Manasseh Through the Eyes of the Deuteronomist: The Manasseh Account (2 Kings 21: 1-18) and the Final Chapters of the Deuteronomistic History.

• Author: McKenzie, Steven L.
• Position: Review

By PERCY S. F. VAN KEULEN. Oudtestamentische Studien, vol. 38. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1996. Pp. viii + 249. HF1 135, $87.25.

This work is a revision and expansion of a dissertation written under Arie van der Kooij at the University of Leiden (1995); it consists of four principal chapters. The first is a summary of compositional theories for the Deuteronomistic History, particularly as they concern the Manasseh pericope in 2 Kings 21. From this summary the author extracts three issues for further analysis: whether 2 Kgs 21:1-18 is a literary unit or shows signs of editorial revision; the relationship between the Manasseh pericope and later commentaries in 2 Kgs 23:26-27 and 24:2-4, 20 that mention Manasseh; and the relationship between the accounts of Manasseh and Josiah in 2 Kings. The second chapter presents a translation of 2 Kgs 21:1-18 with text-critical notes.

The third and fourth chapters represent the bulk of the work and carry out synchronic and diachronic treatments, respectively, of the Manasseh pericope. The synchronic treatment begins with a structural analysis following the approach of BarEfrat. This leads to the conclusion that apart from the introduction (v. 1) and conclusion (vv. 16-18), the Manasseh pericope consists of two main sections: vv. 2-9 and 11-15. Next, a narrative analysis maps out the roles of the main characters - Manasseh, Yahweh, and the people - in relation to each other within the time and space of the world created by the narrative. Van Keulen goes on to execute a verse-by-verse investigation into the contents of the Manasseh pericope in comparison to other materials in the book of Kings and the Deuteronomistic History. This section is useful in pointing out the unique features of the portrayal of Manasseh in this text. In particular, van Keulen shows that Manasseh is consistently compared with Ahab and thus depicted as the worst king of Judah.

The diachronic analysis in the fourth chapter identifies vv. 4, 8-9a[Alpha], and 15 as later additions to 2 Kings 21, ascribing vv. 8-9a[Alpha] and 15 to the same hand. The other references to Manasseh in 2 Kings - 23:26-37 and 24:2b-3, 20 - are determined to be from the same level of writing as the bulk of the Manasseh pericope in 2 Kings 21. Van Keulen identifies this level of writing as that of "DtrG(rundschrift)," which he dates to the exile. The additions in 2 Kgs 21:4, 8-9a[Alpha], and 15 he finds comparable to a series of secondary texts in Kings that contain...