The paragraphs below were extracted from Christine Elizabeth Hayes’ book Introduction to the Bible (The Open Yale Courses Series) (pp. 185-186). Yale University Press. Kindle Edition.
Prophets (Nevi’im)
The second major division of the Tanakh is referred to as Nevi’im (Prophets). The first part, the Former Prophets, encompasses Joshua through 2 Kings and reads as a historical narrative. This theologically oriented account of Israel’s history runs from the conquest of Canaan to the destruction of the state by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. This material is crucial background for the books of the Latter Prophets, each of which bears the name of the individual to whom the prophecies are attributed. These prophets delivered their messages at critical junctures in the nation’s history, and their words are best understood against the backdrop of the particular historical crises they were addressing. The narrative that runs from Joshua through 2 Kings provides this historical background.
Although J, E, and P appear to come to an end here, the Former Prophets (also known as the Historical Prophets), like the books of the Bible reviewed to this point, contain various older sources that have been brought together by a later hand. An editor or group of editors reworked these older sources (oral traditions, records from royal archives, etc.) and wove them into the form we now have—a process referred to as redaction (final editing). The anonymous person or group or school responsible for the final composition of these books inserted verses and speeches to frame the older sources and link them together. The redactors’ linking and framing passages, as well as their revisions of older sources, exhibit certain features and assumptions characteristic of the book of Deuteronomy, leading the German scholar Martin Noth to surmise that Deuteronomy and the historical books from Joshua through 2 Kings form a literary unit. Joshua to 2 Kings presents and interprets Israel’s history in accordance with ideals set out in the book of Deuteronomy, and we refer to the person or persons who redacted this unit as the Deuteronomistic historian or the Deuteronomistic school.
The whole unit was redacted after 622 B.C.E. (because it assumes the centralization of the cult, widely believed to be the achievement of King Josiah).
