TREATY OF THE GREAT KING

The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy:

Studies and Commentary

by

MEREDITH G. KLINE

Associate Professor of Old Testament Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia

WIPF & STOCK Eugene, Oregon

Wipf and Stock Publishers

199 W 8th Ave, Suite 3

Eugene, OR 97401

Treaty of the Great King

The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary

By Kline, Meredith G.

Copyright©1963 by Kline, Meredith G.

ISBN 13: 978-1-61097-698-5

Publication date 1/3/2012

Previously published by Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1963

This book

is dedicated to

the memory of

NED B. STONEHOUSE

PREFACE

The rediscovery of treaties of the great kings of Near Eastern antiquity has been widely exploited by biblical scholarship in the last few years. It has been generally recognized that certain adjustments are required in the negatitve judgments which control modern studies in the area of Old Testament history and higher criticism, but it does not yet seem to have been appreciated that in these treaties the modern biblical critic has a tiger by the tail. The significance of the treaties for subjects like the beginnings of the canon of Scripture and the authenticity of the Pentateuch as well as the historicity of various covenants recorded in the Bible can hardly be overestimated. An attempt is made here to trace the relevance of the recovery of the treaty form for our understanding of the nature of the Decalogue and Deuteronomy, with particular reference to the current phase of Old Testament higher criticism.

If not as much in the foreground as the apologetic design in the present volume, the biblical theological aspects of these investigations nevertheless occupy a more central position in the interests of the author. It is intended that the studies should serve as a preliminary probe, preparing for a more systematic exploration of the history of the revelation of God’s covenants with man.

The two chapters of Part I first appeared as articles in the Westminster Theological Journal in the issues of May, 1960 (Vol. XXII, No. 2) and November, 1960 (Vol. XXIII, No. 1). The original articles have been somewhat modified, particularly to take account of important, more recent developments. The brief commentary on Deuteronomy found in Part II is substantially that which I contributed to The Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press. 1962). The purposes and policies of that volume naturally determined the general nature and scope of the treatment of the individual contributions, as well as matters like the system of transliteration of Hebrew and Greek words and the form of biblical quotations. The latter are from the Authorized Version unless otherwise noted.

Although this combination of materials is somewhat unusual, it was felt that the two parts satisfactorily supplemented each other in their common unfolding of the suzerainty treaty pattern as found in the Mosaic covenants. By means of the commentary the results of the studies of Part I may be made more serviceable ...