010. VII. The Later Parallel Histories

VII THE LATER PARALLEL HISTORIES

I.The Northern Prophetic History. During the eighth century B.C. the prophets of Northern Israel also began to collect the national songs and traditions current in the north, and to weave them together into a connected history, parallel to that of the early Judean prophets. Many characteristic water-marks distinguish their work. Peculiar words and expressions are constantly employed. The mountain of revelation is called Horeb or simply the mountain instead of Sinai, as in the early Judean history; the inhabitants of Palestine Amorites instead of Canaanites, and the father of the twelve tribes Jacob, not Israel. God (’elohim), not Jehovah, is the early designation of the Deity. Ordinarily, he is represented as communicating with his people through his Messenger, instead of by word of mouth as in the older Judean stories. These northern or Ephraimite (using Hosea’s designation of the northern kingdom) prophetic historians also recognize that the ancestors of the Hebrews were idolators (Joshua 24:2), and that divine revelation was gradual and progressive. Living in an age when prophets, like Elijah and Elisha, gave commands to king and people, they naturally assign the commanding position throughout all their history of Israel to the prophets. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Deborah, and Samuel are their chief heroes, and these all figure in the prophetic role, overshadowing the priests and secular rulers.

II.Its Purpose. In the thought of the Northern Israelite prophetic historians Israel was from the first a theocracy. Its victories and achievements were attained not so much by human effort and natural means (as in the Judean history), but by divine interposition. Its disasters they trace directly to acts of apostasy. Their purpose is clearly instructive and religious rather than historical. They aim to show, by familiar illustrations drawn from Israel’s experience, that disaster is the sure result of rebellion, and that peace and prosperity and the assurance of divine favor are the certain rewards of obedience to God’s commands and the counsels of his theocratic representatives, the prophets.

III.Its Contents. Since its interest centres in the Hebrew theocracy, this northern prophetic history begins with Abraham. It records all the important events in Israel’s life down to the establishment of the united monarchy under Saul. This independent version is in general closely parallel to and yet differs in many details from the Judean account. Each of these parallel prophetic histories has also preserved narratives peculiar to itself. Thus, for example, the account of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22), the making of the golden calf (Exodus 32), and the appointment of the seventy elders (Numbers 11:16-17; Numbers 11:25-30) are found only in the northern history, and the later additions made to it. Doubtless it was also originally far more complete than the present extracts from it in the Old Testament would suggest.

IV.Blending of the Two Prophetic Histories. When Northern Israel fell in 722 B.C., its literature became the possession of the southern prophets. The religious and didactic value of the northern history was recognized by some prophet or group of Judean prophets who lived in the dark days preceding the great reformation of Josiah in 621 B.C. The variant accounts of the same events were, however, distracting and not adapted to practical use. Accordingly, the two histories were combined. Naturally, the early Judean was made the basis, and this was supplemented by extracts from the northern history. If the two versions of the same narrative were closely parallel, they were joined together, so that, as for example, in the account of Jacob’s deception to secure his father’s blessing (§ XII), succeeding verses or sections were taken from the two different histories. If they could not be thus fused, the two versions were sometimes introduced independently, as are the two accounts of Isaac’s deception regarding Rebekah in Genesis 12, 26.

If the variations in the two versions were too great, simply the one was quoted, and that was ordinarily the southern, for it was the form of the tradition most familiar to the Judean compiler. When there was but one version of a story, it was usually reproduced, whether found originally in the northern or in the southern history. The task of combining the two sources was carried through with great care, and the result was a composite narrative, abounding in minor inconsistencies and abrupt transitions in literary style and point of view, but representing that which was most valuable in the two histories.

V.Point of View of Later Judaism. The Babylonian exile fundamentally transformed the thought and point of view of the Israelite race. The law and ritual took the place of the earlier popular religion and the priest succeeded the prophet. The prevailing conceptions regarding the earlier history of the nation also changed. The seat of authority was found in the past, rather than in the divine revelations through the present experiences of the nation and the heart of the living prophet. The historical spirit was largely lost, and, instead, a tendency prevailed to idealize the early days of Israel’s life, and to trace back to them the ideas and institutions so dear to later Judaism.

VI.The Late Priestly History. Under the influence of this new point of view and tendency, certain priests, probably originally exiles in Babylonia, wrote a brief history of their race. This history begins with the story of creation in Genesis 1, and traces the important incidents in Israel’s experience to the conquest of Canaan. The literary style is that of a legal writer and stands in striking contrast to that of the earlier prophets. Chronological data and genealogies are common. The interest is directed not to the history of the nation, but to the origin of legal and ceremonial institutions. This is in accord with its general aim, which is to provide a fitting introduction to the laws. God is conceived of as the absolute, omnipotent, transcendent ruler of the universe, who realized his will in the life of his people, not so much by natural laws and the acts of men, as by a miraculous use of his divine power. Israel’s earlier history has been so far idealized that no mention is made of the sins of Jacob, Moses, and the Hebrews. For the study of the theology and thought of later Judaism these narratives are of value; but the more reliable historical data and the vital messages adapted to universal human needs are found in the older prophetic narratives.

VII.The Final Blending of the Prophetic and Priestly Histories. The fusion of the late priestly with the earlier composite priestly histories has given us six of the opening books of the Old Testament. Since the final compiler was a late priest, he has assigned the first place to the priestly narrative that comes from his own age. Its account of creation, because of its majestic character, furnishes a fitting introduction to the Old Testament. Its order of events largely determines that of the resulting composite history. The stories of Genesis and Exodus lead up to the laws which later Jewish tradition associated as a whole with Moses and Sinai. Numbers and Joshua trace the history of Israel to the conquest of Canaan, the land where subsequently the temple was reared.

VIII.The Heart of the Old Testament. The greatest service performed by the final compiler was, however, the preservation of the earlier prophetic history. Embedded in the midst of later traditions, laws, and editorial additions, this older record has in divine Providence survived almost intact the successive revisions to which it has been subjected. Now, in the light of modern biblical research, it stands forth as the earliest witness, to make known the essential facts of Hebrew history and, above all, to illustrate the great spiritual and ethical truths revealed to the Hebrew prophets. This earliest history of Israel and the later prophetic books, and those inspired by them, constitute the real heart of the Old Testament and the true introduction to the New. The primary object in the opening volumes of the Historical Bible is to recover and reprint this early prophetic history of Israel (with its important later supplements) that it may again be available for popular study and teaching. It is not a new, but the original Old Testament, which is thus restored and freed from the distracting parallels and scribal additions that through the ages have gathered about it.