Deuteronomistic History

Question 1

What is the D History?

Answer 1

• DtrH history emphasizes themes of Deuteronomy and uses D as a lens to answer why we are in exhile or how will we unify the kingdom.

It is product of Martin’s Noth – original idea that D is the prelude to DtrH – central thesis embedded – fate of Israel and its King is ultimately contingent on faithfulness to the covenant revealed to the ancestors.

• 6 narratives within the DTRH
- Joshua (1200 BCE) congquest of Canaan
- Judges (1200 – 1400) – a different picture of conquest and settlement
- 1-2 Samuel and part of 1 King (1040 – 922) – United Monarchy
- 1 Kings 12 – 2 Kings 17 (922 -721) – Divided Monarchy
- 2 Kings: Josiah reform’s (640 – 609)
- 2 Kings: Judah’s fall to Babylon in 587
Uses Deuteronomy to look at history

Question 2

*How did the D History come to be?

Answer 2

2 main perspectives
American Perspective (Cross)
• 1st Edition – Josianic – Cycle (Fall away, Punishment, Return)
• 2nd Edition – Exilic
o Attempting to explain why Josiah dies a young man if he is faithful
o They are rewriting history to explain the present -Question- why in Exile?

German School
•Martin Noth – single author, single exilic edition
•Rudolf Smend 
	Multiple Exilic Redactions
	Dtr. G – Base text
	Dtr. N – Law
	Dtr. P – Prophets
•Van Seeters
o	“whole cloth creation”

• The circles responsible for Deuteronomy had northern origins and it is likely that after the destruction of the northern kingdom in 722 BCE, some members of this group - which we have called a “school analogous to school so philosophy in ancient Greece - had moved south to Jerusalem. there they may have come engaged in King Hezekiah’s religious reform and during his reign have produced an earlier edition of the Deuteronomistic History. Scholars label these three version so f the Deuteronomistic History DTRG (G stands for the German Gundschrift meaning “basic text”; dated to the late eighth century BCE), DTR1 (the late seventh century), and DTR2 (the mid-sixth century).

Question 3

What’s the D History all about?

Answer 3

Follows a common thesis throughout, namely that the fate of Israel and its kings is ultimately dependent on the faithfulness to the covenant.

History as a genre – trying to interpret the crisis you are in by looking at the past
• We should not understand this history genre the way we understand that of Abraham Lincoln’s History - History as theodicy!
• Why this current crisis is upon by looking at a pattern of disobedience
• Trying to find away to remain faithful while they are in exhile
• Poses problem of is God not real or not powerful – concludes that God was just and people were not loyal Disobedience to the covenant (forgetting God not worshiping)

Question 4

*How do its themes relate to the book of Deuteronomy?

Answer 4

1) Exclusive worship of YHWH as a prerequisite for Israel’s continued possession of and prosperity in the Promised Land. Worship of other gods will inevitably result in divine punishment (blessings and Curses)
2) Worship can occur only at the place that the Lord your God will choose which will be in Jerusalem
3) The covenant made by Yahweh with the dynasty founded by David.

• Subject is the experience of the Isralites in the Promised land of Canaan, from their entry into it under Joshua to their loss of it in the early sixth century. Trying to remain faithful to Yhwh in exile.
• Using early source to make theological claim – disobedience = curses obeying = curses
• The subject of the Deuteronomistic History is the experiences of the Israelites in the Promised Land of Canaan, from their entry into it under Joshua to their loss of it in the early sixth century BCE. In composing that history, the Deuteronomistic Historians made use of earlier sources, some of which they mention but that no longer exists. These include the Book of Jashar, the Book of Acts of Solomon, the book of Annals of the Kings of Israel and the book of Annals of the Kings of Judah. In using these named and many other unnamed sources, which not infrequently present very different views, the Deuteronomistic Historians were more interested in setting down the tradition s found int heir sources than in a superficial consistency. Thus, they were in a very real sense responsible historians, preserving contradictory traditions despite their own ideological perspective.
• That perspective is expressed in speeches by God and by key human characters. These speeches are compositions of the Deuteronomistic Historians, a technique employed by other ancient historians such as the Greek writer Thucydides. In the earlier parts of the Deuteronomistic History God often speaks directly to individuals, such as Joshua and Samuel. In the later books, for the most part, God speaks indirectly through prophets. These speeches by prophets functions as an ongoing commentary on the narrative and are an elaboration of the divine promise of continued prophetic guidance found in Deuteronomy. 18:5-19.
• Covering Israel’s history for over six centuries, the Deuteronomistic History is the earliest extended historical narrative known from antiquity and it is a complex and subtle document.