ORIGINAL RESEARCH

 

Huldah's oracle: The origin of the Chronicler's typical style?

 

 

Louis C. Jonker

Discipline Group Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa

Correspondence

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Scholars of Chronicles normally emphasise that the Chronicler used typical words and phrases in those parts that belong to hisSondergut. Amongst these are phrases like 'to humble yourself', 'to seek Yahweh', and 'not to forsake Yahweh'. The writer's typical changes to the burial notices of the royal narratives also belong in this category. Something which is often overlooked, however, is that many of these features already occur in the narrative about Huldah's oracle (2 Chr 34:19-28) which was taken over with only minor changes from the Deuteronomistic version (2 Ki 22:11-20). My paper investigates whether or not the Huldah oracle could have served as theological paradigm according to which the Chronicler developed his own unique style. If so, the investigation will prompt me to revisit the issue of how continuity and discontinuity, with the older historiographical tradition, characterise the identity negotiation process that we witness in this literature.

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