GRACE IN THE WAKE OF REBELLION

GRACE IN THE WAKE OF REBELLION An Investigation of the Use of Redemptive-Historical Summaries in the Formation of the Theology and Identity of the People of God ___________________ A Paper Presented to Dr. Aucker Covenant Theological Seminary ___________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course OT691 Independent Study ___________________ Taylor Tollison August 21, 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS GRACE IN THE WAKE OF REBELLION .............................................................................................................. 3 SHARED NARRATIVE, COMMON MEMORY, AND COMMUNAL IDENTITY ........................................... 4 NARRATIVE AND COMMUNAL IDENTITY .................................................................................................................... 5 DIVINE AUTHORIAL INTENT AS THE BASIS OF THE COHERENT STORY ....................................................................... 6 THE EXODUS .............................................................................................................................................................. 8 Deuteronomy 6:20-24: “he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land.” .............................. 8 Deuteronomy 26:5-11: “I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.” .......................... 9 Deuteronomy 29:1-9: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes.” ................................................................... 10 THE CONQUEST ...................................................................................................................................................... 10 Joshua 24:1-13: “You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.” .............................................. 11 THE MONARCHY .................................................................................................................................................... 12 1 Samuel 12:6-15: “‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the LORD your God was your king.” ................................ 12 THE TEMPLE ............................................................................................................................................................ 13 1 Kings 8:12-21: “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised.” .............. 13 THE EXILE ................................................................................................................................................................ 14 2 Kings 17:7-23: “So, Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.” ..................................................... 14 THE PROPHETS ......................................................................................................................................................... 15 Jeremiah: Faithfulness and Forgetfulness ............................................................................................................................. 15 Ezekiel: Rebellion and Grace ................................................................................................................................................ 15 Daniel: Confession and Covenant.......................................................................................................................................... 16 THE PSALMS ............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Psalm 78: To Warm and to Warn........................................................................................................................................... 17 Psalm 105 and 106: Grace and Rebellion ............................................................................................................................. 18 THE RETURN ............................................................................................................................................................ 19 Nehemiah 9:6-38: “you have dealt faithfully, and we have acted wickedly.”....................................................................... 19 1 Chronicles 1-9: “So all Israel was recorded in genealogies” ............................................................................................ 21 MOVING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT ................................................................................................................ 21 THE INCARNATION AND CRUCIFIXION ......................................................................................................... 23 Matthew 1:1-17: “The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ” ........................................................................................... 23 THE RESURRECTION AND PROCLAMATION ................................................................................................ 24 THE ACTS OF THE RISEN LORD ................................................................................................................................. 25 Acts 3:11-26: “what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.” ......... 25 Acts 7: “As your fathers did, so do you.” .............................................................................................................................. 26 Acts 13: “what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children.” ...................................................... 26 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................................... 27 3 GRACE IN THE WAKE OF REBELLION1 We have, each of us, a life story, an inner narrative… A man needs such a narrative, a continuous inner narrative, to maintain his identity.2 In his work, Human Communication as Narrative, Walter Fisher describes humanity as homo narrans (storytelling humans) – a description attested by the universal presence of stories in all cultures and at all levels of society.3 Stories are ubiquitous, a “basic constituent of human life,”4 because they, like no other mechanism for communication, have the capacity to carry substantial ideological and theological freight. Though dense with information, stories are rarely cumbersome. Rather, stories function as powerful mnemonic devices where the main characters and events of a story act as neural pegs or pathways on which to hang our theological memory. Though the place of story in biblical theology has long been recognized,5 the way in which the biblical-theological story has shaped communal and individual identity through the phenomenon of “shared social memory” has only recently been appreciated.6 This paper will thus investigate the interrelationship that exists between memory, identity, and narrative by examining the numerous “redemptivehistorical summaries” that occur at significant points in biblical history. Rather than attempting to exegete each summary, I will restrict my observations to the data relevant to formulating my thesis.7 My proposal is this: redemptive-historical summaries have been strategically utilized by the authors of scripture throughout the major epochs of redemptive history in order to ground their 1 There are a number of ways one could structure a paper like this, but after considering several options, I thought it best to let the epochs of the summaries do the structuring for me. For instance, there are external systems that could be placed on the scriptures that structure the story around a theme, but I was more attracted to implementing the ways the biblical authors summarized the biblical story. For that reason, I was initially attracted to how Matthew structures his genealogy around Abraham, David and the Exile. Another option was Stephen’s structure around the patriarchs, Moses and the monarchy. In the final analysis, I thought it best to let the summaries do the structuring. See Lints, Fabric of Theology 300-302 for additional thoughts. 2 Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales (New York, NY: Touchstone, 1998). 110-111 3 Walter R. Fisher, Human Communication As Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value and Action (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989). 62-63 4 N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, 1st North American edition. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992). 38-39 5 For a discussion of the contributions of story to biblical theology in various disciplines, see Craig Bartholomew and Anthony C. Thiselton, Out of Egypt: Biblical Theology and Biblical Interpretation (Scripture and Hermeneutics Series, V. 5, ed. Karl Möller and Robin Parry (Bletchley, Milton Keynes, UK : Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2004). 144-167 6 See for example the survey of the recent intersection between social memory studies and biblical studies in Dennis C. Duling, “Social Memory and Biblical Studies: Theory, Method, and Application,” Biblical Theology Bulletin, Volume 36, (February 1, 2006): 2-4. 7 Rosner says, “Not to attend to theological interpretation is to stop short of interpretation, to ignore the interests of the texts themselves. If not to misinterpret, at best it is to engage in an incomplete interpretation. Biblical study is incomplete until biblical theology has been done.” Brian S. Rosner et al., eds., New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity Diversity of Scripture, Edition Unstated edition. (Leicester, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2004). Pg 4 4 audience’s identity and theology in the grand story of God. These summaries reorient their audiences by reminding them of the story of which they are a part and, as a result, they, “remember” their audiences back into the community of the people of God. Redemptive-historical summaries not only reorient, remind and re-member their audiences, they also inform expectations for the present and instill hope for the future. These summaries, strung across the centuries of God’s grand Heilsgeschichte, demonstrate a profound unity8 to the biblical story as they remind their audiences of the landmark events that have shaped the history of the people of God.9 In order to demonstrate this thesis, the paper will begin with a discussion of the relationship between memory, identity, and narrative, and will then proceed along the biblical storyline and highlight the unique contributions of each era of redemptive history. We will observe how the redemptivehistorical summaries10 contribute to and inform our reading of the overarching story of the Bible, shape the communal identity of the people of God and aid us in developing an understanding of the God with whom we have to do. SHARED NARRATIVE, COMMON MEMORY, AND COMMUNAL IDENTITY11 Researchers took their ‘subjects’ as ‘objects’ — probing and prodding, poking and peeking, testing and measuring as if they were studying molecules or mice rather than ethically engaged human beings.12 Though Ken Plummer is discussing social scientists in the above quote, the sentiment is easily applied to the manner in which a large number of systematic theologians engage in their work.13 Often in isolation from the earthy, storied nature of human living, systematic theologians “probe and prod” a doctrine as if it appeared and continues to exist in a vacuum. But the “God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” did not reveal himself in a test tube in order to be measured, but in a meta-story 8 For an excellent discussion of the unity of the OT, see Stephen G. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty: A Theology of the Hebrew Bible (Leicester, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2003). 22ff 9 Richard Bauckham, “Reading Scripture as a Coherent Story,” in Ellen F. Davis and Richard B. Hays, The Art of Reading Scripture, First Edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2003). 41, 44 10 “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile” lists of these redemptive-historical summaries, “it seemed good to me… to write an orderly account” (Lk 1:1-3) of these summaries that would span both testaments and highlight the way in which the biblical authors did biblical theology. For example, Hood and Emerson (2013) are the most exhaustive, including several intertestamental summaries; Williams (2019) admittedly relies on the Bauckham’s list (2003) found in “Coherent Story.” House (2005) and Boda (2017) primarily focus on the OT while Bruno, Compton and McFadden (2020) focus on the NT. The lists are each unique, though obviously have several summaries in common. My list is not as exhaustive as some but includes more than others. I include a few that others do not, while others include some that I do not. This variance is due in large part to unique definitions of what exactly constitutes as a redemptive-historical summary. 11 I am largely following van Eck’s fascinating discussion of the intersection of memory, identity and narrative in, Ernest van Eck, “Social Memory and Identity: Luke 19:12b-24 and 27,” Biblical Theology Bulletin, Volume 41, Number 4 (2011): 201-204. 12 Ken Plummer, Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to A Critical Humanism, 2nd edition. (London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2001). 205 13 I’m loosely following the critique of ST by Richard Lints, The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 1993). 269ff 5 in order to be worshipped. Therefore, the people of God didn’t restate facts about God, but retold stories about him. The redemptive events in this story that reveal His character aren’t safe enough to be “poked.”14 Rather, they envelop us and sweep us up into his ongoing redemptive work in the world. Thus theology, full-bore, cannot be contained in a system. It is meant to be communicated through a story.15 After all, scripture only knows “who God is from the story it tells of God.”16 Redemptive-historical summaries, then, serve as condensed retellings of this God-revealingstory.17 Likewise, humanity, unabridged by a theological system, also requires a full-length drama to capture its complexities. Yet, “we enter upon a stage which we did not design, and we find ourselves part of an action that was not of our making.” It may come as a shock to our preconditioned humanist ears when we consider that we are “never more (and sometimes less) than the co-authors of our own narratives.”18 We enter society with imputed “roles into which we have been drafted”19 and we must learn the nature of these roles in order to learn of our identity. Narrative and Communal Identity “The identity of God and the identity of the people is to be found in the… great overarching biblical story.”20 This narrative concept of selfhood is inextricably connected to our particular social identity. The communal history of our families, cultures or even cities, shape our expectations, and give us a sense of our obligations. These inherited values constitute the given of our lives and operate as our moral starting point. In fact, “the story of my life is always embedded in the story of those communities from which I derive my identity.”21 Thus, our individual identity and selfunderstanding is, at least in large measure, subservient to our communal identity. A communal identity is formed when a group has come to share a common past, “understand particular events in the past to be of decisive importance for interpreting the present,” anticipate the future “by means of a shared hope,” and express “their identity by means of a common narrative.”22 We can 14 I am mainly drawing on Exodus 3:6 and the surrounding narrative here. For a lengthy discussion, see Wright, The New Testament and the People of God. 78ff. 16 Richard Bauckham, “Reading Scripture as a Coherent Story,” in Davis and Hays, The Art of Reading Scripture. 39 17 See Hasel’s discussion of von Rad’s “retelling” comments in Gerhard Hasel, Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate, Fourth Edition, Revised edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991). 74 18 Alasdair MacIntyre, “The Virtues, the Unity of a Human Life, and the Concept of a Tradition,” in Stanley Hauerwas, Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology, ed. Stanley M. Hauerwas and L. Gregory Jones (Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 1997). 99 19 Ibid. 101 20 David J. Shepherd and Christopher J. H. Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. EerdmansLightning Source, 2018). 112 21 Hauerwas, Why Narrative? 105-106 22 George W. Stroup, The Promise of Narrative Theology (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1997). 132-133 15 6 say, then, that stories create and sustain communal identities by rehearsing history, retelling major events, and crafting a shared interpretation.23 These shared narratives, in turn, create shared memories that form distinct mnemonic communities.24 This story-crafted common memory, is what ultimately binds a community together.25 As we will see, these memories and stories, when they are not forgotten, have the power to both shape and sustain identity and ethics, define covenant relationships and construct a comprehensive theology.26 In short, stories both form and communicate cultural worldviews.27 Divine Authorial Intent as the Basis of the Coherent Story “…these many voices – regardless of their distinct emphases – are all signing from the same theological hymn sheet.”28 The question that comes to the fore, when redemptive-historical summaries are seen as identityshaping, worldview-embodying narrative retellings, is this: What did the divine author have in mind when he inspired each summary?29 How did he intend these summaries to contribute to the ongoing narrative unfolding in redemptive history? From a wider angle, we must ask: how were these summaries used as mnemonic devices to ensure his people remembered the landmark events of their story? We will address these questions as we investigate each summary, but first, in order to ground our storied approach, a brief word must be said about the relationship between divine authorial intent, revelation and redemption. Stated simply, divine inspiration serves to guarantee that the canon’s many stories tell one coherent story.30 Without narrative coherence, social and communal cohesion would never be realized. The accomplishment of unity and coherence in this story is made more extraordinary when one considers the progressive or epochal nature of revelation that occurs as the scriptures unfold their developing story.31 Geerhardus Vos attests that 23 Consider how the elders in Ezra 5, in response to the simple question “what is your name?” answered with the story of Israel. This is true communal identity. 24 Coleman A. Baker, “Social Identity Theory and Biblical Interpretation,” Biblical Theology Bulletin, Volume 42, Number 3 (2012): 130. 25 Stroup, The Promise of Narrative Theology. 133 26 J.B. Hood and M.Y. Emerson, “Summaries of Israel’s Story: Reviewing a Compositional Category,” Currents in Biblical Research, Volume 11 (2013): 333. 27 Wright, The New Testament and the People of God. 77, 122-123 28 Paul R. Williamson, Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in God’s Unfolding Purpose (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2007). 18 29 For several implications flowing from single divine authorship, see Scott R. Swain, Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction To The Bible And Its Interpretation, 1 edition. (London; New York: T & T Clark International, 2011). 91 30 Matthew Barrett, Canon, Covenant and Christology: Rethinking Jesus and the Scriptures of Israel (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2020). 2, 24 31 Lints, The Fabric of Theology. 262 7 revelation “has not completed itself in one exhaustive act but unfolded itself in a long series of successive acts.” This is because revelation is “inseparably attached to another activity of God, which we call Redemption.” In short, “revelation is the interpretation of redemption; it must, therefore, unfold itself in installments as redemption does.” Since it “is ‘epochal’ in its onward stride,” we can observe that “where great epoch-making redemptive acts accumulate, there the movement of revelation is correspondingly accelerated, and its volume increased.”32 This redemptive-historical framework within which Vos understands revelation is particularly helpful for our purposes in this paper. Along the unfolding, successive epochs of redemptive history, largely structured around his covenants with his people,33 God has ensured that his people remember their story by inspiring the human authors to retell and summarize redemptive history where “the story is told in short form in order to situate the present community of faith within the biblical narrative.”34 These retellings prevent God’s people from viewing the various stories, epochs, or covenants atomistically and instead encourage a conception of each part as of a piece of the whole.35 This paper is thus aiming to do biblical theology biblically, allowing the very “warp and woof” of the scriptures to speak for themselves.36 In taking the canon on its own terms37 we are using these summary texts as windows into how the biblical author(s) viewed biblical theology.38 Now, on the far side of the closed canon, the church gets the privilege of analyzing the diamond of God’s dogged grace against the black velvet of the history of human sinfulness. Each redemptive-historical summary offers, as it were, a unique epochal perspective on the diamond as it retells the story of God’s grace in the wake of people’s rebellion. We will now gaze at this diamond with the authors as we progressively walk through the story told through the redemptivehistorical summaries and will attend to a biblical-theological interpretation of the meta-narrative along the way. 32 Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, 3rd Edition. (Banner of Truth, 2014). 5-7 (Emphasis original.) Covenants indeed appear at each major point of salvation history. Williamson, Sealed with an Oath. 18, 52 34 Michael D. Williams, “Story Summaries: Key Points for Understanding the Bible’s Big Story and Our Place Within It,” Presbyerion, Volume 45, Number 1 (2019): 43. 35 Wright, The New Testament and the People of God. 218 36 Graeme Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles, Illustrated edition. (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2012). 74 37 Paul R. House, “Examining the Narratives of Old Testament Narrative: An Exploration in Biblical Theology,” Westminster Theological Journal, Volume 67, (2005): 229-245. 38 Though the authors of the following work are strictly focused on the NT, their general goals are the same. See Chris Bruno, Jared Compton, and Kevin McFadden, Biblical Theology According to the Apostles: How the Earliest Christians Told the Story of Israel (IVP Academic, 2020). 2-3 33 8 THE EXODUS “At the center of scripture is a set of narratives and these narratives are the frame around which the whole of scripture is constructed.”39 As one would expect, on the heels of the premier redemptive event in the OT,40 we have what Vos calls an “acceleration” of revelation. Moses pens the Pentateuch and, towards the end of his life, gives us three significant redemptive-historical summaries.41 Two of these summaries (6:20-24 and 26:5-11) have been called “historical creeds” by Von Rad. These condensed recitations will be shown to reveal an underlying theological network of beliefs in Ancient Israel. In partial agreement with Von Rad, Boda attests that theology was expressed in a narrative summary form that traced God’s redemptive actions and human responses within the grand story of redemption.42 We will now briefly investigate each of these summaries in turn before moving to the next epoch. Deuteronomy 6:20-24: “he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land.” This terse “condensation of the principal elements of the faith”43 comes in response to a son’s question about the meaning of the “testimonies, and the statutes and the rules” that the LORD commanded. To answer the question, as he did in his preface to the Decalogue, Moses instructs the people to recount the story of God’s past redemptive acts, in the event of the exodus, as the context and motivation for present obedience to the law.44 “The meaning, function, and authority of the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances are intelligible only if we understand their setting in relation to this narrative by which Israel confesses its faith and articulates its communal identity.”45 Redemption and grace, not fear of punishment, motivate law-keeping.46 The Israelites were to remind their children that the God who commanded them, is the God who delivered them.47 This story is followed by one of the defining features of all pre-exilic summaries. Moses reminds the people that the LORD “brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land.” This is land that he “swore to your fathers” that has “great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olives trees that you did not plant.” (Deut. 6:10-11)48 These two foundational actions of God, his “bringing out” that he might “bring in,” are at the core of Israel’s story of salvation. They are not merely delivered 39 Stroup, The Promise of Narrative Theology. 145 J. G. McConville, Deuteronomy (Leicester, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2002). 144 41 House rightly considers most of Deuteronomy as a summary, but especially chapters 1-4. See House (2005): 229-245. 42 Nearly every commentary you read on this passage mentions Von Rad’s designation of this passage as a creed. For a simple interaction with him, see Mark J. Boda, Heartbeat of Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2017). 11-15 43 Peter C. Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy, 2nd edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1976). 175 44 It is significant to remember that the Exodus itself was viewed as part of the continuing narrative of the patriarchs (Exodus 1-3). Chris Wright and Ajith Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary on the Whole Bible, ed. Brian Wintle et al. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2015). 224 45 Stroup, The Promise of Narrative Theology. 151 46 You could say that their theology of the law was determined by their theology of history. John Currid, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, MI: EP BOOKS, 2018). 153 47 Christopher J. H. Wright, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1994). 104 48 Deuteronomy has a “highly developed theology of the land.” Oren Martin, Bound for the Promised Land (Nottingham, England : Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2015). 81 40 9 from oppression but are also provided a place of freedom and abundance that they did nothing to create.49 Independent of their own merit or obedience, the Israelites are to understand their position as the people of God and their inheritance of the land, as resting entirely on Yahweh’s saving actions. The first of these summaries establishes the tradition of retelling the redemptive story in order to pass on the faith to the next generation, a tradition that, when ignored, results in a loss of memory of God’s grace and inevitably produces apostasy (Judges 2:10).50 “Proper recollection… should lead to fidelity in the covenant relationship with Yahweh.”51 However, this forgetfulness, warned against in Deut. 6:12, proves to be an ongoing vice to the Israelite people;52 a fact that underscores all the more the importance of rehearsing and remembering the story.53 As we will see, memory begins to take on central theological significance in the faith of the people of God. Deuteronomy 26:5-11: “I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.” The second brief summary Moses offers comes late in the book of Deuteronomy in the context of worship and the ceremonial offering of the firstfruits of the land.54 This liturgical,55 confessional narrative “colors in” the history that recalls the redemptive events that anchor God’s grace and Israelite worship in the larger story.56 The force behind this summary is the worshipper’s acknowledgement that the offering they are laying before the priest is nothing57 but a result of Yahweh’s gracious gift of the land.58 This summary, unlike the first, reaches all the way back to the patriarchs, calling Jacob a “wandering Aramean.”59 These verses rehearse the journey of the audience’s ancestors into Egypt and the slavery they endured. In response to the people’s cries for mercy, the Lord heard their voices and saw his people’s affliction and delivered them. As in 6:20-24, the Lord not only delivered his people, but provided an abundant land for them to enjoy and offer back to him in worship.60 Significantly, for our purposes, Nicholas Lash points out that the worshipper in this context tells this story “as his story, as a story in which he acknowledges himself to be a participant.”61 The worshipper is instructed to adopt the communal memory embedded in the shared narrative and interpret his identity and his theology in light of this mnemonic liturgy. At this epoch in the unfolding story, this redemptive-historical summary calls for the worshipper to gather up all of the history from the patriarchs to the exodus in order to formulate a narrative concept of his identity and a proper view of the gracious God whom he worships. 49 Boda, Heartbeat of Old Testament Theology. 16-18 Daniel I. Block, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Academic, 2012). 197 51 Currid, Deuteronomy. 29 52 “Israelite history is a history of forgetting.” Block, Deuteronomy. 608 53 John R. Stott and Rubert K. Aboagye-Mensah, Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars, ed. Tokunboh Adeyemo, Revised ed. edition. (Zondervan Academic, 2010). 222 54 These words may have functioned as a form of a responsive reading. See Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy. 320 55 Block calls this statement “instructions for liturgical expression of covenant fidelity.” Block, Deuteronomy. 598 56 Wright, Deuteronomy. 271; See also Stroup, The Promise of Narrative Theology. 137 57 Imagine, as a farmer who has labored hard for these firstfruits, how humbling it would be to actually recite this confession. Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary. 247 58 McConville, Deuteronomy. 380 59 McConville (2002), Craigie (1976) and Currid (2018) all agree that this is referring to Jacob. 60 For interesting insights concerning geography and worship see Craigie (322) and McConville (379). 61 Nicholas Lash, “Ideology, Metaphor, and Analogy” in Hauerwas, Why Narrative? pg. 120 50 10 Deuteronomy 29:1-9: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes.” The purpose of and context for this summary is a covenant renewal ceremony in which our summary serves as a historical prologue.62 As is typical in Deuteronomic discourse, “covenant exhortation is preceded by a retrospect upon Yahweh’s acts of deliverance in bringing Israel out of Egypt.”63 Verse nine begins the pivot from past reflection to present application with the words, “therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them” so that “he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God.” (vs. 13) Interestingly, in the context of a historical prologue, the summary here in chapter 29 doesn’t reach back to the patriarchs as did 26:5-11 but picks up Israel’s story in Egypt yet again. The wilderness wanderings, not mentioned in the previous summaries, were certainly the most recent shared experience in the collective memory of the Israelite people and were here utilized to further situate the audience inside of the ongoing story. Additionally, the Transjordan conquest in Numbers 21 is not mentioned in the previous summaries but is here given two of the nine verses. This serves as an example of the selectivity that we will see employed throughout our summaries as certain aspects of the story were included or excluded in order to achieve a specific purpose. In fact, Yahweh here makes clear his intentions in the recounting of the wilderness story when he explains that his actions were carried out so “that you may know that I am the Lord your God.” The knowledge of God’s ownership and kingship over the people serves as the foundation for this covenant renewal. It is important to remember, as Craigie points out, that the Israelites were still in need of interpretive help as it related to understanding their own history.64 More than that, the Israelites were being asked to adopt a previous generation’s experiences as their own. When Moses says, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt” he is drawing his listeners into a story that they were not physically a part of. His audience not only did not witness the events of the exodus, they weren’t even born.65 Yet, by treating them as if they were eyewitnesses, Moses is calling them to appropriate their predecessor’s history, identify with their experiences and adopt the story as their own. This passage serves as a prime example of narrative appropriation for the purpose of identity formation. No wonder the authors so often saw fit to retell the redemptive events; their audiences had to reach back in history in order to have a proper view of themselves. This history had to be condensed, retold and encapsulated as a mnemonic device in order that the future generations may know their story, their God and themselves. THE CONQUEST After the Exodus, an acceleration of revelation occurred. 66 In the transition67 between the era of the exodus to upcoming conquest, we saw Moses gathering up and retelling history for specific purposes in the book of Deuteronomy. Now, after the conquest and the longed-for entry into the 62 Wright, Deuteronomy. 284 McConville, Deuteronomy. 414 64 Craigie, The Book of Deuteronomy. 356. For instance, consider the confusion about previous events that led to the golden calf incident! 65 Block, Deuteronomy. 675 66 There is certainly a sense in which the conquest could be seen as merely an ongoing effect of the Exodus. As such, it would make sense to group it accordingly. But it seemed best, due to the fact that the entire book of Joshua was given to describe the conquest, to pull this out as its own stage in the ongoing redemptive story. 67 Dempster calls Deuteronomy a “transitional book” that both concludes the Torah and introduces the history of JoshuaKings. Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty. 117 63 11 land, Joshua is yet again utilizing a redemptive historical summary in preparation for settled life in the promised land.68 As with Moses’ final summary, Joshua is acting as a covenant mediator and using this summary as a historical prologue in a covenant renewal ceremony.69 He is calling on Israel to consider themselves and their covenant relationship with God in light of their history.70 Joshua 24:1-13: “You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.” For the purposes of this covenant renewal, Joshua saw fit to reach all the way across the Euphrates to a time “long ago,” before Abraham. Once he gives a brief window into the time of the patriarchs, he then follows them down to Egypt where they stayed for 400 years (Gen. 15:13-14; Exodus 1). Joshua then recounts what seems to be a staple in almost all redemptive-historical summaries, the miraculous events surrounding the exodus. The decisive role and action of Yahweh in this summary71 is meant to offer insight into the way in which redemptive history is to be understood.72 Joshua’s summary again presents a great example of how the selectivity73 of historical events is driven by the needs of the context. Joshua sums up the 40 years in the wilderness with a single phrase yet gives several verses to the obscure event involving Balaam and Balak.74 This calculated and selective history is employed in order to accomplish the specific purpose of eliciting from the people a renewal of their covenant relationship with God75 and their vow to worship him alone.76 As we will see in each subsequent summary, the author uses one of the most recent events to make explicit connections to the past and orient his audience to their current place in the story. For Joshua, this is the recent conquest of the land.77 What is significant, is that Joshua doesn’t draw attention to the military history of his people; he reminds them that they didn’t take this land by their sword of by their bow (Psalm 44:3), but they received it as a gift from God.78 Echoing Deuteronomy 6, Joshua points out that this gifted land that they now dwell in, did not come by their own labor. In fact, they live in cities that they did not build and eat fruit from vineyards that they did not plant. Joshua is rehearsing this history so that the goodness of the land is not overshadowed by its inherent danger: forgetfulness. With Deuteronomy 6 still in his mind, he is warning against the possibility of enjoying the land’s gifts 68 McConville sees Joshua as both an end to the Pentateuch and a beginning to life in the land. See Gordon McConville and Stephen Williams, Joshua, First Edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2010). 172 69 Lissa Wray Beal, Joshua, ed. Tremper Longman III, Illustrated edition. (Zondervan Academic, 2019). 409 70 McConville and Williams, Joshua. 89 71 Ibid. 89 see also, Fernando, South Asia Bible Commentary. 293 72 Marten H. Woudstra, The Book of Joshua, 2nd Revised ed. edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1981). 343 73 If all history is in some sense selective, how much more so must historical summaries be! David M. Howard, An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books, 1993 edition. (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007). 50 74 Beal, Joshua. 414 75 For details see, Woudstra, The Book of Joshua. 347 76 McConville, “Joshua” in Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Craig Bartholomew, and Daniel Treier, eds., Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008). 87 77 David M. Howard, Joshua: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville, Tenn: Holman Reference, 1998). 78 As with Deuteronomy 26 above, there is a direct correlation with geography and worship. This land it meant to be exclusively reserved for the worship of Yahweh and no other God. See Beal, Joshua.412-413. 12 (eating and being satisfied) while forgetting the giver (Deut. 6:11-12).79 To summarize: in the biblical narrative, God’s repeated initiating grace is seen as the backdrop to the covenant relationship offered to his people.80 THE MONARCHY Our next redemptive-historical summary comes before yet another key moment in the history of Israel: the inauguration of the monarchy. Our previous summary (Joshua 24) and our current summary in 1 Samuel 12, are essentially bookends to the first stage of life in the land during the dark period of the judges. When Samuel, who is effectively the last of the Judges (6:11), steps on the scene, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). Samuel leads Israel’s “changing of the guard;”81 their transition from a “tribal confederation to the Davidic Monarchy.”82 Though the initial king (Saul) fails, the following reign of David is widely seen as the climax of OT history. The monarchy, representing a fully realized settlement into the land that God has given his people, fundamentally reordered the life and faith of the Israelites as it introduced a “seismic shift”83 which would have consequent reverberations throughout the rest of the Bible.84 1 Samuel 12:6-15: “‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the LORD your God was your king.” Samuel’s redemptive-historical summary, where he recounts the “righteous deeds of the LORD that he performed for you and your fathers” (6:7) is at once an indictment (vs. 7)85 and a warning for the future. Samuel reveals that the pattern in Yahweh’s dealings with his people, stretching back to the exodus and all the way through the judges, typically includes (1) sin on the part of the people, followed by (2) oppression, which then leads the people to (3) cry out for mercy, before the final stage of (4) Yahweh’s deliverance.86 In Samuel’s retelling, the pattern is broken.87 After their sin and the consequent oppression in their most recent history, the people don’t call out for mercy, they call out for a king (12:12). They don’t turn to Yahweh, who was their king, they instead put their hope in a human king “like all the nations” (1 Sam. 8:5). It seems that the forgetfulness of their ancestors (6:9) has now become full-blown, unabashed forsakenness. Though the people’s request for a king is certainly portrayed as sinful, Yahweh nonetheless graciously chooses to give them one.88 It’s as if, though they don’t follow the typical pattern, he still desires to 79 Beal, Joshua. 408-409 Richard S. Hess, Joshua, Illustrated edition. (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2008). 331 81 Bill T. Arnold, 1 & 2 Samuel, First Edition edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2003). 187 82 Howard, An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books. 180 83 David G. Firth, 1 and 2 Samuel (Nottingham, England: IVP UK, 2009). 149 84 Kelly, “Samuel” in Vanhoozer, Bartholomew, and Treier, Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament. 111 85 NIV, “confront you with evidence.” 86 “The basic point is that Yahweh has ever proved responsive to his people.” V. Philips Long, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary (IVP Academic, 2020). 135 87 Dr Ralph W. Klein, 1 Samuel, Volume 10: Second Edition, Second edition. (Waco, Tex.: Zondervan Academic, 2014). 112 88 Firth, 1 and 2 Samuel. 143 80 13 show mercy. Yet again, the diamond of Yahweh’s grace and faithfulness shines brightly against the backdrop of Israel’s failures. This redemptive-historical summary begins a new trend that will be picked up by later biblical authors. The past is recounted, a pattern is established, and the current audience is shown to be guilty of the same pattern (Acts 7), or of breaking it altogether (Ezekiel 20). In light of this latest addition to the story, who, then, are the people of God? A rebellious people dignified by God’s gracious and unmerited election. THE TEMPLE89 The books of 1-2 Kings provide a theologically laden interpretation of the history of the monarchy.90 As we will soon see, these books provide the historical framework into which most of the writing prophets fit. The roots of the message of 1-2 Kings lie in “God’s great promises to David in 2 Samuel.”91 Yet, as we will see in our discussion of Solomon’s summary, even this covenant with David is of a piece of the Lord’s earlier deliverance of His people from Egypt.92 1 Kings 8:12-21:93 “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised.” After the monarchy was established and David finally achieved peace in the land, Solomon was chosen by God to build the house for His name (vs.19).94 In keeping with the rhythm of 1-2 Kings, the narrative pace slows at this key point in the narrative,95 the dedication of the temple. After a detailed retelling of the placement of the ark in the temple (8:1-11), Solomon blesses the LORD and the people. He sums up God’s dealings with his people in redemptive history under the banner of a simple statement, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who with his hand has fulfilled what he promised.” This promise extended back not only to David (vs. 15) but all the way to the time of the exodus when God brought his people out of Egypt (vs. 16). What was the promise? That God would cause his name to dwell amongst his people. Now, Solomon has completed the temple, God has fulfilled His promise (vs. 20) and not one word has failed (vs. 56). In many ways, if the monarchy is the climax, then the completion of the temple is the pinnacle of Israel’s history in the land.96 Paul House attests that, “The building of the temple completed the promise of land made to Abraham, taught by Moses, and secured by Joshua and David.”97 Though I might not go as far as saying the promise is “completed,” the temple, nevertheless, temporarily marks the end of 89 I don’t have the space to get into the details of the fascinating temple theme that Beale unpacks in G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2004). 90 Hess, “Kings,” in Vanhoozer, Bartholomew, and Treier, Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament. 119 91 Howard, An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books. 192 92 Beal invites us to consider how this summary is bookended with mention of Egypt. (vs.16 and 21) Lissa Wray Beal, 1 and 2 Kings (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2014). 136 93 In both this passage and the next I am tempted to draw attention to the fact that the audience is in fact living through the exile as they are reading. However, I think this would cause too much confusion in the midst of the story that this paper is trying to tell. 94 Iain W. Provan, 1 & 2 Kings, Reprint edition. (Baker Books, 1993). 75 95 G. Michael Hagan, “First and Second Kings” in Leland Ryken and Tremper Longman III, A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible, New Ed edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Academic, 1993). 184 96 Beal, 1 and 2 Kings. 140 97 Paul R. House, 1, 2 Kings: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville, Tenn: Holman Reference, 1995). 152 14 the striving for a homeland”98 and is of central importance from this time forward since it now “represents the covenant bond and the establishment of the promised kingdom.”99 The points of this final paragraph make the upcoming epoch all the more tragic. THE EXILE “…the exile was the most traumatic event in the nation’s history.”100 The people of God had not long enjoyed the land, the monarchy or the temple before they were back to their rebellious ways. Just as God was faithful to fulfill his blessing-promises in 1 Kings 8 above, so will he be faithful to keep the curse-promises of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. As we will see, the prophets will masterfully marshal these texts for their purposes both prior to and during the exile. In this epoch, the people of God wrote the narrative equivalent of a national suicide note101 with their behavior as their quill. So now, “just as the exodus served as the paradigmatic event of redemption, so the exile represented the paradigmatic event of judgment.”102 The exile caused a form of theological trauma that sent the Israelites into an identity crisis. The three pillars of the Israelite worldview (Yahweh, Nation and Land)103 seemed to be toppled. Their assurances drawn from the covenants, as well as Yahweh’s residence in Jerusalem and his ownership of the land were all shattered and dashed at the moment of the exile.104 Surrounding the exile, there is yet another “acceleration of revelation” that produces a number of redemptivehistorical summaries. I would propose that this swell in summaries during this epoch is due, in large part, to the fact that those who experienced the exile desperately need to remember their story and their identity in order to recover from theological trauma. To these summaries, we now turn. 2 Kings 17:7-23: “So, Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.” If the monarchy and the temple were the pinnacle, then this this passage is what Lissa Wray Beal calls the “nadir of 1-2 Kings.”105 Without going into the details of this long catalogue of sin, this passage is, in short, an extended meditation and an in-depth theological reflection on the fall of Israel on the results of prolonged disobedience and idolatry.106 They have rejected every detail of the covenant they 98 Ibid. 140 August H. Konkel, 1 and 2 Kings, First Edition edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2006). 172 100 Martin, Bound for the Promised Land. 100 101 House, (2005): 238 102 Martin, Bound for the Promised Land. 101 103 Christopher J. H. Wright, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God, 10.2.2004 edition. (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2004). 19 104 Daniel I. Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24 (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1997). 7-8 105 Beal, 1 and 2 Kings. 453 106 For an excellent book-length treatment of this theme, see Raymond Ortlund, God’s Unfaithful Wife: A Biblical Theology of Spiritual Adultery (IVP Academic, 2003). “The unfolding OT story presents not an isolated incident of whoredom here and there, but a clearly evident patter in Israel’s behavior, revealing a persistent unfaithfulness within.” Pg 42 99 15 promised to keep107 and each failure stems from their worship of false gods.108 What stands out in this era, as compared to previous epochs, is that there is no prophet or judge to step in and deliver them. Instead of grace, God enacts the covenant curses.109 17:6 tersely explains that the exile occurred because the people sinned against the God “who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt” (17:7; Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6-7). This, a watershed statement for our purposes, shows the deep interrelationship that exists between the current community and the community of the past. The present community was not literally brought up out of Egypt centuries ago. Yet, the narrative so tightly mends their stories together, that they are seen as one people. Their present identity is not only to be understood in light of their shared story with their ancestors, but also their sins are contextualized in heilsgeschcichte.110 Thankfully, as we’ll see, 2 Kings 17 doesn’t have the final word. There is yet still grace upon grace! The Prophets In quick succession, we now treat three samples of prophetic summaries. With the exception of Ezek. 20, these comments will be significantly abbreviated; summaries of summaries, if you will. Jeremiah: Faithfulness and Forgetfulness In 2:2-9, Jeremiah offers a brief summary of redemptive history from a wide theological angle in which he displays the people’s sin and rebellion. The Lord’s historic grace and faithfulness in the events of Exodus, the desert wanderings, and entry into Promised land111 are contrasted with the emptiness of idolatry112 and the people’s forgetfulness. Jeremiah is thus intentionally showing that they are suffering from a case of communal amnesia as they squander away this “rich inheritance of memory.”113 In 32:16-25, Jeremiah, influenced by Deut. 26:8-9, reflects on the exodus where Yahweh “made a name” for himself.114 He then mentions the conquest and the disobedience that eventually lead to the exile. This theme of disobedience in the land is repeated in our next summary from Ezekiel. Ezekiel: Rebellion and Grace115 In 20:1-32, Ezekiel uniquely, or even parodically,116 retells the story of redemption using a repeated sequence that forces the people toward critical self-evaluation and causes them to “look again at the history they thought they knew.”117 Rather than pulling the thread of God’s grace across the fabric of Heilsgeschichte, Ezekiel instead reads history from God’s perspective118 and sees the people’s story as 107 House, 1, 2 Kings. 345 Beal, 1 and 2 Kings. 449, 454 109 Provan, 1 & 2 Kings. 247 110 Beal, 1 and 2 Kings. 449 111 Tremper Longman, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Reprint edition. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012). 30 112 J. Andrew Dearman, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 2nd edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2002). 59 113 Christopher J. H. Wright, The Message of Jeremiah, 1st edition. (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2014). 65 114 Derek Kidner, Jeremiah (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014). 113 115 There is much to be explored concerning the affinities that this passage shares with Psalm 106 and other summaries as well. See Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. 615 116 Ibid. 613 117 Christopher J. H. Wright, The Message of Ezekiel (Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2001). 156 118 Iain M. Duguid, The NIV Application Commentary: Ezekiel, 4th Printing edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 1999). 260 108 16 Sündengeschichte. In keeping with our emphasis above on divine authorial intent, we must remember that, “In the end, it will not matter how we have told our story, but only how God sees it.”119 The repeated sequence in this passage is as follows: there is a (1) gracious intention of God followed by (2) an act of rebellion on the part of the people. Then (3) God’s anger arises until he decides to (4) withhold his judgment for the sake of his name. This pattern is repeated four times to cover four distinct periods: (1) Israel in Egypt in 20:5-9, (2) the first generation in the wilderness in 20:10-17, (3) the second generation in the wilderness in 20:18-26, and finally (4) life in the land from the conquest to the exile in 20:27-31. Rather than analyzing each period, we will take the first as an example for the rest. In 20:5-9 Ezekiel shows that, “At the very time when Yahweh was demonstrating the strength of his electing love, Israel was demonstrating the strength of their congenital rebelliousness.” 120 They, as it were, walked out of Egypt under the suspended anger of the very God who was delivering them. It is made clear across the rest of Ezekiel’s summary that God’s people have hardly been anything other than rebellious. Yet, in the wake of this persistent rebellion is God’s persistent grace. This makes the final period discussed by Ezekiel stand out all the more. The former “suspended anger” can be seen in each period until the predictable pattern is broken and it is suspended no longer. Ezekiel’s exilic readers121 may have expected good news of deliverance to come at the end of Ezekiel’s historical review, but instead of continuing to discuss their “fathers” he pivots and directly confronts his listeners in vs. 30. He explains the exile in the terms of the Lev. 26 and Deut. 28 curses. God has been restraining judgment for the sake of his own name, but now he releases the judgment for the sake of his name as he sends his people into exile. Thankfully, God will not let this be the end of the story! As we will soon see, God yet again acts, not because his people deserve it, but because he has staked the reputation of his own name on the covenant promises made to them. A further reading of Lev. 26 and Deut. 28 is required, and we get evidence of this in Daniel’s summary. Daniel: Confession and Covenant As a capstone to the prophetic summaries, Daniel’s prayer in 9:1-19 is an exact embodiment of the type of prayer called for in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28.122 Drawing on his prophetic predecessor (Jer. 29:10ff), Daniel calls out to Yahweh123 with the central feature of his prayer being the acknowledgement of wrongdoing.124 Daniel reviews the sins of his people, their just punishment (9:1112, Lev. 26) and the name-making power of God (9:15) before he ends his prayer by confessing, “we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy.” Ernest Lucas insightfully asserts that, “Daniel presents a salvation-history metanarrative that integrates and interprets the smaller narratives within history. Postmodernists are averse to metanarratives, claiming that they are ‘oppressive.’ However, Daniel’s metanarrative empowers the oppressed by challenging the metanarrative of the oppressor, who in his hubris seeks to shape history according to 119 Block, The Book of Ezekiel, Chapters 1–24. 658 Wright, The Message of Ezekiel. 158 121 See Renz, “Ezekiel” in Vanhoozer, Bartholomew, and Treier, Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament. 226 122 John Goldingay, Daniel, Volume 30, Revised ed. edition. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2019). 454 123 This is the only time in the book that Daniel uses the covenant name. Paul R. House, Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018). 149 124 According to vs. 5-6, House points out that Israel has “committed every type of transgression against God through the years.” Ibid. 152 120 17 his will.”125 The prophets show us that “Daniel’s metanarrative” is God’s Heilsgeschichte in spite of his people’s attempt to rewrite is as a Sündengeschichte. These summaries indicate how a later individual can write to a larger audience and appropriate earlier events in order to facilitate communal confession of sin.126 This key point will be helpful for our purposes as we now move to the Psalms where God will be worshipped and history will be remembered through redemptive-historical summaries. The Psalms127 Though there are several “historical recollection”128 or “remembrance”129 psalms scattered throughout the Psalter, we will only briefly look at three: Psalm 78, 105 and 106.130 These psalms look to the past and highlight God’s great acts of redemption and rehearse his intervention into their story. As the material in the Psalms spans from time of David to the return from exile, we will see several emphases come to the fore.131 Grogan points out that Israel’s experience of the exodus colored the language of a number of psalms and is particularly featured in our three. Additionally, the theological trauma of the exile figures prominently in several psalms since it functioned as the inauguration of an age-long struggle for the survival of Israelite identity.132 Significant for our purposes is the consideration of the Psalms as Israel’s hymnal. Music or melody of any sort has tremendous mnemonic power. As the people of God sing these redemptivehistorical summaries, they are memorizing their story, reflecting on the character of God, and being reminded of their identity. Yet again, we will only briefly discuss each psalm and we will combine our discussion of Psalms 105 and 106 into one due to their complementary nature. Psalm 78: To Warm and to Warn Psalm 78 is a liturgical celebration of God’s mercy in the past and an acknowledgment of God’s choice of David as a continuation of God’s mercy in the present. This psalm, then, “unites the old sacred epic with the new religious tradition.”133 This psalm has a dual purpose: first, this psalm is meant to warm the people’s hearts by the fire of God’s dogged grace and encourage them to set their hope in Him (vs. 6). But, secondly, it is also to warn them not to forget these gracious works (vs. 7)134 and act like their 125 Ernest Lucas, “Daniel” in Vanhoozer, Bartholomew, and Treier, Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament. 242 House, (2005): 240 127 It is difficult to nail down an exact date for the three psalms we are viewing. We can know that they occurred late and it seems likely that they were either exilic or post-exilic. For this reason, we keep them under “The Exile” heading 128 O. Palmer Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P & R Publishing, 2015). 174 129 Tremper Longman, Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014). 41 130 If we had space, it would be a privilege to walk through Psalm 89, 104, 135 and 136 as well. 131 Robertson proposes that the Psalms broadly have a redemptive historical framework and that we should approach them from the perspective of the progress of redemptive history. 132 Geoffrey W. Grogan, Psalms (Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008). 174-175 133 Richard Clifford, “In Zion and David a New Beginning: An interpretation of Psalm 78” in Traditions in Transformation: Turning Points in Biblical Faith (1981): 137. 134 Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150 (IVP Academic, 2014). 311 126 18 rebellious fathers (vs. 8).135 The psalm accomplishes this purpose by reviewing Israel’s history from the time of slavery in Egypt up until the reign of David. Along the way he alternates136 between the grace of God that persists and stands in stark contrast to the people’s rebellion.137 This psalm specifically points out the theological importance of memory. Though the people had “heard and known” of the stories their fathers told and retold them that they might “not forget” (vs. 38), they still failed to remember (vs. 42). In fact, the failure of the Ephraimites is shown to derive from their lack of memory of God’s great acts (vs. 11); “they forgot his works.”138 It seems likely that the failure in view here may be associated with the defeat of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians discussed in 2 Kings 17 above. This communal failure to remember, this forgetfulness of their shared narrative, led to the exilic trauma and the jeopardizing of their identity. The Psalmist is now retelling the entire story in order to help his readers remember their identity! Psalm 105 and 106: Grace and Rebellion These two psalms review the same history of Yahweh’s redemptive activity but with completely contrasting perspectives. Psalm 105 reviews redemptive history and rehearses God’s covenantal faithfulness. Psalm 106 recasts the same history yet highlights the record of Israel’s unfaithfulness.139 To return to our analogy above, these two psalms come together as the diamond (psalm 105) on the black velvet (psalm 106). Though they differ in emphasis, they sing in harmony. Commenting on this pair of psalms Kidner says that they represent “the two contrasted strands of sacred history: the acts of God the unfailing, and of man the intractable.”140 The purpose of psalm 105 is to inspire praise and gratitude141 as it celebrates God’s grace across the history of redemption. The psalmist calls on the people to remember the wondrous works of God (vs. 5); his great acts by which he showed his love for them, acts of deliverance and redemption. “Like a jewel turned this way and that, the worship of God displays some of its many facets here.”142 To keep the worship of God central, psalm 105 even opts in several places to only highlight God’s grace, provision or protection and downplays Israel’s rebellion and murmuring (105:40ff). Psalm 106, on the other hand, offers a different perspective on the same history. Starting in vs. 6, the psalmist begins to recount the rebellion of the people who “did not remember the abundance” of God’s steadfast love (vs. 7). They instead “soon forgot” (vs. 13) God’s works and tragically even “forgot God” himself (vs. 21). As we saw in 1 Samuel 12, forgetfulness here again can lead to forsaking God and ignoring him.143 In a sobering note, Kidner says “the Israelites are our ecclesiastical forbears; their sins are our own writ large.”144 Yet, despite their sin and ours, “he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power.” (vs. 8) 135 Longman, Psalms. 289 Willem A. VanGemeren, Psalms, Revised ed. edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2008). 591. 137 Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms. 129 138 Longman, Psalms. 290 139 Robertson, The Flow of the Psalms. 174 140 Kidner, Psalms 73-150. 407 141 Phillip McMillion, “Psalm 105: History with a Purpose” in Restoration Quarterly, Volume 52, No. 3 (2010) pg. 167-179 142 Kidner, Psalms 73-150. 407 143 Longman, Psalms. 370 144 Kidner, Psalms 73-150. 412 136 19 The good news of Psalm 105 and 106 is that God remembers even when we forget. He remembers his covenant (105:8) and his holy promise (105:42) and his memory causes him to relent according to the abundance of his covenant love (106:45). “Remembrance signifies, on the one hand, God’s commitment by covenant and, on the other hand, God’s active involvement… The effects of God’s remembrance are ‘salvation’ and ‘restoration.’”145 The psalmist writes these redemptive-historical summaries for his people so that they (and we!) won’t forget again and repeat the same patterns. THE RETURN “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia…” “That the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled” (1 Chr. 36:22; Ezra 1:1), the people return to the land after roughly 70 years in exile.146 Naturally, it is at this point that we not only have an “acceleration” of redemptive-historical summaries,147 but we also get two of the most fully developed summaries which points to the success of the previous ones. The fact that the returned Israelites remember their history so well “is significant, given that the pre-exilic prophets so often lamented that it was when Israel forgot their story that they went astray from Yahweh their God.”148 If God’s people had not continually told their story in mnemonic summary form, how else would these latter authors have known about creation, the patriarchs and more? We will see that Nehemiah and the Chronicler’s summaries both stretch from creation to exile in order to locate their listeners’ identities in the grand story of God. Nehemiah 9:6-38: “you have dealt faithfully, and we have acted wickedly.” Nehemiah uses a redemptive-historical reflection as a vehicle for confession and as a ground on which to base an appeal for mercy before leading his people into a covenant renewal ceremony (vs. 38). 149 His summary orients his listeners and enlightens them to the reality that they are participating in a small slice of an ongoing story. By reflecting on the “divine mercies despite infidelities,”150 Nehemiah displays the grace of God across history as he forms the rationale for the people’s recommitment to Yahweh. Chris Wright describes this summary as follows, The great prayer in Neh. 9 rehearses history from creation to their immediate present. In other words, this was a people with memory. And because they had memory, they had hope. Even the awareness and confession of past sins and failures functioned to remind them of the recurring forgiveness of God, even through and beyond acts of God’s righteous judgment. God could therefore be trusted to carry them into the future with the same forgiving faithfulness, the same saving righteousness, provided they responded with renewed penitence and reform. The future was secure because the past was proof.151 145 VanGemeren, Psalms. 781 Though NT Wright and others are certainly onto something, at this point, a remnant of the people at least physically returned to the land. 147 I would have loved to have also included Ezra 5:11-17. 148 Shepherd and Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah. 166 149 H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra-Nehemiah, Volume 16 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2015). 307 150 Shepherd and Wright, Ezra and Nehemiah. 91 151 Ibid. 166 146 20 The exile did not destroy the people’s story. If they could remember their story, they could rebuild their communal identity along with their city, their temple, and their wall.152 To help his people remember their story, Nehemiah, in the most sweeping of all redemptive-historical summaries, frames his retelling around the repeated cycles of grace and rebellion. In 9:6-15, grace takes the stage. Reaching all the way back to creation (a first for our summaries thus far) Nehemiah grounds his listeners in the reality that God made heaven and earth. Next, he moves to the story of Abraham where he highlights that God kept his promises to Abraham because of his own righteousness, not because of the people’s righteousness. Nehemiah then discusses the Exodus in vs. 9-11 by describing how God saw the affliction of his people, heard their cry, and then “made a name” for himself by his miraculous redemptive works, of which the Red sea division is given as an example. Lastly, Nehemiah discusses the law as a gift of God’s grace that came to the people at Sinai. In this portion of the summary, God is the subject of every sentence. Then in 9:16-18, rebellion comes on the scene wearing presumption around their stiff necks. They “refused to obey” and were decidedly forgetful of the wonders Yahweh had performed among them. Yet, despite the faithlessness of people, the forgiveness of God sweeps on the scene in the wake of their rebellion. He did not abandon them or forget them even when they made themselves a golden calf and brazenly proclaimed that “this is the god that brought us out of Egypt.” Somehow, in God’s good kindness and mercy, he did not forsake them in the wilderness, but as 9:1921 shows, “when sin abounds, graces super-abounds.”153 In all their time in the wilderness, God did not withhold manna, or water, but sustained them. They lacked nothing and their “clothes did not wear out.” This is, indeed, grace upon grace. But it doesn’t end there! God’s grace and sustenance in the wilderness was only a shadow of the abundance that would come in the land. In 9:22-25 Nehemiah describes the conquest, the multiplication of offspring and the rich land “full of all good things.” Though they ate, were satisfied and took advantage of “cisterns already hewn,” they nevertheless rebelled yet again and “hewed out cisterns for themselves” (Jer. 2:13). In 9:26-28 Nehemiah describes the complicated Judges period. This era saw a consistent cycle of both rebellion and grace. Though God “many times delivered them,” they yet again “acted presumptuously” and “turned a stubborn shoulder” toward God. The period described in 9:29-30 is likely referring to the latter years of the monarchy leading up to the exile. “Many years” he bore with them, “yet they would not give ear” (See 2 Kings 17 above). This theological explanation for the exile quickly pivots into Nehemiah’s present-day application in 9:31-37. “Nevertheless, in his great mercies” God did not make an end to them, or finally forget his people because he is gracious and merciful! On the basis of the grace demonstrated throughout his people’s story, Nehemiah makes the only request of the prayer in 9:32, “let not all this hardship seem little to you” that came on the people as a result of the exile. Nehemiah then summarizes his whole prayer, and effectively all of his people’s history in 9:34-35, “Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in 152 Tollefson and Williamson hint at the profound effects of the exile on the Israelite identity: “The Nehemiah story is of interest to anthropology because it contains excellent data for the study of the effects of foreign domination, planned change and subsequent cultural revitalization.” See Tollefson, K. D., & Williamson, H. G. M. “Nehemiah as Cultural Revitalization: An Anthropological Perspective.” In the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 17(56), (1992). 41–68. 153 Derek Kidner, Ezra and Nehemiah (Nottingham, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2009). 122 21 the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works.” Even “this day” his people are slaves in their own land. “Because of all this” Nehemiah leads his people to make a covenant (9:38); a covenant that should have restored them, but even after the people have come face to face with God’s grace in this redemptive retelling, they rebel yet again. The rest of the book of Nehemiah recounts this rebellion and reveals that another solution is needed. 1 Chronicles 1-9: “So all Israel was recorded in genealogies”154 The audience of 1-2 Chronicles is a post-exilic community who had recently returned to the land, yet they are still living under Persian rule. Naturally, when they returned, they asked questions such as, “Who are we? Are we still the people of God? What do the promises to David and Solomon really mean to us today?” Chronicles sets out to answer these questions by telling the story of Israel and inviting its readers to see themselves as living in the results of this story.155 In order to retell the story, the author offers a sweeping history from Adam (1 Chr. 1:1) to Cyrus (2 Chr. 36:22).156 The presence of the genealogy at the outset of this work reveals the Chronicler’s concern that his audience sees their identity, theology and story in continuity with those who have gone before them.157 The author is quite literally engaged in rebuilding the shared memories of this mnemonic community. This genealogy offers legitimacy to the people, reminds them of God’s election of Israel, roots their identity in history, and locates post-exilic Judah in a larger historical framework.158 The newly returned remnant needed to be assured that the exile had not ended the covenant promises and that God was still committed to offering grace to his people. Since the genealogies tend to lean eschatologically toward the future,159 we must read 1 Chr. 1-9 not as a mere retelling of history, but as a forward-looking appeal to live in the present with hope and expectation for the future. Hope, in this context, is maybe best understood in terms of the culmination of a mnemonic narrative. Following the ordering of the Hebrew Bible,160 it seems appropriate to end our discussion of the OT summaries with this genealogy as we now move to the NT, where we will find what (or whom) was hoped for in yet another genealogy. MOVING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT “a narrative of the things that have been fulfilled among us.” To recap our journey so far, we have seen that there are particular elements of the story, certain human and divine actions, that are oft repeated. These gracious events, along with the people’s tendency toward rebellion, are meant to shape the theology, worldview and identity of the people of God. This content has been progressively revealed along the epochs of redemptive history as 154 In this review of 1 Chronicles 1-9, thought I don’t agree with his whole article, I am largely following the interesting work of Ehud Ben Zvi who shows the intersection of social memory and narrative in 1-2 Chronicles. Ehud Ben Zvi, “Chronicles and Social Memory,” Studia Theologica – Nordic Journal of Theology, Volume 71, Issue 1 (2017): 69-90. 155 Mark A. Throntviet in Vanhoozer, Bartholomew, and Treier, Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament. 126-127 156 A lot could be said about the positive spin the Chronicler puts on this history in comparison to Samuel, Kings, the prophets and the psalms, but we don’t have the space to cover that here. 157 Mark Boda, 1-2 Chronicles (Carol Stream, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2010). 3; See Boda also on the reinstallation of key identity markers in the return period. 8-9. Ben Zvi calls these identity markers, “communal sites of memory.” pg. 72 158 Andrew E. Hill, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Third Impression edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2003). 38, 70 159 Peter J. Leithart, 1 & 2 Chronicles (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2019). 10 160 For a defense of the story told through the Hebrew Bible, see Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty. 22 the story continues by adding new events along with new insights into its own past. This narrative, that has shaped the social memory and communal identity of the people, takes a dramatic turn as we move into the NT and meet a massive new and yet not new character: Jesus the Messiah. He is indeed the pre-existent (Jn. 1; Col.1) archetypal figure that this communal identity has been fashioned after,161 as well as the one who came to fulfill all the promises of God (2 Cor. 1:20)162 and inaugurate the prophetic hope of the new and better covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8).163 When the “fullness of time had come,” (Gal. 4) after God had, in the past, “spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” he finally spoke “to us by his Son” (Heb 1). This story, that has for so long been in search of a conclusion,164 has finally found its main character (Lk. 24:44). As we will see, this new character is understood and interpreted in light of the previous and yet continuing story.165 In fact, relevant for our purposes, it will be shown that one way in which the NT writers demonstrate their dependence on the OT story is in “the summaries of OT history and teaching.”166 The fulfillment of Israel’s hopes, centered on the Messiah and the renewal of God’s people, are understood to be fulfilled in the experience of the followers of Jesus. Hays and Green, worth quoting at length, attest that the Christian movement, from its earliest beginnings, located its proclamation in continuity with Israel Scriptures and interpreted God’s saving action in relation to Israel’s story. The first followers of Jesus, as Jews looking for the appearing of God’s kingdom, sought to understand the meaning of the remarkable events that had been accomplished among them by meditating on Israel scriptures, which the church came later to call the Old Testament. Their fundamental conviction was that God had acted in an unexpected way to fulfill the promises made to Israel, to bring to completion the whole history of God’s dealings with his people. With transformed eyes, they read and reread scripture, discovering there prefigurations of the grace of God they had come to experience. The biblical texts, in turn, provided a storehouse of images and categories out of which the gospel proclamation took shape. Thus, from the earliest stages of the Christian movement —indeed, even during Jesus’ own lifetime —Scripture was integral to the formation of the identity and teaching of the community of Jesus’s followers.167 161 See the incredibly helpful chart in Geerhardus Vos, The Teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Wm. B. EerdmansLightning Source, 1956). 162 Williamson, Sealed with an Oath. 183 163 See I.H. Marshall, “Jesus Christ” in Rosner et al., New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. 592ff 164 Wright, The New Testament and the People of God. 216-217 165 C.A. Evans, “New Testament Use of the Old Testament” in Rosner et al., New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. 79-80 166 Joel B. Green, ed., Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation, 2nd ed. edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2010). 127 167 Hays and Green in Ibid. 122-123 23 From a Christian point of view, then, the OT is as seen as a chronicle of the ongoing history of salvation which narrativally culminates in the coming of Christ. With this perspective in mind, we move to the opening of the NT, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. THE INCARNATION AND CRUCIFIXION “The Old Testament Scriptures are the swaddling clothes in which Christ is born.”168 Matthew 1:1-17: “The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ” While most interpretations of this genealogy fail to attend to its “storied nature,” Jason Hood points out that this passage evokes important aspects of the Israel’s story and functions as a compressed retelling of salvation history169 in outline form.170 More than a retelling, it is actually a teleological rereading of the Grundgeschichte in light of the Christ-event that fulfills the Heilsgeschichte (Lk. 24).171 In brief, “Matthew presents Jesus as the solution to the condition of Israel and the nations, and messianic culmination is the goal to which Israel’s story points.”172 As we’ve seen, Israel’s is a tragic history. Now, after hundreds of years, a glimmer of hope comes in the form of a newborn child as this genealogy creates a “narrative link across the gap” of the Old and New testaments.173 “The book of γενεσεως” signals a new beginning,174 a new creation. The period of preparation is now complete, and the stage is set for the dawning of the time of fulfillment in the coming of the promised Messiah who would bring in the promised eschatological reign.175 More than that, the symmetrical structure176 of the genealogy, which finds its high point in David and its low point in the exile, draws to light the royal dimension of the genealogy as a dynastic document that traces the line of succession until it finds its denouement in the coming of Jesus to restore the monarchy.177 In sum, each name in the genealogy, each period of history, each covenant represented, all reveal a part of Jesus’ identity. The purpose of this redemptive-historical summary in genealogical form is to show Jesus’ identity as the one who has to save his people from their rebellion and sins (Matt 1:21). In the wake of the story of unfaithfulness displayed in our previous summaries, Jesus marches in as the sin-conquering king full of grace and truth.178 168 Barrett quotes Luther as saying this about the OT. Barrett, Canon, Covenant and Christology. 16, 197 Dempster, Dominion and Dynasty. 232 170 Jason Hood’s work on this passage is masterful. My writing here is largely influenced by his take on this genealogy. I wish I could have included even more of this thoughts! Jason B. Hood, The Messiah, His Brothers, and the Nations: (London ; New York: T&T Clark, 2011). 171 Martin, Bound for the Promised Land. 119-120 172 Hood, The Messiah, His Brothers, and the Nations. 162 173 Richard Bauckham, “Reading Scripture as a Coherent Story,” in Davis and Hays, The Art of Reading Scripture. 41 174 Stanley Hauerwas, Matthew, Reprint edition. (Brazos Press, 2015). 31 175 D. A. Carson, Matthew and Mark, ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, Revised ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2010). 87 176 The various opinions on the significance of “fourteen generations” are likely speculative at best. 177 R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew, New International Commentary on the New Testament edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2007). 28-29, 32 178 Daniel M. Doriani, Matthew: 2 Volume Set (Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2008). 4-7 169 24 THE RESURRECTION AND PROCLAMATION “he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” This Jesus, the embodiment of the Israelite identity, was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23) to be “pierced for our transgressions” (Isa 53:5) on the cross. As with the prophets who came before him (see Acts 7 and Matt. 21:33-46) he was completely misunderstood by the people he came to save and was “crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23). Yet, again, God would not let this be the end of the story. Instead, he “raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (Acts 2:24). This new act of God, the powerful resurrection of His Son, as with other major events throughout redemptive history, provides, yet again, an “acceleration of revelation” and a swell of redemptive-historical summaries. Like no other event, however, the resurrection causes a complete rereading of all prior history. Richard Hays says, “We interpret scripture rightly only when we read it in light of the resurrection, and we begin to comprehend the resurrection only when we see it as the climax of the scriptural story of God’s gracious deliverance.”179 This new hermeneutic requires that we look back on the gospel events of Jesus’ life through OT lenses and it also requires that we look back on OT events with gospel lenses. In Luke 24, Jesus does exactly this. Though it can’t technically be defined as a redemptive-historical summary, Luke 24 nevertheless offers an entirely new hermeneutical approach that we simply cannot ignore. The risen Lord Jesus presents himself as the definitive exegete par excellence. “The Word of God incarnate explains the Word of God written.”180 This is redemptive revelation incarnate in history,181 with “flesh on its bones and sandals on its feet.”182 The Divine Author Himself has stepped into the story (Jn 1:1-14) and reveals how we ought to read the scriptures.183 Significantly, he doesn’t offer any new visions from heaven, but focuses on the old, old story of redemption recast through the lens of his suffering, death and resurrection. In so doing, he doesn’t produce prooftexts, but proves that the unbroken narrative184 179 Richary B. Hays, “Reading Scripture in Light of the Resurrection” in Davis and Hays, The Art of Reading Scripture. 216 Philip Graham Ryken, Luke: 2 Volume Set, First edition. (Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2009). 649 181 Vos, Biblical Theology. 6 182 Ryken and III, A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible. 407 183 Stephen I. Wright, “Luke” in Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Daniel Treier, and N. T. Wright, eds., Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey, Illustrated edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008). 50-51,5758 184 Darrell L. Bock, A Theology of Luke and Acts: God’s Promised Program, Realized for All Nations, ed. Andreas J. Kostenberger (Grand Rapids, Michgian: Zondervan Academic, 2012). 133 180 25 has built in progressive climax toward its teleological destination: Himself.185 But the emphasis is not only on his person, it also on his work; on his life, death, and resurrection which represent the realization of God’s saving plan unveiled across the canon.186 The story of the scriptures, then, forms the hermeneutical matrix within which the recent events in Jerusalem become intelligible.187 Though first century Judaism may not have anticipated a suffering Messiah, Jesus makes it clear that the scriptures certainly did.188 As we will see, the apostles pick up this emphasis on the death and resurrection in their preaching as they apply this new hermeneutic in the period that followed Jesus’ ascension when the Spirit came and the proclamation of the gospel, repentance and forgiveness went to all nations. The Acts of the Risen Lord Luke Timothy Johnson attests that Luke’s main interest in Acts is to “construct a continuation of the Biblical story.”189 Thompson agrees when he says that Acts is best understood in a “biblicaltheological” framework that highlights the move from the OT and accounts for the continuing story of Gods saving purposes.190 Indeed, the proclamation of the gospel in the early days of the church was saturated with the flow of redemptive history from the OT to Christ.191 For the NT church, then, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus become the major events in history just like the events of the Exodus for the OT believers. In order to get a sampling of biblical theology according to the apostles,192 we will, as we did with the prophets, briefly look at three of the most significant redemptive-historical summaries in the book of Acts. Acts 3:11-26: “what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled.” In Acts 3, a compact yet comprehensive sermon,193 Peter explains that Jesus fulfills all of God’s saving promises in scripture.194 After Peter connects the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with his servant 185 Darrell L. Bock, Luke 9:51-24:53, 3rd edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 1996). 1937 F. Scott Spencer, Luke (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2019). 632-633 187 Richard Hays, “Reading Scripture in Light of the Resurrection” in Davis and Hays, The Art of Reading Scripture. 229230 188 Bock, Luke 9. 1916 189 Luke Timothy Johnson, Sacra Pagina: The Acts Of The Apostles (Collegeville, Minn: Michael Glazier, 2006). 7 190 Alan J. Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan, unknown edition. (Nottingham, England : Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011). 191 Boda, Heartbeat of Old Testament Theology. 107 192 Bruno, Compton, and McFadden, Biblical Theology According to the Apostles. This book came out in the middle of my research for this project. I wish I could have implemented their findings more! 193 Thomas calls this an “abridged OT theology.” Derek W. H. Thomas, Acts (Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2011). 81 194 Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus. 156 186 26 Jesus, he shows that his audience delivered over and denied this “Holy and Righteous One” and “killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead.” Then, in verses 18 and 19, the influence of Jesus’ Luke 24 sermon is seen when Peter says, “What God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.” Before he concludes, Peter shows that Jesus is the longed-for Moses-like prophet that every prophet since Samuel has proclaimed. Acts 7: “As your fathers did, so do you.” In Stephen’s speech we find Luke’s interpretation of how the biblical story is continued in Jesus and the apostles.195 What surfaces as a result of this continued story is one of the primary challenges of the book of Acts: the extension of the people of God and their story to the nations, the “Gentiles.”196 By connecting the past story to the present reality, Stephen’s speech, rivaled only in scope by Nehemiah’s, places this new people of God in their true salvation historical context.197 Stephen’s primary aim198 is to contrast the true people of God with those who claim to be his people yet have a history of rejecting his messengers. Through a carefully crafted and purpose-driven historical survey, Stephen shows that the Jewish people’s refusal to acknowledge Jesus as Messiah was all of a piece with their attitude toward God’s messengers from the beginning of their national history (see also Matt. 21:33-46).199 In short, Stephen is showing that those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah are the authentic realization of the people of God. At the end of Acts 7 we meet a character who will soon undergo a massive transformation. The risen Jesus that appears to Stephen (7:55), will soon appear to Saul on the road to Damascus (9:1-9). Saul will be so transformed, that he will take the history of his people heard from Stephen, that he likely repudiated, and retell it to a new audience. Acts 13: “what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children.” Paul’s sermon in Acts 13 is yet another in a long line of redemptive-historical summaries. The main point of this one is to work through the history of Israel from the perspective of belief in the “prophet whom God raised up.”200 Paul quickly recounts the story and highlights the patriarchs, the Exodus (vs.17), the wilderness (vs. 18), the conquest (vs. 19) and then the period of the judges (vs. 20) until the establishment of the monarchy (vs. 21). At first glance, it appears he will be just as exhaustive as others, but he slows his pace at the monarchy and breaks off his summary after David in order to highlight Christ’s fulfillment of the Davidic kingship.201 Paul then proceeds to contextualize the recent gospel events inside of this sweeping story (vs. 26ff). Just as Stephen highlighted, the people in Jesus’ day “did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets” but they “fulfilled them by condemning him.” After they “carried out all that was written of him” they “laid him in a tomb.” Then Paul makes explicit that the resurrection proves Jesus’s messianic identity. Though he died a cursed death, God raised him from the dead and 195 Johnson, Sacra Pagina. 119 Thompson, The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus. 19-20 197 David G. Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles, 1st edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2009). 244-245. Peterson also compares Stephen’s summary to that of Ezekiel 20. 198 There is so much more that could be said about this passage. I am focusing on what seems to be Stephen’s primary goal. 199 F. F. Bruce, The Book of the Acts, Revised ed. edition. (Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1988). 130 200 Johnson, Sacra Pagina. 237 201 Peterson, The Acts of the Apostles. 385 196 27 highly exalted him (Phil. 2).202 Now Paul sets his preaching in this wider context and explains that “this good news” that “God promised to our fathers,” he has “fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus.” Paul’s summary of the OT kerygma, then, is to be seen as a prelude to the NT kerygma; the continued saga of God’s dealings with his people.203 Paul concludes in Luke 24 fashion with an emphasis on repentance and forgiveness (vs. 38). CONCLUSION204 O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come In this survey of Heilsgeschichte we’ve seen how the redemptive-historical summaries have been used as mnemonic devices to retell the meta-story in order to shape identity and theology. Across the epochs, though with different emphases and for different purposes, these summaries present the same God and offer the same storied identity. These summaries, in turn, act as appealing gateways into the rest of the scriptures so that the details of the story might be filled in. Paul House recounts the rich bounty gained through reading the summaries when he says, readers have been exposed to several distinct paradigmatic eras. They have learned of the time before Abram traveled beyond the Euphrates, Abram's travels in Canaan, the sojourn in Egypt, the exodus, the desert years, the conquest of Canaan, the judges epoch, the monarchy's glories in David's and Solomon's reigns and subsequent descent into a new judges-era-type situation, and the exile. Key characters such as Yahweh, Israel, the nations, and David have become fully developed characters. Physical settings such as Egypt, Canaan, Zion, the temple, and the desert have developed into symbols and metaphors. Events such as the exodus, the making of the Sinai covenant, the making of the Davidic covenant, and the fall of Samaria have become more than past occurrences. They are now ways of understanding the present and grasping the future.205 In short, as a kind of leitmotiv across the entire tapestry of redemptive history, 206 we’ve seen a gracious God acting for the sake of his name to deliver his rebellious people. At the denouement of the story, Jesus, as the premier expression of divine grace, has taken the punishment for his people’s relentless rebellion. He absorbed and gathered up the history (and future!) of rebellion in himself on the cross and now pushes back with a new wave of grace that will one day fully crush all signs of sin and rebellion (Gen. 3:15; Rev. 21). Forgiveness of forgetfulness, faithlessness and rebellion is offered in the one who was “despised and rejected by men,” and “delivered up for our 202 Thomas, Acts. 370 Bruce, The Book of the Acts. 253-254 204 I really wanted to cover Hebrews 11, but ran out of space and time. Heb 11 has been called, a text “ripe with promise for an investigation tied to the connections between social memory and Christian origins.” Philip Esler, Collective Memory and Hebrews 11: Outlining a New Investigative Framework in Memory, Tradition and Text, 151 205 House, (2005): 239 206 Ryken and III, A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible. 76 203 28 trespasses” before he was “raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Through his death and resurrection, he now offers us a new, fully righteous identity and gives us the privilege of proclaiming “the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor. 11:26) again to bring full resolution to the story. Until then, may we “encourage one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18). 29 BIBLIOGRAPHY Aboagye-Mensah, John R. Stott and Rubert K. Africa Bible Commentary: A One-Volume Commentary Written by 70 African Scholars. Edited by Tokunboh Adeyemo. Revised ed. edition. Zondervan Academic, 2010. Arnold, Bill T. 1 & 2 Samuel. First Edition edition. 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Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1989. France, R. T. The Gospel of Matthew. New International Commentary on the New Testament edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2007. Goldingay, John. Daniel, Volume 30. Revised ed. edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2019. Goldsworthy, Graeme. Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles. Illustrated edition. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2012. Green, Joel B., ed. Hearing the New Testament: Strategies for Interpretation. 2nd ed. edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2010. Grogan, Geoffrey W. Psalms. Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2008. Hasel, Gerhard. Old Testament Theology: Basic Issues in the Current Debate. Fourth Edition, Revised edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1991. Hauerwas, Stanley. Matthew. Reprint edition. Brazos Press, 2015. ———. Why Narrative? Readings in Narrative Theology. Edited by Stanley M. Hauerwas and L. Gregory Jones. Eugene: Wipf and Stock, 1997. Hess, Richard S. Joshua. Illustrated edition. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2008. Hill, Andrew E. 1 & 2 Chronicles. Third Impression edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2003. Hood, Jason B. The Messiah, His Brothers, and the Nations: London ; New York: T&T Clark, 2011. House, Paul R. 1, 2 Kings: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. Nashville, 31 Tenn: Holman Reference, 1995. ———. Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018. Howard, David M. An Introduction to the Old Testament Historical Books. 1993 edition. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2007. ———. Joshua: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. Nashville, Tenn: Holman Reference, 1998. Johnson, Luke Timothy. Sacra Pagina: The Acts Of The Apostles. Collegeville, Minn: Michael Glazier, 2006. Kidner, Derek. Ezra and Nehemiah. Nottingham, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2009. ———. Jeremiah. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2014. ———. Psalms 73-150. IVP Academic, 2014. Klein, Dr Ralph W. 1 Samuel, Volume 10: Second Edition. Second edition. Waco, Tex.: Zondervan Academic, 2014. Konkel, August H. 1 and 2 Kings. First Edition edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2006. Leithart, Peter J. 1 & 2 Chronicles. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2019. Lints, Richard. The Fabric of Theology: A Prolegomenon to Evangelical Theology. Grand Rapids, Mich: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 1993. Long, V. Philips. 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary. IVP Academic, 2020. Longman, Tremper. Jeremiah, Lamentations. Reprint edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2012. ———. Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014. Martin, Oren. Bound for the Promised Land. Nottingham, England : Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2015. McConville, Gordon, and Stephen Williams. Joshua. First Edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2010. McConville, J. G. Deuteronomy. Leicester, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2002. Ortlund, Raymond. God’s Unfaithful Wife: A Biblical Theology of Spiritual Adultery. IVP Academic, 2003. Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. 1st edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 2009. Plummer, Ken. Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to A Critical Humanism. 2nd edition. London: 32 SAGE Publications Ltd, 2001. Provan, Iain W. 1 & 2 Kings. Reprint edition. Baker Books, 1993. Robertson, O. Palmer. The Flow of the Psalms: Discovering Their Structure and Theology. Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P & R Publishing, 2015. Rosner, Brian S., T. Desmond Alexander, Graeme Goldsworthy, and D. A. Carson, eds. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology: Exploring the Unity Diversity of Scripture. Edition Unstated edition. Leicester, England : Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2004. Ryken, Leland, and Tremper Longman III. A Complete Literary Guide to the Bible. New Ed edition. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Academic, 1993. Ryken, Philip Graham. Luke: 2 Volume Set. First edition. Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2009. Sacks, Oliver. The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat: And Other Clinical Tales. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1998. Shepherd, David J., and Christopher J. H. Wright. Ezra and Nehemiah. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 2018. Spencer, F. Scott. Luke. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2019. Stroup, George W. The Promise of Narrative Theology. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 1997. Swain, Scott R. Trinity, Revelation, and Reading: A Theological Introduction To The Bible And Its Interpretation. 1 edition. London; New York: T & T Clark International, 2011. Thomas, Derek W. H. Acts. Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2011. Thompson, Alan J. The Acts of the Risen Lord Jesus: Luke’s Account of God’s Unfolding Plan. Unknown edition. Nottingham, England : Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011. VanGemeren, Willem A. Psalms. Revised ed. edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Academic, 2008. Vanhoozer, Kevin J., Craig Bartholomew, and Daniel Treier, eds. Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008. Vanhoozer, Kevin J., Daniel Treier, and N. T. Wright, eds. Theological Interpretation of the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey. Illustrated edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Academic, 2008. Vos, Geerhardus. Biblical Theology. 3rd Edition. Banner of Truth, 2014. ———. The Teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Wm. B. Eerdmans-Lightning Source, 1956. Williamson, H. G. M. Ezra-Nehemiah, Volume 16. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2015. 33 Williamson, Paul R. Sealed with an Oath: Covenant in God’s Unfolding Purpose. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2007. Woudstra, Marten H. The Book of Joshua. 2nd Revised ed. edition. Grand Rapids, Mich: Eerdmans, 1981. Wright, Christopher J. H. Deuteronomy. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 1994. ———. Old Testament Ethics for the People of God. 10.2.2004 edition. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2004. ———. The Message of Ezekiel. Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Academic, 2001. ———. The Message of Jeremiah. 1st edition. Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2014. Wright, N. T. The New Testament and the People of God. 1st North American edition. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992. JOURNAL ARTICLES Coleman A. Baker, “Social Identity Theory and Biblical Interpretation,” Biblical Theology Bulletin, Volume 42, Number 3 (2012) Richard Clifford, “In Zion and David a New Beginning: An interpretation of Psalm 78” in Traditions in Transformation: Turning Points in Biblical Faith (1981): Dennis C. Duling, “Social Memory and Biblical Studies: Theory, Method, and Application,” Biblical Theology Bulletin, Volume 36, (February 1, 2006): Ernest van Eck, “Social Memory and Identity: Luke 19:12b-24 and 27,” Biblical Theology Bulletin, Volume 41, Number 4 (2011) J.B. Hood and M.Y. Emerson, “Summaries of Israel’s Story: Reviewing a Compositional Category,” Currents in Biblical Research, Volume 11 (2013) Paul R. House, “Examining the Narratives of Old Testament Narrative: An Exploration in Biblical Theology,” Westminster Theological Journal, Volume 67, (2005): 229-245. Phillip McMillion, “Psalm 105: History with a Purpose” in Restoration Quarterly, Volume 52, No. 3 (2010) pg. 167-179 Michael D. Williams, “Story Summaries: Key Points for Understanding the Bible’s Big Story and Our Place Within It,” Presbyerion, Volume 45, Number 1 (2019): 43. Tollefson, K. D., & Williamson, H. G. M. “Nehemiah as Cultural Revitalization: An Anthropological Perspective.” In the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 17(56), (1992). 41–68 Ehud Ben Zvi, “Chronicles and Social Memory,” Studia Theologica – Nordic Journal of Theology, Volume 71, Issue 1 (2017): 69-90