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A Rhetorical Analysis of the Elijah-Elisha Stories Within the Deuteronomistic History

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A Rhetorical Analysis of the Elijah-Elisha Stories Within the Deuteronomistic History A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ELIJAH-ELISHA STORIES WITHIN THE DEUTERONOMISTIC HISTORY ____________________ A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Old Testament Studies Dallas Theological Seminary _____________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy ____________________ by Yue-Ming Joseph Chang April 2000 To Plano Chinese Alliance Church for helping me to keep a spiritual balance in my academic study To Daniel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Priscilla for struggling so hard to pronounce the word “dissertation” in praying for their dad To Esther for it is her insistence that has pushed me through the program ABSTRACT A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ELIJAH-ELISHA STORIES WITHIN THE DEUTERONOMISTIC HISTORY by Yue-Ming Joseph Chang Dallas Theological Seminary Readers: Dr. Robert Chisholm, Jr., Prof. Don Glenn, Dr. Ron Allen This study evolved from the questions: Do the stories of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kgs 16:29-2 Kgs 13:21) have a coherent design? If so, what is the message that the original author tried to convey, and what is its theolo- gical contribution to the larger context of the Deuteronomistic History? Underlying these questions is a search for a methodology that is the most appropriate to analyze the narrative literature to which the stories of Elijah and Elisha belong. In chapter 1 this dissertation surveys the different interpretations that have been offered for the stories of Elijah and Elisha. Chapter 2 argues that, among the many varied approaches, the rhetorical analysis—a narrative literature friendly approach—is the best tool to analyze the stories of Elijah and Elisha. Many narrative elements are identified and their usage explained in chapter 2. Chapter 3 surveys the history of the study of the Deuteronomistic History, with an emphasis on its theology. With the methodology defined in chapter 2, the method of rhetorical analysis is then applied to the stories of Elijah in chapter 4 and the stories of Elisha in chapter 5. Chapter 6 synthesizes the analyses of Elijah (chapter 4) and Elisha (chapter 5) and finds that a coherent design is evident in the stories of Elijah and Elisha. Three major themes surface in the synthesis: (1) Yahweh’s judgment on the rebellious, (2) Yahweh’s establishment of his representa- tives, and (3) Yahweh’s care for the faithful and the needy. Three minor themes also surface in the synthesis: (1) the centrality of the word of Yahweh, (2) the changing status of the Israelites before Yahweh, and (3) the recognition of the ownership of the land. The themes discovered in the analyses of the stories of Elijah and Elisha do contribute to the theology of the Deuteronomistic History. There are six areas in which these contributions are seen. (1) Yahweh’s judgment is inevitable when his people persist in sin. (2) There is preference for the house of David. (3) Yahweh is the only true God, and he allows no rival. (4) Yahweh especially cares for the remnant. (5) The word of Yahweh is to occupy the central place in the lives of the Israelites. (6) Honoring Yahweh is the prerequisite to living in the land. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS For ten years, my wife, Esther, and I have been entrusted with three major responsibilities: rearing a family, planting a church and completing my PhD study. To these three seemingly competing events in our lives, our Lord has proven himself faithful and his grace sufficient for all three events to come to a concluding point where thanksgivings are whole- heartedly offered. Daniel, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and Priscilla have grown up with the majority of their lives being spent with their dad and mom in church and on the seminary campus. They have become great children, honoring God in their school achievements and testifying to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the fun years that we have enjoyed together, we are forever thankful. Plano Chinese Alliance Church, with most of the congregation first generation Christians and consisting of people from the countries of Taiwan, China, Philippines, Malaysia and other places, has provided me the environment to experience first hand the power of God’s word. God has shown me how his word, when faithfully administered, can change lives from paganism to Christianity. The brothers and sisters from this church have demonstrated their great commitment to serve God, have supported me graciously, and have helped me constantly to pursue a spiritual application of my academic study. Dr. Robert Chisholm, Jr., Professor Don Glenn, and Dr. Ron Allen, all very fine scholars from this fine institution of Dallas Theological Seminary, have contributed greatly to this dissertation. Their knowledge of God’s word and other related study is profound. Their humility has impressed me, and their encouragement has been deeply appreciated. Special thanks go to Dr. Chisholm for his guidance and insightful advice which have been instrumental to the completion of this dissertation. Special thanks go also to Mr. Ellis Reed, a dear Christian gentleman who loves the Lord and exemplifies this love by voluntarily helping students whose mother languages are not English. Mr. Reed has spent innumerable hours in correcting my English; his initial painful effort in proofreading this text has made it much less painful for subsequent readers. Finally, my love and my appreciation go to Esther. Thus far, we have journeyed and have accomplished tasks together. May the Lord grant us many more years of serving him together. TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . ix PREFACE . 1 CHAPTER 1. SURVEY OF THE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE ELIJAH AND ELISHA NARRATIVE . .5 Polemics to Baal Worship . 5 Prophetic Veneration . .10 Prophetic Conflict . 11 Prophetic Vindication . 13 Class Struggle . 13 Salvation Stories . 18 Judgment and Revival . 19 Feministic Approach . 21 A Call Back to Sinaitic Covenant . 22 Punishing the Hostile Civilian . 23 Summary . 24 2. METHOD AND APPROACH . 26 Diachronic Approaches . 26 Sociological Analysis . 31 Rhetorical Analysis . 34 Poetics . 41 Elements of Narrative . 45 Summary . 100 vi 3. SURVEY OF THE DEUTERONOMISTIC HISTORY . 102 Noth’s Deuteronomistic History . 104 Gerhard von Rad . 106 Hans Walter Wolff . 109 The Redaction Schools . 113 A Single Composer . 119 Summary . 123 4. THE STORIES OF ELIJAH . 125 Who is God? Baal or Yahweh? 1 Kgs 16:29-19:21 . 126 The Death of Ahab; 1 Kgs 20:1-22:50 . 158 Yahweh’s War against Ahaziah, the Descendant of Ahab; 1 Kgs 22:51-2 Kgs 1:18 . 181 Summary . 188 5. THE STORIES OF ELISHA . 189 The Succession Story/Establishing Elisha’s Prophetic Authority (I); 2 Kings 2 . 190 The Moabite Battle/Yahweh’s First Test of Joram’s Reign; 2 Kings 3 . 200 Establishing Elisha’s Prophetic Authority (II); 2 Kings 4 . 211 Israel’s Spiritual Leprosy/Yahweh’s Second Test of Joram’s Reign; 2 Kings 5 . 224 Establishing Elisha’s Prophetic Authority (III); 2 Kgs 6:1-23. 244 The Siege of Samaria/Yahweh’s Third Test of Joram’s Reign; 2 Kgs 6:24-7:20 . 255 The Comparison between the Arameans under Siege (2 Kgs 6:8-23) and the Israelites under Siege (2 Kgs 6:24-7:20) . 268 The Sword of Hazael and the Sword of Jehu; 2 Kings 8-10. 270 The Smoldering Fire Burned Again and the Renewal of Yahwistic Worship; 2 Kings 11-12 . 290 The Conflict over Golden Calf Worship; 2 Kgs 13:1-21. 292 Summary . 298 vii 6. SYNTHESIS OF THE ELIJAH AND ELISHA STORIES . 300 Setting . 300 Character and Characterization . 302 Plot and Plot Structure . 315 The Themes of the Stories of Elijah and Elisha . 319 Summary . 330 7. CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE ELIJAH-ELISHA STORIES TO THE DEUTERONOMISTIC HISTORY . 332 Yahweh’s Judgment Is Inevitable When His People Persist in Sin . 333 There Is Preference for the House of David . 334 Yahweh Is the Only True God, and He Allows No Rival . 338 Yahweh Especially Cares for the Remnant . 339 The Word of Yahweh Is to Occupy the Central Place in the Lives of the Israelites . 340 Honoring Yahweh Is the Prerequisite to Living in the Land . 342 Summary . 344 BIBLIOGRAPHY . 346 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research ANET J. B. Pritchard (ed.), Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament ATANT Abhandlungen zur Theologie des Alten und Neuen Testaments AusBR Australian Biblical Review BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament BSac Bibliotheca Sacra BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly Dtr Deuteronomistic Author DtrH Deuteronomistic History FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments HR History of Religions HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs JBL Journal of Biblical Literature ix JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament—Supplement Series NASB New American Standard Bible NEB New English Bible NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament NIV New International Version NRSV New Revised Standard Version Or Orientalia (Rome) SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament SR Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses TANAKH Torah, Nevi’im, Kethuvim, A New Translation of The Holy Scriptures According to the Traditional Hebrew Text TDOT G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (eds.), Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Vetus Testamentum, Supplements ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft x Plot Structure Sigla • The first level of heading † The second level of heading ‡ The third level of heading xi PREFACE Many books and articles have analyzed the text of Elijah and Elisha (1 Kgs 16:29-2 Kgs 13:21); the interpretations from these analyses have varied widely.
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