Many regard the last five chapters of the book of Judges (chs. 17-21) as problematic and out of place in the overall context of the book. Various theories have emerged to explain how the narratives in these chapters made their way into the book of Judges. The 1970s and 1980s saw a shift in the academic discipline of biblical studies toward synchronic or literary approaches to biblical interpretation. Although this literary tum has had a significant impact on the interpretation of Judges, questions regarding the place and function of chs. 17-21 still remain. Leveraging work from literary studies and hermeneutics, this dissertation re-examines Judges 17- 21 with the aim of uncovering the strategies of ending which are at work in these chapters. This dissertation identifies a number of strategies of ending in Judges 17-21 including the strategy of circularity, the strategy of completion and the strategy of entrapment. Moreover, the temporal configuration of Judges and particularly the nonlinear chronology which chapters 17-21 expose receive due attention. All of this offers fresh insights into the place and function of chs. 17-21 in the context of the whole book.

The introduction outlines the peculiar position which the Genesis 3 Serpent has in the Old Testament and outlines some attempts which have been made into the elucidation of its significance.A preliminary conclusion is made in emphasising the theme of this thesis. to see the Genesis 3 Serpent within its own particular context with reference to Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Tradition. To do justice to all these aspects the work is divided into three major parts,part one outlining the text of Genesis 2-3,part two dealing with the Serpent's relation to Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern tradition while part three expounds the significance which the Genesis three Serpent has in the Old Testament.

Most scholars understand the law of Lev 25:39-43 to be legislation concerning debtslavery. The present study questions such a conclusion. By considering the complex nature of the study of unfree labour systems, analyzing legal-historical documents and socio-economic contracts found in the ancient Near East, and through detailed exegesis of Lev 25:39-43, this study argues that the sale of the individual in Lev 25:39-43 reflects, rather than debt-service, the practice of self-sale in the ancient Near East. While debt is a form of poverty, I contend that poverty does not necessarily involve debt. By refusing to blur these terms into one, the semantic range of the key verb (Kwm) in Lev 25:25-55 is preserved along with the logical order of the text. As such, I propose that the law of Lev 25:39-43 represents the only extant ancient Near Eastern attempt to regulate the practice of self-sale. The connection between the sociological reality of self-sale in the ancient Near Eastern documents and the law of Lev 25:39-43 explains the extended period of service, the relationship between the sale of the individual and the Jubilee, the emphatic Hebrew construction dObSoAt_aøl dRb`Do tådObSo wø;b, the stated theological purpose of the law that the Israelites shall not be enslaved (Lev 25:42), and could also shed some light on the long-standing debate about the relationship of Lev 25:39-43 to Exod 21:2-6 and Deut 15:12-15. As my study does not seek to enter into the debate about the Sitz im Leben, determine finally the relationship between the three manumission laws of the Pentateuch, or establish a sociological reality of unfree labour in ancient Israel, these are areas for further study.

This thesis explores how the interpretation of Kings might be enlightened by applying a hermeneutic developed from the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, a Russian literary critic. Bakhtin demonstrated how the social construct of carnival has made its way into some literature, which he terms seriocomic. Diagnostic criteria for seriocomic literature are: violation of linguistic norms; inversion of hierarchy and oxymoronic combinations; the fool and 'masking'; crowning/decrowning; 'odd feasts'; grotesque and scatological elements; profanation; and fantasticality. Application of these diagnostic features to the book of Kings reveals a florid outburst of seriocomic features within the central (northern) texts of the book. There are some unresolved 'enigmas' in the book of Kings, including the surprising prominence of the nation of Aram; the dubious ethical content of some of the prophets' actions; and I Kings 19: 16-17, where Elijah is commanded to anoint Hazael, Jehu and Elisha. The proposed hermeneutic helps resolve these enigmas. I Kings 19: 16-17 opens an inclusio which closes in II Kings 13. Within this inclusio, certain important themes are developed, including the subversion of the prophetic role, and the subversion of the nations of Aram, Israel and Judah. Additionally, another literary device is identified, which helps to address the other two enigmas, the mise-en-abyme (literary mirroring). In the case of Elijah and Elisha, repetitions of circumstance draw our attention to compare the two men. The seriocomic features of the text subvert the reader's attitude to Elisha, and then by shadowing, scorn is diverted towards Elijah. Similarly there is a complex web of symmetries, pairs, mirrors and parallels between the nations of Aram, Israel and Judah. The text repeatedly directs the reader's scorn and mirth towards Aram, but on each occasion the narrative turns, and disdain is diverted to Israel, and thence to Judah

The connections between the Book of Deuteronomy and the following narrative books in the Hebrew Scriptures - and especially Joshua and Kings, the first and last of these - are clear to any attentive reader. It has become a commonplace amongst specialists to term Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings 'the Deuteronomistic books'. The year 1943 saw the publication of Martin Noth's famous argument: Joshua-Kings did not just have close links with Deuteronomy; they comprised a history brought to unity out of quite disparate source-materials by an exilic scholar who had drawn his key ideas and most prominent language from the Book of Deuteronomy, or at least from the largest part of it which had been shaped towards the end of Judah's monarchy. That same 1943 publication included Noth's no less influential account of the Chronicler's History: that comprised Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and its main source was the books of Samuel and Kings as we know them. A brief appendix suggested how Noth saw his work bearing on the vexed question of Pentateuchal origins: the sources used in Numbers had not continued into (Deuteronomy and) Joshua; it was Deuteronomy and Joshua that had influenced the composition of the final chapters of Numbers. The development of biblical thought, as Noth charted it 50 years ago, was outwards from Deuteronomy: through the Deuteronomistic History to the Chronicler's History; and through Joshua to Numbers and the final shape of the Pentateuch. Most scholarship in the last half- century has worked within Noth's conceptual structure, even where there has been vigorous debate over the details of his presentation. This study, published in the jubilee year of Noth's Deuteronomist and Chronicler, starts by questioning Noth's assumption - and the assumption of most scholars before and Kings Without Privilege since in the last two centuries - about the relationship between these two narratives. It reads them side by side and probes their common origins; and finds that it is then freed to pose new questions about the inter-connectedness of Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic books. Kings and Chronicles emerge from this fresh scrutiny not as history and revised history, nor as text and commentary, but as alternative or competing appropriations of an earlier story of Judah's kings. And Deuteronomy, the date of its completion pushed inexorably later, emerges as influenced by the story that follows, and not simply the source of its ideas and language.

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This study examines the Hezekiah narratives as found in 2 Kgs 18-20 and Isa. 36-39, with special reference to the theme of faith, using narrative criticism as its methodology. Attention is paid especially to setting, plot, point of view and characterization within the narratives. The Kings version is taken as the main text for exegesis purposes, but relevant differences in the Isaiah text are noted. Articles and books on "faith" in the Old Testament rarely mention Hezekiah as an example of faith. Until recently, studies that have treated the theme of faith in the book of Isaiah have tended to neglect this section because of their historical-critical stance. Again, there are many studies of the Hezekiah narratives, but few focus on literary methods and/or the theme of faith. The major part of the study involves an exegesis of the text. How the narratives function within the context of the book of Kings is also considered. Furthermore, faith as a theme in the book of Isaiah is examined, and comparison is made especially between Isa. 36 and Isa. 7. The plot of the longest narrative (2 Kgs 18:13-19:37/Isa. 36-37) proves to be very instructive in the way that the verb nn (to trust) is used. Isaiah, YHWH, Sennacherib and Hezekiah emerge as main characters within the narratives. Different points of view and the use of temporal and geographical setting also reinforce the characterization. In particular, a largely positive portrait of Hezekiah as an example of faith emerges.