Dominion and Dynasty

by Dempster, Stephen G.

• ISBN13: 9780830826155
• ISBN10: 0830826157
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-12-01
• Publisher: Ivp Academic

Summary

Christian theologians rarely study the Old Testament in its final Hebrew canonical form, even though this was very likely the Bible used by Jesus and the early church. However, once read as a whole, the larger structure of the Hebrew Bible(Tanakh)provides a "wide-angle lens" through which its contents can be viewed.In this stimulating exposition, Stephen G. Dempster argues that, despite its undoubted literary diversity, the Hebrew Bible possesses a remarkable structural and conceptual unity. The various genres and books are placed within a comprehensive narrative framework which provides an overarching literary and historical context. The many texts contribute to this larger text, and find their meaning and significance within its story of "dominion and dynasty," which ranges from Adam to the Son of Man to David, and to a coming Davidic king.

Author Biography

Stephen G. Dempster is the Stuart E. Murray Professor of Religious Studies at Atlantic Baptist University, New Brunswick, Canada.

Table of Contents

Series preface	9	(2)
Author's preface	11	(4)
Introduction
A book or a ragbag: a literary approach to Old Testament theology	15	(30)
Old Testament theology: the Bible through different eyes	15	(1)
An `appropriate reading' of the biblical text	16	(4)
The Old Testament: Text or Text	20	(4)
The importance of the literary approach to the Text	24	(2)
Not losing sight of the forest	26	(4)
Explicit signals of textual coherence	30	(6)
The present study: a literary approach and biblical theology	36	(1)
Biblical theology, Tanakh structure and the emergence of a literary approach	37	(4)
Canonization and contextualization	41	(4)
The beginning, middle and ending of the Tanakh: a preview of the storyline (Adam to David)	45	(10)
Plan, purpose, plot	45	(2)
Dominion, dynasty and David in Genesis and Chronicles	47	(2)
The middle of the Tanakh	49	(6)
I DOMINION LOST: THE RISE AND FALL OF ISRAEL
The narrative storyline begins (Genesis)	55	(38)
`These are the generations of...'	55	(1)
The goal of creation	56	(6)
The garden of Eden	62	(4)
The fall	66	(2)
Genealogical and geographical hope	68	(4)
Creation and covenant	72	(1)
Shem, the Table of Nations and the tower of Babel	73	(2)
The genealogy of Shem and the call of Abram: land, descendants, universal blessing	75	(2)
The divine answer to the human plight	77	(1)
The Abram story: geography and genealogy	77	(9)
The Jacob story: the merging of geography and genealogy	86	(2)
The Joseph story and universal blessing	88	(5)
The narrative storyline continues (Exodus to Deuteronomy)	93	(32)
Exodus: multiplication, oppression, liberation	93	(14)
Leviticus: sacrifice and holiness	107	(3)
Numbers: journey to hell and back	110	(7)
Deuteronomy: at the border of Canaan	117	(8)
The narrative storyline continues: the Former Prophets (Joshua to Kings)	125	(34)
The Prophets	125	(1)
The Former Prophets: the dead end of exile	125	(1)
Joshua: occupation and settlement	126	(4)
Judges: the darkness settles	130	(4)
Samuel: the promise of a king	134	(13)
Kings: the dead end of exile	147	(12)
II RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT: A STUMP AND A SHOOT
Suspension of the storyline-poetic commentary begins: the Latter Prophets (Jeremiah to the Twelve)	159	(32)
The Latter Prophets	159	(1)
Jeremiah: demolition and reconstruction	159	(8)
Ezekiel: the life-giving divine presence	167	(5)
Isaiah: the shoot from Jesse's stump	172	(10)
The Twelve: the impending eschaton	182	(5)
Summary of the prophetic commentary	187	(4)
Poetic commentary continues: the Writings (Ruth to Lamentations)	191	(22)
Ruth: exile, return and David	191	(3)
The Psalms: David, David and David	194	(8)
The wisdom literature: to master the world	202	(1)
Job: the moral government of the universe	202	(4)
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs: a Solomonic stamp	206	(2)
Lamentations: curse and the mercies	208	(5)
III DOMINION REGAINED: THE FALL AND RISE OF ISRAEL
Ending of poetic commentary and resumption of narrative storyline (Daniel to Chronicles)	213	(18)
Daniel: the coming kingdom	213	(8)
Esther: history with an Israelite shape	221	(2)
Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles: the end and the beginning	223	(8)
CONCLUSION
Typology and New Testament reflections	231	(4)
Bibliography	235	(16)
Index of ancient sources	251	(1)
Index of modern authors	252	(3)
Index of Scripture references	255