Bibliography
| Title: YHWH's Land. A Composition Analysis of 2 Kings 17 Type: Thesis Year: 1995 Abstract: "2 Kings 17 has been one of the most difficult chapters to interpret for biblical scholars. Various proposals have been made regarding the responsible hands for plausible units of 2 Kings 17. However, they could not draw any kind of scholarly consensus so far. In the first section of the study, the history of scholarly opinion on the problem of the composition of 2 Kings 17 is reviewed. How scholars divide the chapter into units is primarily focused and compared each other. Furthermore, the writer of the text and the genre of historiography are discussed. This study is a composition analysis of the text. It is an attempt to recognize the reason for the extant shape of the text consisting of several component parts. Particular grammatical and syntactical signals on the surface of the text point to the infratextual conceptuality. In Section 2 various problems regarding the composition of 2 Kings 17 is addressed and the composition analysis as a corresponding method is suggested to solve those problems. In Section 3 each verse in vv. 1-23 is thoroughly analyzed. Vv. 24-33 and vv. 34-41 are studied as individual units. The goal of this Section is to understand the composition of each unit within the chapter and their relationship to one another. In addition to MT, this study deals with LXX and Josephus to discern their intertextuality. The result of Section 3 leads to Section 4 which addresses the concept of 2 Kings 17, the infratextual conceptuality. It concludes that the concept of the land dominates the whole chapter. Instead of the event of the fall of Samaria, the event of the exile of Israel is more important for the writer. In order to enhance our understanding of the phenomenon of exile, Section 5 presents a study of the deportation of the Neo-Assyrian empire. The biblical term 'exile' is redefined in the milieu of the ancient Near East. This study concludes that several plausible units of 2 Kings 17 were carefully arranged under the concept of YHWH's land. In contrast to most scholars' arguments, the exile of Judah is not really described in this chapter. Therefore, the argument for exilic redaction based on v. 20 is not convincing. Vv. 24-33 is not a episode of a lion-attacking but a indispensible narrative unit to support the writer's concept of YHWH's land. The writer was interested in the land where foreigners were moved in by Assyria. The different criteria have been applied to Israel and foreigners according to the text. Finally, in vv. 34-41 the writer is still talking about the foreigners of vv. 24-33 by referring to Israel's covenant with YHWH. 2 Kings 17 presents that the writer emphasized the importance of YHWH's land by reporting what happened to Israel and to foreigners and by commenting on those reports". Keywords: Jewish History: Old Testament Period |