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HISTORIOGRAPHY, BIBLICAL

The study of biblical history has focused on the Former Prophets, particularly the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings. Although the book of Chronicles parallels large portions of Samuel and Kings, it has been largely passed over on the assumption that its theological biases made it less reliable than its cousins. The folkloristic narratives of the patriarchs and early Israel in the Pentateuch might also be included within the broad discussion of biblical historiography. The character of the discussion will depend largely on the definition adopted for historical writing.

Definition of History

The traditional definition of the historical writing was shaped under the historical positivism of the 19th century, and emphasized the critical and scientific description and evaluation of past events (in the words of the 19th-century German historian Leopold von Ranke, “to tell it as it actually happened.”) The recognition, however, that all historical writing is biased had led to a re-evaluation of the “science” of history. A definition of history emphasizing “antiquarian interests” eliminates the problem, yet still introduces the quite modern concept of antiquarianism into the definition. Although there are aspects of biblical historical narratives which are of such interest, it may be legitimately asked whether the text itself, its author, or its readers had purely antiquarian interests. A popular definition of the historical genre is that offered by the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga: “History is the intellectual form in which a civilization renders account to itself of its past” and as such it “comprises every form of historical record: that of the annalist, the writer of memoirs, the historical philosopher, and the scholarly researcher.” Modern historians have tended increasingly toward this last definition, which emphasizes the use of the past for self-understanding rather than the supposedly critical and objective scientific reconstruction of the past. Notably outside the parameters of this definition is the question of historical veracity or scientific evaluation.

Survey of Research

The study of biblical history has been dominated by the question of historical reliability. With the rise of historical criticism, the origin and historicity of biblical narratives and particularly the Pentateuch became a central question. The documentary hypothesis envisioned the gradual evolution of the Pentateuch beginning with the Yahwist and Elohist historical narratives which were written in the 10th through 9th centuries b.c.e. and eventually combined. To these narratives were added the Deuteronomist’s work in the 7th century and finally a Priestly writer brought the whole together in the 5th century. Once this outline was established, the hypothesis was extended to the historical books as well. The Priestly work was considered late and therefore of marginal value; the association of the historical narratives in the books of Chronicles with the Priestly writer naturally raised questions about their historical reliability.

The attempt to understand the formation of Israel’s traditions has been closely associated with efforts to identify the theological threads of the various traditions. A prominent way of describing the biblical view of Israel’s past has been called “Salvation History” (Heilsgeschichte). Biblical theologians envisioned a special idea of history in ancient Israel which conceived of Yahweh as guiding and actively directing events towards a goal. Special claims regarding Israel’s unique concept of history as linear and dynamic as opposed to the cyclical and static concepts of other Near Eastern cultures are associated with the Biblical Theology movement. This perspective overdraws the contrast between Israel and her neighbors. Its adherents painted Near Eastern cultures into an unduly narrow framework while at the same time overlooking aspects of recurrence, typology, and analogy in biblical historiography. As a result, the Biblical Theology movement along with Salvation History came under scathing criticism beginning in the early 1960s. This criticism, although largely correct, naturally tended to overreact, with the result that all distinction between ancient Israel and other Near Eastern cultures was overlooked. It remains true that ancient Israel was preoccupied with its past to a much greater degree than Mesopotamian civilizations and especially ancient Egypt. As a result, biblical historiography is shaped by a remarkable degree of introspection which is barely perceptible in Mesopotamian or Egyptian historiography. This undoubtedly reflects, first of all, the fact that biblical historiography was not state sponsored, but it also reflects the unique geographical, social, and cultural forces which shaped the history of ancient Israel.

The critique of the Biblical Theology movement spread into studies of the Patriarchal narratives. Attempts to reconstruct some historical kernel from the folkloristic patriarchal traditions were largely discredited in the 1970s, especially by John Van Seters (Abraham in History and Tradition, 1975) and Thomas L. Thompson (The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives, 1974). From there the critique of biblical historical narrative spread to the Conquest and Settlement period and finally to the period of the Monarchy. The new consensus is that a modern history of Israel can only begin in the 10th century with the United Monarchy (e.g., J. A. Soggin, J. Maxwell Miller, John H. Hayes). Some, however, would like to push the starting point into the Persian or even the Hellenistic period (Thompson, Philip R. Davies). This type of historical nihilism has not attracted a large following, essentially because there is too much detail in the biblical narratives corroborated by archaeological and Near Eastern sources to be dismissed as Persian or Hellenistic fiction.

Biblical Historical Writing

Biblical historical writing invariably brings the past up to the present. That is, the authors, redactors, and editors of biblical historical narratives end their accounts in their own times. So, e.g., the final composition of the book of Kings is generally attributed to the Exile, where the historical narrative ends. A broad consensus would see an early redaction of the book in the time of Josiah; it described the history of Israel up until the late 7th century. In the same way, the books of Chronicles were first composed in the early Persian period and took the history of Israel down into the writer’s own day. A later editor then attached the books of Ezra-Nehemiah by repeating the last verses in Chronicles at the beginning of Ezra (compare 2 Chr. 36:22-23 with Ezra 1:1-2). This aspect of biblical historiography highlights the continuity which the writers felt with the past; they were part of a continually unfolding story. The importance of placing the present in touch with the past is also reflected in the historical psalms (e.g., Pss. 78, 105, 106, 136) and Moses’ speech to Israel before they enter the land (Deut. 1:1–4:40).

Bibliography. M. Brettler, The Creation of History in Ancient Israel (London, 1995); P. R. Davies, In Search of Ancient Israel. JSOTSup 148 (Sheffield, 1992); B. Halpern, The First Historians (1988, repr. University Park, Pa., 1996); J. Huizinga, “A Definition of the Concept of History,” in Philosophy and History, ed. R. Klibansky and H. J. Paton (Oxford, 1936), 1-10; I. W. Provan, “Ideologies, Literary and Critical: Reflections on Recent Writing on the History of Israel,” JBL 114 (1995): 585-606; T. L. Thompson, Early History of the Israelite People. SHANE 4 (Leiden, 1992); J. Van Seters, In Search of History (New Haven, 1983).

William Schniedewind

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

HISTORIOGRAPHY, BIBLICAL

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)