Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 170:680 (Oct 2013)
Article: Could Abiathar The Priest Be The Author Of Judges?
Author: Brian Neil Peterson

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Could Abiathar The Priest Be The Author Of Judges?

Brian N. Peterson

Brian N. Peterson is Assistant Professor of Old Testament, Lee University, Cleveland, Tennessee.

In 1967 Lilley wrote that “a fresh appraisal of Judges as a literary work, starting from the assumptions of authorship rather than of redaction, could lead to a more satisfying interpretation of the book than is to be found in the standard commentaries, and could help to resolve some of the major problems which have been raised.”1 Lilley never suggested a potential author of the material, even though he made an excellent argument for the book’s unity and the method of the anonymous author.2 Years later readers still ponder, Who wrote the book of Judges? Many scholars suggest the possibility of multiple layers of redaction and editing throughout the centuries, but they always end up with the nebulous, so-called “deuteronomistic historian” as the main editor/compiler/author.3

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Apart from redactional proposals of the past hundred or so years,4 the default position on the authorship of Judges has been the traditional Jewish perspective,5 namely, Samuel (cf. Baba Batra 14b and 15a).6 While Samuel or someone close to him7 may have penned source material found in Judges, the textual, structural, and rhetorical aspects of the final form speak against Samuel as the dominant author.8 Recent studies on the polemical nature of the book force one to consider other possibilities. This article examines the authorial implications of the oft-noted anti-Saulide polemic and how this polemic betrays a particularly raucous period in Israel’s history when kingship was needed. However, not just any kingship would do; Judahite kingship was vital. One person stands

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out as a possible candidate for promoting this type of kingship, namely, Abiathar, friend of and priest to David.9

An Anti-Saulide Polemic In Its Historical Context

Many scholars have come to realize that the book of Judges may have served as more than a deuteronomistic recitation of the history of Isra...