David G. Firth - Including the Stranger: Foreigners in the Former Prophets

4QJosh a First Joshua Scroll (Dead Sea Scrolls)

4QSam a First Samuel Scroll (Dead Sea Scrolls)

AB Anchor Bible

AcT Acta Theologica

ANE ancient Near East

Ant. Jewish Antiquities (Josephus)

AOTC Apollos Old Testament Commentary

BBR Bulletin for Biblical Research

Bib Biblica

BibInt Biblical Interpretation

BibSac Bibliotheca sacra

BRev Bible Review

BST The Bible Speaks Today

BZ Biblische Zeitschrift

CBC Cambridge Bible Commentary

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CJT Concordia Journal of Theology

esvuk English Standard Version: Anglicized

et English Translation

GKC Gesenius Hebrew Grammar , ed. E. Kautzsch, rev. and tr. A. E. Cowley, Oxford: Clarendon, 1910

HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology

Hebr. Hebrew

hi. hiphil

ICC International Critical Commentary

Int Interpretation

ITC International Theological Commentary

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JPT Journal of Pentecostal Theology

JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

mss manuscripts

mt Masoretic Text

NAC New American Commentary

NCBC New Century Bible Commentary

NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIDOTTE New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis , ed. Willem A. VanGemeren, 5 vols., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997

niv New International Version

nrsva New Revised Standard Version: Anglicized

OT Old Testament

OTE Old Testament Essays

OTL Old Testament Library

OTS Oudtestamentische Studin

PNTC Pillar New Testament Commentary

RB Revue biblique

RevExp Review and Expositor

SE Svensk Exegetisk rsbok

SJOT Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament

STR Southeastern Theological Review

TOTC Tyndale Old Testament Commentary

TynB Tyndale Bulletin

VT Vetus Testamentum

WBC Word Biblical Commentary

WO B. K. Waltke and M. OConnor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax , Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1990

yiq. yiqtol

ZAW Zeitschrift fr Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

This is a study that is very close to my own heart, both as someone who lives in a strange land and as someone who has spent much of this century studying the Former Prophets. At the same time, it has been intriguing to me that issues I was observing in the text about national identity and how they played out within Israel became progressively more important in political discussions in many parts of the world. I have consciously stayed away from making pronouncements about the politics of any one place today, though I do believe that these texts are an undervalued resource for thinking theologically about this vitally important topic. It is my hope that this study will contribute to discussions about national identity and how it is formed, and how the people of God live within that while also being distinct.

As always, writing a book is a communal act, one that could not be achieved without the support of others. Particular thanks should be given to my wife Lynne for her love, patience and encouragement. Words are insufficient for expressing how much this means to me. It has also been a pleasure to work on this book in the congenial setting of Trinity College, Bristol, and I need to express my thanks to my colleagues for making this such a good place to work. In particular, thanks are due to Dr Emma Ineson for making us so welcome when we moved here a few years back. Her recent departure to take up the position of Bishop of Penrith has left a significant gap that will not easily be filled. Phil Duce has shepherded this book through to publication with his normal skill, and Eldo Barkhuizen has (again) worked wonders in preparing the text for publication. Thanks too to Suzanne Mitchell for her careful checking of the text in final preparation for publication.

This book is dedicated to Dr Gordon Wenham, someone who went from being a senior scholar of whom I was in awe to being a good friend and source of encouragement (though the sense of awe has not gone away!). It was Gordon who, hearing a paper from a young scholar at Tyndale House in 2001 asked me to write the Apollos Commentary on Samuel, something that took me much deeper into the study of the Former Prophets. When we moved to the UK, I had the privilege of being secretary of the Old Testament study group of the Tyndale Fellowship while he continued as chair, before taking over the chair from him. His work on the ethics of the Old Testament, and in particular how its narrative and poetry shape us ethically, has been particularly formative for me. As one of my predecessors here at Trinity, he has also been a continuing source of encouragement. Dedicating this book to him is thus an appropriate, though ultimately inadequate, means of saying thanks for all this and more.

David Firth

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