The call to heed the covenant of Moses burns through the pages of 1&2 Kings. Two major concerns of this covenant stand out, the first of which is the worship of other gods. Bedrock to Israel's faith is the assertion that "The Lord is our God, the Lord alone" (Deuteronomy 6:4). And yet the kings and people of 1&2 Kings worship the gods of their neighbors. They also practice idolatry in other ways, placing their trust in the "gods" of treasuries, armies, and alliances.
Injustice is the second concern. The law teaches that all must receive equal justice (e.g. Deuteronomy 16:18-20) and that the weak and undefended must be protected (Deuteronomy 15:1-18; 24:10-22). As Coogan points out in reflecting the old ways of Israel before the kings, when tribal life was based on more on a equal rights for all mentality, the law also teaches that kings must not elevate themselves above others (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). And yet the kings of 1&2 Kings amass great power and wealth, enslave their own people, steal their land, and spill innocent blood. It is no wonder the DTHR writers put their own spins on the happenings written at a later date based on tradition and history.
Although the prophets and DTHR writers of these biblical texts wrestle with the tension between the unconditional Davidic covenant and the conditional Mosaic covenant, they come down time and time again on the side of God's judgment. But even here they have no simple answers. They testify thank goodness, that divine judgment is never rigid. God sees signs of human repentance and human suffering and responds with compassion, second chances, and delayed judgment. They also testify to the difficulty of discerning and implementing God's desires and will in a nations public life. In this story, political policy, self interest, and moral certainty shape and reshape one another in ways that are sometimes ugly and morally open up to the unstable varying and ever-changing view points of DTHR writers.
Nonetheless, 1&2 Kings as a whole announce that loyalty to God and obedience to the law must not be compromised. Standing in Babylon, remembering a history of compromise, the writers of 1&2 Kings point to the exile as the inescapable testimony to God's judgment on Israel.
God Bless,
Deacon Jim
(Foster, J., Willard, D., Brueggemann, W., Peterson, E., The Renovare Spiritual Formation Bible Reflections)
2 comments:
Hi Jim,
I notice your use of the phrase "word of God" in this post, and I'd like to know more about what you mean when you say that. I've been wondering myself about an understanding of the Bible as the "word of God" that's still compatible with the historical-critical interpretations we've been learning in class.
Thanks,
Allison
Allie,
Simply put the "Word of God" is bound up with human history, for it is relationship with God in historical events. As I tried to portray in my blog the DTRH writers despite all of their spins and ideologies always turn back to the overall importance of loyalty and obedience to God.
God Bless,
Deacon Jim
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