number of authors/editors working over an extended period of time. There are reasons other than ‘tensions’ in the text which might lead us to such a conclusion in respect of a particular text. In fact, I do believe that good reasons exist in the case of Kings to believe that it was not produced at one time by a single hand. I am persuaded, in fact, that the books of the Old Testament generally grew gradually into their present form in dialogue with each other, each shaping the developing tradition