Chronicles and Exodus: An Analogy and its Application
Overview
This collection of inter-related essays argues that the way in which Chronicles incorporates and develops material from Samuel-Kings offers an analogy for the way in which the final edition of Exodus was produced. Embedded within the text of Exodus there is an earlier Deuteronomistic version recoverable from the reminiscences of the exodus in Deuteronomy. This, it is suggested, is the most objective method available for recreating the literary history of Exodus and must constitute the first stage in any analysis of Exodus. Already, it produces some surprisingly radical results.
Top Highlights
“David himself incurs guilt, as is explicitly stated in 1 Chron. 21:3” (Page 103)
“The observation that the theology of the D-version and that of the P-edition of Exodus appear to correspond respectively to two traditional Christian doctrines then prompts the final essay. Just as in the inaugural lecture (Chapter 2) it was argued that the study of the Hebrew Bible has to be conducted within a wider cultural context, so, in the concluding essay, it is not inappropriate to consider the possible impact of the findings of that study on one of the most significant of these contexts in Christian theology. The particular question I have in mind in that last essay is: if this is what the Old Testament teaches about justification and sanctification, what can Paul have meant by ‘justification by faith’?” (Page 17)
“The question is thus not so much one of recreating origins as of appreciating function.” (Page 14)
“rather, begin with the text of the book as it now stands.” (Page 12)
- Title: Chronicles and Exodus: An Analogy and its Application
- Author: William Johnstone
- Series: Studies on 1 & 2 Chronicles Collection
- Publisher: Sheffield Academic
- Publication Date: 1998
- Pages: 337