be understood. The lists o f place names and geo­ graphical features is confusing and at times tiresome to read, but the main point the reader should bear in mind here is that Joshua’s division o f the land, at God’s command, is part o f the covenant agreement The land is a gift to all the people; there­ fore, all the people have a proportionate share in the land. In a sense, this passage represents a kind o f land reform pro-

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gram in which the land once controlled by the Canaanite city-kings is distributed to the people o f Israel as a gesture of God’s covenant grace and love. It is against this briefly sketched background that the understanding o f the land in 1 and 2 Kings ought to be seen. Center an d boundaries If, as many interpreters have suggested, the opening chap­ ters o f 1 Kings are part o f the “succession history” o f David and Solomon, then this helps explain why the notion o f land is replaced by the term “kingdom” (mamlakah) in these early chapters. The use o f “kingdom” reflects the new political reality in Israel after David. The gift o f the land is now under the control of a central figure, the king (1 Kgs 2:12,15,22). This politically controlled territory is, however, larger than the original gift. Solomon inherited a territory which ex­ tended farther north than the boundaries established in Numbers 34:1-12, as being from the Brook of Egypt to Lebohamath (not “entrance to Hamath” as in so many modem translations). Solomon’s northern border extended to the Eu­ phrates and to the city of Tiphsah (1 Kgs 4:24). Neither of these northern limits corresponds with the northern tribal allotments in Joshua 19, and the differences probably reflect the changing fortunes o f Israel throughout her history. Boundaries, while defended and often delineated, were rarely stable. However, the climax of the reign of Solomon, seen in his building of the temple and in his prayer in 1 Kings 8, clearly shows that he did not inherit this extended kingdom by accident, but rather that it is the culmination of the promise to David, and it is bound up with the covenant. Blessed be the L o r d , the G od o f Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to David my father. (1 Kgs 8:15) 55

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A t the center o f this land stands a new and important symbol associated with the reign and activities o f Solomon, namely the temple. Its importance for our writer is reflected in the space he devotes to its careful construction (1 Kgs 6:1-38). In the very center o f the temple stands the ark representing the covenant between G od and the people (1 Kgs 8:1-14). But the temple has a greater significance. In keeping with the numerous promises in the book o f Deu­ teronomy (e.g., Deut 12:5,6), it is the place G od has chosen to dwell with his people, and the focus o f his care and concern, his hearing o f prayer (1 Kgs 8:27-30). Thus it is that the prayer spoken “toward the city which thou hast chosen and the house which I have built for thy name” upholds the army in battle (1 Kgs 8:44,45) and brings for­ giveness to the repentant sinner (1 Kgs 8:46-53). The symbolic limits o f this land can be extended, either through marriage and political alliance (1 Kgs 3:1-2), or through the inclusion o f a non-Israelite, a foreigner (noker) who acknowledges the sovereignty o f Israel’s G od (1 Kgs 8:41-43). This land is important, as is the place o f the people in it, and one o f the strongest punishments meted out by Solomon is to displace a person, to banish him from Jeru­ salem (1 Kgs 2:26). Use an d m ism anagem ent Walter Brueggemann, in his excellent book The Land, makes a distinction between the land as gift and the land as “managed”-—by which he means the overtly human element in the treatment o f the land.1It is the element o f controlling the land, as opposed to depending upon it, o f selfish use as opposed to grateful use. Part o f the understanding o f land in 1 and 2 Kings involves this element o f “management” of land, and the writer shows a close connection between the misuse o f the land and the people’s misfortune.

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In the account o f Solomon’s reign there is a paragraph outlining Solomon’s organization o f the country for purposes o f taxation (1 Kgs 4:7-19). The report o f the tax divisions is found in a lengthy narrative giving details of Solomon’s administration, the amount of provisions needed for his court, and his reputation for wisdom (1 Kgs 4:1-5:14 [4:1-34]). The administrative structure is slightly larger than David’s (2 Sam 8:15-18), and includes the office of “minister o f forced labor.” The administrative divisions for the purposes o f taxation number twelve, but do not follow the territorial allotments for the tribes. They are clearly in the interest o f efficiency, and to ensure this, some o f the local governors are related to the king (Dor and Hazor). On purely political and economic grounds, given the reali' ties o f Solomon’s day, one might argue in favor o f Solomon’s policies. But the perspective o f the writer is not purely politi­ cal, and he is aware that this disregard for the older tribal allotments, coupled with the absence o f Judah from the dis­ tricts obliged to pay taxes, does not bode well for the land. The distribution o f the land in keeping with the covenant is now being ignored. The absence from the narrative o f any command from God that might legitimize Solomon’s actions highlights the contrast between his actions and proper use of the land. A similar case o f “management” comes with the choice o f a new northern capital, Samaria (1 Kgs 16:24). The older capi­ tal, Tirzah, was replaced by a newly created city, built on the hill o f Shemer and fortified. We can only guess at the reasons for the new choice. Perhaps Samaria was closer to the interna­ tional trade routes. It was certainly more central, and had clear access to the coast Whatever the reasons, archaeologi­ cal excavation at the site has shown that the new capital was an impressive city with large, well-made walls. W hat is clear is that the choice was made by Omri and Omri alone. A l­ though Samaria became the capital city o f the north, unlike 57

The Covenanted Land

Jerusalem in the south it could claim no special status of having been chosen by G od It is never the place “where God dwells.” It is one of Omri’s “works o f greatness” (1 Kgs 16:27), a human construction, made without reference to G od The third case is probably one o f the most famous in 1 Kings, the story o f Naboth’s vineyard and its expropriation by Ahab and his wife Jezebel (1 Kgs 21). The story is wellknown and the details do not need to be repeated W hat is most interesting is the challenge made by the prophet Elijah. It is clear from his question (1 Kgs 21:19) that Elijah does not see this action as simply a case o f criminal theft, for he alludes to the covenant Law, the Decalogue, and by implication accuses Ahab o f breaking that law (cf. Deut 5:17,21). H is choice o f words is precise: Ahab is guilty o f killing a fellow Israelite without cause (ratsach). Management o f land, in this case the redistribution o f land for selfish gain, is a breach o f the covenant, a misuse o f the gift, and for this sin Ahab is to be judged Shrinking lim its Throughout Israel’s history, the boundaries o f the land frequently fluctuate, and very often are penetrated by ene­ mies. A t times, these shifts in the borders are deliberate and result from the willful action o f Israelite kings; but at other times these shifts are the result o f circumstances beyond the control o f Israel’s kings, and are often seen as a precursor o f judgment In both types o f cases, however, there is often the sense that the shifts are wrong, ill-advised, and carried out for reasons which have little, if anything, to do with the concept o f land as covenanted gift. Solomon’s reign is eventually judged to have been a failure, not because he was politically inept, but because his heart was “turned aside.” He lost a sense of perspective, and this loss is set clearly within the context of the numerous alliances

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through marriages with the daughters o f foreign kings (1 Kgs 11:1-7). In this way foreigners are introduced into the land and domain o f Israel, but not in the sense o f Solomon’s own prayer (1 Kgs 8:41-43). These foreigners do not acknowledge Israel’s God. On the contrary, they bring with them their own gods and set up their idols, polluting Israel’s faith and witness. The same thing is seen in the marriage o f Omri to Jezebel o f Tyre (1 Kgs 16:29— 34). This union results in the attempt by the queen to annihilate the prophetic witness to Israel’s G od in the northern kingdom. In 1 Kings 15:9-24, further willful redistribution o f the land is carried out as the result o f costly and unnecessary wars between Israel and Judah. The outcome is the an­ nexation o f Benjamin by Judah, and the introduction o f the Syrian king Ben-hadad into the local politics o f Israel and Judah when the southern king Asa appeals to him for help. He responds for the price o f large tracts o f covenanted land in the north. The subsequent wars between Israel and Syria (1 Kgs 20; 22) degenerate into trials o f strength between two nations, with little reference to God’s will. W hen G od’s will is revealed to Jehoshaphat and Ahab through the prophet Micaiah ben Imlah, it is ignored in favor o f the kings’ wishes, with disastrous results (1 Kgs 22). In addition to these willful changes in the limits o f the land there is a series o f changes which are beyond the control o f Israel and Judah, the result o f invasions by stronger powers. Throughout, there is little appeal to God. Soon after the division o f the kingdom into the separate nations o f Israel and Judah, the Egyptian Pharaoh Shishak (Sheshonk) in­ vaded (1 Kgs 14:25-28). According to the writer o f 1 Kings, Jerusalem was the target and suffered badly at the hands o f the invader. But the Egyptian’s own account shows the full extent o f his raid. He attacked the Negev desert, took many fortified cities o f Israel and Judah along some o f the main routes, and returned to Egypt unopposed. 59

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In spite o f David’s subjugation o f the Philistines (2 Sam 4-5), pressure is reapplied in the south and west by these people (1 Kgs 15:27; 16:15-20), and time and effort must be spent containing them. In the east Syrians lay claim to Is­ raelite territory (1 Kgs 20:1-6) and begin a series o f wars which are fought back and forth in each country. Chapters 15-17 o f 1 Kings are taken up with a new and more dangerous pressure now exerted by the imperial army o f Assyria. After the north af lls to the armies o f Shalmaneser and Sargon in 722 B.C ., Assyrian attention is eventually turned to the south during the reign o f Hezekiah (2 Kgs 1820). The net result is a loss o f territory and the destruction of numerous fortified cities. Finally, the Babylonians invade twice and effect the fell o f Jerusalem, as well as the looting and destroying of the temple (2 Kgs 24,25). Rarely in these narratives is appeal made to C od for help— and when it is, as in the case o f Hezekiah, the motives are clearly warped. Throughout this history o f invasion it is clear that Israel and Judah are vulnerable. The sense o f “rest from enemies round about" is destroyed. There is occasional respite, and at times old borders are restored, wounds are healed, and invasions are stemmed. But this happens not because Israel’s army was reorganized, or because the two nations fought better. The reason is the same one which gave Israel life and existence in the first place, the grace and mercy o f God. It was by the Word o f G od that Israel de­ feated the Syrians (1 Kgs 20:13-34). It was by the grace and mercy o f G od that Israel, under Jeroboam II, was able to restore the borders once again to Lebo-Hamath (2 Kgs 14:17-27). L an d an d loss We suggested earlier that our writer’s task in composing 1 and 2 Kings was to offer an explanation for the Exile. The 1, 2 KINGS

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Exile meant loss o f the land, as well as the other symbols o f the covenant, because o f invasions by the Assyrians in the latter years o f the eighth century B.C. and by the Babylonians in the opening decades o f the sixth century B.C. The people o f the northern kingdom were scattered throughout the Assyrian empire and were replaced by different groups from other parts o f the empire. The result was an admixture o f customs and religions which virtually destroyed the old af ith. In the south, the Babylonians took away the leading citizens o f the population to work within the infrastructure o f their own empire. Thus the southern nation lost its effec­ tive political and religious leadership. But this is a descriptive, historical sketch. Other ques­ tions remain. W hat did it mean for the existence o f Israel as G od’s people? W hat did the destruction o f her most cher­ ished symbols o f covenant signify? Was it possible for Israel to be Israel away from her covenanted land? These and many other questions must have plagued the exiles. Some o f the questions are not answered by the writer o f Kings, but are tackled by other writers o f the Exile and postexilic pe­ riod. However, in his interpretation o f what happened, our writer lays a strong foundation upon which these later writ­ ers could build. He is writing from the perspective o f one in exile, and at a time when the loss was a reality. He understands these events within the context o f the covenant and the relation­ ship o f the land to the covenant Put as simply as possible, the loss is a result o f the breaking o f the covenant relation­ ship, and a forfeiture o f its benefits. This is a principle with which he is already familiar because it is set out clearly in his “charter,” the book o f Deuteronomy (Deut 4:25-31). For making graven images, for forsaking their covenant God, the people will be scattered among the nations. There they will be forced to worship “no-gods” o f wood and stone. In a sense, it is what they have already chosen for themselves. 61

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Already in the account o f the reign o f Solomon the theme is picked up in numerous allusions to the continued faithfulness o f the king (or lack o f it) and the fate o f the land. In 1 Kings 6:11-13 Solomon is reminded that if he walks before God as David walked, in obedience to the Torah, G od “will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel” (v 13). The conditional nature o f the relationship is clear, and the danger o f disobedience is obvious. In his dedicatory prayer, Solomon acknowledges the possibility o f exile (1 Kgs 8:46-53). W hen the people sin, if they repent and pray, Solomon implores God to then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin o f thy people Israel, and bring them again into the land which thou gavest to their fathers. (1 Kgs 8:34 italics mine) Exactly the same theme is repeated in a much extended form in 1 Kings 8:46-51. Here is a precursor o f what eventually happened at the end o f the monarchy. Also in the account o f the reign o f Solomon is a longer exposition o f David's deathbed command to his son (1 Kgs 2:1-4). In 1 Kings 9:1-9 the responsibility o f Solomon the king is amplified, and the fate o f the entire people is brought under his responsibility, for if he, as leader, s ins, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and the house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast out o f my sight; and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. (1 Kgs 9:7) Already then in the account o f the reign o f Solomon, the writer has established the precarious nature o f the covenant relationship. Loyalty to the covenant—and to the covenant

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God—is crucial for the survival o f the relationship, and for the continued enjoyment o f the covenant benefits. The ques­ tion raised in the opening chapters o f Kings is whether the relationship can survive the next several hundred years of monarchy. In the remainder o f the narrative o f 1 Kings, the theme lies dorm ant We have already looked at incidents o f lost land (1 Kgs 9:10-14), broken land (1 Kgs 11:9-13), border pressure (1 Kgs 11:14-40), and border penetration (1 Kgs 14:25-28), as well as the reasons for these events. A t times, individual kings and their dynasties (“houses”) are judged (1 Kgs 14:4-16), but nothing more is said o f the loss o f the entire land. With the opening o f the narrative o f 2 Kings, the theme reemerges. The opening words o f 2 Kings 1 again introduce into Israel’s history the nation o f Moab, which is now in rebellion against Israel. The rebellion is described more fully in chapter 3, and the juxtaposition o f this loss with the years following the death o f Ahab, Israel’s archapostate, is significant The opportunity for improvement after his reign is lost, and things get worse. In 2 Kings 8:20-22 Judah loses both Edom and the border city o f Libnah. By 2 Kings 10:28-36, the reign o f Jehu— which had begun with such good intentions— ends with the loss o f a substantial part o f Israel’s territory on the east side o f the Jordan River. The Syrian threat continues, and is stayed only because o f the compassion o f G od (2 Kgs 13:22-25). The greatest historical illustration o f the writer’s original interpretation o f the loss o f the land is seen in the eventual destruction o f the northern kingdom by Assyria in 722 B.C. This destruction was preceded by several invasions and in­ cursions into Israelite territory. But in 722 Israel fell victim to the inhuman Assyrian policy o f splitting up communities o f people and scattering them throughout the empire. The policy effectively destroyed any cohesive resistance, and 63

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had a devastating effect upon the victims. It resulted in the collapse o f all social structure, and it forced the intermin­ gling o f nations and customs. It meant the annihilation o f a community. The writer’s interpretation o f these tragic events is sim­ ple. He revives the notion that the loss o f land and national identity is the result o f the willful rejection o f the covenant relationship (2 Kgs 17:7-18). The catalogue o f sins found within this chapter echoes again and again the prohibitions o f Deuteronomy (WBC 13:219-41). By the same token he anticipates the fate o f Judah with his simple statement in verse 19, “But not even Judah kept the commandments of G od. They copied exactly what Israel had done.” The subsequent history o f Judah follows the reigns o f Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and the collection of kings who bring the account to an end (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah), and there is little in these stories to give hope. Hezekiah allowed the Babylonian emissaries to view the national treasures, symbolically anticipating their plunder later by Nebuchadrezzar (2 Kgs 20:12-19). In spite o f his attempted reforms, Manasseh took Judah to depths never before seen (2 Kgs 21:1-17). And despite the valiant attempts o f Josiah (2 Kgs 22, 23), Judah’s restoration to a covenant relationship was ultimately impossible. It becomes only a matter o f time before Judah suffers the same fate as Israel To summarize, the writer o f Kings seeks to explain how the covenant land was lo st Since possession of the land was dependent on keeping the covenant, breaking the covenant jeopardized tenure o f the land. Persistent disobedience and disloyalty brought that tenure to an (albeit temporary) end. To see whether this picture holds any hope for the future for Israel and the land, we must first examine in more detail our writer’s notion o f sin and judgm ent 1, 2 KINGS

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6

SIN AND J UDGMENT

Examining the topics o f sin and judgment more closely and in a more systematic way reveals the reason for the Exile and the loss o f the land. In other words, here we touch the question o f meaning for the deuteronomist, and this meaning encompasses the life (and potential death) o f the people o f God, and their role in the passage o f events. These themes then are o f the greatest importance in understanding the books o f 1 and 2 Kings. T he language of sin Within the language o f ancient Israel there was an entire vocabulary relevant to doing right and wrong, and to the sanctions that were applied to wrongdoers as well as the bene­ fits which came to the righteous. This language was not limited to what we would term “ethics”; what it encompassed was far broader. It involved the practice o f justice, individual and social ethics, and religion— not as separate institutions, but rather as areas o f life which were closely intermingled. An 65

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infraction o f the rules o f behavior regarding any area o f life was regarded as a "sin,” against which sanctions were ap­ plied. 1 and 2 Kings uses four words for such infractions. In order of frequency, the first is 'asham, which is used only once (2 Kgs 12:17), without explanation. The term is usually translated “guilt," but we must be careful not to read into this term the Western psychological understanding o f guilt as a feeling o f having done wrong. “Guilt” in this con­ text is more an attribute. According to Leviticus 5:15-19 it can be removed by an offering o f a certain value, a tax paid to the priests and restitution to the one offended. During the reforms o f Jehoash, some adjustment is made in the system o f payment o f the “guilt money” (2 Kgs 12:17). The context for the guilt payment seems to be that o f a wrong done to others, and has little to do with our writer’s exposition o f Israel’s sin and judgm ent The Hebrew word 'awon occurs in 1 Kings 8:47; 17:18; and 2 Kings 7:9. It is often translated as “sin” or “wrong­ doing.” The first occurrence in Kings is in the dedicatory prayer o f Solomon, wherein Israel is to repent o f her sin as the first step to restoration. The second occurrence is in the woman o f Zarephath’s verbal attack on Elijah after the death o f her son. This death, she believes, is a result o f her “sin” which Elijah has now brought back to notice by his presence in her house. The third o f these occurrences is in the words o f the lepers who are looting the deserted Syrian encamp­ m ent By not sharing their good fortune with other Israelites they are doing wrong and their 'a won will overtake them (see also Num 32:23). In other words, they will be punished for it In the case of both ’asham and 'awon (which are common elsewhere in the O ld Testament), the writer o f 1 and 2 Kings shares assumptions about their meanings with other Old Tes­ tament writers, and neither is explained. The two remaining words are used in association with other words and are placed in certain contexts to give them 1, 2 KINGS

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broader application. In 1 Kings 8:50 the word pesha"'is translated “transgression.” The word is found in six other places, but in quite different, and nonreligious, contexts. In 1 Kings 12:19 it is used to describe the secession o f the northern tribes from the united monarchy. It is an act o f “rebellion.” In 2 Kings 1:1; 3:5,7 it is used similarly o f the declaration o f independence o f Moab. For several years, probably since the time o f David, Moab had been a vassal territory to Israel, and shortly after the death o f Ahab, Moab successfully rebelled against Israel. Israelite-built cities were destroyed, Israelite inhabitants were slaughtered or enslaved, and Israelite rule was thrown off. Precisely the same word is used to describe the same action taken by Edom not long after this (2 Kgs 8:20, 22). In applying this term to the action o f Israel against God, the writer has used a metaphor from the realm o f interna­ tional politics— the same realm from which “covenant" was taken. Israel’s sin against G od was that o f willful rebellion, an expression o f the desire to be free o f the relationship that bound the people and G od together. This is, o f course, a clearly prophetic view o f the relationship between G od and the people. This is the action o f a people who honor with their lips, but whose heart (i.e., will) is far from obedient (Isa 29:13), a people who “long ago . . . broke your yoke and burst your bonds; and . . . said, ‘I will not serve’” (Jer 2:20). The fourth word which is used o f the sinful action o f the people is the most common, occurring almost eighty times in 1 and 2 Kings. It is the Hebrew word chat'ah, normally translated “sin.” In 1 and 2 Kings the word first appears in the prayer of Solomon at the dedication o f the temple (1 Kgs 8:22-53). This section o f 1 Kings has long been recognized as a programmatic statement, outlining the theological perspec­ tive o f the deuteronomist, so it is an important place to start. The exposition o f the term here shows it to refer to an act against G od (1 Kgs 8:46) or to an action committed against 67

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another Israelite, a “neighbor” (1 Kgs 8:31). The word repre­ sents an action for which there are serious consequences. Defeat in battle and loss o f honor can result (1 Kgs 8:33). Natural disasters, such as drought, can even be blamed on chat'ah (1 Kgs 8:35). But there is more to be said. The willful nature o f the action is seen in the prayer o f repentance in 1 Kings 8:47, “We have sinned, and have acted perversely and wickedly.” The same point is clearly made again in 1 Kings 8:50. From this point on in 1 and 2 Kings, the vast majority of occurrences of the term concern one specific manifestation of chat'ah, and that is what we have come to understand as apostasy. In its English form, the word derives from the Greek meaning “to stand outside, or apart from” something. In the Old Testament, it is the opposite of repentance (shubh). It is a “turning away” (meshubah) from God, which seems to have been a word coined by Jeremiah (Jer 3:6,8,11,12; 8:5). With the use of this compound of the verb “to turn” (shubh) the element o f deliberate and willful action is retained. This par­ ticular manifestation of chat'ah casts an unavoidable shadow over the unfolding history o f Israel and Judah. It is the “great sin” (2 Kgs 17:21) o f the first king o f the northern nation, Jeroboam, who set up idols in the north as rivals for G od (1 Kgs 12:25-33). It is also this sin which stains the whole o f the subsequent life o f the northern nation. King after king is given the dubious distinction o f following in Jeroboam’s footsteps and encouraging Israel to reject Yahweh, the G od o f the Exodus (e.g., 1 Kgs 14:16; 15:26,30,34; 16:26; 2 Kgs 10:29,31; 13:2,11; 14:24; 15:9,18,24,28). In the south, Manasseh is credited with the same pervasive influence. Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood . . . besides the sin which he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight o f the LORD. (2 Kgs 21:16)

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In the narrative o f the struggle for succession to David’s throne, one further shaft of light is shed on the term’s meaning. W hen Adonijah had begun preparations for his coronation as David’s successor, Bathsheba approached the dying king with a plea for herself and her son. She reminded the king that he had promised the throne to Solomon, and asked him to make good his promise, “Otherwise it will come to pass, when my lord the king sleeps with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon will be counted offenders” (1 Kgs 1:21). The word translated “offenders” is a form of the word chat'ah, namely chat'aim, a word elsewhere trans­ lated “sinners” (Ps 51:15 [51:13]). Bathsheba was clearly con­ cerned about her status in the royal court. If Adonijah became king, she and her family would be regarded as out­ siders, illegitimate claimants to the throne and not a part o f the inner group, the holders o f power. She feared the attri­ bution to her and her family o f willful rejection o f the king’s authority. This use, incidentally, is remarkably close to the religious authorities’ use o f the term “sinner” in the Gospels. Regardless o f the different terms for “sin” in 1 and 2 Kings, two points emerge. The first is that the act o f sin is a deliber­ ate, willful action. It involves a choice— and in the case of Israel and Judah, the choice made was the wrong one. The second is that throughout this story we are never far away from sin as the cause for the destruction o f a relationship, in most cases the destruction o f the relationship between God and the people. In other words, we are never far away from the principles o f the covenant Before exploring this further, we ought to turn to an examination o f the role of Torah in the theme o f sin and judgment Sin, judgm ent, an d law There is little doubt that the concept o f Torah (translated “Law” in most English versions) is o f great importance to the 69

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writer o f 1 and 2 Kings. We have suggested that the standard by which he judges Israel and Judah is the book o f Deuteronomy, a book o f Torah. A t the very beginning o f the story o f the reign o f Solomon he sets out his presuppositions clearly when he records David’s charge to Solomon: Keep the charge o f the L o r d your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law [Torah] o f M oses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. (1 Kgs 2:3) In some forms o f Christian theology the concept o f Law has received a rather negative image, reduced by some simply to a tool to point out sin. This is a rather unfair image, and it is in complete contrast to the sense o f joy which surrounds the meditation on Torah in Psalm 119: “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out o f thy law [Torah]” (v 18); and again: “In the way o f thy testimonies I delight as much as in all riches . . . I will delight in thy statutes; I will not forget thy word” (vv 14-16). Even today Jews celebrate the role o f the Torah in their life with the annual festival o f Simhat Torah, “rejoicing in the Torah.” Part o f our problem is that we narrow the concept too much to fit our modem, Western idea o f what “Law” is, or should be, and we fail to appreciate the breadth o f the term in the Old Testament For us, laws are made by legislative bod­ ies, usually elected by the people. We make a rigid distinction between civil and criminal law, and between private morality and legislated public behavior. Courts are distinct institu­ tions, and their officers are distinct persons. Their behavior and functioning are accompanied by types o f ceremonies. Courts have “police” powers to enforce their decisions. For us, law is absolute and impartial (symbolized by blind justice), 1, 2 KINGS

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and a court case is usually adversarial, with one participant winning and the other losing. We take this form o f law and justice for granted, but in the world o f the O ld Testament, few, if any, o f these presuppositions would be held. Some laws were legislated by the king, but there are few examples o f this in the O ld Testament. Distinctions between private and public morality, between civil and criminal law, and between sacred and secu­ lar law were nonexistent The roles o f the O ld Testament judges were ambiguous, and the office seems to have been a slowly evolving one. While justice was often done “in the gate” (Ruth 4:11; 2 Sam 19:8), this area was not a law court in the modem sense o f a separate location dedicated solely to this purpose. The gate was also the meeting place o f the elders, and probably the market area o f the city. Finally, while the concept o f justice may have been an absolute one, the practice o f law was dependent much more on negotia­ tion between antagonists in a case, and on the social status, wisdom, and common sense o f the arbitrator. These points are worth pondering because they show the different orientation o f the O ld Testament system o f justice. This orientation was much more toward the maintenance and restoration o f relationships. Thus it is that some o f the severest penalties were reserved for actions that would de­ stroy social patterns. Actions causing disruption o f the fam­ ily were harshly treated. Actions breaking the barriers that bound the group together were harshly treated. Adultery, which today is reduced to the level o f a pastime, was likewise treated severely. Laws did not apply to all people, only to members o f the community. In sum, the Law was not for the protection o f the rights o f members o f society, but rather for the preser­ vation o f the community o f Israel. If we can understand the different orientation o f the Old Testament concept and

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system o f justice, then we can understand better the use o f the term Torah in 1 and 2 Kings, and indeed in the entire Old Testament Solomon, now head o f the people, is charged in 1 Kings 2:3 with a serious responsibility. This charge is repeated in a slightly longer form in 1 Kings 9:4-9. He is to maintain his allegiance to the Torah, and to live according to the Torah in all its breadth and depth. Only then will the throne be retained, and only then will the people prosper and thrive. This is the standard by which Israel and Judah, and their respective kings, will be judged. W hat is at stake here is not the preservation o f law and order, but rather the very exis­ tence o f the people o f G od as a chosen and favored people. It is the covenant and Torah which bind the two together. But the charge to Solomon is not kept, even by Solomon. This is the simple analysis o f the deuteronomist Jehu, who assumed the throne in order to stem the tide o f disobedience and apostasy in the north, is himself judged to be a failure. “[He] . . . was not careful to walk in the [Torah] o f the Lord the G od o f Israel with all his heart” (2 Kgs 10:31), and as a result the territory o f the community began to crumble away (v 32). The cause o f the Exile and destruction o f the northern nation is likewise simply stated. The L o r d warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments. . . . But they would not lis­ ten. . . . ” (2 Kgs 17:13-14; see also vv 37-40) Like Israel, Judah too rejected the Torah (2 Kgs 17:19), and produced a king, Manasseh, who rivaled Ahab for his disobe­ dience and apostasy. O f his reign and his people it is stated: “I will not cause the feet o f Israel to wander any more out o f the land which I gave to their fathers, if only 1, 2 KINGS

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they will be careful to do all that I have commanded them, and according to all the [Torah] that my servant M oses commanded them.” But they did not listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the na­ tions had done whom the Lo r d destroyed before the people o f Israel. (2 Kgs 21:8-9) Here we find an important clue to the Exile. Before the reign o f Manasseh was over the people had chosen not only to disobey, but to act worse than the Canaanites who pre­ ceded them in the land. By rejecting the Torah they had in effect chosen to live as though they had not been favored and chosen by G od— as though they had not entered into a covenant with God. Only two "bad” kings are recorded as having obeyed the Torah in specific incidents. Amaziah o f Judah, son o f the assassinated Joash, avenged his father’s death, but stopped short o f extending his vengeance to the children o f the assas­ sins. The reason for this was the modification (in Deut 24:16) o f the law which dealt with criminal behavior and families (Exod 20:5). The rest o f the record o f Amaziah’s reign is a sad one. The other obedient king was, o f course, Josiah, who em­ barked on a widespread reform o f worship in Judah and in parts o f the north, inspired specifically by the instructions o f the book o f Torah found during the repairs o f the temple (2 Kgs 22:8,11; 23:1,24). But it seems that, however well-intentioned these actions were, they were not fully successful. Perhaps a small measure o f stability was restored to the community, but in the final analysis two kings could do little to prevent the complete breakdown o f community life and worship, or to stem the tide o f the Babylonian invasion. Judah suffered the same fate as Israel— invasion and exile from the land—because Judah, like Israel, had rejected the very thing which would have 73

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bound the community together and preserved its special identity, the covenant Torah. J udgment Seeing the concept o f Torah within the context o f the covenant helps us in our understanding o f the themes o f sin and judgment in Kings. Whatever form it takes, judgment is the result o f disobedience to the Torah and rejection o f the covenant— in other words, a deliberate abandonment o f the relationship between the people and God. This act o f rebellion is not merely the breaking o f law, but a refusal to live within the relationship established by covenant This is no light thing, because this relationship alone gave Israel her reason for being, and her distinct character. Israel has no identity apart from God. According to biblical testimony, G od is the author o f Israel’s life. John Goldingay expresses it well: The notion o f election is a key to understanding the notion o f Israel It is not even that G od makes an already existent people his own, he brings a people into being. They only exist as a people because o f an act o f God. . . . W hat is distinctive about Israel is not that they see themselves as God’s people . . . but that they see themselves as Yahweh’s people. . . 1 The sad commentary made by 1 and 2 Kings is that the very source o f Israel’s life was rejected. It would be a mistake then to see the concepts o f sin and judgment in 1 and 2 Kings as working in a sort o f mechanical way, as though there were an automatic penalty for the breaking o f a certain rule. The whole matter is much more personal. If there is a metaphor which epitomizes the covenant rela­ tionship in the Old Testament, it is that o f family. Sometimes 1, 2 KINGS

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it is seen as being like the relationship between a hither and son (Hos 11:1), and as being like the relationship between a husband and wife (Jer 2:1-4). The writer o f 1 and 2 Kings does not use these images, but through his knowledge and understanding o f the works o f the prophets (2 Kgs 17:13) he would have been well aware o f them. A s we have seen, the notion o f covenant is important to the writer's way o f inter­ preting life, and the covenant is at its heart a relationship. Under the tutelage o f Manasseh, the people o f G od chose to live as though they were not the people o f God. They aban­ doned this special relationship. The breaking o f such a rela­ tionship causes loss o f honor and deep pain for the senior partner. O n the part o f the rebel, there is a forfeiture o f the benefits o f the relationship. Just as a wayward spouse abandoning the responsibilities o f a family also abandons the pleasures, comfort, support, companionship, and shared property o f the family, so Israel, in abandoning her covenant relationship, also gave up her right to be called God’s special people, as well as the privileges o f this unique relationship.

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7

HOPE, A N D THE ANGER

OF GOD

Context We have placed the writer o f 1 and 2 Kings in the period of the Exile. H is work concludes with Jerusalem being de­ stroyed by the Babylonian army of Nebuchadrezzar, and the main citizens o f the country being taken into Babylon against their will. A puppet regime was established in Mizpah, but it soon fell victim to a local nationalist remnant which had support from the Ammonites. These events took place in 586 B.C. and shortly afterward. The narrative of 1 and 2 Kings probably was completed within a few years o f these events; The writer was still able to refer to royal and court records in some form. Other archival material relating to the temple was cited in detail, and probably not from memory. Like most good historians, the deuteronomist speaks as much to his own age as of the past. H is work is an interpreta­ tion o f the past, and he has shown how the consistent apostasy o f Israel and Judah led to the loss o f land, commu­ nity, and— almost— loss o f identity. He reads the past from a 77

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perspective shared by the prophets. He also is one o f the first writers o f the exilic and postexilic period to seek mean­ ing in the events o f the Exile, and to offer a basis for recon­ struction. Ralph Klein puts it clearly: The task o f the hour was for Israel . . . to acknowledge G od's justice, to listen to his voice and to do his law. And then, though D tr even is short on details, Israel could hope that Yahweh, in his unpredictable freedom would act as Savior once more.1 The question is, after the writer o f Kings’ pessimistic view o f the history o f the people o f Israel and Judah from conquest to Exile, does he offer hope for the future? If so, how? In answering these questions here, we are not dealing with the entire O ld Testament message o f hope. Much has been written on the way the O ld Testament as a whole is forward-looking; that message can be taken for granted. We are dealing rather with the contribution made by this writer to an understanding o f G od as a G od o f hope and grace. The anger o f God A t first there seems to be little to relieve initial pessimism because, not only is the judgment o f the Exile seen to be the result o f a consistent pattern o f apostasy, but it is also con­ sidered to be the result o f an angry reaction on G od’s p art One Hebrew expression for this reaction is a combination o f two words: charah, often translated “inflame,’’ and 'aph, which is the word for “nostril.” The term occurs numerous times in other parts o f the O ld Testament, and three times in 1 and 2 Kings. According to 2 Kings 13:3, this reaction o f G od’s to the sins o f Israel was the cause o f Israel’s defeat at the hands o f Hazael o f Damascus. This is exactly the same reason given for the numerous invasions and periods o f

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oppression in the book o f Judges (Judg 3:7). G od has a similar reaction to the activities o f Manasseh (2 Kgs 23:26). And it is for this reason that he finally casts Judah out his presence (2 Kgs 24:20). Another Hebrew expression which captures the same reac­ tion on God’s part is a form o f the verb ka 'as, which is often translated “to provoke to anger.” For example, Jeroboam ben Nebat provoked God to anger with his apostasies (1 Kgs 14:9, 15; 15:30). The same is said of Baasha (1 Kgs 16:2,7,13), Omri (1 Kgs 16:26), Ahab (1 Kgs 16:33; 21:22), Ahaziah (1 Kgs 22:54 [22:53]), people of Israel (2 Kgs 17:11,17; 23:19), Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:6,15; 23:26), and people of Judah (2 Kgs 22:17). To state as boldly as this that the judgment on the people was a direct result o f the anger o f G od makes it seem as though the action o f G od was arbitrary, hasty, and vindic­ tive. In fact, this view o f G od has caused considerable debate and heart-searching among students o f the O ld Testament for centuries. Some explanations have excused this kind o f vocabulary as part o f a primitive view o f G od which Was later outgrown. Others have seen it as simply a way o f speaking conditioned by the world view o f the time, and not to be taken seriously by modems. Still others have found the whole concept o f an angry G od offensive, and have rejected it Before we pass too hasty a judgment upon the concept, let us consider it further. Several things need to be noted about the O ld Testament understanding o f the anger o f God. The first is that, although some o f the same language is used o f the anger o f G od as well as the anger o f humans, as Bruce Dahlberg has stated, “. . . there is a qualitative and theolog­ ical difference between human anger On the one hand and divine anger on the other.”2 Human anger is often viewed negatively in Scripture. It is accepted when it is directed against injustice or exploitation (2 Sam 12:5) or when faith is lacking (2 Kgs 13:19), but in the majority o f cases it is seen 79

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as an unprofitable attitude. In Genesis 4:5-8 it leads to mur­ der, and in the wisdom literature o f the Old Testament (Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes) it is condemned as cruel (Prov 27:4) or as fitting for a fool (Prov 14:17). In contrast to the hot-tempered person, the ideal is the “cool” person (Prov 17:27) who is able to control (but not deny) the emotions. Another aspect o f human anger is its irrationality, as seen in the poem condemning the “raging” o f the Babylonians against G od and God’s people (2 Kgs 19:27). This raging is bom of arrogance. Another insight into human anger is seen in the childish sulking of the disappointed Ahab when he was chastised by the prophet (1 Kgs 20:43) and when his request was refused by Naboth (1 Kgs 21:4). The second thing to be noted about the Old Testament understanding of the anger of G od is that it is not an attribute in the theological sense, so much as an emotion. Like most emotions described in the Old Testament, anger is revealed by what God does. But this emotion is not an arbitrary one which flares up at the slightest pretext (this is more character­ istic o f what the Old Testament understands o f human anger). It is rather an emotion that is aroused only after the severest provocation. G od is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). The notion o f the anger o f G od is a difficult one to com­ prehend, especially in a society in which open emotion is traditionally not shown. By way o f almost complete contrast, the cultural milieu o f the Old Testament is refreshing in the expression o f emotion and in the way it describes the expres­ sion of emotion. M ost of the attitudes and emotions which we would normally describe by referring to some internal, hidden characteristic o f the person, the Old Testament de­ scribes by referring to some physical, and therefore very pub­ lic, gesture. The English “to respect,” which does not necessarily have any outward manifestation in our culture, is matched by the

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expression “to lift the face” in the O ld Testament (2 Kgs 5:1). What we would call being “sad” or “depressed,” in Hebrew is called having a “fallen face” (Gen 4:6). “To pay attention” is “to give ear to,” or “to incline the ear to” (Ps 78:1). For G od to be angry is for him to give outward expression to the sense of rejection, to the loss and pain o f the broken relationship be­ tween him and his people. It is therefore not “incalculable or arbitrary,” as was claimed by Rudolf Otto, nor is it divorced from moral issues. A s Heschel put it when describing the drive behind the prophetic message, “His anger is aroused when the cry o f the oppressed comes to his ears.”3 Finally, one ought always to bear in mind the moral alter­ native to an “angry G od” in this sense. That is a G od with­ out emotion, devoid of feeling and interest in the affairs of human beings— a G od who is apathetic. Such a G od would not be deserving o f worship or o f praise. Hope The sense o f hope in 1 and 2 Kings is expressed in a much more subtle way than is the idea o f judgment. The events of the previous few years had given an awful and terrifying reality to the prophets’ warnings o f judgment. The ruins o f the capital city and the devastation o f the surrounding coun­ tryside were proof enough o f the seriousness with which the announcements o f judgment were to be taken. But what of the future? O ut of these ashes could a new nation, a new people o f God, arise? Or, in the words of the psalmist, “Has G od forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” (Ps 77:9). The writer o f Kings did look forward to a continuing future relationship between G od and the people (see W BC 13:xxx-xxxviii, 359-69). The writer does not say this in so many words— it is expressed in a much more subtle manner. Through his interpretation o f events, the writer sets down a 81

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solid foundation upon which later exilic writers can build. Often, in a work o f literature the final images are the most dramatic and those impressions are the most lasting; and 1 and 2 Kings is no exception. It would be helpful for us to look again at the closing chapter o f 2 Kings. The question o f the relationship o f 2 Kings 24-25 to Jeremiah 52 complicates matters (for further study, see WBC 13:359ff). Regardless o f source and comparative length, each account o f the fell o f Jerusalem offers a distinctive contribu­ tion to the development o f O ld Testament themes. Second Kings 25 is a series o f six vignettes about the end o f the state o f Judah and its institutions. First, the king's fete is recorded (vv 4-7). Next, the city is systematically burned (vv 8-12). Then the temple is burned and looted (vv 13-17). After that, the religious and political leaders are executed (vv 18-21). Then the newly appointed governor is assassi­ nated (vv 22-26). Finally, the “legitimate” king (who had been exiled prior to all o f this) is released from prison and treated well in Babylon (vv 27-30). The message o f this series of vignettes is clear— every sym­ bol o f religious, civil, or military life in Judah was destroyed. Even the puppet regime o f Gedaliah failed, and those who assassinated him did not remain to reconstruct a new society, but fled to Egypt But all is not lost because some symbols remain intact The temple vessels and the king, Jehoiachin, although in Babylon, are intact The significance o f this becomes clear when we recall the building o f the temple in 1 Kings 6-8. In all the detail o f its construction one important theme resounds: the temple and all its furnishings and utensils combine to symbolize the presence o f G od with his people (1 Kgs 8:12-15). In its final form, then, this concluding chapter o f 1 and 2 Kings presents on the one hand, a picture o f the widespread de­ struction o f Judah and Jerusalem, but on the other hand, the continuity o f certain symbols o f af ith in exile in 1, 2 KINGS

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Babylon. It is clear from contemporary events, such as those described in Jeremiah 27-29, that the presence o f these symbols in Babylon was the source o f continued hope for the people. It means, further, that the center o f the renewed life o f the people was no longer Judah and Jerusalem, but Babylon* A s Israel had been called out o f Egypt to enter the Land o f Promise, so Israel would be called out o f the north country and the lands where she had been scattered to enter again the new land o f promise (Jer 16:13). In the words o f Robert Carroll, The deuteronomist’s view is, "Only in exile and among the exiles is there hope for the future,” but that princi­ ple needs to be made more precise so as to reflect the proper nuance o f the [writer]. “Only in the Babylonian exile and among the Babylonian exiles is that hope to be found.”4 Restoring fortunes Within that literature o f the O ld Testament which schol­ ars call the deuteronomistic literature, there is a common theme. From the book o f Deuteronomy, through the narra­ tive o f 1 and 2 Kings, to the book o f Jeremiah (whose sec­ tions o f prose bear a close similarity to the speeches o f the deuteronomistic literature), there is anticipation o f the con­ tinued apostasy o f the people, the judgment of the people, and the future restoration o f the people. The exposition of this theme in 1 and 2 Kings is but one stage in its develop­ ment. Let us look at some aspects o f this development more closely. We shall briefly examine three passages: Deuteron­ omy 4:15-31; 1 Kings 8:14-53; and Jeremiah 32:1-44. In the Introduction, I quoted from the work o f Robert Polzin:

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It is as though the deuteronomist is telling us in D eu­ teronomy, “Here is what God has prophesied concern­ ing Israel,” but in Joshua-2 Kings, “This is how God’s word has been exactly fulfilled in Israel’s history from the settlement to the destruction o f Jerusalem and the Exile.” With Polzin and others, I view Deuteronomy as an integral part o f this masterwork, the so-called deuteronomistic history. In Deuteronomy 4, toward the end o f the first major speech of M oses in the book, the themes o f judgment and restoration are addressed head-on. In verses 15-19 M oses warns the people, who are about to enter the land, o f the dangers o f apostasy and idol-making. The reason is that Israel is Yahweh’s special possession (v 20). In verses 21,22 there is a brief reference to M oses’ own fate. M oses was judged for his disobedience, and G od, in his anger, refused him entry into the Promised Land. This is an important statement. Even M oses, the architect o f the covenant soci­ ety, is not exempt from the standards G od sets out, nor from the penalty for disobedience. Verses 23,24 make a statement about the uniqueness o f God, and his “jealous” nature. This is followed in verses 25,26 with another warning against apostasy, and by a pre­ diction o f the judgment o f exile where the people will “serve gods o f wood and stone” (vv 27,28). In other words, they will have what they wished for! From this position o f exile and banishment the people will repent (vv 29,30), and will be restored because o f God’s mercy and grace, and because G od will not forget the covenant (v 31). Polzin points out that there is an implied tension between the judgment o f God on the one hand, and the mercy of G od on the other. In his opinion, this tension is also seen in the way the speech o f Moses is constructed. He uses the 1, 2 KINGS

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helpful notion o f a “dialogue,” two voices struggling with an issue o f supreme importance to the readers. O n the one hand is “the voice o f retributive justice,” and on the other, “the voice o f unconditional and inexplicable election.”5 This is a very helpful image to bear in mind because it is repeated again and again throughout the history which follows, and is clearly in evidence in the early chapters of Judges. Here, sin and judgment are juxtaposed with grace and deliverance. In another “speech,” this time in the form o f a prayer, these two contrasting themes are picked up. A t the scene o f the dedication o f the temple in 1 Kings 8, the king, Solomon, offers a prayer (vv 14-53) which contains within it much o f the language o f Moses' speeches in Deuteronomy, as well as many o f the same themes. A t the same time, the prayer reflects the different setting. Solomon be­ gins his prayer with a summary o f G od’s faithfulness. A t the heart o f this summary is the promise made to David, con­ cluding with the appeal to David for constant faithfulness. Verses 27-30 contain a brief prayer concerning the temple. This is followed by a series o f prayers covering different topics: an offense against a neighbor (vv 31,32), defeat in battle (vv 33,34), drought (vv 35,36), famine (vv 37-40), the arrival o f a foreigner (vv 41-43), battle (vv 44,45), and finally exile because o f sin against G od (vv 46-53). In each case raised in the prayer, the potential problem is resolved when prayer toward the place where God dwells is answered. In the case o f exile, repentance brings forgive­ ness and a return to the land. The key is the graciousness and mercy o f the G od who brought Israel out o f Egypt The dialogue continues, but there is no conflict between the “voices” here, rather, as in a true dialogue, there is a search for meaning and for understanding o f the relationship be­ tween G od’s judgment (which seems perfectly justified) and G od’s mercy (to which Israel’s past history gives adequate testimony).

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This dialogue is repeated in Jeremiah 32, but with a signif­ icant difference. In this narrative, which has all the flavor o f deuteronomistic writing, the voices are distinct and a true dialogue merges between the prophet and God himself. This story o f Jeremiah 32 is probably one o f the best known in the book o f Jeremiah. It is about the purchase o f a field in Anathoth at the time o f the Babylonian invasion. The story is full o f drama. In verses 1-5 the historical setting is given. The city is under siege. Jeremiah had warned o f this and for this boldness he was put in prison. The message is ominous and dear, "Behold, I am giving this city into the hand o f the king o f Babylon” (v 3). The command for Jeremiah to buy his cousin’s field in Anathoth (vv 6-8) follows immediately. When the cousin then shows up offering to sell the field, it confirms that the command came from God (v 8). Jeremiah obeys the command, then receives a hint as to the reason for the order. Given the circumstances, it is sur­ prising. For thus says the L o r d o f hosts, the G od o f Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land. (Jer 32:15) This brief explanation stirs Jeremiah to prayer, seeking an answer to this puzzle. In the prayer (vv 16-25), the prophet reviews the past history o f G od with the people. The pattern is familiar. Although G od had rescued Israel from Egypt and given them a land, Israel has disobeyed by rejecting the Torah and now she is suffering the consequences. For much o f his previous life Jeremiah had devoted himself to the proclamation o f these consequences, so the judgment had come as no surprise to him. W hat had surprised him was the order to buy land! Notice the sense o f confusion in verses 24,25: 1 2 KINGS

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W hat thou didst speak has come to pass, and behold, thou seest it Yet thou, O L o r d G o d , hast said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”— though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans. The explanation comes in the concluding speech o f G od in verses 26-44 and consists o f three elements. First, Jeremiah is right—the judgment of God upon the people was justified, and in this section o f the response there is an extended expo­ sition o f the nature o f the apostasy of Judah, similar to the accusations brought against Israel in 2 Kings 17. Second, God will bring the people back to the land and will renew his covenant with them (vv 36-41). Third, and most important, this is not the action o f a confused God, but o f the same God who brought Israel into existence in the first place. He is just, but also m erciful For thus says the LORD: Just as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. . . . for I will restore their fortunes, says the L o r d . (Jer 32:42-44) G od’s anger reveals his reaction to sin, but his fundamental disposition is still one o f grace. The understanding of the Exile in 1 and 2 Kings cannot be seen apart from this broader understanding o f judgment and exile in the entire work o f the deuteronomist The historical events he is interpreting needed to be seen for what they were—the judgment o f God upon an apostate people. But it is the judgment o f a God who had graciously brought this na­ tion into existence, saved her from slavery, bound himself to her in covenant, and given her a land. Such a God does not give up easily. 87

Hope, and the Anger of God

The writer sets the stage already for the return from exile in Deuteronomy 4 and in 1 Kings 8, reminding the reader occasionally throughout his narrative o f the gracious, saving action o f God. H e saved them from enemies in the time o f the judges (Judg 2:18). He promised to answer their prayers o f repentance (1 Kgs 8:46-53). He rescued them on a number o f occasions from the attacks o f hostile neighbors (2 Kgs 13:4-6; 22,23). He extended their borders even under the reign o f an apostate king (2 Kgs 14:23-26) and turned back the might o f the Assyrian army when Judah was threatened with extinc­ tion (2 Kgs 18:13—19:37). Even in exile there was a sense of continuity with th e existence o f the temple utensils. These symbols o f the presence o f G od were indeed im­ portant, but the hope for the future was seen even more in the continuity o f G od’s involvement in the life o f the peo­ ple. The action o f judgment was the action o f a God who had time and again shown that he cared for his people. H is behavior was consistent with what had been revealed before. The judgment was no arbitrary act, nor was it an abandon­ ment o f his heritage. Had it been either o f these, there would be no grounds for hope. A s it was, with his exposition o f the temporary nature o f the Exile, hope was kept alive.

1, 2 KINGS

88

8

CONCLUSION

The writer o f 1 and 2 Kings composed a skillfully penetrat­ ing narrative through which his readers could view, and un­ derstand, their p ast A s part o f the deuteronomistic history, 1 and 2 Kings follows the pattern o f narrative interspersed with summary speeches, prayers, or lengthy editorial comment Robert Polzin’s book Moses and the Deuteronomist examines the mode o f writing and composition from the books of Deuteronomy through Joshua, and later studies have traced this pattern through other parts o f the history. In the com­ mentary (WBC 13:xvi-xix), I examined this and other fea­ tures o f the writer’s style and technique, as did Professor DeVries (WBC 12:xxxviii-xlix). Recently, a fine essay on 1 and 2 Kings, written by George Savran, was published in the important volume, The Literary Guide to the Bible. This essay is highly recommended.1 It is important to appreciate that the books o f 1 and 2 Kings are not simply a repository o f stories about favorite individual Judeans or Israelites. While Solomon is an im­ portant (and somewhat tragic) figure, we do the narrative a 89

Conclusion

disservice by extracting the stories about him and treating them, whether in sermon or Bible study, as though they were without context The same is true o f Elijah or Elisha. These prophetic giants must be seen within the grand sweep o f Is­ rael’s history from conquest to Exile. They are part o f the sad decline o f the people o f God, and their strong voices o f oppo­ sition raised against injustice and apostasy serve to heighten the tragic seriousness o f that decline. As the writer himself points out, the people had been warned continually by the prophets, yet still persisted in their willful waywardness (2 Kgs 17:13,14). This is in af c t the heart o f the writer’s message. In our survey o f themes we have kept this in mind and sought to see what the entire narrative o f 1 and 2 Kings contributes to our understanding o f the role o f kings, proph­ ets, people, land, sin, judgment, and hope. O ur writer also takes the past very seriously, and in this regard he can rightly be called a historian. It would be impossible in this volume to become involved in the wideranging and complicated debate on the meaning and prac­ tice o f history. The debate will continue for many years to come. Again, in the commentary on 2 Kings I examined some o f the features o f this debate (W BC 13:xxx-xxxviii), and DeVries examined the issues in his volume (WBC 12:xxix-xxxviii). The writer did not pen the history o f an­ cient Israel in the same way a m odem historian would, but he could hardly be expected to do th at George Savran understands history correctly as "a selection o f details, the imposition o f a pattern o f organization, and the expression o f a historian’s point o f view.”2 M odem historians would select different details, impose a different pattern o f organi­ zation, and express a different point o f view, but that does not make the older way o f writing any less valuable as history. A t a time when much o f what passes for history is the collecting o f masses o f data— much o f it without con­ nection or meaning— it is refreshing to read something 1, 2 KINGS

90

which paints a picture in large but recognizable strokes. A s the boy in Dylan Thomas’s Christmas essay found out, it is disappointing to receive each year “books that told me ev­ erything about the wasp, except why.” The writer o f 1 and 2 Kings writes to understand and to inform, but he also writes with a deep passion. His passion is bom o f the fact that he writes about his own people and his own G od and the relationship between the two. A s Abra­ ham Heschel said, To comprehend what phenomena are, it is important to suspend judgment and think in detachment; to com­ prehend what phenomena mean, it is necessary to sus­ pend indifference and be involved.3 If the writer may be called “prophetic” in any sense o f the word, then he wrote with what Heschel called “pro­ phetic pathos,” and this moves him out o f the role o f “pure historian.” The prophets do not offer reflections about ideas in general. Their words are onslaughts, scuttling illusions o f false security, challenging evasions, calling faith to account, questioning prudence and impartiality.4 Prophets, whether they proclaim their words from the roof­ tops, in the marketplaces, or, as our writer does, through story, are an embarrassment. They make us uncomfortable because they deal with the issues o f life that really matter. The “bottom line” for our writer is the state of the relation­ ship o f his people to God, and nothing is more basic. He writes as a believer, as part o f that people. The writer’s belief is not bom simply from a reflection on his people’s past, from which he can draw conclusions. H is belief is bom rather o f a contemplation o f the biblical 91

Conclusion

G od— the G od o f Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the G od of Moses, Gideon, and Samuel. This G od is not narrowly de­ fined, nor is his truth limited, as the hymn writer stated, “to our poor reach o f mind.” This is a G od beyond human understanding (and control)— a G od who reveals himself in action and word, and who makes no excuses for himself. There is here— as in all contemplation o f the nature, character, and activity o f God— an element o f deep mystery. That God should judge his people is a mystery, but so is the af c t that he should love them in the first place. That he then chooses to restore and bless broadens the mystery. In an age when “information” rather than “knowledge” proliferates and when instant solutions to everything from the problem o f self-esteem to space travel are considered our prerogative, it is important to discover again this element o f mystery in the universe and in life. In his story o f Alexander the Great, the historian Arrian records the end o f this remarkable man’s life. Alexander had conquered the world while still young, but finally fell ill. His physicians cared for him and his priests prayed for him. It seemed inconceivable that this great man should not sur­ vive. But Arrian concludes this part o f his account, “But the gods’ command was made public, and soon afterward Alexander died— this being the better thing.”5 The “better thing” was to accept the mystery of the ultimate limitation of humans. N ot even Alexander could transcend this human condition. There is only one God, and the writer o f Kings writes in that conviction. In him, humans face an ultimate mystery whom they cannot control or manipulate. And in the history o f Israel, it is his will which is being demon­ strated. Having witnessed the exile o f a people once so blessed, and having felt the pain of bewilderment and confusion, the writer pulled his resources together to instruct, to condemn, and also to encourage. His knowledge o f G od is o f a God 1, 2 KINGS

92

whose disposition is one o f grace, and on this he builds a platform for future hope. He is an encourager. Much has been made in recent years o f the work o f the great literary figures o f the Exile and o f the postexilic period — men like the writer o f Isaiah 40-55, Ezekiel, the chroni­ cler, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the lesser-known prophets like Haggai and Zechariah and Malachi. They reconstruct a peo­ ple, a faith, and a religion out o f the loss o f land, temple, and king. Ezekiel has been called “the pastor o f the exiled con­ gregation,” and deservedly so. But it is the deuteronomist’s masterful exposition o f the past which provides the platform on which he can construct hope for the present and future.

93

Conclusion

NOTES

Preface 1. J. Ellul, The Politics o f C od an d the Politics o f M an , trans. G . W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972).

Chapter 1 Introduction 1. S. R. Driver, A C ritical an d Exegetical Com m entary on D ew teronomy, IC C (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1903). M. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy an d the Deuteronom istic School (Oxford: Oxford Uni­ versity Press, 1972). 2. J. H. Hayes and P. K. Hooker, A New Chronology for the K ings o f Israel an d Ju d ah (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988). Other chrono­ logical schemes exist, and comparisons are invited with S. J. DeVries “Chronology of the OT,” Interpreter’s D ictionary o f the Bible, vol. 1 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 580-90. J. Bright, A History o f Israel, 3d ed. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1981), 465-73 (based on the work of W. F. Albright). 3. R. Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronom ist (New York: Seabury Press, 1980), 19.

Chapter 2 Kings 1. J. Ellul, The Politics o f G od an d the Politics o f M an , 18. 2. G . E. Mendenhall, “The Monarchy,” Interpretation 29 (1975):160. 3. F. S. Frick, “King,” H arper’s Bible D ictionary (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985), 527.

95

N otes

Chapter 3 Prophets 1. G. von Rad, “The Deuteronomistic Theology o f History in the Books o f Kings,” in Studies in Deuteronomy, trans. D. Stalker (London: SCM Press, 1953), 74-91. 2. Ibid, 78. 3. G. E. Mendenhall review o f R. R. Wilson, Prophecy an d Soci­ ety in A ncient Israel (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1980) in B iblical Archeologist 44 (1981), 190. Chapter 5 The Covenanted Land 1. W. Brueggemann, The L a n d (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977), 71-89. Chapter 6 Sin and Judgm ent 1. J. Goldingay, Theological Diversity and the Authority o f the O ld Testam ent (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 62. Chapter 7 H ope and the Anger of God 1. R. W. Klein, Israel in Exile: A Theological Interpretation (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979), 43. 2. B. T. Dahlberg, “Anger,” in Interpreter’s D ictionary o f the Bible, vol. 1 (Nashville: Abingdon, 1962), 1:135. 3. A. Heschel, The Prophets, vol. 2 (New York: Harper and Row, 1960), 86. 4. R. P. Carroll, From C haos to Covenant: Prophecy in the Book o f Jerem iah (New York: Crossroads, 1981), 248. 5. R . Polzin, Moses and the Deuteronom ist, 19. Chapter 8 Conclusion 1. G. Savran, “1 and 2 Kings,” in The Literary G uide to the Bible, eds. R. Alter and F. Kermode (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U niver­ sity Press, 1988), 146-64. 2. Ibid. 3. A. Heschel, The Prophets, vol. 1 (New York: Harper and Row, 1960), xii-xiii. 4. Ibid., xiii. 5. Arrian, The C am paign s o f Alexander, trans. A. de Selincourt (Harmondsworth, U .K.: Penguin Books, 1971), 394.

1, 2 KINGS

96

BIBLIOGRAPHY

All quotations in the body o f the text can be found in the various books listed below. Included in this list are those works cited in the text as well as others which may be of interest to the reader who would like to explore the general topics in more detail. Aharoni, Y. The L a n d o f the Bible. Tr. A. F. Rainey. 2d ed. Philadel­ phia: Westminster Press, 1979. Arrian. The C am paign s o f A lexander. Tr. A. de Selincourt. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971. Blenkinsopp, J. A H istory o f Prophecy in Israel. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1983. A good m odem introduction to the prophets. Brueggemann, W. The L an d . Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977. __________. The Prophetic Im agination. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1978. One o f the best popular introductions to the prophets. Carroll, R. P. From C h aos to C ovenant: Prophecy in the Book o f Jerem iah. New York: Crossroads, 1981. A detailed study o f the activity o f the deuteronomists.

97

Bibliography

Driver, S. R. A C ritical an d Exegetical Com m entary on Deuteron­ omy. IC C Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1903. Ellul, J. The Politics o f G od a n d the Politics o f M an . Tr. G. W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972. Goldingay, ]. Theological Diversity an d the Authority o f the O ld T estam ent Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987. Goldingay treats the topic of the "people of God” as a test case in this interesting book. Hayes, J. H., and P. K. Hooker. A New Chronology for the K in gs o f Israel a n d Ju d ah . Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1988. This book provides the basis for the dates in the chart on pp. 8-9. The topic of Old Testament chronology is an extremely complicated one (see WBC 13:xxxviii-xliv), and this book offers a new and workable approach. Heschel, A. The Prophets. 2 vols. New York: Harper and Row, 1960. Hobbs, T. R. "2 Kings 1 and 2: Unity and Purpose,” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses 13 (1984) 327-34. _____. “The Search for Prophetic Consciousness: Some Com­ ments on Method,” Biblical Theology Bulletin 15 (1985): 136-41. Klein, R. W . Israel in Exile: A Theological Interpretation. Philadel­ phia: Fortress Press, 1979. Malina, B. J., and J. H. Neyrey. C allin g Jesu s N am es: The Social V alue o f L ab els in M atthew. Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge Press, 1988. Apart from its intrinsic value, this book has an excellent series of charts on the differences between North American and Mediterranean culture. These differences are appealed to on many occasions in the present volume. McCarthy, D. J. Treaty an d Covenant. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1972. Mendenhall, G. E. “The Monarchy,” Interpretation 29 (1975):15570. _______. Review of R. R. Wilson, “Prophet and Society in Ancient Israel” in B iblical Archeologist 44 (1981):189-90. Polzin, R. Moses and the Deuteronom ist. New York: Seabury Press, 1980. Pritchard, J. B., ed. Ancient N ear E astern Texts Relating to the O ld Testam ent. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955. 1, 2 KINGS

98

Savran, G. “1 and 2 Kings” in The Literary Guide to the Bible, Eds. R. Alter and F. Kermode. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1988,146-64. Tadmor, H., and M. Cogan. II Kings: A New Translation with an Introduction and Commentary. Anchor Bible 11. New York: Doubleday, 1988. von Rad, G. "The Theology of History in the Books of Kings,” in Studies in Deuteronomy. Tr. D. Stalker. London: SCM Press, 1953. Weinfeld, M. Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic School Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972.

99

Bibliography

INDEX OF SCRIPTURES

O LD TESTA M EN T

Genesis 4:5- 8 4:6 15:7 17:1-8

80 81 54 54

Exodus 3:7-12 20:5

54 73

Leviticus 5:15-19

66

Numbers 32:23 34:1-12

66 55

Deuteronomy 4 4:6,7 4:15-31 4:25-31 4:32-40 5:6- 9 5:17

101

3,88 37 83,84 61 37 50 38,58

5:21 8:7-10 8:17,18 12:5,6 14:29 16-18 16:11 16:14 17:14-20 17:17 18:9-14 18:18 19:14 24:16 27:17 Joshua 6:26 13-18 13-19 21:44 23,24 Judges 2:11 2:18 3:7

38,58 54 54 56 38 16.17 38 38 16.17 44 23 16,28 38 73 37

34 38 54 54 3

45 88 45,79

3:12 4:1 6 6:1 8:22-9:57

45 45 28 45 15

Ruth 4:11

71

1 Samuel 1-12 8 8-12 8:5 8:6-9 8:10-14 8:10-18 8:11 10:25 16:7 18:3

13 3 14 14 13 15 17 16 17 20 47

2 Samuel 4 ,5 5:1-5 5:3 7

60 17 49 3,15,17,19,32

Index o f Scriptures

7:8-11 7:13 7:14 8:15 8:15-18 12:5 19:8

54 34 17 43 57 79 71

1 Kings 1,2 1-10 1:1 1:11 1:12-17 1:21 1:28-37 1:35 2:1-4 2:1-9 2:3 2:12 2:15 2:22 2:26 3 3:1,2 3:9 4 4:1 4:1-6 4:1-34 4:7-19 4:10 4:24 4:35 5:12 6 6:1 6:1-38 6:11-13 6:19 6:27 7 8 8:1 8:1-14 8:1-21 8:12-15 8:14-53 8:15

5 ,10,19,20 20 19 19 19 69 19 44 18,62 19 70 55 55 55 56 5,20 56 44 3 44 43 57 57 20 55 44 49 20 44 56 62 50 58 20 3,55,88 44 56 50 82 83,85 55

1 ,2 KINGS

8:20 8:22-53 8:23 8:27-30 8:31 8:33 834 8:35 8:41 8:41-43 8:44,45 8:4 6 8:46-51 8:46-53 8:47 8:50 9 9:1-9 9:4-9 9:7 9:10-14 9:15 10 11:1-7 11:1 11:1-13 11:2 11:4 11:9-13 11:11 11:11-13 11:14 11:14-40 11:29-39 1131 12 12,13 12:1-20 12:6-11 12:6-16 12:15 12:16 12:19 12:22-24 12:25-33 13 13:1-10 14:2-15 14:4-16 14:6-16

34 67 50 56 68 68 62 68 44 56,59 56 67 62 56,62,88 66,68 67,68 3 18,62 72 62 63 54 5 59 50 30 44,51 20 63 51 25 50 63 5,30,34 44 20 20,25 17 43 49 34 22,44 67 30 69 5,34,44 30 30 63 34

14:9 14:15 14:16 14:21,22 14:25-28 15-17 15:9-24 15:14 15:19 15:23 15:25 15:26 15:27 15:29 15:30 15:34 16:1-4 16:1-13 16:2 16:7 16:12 16:13 16:15-20 16:24 16:25 16:26 16:29-34 16:29-22:40 16:30-34 16:33 16:34 17:1 17:1-7 17:8-16 17:17-24 17:18 17:24 18 18:4 18:17 18:21 18:25-29 19 19:11 19:19-21 19:21 20 20:1-6 20:13-15 20:13-34

79 79 68 46 59,63 60 59 22 49 24 46 46,68 60 34 68,79 46,68 30,34 22 44,79 79 34 79 60 57 22 68,79 59 24 22 79 30,34 36,45 37 37 37 66 39 3,37 30 39 29 37 37 50 36 35 59 60 30 60

102

20:34 20:35-43 20:43 21 21:1-15 21:4 21:19 21:21-23 21:22 21:27-29 22 22:1-28 22:5-28 22:13-17 22:17 22:29-36 22:35-40 22:43 22:53

49 30,36 80 38,58 21 80 38,58 34 79 34 59 31 21 31 34 21 34 22 79

2 Kings 1 1:1 1:3 1:6 1:16 1:17 2 2-13 2:1-18 3 3:5 3:7 3:10 3:11 3:13, 14 4:1-4 4:9 5:1 5:1-7 5:2,3 6:32,33 7 7:1-2 7:9 7:16-20 8:5 8:7-10 8:7-15 8:20

38,51 36,67 39 34 39 34 36 35 36 38 67 67 38 35,39 38 38 39 81 38 39 38 39 39 66 39 39 40 38 67

103

8:20-22 8:22 9 9:1-10:36 10 10:28-36 10:29 10:31 10:32 11 11:4 11:12 11:14 11:17 12 12:2 12:17 12:19-21 13:2 13:3 13:4-6 13:5 13:11 13:14 13:19 13:22 13:22-35 13:23 14:3,4 14:6 14:17-22 14:17-27 14:23-26 14:23-29 14:24 14:25 15 15:3 15:5 15:9 15:13-15 15:18 15:24 15:28 15:34 17 17:2 17:7-18 17:11 17:13

63 67 35 24 35 63 68 68, 72 72 22,35 17,49 17 17 49 35 23 66 24 68 78 88 25 68 40 79 25 63 42,49 23 22 24 60 88 24 68 5,24,31 79 23 24 68 22 68 68 68 23 87 22 42,64 79 31, 75

17:13,14 17:15 17:17 17:19 17:21 17:23 17:34-40 17:35 17:38 18-20 18:3 18:4 18:12 18:13-19:37 19:1-7 19:1-20:19 19:27 19:34 20:1-11 20:5,6 20:12-19 21:1-17 21:1-18 21:2 21:6 21:8,9 21:10-15 21:16 22-23 22:1-23:30 22:2 22:8 22:11 22:14 22:15 22:15-20 22:17 23:1 23:16-18 23:19 23:24 23:26 23:27 23:28-30 23:30 24-25 24:2 24:2-4 24:18-25:30 24:20

72,90 42,49 79 25,64, 72 68 31 72 50 50 2 ,5 ,2 1 ,6 0 23 45 50 88 21 31 80 25 21,24 25 64 64 24 23 79 73 31,34 68 2 ,3 ,6 4 ,8 8 21 23 73 73 31 45 34 79 73 34 79 73 79 31 21, 25 34 60,82 34 31 6 79

Index of Scriptures

25:4-7 25:8-12 25:13-17 25:18-21 25:22-26 25:27-30

82 82 82 82 82 82

Psalms 2 51:13 77:9 78:1 89 110 119:14-16 119:18 132

15 69 81 81 15 15 70 70 15

Proverbs 14:17 17:27 25:1 27:4

80 80 11 80

Isaiah 7:1-17 11:1-16 29:13 36-38 40-55 44:9-20 Jeremiah 1:4-10 1:18, 19

1 ,2 KINGS

14 14 67 5 93 37

28 46

2:1-4 2:1-10 2:13 2:20 3-4 3:6 3:8 3:11 3:12 4:3 8:5 16:13 19-23 27-29 32:1-44 36 51:64 52 Hosea 1-3 4:1 5:1 7:7 8:4 11:1 Joel 2:13 Amos 3:7 Micah 1:5

75 32 46 67 25 68 68 68 68 45 68 83 46 83 83,86,87 21 6 6,82

32 45 14,45 14 14 32, 75

3:1 3:8 3:9

46 28 46

Malachi 1:1 4:5

42 11

NEW TESTAM EN T

Matthew 6:29

12

Mark 6:30-44 7:24-30 9 9:11-13

12 12 12 12

Luke 4:24-27 7:11-17

12 12

Acts 2:14-20

29

Romans 3:23

22

1 Corinthians 1:26-28

39

Hebrews 11:33, 34

12

80

5

45

104

WORD BIBLICAL THEMES 1 and 2 Chronicles RODDY L. BRAUN

ZONDERVAN ACAD EM IC

To the good people of Our Savior Lutheran Church Arlington, Virginia In appreciation for twelve years of our ministry together. “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3–5 rsv) ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC 1 and 2 Chronicles Copyright © 1991 by Word, Incorporated Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-11579-3 (softcover) Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Braun, Roddy. 1 and 2 Chronicles: Roddy Braun. p.  cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-849-90790-6 1. Bible. O.T. Chronicles—­Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Bible. O.T. Chronicles. English. Braun. 1990. II. Title. III. Title: 1 and 2 Chronicles. IV. Series. BS1345.2.B72 1991AA 222’.606—dc290-36380 Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the author’s translation. Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1952 [2nd edition 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—­electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—­except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 /LSC/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

CONTENTS

Foreword Introduction 1. The God of the Fathers 2. The Temple David and the temple The temple in 1 Chronicles 22-28 Solomon and the temple The temple and the post-Solomonic kings Priests and Levites The purpose of the temple 3. The Kingdom of God David David in the Deuteronomistic History David in Chronicles Solomon in the Deuteronomistic History Solomon in Chronicles Post-Solomonic kings of Israel Chronicles and Messianism The kingdom of God in the New Testament

V

vii 1 5 7 9 11 14 18 19 25 26 28 30 34 36 42 43 44

4. The People of God: All Israel The rise of David (1 Chronicles 10-12) David and the ark (1 Chronicles 13-17) All Israel and the temple All Israel in 2 Chronicles 10-36 Apostasy in the north Israel in the New Testament 5. The Word of God 6. Divine Retribution Uzziah and Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh and Josiah The last kings of Judah Seeking and forsaking God The marks of prosperity Forsaking Yahweh 7. The Perfect H eart Joy as an expression of a perfect heart The perfect heart in the New Testament 8. The Mercy of God 9. The Promised Rest “Rest” in the Deuteronomistic History “Rest” in Chronicles Summary Notes Bibliography Index of Scripture Passages

iv

47 47 48 49 51 54 57 61 69 74 76 79 80 81 84 87 91 93 95 99 105 106 109 112 115 119 121

1, 2 C H R O N I C L E S

FOREWORD

Finding the great themes of the books of the Bible is essential to the study of God’s Word, and to the preaching and teaching of its truths. But these themes or ideas are often like precious gems; they lie beneath the surface and can only be discovered with some difficulty. The large com­ mentaries are useful in this discovery process, but they are not usually designed to help the student trace the important subjects within a given book of Scripture. The Quick-Reference Bible Topics meet this need by bringing together, within a few pages, all of what is con­ tained in a biblical volume on the subjects that are thought to be most significant to that volume. A companion series to the Word Biblical Commentary, these books seek to distill the theological essence of the biblical books as interpreted in the more technical series and to serve it up in ways that will enrich the preaching, teaching, worship, and discipleship of God’s people. The books of Chronicles present an alternative retelling of the story which began with Adam and culminated with Foreword

V

David and Solomon’s heirs in Jerusalem. Roddy L. Braun has extracted the most important themes from that story which give it relevance and meaning for us. This volume is sent forth in the hope that it will contribute to the vitality of God’s people, renewed by the Word and the Spirit and ever in need of renewal. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky

vi

John D. W. Watts Old Testament Editor Word Biblical Commentary Quick-Reference Bible Topics

1 , 2 C H R O N IC L E S

INTRODUCTION

Casual readers of the Old Testament are prone to make two common errors in their approach to the Old Testament. First, in their study of the prophets they tend to treat the prophets’ words as completely theological and ignore the his­ torical background of the book. Secondly, in studying what we usually term the historical books, they concern them­ selves only with the historical aspect of the work and ignore its theological message. In both cases, the result is a misread­ ing of the divinely intended message. The study of Chronicles presents a unique opportunity to see the theological side of what we usually call a histori­ cal writing. We have in the books of Samuel-Kings the commonly acknowledged source which the Chronicler used in writing his own “history” of Israel. This permits us to view in much clearer perspective the alterations, dele­ tions, and additions which the author has introduced into his text. W hile the possibility of error must be acknowl­ edged with regard to smaller changes, and the possibility of textual difficulties is always possible, we are on firmer Introduction

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ground in appraising the larger additions which the C hron­ icler has made to his work. Accordingly, in this book pri­ mary attention will be directed to material found in those sections of Chronicles which have no parallel in SamuelKings. W hile it has in the past been considered scholarly ortho­ doxy to view the two books of Chronicles and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as coming from the pen of the same author, this theory has faced serious criticism of late. Ac­ cordingly, in this work Ezra and Nehemiah will be left aside. Readers wishing to explore that relationship in more detail may test the unity or disunity of this literary corpus by considering the themes presented in this book and compar­ ing them with the text of Ezra and Nehemiah. Among critical scholars, two larger sections of 1 Chroni­ cles are often denied to the Chronicler: chapters 1-9 and chapters 23-27. Since the inclusion of these chapters in the material of this book would not alter substantially its con­ tents (the themes of “all Israel” and of priests and Levites found there are well-represented elsewhere in Chronicles), minimal attention has been paid to them in this work. Years ago, Gerhard von Rad saw in some of the speeches in Chronicles certain characteristics which led him to define these speeches as “Levitical sermons.” In recent years, some attention has been given to the attempt to define the literary type which is of the essence of the book of Chronicles. One term that has been used in that connection is midrash, a name applied to ancient Jewish commentaries upon a por­ tion of Scripture. The midrashim (pl.) are of a nonlegal and often fanciful nature. W hile such attempts are of interest, and a similarity in the manner in which such sermons and works have dealt with a biblical text is present, no meaning­ ful breakthrough can be said to have occurred in Chronicles studies, and the matter has not been pursued here. Chroni­ cles is what it is—a writer or writers, believed by adherents viii

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of church and synagogue to have been working under di­ vine inspiration, pondering another text which he would have accepted as authoritative and retelling that story with particular emphasis upon matters which he considered cru­ cial for the people of his own day. W hether that process be called sermonizing or a reflection of devotional piety, the result is the same. The books of Chronicles are a message to people based upon an earlier message, which the later au­ thor has adapted to his particular situation and to his un­ derstanding of God’s deeds with his people. Readers of the Bible today follow the same process in applying the text to their own situation. It is this same task of interpreting the biblical message for a new audience in a later day that falls to preachers and teachers of church and synagogue as they seek to make God’s Word relevant to the people whom they serve. There is much we do not know about Chronicles. We do not know who the writer or writers were, nor when the book was w ritten, or to whom. Earlier opinions which placed at least the great bulk of the book as late as 300 B.C. or even later appear to be yielding to others which place the work earlier, even as early as the Exile.1 Many emphases of the book would be most appropriate in the period sur­ rounding the building of the second temple, which was dedicated in 515 B.C. W ithin the canon of the English Bible, the books of Chronicles immediately follow the books of Kings and pre­ cede the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and are usually termed “history.” However, in the Hebrew canon Chronicles is the last book of the Bible, a position which it seems to have had in Jesus’ day according to the reference in Matthew 23:25. (The last martyr to whom he refers seems certainly to be the Zechariah whose murder is recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:2021.) It is a puzzling anomaly that in the Hebrew canon Chron­ icles is preceded by Ezra-Nehemiah, a book or books which Introduction

IX

certainly deal with a later historical period. As such, both are parts of the third portion of the Jewish canon usually referred to with the rather nondescript term, “the Writings,” while, for example, the books of Samuel and Kings are found in that part of the canon called the Former Prophets, which reached canonical status some time earlier. This third portion of the Hebrew canon was apparently still only loosely organized in New Testament times, where it is referred to as “the Psalms,” after its most prominent p a rt It would remain for the rab­ binic council meeting in Jamnia in 90 A.D. to define clearly the contents of this last part of the Hebrew canon. At any rate, however, the term “history” is not an appropriate desig­ nation for writings in which theological interpretation and prophetic preachment is so prom inent The following outline of the two books, which recognizes the important position of 1 Chronicles 22-29 in unifying two parts of the work often pitted against each other, may be helpful to the reader:.I I. Genealogical Prologue, 1 C hr 1-9 II. The United Monarchy A. The David History, 1 C hr 10-21 B. Transitional Unit, 1 C hr 22-29 C. The Solomon History, 2 C hr 1-9 III. The Divided Monarchy, 2 C hr 10-36 In this volume, translations are regularly my own, unless otherwise noted. Some effort has been made to remain as close to the Revised Standard Version as possible, except in the use of the Tetragrammaton, which has regularly been transliterated “Yahweh,” and in other cases where clarity or precision demanded otherwise. Occasionally, a Hebrew word or grammatical term may appear in this volume. I hope that such terms will aid those who know at least some of the Hebrew language. For the readers unfamiliar with that language, I have sought to make the meaning clear X

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within the contrat. I hope that I have succeeded. W here a reference is identified WBC 15, I am quoting from the translation of Raymond Dillard in his volume 2 Chronicles in the Word Biblical Commentary, volume 15. Roddy L. Braun O ur Savior Lutheran Church Arlington, Virginia

Introduction

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1 TH E GOD OF TH E FATHERS

O Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep for ever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. (1 Chr 29:18) The Bible is first of all a book about God. Theology in all of its branches is words or study (Greek logos) about God (theos). It is especially necessary to make this point at the begin­ ning of a study of Chronicles, where it might be particularly easy to lose sight of that fact. Lengthy genealogies, the promi­ nence of such topics as the temple, David and Solomon and Israel’s other kings, and retribution (even divine retribution) can divert our attention from the God whom the inspired writer we shall call the Chronicler saw as the very center of his community’s faith and life. Chronicles is meant to be read in the context of the entire Old Testament story of God’s dealings with his people. That is made apparent, first of all, from the first nine chapters of T h e G o d o f t h e F a th e r s

1

the work, in which “the story” is summarized by means of a lengthy genealogical prologue. (A New Testament writer, Matthew, will use the same means several centuries later to span the entire history of Israel from Abraham to Jesus; see Matt 1:1-17; also Luke 3:23-38.) The God with whom the books of Chronicles have to do is the Creator God and the God of all creation. His people reach all the way back to Adam, Enoch, Methusaleh, and Noah (1 C hr 1:1-4). They include all of the sons of Noah’s son Shem, or the Semites as we know them today; and not only the Semitic peoples, but the descendants of Japheth and Ham (1 C hr 1:5-16), includ­ ing Egyptians and Canaanites alike. Israel’s God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael (1 Chr 1:28), the progenitor of the Arab tribes. He is the God of Jacob/Israel and Esau/Seir, the father of the Edomites (1 Chr 1:34-54). He is the one and only God, as David will confess in his prayer, to whom belongs the kingdom, the power, and the glory, to whom belongs everything in heaven and on earth (1 Chr 29:10-13). But in a special sense this God, who revealed his name and character to Moses as Yahweh (conventionally translated L o r d ), is the God of Abraham (1 C hr 1:28, 34), with whom he entered into a special covenant and through whose de­ scendants he promised to bring blessing upon all the families of the earth (Gen 12:1-4). Yahweh is the God of the fathers, or patriarchs—of Abra­ ham, of his son Isaac, of Isaac’s son Jacob (renamed Israel in Gen 35:10), and of the twelve tribes or subdivisions named after Jacob’s twelve sons, to which the name Israel has come to be attached. The lengthy genealogies of 1 Chronicles 2-8, introduced with the simple “These are the Israelites: . . . ,” spare no detail and make no compromise with the reader’s patience or interest in establishing that point. It is about this Yahweh as God of the fathers, God of Israel, that we read most frequently in the books of Chronicles. 2

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David prays to him as “Yahweh, the God of our father Israel” (1 C hr 29:10). He is, in words that we read repeat­ edly, “the God of the fathers” (2 C hr 24:18,24; 28:6, 9,25), “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel” (1 C hr 29:6), and most frequently simply “the God of Israel” (2 C hr 6:4; 7:11, 16; 13:5; 15:4, 13). It was he who chose David to be king over Israel forever (1 C hr 28:4), and upon the throne of whose kingdom Solomon would sit as king (1 C hr 29:23). Though he cannot be confined to an earthly temple, yet he has deigned to place his name in his house in Jerusalem, where rests the ark of his presence (1 C hr 28:2). It is be­ fore this God that the priests and Levites minister, and before whom his people Israel is to worship. It is he who speaks to his people by the m outh of his prophets (2 C hr 36:15). It is he, “the God of heaven,” who will stir up the spirit of the Persian king Cyrus to release a captive remnant of “his people” to return to Jerusalem in Judah to build him a house (2 C hr 35:23). Chronicles therefore is not summoning the people of its day to the service of a new deity, or even to new forms of service. The writer is urging them to take up again their loyalty to the God who long ago made them his people and who has dealt with them so faithfully in the past. He is summoning them to the same institutions which their fa­ thers knew, and to the obedience of the same statutes which their fathers obeyed. In such a program they would find the blessing and prosperity which God desired for his people. Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike are strong to empha­ size the connection or relationship between this “God of the fathers,” the God of the Hebrew Scriptures, and their own faith. The New Testament, for example, cannot be under­ stood properly except in terms of its claim to be the fulfill­ ment of the Old Testament. We have already referred to the tracing of Jesus’ lineage to David and Abraham, and even beyond that to Adam and God. The God of the Fathers

3

“Son of David” is a regular designation of the One who is viewed as the fulfillment of the Messianic promise to David (cf. Matt 1:1; Mark 10:47; Rom 1:3-4), and the charge brought against Jesus before Pilate was that he claimed to be the king of the Jews (Luke 23:3). The preaching of the apos­ tolic age, as evidenced in the sermon of Stephen (Acts 7), tells the Old Testament story as a part of its own story. Jesus proclaims his own unity with that Father (John 10:30), and prays to him from the cross (Luke 23:34). The God who spoke to the fathers through the prophets “has in these last days spoken to us through a Son” (Heb 1:1-2). Thus a prin­ ciple exemplified so early in Old Testament history contin­ ues to be a significant part of the message of the church.

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2 TH E TEM PLE

Now Solomon planned to build a temple for the name of Yahweh, and a royal palace for himself. . . . And Solomon sent word to Huram the king of Tyre: “. . . Behold, I am building a house for the name of Yahweh my God and dedicate it to him for the burning of incense of sweet spices before him, and for the continual offering of the showbread, and for burnt offerings morning and evening, on the sabbath and the new moons and the appointed feasts of Yahweh our God, as ordained for ever for Israel. The house which I am build­ ing will be great, for our God is greater than all gods. But who is able to build him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build a house for him, except as a place to burn incense before him?” (2 Chr 2:1, 3-6) At the center of the books and of the concerns of C hron­ icles stands the temple. Sometimes the focus is on the tem­ ple per se, sometimes the concern is broadened to include T h e T e m p le

5

the ministers and services of the temple. Sometimes these concerns are explicit; at other times they are partially ob­ scured by the larger presentation of which they are a part, but of which they in fact stand at the heart. By way of example, 1 Chronicles 10-12 portrays the rise of David—but it will be the function of David, in company with Solomon, to build the temple. First Chronicles 23-27 deals principally with the priests and Levites, as do many other sections of Chronicles, but their function is the ministry of the temple. In 2 Chronicles 10-36 the post-Solomonic history of Israel is told, and we will show that the concept of retribution lies at the base of the Chronicler’s presentation. However, that history also revolves around the temple. The temple is central too, we might recall, in Deuteron­ omy (D) and the Deuteronomistic History (DH), that por­ tion of the Old Testament showing marked similarities to Deuteronomy in vocabulary, style, and content and consist­ ing of the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, and 1 and 2 Kings. Deuteronomy’s insistence upon a single sanctuary, com­ monly understood as the Jerusalem temple, is well known (cf. Deut 12:1-14; 26:1-4). The narrative up to the erection of the temple by Solomon moves steadily if slowly and cir­ cuitously to that point. And the overwhelming significance of that event for the writer is clear not only from the amount of space devoted to its building and dedication (1 Kgs 6-8), but also from the length and content of the speeches placed on Solomon’s lips by the author (1 Kgs 8:12-53,54-61). It is also on the basis of their relationships to the Jerusalem tem­ ple that post-Solomonic kings of both Israel and Judah are judged; and the fate of the temple and its vessels constitutes a significant part of the narrative of the af ll of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 24:13; 25:13-17). As is often the case, however, the writer or writers of Chronicles, whom we without prejudice call “the Chronicler,” 6

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often adopts and develops a principle enunciated earlier by D and DH in a much more consistent and thorough man­ ner. (See especially the concept of “retribution” in chapter 6, and “rest” in chapter 9.) Israel’s history from David and Solomon to the temple, and afterward to the fall of the nation, is told for the sake of the temple. David and the temple This perspective on Israel’s history may not seem as clear with respect to David as it does to Solomon, even though many scholars have emphasized David’s role in the construction of the temple (and in Chronicles in general) at the expense of Solomon. The first chapters of what we might call “The David History” (1 C hr 10-21) speak of David’s rise to power in accordance with God’s will and word and of Israel’s unanimous consent to that rule (1 C hr 10-12). Yet the purpose for which David has been chosen as king by Yahweh is the building of the temple in conjunc­ tion with Solomon. The same kind of support—unani­ mous and enthusiastic—will be sought for Solomon by David and accorded him by “all Israel” (cf. 2 C hr 29, espe­ cially vv 23-25). Following David’s acclamation as king at Hebron by “all Israel” (2 C hr 11:1-3), David moves immediately to the con­ quest of Jerusalem, destined to be the site of Yahweh’s tem­ ple (2 C hr 11:4-9). After the inclusion of a potpourri of lists (1 C hr 11:10-12:37), the purpose of which is to demonstrate the extent of David’s popular support (1 C hr 12:38-40 [in Hebrew, these are verses 39-41]) by all Israel, attention turns immediately to the ark of the covenant, the centerpiece of the temple (1 C hr 13:1-14). The failure of this first mission, later explained as due to the failure of the Levites to carry the ark (1 C hr 15:2, 14-15), provides opportunity for the inclusion of assorted notices from 2 Samuel 5 highlighting The Temple

7

David’s fame and family and portraying his victory in warfare (1 Chr 14:1-16; see especially verse 17, which is added by the Chronicler). The ark is clearly central again in chapters 15 and 16, with emphasis now—perhaps added by a later au­ thor—upon the various Levitical families and their tasks (1 C hr 15:4-24; 16:4-6). The ark is successfully delivered to Jerusalem (1 C hr 16:1-4) and properly cared for by its Leviti­ cal attendants, as is the tabernacle, which according to the Chronicler’s presentation was left at Gibeon together with the altar of burnt offering (1 C hr 16:39-42; cf. 2 C hr 1:1-6). From Gibeon it will later be brought to Jerusalem to rejoin the ark (2 C hr 5:5). W ith these arrangements taken care of, attention can be­ gin to be focused upon the temple itself, and this is done in 1 Chronicles 17, the Chronicler’s version of the dynastic ora­ cle of 2 Samuel 7. Here it is affirmed that not David, but one of his sons, i.e., Solomon, will actually build the temple.1 This focus upon the temple appears to be interrupted by 1 Chronicles 18-20, which chapters recount various wars of David from 2 Samuel 8,10, 12, and 21. The writer’s reason for including these chapters is difficult to say. It may be that the author has simply repeated them “because they were there,” or because he wished to show David’s prowess, or to depict David as a bloody warrior unfit to build the temple (cf. 1 C hr 22:8). However, the Chronicler’s own addition in 1 Chronicles 18:8 (see 2 Sam 8:8, where the reference to Solomon’s use of the bronze is absent) points to the use of the spoils of battle in the manufacture of the temple vessels (cf. 2 C hr 5:1). A more direct focus upon the temple is resumed in 1 Chronicles 21 (2 Sam 24), which concludes with David’s sacrifice at and purchase of the threshing floor of O m an the Jebusite. One may expect that the significantly higher price paid for the threshing floor (six hundred shekels of gold in 8

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1 Chronicles 21:25 versus fifty shekels of silver in 2 Samuel 24:24) is indicative of the higher value which the Chronicler wishes to place upon property purchased for such a noble endeavor. A t any rate, David’s offering and prayer is in 1 Chronicles 21:26b answered directly by Yahweh with fire from heaven, and once again the Chronicler adds his own conclusion to the description of the events: A t that time, when David saw that Yahweh had an­ swered him at the threshing floor of O m an the Jebusite, he made his sacrifices there. For the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were at that time in the high place at Gibeon; but David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of Yahweh. Then David said, “Here shall be the house of Yahweh God, and here the altar of burnt offeringfor Israel.” (1 C hr 21:28-22:1 RSV, italics added) W ith the ark in Jerusalem, the Levites correctly ordered for its service, the location of the temple defined, and the prop­ erty purchased, all appears to be in readiness for the work on the temple to begin. There remain, however, several unanswered questions. W ho is the divinely chosen successor of David, who will build the temple? How will it be built? W here will the funds come from? W ho will tend its altars, maintain its ordinances, and lead its worship? These questions are addressed in 1 Chroni­ cles 22-28. The temple in 1 Chronicles 2 2 -2 8 The answer provided to the first question is clearly, “Solomon.” T hat is the primary apologetic thrust of

The Temple

9

1 Chronicles 22,28-29. (Chapters 23-27 are probably a later addition to the Chronicler’s work, but are nevertheless di­ rected primarily toward the functionaries of the temple, the Levites, ch 23; the priests, ch 24; the singers, ch 25; and the gatekeepers, ch 26. Only with chapter 27 does the au­ thors) turn to David’s civil officials.) The writer in this im­ portant section demonstrates that Solomon was divinely chosen to build the temple in no less than three ways:2 1. By the use of the concept of rest (see pp. 105-13), he affirms that David could not build the temple, since he was a “man of war” and had “shed blood” (1 C hr 28:3; cf. 1 C hr 22:7). Solomon, whose very name means “peace,” was the chosen temple builder, in whose days Yahweh would grant the peace, rest, and quietness which are the prerequisites for building his temple (1 C hr 22:9-10; 28:6-7). 2. In the Chronicler’s account, both 1 Chronicles 22 and 28 show signs of being modeled upon a literary form for the induction of an individual into an office, and specifically upon such a form as is found in connection with Moses’ induction of Joshua (Josh 1). There Joshua is inducted, for example, for the twofold task of conquering the land and apportioning it to the tribes of Israel (Deut 31:7-8; Josh 1:5-6). The book of Joshua in fact follows the same outline (conquest, chs 1-12; apportionment, chs 13-21; final mat­ ters, chs 22-24). In that context it then becomes most sig­ nificant that the only task given to Solomon throughout chapters 22 and 28 is the construction of the temple: Now, my son, may Yahweh be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of Yahweh your God, as he has spoken concerning you. (1 C hr 22:11) He will not fail you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of Yahweh is finished. (1 C hr 28:10) 10

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We may accordingly conclude that the reason that Chroni­ cles modeled its presentation upon that of Joshua was to affirm that Solomon was the divinely chosen temple builder. 3. The Chronicler states in so many words that Yahweh chose (Heb. bähar) Solomon to be his son (1 C hr 28:6), to build his sanctuary (1 C hr 28:10) and his palace (1 C hr 29:1). No other Old Testament writer speaks of the election of any king after David! We thus feel justified in maintaining that the principal purpose of 1 Chronicles 22, 28-29 is to designate Solomon as the divinely chosen temple builder. In looking at these chapters, other themes and functions in relationship to the temple also become clear. Chief among these is the desire to indicate the profuse amount of materi­ als provided by David and the people to construct the tem­ ple (22:1-5, 14-16; 28:14-18; 29:1-9). Prominent also is the desire to solicit and gain the support of Israel’s leaders (28:1) and, indeed, of all Israel for both the temple project and for Solomon’s leadership (29:6-10, 20-25). Finally, the plans which David gave to Solomon for the temple (and, according to the present text, even the most detailed arrangements of the temple) are said to be plans from the hands of Yahweh himself (28:19; cf. verses 11-18). The total effect from reading these chapters, including the beautiful prayer attributed to David (29:10-19), is of a di­ vinely ordained and defined project to be completed by King Solomon, to which David and all Israel respond with piety, joy, unanimity, generosity, and obedience, both to the Lord and to his chosen king and temple builder, Solomon. Solomon and the temple Chronicles begins the story of Solomon’s reign with the account of Solomon’s sacrifices at Gibeon, as does 1 Kings 3:4. But for the Chronicler this mention becomes The Temple

11

the occasion for a Solomon-led procession of all Israel to the legitimate tent of meeting of Moses, where the legiti­ mate bronze altar is located. This act of Solomon’s faithful­ ness forms the backdrop against which Yahweh’s first epiphany to Solomon occurs, culminating in Yahweh’s as­ surance of unequaled wisdom, wealth, and honor for Solomon (2 C hr 1:7-13). Verses 14-17, which the Chroni­ cler has transferred to this location from 1 Kings 10:26-29 in preference to the rather disparate account of 1 Kings 3:16-4:34, pictures fittingly and briefly Solomon’s military strength and the wealth which followed. W ith chapter 2, Chronicles moves directly to its concern for the temple. After his initial statement of the theme (v 1; Heb. 1:18*), Solomon gathers laborers for the task and ar­ ranges with Huram for the necessary materials (vv 1-15). But the Chronicler has used Solomon’s correspondence with Huram not only to request timber for his building opera­ tions, but also through the rewriting of Solomon’s message (vv 2-9) has included what amounts to both a confession of faith for Solomon and a significant statement of the purpose of the temple as seen by the writer (vv 3-5). Chronicles finds Kings’ description of the temple as only a place of prayer inadequate, and supplements it strongly with references to sacrifice (vv 4, 6; Heb. vv 3, 5). Solomon’s request for a craftsman to direct the more delicate work, which in Kings had stood quite alone (1 Kgs 7:13-14), is also made an origi­ nal part of Solomon’s request. Huram’s reply is similarly altered. It concerns itself not only with the formalities of diplomatic correspondence as in Kings, but also adds as a kind of qualifying phrase to the statement concerning Solomon’s wisdom the phrase “who will build a temple ” for Yahweh and a royal palace for himself (2 C hr 2:12, Heb. * In th e H ebrew original tex t, it is 1:18. T h is abbreviated form w ill be used to indicate a v ariatio n in references.

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v 11). As well, his reply outlines the arrangements made for Huramabi to serve as a craftsman for Solomon.3 The description of the temple’s construction in 2 Chroni­ cles 3-5 is largely parallel with 1 Kings 6-7, where the tem­ ple and its cult could hardly be more central. However, Chronicles adds in 5:11-13 a characteristic note concerning the participation of the Levitical singers in the ceremonies marking the transfer of the ark into the temple. Solomon’s lengthy dedicatory prayer is likewise repeated almost verba­ tim (2 C hr 6:12-40 = 1 Kgs 8:22-53), although Chronicles alters the final verses to refer to the resting of the ark in its place and to the Davidic covenant rather than to the events of the Exodus. Immediate divine approval for Solomon’s prayer is indicated by the appearance of fire from heaven, as in the case of David’s prayer from the threshing floor of O m an (2 C hr 7:1; cf. 1 C hr 21:26). After the completion of the dedicatory feast, which the Chronicler has expanded to fourteen days (2 C hr 7:9; cf. 1 Kgs 8:66), the participation of the Levites is again noted (2 Chr 7:6), and a second appearance of Yahweh to Solomon is recorded (vv 11-22). Once again in this second discourse as framed by the Chronicler there is considerably more empha­ sis upon the temple than was the case in Kings (1 Kgs 9:2-9, where the dynastic emphasis is more central; cf. 1 Kgs 9:4-5). The significant insertion of the Chronicler in 2 Chronicles 7:12b-15 concentrates once again upon the temple as a place of sacrifice (v 12b) and upon the need for repentance and seeking Yahweh’s face, all of which are clearly major themes for the author.4 A fter inclusion of much of the material of 1 Kings 9:1028, where the Chronicler’s literary sensitivities are apparent in that he has smoothed out much of the disparate charac­ ter of the Kings account, the entire temple pericope reaches its conclusion for the Chronicler with Solomon’s inaugura­ tion of the weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices, together The Temple

13

with the appointment of the divisions of the priests, Levitical singers, and gatekeepers as directed by David (2 C hr 8:12-15). The end of the temple narrative per se is reached in the following verse, also unique to Chronicles: Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from the day the foundation of the house of Yahweh was laid until it was finished. So the house of Yahweh was com­ pleted. (2 C hr 8:16) The account of the visit of the queen of Sheba and other closing notes climax the report of Solomon’s prosperity, marking his God-pleasing reign (2 C hr 9:1-31). The temple and the post-Solomonic kings This central position of the temple is retained in the narra­ tive of both the disruption of the kingdom under Rehoboam and the subsequent narrative of post-Solomonic kings. It was probably the Chronicler who first emphasized the role of Jeroboam in the schism. Chronicles notes that the priests and Levites in all Israel resorted to Rehoboam from wherever they lived because Jeroboam had dismissed them from serving as priests to Yahweh and appointed his own priests for the high places he had made (2 Chr 11:13-15). And those who had set their hearts to seek Yahweh God of Israel came after them from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh. (2 C hr 11:16 RSV)

The Chronicler has reserved his definitive statement concerning the temple (and the dynasty), however, for the confrontation between Jeroboam and Abijah (2 C hr 13). In the speech placed in Abijah’s mouth prior to his battle with 14

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Jeroboam, the north is taken to task for its apostasy from the Davidic dynasty and from the worship in the legitimate temple in Jerusalem. However, the major emphasis both here and throughout the remainder of the work is clearly upon the temple. The north has forsaken Yahweh, the true God, since the people there have driven out Yahweh’s priests, the Aaronites and Levites, and installed priests like other nations (2 C hr 13:9). Judah, on the other hand, has not forsaken Yahweh, for its people have the legitimate priesthood and keep the prescribed ceremonies (vv 9-11). The result is that Yahweh is with Judah, and her victory is assured. There is no evidence that the Chronicler ever devi­ ated from this view of the unique significance of the Jerusalem sanctuary. We may cover the remainder of 2 Chronicles in a more cursory way. This is so because, once the temple has been established and its significance also for Israel and Judah after the schism has been confirmed, its position, while no less significant, is often more in the background as the tale of retribution unwinds. As a part of his reforms, Asa repairs the altar of Yahweh (2 C hr 15:8) and gathers the faithful from both north and south to Jerusalem for sacrifice and a covenant before the Lord (vv 8-15). Jehoshaphat proclaims a fast throughout Judah when threatened by a coalition of Moabites, Am­ monites, and Meunites, and his prayer of faith “in the house of Yahweh, before the new court,” is recorded (2 C hr 20:612) as well as Yahweh’s answer there given by the prophet Jahaziel (vv 15-17). The entire history of Joash revolved around the temple, for he was, according to Chronicles, raised secretly in the temple for six years during the reign of the wicked Athaliah by the wife of Jehoiada the priest (2 C hr 22:11-12), and then crowned as king in the temple with the support of the priests and Levites (2 C hr 23:1-21). He made plans to restore The Temple

15

the house of the Lord, and reinstituted the tax levied by Moses (2 Chr 24:4-14). But after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah and the king “forsook the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols” (v 18), with the result that wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem (vv 18, 23-24). Chronicles reports that during the reign of Amaziah, King Joash of Israel seized all the gold and silver and vessels found in the temple (2 C hr 25:24). Uzziah attempted to bum incense in the temple and became angry with the priests who attempted to dissuade him, and was stricken with leprosy in the temple as a result (2 C hr 26:16-20). Judah’s fortunes seem to reach their nadir under the wicked King Ahaz, who shut the very doors of the house of Yahweh and built altars in every comer of Jerusalem and constructed high places throughout Judah (2 C hr 28:24-25). It is left to King Hezekiah, for whom the Chronicler’s devotion is almost boundless, to reverse this situation. It takes the Chronicler four lengthy chapters (2 Chronicles 29-32) to recount his heroics. The temple is cleansed, sin offerings are made for “all Israel” (29:20-24), and the Levites are set in their offices and consecrated. Chronicles con­ cludes: Thus the service of the house of Yahweh was restored. And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because of what God had done for the people; for the thing came about suddenly. (2 Chr 29:35b-36 RSV) Invitations are then sent throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, urging the people not to be recalcitrant, but to “yield themselves to Yahweh, and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified forever. . .” (2 C hr 30:8). And we are told that “some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun repented and came to Jerusalem” (2 C hr 30:11) to keep the feast. The resulting celebration is described in 16

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considerable detail (vv 13-27), and is obviously designed to parallel that of Solomon and his people upon the dedication of the temple (v 26). W hen the celebration has been completed, high places are destroyed in both south and north (2 C hr 31:1), and the priests and Levites are again set in their courses and provision made for their upkeep (vv 2-19). This part of Hezekiah’s reign is fittingly concluded with the Chronicler’s own summary: So Hezekiah did throughout all Judah. He did what was good, right, and faithful before Yahweh his God. And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered. (2 C hr 31:20— 21) Manasseh reversed many of Hezekiah’s reforms, not only rebuilding the destroyed high places, but also building idola­ trous altars to the host of heaven in the very temple courts and putting an idolatrous image in the temple (2 Chr 33:1-5). After his repentance it is reported that he cleansed the tem­ ple of the foreign idols “and restored the altar of the Lord” (vv 15-16). Josiah’s finding of the book of the law in the temple is, of course, well known (2 Kgs 22), and requires little supple­ mentation by the Chronicler, except to note that the temple repairs were under the direction of the Levites (2 C hr 34:1418). The story of Josiah’s Passover, however, is liberally sup­ plemented to emphasize both the magnitude of the offerings and the position of the Levites (2 C hr 35:1-19). Chronicles, like Kings, relates that Nebuchadnezzar carried part of the temple vessels to Babylon during the reign of Jehoiakim, and that after Zedekiah’s rebellion the temple was burned and its treasuries and vessels were looted (2 C hr 36:7,18-19). The Temple

17

It seems appropriate that the final verse of the book ex­ presses its concern in terms of the temple: Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, “Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may Yahweh his God be with him. Let him go up.” (2 C hr 36:23 RSV, emphasis added) Priests and Levites Closely associated with the temple are priests and Levites. We shall confine our attention to them to a few observations for three reasons: (1) The study is extremely complex, and no agreement has been reached on the subject. (2) W hile priests and Levites are prominent in Chronicles, many, if not most, of the passages dealing with the Levites in particular are often considered later additions to Chronicles. This is true, for example, of 1 Chronicles 1-9 (see especially 6:1-81; 9:10-34) and chapters 23-27, of which all but the last chapter is devoted exclusively to the priests and Levites. It is also true to a lesser degree for such passages as 2 Chronicles 5:11-13; 8:14; 29, and 31:11-19. The nature of the difficulty becomes apparent in such passages as 1 Chronicles 15, where Obededom is named three times (vv 18, 21, 24) in at least two different positions, or in chapter 25, where three groups of Levites are headed by Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun (as also in 1 Chronicles 16:41), while in 1 Chronicles 15:17, Asaph and Heman occur with Ethan. It is also clear in the explicit but limited involvement of the Levites in such passages as 2 Chronicles 5:4 and even 5:12-13 or 35:3 as contrasted with the elaborate detail of, for example, 1 Chronicles 15 and 2 Chronicles 23, or 29-31. W hat is in question, then, is not the involvement of 18

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the priests or Levites in the Chronicler’s work, but rather the degree of elaboration and detail associated with that involvement. By its very nature such elaboration is most difficult to detect, and different readers will arrive at con­ trary judgments. Finally, however, (3) the subject of priests and Levites can be left aside without disruption of the Chronicler’s message because their positions and activity are so closely bound up with that of the temple. The writer may well have been closely involved in the affairs of the priests and Levites—he may even himself have felt strongly about the relative impor­ tance of the two groups. (See, for example, 2 Chronicles 29:34.) Ultimately, however, it was not the position of priest or Levite, but that of the Jerusalem temple at which they served that was determinative for the writer’s position. The purpose of the temple Finally, we must ask why the temple was of such impor­ tance to the Chronicler, and why it is for our study. The temple was for Chronicles, like Kings, the place where God had caused his name to dwell, to which prayers might be directed with the assurance they would be heard. However, Chronicles found this understanding inadequate in another sense, and in two cases (2 C hr 2:4; 7:12) has described the temple also as a place of sacrifice. The temple is God’s house, but he is not confined there (2 Chr 6:18 = 1 Kgs 8:27, stated earlier in 2:6, a section unique to Chronicles). Notice also that while 1 Chronicles 28:2 speaks of the temple as a house of rest “for the ark of the covenant,” 1 Chronicles 23:25—which is perhaps late—speaks of God’s dwelling in Jerusalem forever. But the occasional inclusion of an an­ cient bit of poetry such as that found in 2 Chronicles 6:1-2 (cf. 1 Kgs 8:12-13) or 2 Chronicles 6:41 (cf. Ps 132:8-9), where the temple is viewed as the resting place of both the The Temple

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ark and Yahweh, suggests that in the writer’s mind the two concepts were not always clearly distinguished. For the writer, it is certainly fair to say, participation in the observances of the Jerusalem temple was most closely identified with faith in and seeking Yahweh. “Yahweh is our God,” Abijah could proclaim before Jeroboam, because Judah had not forsaken the Lord. She had legitimate priests and Levites, and the temple services were being observed as ordained (2 C hr 13:10-12). Hezekiah’s invitation to the north to return to Jerusalem to worship, which would have been delivered shortly after the fall of the north to the Assyrians in 721 B.C., is full of significance: Do not be stiff-necked now as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanctified for ever, and serve Yahweh your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. (2 C hr 30:8) Indeed, Judah’s own unfaithfulness will be symbolized by the destruction of the temple which they had forsaken (2 C hr 36:19). In his own age, whenever it may have been, the author’s faith must have looked upon the restoration of the proper temple services as the first priority in the reestablishment of the nation. The special appeals to the north throughout the book suggest a writing from the time when such an appeal would have been particularly appropriate, but such occa­ sions in a long and contested history would not have been uncommon. A call for faithful dedication to the temple serv­ ice would be equally appropriate if the author wrote some­ time before the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., at the end of the Exile in 538 B.C.—as the current ending of the book would suggest (2 C hr 36:22-23)—at the time of the dedication of the second temple (Ezra 6:15-22), or at a later 20

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period when the temple had been rebuilt but was not being given the faithful devotion it deserved and required. For this last period, see the book of Malachi, usually dated in the first half of the fifth century B.C., or Ezra and Nehemiah, at the end of the same century. Amid the doubts, disappointments, and despair of whatever age, the message of the writer rang out: “O people of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. . . . Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless . . . ” (2 C hr 30:6-7). And for Chronicles, that meant returning to the temple at Jerusalem. Readers in our day are apt to be somewhat put off by such a concentration upon a building, no matter how exceptional, and upon institutions which are at best reminders of and pointers to a greater reality. W ithout denying the close and positive relationship between the physical and the spir­ itual, we are apt to be uncomfortable in the face of an appeal which identifies symbol and reality so closely, and equates faith in God and presence at a building so nearly. Perhaps this is an equation which we are simply unable or unwilling to grasp. In the New Testament we will find such of the faithful as Mary the mother of Jesus, Zechariah and Elizabeth, Anna and Simeon, in the temple. Joseph and Mary take the young Jesus to the temple, and the only event in Jesus’ life recorded in the Gospels between his infancy and the beginning of his ministry is a visit to the temple with his family at the age of twelve (Luke 2:42) for the Passover. Despite the opposition he incurred, Jesus regularly frequented the temple and the synagogues. His disciples later would do the same, normally withdrawing only when required to do so. The temple and synagogue were important and vital institutions in the early days of the church. Nevertheless, the symbolic and temporary nature of even these sanctified precincts is clearly recognized, as they were The Temple

21

also in the Hebrew Scriptures. To the woman in Samaria who asks Jesus about the locale of the approved place of worship, Jesus responds: “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when nei­ ther on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you wor­ ship the Father. . . . But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21, 23-24 RSV) Moreover the same Gospel of John actually views Jesus himself as the replacement for the temple. W hen pressured by the Jews to give a sign to justify his cleansing of the temple, which story John symbolically places at the begin­ ning of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus replies: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19 RSV). The Jews naturally interpret the reference to be to the physical tem­ ple, which they note had been under construction for no less than forty-six years. But John states, “he spoke of the temple of his body” (2:21). W hen that is present of which the physical temple is only the symbol, the symbol fades into insignificance. A parallel thought occurs in the Revelation of John, which concludes with the vision of a new heaven and a new earth, and the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. But the writer exclaims: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Rev 21:22-23 RSV) 22

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W hen God himself dwells with his people, there will no longer be need of such material symbols of his presence as the temple. U ntil that time, however, our relationship with the spiritual is mediated through the physical. The incarnation of Jesus is the strongest testimony to that fact, and the sacraments of the church are aptly referred to as “the means of grace.” W ith all their failings, religious sym­ bols continue to speak to us in terms we can understand of the God who does not dwell in houses made with hands, but who nevertheless condescends to tabernacle with his people (John 1:14).

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3 TH E KINGDOM OF GOD

Then Abijah stood up on Mount Zemaraim which is in the hill country of Ephraim, and said, “Hear me, O Jeroboam and all Israel! Ought you not to know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, gave the kingship over Israel for ever to David and his sons by a cove­ nant of salt? . . . and now you think to withstand the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the sons of David. . . . (2 Chr 13:4, 8 rsv ) The kingdom of God is, as the passage above indicates, “the kingdom of Yahweh in the hand of the sons of David.” Yahweh himself had rejected Saul’s house in favor of David’s. “Saul died for his unfaithfulness,” writes the Chronicler. “Therefore Yahweh slew him and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse” (1 Chr 10:13-14). In DH it may be true that prior to Solomon’s death the identity of the specific Davidic king who would sit upon the throne was questionable, and that after Solomon’s defec­ tion the ten northern tribes remained a kingdom (1 Kgs T h e K in g d o m o f G o d

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11:34-35) and Jeroboam was offered what might likewise be called an “eternal dynasty” (1 Kgs 11:38), but this is not the case in Chronicles. W hile God’s People might dwell in Israel or Judah (see pp. 49-56), God’s kingdom is associated solely with the south, where the kings of David’s line rule. And in every case, which of David’s descendants will occupy the throne is clearly stated. In understanding the significance of the Davidic dynasty in Chronicles, and its relationship to the temple, the presentation of the reigns of David and Solomon is crucial. David The significance of David for Chronicles is well-known and commonly recognized. David figures prominently in 1 Chronicles 11-29, dominating no less than nineteen of the two books’ sixty-five chapters. And they are important chapters. It is commonly recognized that the subjects of the temple, the priesthood, and the Levites lie at or near the center of Chronicles, and these three topics also figure prominently in these “David” chapters. Nor has the differ­ ent picture which Chronicles paints of David over against that of Samuel-Kings escaped notice. No less a figure than Julius Wellhausen commented: See what Chronicles has made out of David: The founder of the kingdom has become the founder of the temple and the public worship, the king and hero at the head of his companions in arms has become the singer and master of ceremonies at the head of a swarm of priests and Levites, his clearly cut figure has become a feeble holy picture, seen through a cloud of incense.1 Gerhard von Rad’s important monograph2 pointed to the significance of David throughout Chronicles, and that 26

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significance has continued to be affirmed by most scholars. And yet the picture is not as clear as it might be. Some of the space devoted to David in Chronicles might be at­ tributed to the fact that in Samuel-Kings also David is a dominant figure. The story of his reign fills all of the book of 2 Samuel, or twenty-four chapters. Moreover, David actually makes his appearance in 1 Samuel 16, and is actu­ ally of equal importance to Saul— if not surpassing Saul— in the remaining fifteen chapters of that book. Viewed in that light, the proportion of space devoted to David in Chronicles is considerably less. It is not always proper to judge the importance of a per­ son, theme, or topic by the number of words or chapters devoted to it, of course, although it is certainly not a bad measure to begin with in biblical studies. Consider, for ex­ ample, that in the Old Testament Israel arrives at Sinai, the site of God’s covenant with his people and the giving of the Law, in Exodus 19, and does not leave until Numbers 10:11. O r consider that, in the New Testament, each of the Gospel writers devotes a disproportionately large space to the Pas­ sion History, a single week in the life of Jesus. But to be weighed also is the fact that, in his considerably briefer work, the Chronicler devotes a minimum of nine chapters to Solomon, compared with eleven in the Deuteronomistic History (1 Kgs 1-11), and that 1 Chronicles 22, 28, and 29 have Solomon as much as David as their subject. Indeed, if the temple lies at the heart of Chronicles, these chapters must be attributed first of all to Solomon, since in them he is designated as the divinely chosen instrument to build the temple, while David is explicitly disqualified from that activity due to the many wars which he conducted. To see more carefully Chronicles’ attitude toward David and Solomon, it is necessary to review the portrait of these two kings as the writer found it before him in Samuel-Kings. We can focus our attention upon (1) the manner in which The Kingdom of God

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the rise of the king to power is depicted, including the response of the people to his kingship; (2) his position in the dynastic lineage; (3) his relationship to the cult (public worship); (4) the role attributed to him in the division of the kingdom; and (5) the general evaluation given him by the respective writer. Finally, we will include other materials which point to the significant role Solomon occupied for the writer of Chronicles. David in the Deuteronom istic History In the Deuteronomistic History (DH), David is anointed king while Saul still occupies the throne, and “the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:13 RSV). W hile the writer presents the difficulties which David experienced in his rise to power vividly and in detail, the support which David receives from the people is presented as ever-increasing (1 Sam 16:6-8, 16; 2 Sam 3:36). And his ultimate success in the achievement of his Godgiven role seems assured from the time of his anointing by the prophet Samuel at Yahweh’s command (1 Sam 16:12). Yahweh’s presence with David is repeatedly affirmed (1 Sam 18:14, 28; 2 Sam 5:10; 7:3). And even prior to the Dynastic Oracle of 2 Samuel 7, friends and foe alike repeat­ edly voice the conviction that Yahweh has chosen David to rule over his kingdom (1 Sam 20:15; 23:17; 24:20; 25:28; 26:25; 28:17; 2 Sam 3:9-10, 18). Although Samuel records numerous events picturing David as deceptive, no judgment is pronounced upon these acts. The writer instead emphasizes David’s constant loyalty to Saul as Yahweh’s anointed (1 Sam 22:14; 24:6, 17; 2 Sam 1:16), contrasting David’s guilelessness with Saul’s treachery and deceit (e.g., 1 Sam 18:12-16, 28-29; 2 Sam 3:1). After Saul’s death, David is first anointed ruler over Judah (alone) at Hebron, where he rules seven and one-half years. 28

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After an extended period of conflict with Saul’s house, Israel too makes a covenant with David, and David rules over “all Israel,” i.e., a united Judah and Israel, for thirty-three years from Jerusalem (2 Sam 5:3-5). Although David is not permitted to build the temple, the Dynastic Oracle of 2 Samuel 7 promises that a nameless seed “who will come forth from his loins” will both have his kingdom established and will build the temple (vv 12-13), so that even if a king commits iniquity Yahweh will not with­ draw his steadfast love (Heb. hesed) from him (vv 14-15). References to David’s position as the founder of the dynasty and the recipient of the promise are frequent throughout Kings. Concerning David’s relationship to Israel’s worship, Samuel reports that David had the ark brought to Jerusalem immediately upon his conquest of the city (2 Sam 6) and that he pitched a tent for it. No details are given concerning this tent, although one might assume that, if not in violation of tradition, it would have been quite elaborate. There is no mention of the involvement of cultic personnel, nor is there any indication that David made any provisions for construc­ tion of the temple, although the later statement that Solomon “brought in the things which David his father had dedi­ cated—the silver, the gold, the vessels—and stored them in the treasuries of the house of Yahweh” (1 Kgs 7:51) could possibly be so interpreted. At only two points does DH record God’s displeasure with David. Following David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of her husband Uriah, Yahweh sends the prophet Nathan to condemn David (2 Sam 12:1). W hile David’s sins are forgiven upon his confession, much of the remainder of the C ourt History seems to place David under the curse announced by 2 Sam 12:10-11: “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house . . . . I will raise up evil against you out of your own house . . .” (r s v ). David’s The Kingdom of God

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action in conducting a census of Israel is similarly con­ demned, but the acceptance of his sacrifice again points to his forgiveness (2 Sam 24). O n his deathbed David, at the urging of Bathsheba and Nathan, appoints Solomon as his successor, so that the perpetuation of the dynastic line through him continues to be acknowledged (1 Kgs 1). Although Kings does not record a customary closing eval­ uation of David, it is clear that the author considers David the primary example of the good king, in comparison with whom other kings are judged. Numerous kings are judged in accordance with whether they “walked in the way of David” or “did right like David” (1 Kgs 3:3, 14; 9:4; 11:4, 6, 33, 38; 2 Kgs 14:3; 16:2; 18:3; 22:2). In one case David’s murder of Uriah is included in such a formula as the sole example of David’s misconduct (1 Kgs 15:5). David in Chronicles Most of the material picturing David as the scheming or ruthless leader of an outlaw band or as a man who could control neither his own passions nor his family is absent from Chronicles. However, the reason lies perhaps not so much in the writer’s desire to aggrandize David as in the desire to sharpen his focus upon the temple, and in the related desire to demonstrate the support of “all Israel” for every work of David (and Solomon) in that regard. For details of the Chronicler’s presentation of these two aspects of David’s career, see the summary provided under “All Israel,” pages 47-50. Here it may be stated simply that any and every sign of opposition to David’s rule has been omitted, that David’s kingship is recognized as in accord with Yahweh’s word and supported by “all Israel,” and that, after his anointing, David proceeds immediately to the cap­ ture of Jerusalem (1 C hr 11:4-9), destined to become the home of the ark and the temple. This concern is central in 30

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chapters 13-16, which conclude with the ark in Jerusalem, and in chapter 21, which culminates with David’s choice of the threshing floor of O m an as the site for the temple. In 1 Chronicles 17 the dynastic oracle of 2 Samuel 7 is reproduced with minor variations. David’s affair with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah are omitted. O ur sur­ vey of the temple materials in 1 Chronicles 22, 28-29 has shown how David undertook preparations for both build­ ing materials and workmen for the task ahead, entrusted to Solomon the task of erecting the temple, and provided Solomon with inspired plans to guide the work. David him­ self, however, is forbidden to build the temple because he “had shed much blood, and waged great wars” (2 C hr 22:8). (Compare also 1 Chronicles 17:4, where David’s disqualifi­ cation to build the temple is expressed more strongly than in 2 Samuel 7.) The book of 2 Chronicles contains some thirty-five refer­ ences to David without parallel in Kings. By far the most sizable group of these, apart from passages that speak only in general terms of David as the father of Solomon, has to do with David’s relationship to cultic matters. Some of these have to do with building operations per se; in particular, 2 Chronicles 3:1 relates carefully how Solomon began to build the temple “in Jerusalem, on M ount Moriah, where Yahweh had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Om an the Jebusite” (RSV). All in all, however, it appears that Chronicles has given a minimum of attention to David’s role in the building of the temple. The focus is rather, as we shall see, upon Solomon, who conducts a census like David, secures timber and crafts­ men like David, and begins construction of the temple at the place sanctioned by divine approval and appointed by David. In drawing this parallel between David and Solomon, how­ ever, the Chronicler does not disparage the work of The Kingdom of Cod

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Solomon, but rather presents it as a part of a unified effort culminating in the completed temple. Two related but different concerns are apparent in the remainder of the references dealing with David and the cult. The first of these has to do with David’s relation to the music of the temple service. This is a new emphasis, since 1 Chronicles had spoken only of the personnel in charge of the music. But 2 Chronicles 7:6 speaks of the Levites who stood at their posts with instruments of music which David himself had made. A similar reference occurs in 2 Chroni­ cles 29:26— 27.3 Yet another kind of reference occurs in 2 Chronicles 29:30, where Hezekiah commands the Levites to sing praises with the words of David and Asaph the seer. Such an associ­ ation of David with the lyrics of temple song is otherwise unknown in Chronicles, although the traditions of David’s expertise in this area are well-known in other parts of the Old Testament (cf. 2 Sam 1:17-27; 23:1-2, and the psalm titles). W hile David was connected with Gad and Nathan in the previous passage, he is here associated with Asaph, who is called a seer. Closely related to these passages, and at times intertwined with them, are others referring to David’s organization of the priests and Levites. This concern was also found in 1 Chronicles, although it is difficult to determine which passages are original with the Chronicler. The same difficulty is to be found in 2 Chronicles, where there is no agreement upon the authenticity of such passages as 8:14, 23:18, 29:25-30, and 35:4 and 15. However, there appears to be little reason to doubt the statements of 2 Chronicles 29:25-30 that the Levites connected with the temple music traced their office back through David and his prophets. If any of the other passages are from the hand of the Chronicler, the entire Levitical organization, without respect to individual function, may also be traced back to 32

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David, although it was Solomon (2 C hr 8:14) who imple­ mented those plans. That such was the case seems probable in view of 1 Chronicles 16:4. O f special note is the one case in which David and Solomon are coupled with regard to their directive for the Levites: And he [Josiah] said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to Yahweh: “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it upon your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, following the directions of David king of Israel and the directions of Solomon his son. (2 C hr 35:3-4 RSV) In Chronicles, as in DH, David is regarded as the founder of the dynasty. Abijah’s famous speech reminds Jeroboam that “Yahweh has given the kingship forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt” (2 C hr 13:5). In keeping with this dynastic emphasis, Chronicles has added as the conclu­ sion of Solomon’s dedicatory prayer in 2 Chronicles 6:41-42 a quotation from Psalms 132:8-9, which refers not only to the arrival of the ark in the temple but also to Yahweh’s steadfast love (Heb. hesed) for David. All in all, however, there appears to be little change in the position accorded to the dynasty by Chronicles. In Chronicles as in Samuel-Kings, David remains the ex­ emplary king in comparison with whom others are judged. However, this occurs far less frequently in Chronicles than in Kings. In only four cases has the Chronicler taken over from DH a direct or implied statement of evaluation which mentions David (2 C hr 7:17; 28:1; 29:2; 34:2). In only one case has he added such an evaluation, noting that at the time of Rehoboam Judah walked for three years “in the way of The Kingdom of God

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David and Solomon” (2 G ir 11:17), a phrase which parallels David and Solomon in a way quite inconceivable in the earlier history. We may then summarize by noting that Chronicles has probably idealized David’s rise to power to some degree, omitting all references to opposition to his reign and stress­ ing the unanimous support of all Israel for that kingship. The great bulk of the C ourt History of David (2 Sam 91 Kgs 2) has been omitted, including David’s affair with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, although the reason for this is more open to question. The Chronicler has viewed David as the originator of the musical instruments of the cult, a contributor to the lyrics of some of the chants, and the one responsible for those Levitical groups concerned with music in the temple. It is probable that the Chronicler has also viewed David as responsible for the remaining Levitical divisions, although the precise nature of his activity here is more difficult to evaluate. Chronicles has also stressed David’s preparations for the building of the temple, and has him decree the build­ ing site, arrange for workmen and materials, and announce Solomon as the actual builder. O n the other hand, we find no discernible attempt to emphasize David as the founder of the dynasty, and the use of David as a standard by which other kings are judged is minimized. The significance of this observation will become more apparent in studying the Chronicler’s portrait of Solomon. Solomon in the Deuteronomistic History Though it seems to have been the understanding of DH that Solomon was the divinely chosen successor of David (2 Sam 12:24; 1 Kgs 5:3-5 [Heb. w 15-17]), the author has not permitted this viewpoint to dominate his narrative of Solomon’s accession to the throne. This is apparent above all 34

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from the inclusion in his work of the so-called C ourt History of David which relates in detail the strife among David’s sons as to which will succeed him. It was only in response to Adonijah’s power play that Solomon—supported by Bathsheba his mother, Nathan the prophet, Zadok the priest, and not least by Benaiah and David’s army (1 Kgs 1:8)— emerged as the new king of Israel. Solomon then proceeded to secure his throne by arranging for the deaths of Adonijah and Joab, the general who had supported Adonijah, and by banishing Abiathar the priest. W ith all opposition effectively silenced, DH remarks pithily: “The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon” (1 Kgs 2:46). DH divides Solomon’s reign into two distinct periods. The first of these extends from the beginning of his reign to the erection of the idolatrous high places, and views Solomon as an obedient king whose reign was characterized by the divine blessings of wisdom, prosperity, and peace. The erection of the temple occupies the center of Solomon’s reign, and his dedicatory prayer points to that event as the climax of God’s promises to Israel (1 Kgs 8:56). DH con­ cludes this period of blessing with the account of the visit of the queen of Sheba and a summary of Solomon’s wealth (1 Kgs 10). The second period of Solomon’s reign, however, sees Solomon as an apostate king who disobeyed Yahweh’s com­ mand by marrying foreign wives, who erected high places for their gods and joined them in their idolatry. Solomon’s fre­ quenting of the high places prior to the building of the temple seems to have been largely condoned by DH, but the same surely cannot be said of the report in 1 Kings 11. There Solomon’s marriage to foreign wives is explicitly condemned as a violation of God’s command (v 2). It is twice stated that Solomon’s heart was not completely true to Yahweh (vv 4,6), and the high places he built are clearly considered idolatrous. It is commonly acknowledged that the strictures against The Kingdom of Cod

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kingship in Deuteronomy 17:16-17 refer in particular to Solomon (see 1 Kings 10:23-29), so that Solomon becomes in effect the parade example of the evils of kingship. As a result, Yahweh becomes angry with Solomon (1 Kgs 11:9), and the division of the kingdom announced in verses 11-13 is the direct punishment for Solomon’s sin. The ac­ count then proceeds immediately to speak of the “adver­ saries” (Heb. śātān, vv 14,23,25) whom God raised up against Solomon, marking the reversal of the conditions reported in 1 Kings 5:4 (Heb. 5:18), when there was “rest on every side” and there was “neither adversary (śātān) nor misfortune,” so that Solomon could undertake the construction of the temple. Jeroboam’s rebellion is given divine sanction by the prophet Ahijah (1 Kgs 11:31-39), the narrative of which is introduced with the words, “This was the reason why he [Jeroboam] lifted up his hand against the king” (v 27), followed again by a de­ tailed reporting of Solomon’s responsibility (v 33). Shemaiah’s oracle preventing Rehoboam’s attempt to regain the north gives additional force to the divine decree (1 Kgs 12:24). The customary notice concerning Solomon’s death is recorded in 1 Kings 11:41-43, and nothing favorable is re­ ported concerning him in the remainder of the work. The writer never alters his view of Solomon as apostate until his death, as the one responsible for the high places to which the writer was so opposed, and as the sole cause for the disruption of the united kingdom. O n the contrary, atten­ tion is specifically called to the fact that Josiah, whose re­ forming activity is the second high point within DH, broke down the high places Solomon had built, at last reversing the idolatrous practices begun by Solomon (2 Kgs 23:13-14). Solomon in Chronicles The picture of Solomon found in Chronicles stands in sharp contrast to that of DH. For the Chronicler, Solomon 36

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is, like David, king by divine choice, greeted with the unani­ mous support of all Israel and dedicated wholeheartedly to the cult. Like David, he too ends his long reign, as he had begun it, in peace and prosperity. But Solomon surpasses David in two ways. First, he is the divinely chosen temple builder. Secondly, in keeping with the added significance accorded Solomon as temple builder, Chronicles presents Solomon even more consistently as one who, from first to last, was completely faithful to Yahweh. The manner in which Chronicles has restricted this pre­ sentation of Solomon to these concerns and the consistency with which the writer has pursued them can be fully appre­ ciated only by an exhaustive comparison of DH and Chroni­ cles. Here we can sketch only a few of the more striking details. 1. Chronicles presents Solomon, like David, as king by di­ vine choice. The wording of the dynastic promise in 1 Chron­ icles 17:11 (“I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your own sons . . .”, italics added) is perhaps only slightly more explicit than 2 Samuel 7:12-13, but the manner in which Chronicles has worked even the name Solomon into his statement of the promise in 1 Chronicles 22 is decisive: “Behold a son shall be bom to you; he shall be a man of rest (›îš menûhā h). I will give him rest from all his ene­ mies round about; for his name will be Solomon (šeōmōh), and I will give peace and quiet (šālôm wešeqet) to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name. He will be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.” (vv 9-10) W hat was left open in the Dynastic Oracle is here made explicit: Solomon is the king divinely chosen by Yahweh to sit upon his throne. In David’s second speech, the name The Kingdom of God

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“Solomon” is similarly inserted: “It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen (Heb. bàhartî, see page 11) him to be my son, and I will be his father” (1 C hr 28:6 RSV). 2. Secondly, Chronicles presents all Israel as unanimous in her support of Solomon. The competition and opposition to Solomon’s kingship found in the early chapters of 1 Kings vanish in the face of the unanimous support of all Israel:

And they made Solomon the son of David king the sec­ ond time, and they anointed him as prince for the Lord, and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David his father; and he pros­ pered, and all Israel obeyed him. All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. And the Lord gave Solomon great repute in the sight of all Israel. . . . (1 Chr 29:22b-25a) Here, it should be noted, even David’s other sons are among Solomon’s supporters. 3. But, above all, Chronicles presents Solomon as a king who— again like David his father— was a dedicated and zeal­ ous patron of the cult, and, more specifically, of the Jerusalem temple and its functionaries. The writer, again, found the ma­ terial for such a position at hand. The construction of the temple was for DH also the chief event of Solomon’s life, totally occupying three lengthy chapters of his account of Solomon’s reign (1 Kgs 6-8). Chronicles has, however, not simply reproduced the material of DH. Bypassing the mate­ rial of 1 Kings 3-4, the writer has moved almost immediately to express Solomon’s interest in the temple. The totality of 2 Chronicles 2-8 is devoted exclusively to that subject, intro­ duced already in 2:1 (1:18, Heb.): “Solomon purposed to 38

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build a temple for the name of Yahweh and a royal palace for himself” (RSV). However, Chronicles’ interest in Solomon’s cultic con­ cerns is evident in ways other than the sheer bulk of the material devoted to the subject. He has shown his interest in Solomon and the temple to be a lively one by the different way in which he has used his source material as well as by his structured and sympathetic treatment of the entire pericope. In other portions of Chronicles the writer has confined himself largely to the deletion of some materials and the addition of others, with some minor alterations and com­ ments. But Chronicles’ account of Solomon, while depend­ ent upon DH to a degree in almost every case, has amounted to almost a rewriting of the entire pericope. We must limit our comments to a few examples. Chronicles begins the narrative of Solomon’s reign with the sacrifices at Gibeon (2 C hr 1:1-6), as had 1 Kings 3:1-4. But for Chronicles this is not a heterodox religious pilgrim­ age to a high place, but an orthodox procession of all Israel, led by its king, to a legitimate site of worship, since Moses’ tent of meeting and the bronze altar are also there. The materials of 2 Chronicles 2 provide a second example. After the initial statement of the theme (v 1), Solomon gathers laborers for the task and arranges with Huram of Tyre for the necessary materials. But the Chronicler has used Solomon’s correspondence with Huram not only to request timber, as did DH (1 Kgs 5:3-6, Heb. 17-20). Through rewriting Solomon’s message, he also includes what amounts to a con­ fession of faith for Solomon and a significant statement of the purpose of the temple as a place of sacrifice (v 6). Solomon’s request for a craftsman to direct the more delicate work— which stood quite alone in 1 Kings 7:13-14—is made part of Solomon’s original request. Huram’s reply is similarly altered. Explicit statements added by the Chronicler assure us that the structure of the entire unit has been thoughtfully The Kingdom of Cod

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considered. The temple pericope (chs 2-8) is clearly delin­ eated by remarks both at the beginning (“Now Solomon purposed to build a temple for the name of Yahweh . . . ,” 2:1) and the end (“All the work of Solomon was completed, from the day of the foundation of the house of Yahweh until Solomon had completed the house of Yahweh,” 2 C hr 8:16). O ther stages within the temple narrative are similarly marked (cf. 3:1 and 5:1) and the conclusion added by Chron­ icles in 8:12-16, which understands the dedicatory festival as the institution of the regular temple services. We may conclude, then, that as was the case with David, the Chronicler has ignored almost everything except cultic matters and Solomon’s involvement in them. The essential similarity in the treatment of David and Solomon—both ruling by divine choice, both ruling with the unanimous consent of all Israel, both dedicated wholeheartedly to the temple and the cult—has commonly been overlooked or ignored by scholars intent on demonstrating the greater role attributed to David in the Chronicler’s thought. For the purpose of argumentation, two ways in which Chronicles’ presentation of Solomon surpasses that of David may be pointed out. First, as has been noted repeat­ edly, it was in fact Solomon who built the temple. All of David’s preparatory instructions and preparations notw ith­ standing, David is not permitted to erect this special house where God would cause his name to dwell, where Yahweh himself would rest among his people, this house of sacrifice where Yahweh would hear the prayers of his people. This greatest of all privileges was denied to David, the man of war, and given to Solomon, the man of peace. Secondly, Chronicles has removed from the life of Solomon every taint of sin or fault—lengths to which he did not go in the depiction of David. O f the entire account of 1 Kings 11 nothing remains. There is here no story of Solomon’s marriage to foreign women, or of high places 40

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(idolatrous or otherwise), and therefore the blame for the division of Israel and Judah does not rest upon him. Evi­ dence from certain manuscripts of the Septuagint supports the conclusion that Chronicles was the first Old Testament writer to make Jeroboam responsible for this schism.4 Nevertheless, it would appear to be erroneous to pit David and Solomon against one another in the C hroni­ cler’s thought. It seems most likely that the writer wished to present the work of both as a single unit centering in the erection of the temple. W ith that in mind, we then can point to 1 Chronicles 22, 28, and 29 as the Chronicler’s bridge unit for joining together the two parallel halves of this part of his work, i.e., the David History and the Solomon History. Three specific passages can be pointed out where this paralleling of David and Solomon becomes explicit. Kings concludes the feast dedicating the temple by noting that Israel “went to their homes joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David his servant and to Israel his people” (1 Kgs 8:66 RSV). Chronicles alters this passage to read “joyful and glad of heart for the good­ ness that Yahweh had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people” (2 C hr 7:10, RSV, italics added). Secondly, when Chronicles wishes to point to the faith­ fulness of Israel during the first part of Rehoboam’s reign, the Chronicler states: “. . . for three years they [Israel] made Rehoboam the son of Solomon secure, for they walked for three years in the way of David and Solomon” (2 C hr 11:17, italics added). Such a statement would have been inconceivable for DH, who considered Solomon’s idol­ atry the cause of the schism between north and south. Finally, Josiah’s words to the Levites at the conclusion of his reforms contain two examples where Solomon is placed beside or above David, one of these even with regard to Levitical arrangements: The Kingdom of God

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And he [Josiah] said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to Yahweh, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it upon your shoulders. Now serve Yahweh your God and his people Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, following the directions of David, king of Israel, and the directions of Solomon, his son. (2 Chr 35:3-4, italics added) Post'Solomonic kings of Israel Since Solomon was, according to Chronicles, blameless in his relationship to God, the fault leading to the rending of the kingdom under Rehoboam clearly did not lie with him, but with Rehoboam and the north. (Second Chronicles 10:15, which reproduces 1 Kings 12:15, must be judged an example of the author’s retaining a statement from his origi­ nal which he has otherwise chosen to dismiss.) Chronicles has, however, been able to reproduce the conclusion of the first part of that narrative from 1 Kings 12:19 without alter­ ation: “So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day” (2 C hr 10:19). This position is enunciated forcefully in 2 Chronicles 13, quoted at the head of this chapter. W hile it is possible here to read the emphases upon dynasty and temple as equal and supplementary (dynasty and temple), the emphasis, rather, lies upon the religious activities of the opposing dynasties. Jeroboam and his people have driven out the legitimate priests (v 9), while Abijah and his people have priests minis­ tering to Yahweh who are legitimate Aaronites and Levites and who maintain the prescribed temple services (vv 10-11). In this sense the north is “withstand[ing] the kingdom of Yahweh in the hands of the sons of David . . .” (v 8), and can be said to be fighting against Yahweh himself (v 12). 42

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The outcome of the ensuing battle is not in doubt: “Thus the men of Israel were subdued at that time, and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon Yahweh, the God of their fathers” (2 C hr 13:18). Chronicles and Messianism In the remaining chapters of Chronicles, no emphasis upon the Davidic dynasty per se is apparent. The “kingdom of the Lord” is present, to be sure, and a king of David’s line sits upon its earthly throne. However, that kingdom is embodied in the “all Israel” who in faithful obedience to the Lord supports his worship at the temple in Jerusalem. The climax of this last part of the Chronicler’s history is clearly reached with the reign of Hezekiah (2 C hr 29-32), but the focus of his kingship too is clearly to be found in the temple. He restores the service of the house of the Lord (29:35) and his invitation to the north is an invitation to return, not to his kingship, but to the sanctuary of the Lord (30:8). Josiah’s rather anticlimactic reign too is conspicuous be­ cause of the religious reforms already related in 1 Kings 22, These are, however, supplemented by additional reforms reaching into the north (2 C hr 34:6), with the establishment of the priestly and Levitical offices as directed by David and Solomon(!), and the celebration of a Passover, the likes of which had not been seen since the days of Samuel (2 C hr 35:4, 18). The final words of the book mention no Davidic hope, not even of the sort adumbrated in the final verses of DH in 2 Kings 25:27-29. It is instead the Persian king Cyrus to whom Yahweh is represented as speaking, and who gives decree that Yahweh’s people return to Jerusalem to build him a house (2 C hr 36:22-23). Some have nevertheless concluded that Chronicles does maintain a Messianic hope, based upon the significant The Kingdom of God

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position of the Davidic dynastic in such passages as 2 Chronicles 13:5, or upon the apparent fervor of such passages as 1 Chronicles 12:38-39 (Heb. w 39-40), or the position of Zerubbabel in Ezra and Nehemiah (cf. Ezra 5:2). W ith the increasing doubt of the unity of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah, it seems wiser to assume that Chronicles viewed the work of the Davidic dynasty as essentially com­ pleted with the construction of the temple, in which the hopes of the kingdom of God among Israel now lay. Israel’s hopes for the present lay in her relationship to the temple, which was the embodiment of God’s kingdom, or rule, in her midst. The kingdom of God in the N ew Testament Among the most common phrases found in the New Tes­ tament are “the kingdom of God” and, in the wording pre­ ferred by Matthew, “the kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of God means, as one scholar put it, “all the trouble that God went to to establish his rule among people.” The New Testa­ ment sets itself forth as being the record of the establishment of that rule. This kingdom, it should be noted, is the kingdom of God in the hands of the son of David. Jesus is Israel’s king, from the line of David, both David’s son by the flesh and David’s Lord by virtue of his divinity. That he commonly applies to himself the ambiguous title “Son of man” can mean, accord­ ing to the Hebrew idiom, an ordinary man (cf. Ps 8:4; Ezek 34:2; 35:2; 36:1); in dependence upon the vision of Daniel 7:13, it can mean a heavenly figure. That he avoided the use of the word “king” is a realization that Jesus was not the kind of king commonly expected. Compare Jesus’ conversation about kingship with Pilate in John 18:33-37. Both Matthew and Mark summarize the message of Jesus as being Good News about the kingdom of God: 44

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Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:14-15 RSV; cf. Matt 3:2; 4:17) The same is true of Luke, who presents Jesus’ initial activ­ ity after his temptation as a sermon delivered in the syna­ gogue in Nazareth. This sermon quotes Isaiah 61:1-2 and concludes with Jesus’ words: ‘“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:21 RSV). That this is un­ derstood as the message of the kingdom of God is clear from words spoken to another audience shortly thereafter: “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also; for I was sent for this purpose.” (Luke 4:43 r s v ) It would carry us too far afield in a work of this nature to consider the important questions of the specific nature of that kingdom and the degree to which various New Testament writers viewed that kingdom as already realized with Jesus’ presence or as a kingdom to make its appearance at a later day—in particular, at the last great day of the Lord (cf. Luke 17:20-21; 19:11; Acts 1:3,6). Nevertheless, it is again the book of Revelation which sounds the final and triumphant note in the biblical drama of the kingdom of God: Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. . . . The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. (Rev 19:6; 11:15 KJV) W ith that hope, and for that victory, God’s people in all ages have waited and trusted. The Kingdom of God

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4 THE PEOPLE OF GOD: ALL ISRAEL

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke in pieces the pillars and hewed down the Asherim and broke down the high, places and the altars throughout all Judah and Benjamin, and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the people of Israel returned to their cities. . . . (2 Chr 31:1, italics added) Chronicles is concerned from first to last with the concept of Israel, the people of God. It is concerned with who belongs to this people, and what sorts of activities they are about. The rise of David (1 Chronicles 1 0 -1 2 ) Chronicles goes to great lengths to show the participation of all Israel in David’s rise to power and his coronation as Israel’s king. Indeed, this appears to be the author’s primary purpose in the drafting of chapters 10 through 12. The People of Cod

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A tendency in this direction lay before the author in DH. There too David assembled “all Israel” to Hebron (2 Sam 5:1) and all Israel proceeded to Jerusalem to take the city (2 Sam 5:6; cf. 6:1-2). But Chronicles, as is its custom, has carried through this theme much more pervasively. The rea­ son for the alteration found in 1 Chronicles 10:6 (“Thus Saul died . . . and his three sons and all his house died together”; cf. 1 Sam 30:6) is due to this tendency to include all of the nation in the acts of its kings. The same can be said of the omission of 2 Samuel 1-4 from Chronicles. For simi­ lar alterations compare 1 Chronicles 11:1 with 2 Samuel 5:6. The remainder of chapters 11 and 12 brings together various lists of David’s soldiers, including the tribal listings of 12:24-37 (Heb. 12:25-38). Here too the purpose is to show the support given David by all Israel, cf. 12:38-39 (Heb. vv 39-40): All these warriors, equipped for battle, came to He­ bron with perfect heart to make David king over all Israel. And also all the rest of Israel was of one mind to make David king. David and the ark (1 Chronicles 1 3 -1 7 ) The same theme is apparent also in the account of the transferrai of the ark to Jerusalem (chs 13-17). Again the text, unique to Chronicles, points this out with almost hu­ morous thoroughness: Then David consulted with the commanders of the thousands and hundreds, with every leader. David said to all the assembly of Israel: “If it seems good to you . . . let us send to our brethren who remain in all the lands of Israel, together with the priests and the Lev­ ites in the cities of their pasture lands, that they may 48

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gather to us, and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, because we did not seek it in the days of Saul.” A ll the assembly said to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. (1 Chr 13:1-4, italics added) The narrative is then continued with words borrowed from 2 Samuel 6:1-11, but again with added emphasis upon the participation of all Israel in the proceedings: “So David assembled all Israel . . . and David and all Israel went up . . . and David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might . . . " (1 C hr 13:5-7, italics added; see also 1 Chronicles 15:3, 28). A ll Israel and the temple W hile chapters 17-21 are much more closely related to the writer’s source (in 2 Samuel 7-11:1; 12:26, 30-31; 21:18-22; 24), the emphasis upon the unanimous participation of all Israel returns to the fore in 1 Chronicles 22 and 28-29 and in 2 Chronicles 1-9. In the former, David designates Solomon as the divinely chosen builder of the temple; the latter reports the events of Solomon’s reign, including the construction and dedication of the temple. All Israel’s leaders are to help Solomon in his work (1 C hr 22:17, perhaps a later addition to the Chronicler’s work). After revealing this to Solomon, David summons all the leaders of Israel to Jerusalem (1 C hr 28:1), and the position of the entire assembly is emphasized repeatedly (1 C hr 28:8, 21; 29:1, 6, 20). Sacrifices are offered for “all Israel” (29:21), and Solomon is obeyed by “all Israel” (29:23). Verse 24 is particularly pointed in its wording: All the officers and mighty men, as well as all of King David’s sons, pledged their submission to King Solomon. (1 Chr 29:24) The People of God

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During Solomon’s reign, too, the participation and sup­ port of all Israel is noted at particularly significant mo­ ments. Chronicles transforms Solomon’s sacrifice at the idolatrous high place at Gibeon into a legitimate sacrifice before the tent of meeting, which was located there (1 C hr 16:39-40). Fittingly, all Israel participates with him (2 C hr 1:2-3). Again, the participation of all Israel in bringing the ark up to the completed temple had already been mentioned by Kings (1 Kgs 8:1-3; 2 C hr 5:3-5). The same is true of the dedicatory feast for the temple (2 C hr 7:8; cf. 1 Kgs 8:65). In these same passages the broadest geographical extent of Israel is mentioned—from the entrance of Hamath in the north to the wadi of Egypt in the south. After the death of Solomon and the division of the king­ dom, the concept of “all Israel” admittedly changes. Like DH, the Chronicler has Rehoboam appear before “all Israel” at Shechem to be made king (2 C hr 10:1 = 1 Kgs 12:1). The Chronicler can use “Israel” and “all Israel” for the northern tribes (cf. 2 C hr 13:4, 5, 15,18), in contrast to the southern tribes, which are variously designated as “Judah” (2 C hr 14:4, 7), “Judah and Benjamin” (2 Chr 15:2, 8-9; 31:1), and “Judah and Benjamin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (2 C hr 34:9). But the name “Israel” also applies to the south, or at least a portion of it (2 C hr 24:5-6). The use of such a qualifying phrase as “the people of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah” (2 C hr 10:17 = 1 Kgs 12:17) points to a narrower meaning of Israel as the faithful component among the peo­ ple. And while the Chronicler admittedly concentrates upon the southern tribes, he does not forget that the entire land, including the north, is within the ideal limits of the holy land “from Beersheba to Dan” (2 C hr 30:5). True wor­ shipers from both north and south will compose the true Israel (2 Chr 31:1; 35:17-18). 50

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A ll Israel in 2 Chronicles 1 0 -3 6 The w riter’s concern for all Israel in the post-Solomonic period shows itself primarily in tw o ways: (1) Various southern kings in this period are viewed as active in the north, both in military activities and in introducing reli­ gious reforms; and (2) the participation of Israelites from the n orth in the legitimate worship at Jerusalem is regu­ larly noted. Chapters 10-36 show a continuing concern for the prob­ lem raised by the apostasy of the north. This concern is portrayed on several different levels. First, Chronicles reports that Abijah (13:19), Asa (15:8), and Jehoshaphat (17:2) all captured various northern cities and, in the last case, fortified them. W hile this fact alone could be used to support the writer’s vindictiveness toward the north, this need not be the case. Immediately after the division of the kingdom, Chronicles records that priests, Levites, “and those who had set their hearts to seek Yahweh the God of Israel came . . . from all the tribes of Israel to Jerusalem to sacrifice to Yahweh” (11:16 RSV), thus strengthening the kingdom of Rehoboam. The significance of the terminology here is readily apparent, since the phrase “to seek Yahweh” is the Chronicler’s way of describing faithful Yahwists. The statement that these people came to Jerusalem, and that they came to sacrifice to Yahweh, like­ wise reflects a characteristic emphasis of Chronicles. After Asa’s reforming activity in both north and south is mentioned (15:8), Chronicles also tells of a covenant made at Jerusalem which includes people from “Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon” who were at this time “sojourn­ ing” (Heb. gērîm) in the south. The language is again explicit: “for great numbers had deserted to him from Israel when they saw that Yahweh his God was with him ” The People of Cod

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(15:9). The tw in themes of seeking Yahweh and sacrificing to him are again present in the description of the covenant (15:11, 13). In addition to the fact that sizable numbers from the northern tribes recognized the legitimacy of the south’s dy­ nasty and cult and defected to the south, Chronicles fre­ quently relates various types of religious reforms pursued by Judean kings. As mentioned, Asa removes idolatrous images from Judah and Benjamin, and also “from the cities which he had taken in the hill country of Ephraim . . .” (15:8). Hezekiah’s religious zeal in bringing people back to Yahweh is noted as extending “from Beersheba to Dan” (30:5). All Israel was to come to Jerusalem to keep the Passover, and it is noted that, while his messengers met with some scorn and ridicule in their journeys, “some men1 from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem” (30:11, WBC 15). The favorable response to Hezekiah’s invitation on the part of these northerners resulted in their participation in Hezekiah’s delayed Passover, which is the high point of the Chronicles narrative of the post-Solomonic kings. W hile there is less emphasis upon the involvement of the north in Josiah’s Passover, where the role of the Levites receives pri­ mary attention, the mention of “all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (35:18) clearly includes the northern tribes and indicated that “all Israel” (v 17) should also be understood to include the north. This means that a contingent from the north was present for Asa’s covenant ceremony (2 Chr 15) as well as for both of the major festivals celebrated by post-Solomonic kings, the Passovers of Hezekiah and Josiah. It is also reported that these same three kings undertook reforming activities in the north. Asa destroyed the idols in both north and south (15:8). W hile 2 Kings 18:4 had noted 52

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Hezekiah’s reforming activity in the south, Chronicles as­ cribes to the Israel present for the Passover (which we have seen included a delegation from the north) the destruction of high places also in Ephraim and Manasseh (31:1). The account of Josiah’s reform in 2 Kings 23:15-20 includes the destruction of high places in the north. And although it is rewritten by the Chronicler in a more general fashion, it retains its emphasis upon reforms both in the south and in “the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali” (2 C hr 34:6). A scattering of other references pointing to an ongoing concern for the Israelites of the north also occurs. These include the double mention of the sacrifices offered for all Israel at Hezekiah’s rededication of the temple (29:24), per­ haps recalling the similar statement of 1 Chronicles 29:21. W ithin his account of Josiah, the Chronicler has included two episodes dealing sympathetically with the north. W hile Kings says the money collected for the necessary temple repairs was deposited in a chest in the temple (2 Kgs 22:4), the Chronicler has not only rewritten that to reflect more favorably upon the priests and Levites, but describes the Levites as receiving the offering “from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem” (2 C hr 34:9). The comprehensiveness of this passage sug­ gests the degree of the writer’s concern. In the story of the discovery of the scroll in Josiah’s time, the Chronicles ac­ count significantly introduces the north as an object of Josiah’s concern (34:21) whereas according to the basic text of 2 Kings 22:13, King Josiah makes inquiry only concern­ ing the south. In none of these cases, it should be noted, does the Chronicler berate the north or its representatives, but they are apparently accepted as completely equal to the faithful of the south. The People of God

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Apostasy in the north Finally, our consideration of the “all Israel” theme should look at three passages in which the writer has dealt at greater length with the north’s apostasy. Chronicles ascribes the primary responsibility for the dissolution of the united mon­ archy to Jeroboam, largely absolving Rehoboam and Judah from guilt. The Chronicler has inserted his views of the north’s apostasy in a lengthy speech by Abijah where two objections are raised: (1) Yahweh has given the kingship over Israel to David and his sons forever (2 C hr 13:5, 8), and (2) the north has forsaken Yahweh in driving out the Aaronic priests and the Levites from their territories, while the south has retained the legitimate priesthood and cult. It is therefore clear that Israel has forsaken Yahweh, and that he is not with them. Judah’s victory is assured “because they relied upon Yahweh” (2 C hr 13:18). A half-million of the enemy’s troops are killed. The second passage, which has been inserted into the reign of Ahaz, is very different in its focus. In keeping with his dogma of retribution (see chapter 6), the writer has stated that as a result of the wickedness of Ahaz, Judah was given into the hand of the king of Syria and some 120,000 Judeans fell before Pekah of Israel “because they had forsaken Yah­ weh” (2 C hr 28:5-7). Moreover, the writer also reports that 200,000 women and children were taken captive by Israel and brought as spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of Yahweh was there (!), who urged the north to return their captives. Both his message to the soldiers and the reactions of the soldiers and the people are exceptional. The prophet Oded condemns the north because, while Yahweh was angry with Judah and had handed its army over to Israel, Israel had overstepped its allotted task both in the severity of the at­ tack (v 9) and in its plans to make slaves of the women and children, who are described as relatives (Heb. mē›ăhēkem, 54

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v 11). Israel is reminded at the same time of its own sins and of the additional wrath which the present plans will bring upon Israel (vv 10-11). The response of the Samaritan princes is remarkable in­ deed. Reiterating their own guilt, they persuade the armed men to leave the captives with them (v 14). The princes themselves then took the captives, provided them with food, clothing, and transportation for the infirm, and returned them to Jericho, a city apparently in Israelite hands at that time but whence they could easily enter Judah. W. Rudolph has remarked concerning the character of these first “Good Samaritans,” upon which the New Testament story in Luke 10 seems to be at least remotely dependent.2 This passage notes the existence of faithful prophets of Yahweh in the north—more explicitly in Samaria—as well as of people obedient to their message. Although it is true that the emphasis here is upon Israel for overextending Yahweh’s punishment upon Judah, the sins and guilt of both Israel and Judah are acknowledged. But an equal emphasis falls upon the godly character of the Samaritans, who re­ spond positively to the prophet’s words and have compas­ sion upon their relatives from Judah. The third passage requiring special attention in a discus­ sion of all Israel is 2 Chronicles 30:1-31:1, where the par­ ticipation of all Israel in Hezekiah’s Passover is a major com ponent We have mentioned Hezekiah’s invitation to the northern tribes to come to Jerusalem for the Passover and indicated that there was a more positive response than that suggested by many translations of 2 Chronicles 30:11. Here we need to call attention to the contents of Hezekiah’s invitation in verses 6-9. W hile it would be easy to emphasize the guilt which the message attributes to the north, as a result of which Israel has been laid waste by Assyria, to do so would negate the major thrust of the passage, which is clearly a call to repenThe People of God

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tance. The rem nant left by the Assyrians is urged to take heed to the negative example of their faithless fathers, to give themselves to Yahweh and to return to his sanctu­ ary (v 8). They are given at least three reasons why they should do this, the first two of which are stated in terms of results: that Yahweh’s anger might turn from them (v 8) and that their exiled relatives might find mercy in the hands of their captors and return to Israel. But the third reason for Israel to repent is to be found in the nature of Yahweh himself: “For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him” (v 9). Yahweh’s grace, therefore, is readily available to those of the north who repent and turn to him, although it is apparent that for the Chronicler this “repentance” included a recognition of and return to the Jerusalem temple. In the account of the Passover which follows, the note of the north’s involvement is never permitted to wane. Verse 18 seems to state that, in particular, the representatives of various northern tribes had not been permitted to prepare themselves properly for eating the Passover as prescribed. Yet Hezekiah’s prayer for forgiveness would be equally rele­ vant to the south. That prayer proclaims emphatically that “setting the heart to seek Yahweh” is more important than obedience to cultic laws. Chronicles is then careful to add the note of Yahweh’s approval (v 20), “And Yahweh heard Hezekiah, and healed [forgave?] the people.” The inclusion of the north among the people of Israel present in Jerusalem (v 21) and with “all the assembly” (qōl haqqā hāl , vv 23, 25) may then be assumed. The latter verse mentions specifically both the “whole assembly that came in from Israel” and also sojourners, resident aliens (Heb. gērîm) who had come in from the land of Israel to participate in the fourteen-day feast. The emphasis in the preceding verses upon the involvement of all parts of Israel strongly suggests 56

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that the paralleling of the event with the days of Solomon in verse 26 may refer specifically to the participation of both north and south in the feast. This would be particularly significant at the time of Hezekiah, when the north had just fallen to the Assyrians and ceased to exist as an independent kingdom. Such a reading of Chronicles takes on added significance now, when the definitive break between Jews and Samari­ tans is being dated much later than it was in earlier decades,3 and when the unity of Chronicles and EzraNehemiah is no longer taken for granted. Earlier scholars maintained that at least a major purpose of ChroniclesEzra-Nehemiah was to voice its opposition to the north. This attitude was found primarily in Ezra-Nehemiah, whence it was exported to Chronicles as well. Viewed im­ partially, Chronicles instead maintains that faithful Yahwists in both north and south who recognized the unique position of the Jerusalem temple belonged to the true Is­ rael, the people of God, and were invited and welcome to participate in its worship.4 Israel in the N ew Testament The concept of Israel and the question of who “all Israel” consists of is not confined to the O ld Testament. Just as the New Testament was concerned to show its relationship with “the God of the fathers” (see chapter 1), so it absorbs also the name and the concept of Israel. One principle which the New Testament uses in detailing the life of Jesus is what has been called recapitulation. This means in brief that whatever happened to Israel in the Old Testament happens again to and in Jesus. W hen as an infant Jesus goes down to Egypt to escape Herod’s wrath and then returns, Matthew quotes as a fulfillment the words of Hosea 11:1: “O ut of Egypt I called my son” (r s v ). Just as Israel of The People of God

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old, God’s children, came up from Egypt, so does Jesus, the new Israel (Matt 2:15). After his baptism, which the church has regularly related to the deliverance experienced in the Exodus, Jesus under­ goes a forty-day temptation in the wilderness, corresponding to Israel’s forty years (Matt 4:1-11). The phraseology of Mark, which speaks only of Jesus being with the wild beasts, and of angels ministering to him (1:13), is particularly sugges­ tive here. Jesus undergoes all that befell Israel of old, but with this exception: He yielded to no temptation. He com­ mitted no sin. Luke even reports that at the Transfiguration Moses and Elijah, embodiments of the Old Testament’s legal and prophetic traditions, appeared speaking with Jesus “and spoke of his departure [exodus], which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30 RSV). Jesus is the embodiment of Israel of old, the perfect Israel existing in a single person. It is in that connection also that the great Servant Songs of Isaiah (Isa 42:1-9; 49:1-6:52:1353:12; 61:1-4) are applied directly to Jesus in explanation of the servant role in which he appeared. The words spoken by the Father at Jesus’ baptism, “‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:11 RSV) are taken from both Psalm 2:7, a Messianic psalm, and from Isaiah 42:1. The Son of Man, Jesus would say, “‘came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many’” (Mark 10:45 RSV). But just as Israel of old came to be restricted ultimately to Jesus, the one perfect Israelite, so from Jesus proceeds a new Israel. The fact that Jesus called twelve apostles to follow him, and that upon the death of Judas it was felt necessary to choose another to preserve the number twelve (Acts 1:15— 26), recalls the twelve tribes which originally composed “all Israel” and which the Chronicler was insistent on maintain­ ing. The church, the Body of Christ, was itself to be the new 58

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people of God, the New Israel. Those who share the faith of Abraham are the children of Abraham (Rom 4:16). The problem of the relationship between the old Israel, the Jews, and the New Israel is discussed openly and pointedly (Acts 15, Gal 2, and Rom 9-10).

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5 THE WORD OF GOD

Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; but they kept mock­ ing the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of Yahweh rose against his people, till there was no forgiveness. (2 Chr 36:15-16) The God of Israel, the God of the fathers, is a God who reveals himself to his people. He does this through his Word, spoken of old through spokesmen like Moses and encapsulated in the Torah, conventionally translated “Law,” and through the prophets of the past and present. References to the Law are not rare in Chronicles. It is above all the “law of Yahweh” (cf. 1 C hr 16:14; 22:12; 2 C hr 12:1; 17:9; 19:8, and others). It is also the Law of Moses (2 C hr 23:18; 30:16), and the Law in “the book of Moses” (2 C hr 25:4). This law is sometimes referred to in partic­ ular circumstances, such as the descriptions of Levitical The Word of God

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arrangements (2 Chr 23:18-21) and the temple tax (2 C hr 24:9). King Jehoshaphat sends princes and Levites throughout the land to teach “having the book of the law of Yahweh with them” (2 Chr 17:9). The book of the Law found by Josiah in the temple is named by the Chronicler “the book of the law of Yahweh given through Moses” (2 Chr 34:14). Nevertheless, one gets the impression that the Law per se is not of paramount importance in Chronicles. God has spoken and continues to speak through his messengers, the prophets, though the form and content of their messages may differ, even radically, from age to age and from situation to situation. So when Chronicles states that Saul died because he did not keep the word of Yahweh (1 Chr 10:13), it seems clear that it is the word of a prophet that is in view. In the same way, Israel anointed David as king over Israel, says 2 Samuel 5:3; and the Chronicler adds, “according to the word of the Lord by Samuel” (1 C hr 11:3). The Chronicler introduces his list of David’s mighty men with the phrase: These are the heads of David’s mighty men who sup­ ported him strongly in his kingdom with all Israel to make him king according to Yahweh’s word concern­ ing Israel. (1 C hr 11:10) God addresses David through the prophet Nathan (1 C hr 17:3 = 2 Sam 7:3, apparently negating Nathan’s earlier ad­ vice, which should accordingly be understood as personal in nature) and through the seer Gad (1 C hr 21:9 = 2 Sam 24:11). David himself relates the directive that forbids the building of the temple to a direct word from the Lord not recorded elsewhere: ‘“You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name . . .’” (1 C hr 22:8; cf. 28:3, 6). Words of other prophets recorded in Samuel-Kings, such 62

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as Shemaiah (2 C hr 12:5, 7), Micaiah (2 C hr 18), and the prophetess Huldah (2 C hr 34:22 = 2 Kgs 22:14), are also passed on. Further prophets named in other canonical writings are also referred to in Chronicles, though their words are not recorded. Jehoram is said to have received a letter from Elijah the prophet (2 Chr 21:12). O ther events from the reigns of Uzziah and Hezekiah are said to have been recorded by the prophet Isaiah (2 Chr 26:22; 32:32), whose prayer for Hezekiah is also noted (2 Chr 32:20). Jeremiah is said to have uttered a lament upon Josiah’s death (2 Chr 35:25) and to have been ignored by Judah’s last king, Zedekiah (2 Chr 36:12). More interesting and unusual, however, are instances in which the Chronicler portrays God as speaking through otherwise unknown prophets and by unexpected means. In 2 Chronicles one reads also the words of Azariah, son of Obed (15:1-7), Hanani the seer (16:7-9), and of Jehu the son of Hanani (19:1-3) who chronicled the life of Jehoshaphat (20:34). Here too one finds references to the words of Eliezer the son of Dodavahu (2 Chr 20:37), and to Obed, a prophet of Yahweh who was active in the north in the reign of the wicked Ahaz and who brought about the work of the first “Good Samaritans” (2 Chr 28:8-15). Second Chronicles speaks also of a nameless “man of God” who prophesied during the reign of Amaziah (25:7-9), and of another simi­ larly unknown prophet (25:15-16). All appear to give em­ phasis to typical emphases of the Chronicler as known from the framework of his books and through the mouths of such kings as David, Solomon, and Abijah: Yahweh is with his people when they are with him; if they forsake him, he will forsake them. Israel’s call is to be faithful to the Lord, to avoid foreign alliances, to keep his Law, including the pre­ scribed worship at the Jerusalem temple. The Word of Cod

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Chronicles, however, does not confine the word of Yahweh to prophets of the traditional stamp. The same Spirit of God which came upon Azariah (2 C hr 15:1-7) is also said to have motivated one of David’s mighty men, Amasai, to have spoken a verse in praise of David (1 C hr 12:18), and to have done the same to a Levite of Asaph’s line, Jahaziel, in the assembly of the house of Yahweh (2 C hr 20:5, 14-17). This is also true of Zechariah, the son of the priest Jehoiada (2 C hr 24:20-22), who was subsequently stoned to death in the temple courts by the command of King Joash (2 C hr 24:20-22). That Chronicles stood at the end of the canon in the time of Jesus seems assured by his reference in Matthew 23:35 to the murders of Abel and of Zechariah as the first and the last recorded in the Old Testament. The Word of God, in brief, is becoming either more or less institutionalized, depending upon one’s purview. Sol­ diers, like David’s mighty man, and especially Levites, whom we would define as members of the temple choir, are in­ creasingly being viewed as vehicles of the divine Word. And the Spirit who clothed such exceptional heroes as Gideon (Judg 6:34), Jephthah (Judg 11:29), and David (1 Sam 16:13) is now operative in the more ordinary affairs of everyday life, and in particular among the priests and minor clergy of the Jerusalem temple. Such an understanding will reach its acme in 1 Chronicles 22-26, often considered a later addition to the Chronicler’s original work. In that five-chapter pas­ sage, the musical work of the three chief groups of Levites— Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun— is routinely described as prophesying (1 C hr 25:1-4; see also 2 Chronicles 29:30; 35:15). That is not to say that the discovery of God’s Word and will is to be found only among the institutional clergy. Vari­ ous kings, such as David, Solomon, and Josiah, seem to proceed in many of their activities with the understanding that their decisions are divinely guided. This is particularly 64

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true with reference to the arrangements of and for the Levites, where it appears that fundamental decisions are tied to the Mosaic Law, but ongoing regulations are the work of David, Solomon, and perhaps other kings (1 C hr 23:1-6; 2 C hr 8:12-16; 29:25-30; 35:1-6). David is in fact said to have received the plans for at least the basic temple structure “in a writing from the hand of Yahweh” (1 C hr 28:19). Apparently no further explanation seemed neces­ sary to the writer. Finally, one must be aware of a communication between God and at least some of his people which lay outside of all ordinary and institutional channels. Two times the Lord is said to have appeared to Solomon in a dream (2 C hr 1:7-13; 7:12-18). The Lord responds to the people’s repentance with forgiveness (2 C hr 12:6-7). They pray, and the Lord answers (2 C hr 32:24). Hezekiah even prays for people who celebrate the Passover in uncleanness and not according to the prescriptions of the sanctuary. And Yahweh hears his prayer and forgives or “heals” (wayyirpā›) the people (2 C hr 30:20). This is true even of such a miscreant as Manasseh (2 C hr 33:12-14). The Word of God, as one of the ancient prayers of the church puts it, is not to be bound, but is to be preached to the joy and edifying of God’s people. Even Pharaoh Necho of Egypt can become the means through which Yahweh communicates his will to people. In the final analysis only the rejection of that Word, sent persistently by the Lord because of his compassion, results in God’s wrath poured out without healing or forgiveness (Heb. marpē›), until the land enjoys its sabbaths and the Word is again heard (2 C hr 36:15-16, 21-22). Again, significant New Testament developments in the doctrines of the Word of God might be mentioned. Chief among these is the designation of Jesus C hrist as the Word (Greek logos) of God, through whom God has spoken his The Word of God

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final and definitive word. The writer of Hebrews connects directly with the Old Testament witness when he notes: In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (Heb 1:1-2 RSV) The Prologue of John draws both upon rabbinic sources and Greek philosophy. In the former, God’s Word was one of those elements like the Law, wisdom, the Messiah, the glory of God, and the spirit of God which were considered preexistent. In the latter, Greek philosophy, the logos was, among other things, both an emanation from the divine and the divine reason which ordered all things. The Prologue announces: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and with­ out him was not anything made that was made. (John 1:1-3 RSV) It is John’s further pronouncement that this preincarnate Word has become incarnate, or taken on human flesh, in Jesus, God’s unique Son in whom we see the Father: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, the glory as of the only Son from the Father. . . . And from his fulness have we all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the 66

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only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. (John 1:14,16-18) This language and theology is continued and expanded in the church. The Nicene Creed does not use the title “Word,” but does refer to Jesus as “begotten of his Father before all worlds, God out of God, Light out of Light, true God out of true God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom [i.e., Jesus, the Word] all things were made. . . .” Thus with the fullness of God’s revelation achieved in Christ, most Christians anticipate no further revelation; the final chapter of the Bible is usually read as a warning against those who would claim to have new revelations from God (Rev 22:18). God’s powerful Word, incarnate in his Son Jesus, will continue to govern and preserve all things until his final appearing.

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6 DIV IN E RETRIBU TIO N

In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to Yahweh; and he answered him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. (2 Chr 32:24-26) By retribution is meant a reward or punishment corre­ sponding to a good or evil deed. In that connection, it is fair to say that in Chronicles a good deed, as represented in the actions of a faithful king or people, always results in bless­ ing, and that an evil deed, as defined by the author, always results in bane. The concept of retribution, like many significant ele­ ments in the Chronicler’s theology, is introduced in a major speech of David to Solomon. It is reiterated in prophetic D iv in e R e tr ib u tio n

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speeches throughout the work and serves as the governing and organizing principle in the presentation of the histories of the post-Solomonic kings. This dogma is expressed most clearly in the Chronicler’s recitation of the histories of the post-Solomonic kings. It is fair to say that retribution is the dominant principle influ­ encing the manner in which the Chronicler has dealt with the history of the various kings as he found them in the books of Kings. The principle of retribution is given first expression in David’s second speech to Solomon: “If you seek him [the Lord], he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever” (1 Chr 28:9). It is reiterated explicitly in almost identical words through various prophets whom the writer presents as appearing from time to time: “The Lord is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you” (2 C hr 15:2; cf. 2 Chronicles 12:5; 14:7, and 16:7). In every case in which the work of the Deuteronomic Historian might be considered deficient in this regard, Chronicles in some manner adjusts his text to remedy that deficiency. This is seen already in the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Kings has noted without further explanation that during the reign of Rehoboam Judah had been invaded by Shishak of Egypt (1 Kgs 14:25). Chronicles, however, provides a cause for this invasion corresponding to his doc­ trine of retribution: Judah has been unfaithful, has aban­ doned God, and has forsaken the Law of the Lord (2 C hr 12:1, 2, 5). The words of the prophet Shemaiah make the correspondence complete: “Thus says the Lord, ‘You aban­ doned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak’” (2 C hr 12:5). The terminology here is very general—no specific action of Judah is referred to. W hat is important is often not the details, but the principle that is involved. In a similar but 70

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positive frame, we will read of kings who repent (2 C hr 12:12), who rely upon the Lord, and who seek the Lord. The account of Rehoboam is a model of Chronicles’ his­ toriography. Kings has reported Shishak’s invasion as dating in Rehoboam’s fifth year. Chronicles fleshes out its account by adding material to complement this schema. Since retri­ bution in Chronicles is always immediate, the writer con­ cludes that Judah’s apostasy occurred in the fourth year, and that, correspondingly, Rehoboam enjoyed a three-year pe­ riod of faithfulness (identified here as walking in the ways of David and Solomon, 2 C hr 11:17). Such obedience results in a prosperity expressed by three of the means which we shall see are regularly indications of God’s blessings: building op­ erations, military might, and large families (11:5-12, 18-21, 22-23). Shishak’s invasion during the fifth year results in military defeat and subjugation. Concerning Rehoboam’s repentance, see page 101. Chronicles uses the brief reign of Abijah for a different purpose, silently reversing the position represented in Kings that Abijah was an evil king. Instead, the mention of his warfare with Jeroboam of the north provides the oppor­ tunity for a detailed speech summarizing the author’s posi­ tion: Judah has the legitimate king and the legitimate priesthood, while Israel is in rebellion against God. W ith that in mind, the outcome of the battle is never in doubt. Five hundred thousand Israelites are slain, “and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon Yahweh” (2 C hr 13:18 RSV). Additional signs of the prosperity attending Abijah follow: Abijah captures three additional cities of Israel, grows in strength, and has a large family (vv 19-22). Jeroboam, on the other hand, is struck down by God him­ self (v 20). Judah’s next king, Asa, is regarded very highly by the writer of Kings, who remarks that he “was wholly true to the Lord all his days” (1 Kgs 15:14). However, the Chronicler Divine Retribution

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found in the Kings account three elements needing explana­ tion: (1) it is noted he had war with Baasha of Israel (1 Kgs 15:16), (2) he made a treaty with Ben-hadad of Damascus (foreign alliances are always considered a violation of faith in God), and (3) in his old age, Asa had sore feet (1 Kgs 15:23). To adjust this material to his understanding of rewards and pun­ ishments, the Chronicler characteristically divides Asa’s reign into two separate periods. The first period builds upon the statement of Kings that Asa’s heart “was wholly true to Yahweh all his days” (1 Kgs 15:14). The reforming activity mentioned in Kings is ex­ panded and includes the removal of high places in Judah and in portions of the north as well (2 C hr 14:3; 15:8). O ther signs of Asa’s prosperity are also added. Four times it is stated that the land “had rest” under him (1 C hr 14:1, 6-7; 15:7). Asa’s building operations are named (2 C hr 14:6-7), and he is victorious in an otherwise unknown battle against Zerah the Ethiopian, which also serves as the occasion for a prophetic speech by Azariah. This speech is replete with the terminology of retribution: “Yahweh is with you, while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you. For a long time Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law; but when in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found by them. In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for great disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands. They were broken in pieces, nation against nation and city against city, for God troubled them with every sort of distress. But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.” (2 C hr 15:2-7 RSV) 72

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W ith such prophetic encouragement, a second round of reforming activities then follows (15:8-18). Idols are re­ moved in both north and south, and mention is made of sojourners from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who deserted to Asa in Jerusalem when they saw “Yahweh was with him” (15:9). The covenant ceremony climaxing the re­ forms in Jerusalem includes the provision that “whoever would not seek Yahweh, the God of Israel, should be put to death . . . ” (15:13). The Chronicler’s own termination of the account continues: And all Judah rejoiced over the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart, and had sought him with their whole desire, and he was found by them, and Yahweh gave them rest round about, (v 15 RSV) It is an oddity of the Chronicler’s style that, despite other alterations in his account, he regularly retains the expressed evaluation of DH. Verse 17, dependent upon 1 Kings 15:14, states that the high places were not taken away out of Israel. W hile these seeming contradictions may be due to the work of a later editor, they are so common as to suggest that the Chronicler himself has simply not cared to extend his edito­ rial work to that detail. However, DH included in a matter-of-fact way an account of Asa’s undated alliance with Ben-hadad of Syria against Baasha of Israel. Chronicles never allows such a foreign al­ liance to pass without condemnation, since it represents for him a lack of faith in Yahweh. The Chronicler presents the prophet Hanani to condemn Asa in the thirty-sixth year of his reign. His pronouncement of retribution, predicting continuous wars for Asa as the outcome of this faithlessness, results in a show of Asa’s anger both against the prophet and against the people. The description is once again general and rather colorless: “And Asa inflicted cruelties upon some Divine Retribution

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of the people at the same time” (2 C hr 16:10 RSV). The reference to Asa’s diseased feet (2 C hr 16:12 = 1 Kgs 15:23) follows, with the notation added that even when his disease was severe, Asa did not seek Yahweh, but sought help from doctors instead. In summary, three particular aspects of Chronicles’ han­ dling of the Asa account are instructive: 1. The Chronicler accepts the basic evaluation of DH as his own, as is almost always the case. The only exceptions are Solomon and Abijah. 2. Chronicles again divides the reign of a given king into two or more periods depending upon the details avail­ able from Kings and from an assessment of those details. Thus the doctrine of retribution is applied not only to the reign of a given king as a whole, but to each element within it as well. 3. In cases such as that of Asa, to whom the Chronicler is quite favorably disposed, religious zeal is normally demon­ strated very early and for a prolonged period of the king’s reign.1 Aspects of this doctrine of retribution could be demon­ strated from the reign of almost every king of Judah who follows.2 However, for our purposes it will be sufficient to note several particularly striking examples of the author’s style. Uzziah and Ahaz Kings had reported briefly that Uzziah—also named Azariah—did what was right, reigned fifty-two years, but died a leper (2 Kgs 14:21-22; 15:1-7). Perhaps in view of his extremely long reign, which would of itself be considered a sign of God’s blessing, Chronicles adds examples of his pros­ perity and notes that his prosperity was the result of his seeking God (see p. 81) in the days of a certain Zechariah, 74

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who is surely meant to be understood as a priest. This pros­ perity includes building operations, victory in warfare, a large army, fame, and strength (2 C hr 26:6-15). To explain Uzziah’s leprosy, Chronicles adds in verses 16-20 Uzziah’s anger at Azariah and his fellow priests when they warned him not to enter the temple precincts to bum incense. As a result, Uzziah is smitten by God and dies a leper. A second example involves King Ahaz, the worst of the kings according to DH (2 Kgs 16). Chronicles again adds to the account specific statements and examples of negative retribution: God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria, who defeated him and took captive a great number of his people and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who defeated him. . . . For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew a hun­ dred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all of them men of valor, because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers. (2 C hr 28:5-6 RSV) After Ahaz’s appeal to Assyria for help, which the Chronicler again considered evidence of a lack of faith (2 C hr 28:16 = 2 Kgs 16:7a), Chronicles again adds specific examples of attacks upon and defeats of Judah (2 C hr 28:17-18). This explanation is offered of these events: “For the Lord brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had dealt wantonly in Judah and had been faithless to Yahweh” (v 19 RSV). Ahaz even appealed to the gods of Syria for help, “but they were the m in of him, and of all Israel ” (v 23). The statements of verse 24 are surely meant to be a kind of negative climax to Judah’s history. Judah now found itself as evil as its brothers and sisters in the north (who had at least listened to the words of a true prophet of the Lord, vv 8-15): Divine Retribution

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And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord; and he made himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. In every city of Judah he made high places to bum incense to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. (2 Chr 28:24-25 RSV, italics added) Hezekiah Hezekiah, with Josiah, is among the kings most in favor with DH. He indicates this not only by stating that they “did what was right” (2 Kgs 18:3; 22:2), but also in ascribing to them the removal of the idolatrous high places erected by Solomon, which were the cause of the rending of the north­ ern kingdom from Solomon’s son Rehoboam (1 Kgs 11:1— 13). The positive significance of Hezekiah for Chronicles is seen first of all in the length of the account of his reign (2 Chr 29-32), but also in the specific kinds of activities engaged in by Hezekiah and the blessings attributed to him.3 It is he who in the first month of the first year of his reign (2 Chr 29:3) reopens the doors of the temple closed by the faithless Ahaz. Hezekiah’s speech to the Levites at the begin­ ning of his reforming work is again replete with explicit statements of retribution theology: “Hear me, Levites! Now sanctify yourselves, and sanc­ tify the house of Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the holy place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs. They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps, and have 76

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not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of Yahweh came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this.” (2 C hr 29:5-9 r s v , italics added) The remainder of the chapter recounts Hezekiah’s restora­ tion of the temple worship, including especially the reorder­ ing of the Levites (vv 10-36). O ther specific activities attributed to Hezekiah include an invitation to the separated brethren of the north to join them in keeping the Passover in Jerusalem, an invitation which was accepted, it should be noted, by many northern­ ers (2 C hr 30:18-25). It was probably this participation of the north which occasioned the Chronicler’s statement con­ cluding the festivities: So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem, (v 26 RSV, italics added) After the account of additional reforms in both north and south (2 C hr 31:1) and in the temple (vv 2-19), Chronicles concludes the reforming activity of Hezekiah with the words: Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah; and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered, (vv 20-21 RSV) Divine Retribution

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A similar statement of retributive blessing stands at the end of Chronicles’ account of Hezekiah’s engagement with Sennacherib of Assyria. An introductory phrase, “after these things and these acts of faithfulness . . . places this encounter within the context of Hezekiah’s faithfulness (2 C hr 32:1a), and here too Hezekiah’s words to his troops are reminiscent of those of a prophet: “Be strong and of good courage. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him; for there is one greater with us than with him. W ith him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Yahweh our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” (vv 7 -8

r sv )

The writer’s praise of Hezekiah reaches its climax after the victory from that same battle. Characteristic features of blessing abound: So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of all his enemies; and he gave them rest on every side. And many brought gifts to Yahweh to Jerusalem and precious things to Hezekiah king of Judah, so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from that time onward. (2 C hr 32:22-23 RSV, italics added) Unfortunately, Kings had also reported the sickness of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:1). His breach of faith in the matter of the Babylonian envoys is admitted by Chronicles, but covered over with the prosaic and nonspecific vocabulary regularly found in such instances (cf. 2 Kgs 12:7-8,12): But Hezekiah did not make return according to the ben­ efit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore 78

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wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah. (2 Chr 32:25-26 RSV, italics added) It is surely a sign of the writer’s boundless praise for Hezekiah that, despite such a negative note at the end of his reign, there nevertheless follows an addition from the Chronicler’s hand pointing to his riches, honor, building operations, and general prosperity (vv 27-30). To my knowl­ edge, such a situation does not occur elsev'here in the book. Manasseh and Josiah The reign of Manasseh is similarly divided into two peri­ ods. The material provided Chronicles by DH in the case of Manasseh presented a difficult problem. Manasseh is judged as completely evil, as a result of whose sins Judah would be destroyed without remnant (2 Kgs 21). And yet he had the longest reign of any king of Israel, fifty-five years! Accord­ ingly, Chronicles appends to the Kings account the story of Manasseh’s punishment (2 C hr 33:11) and subsequent re­ pentance (vv 12-13, 19; see p. 103). Following that repen­ tance, Manasseh’s reign is characterized by the customary blessings: building operations and religious reforms. Note­ worthy is the fact that, despite this radical change in the report concerning Manasseh, that of his son Amon which follows nevertheless states that “he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh, as Manasseh his father had done” (v 22 RSV), although without his father’s repentance (v 23). The account of Josiah also presented our writer with a problem. Josiah’s reign, of course, marks the high point of DH’s history of Judah. However, 2 Kings 23:29 reports his death in battle at the hands of Necho of Egypt. Chronicles Divine Retribution

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therefore inserts a cause for such a defeat and death: Josiah had disobeyed a command of God given him through the Eqyptian pharaoh (2 Chr 35:21-23). His death, therefore, is in keeping with the general principle of retribution: Blessing follows obedience, and punishment follows disobedience. And the greatest disobedience is failure to hear the voice of Yahweh, even if from the mouth of a foreign ruler. T he last kings of Judah Judah’s end is told in Chronicles in a very sketchy way following the death of Josiah. Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah all “did what was evil” in the eyes of Yahweh (2 C hr 36:5, 9, 12), as reported also in Kings. Concerning Zedekiah it is added that “he did not humble himself (i.e., repent) before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord” (2 C hr 36:12), and that he violated an oath given to King Nebuchadnezzar “who had made him swear by God” (v 13). Chronicles adds as a final summary of Judah’s unfaithfulness: All the leading priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Yahweh which he had hallowed in Jerusalem, (v 14 RSV) Judah’s final and ultimate sin, however, which seals her destruction, is that of failure to repent at the preaching of the prophets: Yahweh, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place; but they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, till the wrath of Yahweh 80

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rose against his people, till there was no remedy. (2 C hr 36:15-16 r s v ) As a result the temple is destroyed, its vessels carried to Babylon, and the land left barren “until the land enjoyed its sabbaths” (2 C hr 36:21), a final punishment which is perhaps at the same time viewed as a purification necessary for God’s subsequent redeeming activity. It thus seems clear that Chronicles has adopted the dogma of retribution, personal and immediate as well as communal and prolonged, as the framework into which the lives of the various kings are fitted, and has regularly added whatever details were necessary to make each individual fit into this scheme. Opinions vary as to whether these addi­ tions are based on historical data available to the writer but subsequently lost, or whether, as seems more likely to me, they were logical deductions based on the writer’s theology. Seeking and forsaking God The two contrasting terms used most frequently through­ out Chronicles for presentation of this dogma are those introduced in 1 Chronicles 28:9, “to seek” (dāraš), and “to forsake” (‹āzab). It is readily apparent that for Chronicles, which uses the term some forty times, dāraš entails much more than its common translation, “to inquire of.” Instead, dāraš is a more general term, including all that might be involved in “keeping the faith” and thus remaining true to Yahweh (cf. 2 C hr 12:14; 14:3; 15:12; 30:19). Similarly, ‹āzab and its near synonym, mā‹al, “to act unfaithfully,” are the most general of terms. The Chronicler’s addendum follow­ ing Saul’s death significantly parallels his unfaithfulness and his failure to “seek” Yahweh (1 C hr 10:13-14). To further define the content of this “seeking” is diffi­ cult. That it involved a commitment may be seen from its Divine Retribution

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frequent occurrence in such phrases as “to set (hēkîm) the heart to seek Yahweh,” as well as in various covenant con­ texts where the decision of the people for Yahweh would be of primary importance. That such seeking demanded the avoidance of foreign gods is explicit in such passages as 2 Chronicles 17:3 and 25:15,20. That it required a positive relationship to the Jerusalem temple might be assumed, and is explicit in at least one case (2 C hr 20:3-4). That this “seeking” involved observable conduct of a certain sort is clear from the account of Asa’s covenant, where those who do not seek Yahweh are to be put to death (2 C hr 15:12— 13), although in only one instance is this seeking explicitly related to the observance of the Law (2 C hr 17:4). The emphasis upon faith and commitment is strongly accented. Two aspects of the Chronicler’s presentation stand in bold relief: (1) In numerous cases the need for complete reliance on Yahweh is given extended treatment, both in various prophetic speeches as well as in the editorial framework of the book. The key word often found in such a context is š ā ͑an, “to rely upon” (cf. 2 Chronicles 13:18; 14:10; 16:7-8). A similar point is made in Jehoshaphat’s address to his troops prior to their engagement with the Moabites. There, Jehoshaphat’s words “Believe (Heb. ›mn, hiphil) in Yahweh your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed” (2 C hr 20:20) recall Isaiah’s demand for faith in the face of the Syro-Ephraimitic encounter (Isa 7:9). In this victory, as in numerous others, Israel’s victory is as­ sured when she has shown the necessary faith; the narration of the battle is couched in terms often reminiscent of the holy war, again recalling Isaiah. In further agreement with Isaiah, Chronicles regularly looks upon any type of foreign alliance as a sign of apostasy from Yahweh (cf. 2 Chr 16:7; 20:37). The positive side of the doctrine of retribution is that prosperity results when the proper relationship with God 82

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exists. The Chronicler has introduced this important ele­ ment, too, in David’s first speech to Solomon (1 C hr 22:11, 13), which is ultimately dependent upon Joshua 1. The note of prosperity reoccurs in 1 Chronicles 29:23, where it is used to describe Solomon’s reign even before it has begun. The key word of Chronicles in this regard is the causative active (hiphil) of slh, “to prosper,” which he uses eleven times without precedent in DH. (Slh is used in the hiphil only five times in the entire Deuteronomic corpus: Deuteronomy 28:29; Joshua 1:8; Judges 18:5; and 1 Kings 22:12,15.) But the full significance of the writer’s use of this term is apparent only from observing its distribution throughout Chronicles. The Chronicler has reserved the prosperity denoted by this term for precisely that group of kings to whom he is most favorably disposed: Solomon (2 Chr 7:11), Asa (2 Chr 14:6), Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 20:20), Uzziah (2 Chr 26:5), and Hezekiah (2 Chr 31:21). Direcdy in the case of Uzziah and Hezekiah, and somewhat less directly with Asa, this prosperity is related to the seeking of Yahweh. The reign of Hezekiah, the post-Solomonic king most in favor with Chronicles, is aptly concluded with the words, “Hezekiah prospered in all his works” (2 Chr 32:30). In several cases also the breach of this relationship with God is cited as the actual or potential cause for a lack of prosperity. Abijah’s important discourse points out that it is impossible for the north to “succeed” in its war with Judah since God is with Judah and Israel is accordingly fighting against God (2 C hr 13:12). Zechariah’s words following Judah’s apostasy after the death of the priest Jehoiada also point out the impossibility of Judah’s success when she has transgressed Yahweh’s commandments and thereby is for­ saken (2 C hr 24:20). The statement concluding the first part of Uzziah’s reign, “as long as he [Uzziah] sought the Lord, God made him prosper” (2 C hr 26:5), clearly foreshadows the second part of Uzziah’s life when he was unfaithful in entering the temple to bum incense. Divine Retribution

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T he marks of prosperity The many and varied ways in which the Chronicler por­ trays the prosperous nature of the reigns of God-pleasing kings is one of the most striking characteristics of his account and is highly reminiscent of the recital of covenant blessings and curses found in such passages as Deuteronomy 27 and 28. First it is, for example, frequently stated of the godly king that Yahweh was “with him” (Solomon, 2 C hr 1:1; Judah at the time of Abijah, 2 C hr 13:12; Jehoshaphat, 2 C hr 17:3; Asa, 2 C hr 15:9). Echoes of this ancient formulation also occur, although modified by their inclusion in larger literary forms or under the influence of the Chronicler’s theology. Hence, variations of the statement are applied to Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 20:17), Hezekiah (2 C hr 32:8), and perhaps Pharaoh Neco (2 C hr 35:21) in the context of “holy war.” Its use by David in 1 Chronicles 22:11 in an imperfect (jussive) form, “may Yahweh be with you,” as well as by Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 19:6, is probably influenced by connections with the form used for induction of an official to an office.4 The conditional formulation in 2 Chronicles 15:2, “Yahweh is with you, while you are with him,” is an obvious alteration of the standard phrase under the influence of the Chroni­ cler’s doctrine of retribution. Secondly, the concept of “rest” (menûhā h), introduced by the Chronicler in 1 Chronicles 22:9, is afterward applied to various other periods in Judah’s history to point to the peace or rest attending a God-pleasing reign. (For other aspects of the “rest” theme, see chapter 8.) This is most apparent in the description of the first part of Asa’s reign, where three oc­ currences of the Hebrew “to rest” (nûah), are joined with one of “quietness” (šāqat): . . . Asa his son reigned in his stead. In his days the land had rest for ten years. And Asa did what was good 84

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and right in the eyes of Yahweh his God. . . . And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for Yahweh gave him peace. And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars; the land is still ours, because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. (2 C hr 14:1-2,5b-7 RSV; Heb. 13:23,14:4b-6, italics added) Both hēnîah and šāqat are used to describe a portion of Jehoshaphat’s reign (2 C hr 20:30). Concerning Hezekiah, Chronicles concludes by adding to a narrative generally taken from Kings the phrase, “Yahweh . . . gave them rest on every side” (2 C hr 32:22). Chronicles has also pointed out the prosperity which be­ longed to the reigns of God-pleasing kings in numerous other specific ways. In most of these, it appears that the description of the unprecedented prosperity of Solomon’s reign as presented in Kings and repeated by Chronicles has been used as a basis. Thus Chronicles repeats the tradition of Solomon’s riches (1 Kgs 3:12-13; 10:22 = 2 C hr 1:12-13; 10:22) and applies it also to Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 17:5) and Hezekiah (2 C hr 32:27). The closely related honor and fame are likewise marks of Solomon in both 1 Kings 3:12-13 and 2 Chronicles 1:12, but the Chronicler inserts a similar no­ tice into his account of David (1 C hr 17.1 7), Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 17:5), Uzziah (2 C hr 26:8, 15), and Hezekiah (2 C hr 32:27). Statements that a king became great or strong are common, beginning again with Solomon (2 C hr 1:1) and continuing with Rehoboam (2 C hr 11:17), Abijah (2 C hr 13:21), Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 17:1, 5, 11), Uzziah (2 C hr 26:8, 15), and Jotham (2 C hr 27:6). The large armies of various kings are referred to as evident Divine Retribution

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testimony of their prosperity and strength (2 C hr 13:3; 14:8; 17:3-19; 26:11-15), as are the victories they achieve in battle (Abijah—2 C hr 13:13-20; Asa— 2 C hr 14:12-15; Jehoshaphat—2 C hr 20:1-30; Amaziah— 2 C hr 25:11-13; Jotham—2 C hr 26:7; Hezekiah—2 C hr 32:22). For David, see 1 Chronicles 18:1-20:8. Particular notice should be taken that in this almost complete list of Chroni­ cles’ favorite kings, Solomon, the “man of peace,” is notice­ ably absent. Terminology of the holy war is again present in relating that the “fear of Yahweh” fell upon the surrounding nations during the reigns of Asa, Jehoshaphat, and David (2 C hr 14:14; 17:10; 20:29; 1 C hr 14:17). Another method used to demonstrate the prosperity of God-pleasing kings is in reporting the building activities un­ dertaken during the God-pleasing portions of their reigns. While many of these are related to the temple and its envi­ rons (2 Chr 15:8; 24:4; 27:3; 29:3; 33:17 [of Manasseh!]; 34:815 = 2 Kgs 22:3-6), an equal number are concerned with all kinds of secular building operations, including fortifications. Note again the comprehensive nature of the list: Solomon (2 C hr 8:2-6); Rehoboam (2 C hr 11:5-12); Asa (2 Chr 14:5); Uzziah (2 Chr 26:6-8); Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 17:12); Jotham (2 Chr 27:3); and Hezekiah (2 Chr 32:8,28-30)! It is also stated by Chronicles that the kings of the world brought gifts, not only to Solomon (2 C hr 9:23 = 1 Kgs 10:23), but also to Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 17:11), Uzziah (2 C hr 26:8), and Hezekiah (2 Chr 32:23) as well. In the last case, the gifts brought to Hezekiah are paralleled with those brought to Yahweh. It is accordingly clear that the writer of Chronicles has gone to great lengths to describe the prosperity enjoyed by God-pleasing kings in accordance with his understanding of divine retribution. In a few cases these elements are already present in the Chronicler’s presentation of David, but in most the prosperity attending Solomon’s reign as presented 86

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in Kings has been adopted by Chronicles and used as a model to describe the reigns of post-Solomonic kings. Forsaking Yahweh The negative counterpart of “seeking” Yahweh is repre­ sented generally by the verb “to forsake” (‹āzab), and the root m ‹l, “to act unfaithfully.” This apostasy is often very general in nature, as indicated in instances where Chroni­ cles, after recounting a section from Kings which details a king’s wicked practices, concludes with a generalizing phrase such as “because they had forsaken the Lord” (2 C hr 21:10; 28:6). But at other times this “forsaking” is more closely defined by the context as referring to such transgressions as failure to observe the law (2 C hr 12:1, 5) or idol worship (2 C hr 24:18; 7:22 = 1 Kgs 9:9). Forsaking Yahweh most commonly involves the relation­ ship of the individual to the Jerusalem temple. This is assured by the account surrounding Jehoiada’s death, when Judah “forsook the house of Yahweh . . . and served the Asherim and the idols” (2 Chr 24:18), as well as by the summary of the apostasy preceding Hezekiah’s reform: For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of Yahweh our God; they have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Yahweh, and turned their backs. They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. (2 C hr 29:6-7 RSV, italics added) The relationship between this unfaithfulness to and for­ saking of Yahweh and the cult is also seen in the program­ matic speech of Abijah in 2 Chronicles 13, which expresses Divine Retribution

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the Chronicler’s judgment upon the northern tribes. The statement that the north has forsaken Yahweh (2 C hr 13:11) is preceded by an account which specifically mentions the expulsion of the Aaronites and Levites from their offices by Jeroboam (v 9). O n the other hand, the south can affirm that it has not forsaken Yahweh, since the legitimate priesthood still serves there, together with the prescribed temple serv­ ices which include such minutiae as the daily offering of the shewbread and the lighting of the golden lampstands (2 C hr 13:9-12). Forms of the verb “to act unfaithfully” (the root m ‹l), are familiar from the priestly vocabulary of the Pentateuch and such works as Ezekiel. They occur some sixteen times in 2 Chronicles and appear even more general in the viewpoint expressed than does ‹āzab. This can be seen from the sum­ mary manner in which the root is used to describe the reigns of Ahaz (2 C hr 28:19, compare 29:6) and Manasseh (2 C hr 33:19), as well as Judah’s condition which ultimately led to the Exile (2 C hr 36:14, compare 1 C hr 5:25; 9:1). At times, however, this “unfaithfulness” has direct reference to one’s relationship to the temple (2 C hr 26:16, 18; 36:14). In sharp contrast, all five occurrences of the root m ‹l in Ezra and Nehemiah deal with the problem of foreign marriages, providing additional evidence that those books do not stem from the same author(s) as Chronicles.5 As might be expected in view of the details with which Chronicles has described the prosperity resulting from “seeking” Yahweh, the results of unfaithfulness to God are also presented in considerable variety and detail. Forsaking Yahweh results in war (2 C hr 16:9; 21:6), defeat (2 C hr 24:23-24; 25:17-24; 28:6, 19; 30:7), disease (2 C hr 16:12; 21:14, 18; 26:19), and conspiracy (2 C hr 24:25; 25:27). That the details themselves are rather insignificant for the Chron­ icler can be seen from the fact that he is quite commonly content to describe the results with the equally general 88

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phrase that “wrath” came, or did not come, upon the offend­ ing party (2 C hr 12:7, 12; 19:2; 32:26). To forsake Yahweh means simply to be cast off or forsaken by him, with all his blessings (1 C hr 28:9). W hile Yahweh is with those who seek him, he is not with those who are unfaithful to him (2 C hr 13:12). In only one case does it appear that Chronicles has failed to carry the dogma of retribution through to its complete and logical conclusion without mention of repentance (see pp. 100-04). King Jehoshaphat, for whom the Chronicler shows great sympathy, is rebuked by the seer Hanani for his alliance with Ahab of Israel. And it is reported that “wrath has gone out against you from Yahweh” as a result (2 C hr 19:2). However, this rebuke is immediately tempered with the note that “some good” was found in him, since he had destroyed the Asherahs from the land (v 3). In summary, then, we may conclude that the doctrine of retribution is by all accounts the principle governing the Chronicler’s presentation of the post-Solomonic kings. The great majority of the alterations, additions, and dele­ tions to the text of Kings made by Chronicles are easily explicable on the basis of this single teaching. In that light, it is surprising that for Chronicles retribution is not the final word. *

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Retribution in the New Testament is both affirmed and denied. O n the one hand the chief teaching of the Christian faith is that people are unable to merit God’s approval by their good deeds, and hence are justified only by God’s grace through faith in C hrist Jesus. Even faith, the apostle Paul affirms, is not to be considered a meritorious work, but is itself a gift of God (Eph 2:8). O n the other hand, the value and necessity of good works is repeatedly affirmed. God’s people are created for good works (Eph 2:10), and faith Divine Retribution

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always produces good works. In fact, “faith” which does not produce good works is really no faith at all (James 2:17). In that light, final judgment can be affirmed to be based upon works. Those who will inherit the kingdom are those who have fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, welcomed the stranger, clothed the naked, and visited the sick and imprisoned (Matt 25:34-36). Their faith has borne fruit, resulting in that loving obedience which is the mark of God’s people.

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7 THE PERFECT HEART

And the people rejoiced over their generous contributions, for it was with a perfect heart that they had made these generous contributions to Yahweh; David the king also rejoiced with great joy. (1 Chr 29:9) Studies of Chronicles are frequently less than sympa­ thetic, and are apt to point to the concern for temple and priesthood, and the emphasis upon required participation in temple worship in a quite rigid and colorless way. To do so, however, is to miss a vital part of the Chronicler’s em­ phasis: The people of God participate in these and other God-pleasing activities with wholehearted dedication, gen­ erosity, and joy, because their participation flows from hearts that are pure and undivided in loyalty to Yahweh. The result for Chronicles is a book permeated by unity, gratitude, enthusiasm, and exultation. This oneness of mind and intent is seen already in the concept of “all Israel.” It is important for the author that the people of God are one people, unified not only in their The Perfect Heart

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loyalty to Yahweh but in their activities undertaken in his name. But this unity of heart and mind is also an internal thing. Individual Israelites also are to be marked by attitudes and actions that flow from single, perfect, undivided hearts. This is first seen in the words with which the Chronicler has concluded his account of the troops who came to Hebron to make David king. They came to Hebron with a “perfect heart” (Heb. lēbā b šālēm) to make David king (1 Chr 12:39). All the rest of Israel, too, is of a single heart (Heb. lēb›ehad) to make David king. David exhorts Solomon to serve Yahweh with “a perfect heart and a willing spirit” (1 C hr 28:9) and includes a prayer that Solomon may keep God’s command­ ments with a whole heart (29:19), for Yahweh is the one who searches every heart and understands every thought (28:9). This linkage of heart and mind is also found in 2 Chroni­ cles 6:38,15:12, and 34:31, where the contexts are appropri­ ately repentance, seeking the Lord, and obeying his law. The perfect heart is in 2 Chronicles 19:9 identified with faithful­ ness, and that of course is the disposition which the Chroni­ cler is seeking to express. O ther expressions are also frequent. Israelites are to give generously from an upright and perfect heart (2 C hr 29:17). They are to return to Yahweh with all the heart (2 C hr 16:38), seek Yahweh with all the heart (22:9), and act with all the heart that they might prosper (31:21). It is striking that Chronicles does not state in so many words that either David or Solomon served God perfectly. This is, however, affirmed of the remainder of the kings with whom the Chronicler was particularly pleased—Asa (2 C hr 15:17 = 1 Kgs 15:14), Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 22:9), Hezekiah (2 C hr 31:21), and Josiah (2 C hr 34:31 = 2 Kgs 23:3). In the frequency of his usage of the phrase “with all the heart” the writer is probably once again dependent upon 92

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the format provided him by DH; however, with characteris­ tic style he has expanded and deepened that emphasis. Joy as an expression of a perfect heart The same is true concerning expressions of joy in Chroni­ cles. In 2 Kings 8:66 Solomon dedicates the temple with great joy and gladness of heart. Chronicles captures this attitude and repeats it on numerous appropriate occasions. For example, the feast following David’s acceptance as king in Hebron by all Israel is marked with such elaborate joy and feasting that some have seen in it a messianic, or even es­ chatological, element: All these, men of war, arrayed in battle order, came to Hebron with full intent to make David king over all Israel; likewise all the rest of Israel were of a single mind to make David king. And they were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their brethren had made preparation for them. And also their neighbors, from as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, came bringing food on asses and on camels and on mules and on oxen, abundant provisions of meal, cakes of figs, clusters of raisins, and wine and oil, oxen and sheep, for there was joy in Israel. (1 C hr 12:38-40, Heb. vv 39-41) This note of joy returns at appropriate points through­ out the books. The transfer of the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem is attended by great joy in Chronicles (1 C hr 15:25-28) as in DH (2 Sam 6:12-15), although the sacral nature of the festivity is more pronounced in Chronicles. The presence of the Levites with their musical instruments must have added substantially to the festivities in the w riter’s mind. The association of the Levites and singers The Perfect Heart

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with such joy will be marked again: 1 C hr 15:16, 2 C hr 23:18, and 29:30. This note of joyous eating and drinking is also found in David’s gathering of the assembly in 1 Chronicles 29:22, when the assembly “ate and drank before the Lord . . . with great gladness,” and at the dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles 7:10. In this last case the reference is taken from 1 Kings 8:66, although, as is often the case, Chronicles has added additional emphasis to his source by lengthening the duration of the feast: At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. O n the twenty-third day of the sev­ enth month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that Yahweh had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. (2 C hr 7:8-10) In the remainder of Chronicles, the covenant of Asa (2 C hr 15:15) and Joash’s reform (2 C hr 24:10) occasion this kind of joy. Above all, however, it is repeatedly mentioned in conjunction with Hezekiah’s Passover, when the celebration is again lengthened to fourteen days and we are reminded, “there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem” (2 C hr 30:26; cf. vv 21, 23). One of the stronger arguments for the unity of Chronicles and Ezra is surely the similarity in tone (and vocabulary) of this account with the story of the laying of the foundation of the temple (Ezra 3:13) and its dedication (Ezra 6:22), where the note of joy is prominent. 94

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A similar attitude expressed repeatedly in Chronicles is that of generosity. This attitude reaches its peak in 1 Chroni­ cles 29, which describes the contributions made by David and Israel’s leaders for the construction of the temple. Here alone the verb “to offer freely” occurs no less than six times (vv 5 ,6 ,9 ,1 4 ,1 7 [twice]): I know, my God, that you test the heart, and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you. (1 C hr 29:17) In this single passage, it might be noted, are combined the concepts of uprightness of heart, joy, and generosity. The note of generosity is found again characteristically in 2 Chronicles 31:5, associated with Hezekiah’s Passover, and in 35:8, with the Passover of Josiah. In these cases it is again apparent that Chronicles has been influenced by DH, from whom these themes and attitudes have been “borrowed.” In the case of generous offerings, the Chronicler is also dependent upon the tabernacle pericopes of Exodus 25-30 and 35-40. However, he has characteristi­ cally magnified both the number of occasions in which he has introduced the theme and the degree of the joy and generos­ ity. The result is a narrative in which the rather routine and prosaic is given warmth and color by people and events which reflect the writer’s perception of what life in God’s kingdom is to be like. Faithful to him with a perfect heart, their lives are marked by generosity and joy. The perfect heart in the N ew Testament Readers of the New Testament will feel a particularly close and common bond with such passages speaking of The Perfect Heart

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uprightness of heart, joy, and generosity. Jesus warns his followers that something more is required than the right­ eousness of the scribes and Pharisees, which is often por­ trayed as a righteousness in conformity with external requirements (Matt 5:20). Thus the commandment “you shall not kill” is violated not only by those who murder, but by those who are angry and hate (Matt 5:21-22), and the person who looks upon a woman lustfully commits adul­ tery (Matt 5:27-28). Works of piety are not performed to be seen by people, but are matters between God and his peo­ ple (Matt 6:1-8). It is the pure in heart who will see God (Matt 5:8). Examples could be multiplied. The New Testament is also a book of generosity and com­ passion. God, Paul affirms simply and directly, loves a cheer­ ful giver (2 Cor 9:7). It is the merciful who will receive mercy (Matt 5:7); he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully (2 Cor 9:6). God’s people will be enriched for great generos­ ity (2 Cor 9:11), and are given the promise that they will always have enough of everything for their own needs and for every good work as well (2 Cor 9:8). The message of joy in the Lord is still another theme which the New Testament carries forward. A few examples will suffice to point the interested reader in the proper direc­ tion. The angel of the Lord who appears to the shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus says: “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is bom this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10—11 RSV, emphasis added) Jesus’ parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin speak of the joy among the angels of heaven over a single sinner who repents (Luke 15:1-10). And the parable of the Prodi­ gal Son, which might better be named the parable of the 96

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Two Lost Sons, is surely meant to condemn those who find no joy in the repentance of a lost brother (Luke 15:11-32). Joy is listed second, preceded only by love, in Paul’s listing of those fruits of the Spirit which are to be reflected in the Christian’s life (Gal 5:22-23). O ne New Testament let­ ter, Philippians, is commonly called “the epistle of joy” be­ cause of that note which occurs so frequently there (cf. 1:4, 18-19; 2:2, 17-18, 29; 3:1; 4:1, 10, and especially 4:4-7, in which joy is the dominant Christian virtue stemming from God’s nearness): Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your re­ quests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:4-7)

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8 TH E MERCY OF GOD

Many of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified them­ selves, but ate the passover in violation of what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying: “May the Good Lord pardon every one who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of purity.” And Yah­ weh heard Hezekiah, and forgave the people. (2 Chr 30:18-20) The study of divine retribution points to a detailed correspondence between obedience and prosperity and between disobedience and punishment, a correspondence which out­ lines the justice of God in bold terms. It underscores in bold lines the preachment of the Law: “‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God am holy’” (Lev 19:2) and, “‘You shall have no other gods before me’” (Exod 20:3). And, such a study points to the God who will “by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the T h e M e rc y o f G od

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children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exod 34:7). But the Chronicler also knows of another side of God’s nature, prominent in what has almost become a creedal statement in the Old Testament: “Yahweh, Yahweh, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faith­ fulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiv­ ing iniquity and transgression and sin. . . . ” (Exod 34:6-7) It is this mercy and grace which is celebrated in the re­ sponse borrowed from the Psalms and incorporated in the text to be sung by the Levites: “O give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good; because his steadfast love (Heb. hesed) lasts for ever” (1 C hr 16:34). This same response is repeated by all Israel at the dedication of the temple in words found only in Chronicles (2 C hr 7:3). One finds God’s grace—pure, unmerited love of God— in places we seldom notice. Because of his love God chose Abraham to receive his promise (Gen 12:1-3). That same love led him to keep his promise to Abraham and to choose Israel as his people (Deut 7:7-8), to bring them into the promised land, and to make his promise of an everlasting kingship to David (1 Chr 17). The Chronicler also knows of a grace of God in the affairs of daily life which surpasses strict retribution and justice and is available through prayer and repentance. W hile the Chronicler’s language is frequently general and even vague here, instances such as that in 2 Chronicles 12:6-12 are clear in their intent. Israel has forsaken God, and has in turn been forsaken by him and given into the hand of Shishak of Egypt. But Chronicles adds: 100

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Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled them­ selves and said, “The Lord is righteous.” W hen Yahweh saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Yahweh came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themsieves; I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. Neverthe­ less they shall be servants to him, that they may know my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.” (2 C hr 12:6-8) After repeating a segment of Kings recounting Shishak’s pillaging of the temple (2 C hr 12:9-11 = 1 Kgs 14:26-28), Chronicles again adds: “W hen he [Rehoboam] humbled himself the wrath of Yahweh turned from him, so as not to make a complete destruction . . .” (2 C hr 12:12). The Chronicler cites examples of past repentance for the people’s guidance (2 C hr 15:4). Hezekiah’s letter assures even the rebellious north that the grace and mercy of God will not permit him to ignore those who turn to him: “O people of Israel, return to Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. . . . Do not now be stiff­ necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to Yahweh, and come to his sanctuary, which he has sanc­ tified for ever, and serve Yahweh your God. . . . For if you return to Yahweh, your brethren and your chil­ dren will find compassion with their captors, and re­ turn to this land. For Yahweh your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.” (2 C hr 30:6, 8-9 RSV) The Mercy of God

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Hezekiah also prays for the pardon of those who ate of his Passover without being able to observe the strict rules of cleanliness: “‘The good LORD pardon every one who sets his heart to seek God, Yahweh, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness’” (2 Chr 30:18-19 RSV). And we are told, “Yahweh heard Hezekiah, and healed the people” (v 20). Another verse from the account of Hezekiah exemplifies how significant the Chronicler’s perception of repentance and grace is for his understanding of Yahweh’s dealings with his people: In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death, and he prayed to Yahweh; and he an­ swered him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem. But Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabi­ tants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Yahweh did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.” (2 C hr 32:24-26 RSV, italics added) Josiah’s exemption from the punishment coming upon Judah is based upon a similar statement, in this case bor­ rowed from Kings (2 C hr 34:26-28=2 Kgs 22:18-22). Chronicles alone reports that the wicked King Manasseh was deported to Babylon (2 C hr 33:11). But the account continues: W hen he was in distress he entreated the favor of Yah­ weh his God and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him, and God received his entreaty and heard his supplication and brought him 102

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again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God. (2 Chr 33:12-13 RSV) It is probable, as mentioned earlier (p. 79), that the Chroni­ cler was struck by the utter inconsistency of Manasseh’s great wickedness and his unparalleled reign of fifty-five years. He concluded, on the basis of his understanding of God’s ways, that Manasseh must have repented to enjoy such a long reign. Finally, however, it was Israel’s refusal to repent that led to the Exile. Zedekiah would not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah (2 Chr 36:12), and the priests mocked and scoffed at the prophets until there was no “healing” or for­ giveness (vv 15-16). It would require another pure and un­ merited act of God’s love to stir up Cyrus to proclaim release to his people so that they might return and build him a house in Jerusalem (2 C hr 36:22-23). *

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W ithout minimizing the element of God’s justice, the New Testament is above all and from first to last a hymn of praise to the mercy of God and an exhortation to those who would follow him to exhibit that same kind of mercy. The vocabulary here is rich and varied: mercy, grace, love, kind­ ness, compassion, etc. But all point to a God who so loved the world as to give his Son for its salvation (John 3:16). The Song of Zechariah correctly summarizes the Old Tes­ tament promise as “the mercy promised to our fathers” (Luke 1:72 RSV, emphasis added), and the words from Isaiah chosen by Jesus for reading in the synagogue in Nazareth as he began his ministry are words which essentially outline a ministry of mercy (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus is the one who has come to call, not the righteous, but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). The self-righteous, The Mercy of God

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who think they are well and need no physician and despise others, reject the ministry of the one who receives sinners and even eats with them. The parable of the Good Samari­ tan is a parable about mercy. The Good Samaritan showed mercy, and Jesus’ hearers are commanded to go and do like­ wise (Luke 10:29-37). Those who place themselves under God’s mercy are those for whom the Messiah came—like the tax collector of another parable (Luke 18:9-14), the ten lepers (Luke 7:11-19), or the blind Bartimaeus, the recovery of whose sight serves as a symbolic opening to the Passion narrative (Mark 10:46-52).

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9 THE PROMISED REST

Then [David] called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build a house for Yahweh, the God of Israel. David said to Solomon, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God. But the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 'You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house for my name, because you have shed so much blood before me upon the earth. Behold, a son will be born to you; he will be a man of rest [Heb. m enûhâ]. I will give him rest [Heb. nûah hiphil] from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon [Heb. šelōmō], and I will give Israel peace [Heb. šālôm] and quietness [Heb. šeqet] in his days. He will build a house for my name, and he will be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever.'” (1 Chr 22:6-11) The theme of a divinely provided rest extends from the earliest to the latest writers of Holy Scripture. Not counting The Promised Rest

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the Sabbath rest of Genesis 2:1-3, which is of a different sort and belongs to the latest tradition of the Pentateuch—a tradition probably akin in both content and date to that of 2 Chronicles 36:21—the concept of rest is first introduced in association with the ark of the covenant in Numbers 10:33-36. Here we are told that the ark went before the company of Israel a three days’ journey to seek out a resting place for Israel. In the apparently ancient poem embedded in verses 35-36 Yahweh’s own movements are identified with those of the ark: W henever the ark set out, Moses said, “Arise, O Yahweh, and let thy enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.” And when it rested, he said, “Return, O Yahweh, to the ten thousand thou­ sands of Israel.” (Num 10:35-36 RSV) O f all of the theological motifs developed by the Chroni­ cler, perhaps none is pursued in so striking a manner as that of the concept of rest (verb nûah, noun m enûhâ). This con­ cept is of vital importance for understanding the relation­ ship of David and Solomon, and the relationship of them and the Davidic dynasty to the temple. It becomes at the same time a significant element within his theology of retri­ bution and, finally, is suggestive for the development of a later tradition developed by the New Testament writer of Hebrews. “Rest” in the Deuteronomistic History To appreciate the Chronicler’s use of the concept of rest it is necessary to review the same concept as it occurs in Deuteronomy and the DH. In Deuteronomy 12, the unifica­ tion of Israel’s worship at a single site was integrally bound up with the nation’s rest in the promised land: 106

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You shall not do according to all that we are doing here this day, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; for you have not as yet come to the rest [m enûhâ] and to the inheritance which Yahweh your God gives you. But when you go over the Jordan, and live in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your ene­ mies round about, so that you live in safety, then to the place where Yahweh your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, thither you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering that you present, and all your votive offerings which you vow to the Lord. (Deut 12:8-11 r s v ) The Priestly writer (P), too, senses a connection between God-given rest in the promised land and the erection of a single place of worship. After the story of Joshua’s conquest of the land is finished in Joshua 11:23 with the statement that “the land had rest from war,” the first event recorded by P after the apportioning of the land is the erection of the tent of meeting at Shiloh (Josh 18:1). The Deuteronomic writers, however, do not apply this principle consistendy. Joshua 21:43-45 includes the rest fol­ lowing the conquest of Palestine as indicative of the fulfill­ ment of all God’s promises to his people (cf. also Joshua 23:1). However, a similar idea occurs frequently describing the periodic and temporary periods of peace enjoyed by various of Israel’s judges (cf. Judg 3:30 and 5:31). Both the connection between “rest” and temple building and th e inconsistency in the use of the motif are seen in DH’s account of the dynastic oracle to David in 2 Samuel 7. The oracle begins with the words, “Now when the king dwelt in his house, and Yahweh had given him rest from all his enemies round about . . . ” (2 Sam 7:1-2). In the oracle The Promised Rest

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which follows, however, it is not David but one of his off­ spring who will build the temple (2 Sam 7:12-13).1In a later passage (which Chronicles omits in his telling of the story of the temple dedication), DH has Solomon write to King Huram of Tyre: “You know David my father, that he was not able to build a house for the name of Yahweh his God because of the warfare which surrounded him, until Yahweh subdued them beneath the soles of his feet. But now Yahweh my God has given me rest round about. There is no adversary nor evil occurrence. So behold I am planning to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, as Yahweh spoke to David my father, saying, ‘Your son, whom I will put in your place, upon your throne, will build the house for my name.’” (1 Kgs 5:3-5, Heb. 5:17-19) Here David’s failure to build the temple is seen as the natural result of the fact that he was regularly involved in wars, which prevented him from doing so. Thus it has fallen to Solomon to erect the temple. And his blessing pro­ nounced following the dedication of the temple makes clear once again the relationship between God’s promises, the conquest of the land, the erection of the temple, and rest: “Blessed be Yahweh who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised; not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he uttered by Moses his servant. Yahweh our God be with us, as he was with our fathers; may he not leave us or forsake us; that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.” (1 Kgs 8:56-58 r s v ) 108

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“Rest” in Chronicles The Chronicler, it should be admitted, has omitted both of these last two passages from his narrative. He has appar­ ently done this, however, not because he considered them unimportant, but for exactly the opposite reason! He has decided to use them as the theme for his entire account, and has thus chosen to omit them from the narrative by his account. In the case of David’s wars, mentioned by Kings as pre­ venting David from building the temple, Chronicles has heightened David’s involvement and made Yahweh’s rejec­ tion of him as temple builder explicit. David is a “warrior” (1 C hr 28:3), who has “shed much blood and . . . waged great wars” (1 C hr 22:8). Therefore Yahweh himself has ex­ plicitly forbidden him to build his temple, and given that task to his son Solomon the “man of peace”: The word of the Lord came to me [David] saying, “You have shed much blood and have waged great wars; you shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me upon the earth. Behold, a son shall be bom to you; he shall be a man of peace. I will give him peace from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon (šelōmô ), and I will give peace (šālōm ) and quiet (šeqet) to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my name.” (1 C hr 22:8-10 RSV) As evidence of the consistency with which the Chronicler has applied this concept, it should be noted that he has re­ moved both occurrences of forms of nûah, “rest,” from his account of the dynastic oracle to David in 2 Samuel 7 which he has otherwise largely repeated in 1 Chronicles 17. The opening verse is simply altered to read, “Now when David dwelt in his house, David said . . . ” (1 Chr 17:1; cf. 2 Sam The Promised Rest

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7:1). And the troublesome “I will/have given rest” of 2 Samuel 7:11 is simply altered to “I will subdue (Heb. root kn ‹) all your enemies” (1 C hr 17:10). Thus the writer has removed both the promise of and the reality of rest from the reign of David, since such rest is for him the prerequisite for the building of the temple. Solomon is the chosen temple builder, as is shown by the fact that he enjoyed a rest which his father David did not. Three further developments in the concept of rest need to be mentioned. First, with the temple completed and Israel at rest in its land, the temple itself becomes the resting place o f Yahweh. Then King David rose to his feet and said, “Hear me, my brethren and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Yahweh and for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building. (1 C hr 28:2 RSV, italics added) It is therefore fitting that, at the end of Solomon’s dedica­ tory prayer, the contents of 1 Kings 8:50b-51 are omitted in favor of a quotation from Psalms 132:8-9. The passage in Kings mentions God’s activity for Israel in the Exodus. “And now arise, O Yahweh God, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might. Let thy priests, O Yahweh God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in thy goodness. O Yahweh God, do not turn away the face of thy anointed one! Remember thy steadfast love for David thy servant.” (2 C hr 6:41-42 RSV) 110

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W ith the statements that “the glory of Yahweh filled the temple” (2 C hr 7:1) and “the glory of Yahweh filled Yahweh’s house” (2 C hr 7:2), Solomon’s prayer is certainly pic­ tured as answered. W ith Israel at rest in its land, and the temple erected, God himself takes up his rest among his people in his house. Secondly, other kings in particular favor with the Chroni­ cler are said to have enjoyed rest as a sign of the prosperity which marked their reigns. (See pp. 84-85.) This is true of Asa (2 C hr 14:5; 15), Jehoshaphat (2 C hr 20:30), and Hezekiah (2 C hr 32:22).* Any reference to rest is surpris­ ingly absent from the account of Josiah’s reign, where the signs of prosperity are restricted to religious reforms. Finally, attention might be directed to the New Testa­ ment, which continues the concept of a divinely granted rest. Jesus, for example, invited those who heard him to come to him and experience the rest which he offered: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt 11:28-30 RSV) Here the rest offered by Jesus to those accepting him is paralleled with the easy yoke and the light burden, and would stand in contrast to the heavy burdens associated with the legalism of the Pharisees. The book of Hebrews resumes the concept of a divinely provided rest in a promised land, and raises it to a higher key. Moses and many of those who left Egypt with him were unable to enter the promised land because of their unbelief, * 2 C hronicles 32:22 reads w ayyānah, in th e H ebrew , as suggested by th e S eptuagint and V ulgate, instead o f wayenahâlēm.

The Promised Rest

111

the Hebrews writer argues (Heb 3:11-18). That means that the promise still remains, since God can surely not be un­ faithful: “So then, there remains a sabbath rest for the peo­ ple of God” (Heb 4:9). To a people facing religious assimilation, as were perhaps the Israelites of the Chronicler’s day—to a people facing religious persecution, as were perhaps those to whom He­ brews was written—to all people in all ages—the message remains the same. “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest” . . . (Heb 4:11). The God of the fathers still speaks to his people through his Word, and that Word of God is still “living and active” (Heb 4:12). Those who hear must not refuse to hearken to his voice, but must “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” and thus enter into the heavenly rest (Heb 10:19, 22). The great crowd of witnesses throughout the ages encourages us as we seek to overcome the trials that are before us (Heb 12:1). Summary The themes we have met in the books of Chronicles are generally not unique to it. Topics such as the kingdom of God, Israel, the temple, the W ord of God, and divine retri­ bution are at the very center of the O ld Testament revela­ tion. Nevertheless, standing firmly in the line of O ld Testament tradition, the Chronicler emphasizes some items and minimizes others as he thinks best to bring the W ord of God to bear upon the particular circumstances of his day. Since the Chronicler judged the temple to be of central importance for his day, he has stressed the importance of Solomon, who built the temple. Doubtless to protect the reputation of Solomon the temple builder, he removed all signs of misconduct from the reign of that king. It was not 112

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Solomon the temple builder who was responsible for the division of the kingdom, but others who followed after him. Though the temple may be a significant symbol for the writer, it must be said that it is also much more than that. The temple is the place where one normally draws closest to God. It is the place where God’s praises are chanted, where sacrifices are offered to his name, where priests and Levites lead the people in offering the devotion and praise that spring from a pure and thankful heart. It is difficult even today to find fault with such a perception. M odem readers are apt to be disturbed by Chronicles’ presentation of the dogma of retribution, which seems so rigid and contrary to human experience. This is a subject, it should be noted, which was troublesome already in O ld Testament books, such as Ezekiel and Job, where it was generally found wanting. But to the Chronicler’s credit it ought to be noted that concepts such as mercy and repen­ tance, which, strictly speaking, have no place in a rigid understanding of retribution, are all-important parts of his theology. It is still difficult for us to rise to that level of understanding. In other areas too, Chronicles shows itself to possess a positive and sensitive understanding of the ways of God and people. Contrary no doubt to the popular feelings of his day, he continued to view inhabitants of the land previ­ ously occupied by the northern tribes as brothers, and fought energetically to see that others did so also. U lti­ mately he viewed faith in Yahweh, which admittedly ex­ pressed itself in support of and worship at the Jerusalem temple, as the only thing that mattered in one’s relationship to God. He knew that faithfulness, mercy, purity of heart, unaffected joy, and cheerful generosity were marks of those who possessed that faith. The Promised Rest

113

To that end he set himself about the task of considering the Word of God which he had received, and applying it to himself and the people of his day. We may not know exactly how that word was received in his or other days. But to this day those who apply themselves sympathetically to his mes­ sage and his methods still have God’s promise spoken through a better-known and perhaps more conventional prophet, that his word will not return void, but will accom­ plish that for which it was purposed.

114

1, 2 CH RO N ICLES

NOTES

Introduction 1.See R. Braun, 1 Chronicles, Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 14 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1986), xxviii-xxix, for a summary of posi­ tions held. Chapter 2 The Temple 1. While debate concerning the variant readings in this most important chapter has been profuse, it appears that the differences are insignificant. Cf. WBC 14,195-200. While less polemically so, it was clear already in the mind of DH also that it was actually Solomon who built the temple. 2. See R. Braun, “Solomon, the Chosen Temple Builder: The Significance of 1 Chronicles 22, 28, and 29 for the Theology of Chronicles,” Journal of Biblical Literature 95 (1976):581— 90, for a detailed exposition of these points. 3. R. B. Dillard, 2 Chronicles, WBC 15 (Waco, Tex.: Word, 1987), 4-5, has demonstrated that Chronicles* figure of Huram is modeled upon the craftsman of the tabernacle in Exodus 31 and 35, Oholiab. 4. On seeking Yahweh, see p. 81; on repentance in Chronicles, p. 100. Notes

115

Chapter 3 The Kingdom of God 1. J. Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel (New York: Meridian Books, 1957), 182. 2. G. von Rad, Das Geschichtsbild des chronistischen Werkes (Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1930). 3. In such close proximity it is possible that the reference to Hezekiah’s action in stationing the Levites in the temple with certain instruments “according to the commandment of David and of Gad the king’s seer and of Nathan the prophet” (2 Chr 29:25) may refer as much to the musical instruments involved as to the installation of the Levites, although it is impossible to be certain. 4. See R. Braun, “Solomonic Apologetic,”Journal of Biblical Literature 92 (1973):503-16, especially p. 512. In the original account of Kings, Jeroboam first returned to Israel in 1 Kings 12:20. Note the present unevenness between 1 Kings 12:2-3a and verse 20. Chapter 4 The People of God: All Israel 1. See R. Braun, “The Significance of 1 Chronicles 22, 28, and 29 for the Structure and Theology of the Work of the Chronicler” (Diss. Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, 1971), 190, for the justifica­ tion of this translation. 2. W. Rudolph, Chronikbücher, Handbuch zum Alten Testa­ ment (Tübingen: Mohr, 1965), xxi, 291. 3. See R. J. Coggins, Samaritans and Jews: The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered (Atlanta: John Knox, 1975), and the many references there. 4. See R. Braun, “A Reconsideration of the Chronicler’s Atti­ tude Toward the North,” Journal of Biblical Literature 96 (1977): 59-62. The apostle Paul pursues the nature of the true Israel further in Romans 9-11, modeled upon the premise that “all Israel will be saved.” Chapter 6 Divine Retribution 1. Cf. Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 17:3; Hezekiah, 2 Chronicles 29:3, 32:4; Josiah, 2 Chronicles 34:3; and contrast 2 Kings 22:3. 2. Cf. R. Braun, “2 Chronicles,” Harper's Bible Commentary, ed. J. L. Mayes (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988), especially pp. 363-71. 116

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3. Concerning Hezekiah’s reign, see H. G. M. Williamson, Israel in the Books of Chronicles (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 119-31; R. B. Dillard, 2 Chronicles, WBC 15:226-61. 4. On this literary form see R. Braun, 1 Chronicles, WBC 14:221-25. 5. See R. Braun, “Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah: Theology and Literary History,” Supplement to Vetus Testamentum 30 (1979): 52-64, for additional evidence. Chapter 9 The Promised Rest 1. It is probably the writer’s inconsistency in the use of the concept of rest that has resulted in divergent translations of the perfect verb forms with prefixed waw (“and”) in verses 9b-11 as either past or future, including the "I will give/have given you rest” in verse 11. For discussion, see 1 Chronicles, WBC 14:198-99.

Notes

117

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ackroyd, P. I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. Torch Bible Commentary. London: SCM Press, 1973. Braun, R. L. 1 Chronicles. Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 14. Waco, Tex.: Word, 1986. _____ “A Reconsideration of the Chronicler’s Attitude Toward the North,” Journal of Biblical Literature 96 (1977): 59-62. _____ “Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah: Theology and Literary History,” Supplement to Vetus Testamentum 30 (1979): 52-64. ______“1 Chronicles,” “2 Chronicles,” Harper’s Bible Commen­ tary, James Mayes, ed. San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988, 342-71. ______“Solomonic Apologetic in Chronicles.” Journal of Biblical Literature 92 (1973): 503-16. ______“Solomon, the Chosen Temple Builder: The Significance of 1 Chronciles 22,28, and 29 for the Theology of Chronicles,” Journal of Biblical Literature 95 (1976): 581-90. Coggins, R. J. The First and Second Books of Chronicles. Cambridge Bible Commentary on the New English Bible. Cambridge: Cam­ bridge University Press, 1976. ______The Origins of Samaritanism Reconsidered. Atlanta: John Knox, 1975. Bibliography

119

Cross, F. M. “A Reconstruction of the Judean Restoration,” Jour­ nal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975): 4-18. Dillard, R. B. 2 Chronicles. Word Biblical Commentary, vol. 15. Waco, Tex.: Word, 1987. Japhet, S. "The Supposed Common Authorship of Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah Investigated Anew,” Vetus Testamentum 18 (1968): 330-71. Lemke, W. E. "The Synoptic Problem in the Chronicler’s His­ tory,” Harvard Theological Review 58 (1965): 349-63. McKenzie, S. L. The Chronicler's Use of the Deuteronomic History. Harvard Semitic Monographs 33. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1984. Myers, J. M. 1 Chronicles. Anchor Bible, vol. 12. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965. ______2 Chronicles. Anchor Bible, vol. 13. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1965. Newsome, J. D. "Toward a New Understanding of the Chronicler and His Purposes,” Journal of Biblical Literature 94 (1975): 201-17. Petersen, D. L. Late Israelite Prophecy. Studies in Deutero-Prophetic Literature and in Chronicles. SBL Monograph Series 23. Mis­ soula: Scholars Press, 1977. Throntveit, M. A. When Kings Speak. Royal Speech and Royal Prayer in Chronicles. SBL Dissertation Series 93. Atlanta: Schol­ ars Press, 1987. Welch, A. C. The Work of the Chronicler. London: Oxford Univer­ sity Press, 1939. Williamson, H. G. M. 1 and 2 Chronicles. New Century Bible Commentary. London: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott, 1982. ______Israel in the Books of Chronicles. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977. ______"The Accession of Solomon in the Books of Chronicles.” Vetus Testamentum 26 (1976): 351-61.

120

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INDEX OF SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

28:29 31:7-8

OLD TESTAMENT

Genesis 2 .1-3 12:1-3 12.1-4 35.10

106 100 2 2

Joshua

11.23 18.1 21:43-45 23:1

10 10 10 83 107 107 107 107

Judges 3:30 5:31 6:34 11.29 18:5

107 107 64 64 83

1

1-24 15-6 1:8

Exodus 20:3 25-30 34.6-7 35-40

99 95 100 95

Leviticus 19.2

99

Numbers 10.11 10.33-36

27 106

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 12 12:1-14 12:8-11 17.16-17 26:1-14 27 28

100 106 6 107 36 6 84 84

I n d e x o f S c r i p tu r e s

83 10

1 Samuel 16 16:2-8 16:12 16:13 18:12-16 18:28-29 20:15 22 14 23:17

27 28 28 28,64 28 28 28 28 28

24.6 24.17 24:20 25.28 26.25 28 17 30:6 2 Samuel 1-4 1 .16 1.17-27 3:1 3.9-10 3:18 3:36 5 5:1 5.3 5:3-5 5:6 5:10 6 6:1-2 6:1-11 6 .12-15 7 7-11:1 7:1

28 28 28 28 28 28 48 48 28 32 28 28 28 28 7 48 62 29 48 28 29 48 49 93 8, 28-29,31, 107,109 49 109 121

71-2 73 79-11 7 12-13 8 88 9-1 Kgs 2 10 12 12 1 12 10-11 12 24 12.26 12.30-31 21 21:18-22 23.1-2 24 24 11 2424

107 28,62 117n 37, 108 8 8 34 8 8 29 29 34 49 49 8 49 32 8, 24,49 62 9

1 Kings 1 1-11 18 3-4 3.1-4 33 34 3 12-13 3 14 3 16-4.34 5 3-5 5 3-6 5.4 6-7 6-8 7:13-14 8:1-3 8:12-13 8:12-53 8.22-53 8:27 8.50-51 8 54-61 8 56 8 56-58 8 65 8 66 9.2-9

30 27 35 38 39 30 11 85 30 12 34, 108 39 36 13 6, 38 12,39 50 19 6 13 19 110 6 35 108 50 13,41,94 13

122

94 99 9:10-28 10 10:22 10.23 1023-29 10:26-29 11 11 1-13 11:4 11.6 119 11:11-13 1127 1131-39 11:33 11.34-35 1138 1141-43 12.1 12:2-3a 12:15 12:17 12:19 12 20 12:24 14:25 14:26-28 15:5 15:14 15.16 15.23 22 22.12 22.15

30 87 13 35 85 86 36 12 35,40 76 30 30 36 36 36 36 30, 36 25 26, 30 36 50 116n 42 50 42 116n 36 70 101 30 71-73,92 72 72, 74 17,43 83 83

2 Kings 8:66 12.7-8 12:12 14:3 14:21-22 15:1-7 16 162 16.7a 18:3 18:4 20.1

93 78 78 30 74 74 75 30 75 30,76 52 78

21 22:2 22:3 22 3-6 22.4 22:13 22 14 22.18-22 23:3 23 13-14 23:15-20 23.29 24:13 25 13-17 25:27-29 1 Chronicles 1-9 1.1-4 1.5-16 1.28 1:34 1:34-54 2-8 5.25 6.1-81 9:1 9:10-34 10-12 10-21 10:6 10:13 10:13-14 11-29 11:1 11:3 11.4-9 11:10 11:10-12:37 12.18 12:24-37 12:38-39 12 38-40 12.39 13:1-4 13:1-14 13 5-7 13-16 13-17 14.1

79 30, 76 116n 86 53 53 63 102 92 36 53 79 6 6 43 18 2 2 2 2 2 2 88 18 88 18 6-7,47 7 48 62 25,81 6 48 62 30 62 7 64 48 44,48 7, 93 92 49 7 49 30 48 72

1, 2 C H R O N IC L E S

14:1-16 14:6-7 14:17 15 15.2 15:3 15:4-24 15 7 15 14-15 15:16 15:17 15.18 15:21 15:24 15:25-28 15:28 16 16:1-4 16:4 16-4-6 16:14 16:34 16:39-40 16:39-42 16:41 17 17 17-21 17:1 17:3 17:4 17:10 17:11 17:17 18-20 18:1-20:8 21 21:9 21:25 21:26b 21:26 21:28-22:1 22 22-26 22-28 22:1-5 22:6-11 22-7 22:8

8 72 8, 86 18 7 49 8 72 7 94 18 18 18 18 93 49 50 8 33 8 61 100 50 8 18 8 31,100,109 49 109 62 31 110 37 85 8 86 8,31 62 9 9 13 9 10-11,27,31, 37,41, 49 64 9 11 105 10 8,62,109

I n d e x o f S c r i p tu r e s

22 8-10 22.9 22.9-10 22:11 22:12 22.13 22:14-16 22:17 23-27 23 23:1-6 23.25 24 25 25:1-4 26 27 28-29 28:1 28:2 28:3 28:4 28:6 28:6-7 28:8 28:9 28:10 28:11-18 28:19 28:21 29 29:1-9 29.5 29:6 29:6-10 299 29:10 29:10-13 29.10-19 29.14 29:17 29.18 29:19 29:20 29:20-25 29:21 29:22 29:22-25 29.23

109 84 10,37 10,83,84 61 83 11 49 6 , 18 10 65 19 10 10 64 10 10 10-11,27,31, 41,49 11,49 3,19,110 10,62,109 3 11,38,62 10 49 70,81,89,92 10-11 11 11,65 49 95 11 95 3,49,95 11 91,95 3 2 11 95 95 1 92 49 11 49, 53 94 38 3,49,83

29-24 36:21 2 Chronicles 1-9 1:1 1:1-6 1.2-3 1:7-13 1:12-13 1:14-17 2 2-8 2:1 2:1-15 2:2-9 2:3-6 2:4 2:6 2:16 3-5 3:1 5:1 5:3-5 5:4 5:5 5:11-13 6:1-2 6:4 6:12-40 6:18 6:38 6:41 6:41-42 7:1 7:2 7:3 7:6 7:8 7:8-10 7:9 7:10 7:11 7:11-22 7:12 7:12-15 7.12-18 7:16 7:17 7:22

49 106 49 84-85 8, 39 50 65 85 12 39 38,40 5, 39 12 12 5 19 19 38 13 31,40 8,40 50 18 8 13,18 19 3 13 19 92 19 33,110 13, 111 111 100 13, 32 50 94 13 41,94 3,83 13 19 13 65 3 33 87 123

8 2-6 8 12-15 8 12-16 8 14 8 16 8 29 91-31 9 23 10-36 101 1 0 15 1 0 17 10:19 10 22 11.1-3 11.4-9 115-12 11 13-15 11 16 11 17 11 18-21 1122-23 12 1 12 2 12:5 12 6-7 12:6-8 12:6-12 12 7 12:9-11 12 12 12 14 13 13 3 13 4 13 5 13:8 13 9 13 9-11 13 9-12 13 10-11 13 10-12 13 11 13 12 13 13-20 13 15 13.18 13-19 13 19-22 13.21

124

86 14 40, 65 18, 32-33 14,40 18 14 86 6,51 50 42 50 42 85 7 7 71,86 14 14,51 34,41, 71, 85 71 71 61, 70, 87 70 63, 70,87 65 101 100 63,89 101 71, 89, 101 81 14, 42, 87 86 25, 50 3, 33,44, 50, 54 25, 42, 54 42, 88 15 88 42 20 88 42, 83-84,89 86 50 43, 50, 54, 71, 82 51 71 85

141-2 14.3 14 4 14 5 14 6 14 6-7 14 7 14.8 14 10 14 12-15 1 4 15 14 5-7 15 15.1-7 15.2 15 2-7 15 4 15.8 15 8-9 15 8-15 15 8-18 15:9 15.11 15:12 15.12-13 15 13 15 15 15.17 16 7 16 7-8 16.7-9 16.9 16.10 16 12 16 38 17:1 17.2 173 17:3-19 174 17:5 179 17 10 17 11 1 7 12 18 1 9 1-3 19.2 19.3 19 6

85 72, 81 50 111 83, 86 72 50,70 86 82 86 111 85 52 63,64 50, 70 72 3, 101 51-52, 72, 86 50 15 73 52, 73, 84 52 81,92 82 3,52, 73 73, 94 73, 92 70, 82 82 63 88 74 74, 88 92 85 51 82, 84, 116n 86 82 85 61-62 86 85-86 86 63 63 89 89 84

19 8 19 9 20 1-30 20 3-4 20 5 20.6-12 20 14-17 20 15-17 2 0 17 20 20 20 29 20.30 20.34 20.37 216 21:10 21.12 21 14 21.18 22 1 22 8 22.9 22:11-12 23 23 1-21 23 18 23:18-21 24.4 244-14 245-6 249 24.10 24.18 24:20 24.20-22 24 23-24 24:24 24 25 25 4 25.7-9 25.11-13 25.15 25 15-16 25 17-24 25 20 25:24 25 27 26 5 26.6-8 26:6-15

61 92 86 82 64 15 64 15 84 82-83 86 85, 111 63 63, 82 88 87 63 88 88 12 31 92 15 18 15 32,61, 94 62 86 16 50 62 94 3, 16, 87 83 64 16, 88 3 88 61 63 86 82 63 88 82 16 88 83 86 75

ly 2 C H R O N IC L E S

26:7 26 8 2611-15 2615 26:16 2616-20 26.18 26 19 26 22 27 3 27 6 28.1 28:5-6 28 5-7 28.6 28.8-15 28 9 28:10-11 28:14 28.16-18 28.19 28:23-24 28 24-25 28.25 29 29-32 29.2 29.3 29:5-9 29 6 29.6-7 29 10-36 2917 29 20-42 29 23-25 29 24 29 25 29 25-30 29.26-27 29 30 29-31 29:34 29 35 29 35-36 30 1-31 1 30 5 30 6 30:6-7 30.6-9 30.7

86 85, 86 86 85 88 16, 75 88 88 63 86 85 33 75 54 3, 87-88 63, 75 3, 54 55 55 75 75,88 75 16, 76 3 7 16,43, 76 33 76, 86, 116n 77 88 87 77 92 16 7 53 116n 32, 65 32 32, 64, 94 18 19 43 16 55 50, 52 101 21 55 88

I n d e x o f S c r i p tu r e s

30:8 30:8-9 30.9 30:11 30:13-27 30:16 30:18 30:18-19 30:18-20 30:18-25 30:19 30:20 30:21 30:23 30:25 30:26 31:1 31:1-21 31:2-19 31:5 31:11-19 31:20-21 31:21 32:1a 32:4 32:7-8 32.8 32:20 32:22 32:22-23 32:23 32:24 32:24-26 32:24-36 32:25-26 32:26 32:27 32.27-30 32:28-30 32:30 32:32 33:1-5 33:11 33:12-13 33.12-14 33:15-16 33:17 33:19 33:22 33:23

16,20,43,56 101 56 16,52,55 17 61 56 102 99 77 81 56,65,102 56,94 56,94 56 57, 77, 94 47,50,53, 77 17 77 95 18 77 83, 92 78 116n 78 84,86 63 85-86,111 78 86 65 102 69 79 89 85 79 86 83 63 17 79,102 79,103 65 17 86 79,88 79 79

34:2 34:3 34:6 348-15 34:9 34:14 34:14-18 34:21 34:22 34:26-28 34:31 35:1-6 35:1-19 35:3 35:3-4 35:4 35:8 35:15 35.17 35:17-18 35:18 35:21 35:21-23 35:23 35:25 36:5 36:7 36:9 36:12 36:13 36:14 36:15 36:15-16 36:18-19 36:19 36:21 36:21-22 36:22-23 36.23 15:2

33 116n 43, 53 86 50,53 62 17 53 63 102 92 65 17 18 33, 42 32,43 95 32,64 52 50 43, 52 84 80 3 63 80 17 80 63,80,103 80 80,88 3 61, 65, 81 17 20 81 65 20,43,103 18 84

Ezra 3:13 5:2 6:15-22 6:22

94 44 20 94

Psalms 2:7 8:4

58 44 125

1 3 2 :8 -9

1 9 ,3 3 ,1 1 0

1 0 :4 5 1 0 :4 6 - 5 2 1 0 :4 7

I s a ia h

58 104 4

7 :9

82

4 2 :1 -9

58

5 2 :1 3 -5 3 :1 2

58

1 :7 2

6 1 :1 - 2

45

2 :1 0 -1 1

96

6 1 :1 -4

58

2 :4 2

21

E z e k ie l 3 4 :2

44

3 5 :2

44

3 6 :1

44

7 :1 3

H o sea 1 1 :1

57

3 :2 3 -3 8

2 103

4 :2 1

M a tth e w 1:1

4

1 :1 -1 7

2

45

4 :4 3

45

5 :3 2

103

7 :1 1 -1 9

104

1 0 :2 9 -3 7

55 104 96

1 5 :1 1 - 3 2

97

1 7 :2 0 - 2 1

45

1 8 :9 -1 4

104 45

2 3 :3

4

2 3 :3 4

4

Jo h n

58

1 :1 -3

45

1 :1 4

4 :1 - 1 1

58

1 :1 6 -1 8

67

4 :1 7

45

2 :1 9

22

5 :7 -8

96

2 :2 1

22

5 :2 0

96

3 :1 6

103

5 :2 1 -2 2

96

4 :2 1

22

5 :2 7 - 2 8

96

4 :2 3 -2 4

22

6 :1 -8

96

1 0 :3 0

1 1 :2 8 -3 0

111 64

2 5 :3 4 -3 6

90

9 -1 0

59

1 8 :3 3 -3 7

2 C o rin th ia n s 9 : 6 - 8 , 11

96

G a la tia n s 2

59

5 :2 2 - 2 3

97

E p h e sia n s 2 :8 , 1 0

89

P h ilip p ia n s 1 :4

97

1 :1 8 - 1 9

97

2 :2

97

2 :1 7 -1 8

97

2 :2 9

97

3 :1

97

4 :1

97

4 :4 -7

97

4 :1 0

97

H e b re w s

2 :1 5 3 :2

2 3 :3 5

4 59

58

1 5 :1 - 1 0

1 9 :1 1

N E W T E S T A M E N 5T

103

4 :1 8 -1 9

10 44

1 :3 -4 4 :1 6

Luke

9 :3 0 D a n ie l

R om ans

66 2 3 ,6 7

1 :1 - 2

4 ,6 6

3 :1 1 - 1 8

112

4 :9 ,1 1 -1 2

112

5 :1 7 - 1 9

108

1 0 :1 9 ,2 2

112

1 2 :1

112

1 3 :2 3

85

1 4 :4 -6

85

4 44

Jam es 90

2 :1 7 A c ts 1 :3

45

1 :6

45

1 1 :1 5

45

58

1 :1 5 - 2 6

58

1 9 :6

45

1 :1 3

58

7

1 :1 4 -1 5

45

15

M a rk 1:1 1

1 2 6

4 59

R e v e la tio n

2 1 :2 2 -2 3

22

2 2 :1 8

67

1,

2

C H R O N IC L E S

WORD BIBLICAL THEMES Psalms LESLIE C. ALLEN

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC

ZONDERVAN ACADEMIC Psalms Copyright © 1987 by Word, Incorporated Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546 ISBN 978-0-310-11570-0 (softcover) Library of Congress Cataloging-­in-­Publication Data Allen, Leslie C. The Psalms: Leslie C. Allen. p.  cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-849-93082-9 1. Bible. O.T. Psalms—­Criticism, interpretations, etc. I. Title. II. Series. BS1430.2.A335 1987 223’.20687-884 Biblical quotations have usually been taken from the translation in the volumes of the Word Biblical Commentary, Psalms 1-50, and 101-150, copyright © 1893by Word, Incorporated; used by permission. Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible. Copyright © 1952 [2nd edition 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Any internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—­electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—­except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 /LSC/ 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Joy

CONTENTS

Foreword 1. Introduction Compilation Types o f psalms 2. Function Temple settings Wisdom settings The changing scenes o f life 3. Praise A n editorial concern The praise o f thanksgiving Praise in the lament Praise in the hymn 4. Faith Faith in disorientation Faith in orientation Faith in reorientation

7

9 11 12 17 25 26 31 33 43 44 48 52 56 59 59 67 71 Contents

5. Blessing Blessing in creation Blessing in worship Blessing in everyday life 6. Salvation Salvation as existential reality Salvation and covenant Salvation as a theological heritage 7. Hope Grounds for hope Existential hope Eschatological hope 8. Scripture The authority o f the Psalms David as exemplar The Psalms in the New Testament Notes Bibliography Index of Psalms Cited

PSALM S

75 75 80 83 87 88 90 97 101 101 106 111 117 118 122 126 131 133 135

8

FOREWORD

Everyone has favorite Psalms. Yet the book o f Psalms is still a closed treasure to most o f us. So many o f them do not obviously speak to us in our deepest need. This is a book that can help to open that treasure and make it possible for the reader to claim many more o f them as personally relevant It explains in language all can under­ stand the way the Psalms have been collected and arranged and leads the reader through the different kinds o f psalms before showing how they were used in different settings. These hymns and poems have proved to be remarkably adaptable to changing forms o f worship through the cen­ turies, yet, in all these changing forms, the Psalms keep the worshipers’ attention focused on basic themes o f G od’s goodness. These consist in emphasis on God’s blessing and on his salvation. The Psalms then lead the worshiper to cultivate responses in praise, faith, and hope. Like the teacher described in Matthew, who “brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old,” Leslie Allen here provides for the reader a spiritual feast, the fruits o f his study o f Psalms in their original tongue. The reader who wishes to 9

Foreword

go more deeply into the foundations o f what is written here will want to see the volume on Psalms 101-150 (No. 21) by Leslie Allen in the Word Biblical Commentary. Dr. Allen’s insightful book recognizes that the Psalms speak to each o f us differendy. Each reader comes to this book from a different perspective, yet the Psalms have prayers and songs for each o f us. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Louisville, Kentucky

PSALM S

John D. W. Watts O ld Testament Editor Word Biblical Commentary

10

1

INTRODUCTION

O f all the O ld Testament books Psalms has a special place in the hearts o f Christians. Such is its popularity that it is easy to purchase a copy o f the combined New Testament and Psalms. Every believer has a list o f favorite psalms, while probably paying little attention to the rest Little oases o f familiarity punctuate a desert o f unfamiliarity. The very for mat o f the Psalter lends encouragement to this tendency. The individual psalms do not function as chapters in a book. Their consecutive numbering carries no warranty o f consec­ utive content Many o f the psalms have their own titles, which increases a sense o f beginning afresh with each new number. A s a result readers feel little inducement to get inside the world o f the Psalms. People commonly attach a label to the Psalter, calling it “the bymnbook o f the Second Temple.” This has some claim to truth, but on reflection it serves to accentuate the formlessness o f the collection. Hymnbooks, as we know them, are arranged thematically according to particular doc­ trines and to periods in the church calendar. In no way do 11

Introduction

the psalms follow such an orderly pattern! A rare exception is the run of psalms celebrating God’s kingship, Pss 96-99. Even here it is noticeable that the affiliated Ps 93 is separate from its fellows. Are there any unifying principles behind the overall col­ lection? Indeed there do appear to be, but it is good to appreciate its relatively random nature. There is a danger in trying to systematize the Psalms, the danger o f wanting to find links that were never really there. The appearance of randomness is a witness to the gradual accumulative nature o f this book. Here are centuries o f devotion crammed into one book. In this respect the Psalter is a microcosm o f the Bible as a whole. It is a rich heritage to which many genera­ tions have contributed through all the changing scenes o f human history, and so generation after generation can take it to their hearts, feeling kinship with its pages. Nowhere is the scriptural interweaving o f divinity and humanity more evi­ dent than here. Before we can tackle the themes o f the Psalms, there is a certain amount o f background information for the reader to grasp. We need to find our way into and around the Psalter, so that we evaluate its contents aright. Com pilation There is more than* one way o f analyzing the Psalms. Perhaps the best approach to begin with is to look at the end o f the process which resulted in the canonical collection, and to discern the final editorial shape that has been im­ posed upon it 1. The five “books.” There is a consciousness that the hun­ dred and fifty psalms comprise an anthology, a literary whole. Evidence o f this consciousness lies in the fact that the overall collection has been divided into five sections or “books.” The rabbis saw a parallel here with the Pentateuch, PSALM S

12

the five books o f Moses, as if the Psalter was planned as a counterpart, the five books o f David. It is a plausible sugges­ tion, but scholarly attempts to verify it, for instance by envis­ aging lectionary parallels between pentateuchal passages and the Psalms, have not won general acceptance. Each o f the “books” has been given its own conclusion in the form o f a doxology. Book One consists o f Pss 1-41 and ends with Ps 41:13: Blessed be the Lord the G od o f Israel from everlasting and to everlasting! Amen and Amen. Books Two, Three, and Four end similarly, at 72:18, 19; 89:52 and 106:48, thus marking their dimensions as Pss 4272, 73-89, and 90-106. Ps 106:48 shows that “Amen (and Amen)” was modeled on a congregational response to a call o f praise, in affirmation and involvement: Blessed be Israel’s G od Yahweh from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say “Amen.” These doxologies did not originally belong to the individual psalms among which they are numbered, but are related to the preceding section o f psalms as a literary finale, an ova­ tion in God’s honor. Book Five, Pss 107-150, does not have a doxology o f the same type. It is generally thought that its last psalm, Ps 150, has the function o f a doxology for both Book Five and the whole Psalter. In this series o f asides which punctuate the collection we hear literary tributes o f praise, in reaction to the portrayal of G od given within each of its sections. 2. The individual collections. This scheme of books and doxologies is a final arrangement superimposed upon a large 13

Introduction

amount o f earlier editorial work. The Psalter has grown by the accumulation o f separate collections. It is like a well loved bymnbook which over the years has gone through a number o f editions, gradually enlarging its scope. The primary collections which were utilized to build up the book o f Psalms as we know it may be detected from the headings to individual psalms. Two collections represent the repertoire o f Levitical choirs in the temple. Pss 42-49, 84, 85, and 8 7 ,8 8 name “the sons o f Korah” in their headings, while Pss 50,73-83 are ascribed to “Asaph.” Another group o f psalms mentions not their singers but apparently the scene in which they functioned: the “Songs o f Ascents,” Pss 120-134. These were probably processional songs, sung as choirs and congregation “went up” through Jerusalem to the temple in sacred procession at festival time. Here then is evidence o f a system o f worship in which these psalms once played a role. They were meant to be sung and heard within a worshiping community whose hearts were in tune with the words o f faith and praise. Another collection may be detected from the content o f its psalms. In certain psalms the content highlights the person o f the Davidic king. Now scattered throughout the Psalter, originally they were probably a single collection. These royal psalms include Pss 2 ,4 5 ,1 0 1 ,1 1 0 , and 132. The society in which these psalms were first used did not have a constitu­ tion that demarcated religion from politics. It idealized a particular form o f monarchy as the potential sphere o f God’s will and gave it a role in its offi cial religion. The backbone o f the first half o f the Psalter is made up o f two collections associated with the name o f David, Pss 3-41 and 51-71. We are uncertain to what extent the Davidic ascription was originally intended to refer to authorship o f each o f the psalms within the collection. There can be no objection in principle to the view that David composed psalms, in the light o f the traditions elsewhere in the O ld PSALM S

14

Testament that associate him with music and poetry. Certain o f the “Davidic” psalms, however, exhibit late features and would sound strange on David’s lips. It may be that very early cores o f the Davidic collections were gradually supple­ mented. Anyway, there eventually grew up a belief that cred­ ited David with authorship o f all the Davidic psalms, a belief that is reflected in the colophon at 72:20, “The prayers o f David, the son o f Jesse, are ended.” This trend continued into later times, so that the Greek version o f the Psalter and Hebrew manuscripts found at Qumran variously increase the number o f Davidic ascriptions. In the New Testament Ps 2 is credited to David, at Acts 4:25; so too is Ps 95 in Heb 4:7, following the Greek version. Eventually the Psalter was considered “the treasury o f David,” to use the famous title o f Spurgeon’s commentary. Certain o f the Davidic psalms have narrative headings which associate the compositions with particular events in David’s life. They probably reflect later interpretation in most cases. They and the Davidic ascriptions in general reveal a perspec­ tive o f the Psalter which will merit close attention in a later chapter. 3. Editorial arrangement. The Psalms are not simply a stringing together o f various collections. Gerald H. Wilson has drawn attention to evidence o f deliberate arrangement behind compilation o f the Psalter.1 The second group o f Korahite psalms are Pss 84, 85, 87, and 88. Is there any evidence to suggest that Ps 86 has been deliberately inserted? A perusal o f Pss 85-87 does indicate an overlap o f theologi­ cal content. Ps 85 and Ps 86 both celebrate in their early parts the forgiveness and steadfast love o f G od (85:2,7; 86:5) and in their latter portions his steadfast love and faithfulness (85:10; 86:15). Similarly, Pss 86 and 87 both affirm a convic­ tion that G od is to he worshiped by nations other than Israel (86:9; 87:4-6). So Ps 86 has been dovetailed into its Korahite neighbors in order to highlight their theological themes. 15

Introduction

The nameless Ps 33 has been incorporated into a series o f Davidic psalms, apparently in order to accentuate the con­ tent o f 32:10,11: The one who trusts in the Lord— lovingkindness shall surround him! Rejoice in the Lord and exult, you righteous ones. . . . A s in the former case, steadfast love or “lovingkindness” is hailed as a key attribute o f G od (32:10; 33:5, 18, 22), an attribute that is worthy o f “rejoicing” on the lips o f the “righteous” or “upright” congregation (32:11; 33:1). The message o f this editorial arrangement is that God’s gracious character should ever draw forth a response o f praise. Why is the Asaphite Ps 50 separate from its fellows in Pss 73-83? It seems to function as a bridge between the Korahite and Davidic collections (Pss 42-49; 51-71) because it shares adjacent concerns. Ps 50 begins with a description o f Zion as a setting for God’s revealing o f himself in judgment, in seem­ ing echo o f 48:1-3. It includes a discussion o f the role o f sacrifice (50:8-15, 23) which is matched by the concern o f 51:16-19. So Ps 50 Serves to ease the linking o f the two separate collections and, in the process, to stimulate theolog­ ical thinking. These examples o f editorial ordering show a thoughtful interest in the thematic linking o f particular psalms. In our own aim to group the material o f the Psalter under themes we will not be engaging in any alien task. More remains to be said in later chapters about the impact o f the completed Psalter upon the observant reader. Enough has been said, however, to reveal a lengthy architectural process o f amass­ ing blocks o f material and building them together into larger wholes and eventually into an overarching unity. The book o f Psalms is like an old English manor house built over the centuries in different styles, Tudor, Jacobean, and Georgian, PSALM S

16

each o f whose later architects has labored with appreciation o f the work o f his predecessors, and has added his own distinctive contribution with sensitivity. Types of psalm s Another way o f getting inside the Psalter is to take a cross-section of it and examine the various kinds o f psalms within it. It is obvious to everybody that Ps 3 is quite differ­ ent from Ps 2. The differences between psalms were put on a scholarly basis by Hermann Gunkel in the first three decades o f this century and by Sigmund Mowinckel, and their work has been developed especially by Hans-Joachim Kraus and Claus Westermann.2 The academic approach to the Psalter is founded upon this perspective, which bears the name o f form criticism. A brief sketch o f the results will be given here. It has proved o f inestimable help in finding one’s way through a veritable storeroom of literary objects left higgledy-piggledy. Form criticism has been concerned to identify and group similar psalms and to analyze the patterns o f characteristic elements found in the resultant groups. The overall ap­ proach is a good servant but a bad master. It performs the valuable service o f comparing scripture with scripture in such a way as to categorize psalms and to discern the stan­ dard elements o f expression used in each group o f psalms. In the process, however, there is a danger of blurring the indi­ viduality o f particular psalms as they are judged in the light o f hypothetical, generalized ideals. 1. The individual lament. This is the type most repre­ sented in the Psalter and predominant in the Davidic collec­ tions. Roughly a third of the Psalter belongs to this category. It is a poignant prayer wrung from personal crisis, such as severe sickness or social victimization, from which the suf­ ferer seeks to be set free. There is a basic structure which 17

Introduction

examples o f this type tend to exhibit to a greater or lesser degree: (1) an initial petition explicitly addressed to God, (2) a stylized description o f the crisis, (3) an affirmation o f trust in God, (4) a main section o f petition and (5) a vow o f praise, once the prayer has been answered. A specimen o f the individual lament that exemplifies these elements is Ps 56: (1) Be gracious to me, O God, (v la) (2) for men trample upon me; all day long foemen oppress me; my enemies trample upon me all day long for many fight against me proudly. (vv lb , 2) A ll day long they seek to injure my cause; all their thoughts are against me for evil. They band together, they lurk, they watch my steps. (vv 5 ,6a) (3) W hen I am afraid, I put my trust in thee. In G od, whose word I praise, in G od I trust without a fear. W hat can flesh do to me? (vv 3,4) Thou hast kept count o f my tossings; put thou my tears in thy bottle! Are they not in thy book? . . . Then my enemies will be turned back in the day when I call. This I know, that G od is for me. In God, whose word I praise . . . , in G od I trust without a fear. W hat can man do to me? (vv 8-11) (4) A s they have waited for my life, so recompense them for their crime; in wrath cast down the peoples, O God! (vv 6b, 7) (5) My vows to thee I must perform, O God; I will render thank offerings to thee. PSALM S

18

For thou hast [or. wilt have] delivered my soul from death, yea, my feet from frilling that I may walk before G od in the light o f life. (vv 12,13) The fourth element is frequently longer, notably in 89:1318,22-28. The second element is often quite complex, with a threefold perspective: (a) what my enemies have done to me, (b) what I am suffering, and (c) what G od has done to me. Ps 102 is an example o f this comprehensive complaint, which relates to society, self, and God: (a) All day long my enemies insult me, they use my name as a curse, ridiculing me. (v 8) (b) My life is vanishing in smoke; my bones bum like embers . . . I lie awake and am like a solitary bird on a rooftop. (vv 3-7) Ashes I eat for my food. (v 9a) My life is like a lengthening shadow. I am shriveled up like grass. (v 11) (c) With my drink I mingle tears because o f your anger and your wrath; you have picked me up and thrown me away. (vv 9b, 10) He has brought low my strength part way through my course, he has decreed a short life for me. (v 23) 2. The communal lament. This is the collective counter­ part to the individual lam ent The communal lament re­ sponds to national crisis. It is represented much more sparingly in the Psalter: examples are Pss 44, 74, and 79. It has a similar structure, with addition o f two extra elements, slipped into the second and penultimate positions respec­ tively: a reference to G od’s work o f salvation in the past and

19

Introduction

a double wish or petition concerning the people and their enemies. Ps 79 is a good instance to look up and study in terms o f its various parts. These are the standard ways in which prayer in response to dire need is expressed in the book o f Psalms, whether voiced by individuals or on behalf o f the people o f G o d This praying is marked by realism and frank speaking: f aith and pain are here an explosive combination o f human chem­ icals. It is characterized by logical structuring, with the evi­ dent intent o f persuading G od to intervene by means o f impressive arguments. One o f the elements o f lament, the affirmation o f trust, may be expanded into a complete com­ position. Ps 23, everybody’s favorite psalm, belongs to this category. Other instances are the individual Pss 4, 16, and 131, and the communal Ps 129. 3. The song of thanksgiving. N ot surprisingly the “please” factor o f the Psalter finds a sequel in a “thank you.” The vow o f praise which closes the lament hints as much. The thanksgiving song, which represents a fulfilling o f the vow, logically follows the lament as the eventual expression o f gratitude for answer to specific prayer. Examples o f such individual songs are Pss 18, 30, 116, and 138. Strictly there appears to have been no distinctive form o f communal thanksgiving, but the individual form could be adapted to fill this lack: Ps 124 is a rare instance. The six elements common to most thanksgiving songs are: (1) and (2) a resolve to sing, with an introductory summary o f release from crisis, (3) a description o f the crisis, (4) a report that G od has heard the prayer o f lament and acted affirma­ tively, (5) generalized teaching, and (6) renewed thanksgiving. Ps 30 is a clear model o f this type: (1)&(2) I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me out and have not allowed my enemies to rejoice over me. PSALM S

20

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

O Lord my God, I called for help and you healed me; O Lord, you brought my soul up from Sheol: from those going down to the Pit you made me live. (vv 1-3) But I!— I said in my security: “I will never be moved!” O Lord, in your favor you made me stand more erect than mountains o f strength. You hid your fece— I was dismayed. (vv 6 ,7) [I said:] “To you, O Lord, will I cry! And to you, my Governor, will I plead for mercy. . . Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me. O Lord, be my helper.” You have changed my wailing to dancing for me; you have removed my sackcloth and girded me with rejoicing. (vv 8-11) Sing praises to the Lord, O you saints o f his, and praise his holy name. For in his anger is death, but in his favor is life. Weeping may tarry in the evening, but joy comes at dawn. (vv 4 ,5 ) so that my soul shall sing your praise and not weep, O Lord my God, I will praise you forever. (v 12)

4. The hymn. This is another key category, distinct from the previous pair. The term hymn has a narrower sense than in Christian usage. Like the song o f thanksgiving it majors in praise. The difference is that the thanksgiving song is crisisoriented along with the lam ent It is a response to what G od has just done in the experience o f the believing person or community. The thanksgiving song is the religious equiva­ lent o f a burst o f applause immediately after a performance 21

Introduction

at the theater or concert hall. The hymn, on the other hand, lacks such immediacy. It surveys the character and work o f G od in a general fashion and from further afield. If, as the final psalm asserts, it is the obligation o f “everything that breathes” to “praise Yahweh” (150:6), it is hardly surprising that the hymn developed with a variety o f forms. The simplest kind is that exhibited in the shortest psalm, Ps 117, which has two elements, (1) an imperative call to praise in v 1 and (2) the reason for praising in v 2: (1) Praise Yahweh, all nations, laud him, all you peoples, (2) because his loyal love has towered over us and Yahweh’s faithfulness is everlasting. This basic pattern is followed in longer hymns, such as Pss 113 and 146 and in solo adaptations, Pss 103 and 104. Other hymns double this pattern by repeating the pair o f elements, such as Pss 100 (vv 1-2,3-4,5); 147 and 148. Themes o f the hymn are G od’s roles in creation and in human history, and his dynamic attributes o f steadfast love and power. A hymn may take a number o f themes in its stride, like Pss 33 and 136. O r it may specialize, like Pss 103 (steadfast love), 104 (creation), and 105 (history). There are subgroups o f hymns, such as the psalms o f divine kingship mentioned earlier. The Songs o f Zion, nota­ bly Pss 46, 48, 76, and 87 praise G od as the Lord o f Jeru­ salem and o f temple worship. A number o f the royal psalms, particularly Pss 2, 21, 72, and 110, in focusing upon the Davidic king, were meant to honor G od as Lord o f the Davidic covenant. The term “royal psalm” is not strictly a form-critical category: it can take the form o f a lament (Ps 89) or a song o f thanksgiving (Pss 18,118). There are also smaller groupings o f psalms, such as the

PSALM S

22

wisdom psalms and prophetic and priestly liturgies, which need not be mentioned in the present survey. Enough has been said to indicate the general range o f expression covered in the pages o f the Psalter. The religious contexts in which this range was evidently used and its relation to the gamut o f human experience will be the topics o f the next chapter.

23

Introduction

2

FUNCTION

For Christians today the Psalter has a variety o f uses. In a church setting a psalm may be employed as a scripture reading before a sermon based upon i t In certain denominations the Psalter is used as a lectionary; antiphonal recitation or chanting o f set psalms makes a rich contribution to the worship and prayer o f the service. The psalms have also been paraphrased for the congregation to sing as hymns. In quite a different setting, the Psalter is read and studied by individual Christians as an aid to personal devotion. In motel rooms travelers find a Gideon Bible which in its preface urges them to turn to Ps 23 for help in time o f need, to Ps 19 for the doctrine o f the twofold revelation o f G od and to Ps 15 for business and professional principles. W hat o f the Psalter in its Old Testament context? The answers to this question are not immediately obvious. The Psalms are a medley o f voices calling in the dark, and we can no longer see plainly where the owners o f these disembodied voices are or what they are doing. Perhaps we do not need to peer and our question is improper curiosity. Yet

25

Function

there are clues inside and outside the Psalter which help to clarify the different backgrounds behind the Psalms and which can enrich our understanding o f them. Tem ple settin gs Sigmund Mowinckel urged that m ost o f the psalms were composed for use in a temple setting,3 and the majority o f subsequent scholars have followed his lead in general, if not in his particular reconstructions. 1. The communal lament. The habitat o f the communal lament seems not unnaturally to have been the national sanctuary. Solomon’s prayer associated with the dedication o f the temple in 1 Kgs 8 supports a setting in the courts af c ing the temple: W hen thy people are defeated before the enemy . . . , if they . . . pray and make supplication to thee in this house, then hear thou in heaven. . . . W hen heaven is shut up and there is no rain . . . , if they pray toward this place . . . , then hear thou in heaven . . . (vv 33-36) So do the exhortations o f Joel in reaction to a severe plague o f locusts that threatened the very existence o f the Judean community. There is mention o f the convening o f a national assembly in the temple area and o f priestly utterance o f a communal lament (Joel 1:13,14; 2:15-17). Similarly, 2 Chr 20 gives details o f a national convocation in the temple court and the king’s voicing o f such a lament (vv 4-12). Both 2 Chr 20 and Joel go on to relate a divine response in the form o f a prophetic oracle, a phenomenon that finds a parallel in Ps 85. This psalm is a prophetic liturgy, a composi­ tion in which two sets o f voices are heard, one o f which is that o f a temple prophet. The first half, vv 1-7, is a communal PSALM S

26

lament, while a solo voice breaks into the second half, v 8-15, transmitting God’s reply: Let me hear what G od the Lord will speak. He speaks peace to his people, . . . (v8) [RSV does not express what needs to, and may, be said] In this case the answer consists o f a single word, “peace,” shalom in Hebrew. It spells reconciliation to G od and the renewal o f good relations, and so an end to the wrath evident in the national crisis, mentioned earlier in the psalm. Verses 9-13 are a prophetic exposition o f the reply, equating this shalom with the “steadfast love” and “salvation” for which the people had asked in v 7: Surely his salvation is at hand for those that fear him . . . Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. . . . Ps 60 envisages a similar situation: the oracle spoken by G od “in his sanctuary” (vv 6-8) follows the communal lament o f vv 1-5. One may look up and compare the divine oracle o f 12:5. 2. The individual lam ent Similarly the lament o f the individual had its natural habitat at the sanctuary. The poignant narrative o f the childless Hannah pouring out her heart at the sanctuary o f Shiloh and the blundering priest who at last understands her state o f mind and gives her his blessing (1 Sam 1:9-18), adds human flesh and blood to the anguished voices that ring out in the Psalter. So does the story o f Hezekiah’s resorting to the Jerusalem temple and dramati­ cally spreading out in Yahweh’s presence the intimidating letter from the Assyrian emperor (2 Kgs 19:1,14-19). These narratives suggest that when the heading to Ps 102 defines the following lament as “a prayer for a sufferer when he feels

27

Function

weak and pours out his worries before Yahweh,” the final phrase refers to the ark housed in the temple, which was regarded as the token o f God’s presence. The person who recited his or her lament or had it recited hoped for an affirmative word from God. Lam 3:55-57 ap­ pears to testify to such a phenomenon as a previous experience, while hoping for a fresh answer to prayer: the divine word in that case was “do not fear.” The reassurance is akin to Eli’s response “go in peace” in 1 Sam 1:17. Within the Psalms themselves there is evidence that is best interpreted as pointing to divine intervention through a priest or prophet. Such intervention seems to underlie statements in certain individual laments that G od has heard the prayer, such as 6:8-10 and 28:6. Ps 28:5 represents a prophetic assurance about the psalmist’s foes: Because they do not understand the works o f the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and not rebuild them.4 Similarly, in 22:21 “You have answered me!” is the glad cry that prompts in vv 23-31 the psalmist’s anticipation of singing a thanksgiving song.5 3. The thanksgiving song. A sanctuary setting for the song o f thanksgiving is evident from material in the Psalter itself, which in turn supports the view that normally the lament, its precursor, was uttered there. Originally Ps 107 was a psalm for use at a formal service o f thanksgiving held during the great pilgrimage festivals, at which the grateful were urged: Let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices and recount in loud song what he has done . . . . Let them extol him in the congregation o f the people . . . . (vv 22,32)

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Ps 100 was employed for this same purpose according to its heading, “a psalm for the thank offering.” Evidently it functioned as a processional hymn inaugurating the service. The formula that appears in both 100:4,5 and 107:1, “Give Yahweh thanks, for his goodness, for the everlastingness o f his loyal love,” supports such a setting. In Jer 33:11 it is described as the joyful cry o f worshipers participating in the thank offering service. Ps 103 with its celebration o f God’s steadfast love seems to have been a solo hymn sung on such an occasion. Ps 116 makes explicit mention o f the service as an opportunity o f testifying before the assembled congregation to what G od had done, praising him directly in song, and offering a libation and sacrifice o f thank offering in the temple courts, while 30:11 highlights dancing. Part o f the celebration was a fellowship meal using the meat of the thank offering, which the worshiper enjoyed with his family and friends according to Deut 12:17,18 and Ps 22:26. 4. The hymn and other temple poems. It is not difficult to envisage the hymns as generally functioning in a choral and congregational setting. A number o f hymns refer to the mu­ sic and song that resounded in temple worship, such as 33:1-3: Exult in the Lord, you who are righteous . . . ! Praise the Lord with a lyre. Make music for him with a ten-stringed harp. Sing to him a new song; play beautifully with a joyful sound. There are informal versions o f the songs o f Zion, Pss 84 and 122, which attest the joy o f pilgrimage to the temple. Pss 24 and 132 preserve references to a sacred procession to the temple, in which the ark was carried. The entrance liturgy o f 29

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Ps 15 lets us hear a priest’s answer to a would-be worshiper at the temple who inquires about moral qualifications for worship. The ancient custom surely inspired the similar challenge in the Sermon on the Mount, at Matt 5:23,24, to settle squabbles before worshiping God. In Pss 91 and 121 we overhear the priest dismissing the pilgrim with a power­ ful word o f benediction. It is clear that the Psalms must be read with controlled imagination in order to compensate for the general lack o f precise rubrics. Reconstruction o f the institutional setting of many o f the psalms, with the help o f evidence scattered inside and outside the Psalter, brings them to life. Sympa­ thetic study transforms the flatness o f the printed page into three-dimensional fullness, and its silence into voices echo­ ing in the temple courts. The settings help to shed light on the theological meaning o f the Psalter which is to be dis­ cussed in later chapters. For now, we may reflect on the strong institutional flavor that pervades many o f the Psalms. The institution o f the temple obviously lies at the heart o f the faith evident in the Psalter. Here was a people that did “not neglect to meet together” (Heb 10:25) but found en­ couragement in frequenting the sanctuary that symbolized the religious unity o f Israel. “How good, to be sure, how fine it is for brothers to stay together!” exclaimed the psalmist in wonderment at the con­ course o f pilgrims who had come for the festival (133:1). For them it was a place o f joy and fellowship. The institution was not remote from human realities. It satisfied their needs and amply met their expectations. It provided secure refuge and strong assurance when they voiced their cries o f distress there; as well, it afforded an opportunity for testimony and praise when the tide o f life turned in their favor. The temple was a place where human experience found corresponding religious expression, instead o f having a deaf ear turned to fundamental personal and social concerns. Israel in its PSALM S

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humanity met with G od via the forms and ceremonies o f the temple courts, and went away transformed and blessed. Here surely are criteria for the institutional structures o f the Christian faith, o f whatever denominational flavor, to check whether they are o f God. If so, the Christian “house o f G od” will be a meeting place with him and an indispensable fountain o f deep faith: How precious is your lovingkindness, O God, that human beings find refuge in the shadow o f your wings. They are refreshed from the rich provision o f your house, and you make them drink from the river o f your delights. For with you is the fountain o f life; and in your light we shall see light! (36:7-9) W isdom settings Certain psalms were not composed with the temple in view. The wisdom psalms have their roots in quite a different setting, which is shared by the better known wisdom literature, Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes. The setting is the world o f the wisdom teacher. Religious authority in Israel lay in three quite diverse areas according to Jer 18:18, the spheres o f the priest, the prophet, and the wisdom teacher. From these areas stemmed the eventual O ld Testament canon o f law, prophets, and writings. Wisdom teaching had a theology and ethical system o f its own, though these overlapped with the covenant traditions o f Israel. It investigated the ques­ tions posed by human experience and endeavored to relate the individual to society, and both to God. It possessed dis­ tinctive forms o f expression, which makes it practicable to recognize wisdom terminology and themes in the Psalter. 1. Wisdom psalms proper. There are only a handful o f what one might call pure wisdom psalms: Pss 37, 49, 112, and 127. Their habitat was presumably the social setting o f 31

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wisdom literature. Unfortunately little is known about this setting, although teaching and discussion were clearly corner­ stones o f its existence. It was the ancestor o f Judaism’s rab­ binic movement and of the Talmudic school attacked to every medieval synagogue. 2. Wisdom psalms for the temple. More in number are psalms composed for temple use which betray wisdom influence to a greater or lesser extent: examples are Pss 32,34,73, and 111. 3. Torah-wisdom psalms. A third category is most interest­ ing. It comprises Pss 1,19— at least, vv 7-14— and 119, and so has the distinction of providing the first psalm and the longest psalm. These so-called Torah-wisdom psalms reflect a late development of wisdom thinking that wedded the sepa­ rate concerns of wisdom and o f the Torah. Torah is often rendered “law” but it has a wider connotation of divine reve­ lation. Literally meaning “pointing the way,” it has the sense o f giving directions for the road of life. An important feature of the Torah-wisdom psalms is their stress upon meditation: Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel o f the wicked . . . But in the Lord’s Torah is his delight and in his Torah will he muse by day and night. (1:1,2) The placing of Ps 1 at the head o f the whole collection of the Psalter, with the obvious function o f an introduction, is highly significant. It represents a loosing o f the temple psalms from their institutional moorings and gives them a new role as sacred poems for private devotion and group discussion For Judaism this new tradition was one o f the positive fac­ tors that permitted it to survive after the temple was de­ stroyed in A.D. 70. A s for Christian usage, this final stamp on the Psalter anticipates and justifies centuries o f devotional usage in the realms of homiletics and literature as well as in the private place o f prayer and spiritual reflection. In its final PSALM S

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form the Psalter becomes a collection o f sacred literature released to individuals worldwide as a divine light for the path o f life. James Gilmour, a Victorian missionary to Mongolia, spoke for many when he wrote: When I feel I cannot make headway in devotion, I open the Psalms and push out my canoe and let myself be carried on the stream o f devotion that flows through the whole book. The current always sets toward God and in most places is strong and deep. The changing scenes of life Walter Brueggemann has provided a key to the Psalms in his development o f an insight perceived by the hermeneutical scholar Paul Ricoeur, and his application o f it to the Psalter.6 What follows borrows from and builds upon his work. It has managed to put on an academic and existential basis what saints down the ages have known instinctively and devotionally, that the Psalms are treasures dug deep from the mines of human life. The value of the Psalter is that it mirrors a broad spectrum of human experience. Life may be divided into three phases, orientation to the world around, disorientation, and reorientation. The Psalms too bear witness to these phases. Expressing the characteristically different moods and feelings o f the phases, they relate them to a G od who is above them all but sympathetically alert to the instability of the human frame: For he knows our make-up, he is mindful that we are dust. Man is as shortlived as grass. He blossoms as briefly as a wild flower . . . . But Yahweh’s loyal love stays from age to age upon those who revere him . . . . (103:14—17) 33

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W hen the sun is shining and the ship o f life is running on a smooth course, there are psalms to read that turn the happy cry “God’s in his heaven— all’s right with the world” into a song o f praise to G od as the giver o f all good things. Such psalms will be o f little use, even mockingly hurtful, when the skies darken and life’s frail bark founders in the storm, nor are they meant to be relevant then. That is when despair, which finds its outlet— and begins to find its resolu­ tion— in the aggrieved cry “‘Do you not care if we perish?’” (Mark 4:38), has a counterpart in the psalms o f disorienta­ tion. W hen the storm is over and life returns to an even keel, yet another group o f psalms comes into its own, nudg­ ing relief and renewed optimism into thanksgiving and praise to God; these are the psalms o f reorientation. These three categories o f psalms are closely allied with the very types taught by form criticism and show how uner­ ringly those various types relate to the gamut o f human experience, clothed though they are in the dress o f a particu­ lar culture. The different stylistic forms dovetail with human fortunes. The diligent student can turn what might have seemed the stones o f sterile scholarship into the bread o f life, as each day requires. 1. The psalms of orientation. These may be detected by a telltale motto that runs through a surprising number o f formcritical categories and brands them as o f the same stock. The hymn to G od as Creator declares in tones o f awesome praise: You are the one who founded the earth . . . so that it cannot move for ever and ever. (104:5) The various hymn subgroups take up the cry. The hymn o f divine kingship affirms: Yea, the world is established; it shall never be moved; thy throne is established from o f old. (93:1,2) PSALM S

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The song o f Zion applies the message o f Jerusalem: G od is in its midst— it will not slip! G od will help it at the break o f dawn. (46:5) The hymn-like variety o f royal psalm makes the confident assertion: For the king is trusting in the Lord and in the lovingkindness o f the M ost High, he will not be shaken. (21:7) The entrance liturgy promises to the person who honors the moral requirements o f the sanctuary: The one doing these things shall not be shaken forever. (15:5) The psalm o f priestly benediction gives a pledge o f God’s care to the pilgrim leaving for home: He will not let your foot stumble. (121:3) A psalm o f normative wisdom pronounces about the right­ eous person: Never will he be shaken. (112:6) Finally, an affirmation o f trust declares o f God: Because he is my right hand, I shall not be shaken. (16:8) The motto earmarks these various technical categories, iden­ tifying them as psalms o f orientation, except that in the case o f the affirmations o f trust only Ps 16 is clearly included in this group. 35

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The psalms o f orientation all move within the theological orbit o f divine blessing. It is noticeable that in most cases the motto o f stability is carefully safeguarded from any suspicion o f humanistic self-sufficiency. The truth is not that a person is fine, but that he or she owes the fine condition to God. For the psalmists nothing in this world has an innate stabil­ ity but only a derived, God-given one. The national institu­ tions o f the temple and the monarchy and even the universe are solid and have lasted for centuries— and look like lasting for centuries longer— simply because they are judged to be expressions o f the divine will and so share something o f divine stability. For the orientation psalm, life is permeated by G od’s good will, a factor that is never ignored. According to this perspective a happy life guards itself from the tempta­ tion o f forgetting G od and claiming to be self-made— of which Deut 8:11-18 gives pastoral warning. Rather, it relates constantly to the Giver. Ps 16:8 prefaces the motto o f stabil­ ity with an accompanying attitude o f faith: “I have always put the Lord in front o f me.” It would be easy to despise the psalms o f orientation. It is true that there is danger in going along with the status quo and enjoying it for its own sake. With hindsight the phase o f orientation can be seen to include elements o f smugness and self-delusion. Each o f the phases has its pitfalls. There is an opposite danger, however, o f writing off broad tracts o f human experience. The many psalms that reflect this phase are true to life in that they correspond to the periods o f comparative stability that occur in the lifetimes o f most peo­ ple. Moreover, the psalms o f orientation have standards to live up to and ideals to aim a t The motto “I shall not be moved” does not imply “I shall not move”! The Hebrew terminology connotes stability, not stagnation. Indeed, 16:11 prayerfully affirms that in such seasons “you make me to know the path o f life”. There is to be movement in a Godordered direction. An advantage o f the period o f orientation PSALM S

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is that the human heart, at leisure from itself, can look away, wonder at the phenomena o f the world around, and reflect insightfully on them, along the lines o f 104:34: May my reflections please him, as I have rejoiced in Yahweh. The shock o f disorientation certainly has a creative effect eventually, but orientation finds creativity in its own steady progress. 2. The psalms of disorientation. Clouds o f imperfection scud across every blue sky o f human orientation. There come times in most lives, however, when the noonday sun turns to darkness and the heavens fall in cataclysm. The communal and individual laments are reactions to such dire crisis, when one’s bearings are lost and one cannot cope. It is for this reason that extremes o f language and logic occur in them. They are in no way intended as models for prayer offered during a period o f orientation. The two calamities that find clear expression in the individual laments are perse­ cution and serious illness. The latter blow continues to bedevil human society despite leaps in medical knowledge. Persecution, as a type o f social alienation, has counterparts in personal crises prevalent in modem times, such as loss o f employment, bereavement, and marriage breakdown. A t such junctures the individual laments are the voices o f men and women who have been there before us and have wrestled with the agonizing eclipse o f the stability that was synonymous with life. There came a time when the bastions o f human life, hitherto hailed as mountains o f immovability, crumbled and fe ll The communal laments o f Pss 74 and 79 react to the fell o f Jerusalem, temple and all. The royal lament o f Ps 89 is aghast at the impending fall o f the Davidic monarchy, in the light o f divine promises o f permanence. In the laments there is no triumphalism that can readily 37

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exorcize the evil. N or is there a stoic passivity that grits its teeth and rests patiently in the inscrutable will o f God. In­ stead, one finds the gamut o f human emotions that make up the sequence o f human reactions to crisis: numb shock, denial o f the painful reality, depression and frustration-ridden anger, in fact, all the stages which have to be lived with and through until the final stage, a moving forward in expectation o f a new phase o f life. In a situation of human misery the psalms o f disorientation are companions that understand— unlike Job’s misnamed comforters— and behind them stands the God o f compassion who knows our frame and somehow is there in the darkness. The admirable quality of Israel’s reli­ gion is that it had institutional room for the human realism exposed by trauma, witnesses though the laments were to the inadequacy o f religious and other institutions and the break­ down o f faith as conventionally understood. 3. The psalms of reorientation. Life goes on, and in very many cases turns the comer. The song o f thanksgiving en­ visages the dynamic intervention o f G od in the human situa­ tion. Recovery from serious sickness and rehabilitation into society were readily interpreted as answers to prayer, in the light o f the oracle that followed the lament. Accordingly the change for the better called for an expression o f gratitude to a G od who picks up the broken pieces and puts them back together again. One song o f thanksgiving, Ps 30, looks back over the three experiences o f life, the old orientation in vv 6-7a, the trauma o f disorientation expressed via a lament in vv 7b-10 and the now all-encompassing experience o f reori­ entation in vv 1-5 and 11-12: I said in my security: “I will never be moved!” . . . you made me stand more erect than the mountain---You hid your face— I was dismayed!. . . You have changed my wailing to dancing for me---PSALM S

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There is a radical note about both the lament and the song o f thanksgiving that binds them together: they attest an emotional nadir and zenith in human experience. The thanksgiving song gives voice to an emotional high, just as the lament expresses an emotional low. A temporary factor marks the song o f thanksgiving, related as it is to a specific service o f thank offering. Yet the song o f thanksgiving also marks the beginning o f a new experience. There is a debt to C od which no single song can discharge. Praise, to be adequate, must be lifelong, characteristically declared the thanksgiving song: O Lord my God, I will praise you for ever. (30:12) There is a new sense o f commitment to G od as dynamic deliverer, which is expected to leave its mark on future living. Justice must be done to the temporary and permanent qualities o f the song o f thanksgiving. Perhaps it may be compared to the love letter written during an ardent courtship that eventually is to mature into satisfying mar­ riage and parenthood. The ardor o f romantic emotions will not survive the first year or so o f marriage, but the underly­ ing truths it expresses remain perennially valid. Accord­ ingly the song o f thanksgiving representing reorientation gives voice to the excited beginnings o f new life rising from the ruins o f personal crisis. The phase is destined to give way to a more settled one which will be both like and unlike the phase o f old orientation. Like, in that it will be marked by the stability, steady progress, and appreciation o f life enjoyed before. Unlike, in that it will reflect a maturer faith that has found in tragedy and survival schooling in wisdom, and wrested out o f them a deeper relationship with God. The psalm o f orientation stands outside the phases o f 39

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disorientation and reorientation, which belong back to back as expressions o f the need and gift o f deliverance. The Songs o f Zion, a grouping with similar theme and theology, were sung seemingly before and after the Exile: it was not regarded as foolish that they should be used after the restoration o f a ruined city and sanctuary. Accordingly the orientation psalms can give expression to precrisis and postcrisis experiences. The Psalms express the latter truth in theological language: the blessing associated with orientation follows the salvation celebrated in reorientation. After redemption from Exile came resettlement in the land (107:1-3,33-42). “Deliver your people and bless your inheritance” (28:9) was a fitting se­ quence o f petitions. Victory belongs to the Lord. Your blessing is upon your people. (3:8) Orientation can be experienced as a low-lying valley or a high plateau. The steady road up and toward heaven invests everyday life with a spiritual interpretation, whether its sta­ bility be o f an older or newer variety. There is a realism about the Psalms that should commend them to a generation which with some justification accuses the church o f turning a blind eye to the actualities o f human life and failing to integrate experience and faith. The Psalter comes face to face with human experience and does not shrink from verbalizing it and relating it to a kaleidoscope o f divine truth. The measure in which Christians find the blatancy o f the laments embarrassing is the measure by which they must judge their own openness to life. The Psalms function as honest gauges o f human experience. Whatever a person’s lot, he or she can read a group o f psalms with which to find rapport and a route to God. John Calvin in the preface to his commentary on the Psalms well described the Psalter as PSALM S

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an anatomy o f all the parts o f the soul, for there is not an emotion o f which anyone can be conscious that is not here represented as in a mirror. O r rather, the Holy Spirit has here drawn to the life all the griefs, sorrows, fears, doubts, hopes, cares, perplexities, in short, all the distracting emotions with which the minds o f men are wont to be agitated.7

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3

PRAISE

The book o f Psalms owes its English title to the Greek version o f the O ld Testament via the Latin Vulgate. It was obviously derived from an element in the headings o f many Psalms, the very term psalm, which in Hebrew refers to a composition sung to the accompaniment o f a stringed in­ strument. The title was already current in the New Testa­ ment, for instance in Luke 24:44. It evokes the music o f the temple and the use o f the Psalms in temple worship. In the Hebrew Bible the tide is quite different, and at first sight is a misnomer. It is sepher tehillim “book o f praises” or simply tehillim “praises.” The latter term is related to the liturgical exhortation “Hallelujah,” “praise Yah(weh).” It oc­ curs in the singular, tehilla, as a heading to Ps 145, and could be regarded as the equivalent o f the form-critical category o f the hymn, although in 22:25 it refers to a song o f thanksgiv­ ing. Similarly Philo o f Alexandria referred to the book o f Psalms in Greek as humnoi “hymns.” From a form-critical perspective it appears most unreason­ able to fasten on one category out o f many in choosing an 43

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overall title for the Psalter. An editorial note refers to the Davidic collections in Pss 1-72 as “prayers,” which may like­ wise stand for “laments” although these are a form o f prayer restricted to the phase o f disorientation. Numerically there are a few less hymns, o f various types, than laments in the book o f Psalms. Laments amount to as much as a third o f the Psalter and so might have a better claim as a title if major representation were the criterion. Why, then, was the He­ brew book labeled “praises”? An important factor is that laments predominate only in the first half o f the total collection, in Books One and Two. In the second half there is a preponderance o f hymns. This leaning toward praise as the book becomes more complete seems to be due not simply to a desire to redress the balance but to a conviction that “man’s chief end is to glorify God,” as the Shorter Catechism enjoins. A n editorial concern 1. The doxologies. The presence o f the doxologies, which in the final edition conclude Books One to Five o f the Psalter, is evidence o f a yearning to praise God. It is charac­ teristic o f the Israelite hymn that praise is not rendered to G od for its own sake, as in some modem choruses. Rather, it is grounded in explicit reasoning, for instance in Ps 117: Praise Yahweh . . . , because his loyal love has towered over us and Yahweh’s faithfulness is everlasting. A t first sight the doxologies break the pattern by not giving grounds for praise. In fact, each Book preceding the doxology is regarded as a multitude o f good reasons for praising God. The doxology responds to those reasons with its call to praise and its congregational “Amen.” Likewise, the bomPSALM S

bardment o f calls to praise in the final Ps 150 is a reaction to the mass o f praiseworthy material to be found in the preced­ ing psalms. 2. Praise in Book Five. Gerald H. Wilson has convincingly demonstrated the praise-oriented structure o f Book Five o f the Psalter.8 Its forty-four psalms seem to af ll into three sections: Pss 107-117,118-135, and 136-150. Each section has a core o f psalms, the first and third being two groups o f Davidic psalms, Pss 108-110 and 138-145, and the second the Songs o f Ascents, Pss 120-134. Each o f the three sec­ tions uses an initial formula o f praise and a separate final one. Pss 107, 118, and 136 begin their sections with the formula “Give Yahweh thanks for his goodness, for the ever­ lastingness o f his loyal love.” A s we have seen, this formula properly and originally belonged to the thank offering ser­ vice. In time it also became a general ascription o f praise and was taken over into the hymn. By way o f climax the initial formula o f Ps 136 is reinforced by the refrain that repeats its last part: “for his loyal love is everlasting.” Correspondingly, each o f the three sections in Book Five ends with Hallelujah psalms, namely Pss 111-117,135, and 146-150. These psalms are ones which commence and/or conclude with the added liturgical call “Hallelujah.” The alert reader will note that Ps 114 has no Hallelujah. Why not? The reason lies in a tradition, for which there is abun­ dant textual evidence, that it should be combined with Ps 115. These editorial techniques, used to indicate the extent o f sections within a larger collection, attest the key role o f praise. Praise is the fitting note on which to begin and to end, the A and Z o f good psalmody. 3. Remodeled psalms. Ps 106 illustrates further an edito­ rial emphasis on praise. Despite keenly argued attempts to classify it as a hymn, it is better identified as a communal lament, especially in view o f the petition and vow o f praise in V 47, which mark its climax.9 Hymnic elements there

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certainly are in the psalm, but they have been used in the service o f the lament, as often happens. The psalm’s per­ spective has been altered from lament to praise by two factors: the framework o f Hallelujahs, with which the psalm has been supplied in vv 1 and 48, and the added doxology, which the framework interpreted as a hermeneu­ tical key to the psalm. Accordingly, the elements o f praise are highlighted over against those o f prayer. These ele­ ments are certainly worth pushing to the fore; already they have an important function in the basic psalm. There is a double stress on G od’s steadfast love, at beginning and end (vv 1, 7,45), and a triple mention o f his role as savior in vv 4-10,21, and 47. A similar phenomenon has occurred in Ps 115. Again, it is basically a communal lament or more strictly a liturgy o f lament. The Hallelujah postscript and its incorporation into its present grouping o f Hallelujah Psalms indicate a change in the balance o f emphasis toward the existing elements o f praise. The anti-idolatry satire in vv 4-8 is an implicit confes­ sion o f praise to the true God, which serves to amplify the positive praise in v 3. The concluding ascription o f praise in vv 16-18 celebrates his transcendent power as the sole G od who has a unique and exclusive claim to human expressions o f praise: Heaven is Yahweh’s heaven, but the earth he has entrusted to mankind. The dead cannot praise Yah(weh) . . . . But we will bless Yah(weh) from now on and for evermore. The overall effect o f these editorial emphases on praise is that o f a red-letter Bible in which certain material is forced upon the reader’s attention by making it stand out from PSALM S

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seemingly less important content. The result is a playing down o f the human situation, so crucial at an earlier level o f the Psalter, and a focus upon the person and work o f God. Ps 107 is another instance o f reinterpretation with similar intent, although it is carried out in a different manner.10 A s noted earlier, it was originally sung at the thank offering service. Like Ps 100, which was a “psalm for the thank offer­ ing,” as its heading says, it functioned as a general and com­ munal introduction before individuals took their distinctive part in the service. Ps 107 begins with the thanksgiving formula attested in Jer 33:11: Give Yahweh thanks for his goodness, for the everlastingness o f his loyal love. It continues with a dramatic description o f four kinds o f possible danger that might lie behind the discharge o f vows at the service: losing one’s way in the wilds, imprisonment, dire illness, and shipwreck. So it is tied to personal and specific experiences, to which glad testimony might be made in a public setting. Like the song o f thanksgiving, this related composition is open toward general praise. However, Ps 107 in its present form has been transformed into a hymn proper. Verses 2 ,3 have been inserted: Let Yahweh’s redeemed ones say so, whom he has redeemed from the enemy’s power, gathering them from other countries, from east and west, from north and overseas. This insertion and also the addition o f vv 33-43 turned the psalm into a celebration o f the return from Exile— comparable with the “redemption” o f the Exodus— and o f

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the resettlement in the land o f promise. The rather sensa­ tional instances o f escape from danger became four descrip­ tions o f the release from exile, in two cases focusing upon the national sin that underlay the divine punishment o f Exile (vv 11,17). The purpose o f the composition was broad­ ened into communal praise for national salvation and for G od’s providence that gave a new lease on life in the land. These cases o f reinterpretation are a testimony to the vitality o f the Psalms. So treasured were they that they lived on, keeping pace with new situations o f God’s people and expressing the spirituality o f fresh generations o f believers who wanted to praise God. The praise of thanksgiving 1. Introductory hymns. Hymnic praise had a key role in the thank offering service. This may be gauged from the processional hymn o f Ps 100 and from what was evidently a solo hymn belonging to the same setting, Ps 103. Ps 100 widens the perspective o f the service from the individual’s enjoyment o f G od’s goodness and steadfast love to a com­ munal experience, membership in the covenant community. Similarly, although Ps 103 begins with characteristic demon­ strations o f steadfast love that were to be attested in the course o f the service— deliverance from sickness and op­ pression (vv 3-6)— it moves on to the Mosaic revelation o f the nature o f God. Credal terms are used, which echo Exod 34:6: Yahweh is affectionate and dutiful, patient and lavish in loyal love. (v 8) Verses 9-18 are a sermon on this “text.” They teach that the loyal or steadfast love which was celebrated as God’s chief virtue in the individual testimonies o f thanksgiving was PSALM S

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perennially at work among his people. The rhetorical calls to praise in vv 19-22 imply that only cosmic adoration might do justice to God’s praiseworthiness, but they conclude with the obligation o f each individual to join the universal chorale: Bless Yahweh, you angels o f his. Bless Yahweh, all his creatures, in all places where he rules. Bless Yahweh, I tell myself.

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The psalmist’s self-exhortation is an implicit message to ev­ ery worshiper at the thank offering service to lift his or her own heart in earnest praise. Let them progress from observation o f the joy o f others to participation in that contagious joy! 2. Congregational praise. The song o f thanksgiving was itself by no means devoid o f hymnic praise. Just as the term “give thanks” was borrowed by the hymn, so the general term “praise” was employed in the thanksgiving song. This sharing o f terms illustrates the degree o f overlap in the two types. The public appear to have been encouraged to attend the service o f thank offering, just as in many Christian de­ nominations the relatively private sacrament o f baptism is regularly celebrated in the presence o f the community o f faith. The custom served in part to overcome a happy prob­ lem experienced by the one who primarily gave thanks. How could he or she express adequately gratitude to G od for bounty which meant the difference between life and death? The question is actually posed in 116:12: How can I repay Yahweh for all his benefits to me? One solution has been observed in the previous chapter: to praise G od throughout the rest o f one’s life so that life 49

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itself would be turned, as it were, into a perennial thankoffering service. In practice this presumably meant regular attendance during festival time at other people’s services o f thanksgiving and making them one’s own. Another solution was to invite the congregation to boost the volume o f praise by voicing it on one’s own behalf, as in 22:23,24: You who fear the Lord, praise him! . . . For he has not despised and has not detested the affliction o f the afflicted; and he has not hidden his face from him, but when he cried for help, he heard him. Parallel cases appear in 32:11 and 118:2-4. The service in­ volved the congregation not simply as silent and perhaps envious spectators o f another’s good fortune, but as partici­ pants whose own hearts were turned to G od and whose own lips sang his praises in fresh appreciation. 3. Singing theology. This congregational involvement was also served by what is often called the didactic element in the song o f thanksgiving; in the first chapter it was referred to as generalized teaching. Such labels are helpful as long as it is realized that in the Psalter learning has praise as its intended end product as well as an appropriate mindset and lifestyle. Statements o f a propositional type are regularly represented in the song o f thanksgiving. Ps 116 may be used to demon­ strate their role. Verse 5 makes a general statement concern­ ing some o f God’s attributes: Yahweh is dutiful and true, our G od shows affection. In justification o f this sweeping statement the psalmist points in v 6a to an activity characteristic o f God: “Yahweh takes care o f simple folk.” Then in v 6b he exposes PSALM S

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the personal foundation o f this exercise in religious logic: “When I was down, he saved me.” The passage seems to establish theology from personal experience, reasoning from what G od has just done, to what G od habitually does, to what G od is. A better way o f describing the process would be to say that Israel’s theology has found yet another confir­ mation in a believer’s experience, which provides a testimo­ nial to the character o f God. Personal experience is o f a piece with traditional theology. The credal statement o f v 5, which has its roots in the traditional formulation o f Exod 34:6, was here no “commandment o f men learned by rote,” as Isaiah sadly complained about worship in his day (Isa 29:13 RSV). It had been verified in personal experience. There is a shift from a focus upon that experience to a “pure” theological affirmation. The two are organically linked: thanksgiving is employed as the handmaid o f theology. In another song o f thanksgiving, Ps 30, there is a passage which reads like a hymn: Sing praise to the Lord, O you saints o f his, and praise his holy name. For in his anger is death, but in his favor is life; Weeping may tarry in the evening but joy comes at dawn. (vv 4 ,5 ) The final contrast may evoke a night o f vigil in the sanctuary until a divine oracle is delivered in the morning. O r it may be a poetic metaphor for the darkness o f distress giving way to the glorious light o f deliverance. The preceding contrast pits two o f God’s attributes against each other, anger and favor, in acknowledgment o f his sovereign mystery. How­ ever, it finds his favor to be the predominant factor and so the focus o f communal praise. Ps 18 is a poem in which thanksgiving and praise oscillate.

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It moves backwards and forwards between celebrating the particular experience o f salvation and making general statements in praise o f God’s faithfulness, in vv 20-24,28,29 and 32ff on the one hand, and vv 25-27 and 30,31 on the other. The second half o f the psalm begins with a rhetorical ques­ tion o f divine incomparability, which form-critically belongs to the hymn: For who is a god, apart from the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? (v 31) The first half o f the psalm concludes with an exclamation o f praise in v 30: “G od—his way is perfect!” The structural highlighting o f pure praise is significant The hymnic pas­ sage o f 138:4-6 is worth looking up: it likewise gives a key role to praise, placing it at the heart o f the psalm. P raise in the lam ent 1. Comfort and challenge. Not even laments are devoid of praise. Those whose sufferings are expressed in such psalms experienced mental torment How could they reconcile the G od they had known as a friend with a God who was now distant and seemingly alien? The torment comes to a head in the agonized question, why? This question is characteristic of the lament, notably in 22:1, “why have you forsaken me?” However, their previous experience o f a positive relationship with God brings a measure of comfort It brands their present experience as atypical and so, hopefully, temporary. Normal relations would be resumed, it is hoped, because o f who God is and because o f his ties with the believer as “my God” (22:1). Reminiscence of God’s positive revelation o f himself also functions as a challenge to God. Let him intervene and prove himself real and powerful in the present situation, in a man­ ner consistent with previous experience! Psychologically the PSALM S

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function o f provocative challenge precedes that o f comfort, as the negative context o f the questions in 77:7-9 suggest: Will the Lord spurn for ever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love for ever ceased? . . . Has G od forgotten to be gracious? (RSV) In this latter case the overall context is significant. The challenge follows an expression o f nostalgia, seemingly for the historical past celebrated in standard hymns when G od revealed him self as savior o f the covenant people. Challenge turns to comfort in the second and positive half o f the psalm. The Exodus period becomes a theological window through which to glimpse the perennial activity and being o f God: What god is great like our God? Thou art the G od who workest wonders. . . . (vv 13,14 RSV) 2. Remembering God’s salvation. A basic element o f the communal lament, occurring early in the composition, is the reference to God’s saving activity in the p ast A n instance is the appeal to G od in 74:2: Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten o f old, which thou has redeemed to be the tribe o f thy heritage! (RSV) Ps 44:1-3 is comparable. In the royal lament o f Ps 89 the hymn o f vv 1-18 and the history o f the divine foundation o f the Davidic dynasty narrated in vv 19-37 both have a challenging function. The psalmist sets before G od his own standards and implicitly urges him to live up to them. 53

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3. The affirmation of trust The communal and individual laments possess a standard element o f praise that defines the relationship between G od and the individual or community. In Ps 79 the voicing o f the relationship constitutes a final appeal: Israel is “thy people, the flock o f thy pasture” and so dependent upon their divine patron and shepherd. Praise in the laments is by no means disinterested, nor can it be in its life setting o f desperate crisis. It is a weapon in the psalmist’s armory, but it owes its sharpness to the truth o f G od’s dynamic being and to the sincerity o f the speakers)— it is in no way synonymous with flattery. Just as prayer is nothing apart from the reality o f a powerful G od to pray to, so this form o f praise essentially depends upon the objective and subjective reality o f the ties between G od and believers. In the cry for help which the lament represents, such praise is insisting that G od’s ability to give help is proven from past experience. One o f the individual laments, Ps 86, makes a propositional statement about G od’s benevolent, forgiving nature the basis o f the appeal for deliverance: For thou, O Lord, art good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on thee. (v 5 RSV) Later the psalmist counters the persecution o f his enemies with a fuller form o f the same theological proposition: But thou, O Lord, art a G od merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. (v 15 RSV) The “but” o f 86:15 is a phenomenon not infrequently found in the individual lament. Claus Westermann has recognized that it introduces a crucial element o f praise in the lam ent.11 PSALM S

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A n affirmation o f trust is often so prefaced. It finds in G od an ally against misfortune. An example is “But you, O Lord, are a shield around me” (3:3). Craigie well comments: If one gazes too long upon the enemy and his might, the enemy grows in the mind’s eye to gigantic propor­ tions and his citadels reach up to the skies (Deut 1:28). The hypnotic power o f the enemy is broken when one turns one’s gaze toward G od who is able to fight and grant victory (Deut 1:29,30).12 Other instances worth studying in their context are 13:5; 22:3; 59:8, and 102:12-17. Praise and faith join forces in such affirmations o f tru st 4. Highlighting praise. In the case o f the thanksgiving song it was noticed that in two cases a hymnic passage was put at the heart o f the composition (see Pss 18 and 138). The phenomenon is more evident in the lam ent There is a ten­ dency to set a hymnic section at the center o f a lament: O Lord, your lovingkindness is in the heavens, your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. . . . How precious is your lovingkindness, O God, that human beings find refuge in the shadow o f your wings. . . . For with you is the fountain o f life; in your light we shall see light! (36:5-9) Other cases can be seen in 74:12-17; 80:8-11, and 86:8-13. Pyramid-like, prayer rises to a high point o f praise which encapsulates its faith and hope; then it descends, bolstered by the praise. The sequence o f prayers, praises, and prayers in Book Two o f the Psalter (Pss 42-64, 65-68, and 69-71 [72]), to which Wilson has drawn attention, seems to be a large-scale reproduction o f this pattern.13

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P raise in the hymn 1. Acrostic theology. The acrostic or alphabetic pattern used in the case o f two hymns, Pss 111 and 145, employs short and relatively independent statements, and so lends itself to theological declarations o f a propositional type. Examples are: H is activity is marked by majesty and splendor, and his loyalty continues for ever. (111:3) Yahweh is good to all, and his compassion covers all his handiwork. (145:9) This element o f praise also occurs in two wisdom psalms which have an acrostic structure, Pss 37 and 112. 2. Amplifying praise. The happy problem observed in the case o f the song o f thanksgiving, the problem o f doing jus­ tice to G od’s praiseworthiness, recurs in the hymn. How can God’s people praise him enough? One attempted solution is to call for music, for instance in 81:2: Raise a song, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the harp. (RSV) Pss 92:3 and 150:3-5 are similar. Another attempt is a rhetorical call to other nations or to the world o f humanity, to participate in praise. An example occurs in Ps 117, which celebrates the intimate relationship between G od and Israel, yet calls upon “all nations,” as if hired choristers, to swell the volume o f the praises o f Israel, which are not loud enough to do justice to their object: Praise Yahweh, all nations . . . , because his loyal love has towered over us. . . .

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Ps 100 exhibits a similar phenomenon. Yet praise can never be impersonal or on a “rent-a-crowd” basis. In such cases the rhetorical call seems to imply in plain speech a triumphant claim: “If other nations examine our experience, they will be constrained to acknowledge the reality and power o f Yahweh.” This understanding is supported by the parallels to the m otif in reorientation and disorientation contexts: Then it was said among the nations: “Yahweh has done a great work in his dealings with them.” (126:2) Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” (79:10; 115:2) The call to other peoples can be presented in an explicitly provocative way as a rhetorical challenge: For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. (96:4 RSV) The claim is made on the basis o f Yahweh’s role as Creator (v 5). Especially impressive is the role o f praise imaginatively assigned to the constituent parts o f the universe, celestial and terrestrial, inanimate and animate, in Ps 148. Yahweh is envisaged as the praiseworthy focus o f all created life and phenomena. All the elements o f nature and society owe to him their characteristic essence and function, and to him is due the glory. "Let the gnat make music with the whirring of his wings,” as F. B. Meyer paraphrased part o f v 10. A t the other end o f the scale are the solo hymns. The self-exhortation to praise “Bless Yahweh, my soul,” found at the beginning and end o f Pss 103 and 104, was meant as a

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model and incentive for each worshiper—nobody was to be present in body but absent in spirit! The Psalter is indeed a book o f praises. The concentration upon praise that was a dominant concern o f editorial activity in the Psalms seems to retreat from their humanness and to concentrate on divineness in a theoretical or at least de­ tached fashion. So be it: this is but one approach among many discernible in the Psalter, and Christianity with its traditional stress on systematic theology cannot cavil. A t least, the Psalms are as much concerned with a divine “thou” as with a divine “he.” Its theology very often constitutes an awesome confrontation with G o d The raw materials o f the editorial approach were certainly there to be highlighted W hen S t Paul enjoined the Thessalonian believers to “rejoice always” and to “give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thess 5:16,18), was he alluding to the habit o f the Psalter to praise in each o f life’s phases? If so, his exhortation is far from the glib “Hallelujah, anyway” policy advocated by tri­ umphalist preachers. Praise is a constituent part o f most o f the different types o f psalm With various functions it be­ longs to all three phases o f life, orientation, disorientation, and reorientation. Tate and Brady caught the spirit o f the Psalter when they taught the church to sing Through all the changing scenes o f life, In trouble and in joy, The praises o f my G od shall still My heart and tongue employ. The Psalms regularly declare that the dead do not praise G o d for instance in 6:5; 30:9, and 115:17. They are affirm­ ing that it is the prime function and duty o f the living to do so. Human life without praise o f G od is inconceivable for the Psalter. Praise is the hallmark o f true humanity and the fulfillment o f human potential. PSALM S

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4

FAITH

Praise and faith are the head and tail o f the same penny, the outside and inside o f the same p o t. They are closely allied as expressions o f a godward relation, so that Ps 71 glides easily from mention o f “my trust” to that o f “my praise” (vv 5, 6). Faith is so pervasive an element in the Psalms that it is difficult to do justice to i t it is the very air that the Psalter breathes. However, a family o f words re­ volves round faith. This range o f terms is a fruitful basis o f study. Furthermore, the pattern o f phases, orientation, dis­ orientation, and reorientation may serve as an organizational model. “Trust in him at all times” (62:8 RSV) is the overall message o f the Psalter— in whatever phase o f life one hap­ pens to be. Faith in disorientation It is in the laments that faith flowers m ost luxuriantly. Disorientation is a period when negativism governs life, outside and within. Doubt, fear, perplexity, and despair are

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negative reactions spawned by the disintegration o f normal life. Ironically faith can feed as well as fight such foes. Why should the believer be beset by crisis? 1. The protest of faith. There is a tone o f protest and even resentment in 43:2,3: For you are the G od o f my stronghold; why have you rejected me? Why must I wander about in darkness . . . ? A similar sense o f perplexity occurs in the communal lament o f P s 44: All this happened to us, but we did not forget you and we did not act deceitfully in covenant with you. O ur heart did not turn back nor did our foot turn aside from your path. (vv 17,18) The passage is provocatively resonant with the language o f faith, a true faith that issued in a corresponding lifestyle o f obedience. Faith is here loyalty, a sense o f commitment to the covenant relationship. Search though they may, the community can see no adequate reason why this crisis should suddenly be sent by G od at this time. A cherished set o f religious expectations has been shattered, they protest Life no longer makes sense. In 22:1 the cry “My God, my God, why have you for­ saken me?” makes the same point on the individual level. It continues in a similar vein. Traditional piety taught that trust was the prelude to certain deliverance, and Israel’s hymns— “the praises o f Israel”— celebrated this truth (vv 3-5), but the psalmist’s experience ran counter to this ex­ pectation. He could look back on a whole lifetime o f com­ mitment to God:

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I was cast upon you from the womb; from my mother’s belly, you have been my God. (v 10) Yet it had neither shielded him from the onset o f crisis nor brought G od rushing to repel the intruder. N ot deliverance but disappointment was his lot. Faith received an aching wound. The experience is an example o f the chaos that disorientation stirs up in the human heart It is devastating because nothing in life is sacrosanct, nothing is able to escape the onslaught unscathed. Disorientation spells the end o f life as it was habitually known. Even faith cannot immediately bridge the gap. The very existence o f the lament indicates a degree o f faith, but underlying it is the all-too-human cry, “I believe, help my unbelief.” 2. The testimony of faith. Faith is wounded by crisis, but not killed. Yet there is an early stage in disorientation, short or long, when faith in the sense o f finding any religious meaning in life is seemingly dead. There is an indication o f this experience in some communal laments. The psalm leader breaks into a collective prayer with a solo affirmation o f faith in a mighty God. A certain instance is 74:12-17: Yet G od my King is from o f old, working salvation in the midst o f the earth. . . . Thou has fixed all the bounds o f the earth; thou hast made summer and winter. (r sv ) The reader can look up other passages which appear to have this role, 44:6-8 and 94:16-23. Ps 115:9-11, a priestly exhortation in a liturgy o f lament, has a similar function. The impression given is that the leader ventures into paths o f assurance where he knows that the congregation cannot yet follow him in honesty. He speaks on his own account as

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a pastoral comforter o f the community, to direct them to a light gleaming in the darkness, which he at least can glimpse. “My G od” (44:4; 94:22) or “my King” (44:4; 74:12) has a positive ring: it is an appeal to a continuing relationship. 3. The appeal of faith. Ps 31:14 uses the same claim to dif­ ferentiate between the dire crisis and a factor that spells hope: But I— I have trusted in you, O Lord, I have said “You are my G od.” The psalmist claims protection as a committed “servant” o f God, and appeals to “lovingkindness” (v 16) or “steadfast love” (r sv ), G od’s attribute o f loyalty to his own. He has believed exclusively in Yahweh and never strayed into pagan religion (v 6). He matches the commitment o f the old days o f orientation with a new and appropriate commitment: “Into your hand I commit my spirit” (v 5). It fits the phase o f disorientation as a desperate turning to G od for help. Ps 86 is worth reading in this connection: the whole o f it is similarly resonant with faith that expresses itself within the sphere o f a divine-human relationship. Ps 119, Torah-wisdom psalm though it is, has no ivory tower for its setting, but a situation o f stress. In it the poet regularly refers to himself as “your servant” and once to Yahweh as “my G od” (v 115). Here typically it is the Torah to which he “cleaves” (v 31) and in which he “trusts” (v 42) and “believes” (v 66). Ps 7:1 combines the relational address “my G od” with a synonym o f trust, “I have sought refuge in you.” This verbal phrase and the cognate noun “(place of) refuge” are standard psalm language for faith in God. Recourse to God’s protec­ tive power is the basis o f the beautiful prayer in 57:1, Be merciful to me . . . , for in thee my soul takes refuge; PSALM S

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in the shadow o f thy wings I will take refuge, till the storm s o f destruction pass by. (RSV)

The imperative “be merciful” is a relational verb: in Hebrew thinking it has the connotation o f being true to one’s obligations to a dependent: 86:2,3 and 123:2 are worth looking up and comparing.14Ps 59:9,16 looks forward to the time when G od will be celebrated in thanksgiving as a proven “fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.” Ps 141:8 describes this turning to G od in faith thus: Truly to you, Yahweh, Lord, are my eyes directed. In you I seek refuge: do not expose me to death. In 61:3 an affirmation o f trust describes G od as “my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy” (RSV). Prov 18:10 echoes such a formula o f commitment when it describes the name o f Yahweh as “a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” 4. Faith as the answer to fear. It is this recourse to protec­ tive power that proves to be an antidote to natural fear: The Lord is the refuge o f my life; o f whom shall I be afraid? . . . Even though an army encamps against me, my heart shall not fear. Even though war rises up against me, in spite o f this, I am confident (27:1,3; cf. 3:3,6) Ps 23, an affirmation o f trust expanded into a complete composition, has as its actual or remembered background the phase o f disorientation. It gives a prominent place to the powerful protection afforded by the presence o f God, which keeps fear at bay. Two word pictures divide the psalm into halves, the image o f the shepherd in vv 1-4 and that o f the 63

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hospitable host in vv 5, 6. O n the other hand, two direc­ tional perspectives split the psalm differently, the testimony or meditation o f vv 1-3 with its third-person mention o f Yahweh, and the prayer o f vv 4, 5 which employs more intimate direct address. (The final “Yahweh” in v 6 is a con­ cluding device which returns full circle to its occurrence at the beginning, v 1.) The effect o f the different groupings is to highlight the overlapping v 4, with its conviction o f the fear-quelling pro­ tective presence o f God. The throbbing heart o f the psalm lies at this point: Even though I shall walk through the valley o f the shadow o f death, 1 fear no evil. For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff— they comfort me. (RSV) 5. Faith as certainty. Trust has a ring o f subjective cer­ tainty when the verb “know” is used to express it “This I know, that G od is for me” is the climactic assertion o f confi­ dence in 56:9 (r sv ). Fear has found natural room in the psalmist’s heart but his turning to G od in trust is able to dislodge i t When I am afraid, I put my trust in thee. . . . in G od I trust without a fear. W hat can flesh do to me? (vv 3 ,4 RSV) To reapply Martin Luther’s imagery, he could not stop this bird landing on his head, but by faith he could prevent it nesting in his hair. In comparison with his powerful God, human oppressors are cut down to size as weak “flesh.” PSALM S

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There is a looking forward to the announcement o f God’s positive intervention through a prophetic oracle or “word”

(vv 4 ,10). The term “know” is also used as the climax o f a lament in a forward-looking context at 140:13: I know that Yahweh will undertake the cause o f the afflicted, securing justice for the needy. The psalmist is here envisaging his own cause as bound up with God’s typical vindication o f the oppressed. In Israelite theology G od is one who rights wrongs and champions the underdog. Herein lies not only the hope o f other victimized believers, as v 13 also hints, but also his own hope. Similar concluding assurance about the future is ex­ pressed in an impressive “I believe” at 27:13: I believe that I will see the goodness o f the Lord in the land o f the living. The calm conviction o f survival is the corollary o f having turned over to G od the threats to his life, in the passionate petitions o f vv 7-12 which precede. These concluding state­ ments in psalms o f lament correspond to the final stage o f disorientation. This stage is marked by a positive openness to the future, by a sure hope that there is life out there beyond the cataclysm o f crisis. In 13:5,6 such confidence is expressed with the verb “trust”: the psalmist is confident that G od will intervene in loyal help (“steadfast love,” “salvation”) and expects that soon his praying will be changed to praising: But I have trusted in thy steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. 65

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I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me. (r sv ) 6. Faith in God’s word. In some laments an extra element is appended, a reaction to receipt o f the desired oracle. It often includes the language o f faith. In 6:8,9 there is no such terminology, but the passage glows with confidence that G od’s promise o f vindication, just given to him, will come true: Depart from me, all workers o f wickedness, for the Lord has heard the sound o f my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. In Ps 28 the prophetic oracle seems to be represented in v 5: Because they do not understand the works o f the Lord and what his hands have done, he will tear them down and not rebuild them. Relief at receiving it prompts first an outburst o f praise that the appeal to G od to hear prayer (v 2) has been honored, and then a declaration o f faith: Blessed be the Lord, for he has heard the voice o f my supplications. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart has trusted in him. (vv 6,7) Faith receives a fillip from answered prayer. There is a simi­ lar profession at the end o f Ps 55. Verse 22b evidently func­ tions as the mediation o f a divine response, while v 23 expresses a conviction that G od will implement his promise by punishing his guilty enemies:

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He will never permit the righteous to be m oved But thou, O God, wilt cast th an down into the lowest pit; men o f blood and treachery shall not live out half their days. But I will trust in thee. The psalmist “trusts” G od to vindicate him. The faith expressed in these answered laments might be called second-degree faith. By contrast the first-degree faith o f petitionary lament has been bolstered simply by a prior life o f faith and by attendance at the sanctuary where the faith was expressed. The other type o f faith has an extra basis, the divine response. Yet it is not to be despised as easy or undemanding. There was still a considerable gap between the divine promise and its eventual implementation in fact The situation o f crisis bewailed in the lament had not yet changed. O n returning home the one who had prayed would not find immediate reorientation. By faith, however, he clings to the word given to him, sure that his problems will be resolved. The divine word enables him to return to the old situation with confidence and hope. Faith in orientation Faith, in the Psalms, is by no means a foxhole phenomenon, even though its vocabulary is most evident in the laments. Just as the laments make vigorous mention o f pre-disorientation faith, so the psalms o f orientation speak o f faith as the founda­ tion o f ordinary life. It does not need crisis to create it 1. Faith fosters stability. The motto o f orientation is asso­ ciated with faith more than once. In Ps 21, a royal psalm, faith is the secret, humanly speaking, o f the king’s stability:

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The king is trusting in the Lord, and in the lovingkindness o f the M ost High, he will not be shaken. (v 7) This faith is not self-confidence, but a reflection o f divine faithfulness, and therein lies its validity. G od has established the institution o f kingship and is committed to i t There has to be a complementary commitment on the part o f the king. It takes the form o f faith. Ps 16 attests that the ordinary believer “shall not be shaken” inasmuch as his life is marked by “putting the Lord always before” him (v 8; 54:3 and 86:14 are worth comparing). Here might be mentioned 125:1, al­ though the motto occurs in an affirmation o f trust within a communal lament: Those who trust in Yahweh are like Mount Zion, which is immovable, abiding forever. Faith is again the human means o f security. Despite a situa­ tion o f crisis, in this case life evidently still had a modicum o f orientation. T his residue o f stability encourages expecta­ tion o f a fuller enjoyment o f blessing in the future. The affirmation o f 125:1 is applying a m otif drawn from the Songs o f Zion to the theme o f faith. In one o f this partic­ ular group o f hymns G od’s presence in Zion guarantees its stability: G od is in its midst—it will not slip! G od will help it at the break o f dawn. (46:5) The community’s response is one o f faith, in a refrain: The Lord o f hosts is with us; the G od o f Jacob is our stronghold. (vv 7,11, cf. v 1) PSALM S

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G od’s special localization within the temple implies his pro­ tective presence with the community. Proof o f this is given in a manner typical o f the Songs o f Zion, a harking back to an archetypal victory won in connection with Jerusalem (vv 5b, 8-10; 48:3-7, and 76:3, 5, 6 are comparable). Luther caught the spirit o f the psalm in his hymn “A Mighty Fortress is O ur God.” 2. Faith brings blessing. The informal counterparts o f the Songs o f Zion, Pss 84 and 122, breathe an atmosphere o f faith. Ps 84 culminates in a specific mention o f faith: “O Lord o f hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in thee!” (v 12 RSV). This appreciative sentiment is a response to the bless­ ings already promised in temple worship and yet to be real­ ized after returning home. Faith in the G od o f Zion is the door to receiving blessing. It is clear that Israel’s religious institutions were incarnational stimuli for faith. They repre­ sented G od in forms that eyes could see and ears could hear—and feet could walk among: O ur feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem (122:2). 3. Faith is commended. If sacred history provides fuel for faith in Ps 46, it teaches lessons for faith in a hymn that celebrates Yahweh as the Lord o f Israel’s history, Ps 78. That psalm uses history to warn against having “no faith in G od” and not “trust[ing] his saving power” (v 22). It urges each new generation o f God’s people to learn from history an attitude o f faith and obedience: so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works o f God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers . . . , whose spirit was not faithful to God. (vv 7,8) 69

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Similarly a wisdom poem teaches its hearers to “trust in the Lord and do good” (37:3). 4. Faith, true and false. The orientation psalms spell out the direction o f faith by differentiating it from substitute forms and warning against them as false. True faith is exclu­ sive and forbids any truck with the idolatry o f pagan reli­ gion: They have acquired another (god). I will not pour out their libations o f blood, and I will not take their names upon my lips. (16:4; cf. Job 31:26,27) It was observed earlier that an individual lament pleads that such a faith has been a mark o f pre-disorientation piety: I have hated those who keep vain idols, but I have trusted in the Lord. (31:6) Faith in G od also rules out faith in materialism, whether money (see 49:6; 52:7; compare 62:10 and Job 31:24, 25) or armaments (see 20:7 and 33:16; compare 44:6). It also runs counter to an alternative faith in humanity: D o not trust in rulers, in an earthling who cannot save. H is breath leaves him, he returns to his native earth: on that day his policies have perished. How fortunate is the one whose help is Jacob’s God, whose hope is set on Yahweh as his God. (146:3-5) 5. Faith ensures deliverance. In the lament o f Ps 22 the traditional religious truth that trust led to deliverance was cited with mingled doubt and hope: PSALM S

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O my God, I cry out by day, but you don’t answer . . . . O ur fathers trusted in you; they trusted and you delivered them. (vv 2,4) This truth may be glimpsed in its habitat o f orientation in the benediction o f Ps 91. The promise is given to the be­ liever that “because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him” (v 14 RSV). There is a provident admission that the golden days o f orientation may not last forever. Assurance is given, however, that G od’s protective power would be at work in such a case, as Ps 22 is eventually able to acknowl­ edge. Likewise the promise is made in 112:7, 8 that if bad news comes, the trusting heart will be able to overcome the paralysis o f fear, and if social alienation befalls the believer, his faith will see him through: He is not afraid o f bad news: his mind is firm, trusting in Yahweh, his mind is steady, he will not be afraid as he awaits looking at his foes with gratification. Faith in reorientation A t first sight the psalms o f reorientation add little to the Psalter’s theme o f faith. But life is like being on an escalator moving the wrong way: one has to move forward in order to stay in the same place. So it is a tribute to this particular phase o f life that it promotes a reaffirmation o f truths pro­ fessed in the salad days o f orientation and claimed in the dog days o f disorientation. The language may not differ, but the life o f the believer who uses it has been a pilgrimage from frith to frith. 1. Faith refueled. One lament looks forward to the song o f thanksgiving as a celebration o f Yahweh’s protective power in personal experience: 71

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Thou hast been to me a fortress and a refuge in the day o f my distress, (59:16 RSV) A royal song o f thanksgiving begins exuberantly with a piling up o f statements o f praise which all use the terminology o f faith: The Lord is my cliff and my stronghold and my deliverer, my G od is my rock in whom I seek refuge, my shield and my horn o f salvation, my safe retreat (18:2) Here indeed is faith’s vindication, which in turn reinvigorates faith. 2. Faith commended. Personal experience can have a se­ quel in the commendation o f faith to others, in the teaching style that characterizes the song o f thanksgiving: “Blessed is the man who seeks refuge in him” (34:8) and “Blessed is the man who made the Lord his trust” (40:4). In Ps 116 the psalmist declares how right he was to keep his faith during the period o f disorientation, when people around him proved so untrustworthy: I had faith, even when I declared, “I am suffering acutely.” I said in my alarm, “A ll men are unreliable.” (vv 10,11) In Ps 118 a grateful king teaches a similar lesson, which experience has just taught him, that recourse to human allies and counselors comes a poor second to trust in Yahweh: It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to trust in men. It is better to trust in Yahweh than to trust in rulers. (vv 8,9) PSALM S

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3. Faith lost and won. Ps 73 is a unique song o f thanksgiv­ ing in that it celebrates deliverance not from a physical crisis, although that had been no stranger (see v 14), but from spiritual and intellectual doubt This is what the stumbling o f feet means here in v 2, as v 3 explains: A s for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious o f the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity o f the wicked. (RSV) The song, written from a wisdom perspective, discusses the problem o f an unjust providence. The psalmist had discov­ ered the truth shrewdly expressed by John Dryden, that “virtue in distress and vice in triumph make atheists of mankind.” In this situation faith and experience were sign­ posts pointing opposite ways. The one thing that stopped him from following the latter road away from God was a sense of commitment not to God himself but to fellow believers: If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I w ould have been untrue to the generation o f thy children. (v 15 RSV) Eventually his faith is rekindled, in a visit to the temple, seemingly at festival time when traditional hymns celebrat­ ing G od’s providential judgment were sung. H is cold heart is warmed; he is able to apply the hymnic language to the prosperous renegades whom he had envied. He goes on to confess that the materialistic attitude which had had a corro­ sive effect upon his faith was animal-like, and to exult in a new sense o f the reality o f God: When my soul was embittered, . . . I was like a beast toward thee. 73

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Nevertheless I am continually with thee; thou dost hold my right hand. . . . but G od is the strength o f my heart and my portion for ever. (vv 21-23,26 RSV) The logical conclusion o f the psalm, expressed in v 1, is: “Truly G od is good to [Israel].” A t first hearing it. sounds trite, but the same language can express a low or high level of faith. Here the spiritual stance is that o f Dostoevsky’s Chris­ tian testimony: “It is not as a child that I believe and confess C h rist My ‘hosanna’ is born o f a furnace o f doubt”

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5

BLESSING

The motto o f thè phase o f orientation in human life, “we shall not be moved,” is a neutrally descriptive statement. In the usage o f the Psalter, however, it has a firm theological basis. N ot only is faith in G od hailed as the secret o f a steady life, but the divine origin o f such stability is emphasized by grounding it in blessing. The theology o f orientation relates to a G od who blesses. B lessin g in creation The reader o f the O ld Testament is well prepared for the Psalms’ association o f the theme o f blessing with G od’s role as Creator. H e or she has encountered the association at the opening o f Genesis, where the narrative o f creation makes much o f G od’s pronouncement o f blessing, upon animals, humanity, and even the Sabbath day (Gen 1:22,28; 2:3). A regular theme o f the hymns o f praise in the Psalter is G od’s work in creation. Here too it is related to blessing.

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Two hymns, Pss 8 and 104, make use o f the same traditions as G en 1 and develop them in tones o f praise. 1. God’s viceroys. Ps 8 celebrates human power over the world, especially over the rest o f animate creation. It envis­ ages the pioneer who tames the wilds and brings them under control so that they function as his own environment Verse 5 affirms: Thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor. (RSV) Crowning is a general metaphor o f blessing in 65:11 and 103:4; in this case the crowning “with glory and honor” paints a more precise picture o f king-making. It sets human power in a corrective context o f accountability, just as the vassal king crowned by his overlord was not only a sovereign but also a subject Judah’s political history in the late preexilic period included two bitter experiences o f the loss o f royal independence. Pharaoh enthroned Eliakim, giving him the trappings o f nationalistic royalty in the form o f a new Yahwistic name, Jehoiakim, and Nebuchadnezzar enthroned Mattaniah as Zedekiah, probably with the same underlying intent (2 Kgs 23:34; 24:17). In Ps 8 an admission that Yahweh is the power behind the human throne is communicated by its frame o f praising declarations o f G od’s majesty as king o f the world in vv 1 and 9: O Lord, our governor, how majestic is your name in all the earth. A s in G en 1:27, 28, it is G od who empowers humanity to function as his regent and thus as agent o f his will. 2. God’s extended family. Ps 104 widens the perspective o f blessing so that it encompasses not only humanity but the whole o f the animate world, just as Gen 1:22, 28 present parallel mandates o f blessing to both the animal and human PSALM S

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sectors o f creation. The psalm betrays its setting in the sphere o f orientation by the version o f its motto in v 5: it is because G od has founded the earth so firmly that “it cannot move for ever and ever.” The world in which humanity finds itself is a safe place to live in, affirms the hymn, because it has a God-given security. By this blessing humanity is set free from a basic anxiety, and in positive terms is free to get on with the work o f maintaining and promoting life. It is the human worker who is the concern o f the central stanza, vv 14-23. The opening theme o f the stanza is human labor in the fields, tending the cattle and producing food and even wine “to gladden the heart.” Its closing note is the long day devoted to human labor, from m om to evening. Yet the boon from this toil depends upon initial divine giving: the vegetation for animal and human consumption grows by G od’s design and at his behest. In this rural presentation o f human life the environment is essentially shared with animals. There is the conception o f a divine economy that governs even birds and wild beasts. Mountain terrain beyond humanity’s utilitarian concern is prized not for its idyllic beauty but as the habitat o f wild goats and conies. Nonproductive trees are regarded as being there for birds to nest in. The division o f time into night and day is evidence o f God’s programmed cycle o f activity for animals and humans. Everywhere the psalmist looks he sees signs o f an ordered structure which is the gift o f a G od who blesses. In this representation o f the world animals, birds, and humans live together in mutual respect, coexisting and in part cooperating. The next stanza o f the psalm, vv 24-30, celebrates G od as maker o f all creatures great and small, and as constant sup­ plier o f their vital needs. They are portrayed as his family, ever dependent on the benevolent hand o f their divine par­ ent for the sustenance o f life. He it is who ensures the continuity o f life from generation to generation. A s one 77

generation dies, he “creates” another with his life-giving en­ ergy. There is a dynamic relationship between G od and the creatures he has made: apart from his continuous interven­ tion in blessing all life disintegrates and disappears. 3. God's universal love. Two other hymns praise G od as the regular supplier o f food to the world. Language similar to that o f Ps 104 is used in 145:15,16: The eyes o f all look to you and you give them their food in due time. You open your hand

In Ps 136:25 the role o f G od as one “who gives food to all living creatures” backtracks to an earlier theme o f the psalm, that o f creation, broached in vv 4-9. G od’s initial work o f creation was not a static activity that, once done, left the world to its own devices. It had as its corollary a continuous providence whereby food is given “to all flesh.” The refrain o f praise that punctuates each declaration made in Ps 136, “for his loyal love is everlasting,” has a remarkable use in this contest o f creation. Normally “loyal love” relates to aspects o f G od’s faithfulness in the covenant relationship with Is­ rael. Here, however, it is widened to his care for all his creatures. The same usage occurs just as strikingly in 145:8, 9, where the formula o f Exod 34:6 is extended from a cov­ enant setting to one o f universal providence: Yahweh is dutiful and compassionate, patient and greatly loyal. Yahweh is good to all, and his compassion covers all his handiwork. Similarly 33:5 and 119:64 attest that “the earth is full o f the Lord’s lovingkindness.” A covenant attribute has been PSALM S

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expanded to cover the faithful relationship that binds the Creator to his creatures in a world that has no independent existence. This reinterpretation in universal terms has a relevance beyond the Psalter: it recurs as the theological fulcrum o f the book o f Jonah (Jon 4:2). From a long-term perspective it brings the reader o f the Bible a good step closer to the universal love o f G od celebrated in the New Testament, which integrates the covenantal and universal meanings o f “steadfast love” found in the Old. Yet it serves to warn the Christian against a form o f otherworldliness that despises the natural world o f space and the senses. In these psalms C od’s steadfast love has become part o f the vocabulary o f material blessing, for which Israel gives thanks not as the chosen people but as part o f the human race. 4. God’s enabling. Another hymn, Ps 29, makes C od’s control over the forces o f nature the basis for more particu­ lar assurances: The Lord will give protection to his people; the Lord will bless his people with peace. (v 11) Because o f his lordship over nature he is able to care effectively for his own. There is a hymnic formula describing Yahweh as “maker o f heaven and earth” which in the Psalms links blessing for Israel or for its individual members with his work in creation. Seemingly it had deep roots in ancient worship at Jerusalem, for it is used in the benediction spo­ ken to Abraham by the Jebusite priest-king Melcbizedek (Gen 14:19). Ps 115:15 is part o f a priestly benediction issued to the congregation in the temple courts: “May you be blessed by Yahweh, maker o f heaven and earth.” By right o f creation Israel’s G od controls the world, and by this power he is able to do more than his people can ever ask. This is the power that is reassuringly invoked as the generous mea79

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sure o f his blessing. In 121:2 it is characterized as “help” that undergirds the daily life o f the believer: The source o f my help is Yahweh, maker of heaven and earth. B lessing in worship A blessing similar to that in Ps 115, given in the name o f the “maker o f heaven and earth,” is uttered in 134:3 as a blessing “from Zion.” Similar, but without the creation for­ mula, is the benediction o f 128:5, “May Yahweh bless you from Zion.” These references indicate how closely blessing is linked with the temple. Indeed, 133:3 makes the categorical statement that Zion “is where Yahweh has ordered the bless­ ing to be.” Lev 9:22, 23 and 2 Chr 30:27 suggest that in Israelite tradition an act o f sacrificial worship concluded with a priestly benediction. Luke 1:21, 22 alludes to this tradition as part o f the priestly duties o f Zechariah, the fa­ ther o f John the Baptist. O n certain occasions the king exer­ cised this priestly role, according to 2 Sam 6:18. Ps 24 appears to refer to divine blessing as the sequel to worship in the sanctuary (vv 3,5): W ho shall ascend into the mountain o f the Lord and who shall stand up in his holy place? . . . He will receive blessing from the Lord. . . . It is presumably not coincidental that the last o f the Songs of Ascents concludes with a benediction (134:3). 1. The mutuality of blessing. One can speak o f a cycle o f blessing, for the term “bless” is also used o f the praise that Israel offers in worship. There is an interchange o f the two kinds o f blessing in Ps 134. There is first a call, evidently to the congregation standing in the temple courts, to “bless” or PSALM S

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praise Yahweh, raising their hands toward the temple as a gesture o f worship. Then another cry rings out, invoking divine blessing upon those who bless him. The cycle o f blessing to and from G od reminds the Christian o f Eph 1:3, “Blessed be the G od and Father o f our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. . . .” (RSV). In Ps 134 the order is based on religious practice whereby worship was concluded with a benedic­ tion. God’s blessing is the gracious byproduct o f worship. 2. The theology of benediction. In Num 6:24-26 there is a prescribed form o f words which has been carried over into Christian worship: “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you . . . and give you peace.” The interpretive comment on the benediction in V 27 is significant: “So shall they put my name upon the peo­ ple of Israel, and I will bless them.” It suggests that the priestly benediction, uttered in the form o f petitionary wishes, would be followed by Yahweh’s implementation o f the benediction. Divine blessing was not simultaneously mediated through the human words. Rather, Yahweh heard and honored the formal wishes of his ministers by bestowing blessing upon the subse­ quent lives o f his worshipers. Both divine sovereignty and the implicit power of the benediction find expression here. Evi­ dently the priestly benediction, although generally expressed in the form o f wishes, by grace has the virtual force o f a promise, like a check which is subsequently honored. This procedure sheds light on 115:12-15, where the multiple assur­ ance that Yahweh will bless is followed— strangely at first sight—by a benediction in wish form: May you be blessed by Yahweh, maker o f heaven and earth. (v 15) The passage makes good sense, for the benediction carries with it a divine undertaking that G od would honor it 81

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3. A promise kept. Ps 67:1, “May G od be gracious to us and bless us and make his fece to shine upon us” (RSV) echoes part o f the benediction formula o f Num 6:24-26. Seemingly G od’s dutiful compliance with the covenant rela­ tionship and his smile o f favor are here invoked in a prayer for blessing rather than in a benediction. If so, the relation o f the prayer to the rest o f the psalm is by no means clear. It may be the case, as some scholars consider, that the Hebrew verbs are intended as imperfect and refer to G od's habitual attitude: “G od is customarily gracious to us and makes his face. . . .” The psalm then expresses gratitude for blessing received, specifically in the harvest (v 6), and gives praise that G od is one who honors the benediction uttered in his name. The imperfect form o f the Hebrew verbs in the repeated clause o f vv 6, 7, with the apparent sense “G od blesses us” lends some support to this interpretation. 4. Pledges to pilgrims. Another echo o f the Aaronic bene­ diction occurs in Ps 121, with its sixfold use o f the verb “keep.” The setting is best explained as the imparting o f a priestly blessing to a pilgrim before he leaves the holy city at the end o f a festival. H is own conviction o f faith, taught to him by his period o f worship, is clinched by a priestly or prophetic voice in vv 3-8, speaking in tones o f solemn promise. The promise begins with the motto o f orientation expressed in a form which places the onus for its implemen­ tation upon God: “He will not let your foot stumble; . . .” Ps 91 may have originated in a similar setting. The “shelter of the M ost High” and “shadow o f the Almighty” (v 1) then refer to recourse to the temple in demonstration o f the pilgrim’s faith. The kernel o f the official promise is vv 9,10: Because you have made the Lord your refuge, the M ost High your habitation, no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. PSALM S

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Worship at the temple is crowned with a promise that in consequence orientation will be the pilgrim’s lot, and disori­ entation will be kept at bay. B lessing in everyday life The benediction builds a bridge between worship and returning to pick up the threads o f everyday life. The pil­ grim set out on his return journey with rich assurances o f blessing ringing in his ears. It is easy to see from the phe­ nomenon o f the benediction how essential the institution o f the temple was for the life o f the Israelite. He met with G od in t emple worship; this G od goes back with him into the secular world, preserving, protecting, and prospering: Yahweh is your guardian, Yahweh is your protection at your right hand. (121:5; cf. 16:8; 91:15) 1. Life sustained and fulfilled. Blessing essentially spells life and the perpetuation o f life; it is defined in 133:3 as “life for evermore.” Human existence was much less cushioned than in modem Western society. Harm loomed time and again, and threat o f harm even more. “Guard me” or more basically “keep me,” is the petition in 16:1, in a psalm which most probably has a setting o f orientation. The earnest request takes up a term belonging to the priestly benediction. It re­ minds God to act in compliance with his promise and trust­ fully expects that he would do so. To stay alive and fit to work would be bounty indeed. Not to be given up to Sheol in death (v 10) was a prospect worthy of praise. To be directed by God, so as to enjoy life and its pleasures, was veritable blessing: You make me to know the path o f life, the full rejoicing o f your presence, 83

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the perpetual pleasantness by your right hand. (v 11; see Eccl 3:12,13; 9:9) Another term belonging to the vocabulary o f blessing is usually rendered “peace,” but is perhaps more accurately defined as fulfillment. This term occurs at the end o f the benediction in Numbers 6:24-26. It appears in blessing contexts in the Psalter, such as at 29:11, “The Lord will bless his people with peace” (cf. 128:6; 147:14). There is a useful definition of the range o f blessing in Ps 144. In vv 12-14 the people offer prayerful wishes for what the R SV loosely paraphrases in v 15 as “blessings.” They comprise sturdy sons and daughters, good crops, flocks that lamb well, and healthy, well-fed cattle. These were the natural concerns o f the post-exilic community as it endeavored to build up a stable and strong society in the face o f great odds. There was a prayerful expectation that G od would meet them at the very point o f these needs. In contexts o f blessing, the concern for children, as befits a seriously underpopulated society, appears often, for instance in 107:38; 115:14; 147:13, while the expression o f depen­ dence on G od for crops is reflected in 67:6; 132:15 and 147:14. In the difficult economic conditions o f the post-exilic period especially Judah needed all the help and morale build­ ing it could get The help that Yahweh could give was taken seriously. 2. Dependence on God. This factor o f support from Yah­ weh is well expressed in a description o f Yahweh that applies to all o f life’s phases, whether orientation (16:5), disorienta­ tion (119:57; 142:5; cf. Lam 3:24) or reorientation (73:26). He is “my portion,” attests the believer concerning the G od who blesses. The origin o f the phrase is generally seen in the phenomenon that the tribe o f Levi had no portion of land allotted to them but instead depended for their suste­ nance on gifts and offerings made to Yahweh. In the Psalter PSALM S

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the term has been spiritualized, but not so as to exclude the material sphere. It is Yahweh who is the believer’s suste­ nance, his ultimate life-support system and the source o f all that fulfills his potential Ps 1:3 insists that steady growth in life depends intrinsically upon God, encountered through th