The Authors of the Deuteronomistic History

Locating a Tradition in Ancient Israel

Brian Neil Peterson

• Publisher: Fortress Press
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781451469967
• eBook ISBN: 9781451487466
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Peterson engages one of the most enduring controversies in current critical scholarship on the Hebrew Bible, the identities and provenances of the authors of the various "editions" of the Deuteronomistic History. Critically reviewing the presuppositions of scholars reaching back to Martin Noth, and using careful analysis of motif and characterization at each redactional level in each book of the Deuteronomistic History, Peterson asks where we might locate a figure with both motive and opportunity to draw up a proto-narrative including elements of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and the first part of 1 Kings.

Posing his questions in the form of a "Whodunit?" Peterson identifies a particular candidate in the time of David who had both knowledge and a theological and political agenda, qualified to write the first edition. He then extends the method to identify the particular circle who became the custodians of the Deuteronomistic narrative and supplies successive redactions, informed by the original formative vision, down to the time of Jeremiah. Careful argumentation yields surprising results at each stage.

2

An Analysis of the Texts

5

The Editing of the Book of Deuteronomy

In the second half of this book, I will examine each book of the DtrH in order to determine how, if at all, the priestly authors from Anathoth may have influenced their content and shaping. While the bulk of my discussion in this second half is reserved for the books of Joshua to Kings, it is still important to assess what, if any, influence the priests from Anathoth may have had on the book of Deuteronomy. Nevertheless, I begin this analysis with the disclaimer that I accept the existence of earlier source material that may have comprised “proto” forms of at least Deuteronomy through 1 Samuel.^[1] It is these “proto” works that Abiathar, and those that followed him, began to fashion into a sustained history, which culminated in the sixth century with the final editing of the DtrH by Jeremiah or Baruch.

The existence of earlier strands of material, in some cases large blocks from the preexilic period, is in no way a novel idea.^[2] Indeed, this has been pretty much assumed by scholars for the past century. Now, whether those strands were written by the Yahwist, Elohist, Nathan, Gad, Samuel, or some other figure of a given era is an entirely different, and at times heated, debate. Nevertheless, my ongoing theory concerning these earliest strands is rooted in the generally accepted scholarly perspective that these strands/sources actually did exist. Therefore, moving forward I will scrutinize the content of each book to determine exactly what portions may have been written by these earlier writers at Anathoth.^[3]

Of course, in making such a supposition, scholars are sure to challenge this premise, especially in relation to issues of “late Deuteronomic influence” on the work. For certain, they will ask: “Exactly how much of it was written by these proposed earlier writers?” As will be demonstrated throughout the remainder of this work, it appears that more material, not less, came from these authors in Anathoth. To be more specific, it is my contention that large portions of the DtrH, especially prior to 2 Kings 11, were already shaped pretty much in their final forms prior to the final editing in the sixth century. The book of Deuteronomy, however, is one book within this corpus that appears to have had the least amount of shaping by any author/editor prior to Dtr’s adoption of its theological principles as he/they fashioned the history of Israel.^[4] What follows is an assessment of the text of Deuteronomy, which is in no way as parsed as did Noth or those who followed him.^[5] With this caveat, and because I have already handled aspects of the book of Deuteronomy above, we now turn to a brief discussion on the editorial work in the book of Deuteronomy.

The Book of Deuteronomy: An Assessment

. . . the idea of a deuteronomistic redaction of Deuteronomy rests on the unanimous consensus of exegetes.^[6]

Even though such a conclusion as this by Thomas Römer may be true, when maximalists read Deuteronomy, they insist that Mosaic material is present in the book of Deuteronomy. The predominant use of first-person pronouns, both singular and plural,^[7] is one of the reasons why more conservative interpreters assign the majority of the work to Moses even though minimalists would argue that the text is only written as such to give the appearance of this perspective (see the discussion in chs. 1 and 3 above).^[8] Nevertheless, where scholars from both perspectives are beginning to find common ground is in the portions of Deuteronomy where Moses’ name appears in the third person.^[9] Not surprisingly, Moses’ name appears most frequently in the chapters often assigned to editors or to Noth’s Dtr. In this vein, in chapters 1–4 the name “Moses” is given in editorial comments no fewer than seven times. His name appears once in 5:1 and then not again until chapters 27 (vv. 1, 9, 11) and 29 (vv. 1, 2). In chapters 31–34, large portions of which are often assigned to later editors, Moses’ name is used repeatedly (twenty-five times). These data, of course, align well with the general belief that chapters 5–26 form the heart of the “original” book of Deuteronomy.^[10] It is for this reason that I will concentrate most of my analysis on chapters 1–4 and 31–34.^[11]

Deuteronomy 1–4

In our previous discussion concerning the importance of the phrases “beyond the Jordan” and “unto this day,” we discovered many areas where it appears that later editors were at work throughout the DtrH. In this regard, in the book of Deuteronomy there appear to be places where editors/authors may have inserted non-Mosaic material for rhetorical purposes. Most of these editorial notations appear in the narrative portions of the book—both at the beginning and end. The most telling of these editorial comments appears within chapters 1–4—a position noted by many scholars. For example, Noth assigned good portions of these introductory chapters to Dtr.^[12] While I am unwilling to go to the length that Noth went in assigning the entirety of the narrative material of these first four chapters to a later editor, there are, nonetheless, at least six obvious editorial notations that stand out, covering approximately twenty-six-and-a-half verses (cf. 1:1-5; 2:10-12, 20-23; 3:8-11, 13b-14; 4:41-49).

To begin, in Deuteronomy 1:1-5 the editor situates his reader not only within the Mosaic era, but also geographically in the Transjordan even though it is clear that the editor is already in Canaan/Israel. This is made clear by the use of the phrase “across the Jordan” not once, but twice in verses 1 and 5 (see the discussion in ch. 4 above). Serving as an inclusio, this phrase alerts the reader to the editorial activity here in the introduction to the book of Deuteronomy. What is more, the reader is also introduced to the two kings of the Transjordan: Sihon and Og (v. 4). At first glance, the introduction of these kings so early in the book appears out of place, seeing how Moses does not actually deal with the account of the defeat of these kings until chapter 3. While this early introduction may appear benign, it in fact may serve as a clue to the editor’s literary purposes. I will return to this shortly.

Within the remaining five editorial notations in chapters 2–4 (i.e., 2:10-12, 20-23; 3:8-11, 13b-14; 4:41-49), every one of the pericopes makes some comment about the giants in the Transjordan who were directly related to Sihon and Og.^[13] These kings, the editor notes, are related in some way to the Anakim (2:10, 11, 21; cf. also noneditorial notes about the Anakim in 1:28 and 9:2), Rephaim (2:11, 20; 3:11, 13), Zamzummim (2:20), and the Emim (2:10, 11).^[14] Furthermore, Deuteronomy 3 records how these kings and their ilk were conquered by Moses and the Israelites. Interestingly, four of the five editorial notations fall within close proximity of one of the two phrases we mentioned in chapter 4, namely, “beyond the Jordan” and “unto this day” (cf. 3:8; 4:41, 46, 47, and 2:22; 3:14 respectively).^[15] Thus, in chapter 3, editorial blocks appear in two places (vv. 8-11 and 13b-14) that are bookended by the use of the phrases “beyond the Jordan” and “unto this day” (vv. 8, 14 respectively). The editor also goes out of his way to include in the narrative the description of Og’s bed, which shows the giant’s immense size (3:11).^[16] Similarly, “unto this day” (2:22) falls in the midst of the editorial notation of 2:20-23—again dealing with the large stature of the Transjordanian peoples conquered by Moses and the Israelites. The final appearance of an editorial note in the first four chapters falls within the last verses of chapter 4 (vv. 41-49). Here, the phrase “beyond the Jordan” is used three times (vv. 41, 46-47) in the context of the Levitical cities set aside as cities of refuge (i.e., Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan; cf. 4:43), while Sihon and Og are again referenced in 4:46-47.

What exactly does the editor’s use of the phrases “unto this day” and “beyond the Jordan” in relation to the destruction of Sihon and Og tell us about his rhetorical purposes? Now, while it is understandable for Moses to recount the destruction of the kings in the Transjordan in his final speeches, it is the editor who repeatedly stresses this great feat and also emphasizes their immense size (Deut. 2:10, 21; 3:11). It seems obvious that he wanted to draw out something of importance about Israel and Moses’ conquering of the giants in the Transjordan (I will deal with the Levitical cities in 4:41-49 momentarily).

At the outset of the book of Deuteronomy, it appears that the editor is seeking to draw a direct connection to the other great giant slayers in Israel’s history—Caleb and David (cf. Josh. 14:12-15 and 1 Samuel 17; 2 Sam. 21:15-22). Even the giants of David’s day appear to have been descended from the Anakim, not the Sea Peoples (Josh. 11:22). Their defeat was a momentous occasion for...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Additional Praise for The Authors of the Deuteronomistic History
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table Of Contents
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• The Deuteronomistic History: An Introduction to Issues of Authorship, Date, and Influences
• An Analysis of the Texts
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Character Parallels between Saul, Ishbosheth, and the Judges
• Bibliography
• Index of Subjects and Authors
• Index of Scripture References