"Until this day" and the preexilic redaction of the deuteronomistic history

Journal of Biblical Literature

Volumn 122, Issue 2, 2003, Pages 201-227

  Geoghegan, Jeffrey C ^a  

^a BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34547980224     PISSN: 00219231     EISSN: 19343876     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3268443     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. Abraham Kuenen, Historisch-kritische Einleitung in die Bücher des alten Testaments (Leipzig: Otto Schulze, 1892; Dutch original, Leiden, 1861-65), 1:90-91
2. Julius Wellhausen, Die Composition des Hexateuchs und der historischen Bücher des alten Testaments (4th ed.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 1963; 1st ed., 1866), 298-99
3. Martin Noth, The Deuteronomistic History (JSOTSup 15; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981; German original, Halle: Niemeyer, 1943)
4. Frank Moore Cross, "The Structure of Deuteronomic History," in Perspectives in Jewish Learning (Annual of the College of Jewish Studies 3; Chicago: College of Jewish Studies, 1968), 9-24
5. idem, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1973), 274-89
6. See, e.g., the early studies of R. E. Friedman (The Exile and Biblical Narrative [HSM 22; Decatur, GA: Scholars Press, 1981])
7. and R. D. Nelson (The Double Redaction of the Deuteronomistic History [JSOTSup 18; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981]). Cross's theory of a double redaction of the DH, in general, and his proposal of a Josianic edition, in particular, have since found wide acceptance among scholars, although oftentimes with modifications
8. See, e.g., M. Cogan, "Israel in Exile - The View of a Josianic Historian," JBL 97 (1978): 40-44
9. R. G. Boling, Joshua: A New Translation with Notes and Commentary, with introduction by G. E. Wright (AB 6; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982)
10. S. McKenzie, The Chronicler's Use of the Deuteronomistic History (HSM 33; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1984)
11. idem, The Trouble with Kings: The Composition of the Book of Kings in the Deuteronomistic History (VTSup 42; Leiden: Brill, 1991)
12. M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 11; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1988)
13. G. N. Knoppers, Two Nations Under God: The Deuteronomistic History of Solomon and the Dual Monarchies (HSM 52, 53; Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994)
14. and A. F. Campbell and M. A. O'Brien, Unfolding the Deuteronomistic History (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2000). Cross's original theory also has undergone more significant changes in recent years. Most notably, a number of scholars have argued for an earlier Hezekian history
15. See, e.g., B. Halpern, "Sacred History and Ideology: Chronicles' Thematic Structure - Indications of an Earlier Source," in The Creation of Sacred Literature: Composition and Redaction of the Biblical Text (ed. R. E. Friedman; Near Eastern Studies 22; Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981), 35-54
16. th Centuries BCE," HUCA 62 (1991): 179-244
17. and I. W. Provan, Hezekiah and the Books of Kings: A Contribution to the Debate about the Composition of the Deuteronomistic History (BZAW 172. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1988). Conversely, both before and since Cross's study, Noth's theory of a unified DH has been revised by some scholars to include multiple exilic redactions
18. See, e.g., the work of the so-called Göttingen school: R. Smend, "Das Gesetz und die Völker: Ein Beitrag zur deuteronomistischen Redaktionsgeschichte," in Probleme biblischer Theologie (ed. H. W. Wolff; Munich: Kaiser, 1971), 494-509
19. idem, Die Entstehung des Alten Testaments (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1978)
20. W. Dietrich, Prophetie und Geschichte (FRLANT 108; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972)
21. idem, "David in Überlieferung und Geschichte," VF 22 (1977): 44-64
22. idem, "Josia und das Gesetzbuch (2 Reg. XXII)," VT 27 (1977): 13-35
23. T. Veijola, Die ewige Dynastie: David und die Entstehung seiner Dynastie nach der deuteronomistischen Darstellung (AASF B 193; Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1975)
24. idem, Das Königtum in der Beurteilung der deuteronomistischen Historiographie: Eine redaktionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung (AASF B 198; Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1977). Other approaches to the DH, including those that question its independent existence altogether, are too many to list here
25. For a fairly representative sample of approaches to the DH, see The Future of the Deuteronomistic History (ed. T. Römer; BETL 147; Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2000)
26. B. S. Childs, "A Study of the Formula 'Until This Day,'" JBL 82 (1963): 279-92
27. See, e.g., Boling, Joshua
28. R. D. Kelson, Joshua: A Commentary (OTL; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997)
29. Boling, Judges: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (AB 6A; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975)
30. André Caquot and Philippe de Robert, Les Livres de Samuel (CAT 6; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1994)
31. 1 will be addressed below
32. Used in etiological contexts (the focus of this study), "until this day" appears six times in Genesis (19:37, 38
33. For a treatment of "until this day" in these other contexts, see J. C. Geoghegan, "Until Whose Day? A Study of the Phrase 'Until This Day" in the Deuteronomistic History" (Ph.D. diss., University of California, San Diego, 1999)
34. The "Acts of Solomon" (1 Kgs 11:41)
35. "Chronicles of the Kings of Judah" (1 Kgs 14:29
36. and "Chronicles of the Kings of Israel" (1 Kgs 14:19
37. For the identification of the "Ark Narrative," see L. Rost, The Succession to the Throne of David (Historic Texts and Interpreters in Biblical Scholarship 1; Sheffield: Almond Press, 1982
38. German original, Die Überlieferung von der Thronnachfolge Davids [BWANT 3/6; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1926])
39. A. Campbell, The Ark Narrative (1 Sam 4-6; 2 Sam 6): A Form-Critical and Traditio-Historical Study (SBLDS 16; Missoula, MT: Scholars Press, 1975)
40. McCarter, I Samuel, 23-26
41. G. Ahlström, "The Travels of the Ark: A Religio-Political Composition" JNES 43 (1984): 141-49
42. For the "History of David's Rise," see Rost, Succession to the Throne
43. N. P. Lemche, "David's Rise," JSOT 10 (1978): 2-25
44. R. N. Whybray, The Succession Narrative: A Study of II Samuel 9-20
45. I Kings 1 and 2 (SBT 2/9; Naperville, IL: Allenson, 1968)
46. McCarter, II Samuel, 9-16
47. For the "Prophetic Cycle" and "Elijah-Elisha Cycle," see S. L. McKenzie, "The Prophetic History in Kings," HAR 9 (1985): 203-23
48. The exact parameters, even the independent existence, of any one of these sources are matters of ongoing debate, and do not affect our overall observations that "until this day" is present in every major literary unit across the DH. For a recent discussion of the existence or absence of the so-called Succession Narrative, for example, see S. Frolov, "Succession Narrative: A 'Document' or a Phantom?" JBL 121 (2002): 81-104
49. The only source in which our phrase might be said not to appear is the Priestly stratum in Joshua as identified by S. R. Driver and others (S. R. Driver, Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament [New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1892], 150)
50. At present there is no scholarly consensus on the presence of P outside of the Tetrateuch, although see the recent defense of P's presence in Joshua (and elsewhere in the DH) by T. C. Römer and M. Z. Brettler ("Deuteronomy 34 and the Case for a Persian Hexateuch," JBL 119 [2000]: 401-19)
51. (cf. Josh 4:9
52. For the purposes of this study, the identification of "Deuteronomistic" material will be based primarily upon the studies of S. R. Driver (Introduction, 91-96)
53. Noth (Deuteronomistic History, 36, 93, 98)
54. and M. Weinfeld (Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School [Oxford: Clarendon, 1972], 142, 167 n. 3, 324, 337)
55. Driver, Introduction, 100
56. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 324
57. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School, 78, 337
58. Childs, "Until This Day," 287
59. For the attribution of 1 Kgs 16:34 to the Dtr
60. see John Gray, I & II Kings: A Commentary (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970), 334-35
61. and Cogan, I Kings, 421-23.
62. see also J. A. Montgomery, "Archival Data in the Book of Kings," JBL 53 (1934): 46-52
63. cf. Deut 2:34-35
64. Cf. (Josh 1:9
65. cf. Deut 7:21) and the positive
66. (Deut 31:7, 23
67. Josh 1:6, 7, 9, 18), both of which derive from the Dtr
68. see also Driver, Introduction, 94, 100
69. and Weinfeld, Deuteronomony and the Deuteronomic School, 171, 339, regarding the Deuteronomistic language in these verses
70. Weinfeld, Deuteronomy, 185
71. (Joshua, 340)
72. Deut 20:11
73. Josh 16:10
74. Judg 1:28, 30, 33, 35
75. Although the passage as it stands seems to describe the construction of two altars to Yahweh in the same location, presumably a single altar is intended. See, e.g., G. F. Moore, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Judges (ICC; New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1906), 190
76. B. Halpern, "Sectionalism and the Schism," JBL 93 (1974): 519-32, here 523
77. For the relationship between the Gershonites and the priests of Dan, see W. H. Propp, "Gershon," ABD 2:994-95
78. 2 Sam 6:23 [Michal]
79. 2 Sam 20:3 [David's concubines]
80. 2 Kgs 15:5 [Azariah])
81. It seems a reasonable hypothesis that most of the time notices, not just in Judg 18 but throughout the DH, belong to the Dtr. This makes sense given the Dtr's task of compiling disparate sources into a more-or-less chronological order. See, e.g., B. Peckham, "History and Time," in Ki Baruch Hu: Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Judaic Studies in Honor of Baruch A. Levine (ed. R. Chazan, W. W. Hallo, and L. H. Schiffman; Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1999), 295-314
82. See, e.g., C. L. Seow, "Ark of the Covenant," ABD 1:387
83. Weinfeld argues for Deuteronomistic influence here (Deuteronomy and Deuteronomic School, 421)
84. See under "'Until This Day,' Joshua, and the Reforms of Josiah" below
85. Nelson, Double Redaction, 123-24; he adds: "Deut 10:1-5, with its emphasis upon the ark as container for the law tablets, expresses the exact same view as the historian in Deut 31:24-26 and 1 Kgs 8:9, 21." The Chronicler's repetition of 1 Kgs 8:8 (2 Chr 5:9) would seem, at first glance, to mitigate the conclusion that this notice in the DH is preexilic. However, the use of "until this day" across the DH to emphasize the proper handling of the ark, along with the other preexilic uses of this phrase noted above and in what follows (see especially "'Until This Day," Joshua, and the Reforms of Josiah," below), argues in favor of its preexilic provenance in the DH. The Chronicler's repetition of "until this day" in 2 Chr 5:9 is just that: his repeating a notice found in his preexilic source
86. For a recent treatment of scholarship on 2 Kgs 17, see M. Z. Brettler, The Creation of History in Ancient Israel (London/New York: Routledge, 1995), esp. ch. 7, "Text in a Tel: 2 Kings 17 as History" (pp. 112-34)
87. For a discussion of the literature, see R. Nelson, "Josiah in the Book of Joshua," JBL 100 (1981): 531-40
88. John Van Seters, In Search of History: Historiography in the Ancient World and the Origins of Biblical History (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983), 2