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Copyright © 2019 Casey Kenneth Croy Copyright © 2019 Casey Kenneth Croy All rights reserved. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has permission to reproduce and disseminate this document in any form by any means for purposes chosen by the Seminary, including, without limitation, preservation or instruction. TRACING THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON THROUGH TIME: THE NECESSITY OF A DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO COMPILATIONAL CRITICISM __________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary __________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy __________________ by Casey Kenneth Croy December 2019 APPROVAL SHEET TRACING THE OLD TESTAMENT CANON THROUGH TIME: THE NECESSITY OF A DIACHRONIC APPROACH TO COMPILATIONAL CRITICISM Casey Kenneth Croy Read and Approved by: __________________________________________ James M. Hamilton (Chair) __________________________________________ Peter J. Gentry __________________________________________ Brian J. Vickers Date______________________________ For the glory of God in Christ Jesus In memory of my father, Kenneth Lee Croy To my wife, Autumn, who has sacrificed so much for me To our children, Atticus and Elise, May you come to embrace Christ as your Savior To the glory of God TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES .............................................................................................................. x LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xii PREFACE ........................................................................................................................ xiii Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1 Personal Interest ..................................................................................................3 Thesis, Definitions, and Presuppositions ............................................................4 Background-History of Research ......................................................................15 Method ..............................................................................................................33 Preview ..............................................................................................................34 2. ANCIENT WITNESSES TO THE ORDER OF THE OLD TESTAMENT .......................................................................................................37 The Three Ancient Jewish Arrangements of the Old Testament ......................39 Is There a Relationship between the Three Ancient Jewish Arrangements? ...........................................................................................44 Conclusion ........................................................................................................60 3. A METHOD FOR DISCERNING WHEN COMPILATION INFLUENCED COMPOSITION .........................................................................62 Stone’s Criteria ..................................................................................................64 Evaluating Compositional Criteria ....................................................................73 Towards a Methodological Solution for Compilational Criticism ....................80 iv Chapter Page A Methodological Proposal for Compilational Criticism .................................82 Conclusion ........................................................................................................96 4. NAHUM’S COMPILATIONAL PARTNERS ....................................................97 Why the LXX Arrangement? ..........................................................................100 The Formation of the Book of the Twelve ......................................................101 A Micah-Nahum Compilation.........................................................................105 A Jonah-Nahum Compilation .........................................................................111 Conclusion ......................................................................................................115 5. THE BOOK OF RUTH AND ITS COMPILATIONAL PARTNERS ..............117 A Judges-Samuel Sequence ............................................................................119 A Judges-Ruth-Samuel Sequence ...................................................................128 A Proverbs-Ruth Sequence .............................................................................137 A Ruth-Psalms Sequence ................................................................................143 Conclusion ......................................................................................................147 6. THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE HEBREW BIBLE ..........................................148 Chronicles as the Conclusion of the Hebrew Bible ........................................150 A Chronicles-Ezra/Nehemiah Sequence .........................................................183 Conclusion ......................................................................................................197 7. MACRO CANONICAL STRUCTURES ..........................................................198 The Exile-Return Model .................................................................................203 The Messiah Model .........................................................................................208 Conclusion ......................................................................................................233 8. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................235 Summary .........................................................................................................235 Answering Compilational Criticism’s Methodological Questions .................239 v Appendix Page 1. THE TEXT OF BABBA BATHRA 14B ...........................................................244 2. THE LATIN TEXT OF JEROME’S PROLOGUE TO 1 SAMUEL .................245 3. THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE EARLIEST LXX MANUSCRIPTS ............247 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 250 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible AOTC Apollos Old Testament Commentary ASBT Acadia Studies in Bible and Theology BBB Bonner Biblische Beiträge BBR Bulletin of Biblical Research BDAG Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. BECNT Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia Bib Biblica BibInt Biblical Interpreter BKAT Biblischer Kommentar Altes Testament BRev Biblical Review BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenshaft CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CC Continental Commentaries CurBS Currents in Research: Biblical Studies DMBI Dictionary of Major Biblical Interpreters DOTHB Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books DOTP Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch DOTWPW Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry, and Writings EncJud Encyclopaedia Judaica vii ExpTim Expository Times FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament FOTL Forms of Old Testament Literature HALOT The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament HBM Hebrew Bible Monographs HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology IBC Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching Int Interpretation JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JBMW Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood JBTS Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies JESOT Journal of the Evangelical Study of the Old Testament JET Jahrbuch für evangelikale Theologie JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JHS Journal of Hebrew Scriptures JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series KAT Kommentar zum Alten Testament KEJT Kairos: Evangelical Journal of Theology KEL Kregel Exegetical Library LHBOTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies LNTS Library of New Testament Studies LTHS Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures NAC New American Commentary NCB New Century Bible NDBT The New Dictionary of Biblical Theology NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament viii NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary NSBT New Studies in Biblical Theology NTM New Testament Monographs OTL Old Testament Library PIBA Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association PNTC Pillar New Testament Commentary ResQ Restoration Quarterly RevQ Revue de Qumran SBLAIL Society of Biblical Literature Ancient Israel and Its Literature SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series SBLSymS Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SSBT Short Studies in Biblical Theology ST Studia Theologica STI Studies in Theological Interpretation THOTC The Two Horizons Old Testament Commentary TJ Trinity Journal TNTC Tyndale New Testament Commentaries TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries TynBul Tyndale Bulletin VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum WBC Word Biblical Commentary ZAW Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Three possible explanations of literary criteria .................................................14
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