Hamilton/historical.book Page 3 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Handbook on the Historical Books Joshua Judges Ruth Samuel Kings Chronicles Ezra–Nehemiah Esther Victor P. Hamilton K Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 4 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM © 2001 by Victor P. Hamilton Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakeracademic.com Paperback edition published in 2008 ISBN 978-0-8010-3614-9 Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photo- copy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only excep- tion is brief quotations in printed reviews. The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows: Hamilton, Victor P. Handbook on the historical books : Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah, Esther / Victor P. Hamilton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 10: 0-8010-2257-6 ISBN 978-0-8010-2257-9 1. Bible. O.T. Deuteronomy—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. BS1275.2 .H45 2001 222´.06—dc21 2001035582 Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 5 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Dedicated to all the students I have had the privilege of teaching in biblical studies at Asbury College over the last thirty years Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 6 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 7 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Contents Abbreviations 9 Preface 13 Joshua 15 Judges 97 Ruth 187 1 Samuel 211 2 Samuel 297 1 Kings 1–11 379 1 Kings 12–2 Kings 25 415 1–2 Chronicles 477 Ezra–Nehemiah 503 Esther 529 Subject Index 551 7 Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 8 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 9 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Abbreviations ABD Anchor Bible Dictionary. Ed. D. N. Freedman. 6 vols. New York: 1992 ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament BA Biblical Archaeologist BAR Biblical Archaeology Review BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BEATAJ Beiträge zur Erforschung des Alten Testaments und des antiken Judentum BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium Bib Biblica BI Bible Illustrator BibInt Biblical Interpretation BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester BRev Bible Review BSac Bibliotheca Sacra BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin BT The Bible Translator BZ Biblische Zeitschrift BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft CAD The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CBQMS Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series CT Christianity Today CTM Concordia Theological Monthly EncJud Encyclopaedia Judaica. 16 vols. Jerusalem: 1972 EvQ Evangelical Quarterly ExpT Expository Times 9 Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 10 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM 10 Abbreviations Fs. Festschrift GTJ Grace Theological Journal HAR Hebrew Annual Review HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology HeyJ Heythrop Journal HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs HTR Harvard Theological Review HUCA Hebrew Union College Annual IDB The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Ed. G. A. Buttrick. 4 vols. Nashville: 1962 IDBSup The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: Supplementary Volume. Ed. K. Crim. Nashville: 1976 IEJ Israel Exploration Journal Int Interpretation JAAR Journal of the American Academy of Religion JANES Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JFSR Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages JPS Jewish Publication Society JR Journal of Religion JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSS Journal of Semitic Studies JTS Journal of Theological Studies LTQ Lexington Theological Quarterly NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament OSt Oudtestamentische Studiën PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly PSB Princeton Seminary Bulletin RB Revue biblique RefR Reformed Review RelSRev Religious Studies Review ResQ Restoration Quarterly RevExp Review and Expositor Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 11 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Abbreviations 11 RTR Reformed Theological Review SBLDS Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series SBLMS Society of Biblical Literature Monograph Series SBLSP Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers SBLSS Society of Biblical Literature Semeia Studies SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament SJT Scottish Journal of Theology TBT The Bible Today TDOT Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Ed. G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren. Trans. J. T. Willis, G. W. Bromiley, and D. E. Green. 8 vols. Grand Rapids: 1974– ThTo Theology Today TJ Trinity Journal TynB Tyndale Bulletin TZ Theologische Zeitschrift UF Ugarit-Forschungen USQR Union Seminary Quarterly Review VT Vetus Testamentum VTSup Supplements to Vetus Testamentum WTJ Westminster Theological Journal ZAW Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 12 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 13 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM Preface It is common in Christian circles to refer to the corpus of biblical books from Joshua through Esther as the Historical Books. This large unit be- gins with Israel’s entry into Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, and concludes centuries later with exiled Israel putting down roots in Persia. There is no shortage of books dealing with this period of biblical Is- rael. For example, the standard bearer in this field has for some time been John Bright’s immensely popular History of Israel. It appeared first in 1959, then in a second edition in 1972, in a third edition in 1981, and most recently in a fourth edition in 2000. Suffice it to say, numerous histories of Israel have been written be- fore, concurrent with, and since Bright’s that take a much more skep- tical approach to the historical claims of this unit of Scripture. Some of the more recent and radical histories fail to discern any real, verifi- able history here at all! Such interpretations distinguish between bibli- cal Israel and historical Israel. At the other end of the spectrum are those biblical scholars for whom Bright’s conservative History of Israel is not conservative enough. For them, even the historically conservative John Bright makes too many concessions. Hence, they have produced their own histories, which reflect belief in an inspired and inerrant Bible. So we can say that of the writing of histories of Israel there is no end. Surely, there is something here to satisfy everybody’s taste, from that of the minimalist to that of the maximalist. I have absolutely no interest in adding another history of Israel to the already flooded market. What I have tried to produce is something 13 Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Historical Books Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2001. Used by permission. Hamilton/historical.book Page 14 Thursday, December 4, 2008 9:43 AM 14 Preface that will serve as a supplement and companion volume to Bright’s, or some other, history of Israel. Those whose exclusive interest is in the area of historical issues and arguments will find some of those matters addressed in this volume, but that is not my primary focus. Instead, using the principles of disciplines such as rhetorical criti- cism and inductive Bible study, I have tried to get at and uncover the thrust and message of these books of Scripture. For example, I do not think one will find in Bright’s, or in any other, history of Israel, an ex- amination of the structure of Judges, and how the fleshing out of that structure illuminates the movement within and the theological mes- sage of Judges. My primary target audience is the undergraduate college student who is beginning advanced biblical studies. The seminary student and pastor will also find, I trust, ideas and insights that will assist them in their encounter with and exposition of this portion of Scripture. For those wishing to engage in further research in the scholarly lit- erature, I have appended a bibliography to each chapter. Here the reader will find a listing of commentaries and major studies as well as shorter studies (most often those found in the academic journals of the discipline of biblical studies). Of necessity, I have limited most of my entries to those written in the last several decades, and by choice, I have limited my entries to those written in English.