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Proquest Dissertations ELIJAH AS DOMINANT CHARACTER: A NARRATIVE-CRITICAL READING OF ELIJAH'S REPRESENTATION OF YHWH IN 1 KINGS 18:16-40 by Charles N. Harris A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of PROVIDENCE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 OttawaONK1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre inference ISBN: 978-0-494-68154-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-68154-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS ii INTRODUCTION 1 0.1 The Process and the Hypothesis 2 0.2 The Boundaries of the Mount Carmel Pericope 7 0.3 The Context of the Contest Narrative 11 CHAPTER 1: THE NARRATIVE-CRITICAL METHOD 16 1.1 The Development of the Literary Approaches to Biblical Narratives 16 1.2 Assumptions and Delimitations 23 1.3 Narrative Criticism and Its Use for Understanding Characters 29 CHAPTER 2: RECENT RESEARCH ON THE ELIJAH NARRATIVES 40 2.1 The Pre-Deuteronomistic History Formation of the Elij ah Narratives 40 2.2 The Insertion of the Elijah Narratives into the Deuteronomistic History 46 2.3 Holistic Approaches and the Elijah Narratives 48 CHAPTER 3: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON ELIJAH 53 3.1 A Short Summary of the Plot 54 3.2 Elijah and Ahab(w. 16-20) 57 3.3 Elijah and the People (w. 21-24,30-35,39-40) 64 3.4 Elijah and the Prophets of Baal (w. 25-29) 72 3.5 Elijah and YHWH (w. 30-38) 81 3.6 Some Concluding Remarks on the Character of Elij ah 87 CHAPTER 4: NARRATIVE ANALYSIS WITH AN EMPHASIS ON YHWH 93 4.1 YHWH as the Subject of the Plot 93 4.2 The Effect of YHWH's Absence on the Other Characters 99 4.3 Movement in the Contest Narrative (and a Note on YHWH in Narrated Time). 104 4.4 Preliminary Conclusions on the Character of YHWH 106 CHAPTER 5: SYNTHESIS 108 5.1 YHWH Versus Baal and Elijah Versus the Prophets of Baal 110 5.2 YHWH's Rain and Elijah's Contest 112 5.3 YHWH's Compassion and Elijah's Delay 114 5.4 YHWH's Authority and Elijah's Authority 115 5.5 YHWH's Existence and Elijah's Life 117 5.6 A Superimposition of YHWH and Elijah 119 CHAPTER 6: ELI J AH IN THE LARGER CONTEXT 121 6.1 Elijah's First Appearance (17:1) 121 6.2 Elijah and the Reviving of the Widow's Son (17:17-24) 123 6.3 Elijah as a Solution for Ahab's Drought 126 6.4 Elijah's Resemblance to Moses 130 6.5 Conclusion 132 CONCLUSION 134 7.1 A Review of the Method 134 7.2 A Review of the Argument 135 7.3 Conclusion 137 BIBLIOGRAPHY 139 i ABBREVIATIONS AB The Anchor Bible ABD The Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman, et al. AUSTh&R American University Studies, Series VII: Theology and Religion BDB The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon, by Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. Lafayette, IN: Associated Publishers and Authors, 1980 BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium Bib Biblica BHS Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. Edited by K. Elliger and W. Rudolph, 5th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1997 BibSem Biblical Seminar BJS Brown Judaic Studies BO Berit Olam: Studies in Hebrew Narrative & Poetry CBC Cambridge Bible Commentary CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series CCom Communicator's Commentary DDD Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2n ed. Edited by Karel van der Toorn, Bob Becking, and Pieter W. van der Horst DH The Deuteronomistic History DOTHB Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books. Edited by Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson Dtr The Deuteronomist FOTL Forms of the Old Testament Literature GBS Guides to Biblical Scholarship HTIBS Historic Texts and Interpreters in Biblical Scholarship ICC International Critical Commentary Int Interpretation ISBL Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature ITC International Theological Commentary JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JBQ Jewish Biblical Quarterly JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages JPT Journal of Pentecostal Theology JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series LHB/OTS Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies (formerly JSOTSup) LXX Septuagint MT Masoretic Text NAC New American Commentary NIBCOT New International Biblical Commentary: Old Testament Series NIVAC NIV Application Commentary OTL Old Testament Library SBLSemSt Society of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies ii Ill SBLSymS Society of Biblical Literature Symposium Series SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament SOTBT Studies in Old Testament Biblical Theology SSN Studia Semitica Neerlandica StBL Studies in Biblical Literature S&HBC Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum WBC Word Biblical Commentary INTRODUCTION Elijah is a hero of Hebrew narrative. When Elijah wages a battle against the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel for the hearts of the people of Israel he becomes engraved in the memories of millennia of readers. This is a climactic point in Elijah's career. He draws the Israelites, the king, and his opponents onto a divine battlefield where a contest is waged between Baal, a rival deity, and YHWH, the deity of Israel's history and the one whom Elijah serves.1 Elijah stands alone, but strong and confident before all the other characters and he competently constructs a victory for YHWH. This story is found in 1 Kings 18:16-40.2 This pericope is a piece of a larger narrative arc involving the same characters. As part of this larger narrative, two issues are already present when this story starts. The first is the presence of Baalism in Israel, which is attributed to Ahab and his wife Jezebel, and which deprives YHWH of his worshippers (1 Kgs 16:31-33; 18:18, 21). The second issue is a drought which comes as a consequence to Baalism (17:l).3 Elijah's contest seeks to remedy both these issues. It directly attacks the prophets of Baal and their god, but it implicitly seeks to determine which deity is the provider of rain. Thus the contest is an act of returning Israel to a former and better time—one where they worship the true God and receive the blessing 1 The narrative contains two divine names, "YHWH" and "Baal," and a divine title, "god." YHWH and Baal are the two divine beings competing in the contest for the honour of the title "god." This thesis will match these same terms: YHWH and Baal will be used as the proper names of the competing gods, and "god" will be used as a title. Also, in correspondence with common modern usage, "God" (with a capital "G") will be used when specifically referring to YHWH. 2 Also frequently called "the contest narrative" in this thesis. 3 It is not specifically stated that the drought is a consequence to Baalism, however a couple points in the narrative imply this. First, the drought is introduced immediately after a description of Ahab's sin of worshipping Baal (16:30-17:1), and second, immediately after Ahab accuses Elijah for "troubling" Israel (starting the drought) Elijah clarifies that it is Ahab's Baal-worship that is at fault (18:17-18). 1 2 of rain. Elijah is the hero in this contest: for choosing to wage the battle in the first place, for calling on the correct deity, and for defeating the religious apostasy that caused the drought. Elijah is a conqueror of sorts; he dominates in the story, controls the events, and directs the dialogue. A pattern emerges in the narrative in which Elijah commands or prompts everything the other characters do. All other characters, including Ahab, the people of Israel,4 the prophets of Baal, and even YHWH, invariably respond to Elijah. He even seems to control time; or at least the speed in which time passes is always in Elijah's favour. Elijah's domination in the narrative is near to god-like, beyond human proportions.
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