The Historical Writings

Introduction

The Historical Writings include the books of Joshua through Esther. These compositions describe the life and growth of the Israelite nation once they entered and occupied the land of covenant promise. Beginning with the book of Joshua, these books trace the people’s history through the turbulent period of the judges and explain how the monarchy came to be formed. The events leading to the establishment of two separate kingdoms, Israel and Judah, are described, including the devastation of the two at the hands of foreign nations and the events that followed this catastrophe.

Like the other people groups of the biblical world, the Hebrews developed a tradition of history writing to record and preserve the story of their national experience. Since the Israelites were by nature a religious community, the historical books have distinctive theological overtones. Thus, the main focus of the historical literature is God and his covenant relationship with Israel, not simply important figures or key events. Indeed, the narratives of Israel’s history demonstrate this understanding of covenant theology by showing how God blessed his people when they obeyed his will, and the punishments that followed when they lapsed into Canaanite idolatry. Despite periodic revivals of covenantal faith, the Israelites proved unable to resist the attractions of false gods and were exiled as a result, despite many warnings from God’s prophets.

The return of Judah from captivity in Babylonia, recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah, marked a new beginning for Hebrew national life. The idea of a Davidic kingdom gave way to a religious community governed by a priesthood. The reorganization of postexilic Israel around the law of Moses was designed to restore covenant holiness in God’s people. It was thought that such a move would both prevent Hebrew exile and preserve Hebrew ethnic identity. Eventually this reordering of Hebrew society around Mosaic law laid the seedbed for the legalism, exclusivism, and sectarianism characteristic of Judaism in the Gospel accounts of the NT.