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5 - Kings, Prophets, and Judges

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2020

By
Graeme Auld
Edited by
Calum Carmichael
Calum Carmichael
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
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Summary

Together, the three biblical books Judges, Samuel, and Kings tell the larger part of the story of Israel and Judah as more-or-less independent nations on their own land. Their principal focus is on “rule,” good rule and bad rule: mostly royal rule (by kings), but also “rule” by judges and deliverers, and even by prophets. David is the key human ruler. God too “rules” in these books, but as “judge” rather than as “king.” Together with the book of Joshua, they constitute the sub-set of the Hebrew Bible called Former Prophets and the start of the historical books in an English Bible.

Keywords

DavidDavid-and-womenHannahJudahJudgesIsraelKingsProphetsSamuel
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature , pp. 80 - 97
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Further Reading

Auld, A. Graeme, I & II Samuel (Louisville, 2011).Google Scholar
Auld, A. Graeme, Life in Kings (Ancient Israel and Its Literature 30) (Atlanta, 2017).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bodner, Keith, Jeroboam’s Royal Drama (Oxford, 2012).Google Scholar
Nelson, Richard D., Judges: A Critical and Rhetorical Commentary (London, 2017).Google Scholar
Niditch, Susan, Judges (Louisville, 2008).Google Scholar
Sweeney, Marvin A., I & II Kings (Louisville, 2007).Google Scholar

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