Jerusalem's Rise to Sovereignty: Zion and Gerizim in Competition

(Hardback)

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Ingrid Hjelm examines the composition of the Books of Kings, using the Hezekiah narratives in 2 Kings 18-20 as a focus. She argues that this narrative is taken from that of the Book of Isaiah, with which it shares linguistic and thematic elements. In Kings, it is used with the specific purpose of breaking the compositional pattern of curse, which threatens to place Jerusalem on a par with Samaria. Jerusalem traditions are examined against theories of a late Yahwehist author and the Pentateuch's origin within a Jerusalem cult. While the Pentateuch in its final form became a common work, acceptable to all groups because of its implied ambiguity, the Deuteronomistic History's favouring of David and Jerusalem holds a rejection of competitive groups as its implied argument. This is volume 404 in the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement series.

Reviews

Review in International Review of Biblical Studies, Vol 51: 2004/05
Old Testament Abstracts: The Catholic Biblical Quarterly/ Vol. 29, 2006 -- mention
"Hjelm's study is a well-documented and highly sophisticated work. Scholars and students, even those who disagree with Hjelm, will find a lot of useful analysis and will have to take into consideration her arguments" Kenneth A. Ristau Biblica Vol. 88 Fasc 1, 2007 -- Kenneth A. Ristau
'Hjelm's study is a well documented and highly sophisticated work. Scholars and students, even those who disagree with Hjelm, will find alot of useful analysis and will have to take into consideration her arguments for the unity of Kings and the priority of Isaiah's Hezekiah narrative over its parallel in Kings as well as some of her ideological readings.' 'Recommended' - Kenneth A. Ristau, Biblica -- Kenneth A Ristau
"Jerusalem's Rise to Sovereignty is an important and valuable book that can be enjoyed by almost any student of OT."- Daniel Leavins, Vol. 49 no.2 * Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society *
"Seldom does one pick up a book on historiography that can be described as bold, elegant, eloquent, delicate, insightful, brilliant, engaging, intelligent, ground-breaking, and completely worthwhile. This is that book. Hjelm is compelling, persuasive, and right, it seems. Those who would date the Hebrew Bible to the Hasmonean era now have a significant weapon in hand with which to wage the ongoing battle over biblical historiography. Read this book." - RBL, September 2005 * Review of Biblical Literature *

Author Bio

DR. INGRID HJELM is Research Associate at the Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies and the Department of Biblical Studies, University of Copenhagen.