The books of Joshua, Judges, 1, 2 Samuel and 1, 2 Kings are known by three titles:
1) The Historical Books (along with a few other books).
2) The Deuteronomistic History (by scholars, because of connections to the book of Deuteronomy). My dissertation was on the Deuteronomistic History.
Righteous Jehu and his Evil Heirs: The Deuteronomist’s Negative Perspective on Dynastic Succession (Oxford Theological Monographs)
3) The Former Prophets (within the Jewish tradition). The Latter Prophets are also known as the Major and Minor Prophets.
One of the reasons the title Prophets makes sense for these books is that there are a lot of prophets mentioned. Well, not really in the books of Joshua and Judges, but in Samuel there’s a fair amount, and in Kings there are tons (literally). Hundreds of prophets are mentioned in the book of kings.
As I study, research and write about these books, I like to make charts and tables. Here is a link to my family tree of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
I’ve included a table below that will appear in some form in a couple of books I’m working on, but those versions won’t be in color. The title: Prophetic Figures in Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History (Joshua-Kings). Prophetic figures include people the text calls a prophet, a “man of God,” and several prophet groups (sons of the prophets).
The left column lists all the biblical references.
The middle column includes the prophetic figures, in red when the text provides a name, gray if anonymous, and pink for prophetic groups.
The right column lists the king (only for Samuel-Kings) who reigned while the prophet ministered. The color coding, green for United Monarchy, blue for the Northern Kingdom (Israel) and yellow for the Southern Kingdom (Judah), matches the color coding used for the Family Tree chart mentioned above.
What observations and patterns do you notice about these prophets and kings? Add your thoughts in a comment below. In my next blog in a few days I’ll share a few of my own comments.
If you know people who study the Bible seriously, send them a link to this table. They’ll find it helpful.
