Chapter 4 focuses on Elijah’s immortality, the doubling of his spirit, and Elisha’s role as Elijah’s prophetic heir in the narratives to follow. On paradigm with 1 Kings 17–19, the Elisha narratives depict Yhwh’s renewal of Israel’s land and people together. Moreover, these stories suggest that Elijah’s paradigmatic vitality – even in the prophet’s physical absence – outstrips the theological catastrophe (1 Kings 20–22) with which it contrasts. Thus, as a rhetorical extension of the prophet’s non-death portrayed in 2 Kings 1–2, 2 Kings 3–8 communicates a hope for Israel that proves crucial to the book’s overall message.

This first chapter of Part III looks at Rahab’slong and complex afterlife in the history of biblical interpretation. For the rabbis, she represents the prototypical “righteous proselyte” who, despite her Canaanite descent and fame as a fille de joie, becomes a full member of Israel. For the first Christian interpreters, her story illustrates foundational theological principles, such as the relationship between faith and works. These differing approaches reflect an abiding tension between Christian and Jewish approaches to the Bible, both ancient and modern. Because that tension bears directly on our central concern with war and national identity, we compare in what follows a number of early readings of the biblical account. In doing so, we will deepen our appreciation of the ideals, ethos, and concerns that shaped biblical war commemoration as a politico-theological discourse, as well as the competing understandings of “belonging” in early Jewish and Christian communities.