BIBL2355D: Book of Kings

Abstract

The author of Sefer Melakhim narrates historical events ranging over hundreds of years, but his approach to writing history differs from that of modern historians. Perhaps the most obvious distinction between their historiographical methodologies relates to their respective views on causality, with the author of Melakhim reserving a distinctive place for divine intervention in history. Our discussions of the text will focus on the manner in which religious ideology affected the way that the author of our book writes history and on the literary techniques that he uses to embed that ideology in his work. Our effort to understand the historical method of the author of Melakhim will also lead us to look at other literature, both in Tanakh (primarily in the books of Shemuel and Divrei ha-Yamim) as well as in the literature of Israel’s ancient near eastern neighbors.