Review of S. Flynn, YHWH is King: Development of Divine Kingship in Ancient Israel (original) (raw)
Related papers
King From the Beginning: A Biblical Theology of YHWH's Kingship
Most scholars, when writing on the theme of the kingdom of God, assume that the fact that God‘s kingship is eternal stemming from the creation of the world. The present author seeks to investigate the validity of this assumption on the basis of Scripture. This study argues that the eschatological kingship (and for that matter, kingdom) of YHWH has been established "in the beginning" and continues to endure ever since the creation of "the heavens and the earth" (Gen. 1:1). The evidence that supports this thesis will be drawn primarily from the extensive use of creational language in relation to YHWH‘s kingship throughout Scripture. Thus, for example, of special significance to this study is the heaven and earth theme which, when used in the texts relating to divine kingship, describes YHWH‘s sovereignty over the created world and reflects a specific dynamic structure of creation: the rule of the heavenly realm over the earthly, or the Kingdom of Heaven over the kingdoms of earth.
When on High Yahweh Reigned: Translating Yahweh's Kingship in Ancient Israel
2012
This dissertation identifies two distinct stages of YHWH's kingship in ancient Israel: an earlier warrior king with a limited sphere of geographic influence, and a later, Judahite creator king with universal power and absolute rule. After identifying these stages, this dissertation proposes the historical context in which the change to YHWH's kingship occurred. Articulating this change is informed by the anthropological method of cultural translation and studied via a suitable historical analogue: the change in Marduk's kingship and the external pressures that lead to the expression of his universal kingship in the Enuma Elish. The Babylonian changes to Marduk's kingship form a suitable analogy to articulate the changes to YHWH's kingship in the Levant. Therefore Judahite scribes suppressed the early warrior vision of YHWH's kingship and promoted a more sustainable vision of a creator and universal king in order to combat the increasing threat of Neo-Assyrian imperialism begun under the reign of Tiglath-pileser III.
Semitica, 2021
This article advocates an integrated approach to the historical study of YHWH and Baal worship in ancient Israel and Judah that prioritizes, not the Hebrew Bible and the kingdom of Judah, but the non-biblical evidence and the kingdom of Israel. Adopting this approach, I provide a new reconstruction of the history of YHWH and Baal worship in ancient Israel and Judah that challenges dominant scholarly models of YHWH’s historical origins as a storm god whose worship is said to have originated among non-Israelite/non-Judahite peoples in Bronze Age Arabia. This historical reconstruction proposes that YHWH—a deity firmly rooted in the central Israelite hill country during the Iron Age—only formally became Israel’s god during the ninth century BCE, when Samaria’s Omride kings deliberately modeled the local deity YHWH on the more popular Levantine warrior storm-god Baal(-šamêm). Furthermore, I argue that YHWH only officially became Judah’s patron god and the primary deity of the Jerusalem temple under the direct influence of Omride Israel’s YHWistic political-religious reforms. Ultimately, I conclude that Baal worship was traditional in ancient Israelite and Judahite religion down to the end of the monarchic period, at which point small circles of Judahite scribes began to advocate historically innovative political-religious ideologies pitting the Israelite deity YHWH against the allegedly “foreign” god Baal.
THE DISTINCTIVE SHAPE OF KINGSHIP IN ANCIENT ISRAEL: A CONSIDERATION OF KINGSHIP IN THE PENTATEUCH
Semănătorul (The Sower), 2023
This article explores the shape of kingship in ancient Israel with reference to the Pentateuch and particularly Deuteronomy 17:14-20. It demonstrates that Israel's kingship is distinctive from that of the surrounding nations. The distinctive nature is linked, in the first place, to the creation of the nation and, secondly, to the stipulations for kings contained in Deuteronomy 17. It concludes that although there is some similarity between kingship in Israel and the surrounding nations, at root kingship in Israel is fundamentally distinctive. Whereas in the ancient Near East the king was god, in Israel God was king.
Journal of Biblical Literature, 2020
The formulaic divine title “god of Israel” (אלהי ישראל) appears just over two hundred times in the Hebrew Bible. Yet, despite the epithet’s prevalence in biblical writing and scholarly discourse, critical scholarship has left the Bible’s use of the title almost completely unexamined. This article represents a first effort toward redressing this important scholarly desideratum, critically evaluating the Hebrew Bible’s use of the title as a necessary prolegomenon to a history of the title’s political and religious significance in ancient Israel and Judah.
YHWH and the Origins of Ancient Israel - Insights from the Archaeological Record
Cambridge University Press, 2023
In this book, Nissim Amzallag offers new perspectives on the birth of ancient Israel by combining recent archaeological discoveries with a new approach to ancient Yahwism. He investigates the renewal of the copper industry in the Early Iron Age Levant and its influence on the rise of new nations, and also explores the recently identified metallurgical context of ancient Yahwism in the Bible. By merging these two branches of evidence, Amzallag proposes that the YHWH was in the Early Iron Age approached in the Southern Levant as a powerful deity who sponsored the emancipation movement that freed Israel and its neighbors from the Amorite/ Egyptian hegemony. Amzallag identifies the early Israelite religion as an attempt to transform the esoteric traditions of Levantine metalworkers into the public worship of YHWH. These unusual origins provide insight into many of the unique aspects of Israelite theology that ultimately spurred the evolution towards monotheism. His volume also casts new light on the mysterious smelting-god, the figure around which many Bronze Age religions revolved.
Religion Compass, 2020
This article treats two separate but interrelated issues: (1) the historical origins of the deity YHWH (commonly rendered Yahweh), known from both biblical and non-biblical sources; and (2) the origins and development of YHWH’s profile(s) in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, specifically as it pertains to the problem of YHWH’s historical beginnings and early character. After some preliminary considerations regarding the Hebrew Bible’s utility for historical reconstruction and the potential contributions of archaeology, iconography, onomastics, and historical linguistics to the problem of YHWH’s historical origins, the article: (1) examines the earliest written evidence for the god YHWH in the historical record, (2) offers a comparative historical treatment of early analogues to YHWH’s character and profile as it appears in the Hebrew Bible, and (3) concludes with an analysis of the most important contemporary scholarly hypotheses regarding YHWH’s historical origins.