Jeroboam’s Royal Drama
Keith Bodner
Oxford University Press £14.99
(978-0-19-960188-2)
Church Times Bookshop £13.50
THE Hebrew Scriptures contain some of the finest literature in the ancient world, both in prose and poetry. Yet these narratives and poems are far too little known, perhaps because they are regarded as the property of faith communities. Further, their study has primarily been undertaken from a historical-critical standpoint rather than as literature for its own sake.
Narrative criticism reverses this approach, concentrating not on the historical circumstances in which the story arose or the facts behind it, but on the author’s literary skills. This is Keith Bodner’s approach in his masterful study of the rise and fall of Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom of Israel. For Bodner, the monarch is first and foremost a literary rather than a historical figure, though inevitably historical issues arise in his study.
Jeroboam’s tragic tale, set out in 1 Kings 11-14, is only a fragment of a much larger work, the so-called Deuteronomistic History (Joshua to 2 Kings). Bodner, therefore, first examines the context in which it is set, the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, noting in particular the increasing growth of centralised power. But one source of power remained outside monarchical control: the prophets.
Then the Jeroboam narrative is examined in detail. Throughout, Bodner picks out parallels to and contrasts with other biblical material, as well as word-plays and repetition of key terms. Indeed, without a knowledge of not only the earlier Deuteronomistic narrative, but also other writings in Genesis and Exodus, the subtlety of the author or indeed a proper understanding of his narrative cannot be appropriated, riddled as it is with echoes of what precedes it.
Again and again, Bodner delights as he points to this or that connection, and the literary skill with which the narrative is presented. So prophecies of Ahijah frame the narrative, clothing be-comes a great feature, allusions to past historical figures and parallels of language abound — and, throughout, the part played by the prophet is paramount.
For the Deuteronomistic author, Jeroboam, despite his appointment at God’s hand, remains the evil king par excellence, and his apostate cult with its golden calves the sin that seals the fate of not only his dynasty, but ultimately his nation, too.
While narrative criticism enables the reader to enjoy to the full a superb yarn, it does not allow consideration of any defence of Jeroboam. Instead, he is subject to the author’s judgement, exercised long after his reign, and not to an impartial assessment of the situation in which Jeroboam found himself as he attempted to establish his independent kingdom.
But, if readers can embrace the narrative as the author intended, as brilliantly illuminated by Bodner’s study, they may yet be encouraged to unpack the historical-critical issues that, as Bodner recognises, still have their place in the study of the Hebrew scriptures.
Canon Anthony Phillips is a former headmaster of the King’s School, Canterbury.