Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 63:3 (Sep 2020)
Article: The Macro-Structural Role Of The Former Prophets And The Historical Books In Old Testament Canons
Author: Gregory Goswell

JETS 63:3 (September 2020) p. 455

The Macro-Structural Role Of The Former Prophets And The Historical Books In Old Testament Canons

Gregory Goswell

Gregory Goswell is Academic Dean and Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Christ College, Sydney, 1 Clarence St., Burwood, NSW 2134, Australia.

Abstract: The Former Prophets (Hebrew canon) and Historical Books (Greek canon) play a key role in helping to fashion the disparate contents of the OT into a coordinated canonical collection that reveals the will of God for his people. The positioning of the Former Prophets after the Pentateuch suggests that it was read as historical examples of Israel’s response (mostly negative) to the instruction given by Moses. The portrait provided by Samuel, Kings and Chronicles is of the prophets as envoys of God, and this prepares readers for the later prophetic books that record their oracles. A number of the psalm titles allude to trying events in the life of David as described in the books of Samuel, and Chronicles and Ezra-Nehemiah link the Psalter to David as the organizer of temple worship. The portrait of Solomon in 1 Kings enriches the reading of the three wisdom works linked to Solomon, namely Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs.

Key words: canon, Former Prophets, Historical Books, Psalms, prophecy, wisdom

In studying the OT as a canonical structure, my concern is not the process by which the biblical canon developed, but the present shape of the canon, irrespective of the stages of its formation and the complexities of how the canon as we know it came to be.1 Though it is right and proper to attempt to trace the history of the canon, many aspects of that process are hidden from view and will remain a matter of conjecture.2 On the other hand, my approach of taking the OT canon as an empirical datum will not be an uncritical exercise, for the canon has, in fact, assumed more than one shape in the Hebrew and Greek canonical traditions, and these traditions may be compared and contrasted.

In this article I argue that the Former Prophets (Hebrew canon) and Historical Books (Greek canon) play a central macro-structural role in the OT. These books continue the story of salvation begun in the Pentateuch as a foundational document, and they form the narrative framework for the prophetic books and wisdom books that follow.3 The book of Acts plays a similar organizational role in

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the NT canon.