The Books of Kings
Sources, Composition, Historiography and Reception
Published on 19. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
726 pages
978-90-04-74147-8 (ISBN)
Description
This collaborative commentary on, or dictionary of, Kings, explores cross-cutting aspects of Kings ranging from the analysis of its composition, historically regarded, to its transmission and reception. Ample attention is accorded sources, figures and peoples who play a part in the book. The commentary deals with Kings' treatment in translation and role in later ancient literature. While our comments do not proceed verse by verse, the volume furnishes guidance, from contributors highly qualified to advance contemporary discussion, on the book's historical background, its literary intentions and characteristics, and on themes and motifs central to its understanding, both of itself and of the world from which it arose. This volume functions as a meta-commentary, offering windows into the secondary literature, but assembling data more fully than is the case in individual commentaries.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 155 mm
Thickness: 37 mm
Weight
998 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-74147-8 (9789004741478)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Baruch Halpern, Ph.D. (1978) in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Harvard University, holds the Chaiken Family Chair in Jewish Studies, and is Professor of Ancient History, Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, and Religious Studies, and Fellow of the Institute of Arts and Humanities, at Pennsylvania State University.
Andre Lemaire, Ph.D. (1973) in Oriental Studies, University of Paris III is correspondent of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres (Paris) and Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic Philology and Epigraphy at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne, Paris). He has published extensively on Bible and West Semitic Epigraphy including NAISSANCE DU MONOTHEISME. Point de vue d'un historien (Paris, Bayard, 2003) = THE BIRTH OF MONOTHEISM (Washington, Biblical Archaeology Society, 2007).
Andre Lemaire, Ph.D. (1973) in Oriental Studies, University of Paris III is correspondent of the Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres (Paris) and Professor of Hebrew and Aramaic Philology and Epigraphy at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Sorbonne, Paris). He has published extensively on Bible and West Semitic Epigraphy including NAISSANCE DU MONOTHEISME. Point de vue d'un historien (Paris, Bayard, 2003) = THE BIRTH OF MONOTHEISM (Washington, Biblical Archaeology Society, 2007).
Content
Preface
Terms, Sigla, and Abbreviations
PART ONE
TEXTUAL TRADITION OF THE BOOK OF KINGS
The Septuagint in the Text History of 1-2 Kings
Adrian Schenker
Qumran Fragments of the Books of Kings
Julio Trebolle Barrera
The Text of 1-2 Kings Used by Josephus
Etienne Nodet
PART TWO
KINGS AS A LITERARY WORK
Theories of the Redaction(s) of Kings
Gary N. Knoppers
Characterization in Kings
Robert L. Cohn
The Composition of Kings
Baruch Halpern and Andre Lemaire
Books and Writing in Kings
Alan R. Millard
PART THREE
KINGS AND ITS NEAR EASTERN MILIEU
The Book of Kings and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography
Mario Liverani
Kings and External Textual Sources: Assyrian, Babylonian and North-West Semitic
Alan R. Millard
PART FOUR
THE PEOPLE OF KINGS
The Moabites
Paul-Eugene Dion and P. M. Michele Daviau
Edom and the Edomites
Andre Lemaire
Ammonites and the Books of Kings
Walter E. Aufrecht
Hiram of Tyre and Solomon
Edward Lipinski
The Aramaeans of Syria: Some Considerations on Their Origin and Material Culture
Helene Sader
Philistines in the Books of Kings
Seymour Gitin
External Sources: Neohittite States
Kenneth A. Kitchen
External Sources: Egypt
Kenneth A. Kitchen
External Sources: Early Arabia
Kenneth A. Kitchen
PART FIVE
DETAILED ISSUES OF KINGS
"The Prophets" - References to Generic Prophets and Their Role in the Construction of the Image of the "Prophets of Old" within the Postmonarchic Readership(s) of the Books of Kings
Ehud Ben Zvi
Priesthood and the Development of Cult in the Books of Kings
Wolfgang Zwickel
Dates and Calendars in Kings
Gershon Galil
Law in Kings
Raymond Westbrook
Officialdom and Society in the Books of Kings: The Social Relevance of the State
Izabela Jaruzelska
Trade in 1-2 Kings
Daniel M. Master
Archaeology and the Question of Sources in Kings
William G. Dever
PART SIX
RECEPTION IN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
Kings in Josephus
Silvia Castelli
The Books of Kings in New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers
Magnus Zetterholm
Elijah and the Books of Kings in Rabbinic Literature
Karin Hedner-Zetterholm
Terms, Sigla, and Abbreviations
PART ONE
TEXTUAL TRADITION OF THE BOOK OF KINGS
The Septuagint in the Text History of 1-2 Kings
Adrian Schenker
Qumran Fragments of the Books of Kings
Julio Trebolle Barrera
The Text of 1-2 Kings Used by Josephus
Etienne Nodet
PART TWO
KINGS AS A LITERARY WORK
Theories of the Redaction(s) of Kings
Gary N. Knoppers
Characterization in Kings
Robert L. Cohn
The Composition of Kings
Baruch Halpern and Andre Lemaire
Books and Writing in Kings
Alan R. Millard
PART THREE
KINGS AND ITS NEAR EASTERN MILIEU
The Book of Kings and Ancient Near Eastern Historiography
Mario Liverani
Kings and External Textual Sources: Assyrian, Babylonian and North-West Semitic
Alan R. Millard
PART FOUR
THE PEOPLE OF KINGS
The Moabites
Paul-Eugene Dion and P. M. Michele Daviau
Edom and the Edomites
Andre Lemaire
Ammonites and the Books of Kings
Walter E. Aufrecht
Hiram of Tyre and Solomon
Edward Lipinski
The Aramaeans of Syria: Some Considerations on Their Origin and Material Culture
Helene Sader
Philistines in the Books of Kings
Seymour Gitin
External Sources: Neohittite States
Kenneth A. Kitchen
External Sources: Egypt
Kenneth A. Kitchen
External Sources: Early Arabia
Kenneth A. Kitchen
PART FIVE
DETAILED ISSUES OF KINGS
"The Prophets" - References to Generic Prophets and Their Role in the Construction of the Image of the "Prophets of Old" within the Postmonarchic Readership(s) of the Books of Kings
Ehud Ben Zvi
Priesthood and the Development of Cult in the Books of Kings
Wolfgang Zwickel
Dates and Calendars in Kings
Gershon Galil
Law in Kings
Raymond Westbrook
Officialdom and Society in the Books of Kings: The Social Relevance of the State
Izabela Jaruzelska
Trade in 1-2 Kings
Daniel M. Master
Archaeology and the Question of Sources in Kings
William G. Dever
PART SIX
RECEPTION IN JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
Kings in Josephus
Silvia Castelli
The Books of Kings in New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers
Magnus Zetterholm
Elijah and the Books of Kings in Rabbinic Literature
Karin Hedner-Zetterholm