3. Method and Cii.vnACTERisTirs of tiik Editor. — The editor of Kings, in denling with a period of al>out4CK1 years in length, naturally make; use of earlier written documents for the puriKiso which he has in vie*-. Tlie.-«e documents, which fonn his sources of information, are in some ca.s<'9 expressly iiaimil. We have mention of 'the U^ik of the acts of Soluliion ' ("cV "ip ■^f; ; I U"), R"d of ' the book of the annals ' (o';;ci •^?'^ ' »ct« of days, i.e. ' daily record of events ') of the kincs i>f Israrl
858
KINGS, I. AND II.
KINGS, I. AND n.
(I U" al.), and also 'of the kings of Judah' (I14»a/.)-*
An offlciul 'recorder' (T3Il;n, lit. 'the man who brings to Kmembrance ' ; LXX • Cwt/M^trtrxA,*, i uvo^A.tnua.rvypAi<K, i i*( rit ifWiittruMTttt) is mentioned auion(^' the uiiiusters uf Uavid (3 S 8"* 2n»). Solomon (1 K 4^), Ilezekiah (2 K 18'"' :"), and Josiah (2 Ch M'«), and it may be assumed that the same otlice existed in the northern as in the southern kini,'dom. Prolmbly, the work of this ' recorder ' was that of vtate-antialitit, whose duty cogsisled in takiiij; note in writing of the important events of his time (of. Est 2'." 0^). It is not clear whether the editor of Kinfrs had access to the annals of both kingdoms at first-hand, or whether bis ' books of the amials* were not rather continuous aistories based mainly upon the annals, and thus rather of a iitorary than an ollicial character. The latter view is most lenerally adopted (cf. especially Kuenen, Onderzoek, { 248; Cornill, EinleUung, p. UK.).
Besides these state records, the editor employs other nameless sources, which will be noticed in dealing in detail with the composition of Kin"s. At this point it should he observed that, as in tlie cases of the Hexateuch and of Judges and Samuel, so in the case of Kings, the editor's work is rather that of a compiler or redactor than that of an author strictly so termed. In giving a summary of the events of any particular reign, he appears, it is true, often to epitomize in his own language information which was contained at greater length in the 'Annals.' In other cases, however, he incorporates whole narratives, or sections of narra- tives, so far as they suit his purpose, in their original form, merely welding the sources together so as to construct a continuous history.
The proof that such was the method of the editor is to be found chiefly in the variations in style and language between different portions of Kings. Lengthy prophetical narratives stand side by side with l^rief political and statistical notices. Different sections are marked by dialectical peculiarities. Thus the great group of narratives which, commencing with I 17 and running on into the middle of II, relate the affairs of the kingdom of Israel, shows traces of a peculiar diction which may be sup- posed to be North Palestinian (see below on I 17 ff.). Later sections, again, exhibit a decadence of style, e.g. the use o( the perfect with weak 1 in place of 1 consecutive with the im- perfect—II 184- 36 1918 214.6 23-<- 5- »■ 10- 13- 14. 15, There are variations between section and section in the form of proper names : — II 12-17» is peculiar among the Elijah narratives in using the form .Ij'jx beside the ordinary '•^;^N ; II 1814-16 employs the form n^pyn instead of in;pin, which is used uniformly in It 1813. 17-20 end. And especially, as we shall proceed to notice, the editor himself is characterized by the use of a phraseology which serves as a clear indication of the portions of his book which are to be traced to his own pen. Another mark of the composite nature of Kings is the existence of a small number of discrepancies in detail : e.g. I 6i3ff- (Heb. 27ir.) na are incon- sistent with lff^;l 122J.M disagrees with I 1430.
To the editor is due the stereotyped form into which the introduction and conclusion of a reign is thrown, and which constitutes, as it were, tlie framework upon which the narrative as a whole is built. The regularity of the editor's method in the construction of this framework is worthy of special notice. The form in which the account of a reign is introduced is as follows. For kings of Judah : — 1. A synchronism of the year of accession with the corresponding reigning year of the con- temporary king of Israel, probably calculated by the editor himself. This, commencing \vith Abijah, naturally ceases with Hezekiah, upon the fall of the N. kingdom. 2. Age of the king at accession. 3. Lengtli of his reign. 4. Name of the queen- mother. This, together with 2, 3, is dra\\ii from the 'Annals.' 5. A brief verdict upon the king's character, framed in accordance with the Deutero- oomic standard. iV kin/fs of Israel: — 1. A synchronism of the year of accession with the lorresponding reigning year of the contemporary king of Judah. 2. Length of the king's reign. 3.
• In speaking of the named sources of Kings, we mav add the •eference to ' the Book of the Upright ' (Hook of Jashar as in fos 10", 2 S lie), which is to be restored from LXX after I 813 JJtX I 8^3). tujt lini Mlrn yiypawrcu iv iStjiK^u Tiit i-'i^e i represents rvp ^P hs njw? K'.T K^q, TOn being s misreading o« T?i;3.