The Chronicler in His Age (JSOT supplement)

401 Pages·1991·23.41 MB·English

by  Peter R. Ackroyd

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
101
Editors
David J A Clines
Philip R Davies
JSOT Press
Sheffield
This page intentionally left blank
The
CHRONICLER
in
HIS AGE
Peter R. Ackroyd
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
Supplement Series 101
Copyright © 1991 Sheffield Academic Press
Published by JSOT Press
JSOT Press is an imprint of
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
The University of Sheffield
343 Fulwood Road
Sheffield S10 3BP
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
Printed on acid-free paper in Great Britain
by Billing & Sons Ltd
Worcester
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ackroyd, Peter R. (Peter Runham) 1917-
The Chronicler in his age.
1. Bible. O.T. Chronicles - Critical studies
I. Title II. Series
222.606
ISSN 0309-0787
ISBN 1-85075-254-0
CONTENTS
Preface 7
Chapter 1
THE AGE OP THE CHRONICLER 8
Chapter 2
ARCHAEOLOGY, POLITICS AND RELIGION
IN THE PERSIAN PERIOD 87
Chapter 3
PROBLEMS IN THE INTERPRETATION OF
HEBREW LITERATURE: THE HISTORY AND
LITERATURE OF THE PERSIAN PERIOD 112
Chapter 4
SOME RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS OF THE PERSIAN PERIOD 126
Chapter 5
HISTORICAL PROBLEMS OF THE EARLY
ACHAEMENIAN PERIOD 141
Chapter 6
FAITH AND ITS REFORMULATION IN THE
POST-EXILIC PERIOD: I. SOURCES 156
Chapter 7
FAITH AND ITS REFORMULATION IN THE
POST-EXILIC PERIOD: II. PROPHETIC MATERIAL 172
Chapter 8
A SUBJECT PEOPLE: JUDAH UNDER PERSIAN RULE 188
6 The Chronicler in his Age
Chapter 9
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE EXILE AND RESTORATION 239
Chapter 10
HISTORY AND THEOLOGY IN THE WRITINGS
OF THE CHRONICLER 252
Chapter 11
THE THEOLOGY OF THE CHRONICLER 273
Chapter 12
GOD AND PEOPLE IN THE CHRONICLER'S
PRESENTATION OF EZRA 290
Chapter 13
THE CHRONICLER AS EXEGETE 311
Chapter 14
CHRONICLES-EZRA-NEHEMIAH:
THE CONCEPT OF UNITY 344
Chapter 15
RIGORISM AND OPENNESS IN THE THEOLOGY
OF THE PERSIAN (ACHAEMENIAN) PERIOD 360
Bibliography 379
Index of Biblical References 387
Index of Authors 396
PREFACE
The first volume of my essays, conveniently gathered under
the title Studies in the Religious Tradition of the Old Testa-
ment, was published by the SCM Press in 1987. This second
collection, anticipated in some measure in the earlier one, con-
centrates attention on the post-exilic period, and it gathers
conveniently around 'the Chronicler1, a title used for the fig-
ure or figures lying behind both the books of Chronicles and
the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Opinions differ about mat-
ters of authorship, and my own position has become much less
certain than it once was. The essays on these various but
interrelated subjects are printed as they were first published,
or, in certain cases, since they have not been previously set in
print, as they were written, with varying amounts of refer-
ence and bibliographical accompaniment. The reader who
wishes to, will know where to find more recent discussions,
especially in the main Journals and the book lists of the Society
for Old Testament Study.
I am grateful to Professor David Clines for his willingness to
publish these studies at the Sheffield Academic Press, and to
the staff of the Press for their patience and help. I must also
express my thanks to Dr Robert Carroll of the University of
Glasgow for his continual encouragement.
Peter R. Ackroyd
November 1990
Chapter 1
THE AGE OF THE CHRONICLER!
1. Political and Social Aspects
of the Life of the Jewish Community
The title 'The Age of the Chronicler* is designed to offer a con-
venient but not too strict designation of that period—from the
rebuilding of the temple c. 515 BCE to the time of Alexander the
Great—for which our primary biblical source is to be found in
the last part of the Chronicler's work, viz. Ezra 7-10 and Ne-
hemiah. The precise date of his activity is uncertain, and it
must also be in some measure an open question whether we
are concerned with a coherent work or one which has come
into being as a result of a gradual process of revision and
extension of earlier forms of the material now to be found in
1-2 Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah. Clearly one earlier
form is known to us in Samuel-Kings. The possibility that the
revision which is found in the work of the Chronicler depends
upon a text different from that which we have as the Maso-
retic Text for those books is strongly suggested both from
Septuagint and Qumran evidence. The possibility that the
Chronicler's work represents a selection from earlier forms of
the material—a selection with concentration upon the true
community centred upon Jerusalem and Judah, its nature
and composition—must certainly be entertained, especially if
we observe that we have yet another such selection in 1 Esdras
which is probably better so described than as a mere fragment
of the longer work. (A quite different selection is to be found in
the Samaritan text, Samaritan Chronicle II.) The selection
1. Reprinted from the author's essay The Age of the Chronicler.
Supplement to Colloquium—The Australian and New Zealand Theo-
logical Review (Auckland, N.Z., 1970).
1. The Age of the Chronicler 9
found in the Chronicler's work has been given a larger setting
by the use of a mass of genealogical material as preface and
for expansion purposes, material which itself clearly has a
long pre-history.
The earlier Deuteronomic History offered a presentation
and interpretation of the experience of the community leading
up to the exile, and, probably from a vantage point within the
exilic age, envisaged only with the utmost tentativeness the
possibilities of restoration (cf. Ackroyd 1968a, ch. 5). The
Chronicler was also deeply concerned with a theology of the
exile—a matter to which we shall return; but he was able to
view it from a longer perspective. The final stages of this work
may well belong to a much later age, perhaps even to the sec-
ond century BCE; but it is clear that the major stage in its evo-
lution belongs to that moment after the activity of Nehemiah
and Ezra when reflection on their achievements was possible.
The consideration of their chronology has been largely left on
one side, not because the issues are unimportant but because
the ground has been so often covered that it appears more
profitable here to consider other matters. Nehemiah is
assumed to belong to the mid-fifth century; Ezra to belong to
the opening of the fourth century. Much of what is said would
apply equally if other dates were regarded as more satisfac-
torily demonstrated, though the relationship between the two
men would need to be differently defined. If this now widely
accepted date of 398 BCE is assumed for Ezra, who then follows
Nehemiah at a distance of about four decades, the writing up
of the account is likely to follow long enough after for there to
be time for reflection and an interpretation which places
materials in theological rather than merely chronological
order. But since it is not possible to see any reflection of the fall
of the Persian power to Alexander the Great, we may suppose
that the date lies before, say, 335 BCE.
A caution must, however, be entered in regard to this point.
The fact that we are unable to detect any indication in the
writings of the Chronicler of the change of rule brought about
by the conquests of Alexander the Great is one of those pieces of
negative evidence which so often fail to satisfy. One may argue
that the Chronicler's favourable comments on the activities of
Persian rulers would make it all the more strange that he