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Book Reviews

Book Reviews book reviews 90 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Biblical Interpretation 12, 1 Also available online – www.brill.nl BOOK REVIEWS G ottwald , N orman K., The Politics of Ancient Israel . Library of An- cient Israel. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Pp. xvii + 366. Cl. Np. ISBN 0-664-21977-2. ‘Politics’ seems to be an issue for which the Hebrew Bible itself scarcely allows any scope, since it presents the Chosen People as a theodicy, under various but always divinely-given regimes (the prophet-leader, the Führer , the judge, the charismatic king, the dynastic king, and finally the high priest). Under a god who created the world and controls history, the only scope for politics is disobedience to the divine will, typically expressed in terms of disobedience to a covenant. Real-life politics is excluded. This book, then, is working against the biblical sources, imposing upon the ancient Israel and Judah that they describe a pattern of behaviour (‘politics’) that we believe all human societies to fulfil. To make the problem worse, those sources are historically of very uncertain reliabil- ity. These obstacles Gottwald identifies very clearly, who tries through- out to be explicit, honest and transparent in his http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Biblical Interpretation Brill

Book Reviews

Biblical Interpretation , Volume 12 (1): 90 – Jan 1, 2004
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 2004 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0927-2569
eISSN
1568-5152
DOI
10.1163/156851504322887690
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

book reviews 90 © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2004 Biblical Interpretation 12, 1 Also available online – www.brill.nl BOOK REVIEWS G ottwald , N orman K., The Politics of Ancient Israel . Library of An- cient Israel. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001. Pp. xvii + 366. Cl. Np. ISBN 0-664-21977-2. ‘Politics’ seems to be an issue for which the Hebrew Bible itself scarcely allows any scope, since it presents the Chosen People as a theodicy, under various but always divinely-given regimes (the prophet-leader, the Führer , the judge, the charismatic king, the dynastic king, and finally the high priest). Under a god who created the world and controls history, the only scope for politics is disobedience to the divine will, typically expressed in terms of disobedience to a covenant. Real-life politics is excluded. This book, then, is working against the biblical sources, imposing upon the ancient Israel and Judah that they describe a pattern of behaviour (‘politics’) that we believe all human societies to fulfil. To make the problem worse, those sources are historically of very uncertain reliabil- ity. These obstacles Gottwald identifies very clearly, who tries through- out to be explicit, honest and transparent in his

Journal

Biblical Interpretation – Brill

Published: Jan 1, 2004

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