RBL 05/2015 Mignon R. Jacobs and Raymond F. Person Jr., eds. Israelite Prophecy and the Deuteronomistic History: Portrait, Reality, and the Formation of a History Ancient Israel and Its Literature 14 Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013. Pp. x + 243. Paper. $32.95. ISBN 9781589837492. Hardcover. $47.95. ISBN 9781589838857. James M. Bos University of Mississippi Oxford, Mississippi This edited volume of nine essays (plus a short introduction) is part of the Society of Biblical Literature Ancient Israel and Its Literature series. Several of the essays derive from a Deuteronomistic History and Israelite Prophetic Literature joint session at the 2010 SBL Annual Meeting, while the other essays were solicited by the editors to fill out the volume. In the brief introduction Jacobs and Person lay out the raison d être for the volume: on the one hand, recent research on the Latter Prophets has undermined their value as evidence for actual prophetic speech in the monarchic period (especially when compared to Near Eastern parallels); on the other hand, the recent challenges to the notion of the Deuteronomistic History (which include, among other things, an increasing emphasis on the diversity within the collection as well as disputes about dating individual passages and dating the various proposed redactions) requires a reevaluation of prophecy in these texts, both as literarily depicted and these depictions association with historical reality. Against this background, this collection of essays concerns the relationship of prophecy to the Deuteronomistic History, including the historical reality of prophecy behind the literature and the portrayal of prophecy in the literature (3), and offers a discussion of the tension between the reality and the ideological portrayal (6). It should be noted that, while the Latter Prophets are always somewhat in the background of the discussion, the
analyses focus heavily on Deuteronomy and the books of the Former Prophets. The contributions by Ehud Ben Zvi and Thomas C. Römer are the exception, devoting space to both the Former and (one or more of the) Latter Prophets. Rannfrid Thelle s Reflections of Ancient Israelite Divination in the Former Prophets heads the collection. She begins her essay by lamenting the privilege often given in past scholarship to the ostensibly unsolicited prophetic words of the institution-less classical prophets at the expense of the preliterate prophetic figures in the Former Prophets who utilized more technical methods to induce the prophetic word. She then notes that this is less often the case in contemporary scholarship, with the classical prophets now more frequently being relegated to characters in texts composed and edited by later writers. The main thrust of her essay is to demonstrate that divine inquiry is one of the most prominent roles carried out by religious experts in the books of the Former Prophets. In Samuel Kings, the narrators frequently depict the various kings consulting Yahweh via a prophet. In many instances it is clear that the question posed to Yahweh is a simple yes/no question: Shall I go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain? (1 Kgs 22:6). She suggests that a pattern is evident in these divine consultation narratives and they thus presuppose a conventional situation with a highly stereotypic series of events (18). Military matters are most frequently the subject of the consultation, but issues regarding the health of the king and the transition of authority also call for divine inquiry. Such divination is also carried out by individuals or groups who are not easily classified as a prophet, including the Israelites as a whole in Judg 1 and 20, Saul, and David. On the whole, such divination is highly comparable with Mesopotamian divinatory traditions (22). She concludes the essay by discussing the attempt by some writers, particularly those responsible for Deut 18:10 11, to limit and control the various methods of divination practiced in ancient Israel. Marvin A. Sweeney s contribution is titled Prophets and Priests in the Deuteronomistic History: Elijah and Elisha. He notes near that beginning that a number of northern prophetic figures in the Former Prophets, such as Ahijah, Elijah, Elisha, and others appear to act as priests (35). Some earlier interpreters have attempted to explain the mixing of roles as being due to a later priestly redaction. Sweeney does not find this convincing and suggests that perhaps it may be due to a different conception of priestly practices in Israel when compared to Judah. The bulk of the essay then examines the priestly activity of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. So, for example, Elijah officiates over a sacrifice at Mount Carmel as recorded in 1 Kgs 18. Significantly, prophets of Baal are also officiating over the same sacrifice, or at least attempting to do so. In most other texts, such sacrifices are carried out by priests. Thus, this first example is very convincing. The remaining examples, while intriguing, are less clear. Sweeney argues that the description of Elijah s experience on Mount Horeb in 1 Kgs 19 is analogous in some ways to the
manner in which the high priest would experience Yahweh s presence in the inner sanctum of the temple; the narrative in 2 Kgs 1 in which the king s men are destroyed by fire when they approach Elijah is informed by priestly notions of holiness and its concomitant danger; the description of Elijah s ascent into heaven recorded in 2 Kgs 2 suggests the image of a whole burnt offering; and Elisha s request for music before announcing an oracle in 2 Kgs 3, the fact that priests could also make oracular inquiry with the Urim and Thumim, and the Levitical singers association with prophecy in Chronicles suggest that Elisha s activities find parallels in the temple cult. Diana Edelman s Court Prophets during the Monarchy and Literary Prophets in the So- Called Deuteronomistic History is appropriately placed after Sweeney s, because she also discusses the overlap of priest and prophet (although she does not restrict her discussion to the north, as Sweeney does). She proposes that the Hebrew term kōhēn was used to refer to a much broader category of ritual specialists than simply priests, including prophets and oracle-givers, among other specialties. She suggests that in the Hebrew Bible these various kinds of ritual activity have tended to be collapsed into two main legitimate categories, namely, kōhēn and nābî, along with several others being regarded as illegitimate (52). She then proceeds to analyze the activities ascribed to the figures designated by these two terms in each of the books of DtrH. She concludes that the books of the so-called Deuteronomistic History came to have a semblance of intentional coherence over time, through expansions designed to draw them more closely together (71). She considers the sections about prophets in Deut 13 and 18 as well as the section about kings in Deut 17 to be such additions, additions that aided the conversion of monarchic-period practices such as oracle consultation into written texts that were to be taught to emerging Jewish communities by the kōhănîm (72). Ehud Ben Zvi s essay, titled Prophetic Memories in the Deuteronomistic Historical and the Prophetic Collections of Books, is in line with some of his other recent publications on social memory in ancient Israel. Ben Zvi investigates why these prophets of old were imagined and remembered in certain ways and explores the literati s social mindscape, which was underlying, generating, and reflecting itself in these memories (75). Moses, for example, was prominent in the literati s memoryscape (as the status of Moses increased over time, it led to more memories being associated with him, which elevated his status even more). As the first and greatest of the remembered prophetic figures, Moses s character embodies virtually every prophetic activity associated with prophets in the social memory, from foretelling to singing to wonder working. His prophetic speech is recorded in Deuteronomy, making Deuteronomy a prophetic book not unlike other prophetic books (81). Samuel and Elijah also are prominent in the memoryscape, each shaped in some ways to be reminiscent of Moses (Samuel, e.g., is both prophet and priest). In the book of Kings, a succession of named and unnamed Mosaic prophets are
remembered as Yahweh s faithful servants who warned Israel and Judah of their misdeeds. Regarding the collection of prophetic books, there was a tendency for social memories to coalesce around three time periods: the Assyrian crisis of the late eighth century (especially as it prefigured and explained the second time period); the Babylonian crisis of the early sixth century; and the aftermath and recovery in the later sixth century. The memories played a didactic function, explaining the causes of the disasters and providing guidance for a better future. Significantly, the memories in the prophetic books likely could not have existed in a community without the memories in the Deuteronomistic collection, the latter providing the mnemonic background for the prophetic characters in the former (100). Unfortunately, limitations of space prohibit additional discussion of the many substantive insights in this essay. In Prophets and Prophecy in Joshua Kings: A Near Eastern Perspective, Martti Nissinen demonstrates that the depiction of prophets and prophecy in these texts, even if some or most of the narratives are largely imaginary, is consistent with many features of prophecy in other parts of the wider Near East. At the same time, there are also some divergences. Thus, prophecy in Joshua Kings as well as in the Near East is one method of divination; however, it is a far more prominent method of divination in the former than the latter. Furthermore, Nissinen notes that the scribes responsible for Joshua Kings have a tendency to mix features of technical and nontechnical features of divination, something not found frequently in the Near East (but sometimes in Greek sources). He suggests that perhaps the blurred socioreligious roles could be due to the smaller, less differentiated society in Yehud as compared to Mesopotamia (125). Prophets in Assyria appear to have played a role in the royal enthronement process in ways not too dissimilar to the way Nathan, for example, is depicted in Samuel, even if Nathan s relationship to David seems rather more intimate than what is known of the Assyrian prophets connection to their kings (115). Maintaining institutional order and the symbolic universe is also a primary concern for the writers of Joshua Kings (119), much like for other Near Eastern religious specialists. One substantial difference between Near Eastern prophets and those depicted in Joshua Kings is that the former are not portrayed as miracle workers like the latter. Thomas C. Römer s contribution, Moses, Israel s First Prophet, and the Formation of the Deuteronomistic and Prophetic Libraries, begins by noting that Moses is only rarely explicitly designated a prophet. Two of these instances are in late additions to Deuteronomy: in 18:10 22 and 34:10 12. Römer argues that the former passage, which insists that the words of true prophets take place, was added after Jerusalem had been destroyed in order to legitimate in the context of the Deuteronomistic corpus prophets of doom instead of prophets of salvation (133). Deuteronomy 34:10 12, on the other hand, was added after Deuteronomy had become part of the Pentateuch, with Abraham
as the first prophet (in Gen 20), in order to clarify that no other prophet was quite like the incomparable Moses. Römer also discusses the presentation of Jeremiah as the last prophet of doom, namely, the last of the line of prophets who succeeded Moses. He also notes that Elijah and Elisha do not fit the Deuteronomistic ideology of prophecy (140), which may be a good indication of the rather late addition of their stories into Kings. Mark Leuchter, in Samuel: A Prophet Like Moses or a Priest Like Moses? argues that a pre-deuteronomistic parallel between Samuel and Moses can be detected in the earliest layers of the first few chapters in Samuel (as well as in an early version of Ps 99). Significantly, the parallel constructed is not of their prophetic status, which is a later Deuteronomistic creation, but of their priestly roles. More specifically, Leuchter argues that the oracle in 1 Sam 2:27 36 was intended to legitimize Samuel s replacement of the corrupt Elide priestly lineage in Shiloh. Even though the Elides were claiming descent from Moses (that is, they were in the Mushide priestly line), it was not enough; one needed a personal encounter with the divine, like Moses and Samuel. While Leuchter is more confident than I am that the realities of eleventh-century Shiloh can be reconstructed from the available texts, his arguments are well presented. Mark O Brien s Prophetic Stories Making a Story of Prophecy involves a literary-critical approach to the stories of prophets in the Deuteronomistic History. O Brien notes that the prophetic stories often follow an established form or pattern (such as the prophecyfulfillment schema), but this does not nullify the obvious creativity of the authors. For example, while Elijah and Elisha are the protagonists in the stories in which they feature, the narrators are at times subtly critical of them (Elijah was supposed to anoint Hazael and Jehu, but Elisha is the one who ultimately does). Additionally, O Brien notes that in the Deuteronomistic History a series of such prophetic stories have been stitched together to advance the larger overall plot. Creativity can also be detected in this process, but at the same time so can the resulting tension. For example, Elijah is made to predict the destruction of Ahab s house in 2 Kgs 9:8 and this is narratively confirmed in 10:17. However, it is also clear that Ahab s daughter, Athaliah, has married a Davidic king and has given birth to a Davidic king. Thus, the prophetic prediction of the end of Ahab s house stands in insoluble tension with the prophetic promise to David of an eternal dynasty. The essay contains several other similar examples of narrative tension that resulted from the process of producing the larger story of prophecy. Person s own contribution, Prophets in the Deuteronomic History and the Book of Chronicles: A Reassessment, concludes the volume. This essay is an extension of the arguments he put forward in his recent monograph, The Deuteronomic History and the Book of Chronicles: Scribal Works in an Oral World, in which he criticized the traditional view of the relationship between the Deuteronomistic History and Chronicles. As in the
monograph he argues in this essay that the two corpora are roughly contemporary but produced by different scribal guilds that nevertheless have a common institutional ancestor in the Deuteronomic school of the Babylonian exile (187). The differences evident when comparing the two are thus not the result of the Chronicler reshaping the Deuteronomistic History to accommodate his own ideology but rather an example of the kind of multiformity characteristic of developing oral tradition. Both texts are acceptable retellings of the base story. When this thesis is applied to the depictions of prophets in the two corpora, rather than the Chronicler reinterpreting prophecy (for example, by not depicting them performing miracles), one is dealing with two faithful representations of the broader traditions interpretation of the importance of prophets and prophecy in the monarchic period and in their own time (199). Readers who found his monograph convincing will likely find his arguments in this essay convincing as well. On the whole, the essays in this volume form a valuable contribution to the contemporary study of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible.