The history of the Israel nation is well narrated in the Bible books following Torah. The history starts with Moses’ death, and the Canaanite conquest by the Israelites as described in the book of Joshua. Soon the history enters into a violent and chaotic period, in which different judges rule the Israelites, evident in the book of Judges (Wood, n.d.). The instability in the Israel ruling made people yearn for a strong political rule in which the book of Samuel portrays the transformation of Israel into a monarchy system of government. In the monarchy governance, Israel flourishes under the leadership of Solomon, his father David despite the problems that were created by the first king, Saul (Wood, n.d.). However, Israelites are destroyed after the death of King Solomon and his father David, in which the nation separates into two kingdoms. There is a slow descent in Israel which ends in the destruction of the two kingdoms of Israel starting with the Northern part followed by Judah. This history is concluded with the information about Jerusalem's destruction, and deportation of the largest group of Israelites, all detailed in the book of Kings.
Deuteronomistic history is a term that refers to a series of biblical books that provide a unified narrative history about Israel from its beginning to its peak under the leadership of King Solomon and David till its downfall and the exile of its people. The term Deutoronomistic history originates from the guiding historiography that is derived from the Book of Deuteronomy, which greatly influences the other texts (Wood, n.d.). In (Deuteronomy,28-30), the Lord makes promises to the Israelites through Moses after the end of their wandering and suffering in the wilderness before they entered the promised Land. Moses explains that the Lord would bless the Israelites with peace, prosperity while protecting them from all their enemies if they obeyed him. Additionally, the Israelites needed to follow all the laws as outlined in the book of Deuteronomy. However, if the Israelites failed to obey the commands, there would experience economic ruin, face diseases, devastating weather, military defeat, agricultural defeat, and other problems. In Deuteronomy (30:16-20), the Lord commands the Israelites to live according to the set commandments so that they may live and become prosperous in the promised land. Therefore, this particular Deuteronomistic principle guides the narrative history of the Israelites since they conquered the land of Canaan to their exile in Babylon after they failed to meet the set standards.
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The Deutorenomistic history authorship remains unclear but, it is well known that these narrative books were written using various sources of various genres including oratory, historical annals, prophetic speeches, and heroic saga. Additionally, some of these narratives could have been developed from war hymns, songs, poetry, and etiologies (Wood, n.d.). On other occasions, the narratives point out explicitly their sources. For instance, in the book of (2 Samuel, 1:18), the book points out the origin of the song, which is the Book of Jashar. (1Kings 11:41) also highlights the origin of the information about King Solomon, which is detailed in the book about his acts and wisdom. However, the sources of the Deuteronomic history could have either been oral or written, whereby the editors have played a significant role in their current forms.
The book of Judges and Joshua narrates the history of the Israelites after entering the land of Canaan. The Israelites during this time are yet to establish monarchy and people are led by judges (Wood, n.d.). The judges of Israel are tribal military leaders, who are very charismatic and seek to protect the people from their enemies. The books of Judges and Joshua have themes on territories, military, and religion. Additionally, these books are a representation of horrible violent acts, and also contain information that is shocking morally to the modern people. The books of Joshua are a clear illustration of Joshua's life since he assumed his leadership over the Israelites to his death. A section of the book of Joshua, explains the story of the Israelites conquest over the Canaanites (Joshua 1-12). The second part of the book ends with Joshua addressing the leaders to obey God as emphasized in the book of Deuteronomy (Joshua 13-24). Joshua explains to the Israelite's leaders that if they failed to adhere to the covenant they set with God, they would perish in the land that they had been provided with (Joshua 24:19-20). Therefore, Joshua's information to the leaders showed that the ongoing peace and survival of the Israelites depended on their adherence to the monotheistic religion of Yahweh.
As a continued narrative about the Israelites, I and 2 Samuel illustrate the stories of Saul, Samuel, and David. In these books, there is clever wordplay, and the use of elaborative plots, which help in explaining Israel's development of Monarchy (Wood, n.d.). Initially, the Israelites kingdom tends to falter under the leadership of king Soul, but it flourishes under the new leadership of David, who is a charismatic, flawless, and faithful leader. However, David is also involved in a variety of evil acts such as deceit, adultery, and murder which greatly affects his family and his kingdom control. Both first and second Samuel is a continuous narrative, which is an illustration of the Israelites and their leadership. However, there is information that portrays that Samuel's books were written by multiple authors, due to the diversity of the sources of the work as evident in the narrative (Samwel 1:18) and the appendices. Additionally, the authorship difference is portrayed by the conflicting views about monarchy in the book of Samuel. Therefore, Deuteronomist history is a clear narration about the life of the Israelites, which uses information from various sources.
Nevi’im is a section of the Hebrew canon, which consists of both the Latter and former prophets. There are four historical books in the former prophets, which include Kings, Judges, Samuel, and Joshua. Latter prophets are a compilation of the books of Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve minor prophets. The twelve minor prophets were once written in a single scroll, which included the books of Malachi, Haggai, Zacharia, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Nahum, Micah, Jonah, Hosea, Obadiah, Amos, and Joel (Harbison, n.d). Generally, these books narrate the stories of the Israelites and their leadership. For instance, the historical books narrate the history of the Israelites through kings. Israel's national history is narrated in the former history books which begins with the death of Moses and the conquest of the Canaanites. Immediately, after settling in Canaan, the Israelites enter a violent and chaotic era, in which there is a succession of leaders between various rulers. Consequently, the existing instability in the leadership made the Israelites yearn for a strong political rule in which their nation immediately transformed into a form of monarchy.
In a monarchy system of government, the supreme power is held by a single individual such as a king, and its power is normally hereditary. Israel’s flourishing can be attributed to the monarchy government of king David, who then hands down the leadership powers to his son King Solomon. In Israel, the monarchy government and the religious authority interacted severally. At the beginning of the monarchy government, God's prophet, Samuel, felt that the Israelites were humiliating and irritating him when they demanded him to appoint a king to be their ruler. The Israelites wanted a king because other nations had kings (1 Samuel 8:19-21). Samuel appealed to the Lord to inform him of the request of the people, which he perceived as a rebellion and the mistrust against the man of God. Therefore, people requesting Samuel to appoint a king to be their ruler shows that the prophets were responsible for appointing the kings in Israel.
In the monarchy government, the prophets were in control. For instance, Samuel inaugurated Saul as instructed by God. Later on, Samuel continued to be the leader of the Israelites even after the inauguration of the Saul, whereby he issued orders and guided him on how, when, and whom to fight. Samuel's power over king Saul is evident when he rebukes him in front of his subjects (1 Samuel 13:13-15). More so, Samuel is in charge of Saul's ruling such that he condemns the acts that displease God, thus acting as the sole advisor of the king (1 Samuel 13:13-15). Additionally, Samuel acts as a link between the king and God as evident in the conversation between Saul and Samuel (1Samuel 15:10-34). Therefore, in Israel, the monarchical system is controlled by the Lord, through the prophets.
The prophets helped in the ruling process of the king. For instance, prophet Obadiah was sent to the nation of the Edon, which comprised of the descendants of Esau, whereby he told them that they were likely to face the wrath of God because of their cruelty and pride towards Israel (Obadiah 1:1-10). Therefore, prophets helped the king in the leadership process by gathering allies that would help fight in case of an invasion. Malachi is also a prophet that helped in the leadership process, whereby he spoke against all the corruptive acts, that were responsible for the increasing immorality (Malachi 3:1). Prophets, such as Malachi condemned acts such as cheating in courts, lying in marriages, and mistreating other people, especially windows (Malachi 3:1). Therefore, these acts of the prophets show that the monarchy government of the Israelites depended on the prophets to straighten certain aspects of the government.
In the monarchy government, Israel succumbed to idol worship. They became very sinful but God never lost hope in the people such that he continued choosing various prophets to communicate his messages (Harbison, n.d.). Thus, God sent various prophets to change the hearts of his people. For instance, Amos was one of the prophets, who spoke against the political corruption that was occurring in Israel. He condemned the empty formal worship practices, which were extravagantly planned, as well as any unjust social practices to the people (Amos 4:12). Thus prophets in the monarchical government of the Israelites worked towards keeping the governorship, in line to ensure that no one was discriminated against, people remained genuine in their worship, and there was no corruption in the government. Therefore, prophets in the monarchy system of government in the Israel nation ensured that the kings ruled well while emphasizing equality to all subjects. Therefore, the Lord uses prophets to keep the kings in check as a way of protecting the Israelites.
Israel is a nation that required a strong king in its system of government, as a way of keeping the religious order under control, as it appeared very strong. In this monarchy government, the prophets greatly influenced the kings because there was no total separation between religion and state, as evident in the case of King Saul and prophet Samuel. However, as depicted in the various prophetic interventions, such as the act of prophet Amos, a close relationship between the state and religion aided the whole process of leadership.
References
Harbison, R. Kings, and Prophets of the Old Testament [Ebook] (pp. 1-68). Retrieved 28 April 2021, from https://www.padfield.com/acrobat/harbison/kings-and-prophets-rh.pdf .
Wood, E. The Former Prophets [Ebook] (pp.1-18) Retrieved 28 April 2021, from https://newprairiepress.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=4&article=1029&co
Youth Bible. Global Edition . Bible Societies.
