Retelling the Torah: The Deuternonmistic Historian's Use of Tetrateuchal Narratives

by John E. Harvey

Publisher:

T&T Clark

, 2004

Overview

The Deuteronomistic Historian patterned more than four dozen of his narratives after those in Genesis-Numbers. The stories that make up Genesis-Numbers were indelibly impressed on the Deuteronomistic Historian’s mind, to such an extent that in Deuteronomy-Kings he tells the stories of the nation through the lens of Genesis-Numbers. John Harvey discusses the eight criteria which may be used as evidence that the given stories in Deuteronomy-Kings were based on those in Genesis-Numbers. Unified accounts in the Deuteronomistic History, for instance, often share striking parallels with two or more redactional layers of their corresponding accounts in Genesis-Numbers, showing that the given accounts in the Deuteronomistic History were written after the corresponding accounts in Genesis-Numbers had been written.

Furthermore, the Deuteronomistic Historian calls the reader’s attention to accounts in Genesis-Numbers by explicitly citing and referring to them, by using personal names, and by drawing thematic and verbal parallels. Retelling the Torah, the first book to focus on these parallel narratives, contains far-reaching implications for Hebrew Bible scholarship.

Product Details

• Title: Retelling the Torah: The Deuternonmistic Historian's Use of Tetrateuchal Narratives
• Author: John E. Harvey
• Series: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement
• Publisher: T. & T. Clark Publishers
• Publication Date: 2004
• Volume: 403
• Pages: 160

About John E. Harvey

John E. Harvey was president of the Mambilla Baptist Seminary in Mbu, Nigeria. He is now an instructor at the Thorneloe College School of Theology, and an Anglican minister in Sudbury, Ontario. He is the author and editor of several academic articles and books.

Sample Pages from Retelling the Torah: The Deuternonmistic Historian's Use of Tetrateuchal Narratives