The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity - (Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies) by Nathan Lovell (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Nathan Lovell proposes that 1 and 2 Kings might be read as a work of written history, produced with the explicit purpose of shaping the communal identity of its first readers in the Babylonian exile. By drawing on sociological approaches to the role historiography plays in the construction of political identity, Lovell argues the book of Kings is intended to reconstruct a sense of Israelite identity in the context of these losses, and that the book of Kings moves beyond providing a reason for the exile in Israel's history, and beyond even connecting its exilic audience to that history.

The book recalls the past in order to demonstrate what it means to be Israel in the (exilic) present, and to encourage hope for the Israelite nation in the future. After developing a reading strategy for 1-2 Kings that treats the book as a coherent narrative, Lovell examines the construction of Israelite identity within Kings under the headings of covenant, nationhood, land, and rule. In each case he suggests that the narrative of the book creates room for a genuine but temporary expression of Israelite identity in exile: genuine to show that it remains possible for Israel to be Yahweh's people during the exile, but temporary to encourage hope for a future restoration.

Review Quotes

"The Book of Kings and Exilic Identity is an outstanding overview of 1-2 Kings which gives new students of Kings an excellent framework from which to work and challenges experienced scholars to consider the biblical text anew. The themes investigated are illuminating and do originate in the text itself. As noted, the major contribution is Lovell's description of the text's narrative arrangement. So convincing is his presentation that future studies on Kings will need to engage with Lovell's structural observations or find their arguments lacking." --Reviews of Biblical and Early Christian Studies

"Lovell has done a superb job of showing us how to read Kings against its exilic setting. This is a worthy contribution to Kings scholarship, one that should be read by all who wish seriously to grapple with its message." --Themelios

"An interesting and innovative look at the book of Kings that has the potential to influence scholarship on Kings and on the Deuteronomistic corpus in general for years to come ... this book is a solid piece of scholarship that offers its readers new insights on the meaning of Kings, which will doubtless take their place within the developing scholarship on Kings, on biblical historiography, and on biblical political ideology for the years to come." --Society of Biblical Literature

"This volume offers a closely argued final form reading of Kings which explores the book's politics ... [Lovell's] proposal for resolving the clear differences seen in the Elijah-Elisha material in comparison with the rest of the book through an 'inner' and 'outer' Kings will need to be taken seriously by future researchers. The resulting study successfully demonstrates that Kings both remembers Israel's past and presents a vision for the nation's future." --Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

"An interesting and innovative look at the book of Kings that has the potential to influence scholarship on Kings and on the Deuteronomistic corpus in general for years to come." --Review of Biblical Literature

About the Author