THE DESTRUCTION OF THE KINGDOM
Section 1
The Purpose In Presenting This Information
That should be an obvious thing to say. It would be quite impossible to describe every detail of every aspect of an event, and even then it would be necessary to show how the details were related to each other, how they fitted in with the total pattern. The historian selects the details and connections which interest him or his readers, or he selects one particular pattern from the many patterns which can be found in the events about which he is writing. This process of selection and deliberate patterning is easy to see in such a work as the description of a town. One writer may emphasize the town's industries and skills. Another writer may describe the leisure facilities and the opportunities for people who wish to spend a holiday there. Yet another may concentrate on a new housing development with exciting architectural features. Each writer would claim that what he had written was true and complete, within the subject which he had chosen for his book.
All this should be obvious, but we are easily disturbed if we find the same forces at work in the books of the Scripture, and particularly in the historical books. The historical books in the Scripture are further complicated by two factors. Firstly, the 'author' of the final form of the book was using material which had already been selected and shaped by many people before it reached him. Such a final author was sometimes writing and editing his book several centuries after the events he was describing. The differing points of view of many people had already left their mark on the information that was available to him. But the second factor is even stronger: the author was not writing a merely descriptive work. His main purpose in writing was not to inform his readers but to change them. It was history brought to bear on the present, contemporary situation, to help the people who had to solve the contemporary problems.
There are two main groups of historical writings in the Old Covenant, the Devarimic histories and the Kohenly histories. They were written about the same events, but for different purposes and situations. The Devarimic books are Shophtim, 1 & 2 Schmuel and 1 & 2 Melechim. The Kohenly books are Yahshua Ben Nun and 1 & 2 Divre Hayamim. The Devarimic authors are closely connected with the reform carried out by King Josiah in 621 B.C.; they are interested in social justice, Yerusalem as a spiritual centre guarded and served by the king, and in a strict doctrine of reward and retribution by YAHWEH. Their main work was written during the earlier part of the exile in Babylon when there was still hope that the nation would be restored under the Davidic rule of the monarchy, despite the disasters which successive kings had brought upon their people. The Kohenly authors were writing at the end of the Babylonian exile when the people needed encouragement as they set about rebuilding Yerusalem and restoring the national economy. The main themes here are the invincible power of YAHWEH which can be seen at work in the history of HIS chosen people, the importance of the sacrifices offered and controlled by properly authorized kohens, and the absolute authority of the Law. The monarchy had failed and had been replaced by the rule of YAHWEH’s immutable Law.
A modern author who attempts to set the Scripture in its historical context is faced with a constant dilemma: should he continually point out the purposes and beliefs which have shaped the material he finds in the Scripture, or should he be content with pointing out the main events which have influenced the historical writings in the Scripture and leave the rest to the reader? In this work the second of these possibilities has been the one selected.
Yoseph Rhymer
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