Preaching's Preacher's Guide to the Best Bible Reference for 2014 (Old Testament Commentaries) The books of 1 and 2 Kings cover the history of Israel from the last days of the united kingdom under David to the eventual fall of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Within these books, the deuteronomic code - 'doing what is right in the Lord's sight' - provides a framework by which monarchic history is measured. In the kings' cultic failures lies the apostasy of the nation and its eventual exile. This apostasy centres on Israel's commitment to worship YHWH exclusively, and to worship according to deuteronomistic norms within the Jerusalem temple as the locus of YHWH's covenant presence. To safeguard the kings' commitments, YHWH's prophets loom large in 1 and 2 Kings: they herald YHWH's purposes, warn of his judgment for apostasy and woo his people back to the full experience of covenant life. Lissa M. Wray Beal's valuable commentary examines the successes and failures of monarchy in the divided kingdoms. It works with the final form of the biblical text and pursues historiographical, narrative and theological questions, including the relation of each chapter's themes to biblical theology. While it focuses on theological and narrative concerns, the commentary gives due attention to complex historical issues. It seeks to provide a nuanced reading that is faithful to the text's message.

This book explores, by way of narrative analysis, the story of Jehu's revolt in 2 Kings 9 and 10, and the tensions and ambiguities surrounding the evaluation of Jehu that it contains. In the narrative, the Deuteronomist writes in many voices: the prophet(s), the Lord, the narrator, even Jehu himself. The tension within the Jehu narrative arises in the interaction of the various voices, and careful study of these narrative voices reveals two primary criteria for evaluating Jehu: faithful observance of correct Deuteronomistic worship, that is, true Yahwistic worship in the Jerusalem Temple; and faithful obedience to the prophetic word. Each criterion is expressed in the narrative and, as a means of finally resolving the ambiguity of the evaluative voices, the narrative presents the criterion of worship in suppression over the criterion of the prophetic word. The narrative analysis shows how the Jehu narrative connects linguistically, thematically, and analogically the larger Deuteronomistic History and provides rubrics under which a Deuteronomistic theology of kingly legitimation can be examined. The theology that arises from the Jehu narrative in respect of kingly legitimation, traced through the criteria of proper worship and the prophetic word, at times adds unique emphases to the theology of kingly legitimation presented in the history. At other times, it stands seamlessly with the theology of the larger history. At all times, the theology of worship and word shows the Jehu narrative ultimately cannot be real successfully or fully in isolation from the surrounding text and the theology presented there. Series editors, Claudia Camp and Andrew Mein, were formerly of "Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement", a book series that featured original and creative approaches to the interpretation of Old Testament literature. "The Bible in the 21st Century" series, a part of JSOTS, seeks to examine contemporary authoritative and cultural meanings of bibles by focusing on the processes of transmission, readership and actualization of biblical texts up to and including the twenty-first century. The series explores issues related to contemporary culture and the place of the bible and religion within it. Copenhagen International Seminar is also part of JSOTS.