Kingdom of priests : a history of old testament israel

401 Pages·2008·4.01 MB·English

by  Merrill

© 2008 by Eugene H. Merrill
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakerpublishing.com
Ebook edition created 2011
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ISBN 978-1-4412-1707-3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations labeled KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations labeled RSV 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.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Illustrations
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Abbreviations
1. Recalling Israel’s Past: Issues and Strategies
Preliminary Considerations
The History of Israel and Historiography
The Old Testament as Historiography
2. Origins
Israel at Moab
The Purpose of Torah
The Story of the Patriarchs
3. The Exodus: Birth of a Nation
The Meaning of the Exodus
The Historical Setting of the Exodus
The Date of the Exodus
The Dates and Length of the Egyptian Sojourn
Patriarchal Chronology
The Wilderness Wandering
4. The Conquest and Occupation of Canaan
The Land as Promise Fulfillment
The Ancient Near Eastern World
The ‘Apiru and the Conquest
The Strategy of Joshua
The Date of Joshua’s Conquest
The Campaign against the Anakim
Alternative Models of the Conquest and Occupation
The Tribal Allotments
The Second Covenant Renewal at Shechem
5. The Era of the Judges: Covenant Violation, Anarchy, and Human Authority
The Literary-Critical Problem in Judges
The Chronology of Judges
The Ancient Near Eastern World
The Judges of Israel
The Bethlehem Trilogy
6. Saul: Covenant Misunderstanding
The Demand for Kingship
The Chronology of the Eleventh Century
The Selection of Saul
The First Challenge to Saul
The Decline of Saul
Theological Considerations
The Rise of David
7. David: Covenant Kingship
The Lack of Nationhood before David
David at Hebron
Chronicles and Theological History
Jerusalem the Capital
The Establishment of David’s Power
An Introduction to a Davidic Chronology
8. David: The Years of Struggle
Egypt and Israelite Independence
The Ammonite Wars
The Beginning of David’s Domestic Troubles
Jerusalem as Cult Center
The Rebellion of Absalom
David’s Efforts at Reconciliation
Additional Troubles
David’s Plan for a Temple
The Solomonic Succession
The Davidic Bureaucracy
9. Solomon: From Pinnacle to Peril
Problems of Transition
The Failure of the Opposition to Solomon
The Conclave at Gibeon
International Relations
The Building Projects of Solomon
Cracks in the Solomonic Empire
Solomonic Statecraft
Spiritual and Moral Apostasy
Solomon and the Nature of Wisdom
10. The Divided Monarchy
The Roots of National Division
The Immediate Occasion of National Division
The Reign of Rehoboam
The Reign of Jeroboam
The Pressure of Surrounding Nations
Abijah of Judah
Asa of Judah
The Reemergence of Assyria
Nadab of Israel
The Dynasty of Baasha of Israel
Omri of Israel
Jehoshaphat of Judah
Ahab of Israel
The Threat of Assyria
Ahab’s Successors
The Anointing of Hazael of Damascus
Jehoram of Judah
The Anointing of Jehu
11. The Dynasty of Jehu and Contemporary Judah
The Reign of Jehu of Israel
Athaliah of Judah
The Role of Other Nations
Joash of Judah
Jehoahaz of Israel
The International Scene
Jehoash of Israel
Amaziah of Judah
Jeroboam II of Israel
Uzziah of Judah
The Ministry of the Prophets
12. The Rod of Yahweh: Assyria and Divine Wrath
Factors Leading to Israel’s Fall
The End of the Dynasty of Jehu
Assyria and Tiglath-pileser III
Menahem of Israel
The Last Days of Israel
The Impact of Samaria’s Fall
Judah and the Fall of Samaria
Hezekiah of Judah
The Viewpoint of the Prophets
13. Fading Hope: The Disintegration of Judah
The Legacy of Hezekiah
Manasseh of Judah
Amon of Judah
The International Scene: Assyria and Egypt
Josiah of Judah
The Fall of Jerusalem
The Prophetic Witness
14. The Exile and the First Return
An Introductory Overview
The World Situation during the Exile
The Jewish People during the Exile
The World Situation during the Period of Restoration
The First Return
Problems following the Return
Encouragement from the Prophets
15. Restoration and New Hope
The Persian Influence
Subsequent Returns: Ezra and Nehemiah
Malachi the Prophet
Bibliography
Scripture Index
Subject Index
Notes
Illustrations
Chronological Tables
1. The Sequence of the Bronze Age
2. The Patriarchs
3. Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt
4. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties of Egypt
5. The Life of David
6. The Kings of the Divided Monarchy
7. The Neo-Assyrian Kings
8. The Neo-Babylonian Kings
9. The Persian Kings
Maps
1. The Middle East in Pentateuchal Times
2. Canaan in Patriarchal Times
3. The Exodus
4. Arrival in Transjordan
5. The Middle East in the Times of Joshua and the Judges
6. The Conquest of Canaan
7. The Tribal Allotments
8. Israel during the Age of the Judges
9. The Kingdom of Saul
10. The Middle East during the United Monarchy
11. The Kingdom of David
12. Jerusalem in the Days of David and Solomon
14. The Twelve Districts of Solomon’s Kingdom
15. The Divided Monarchy
16. The Assyrian Empire
17. The Babylonian Empire
18. The Persian Empire
Preface to the Second Edition
The twenty years since the initial publication of this work have witnessed a veritable explosion of new
information and new methodologies in the study of the history of Old Testament Israel. New
documents from the ancient Near Eastern and biblical worlds have emerged or have been newly edited
and published, and new ways of assessing these texts and their meaning have come to the fore. The
secondary literature has also kept pace, with new studies now available to the world of scholarship and
to the general laity. The major rationale for a new edition of this work, indeed, has been the
increasingly obvious recognition that what was adequate a generation ago has become insufficient for
the dawn of a new millennium. Besides my own conviction that a major overhaul of the work was
needed, I have been encouraged by others to take on the task of bringing the narrative up to date so
that the message of the Old Testament as not only a theological but also a historical work can resonate
more clearly and relevantly with a new generation of readers. Baker Academic has responded to this
sense of urgency and has graciously undertaken the immense effort and cost of revising a work such as
this with all its technicalities. The author is particularly grateful to Jim Kinney because early on he saw
the value and wisdom of bringing a sorely needed revision to pass. At the same time, he would be first
to admit, with me, that without the competent staff at Baker this work would never have come to
fruition.
The human and technical resources of Dallas Theological Seminary have also contributed
immeasureably to the success of the project. The administration and staff have offered great
encouragement and more—they have assisted in practical ways that have eased the process and made
it possible to complete the work in the short time that has been devoted to it. As always, my wife, Janet,
has been a tower of strength in moving me forward in the times when it seemed there was so little
energy to get it done. It is to my beloved faculty colleagues at Dallas Theological Seminary, however,
that I want to pay greatest tribute this time around, and I gratefully dedicate this effort to them. Many
of them have used the first edition in their classrooms, and they have unfailingly reminded me of its
usefulness to them. I trust that they will find even greater satisfaction in this second attempt. One
might think it strange that a work on history—even the history of Israel—could be such a spiritually
edifying and stimulating exercise for its author, but such it has been. To recognize all over again and
ever more profoundly that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ is the God of our history as well is both a sobering and exhilarating thought. To God be all glory
and praise from this day in history until the eschatological day of his kingdom on earth.
Eugene H. Merrill
October 2006
Preface to the First Edition
The title of this work—Kingdom of Priests—suggests at once the peculiar nature of a history of Israel: it
cannot be done along the lines of normal historical scholarship because it relies primarily upon
documents (the Old Testament) that are fundamentally ahistoriographic in character. The Old
Testament is first and foremost theological and not historical literature; this means that theological
and not historical approaches must be brought to bear if its underlying purpose and message are to be
discerned.
Contrary to much contemporary scholarship, however, we must assert that just because the Old
Testament is by definition “sacred history,” this does not nullify its claim to authentic historicity as
that term is commonly used. It is indeed the record of Yahweh’s covenantal relationship with his
special people Israel, a record that constantly calls attention to the divine interpretation and even
prediction of events, but this always presupposes that those very events actually occurred in time and
space. The theological message, in other words, is grounded in genuine history.
The purpose of this study is not so much to interpret the meaning of the underlying events—a task
more properly in the province of biblical theology—as it is to discover the historical data themselves
and by every resource at our disposal (including the biblical text, archaeological artifacts, and
extrabiblical documents) to reconstruct the history of Israel along the lines of ordinary
historiographical method to the extent that such a goal is possible given the unique nature of the
material. Any success in this endeavor will be of importance to the search for a true understanding of
Israel’s Old Testament past—a worthy objective in itself—and to the establishment of the historical
factualness of the Old Testament record, the truthfulness of which is absolutely critical if the religious
and theological message is to have any effect. Whether we have succeeded must be determined by the
reader.
The completion of a project that has brought so much personal satisfaction to its author requires
that those who made its accomplishment possible be recognized and thanked. It was in the course of a
sabbatical kindly granted by Dallas Theological Seminary in 1983–84 that the major part of the work
was achieved, and so I want to express my appreciation for this generous and enlightened policy.
Moreover, the seminary made its word-processing facilities available. The typing was undertaken by
the gifted hands and enthusiastic spirit of Marie Janeway. To Baker and particularly Allan Fisher and
Ray Wiersma I pay special homage for their patience, expertise, and painstaking attention to every
detail of the project. Finally I must thank my dear wife, Janet, and daughter, Sonya, for putting up with
my absences, aberrations, and frequent demands and for their constant encouragement to see this
through to the end.
Eugene H. Merrill
September 1986