Full Description
This book takes a fresh look at the brutal story of the war between the sons of Israel and the sons of Benjamin in Judges 19-21. Relying on archaeological and survey data largely overlooked by biblical scholars, Krisel engages critically with the predominant scholarly view that Judges 19-21 uses "irony" to cast the explicit heroes in the narrative, the sons of Israel, as the implicit villains.
Contents
Contents
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Judges 19-21 and the "Othering" of Benjamin: A Golah Polemic against the Autochthonous Inhabitants of the Land?
part 1: Text
1 Text Critical Problems in Judges 19-21
1 Principal Differences between BHS and BHQ Judges 19-21
2 New Methodological Approach of BHQ to Textual Criticism
3 Determining the "Preferred" Text of Judges 19-21
4 Chapter Summary
2 Judges 19-21 in Canonical Context
1 Judges 19-21 in the Broad Canonical Context of Judges 13-1 Samuel 7
2 Literary Relationship between Judges 17-18 and Judges 19-21
3 Literary Relationship between Judges 19-21 and 1 Samuel 1-7
4 Literary Associations between Judges 19-21 and Ruth
5 Chapter Summary
3 Literary Structure of Judges 19-21
1 Status Quæstionis Concerning the Literary Structure of Judges 19-21
2 Structural Indicia of Caesuras in Judges 19-21
3 Proposed Literary Structure for Judges 19-21
4 Conclusions
5 Chapter Summary
part 2: Texture
4 The Narrator's Evaluative Point of View
1 Evaluative Point of View in Judges 19-21
2 Position 1: The Narrator Portrays the Sons of Israel as Heroes
3 Position 2: The Narrator Portrays the Sons of Israel as Heroes but Readers Should Reject This Evaluation
4 Position 3: The Narrator Uses Irony and Absurd Humor to Portray the Sons of Israel as Villains
5 Position 4: The Narrator Uses a "Non-Critical" Evaluative Point of View Characteristic of "Foundation Myths"
6 Towards a Methodology for Determining the Narrator's Evaluative Point of View
7 Conclusions
8 Chapter Summary
5 The Phenomenon of Intertextuality in Judges 19-21
1 Methodology and the Phenomenon of Intertextuality in the HB
2 Synchronic and Diachronic Approaches to the Analysis of Intertextuality
3 Edenburg's Analysis of Intertextuality in Judg 19:22-24
4 Conclusions
5 Chapter Summary
part 3: Context
6 Understanding the Anti-Benjamin Tendenz in Judges 19-21
1 Status Quæstionis through the End of the 20th Century
2 Recent Iterations of the "Anti-Saul" Political Polemic Hypothesis
3 Critique of the "Anti-Saul" Political Polemic Hypothesis
4 Methodological Weaknesses of the Hypothesis
5 Conclusions
6 Chapter Summary
7 Situating the Anti-Benjamin Tendenz in Judges 19-21 in Historical Context
1 Archaeological and Survey Data from the Benjamin Region
2 Interpretation of Archaeological Data by Biblical Commentators
3 Relations between the Golah and Those Who Remained in the Land
4 New Hypothesis to Explain the Anti-Benjamin Bias in Judges 19-21
5 Chapter Summary
part 4: Textualization
8 Methodological Problems in Diachronic Analysis
1 Basic Models for Understanding the Compositional History of Judges 19-21
2 Recommendations for Methodological Controls in Redaction Criticism
3 Chapter Summary
9 Compositional History of Judges 19
1 Compositional History of Judges 19:1-10aB
2 Compositional History of Judges 19:10aC-21
3 Compositional History of Judges 19:22-30
4 Chapter Summary
10 Compositional History of Judges 20
1 Compositional History of Judges 20:1-17
2 Compositional History of Judges 20:18-31a
3 Compositional History of Judges 20:31b-48
4 Chapter Summary
11 Compositional History of Judges 21
1 Compositional History of Judges 21:1-5
2 Compositional History of Judges 21:6-23a
3 Compositional History of Judges 21:23b-25
4 Chapter Summary
Conclusions and Perspectives for Further Research
Appendix: Translation of Judges 19-21
Bibliography of Works Consulted
Index of Modern Authors
Index of Ancient Sources
