Zwischen Landnahme und Königtum

Portrait

Dr. theol. Friedrich-Emanuel Focken arbeitet als Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.

Leseprobe

Friedrich-Emanuel Focken analyzes the introduction to the judges period (Judg. 2:6-3:6), the Abimelech narrative (Judg. 8:33-9:57), and the Jephthah narrative (Judg. 10:6-12:7) in the book of Judges as well as the similarly shaped narrative of Samuel's victory over the Philistines (1Sam. 7:2-17) and the foundation of the rejection of Israel and Judah (2Kgs. 17:7-23) in the books of Samuel and Kings. He draws the following conclusions:
The Deuteronomistic primary layer of the book of Judges is only secondarily inserted between the priestly-stamped Hexateuch (Gen.-Josh.) and the already deuteronomistically redacted books of Samuel and Kings.
Through Yhwh's refusal to rescue Israel again (Judg. 10:13) at the beginning of the Jephthah narrative (Judg. 10:6-12:7), Yhwh ends the cyclical course of history in the judges period introduced at the introduction to this period (Judg. 2:6-19a*) and the Othniel narrative (Judg. 3:7-11). These texts constitute a frame around the central material of the description of the cyclical judges period in which the Israelites no longer remember Yhwh's past acts of salvation (Judg. 2:10).
Jephthah's argument against the Ammonite king (Judg. 11:12-28) also belongs on the redaction-historical level of the Deuteronomistic layer of the book of Judges. This argument, which refers to Israel's again remembered history with Yhwh (Judg. 10:11-13), is intended to establish Jewish claims to the land east of the Jordan in the Persian period.>