“Israelitization” process of the proto-Masoretic text in the historical books (Joshua-Kings)

Abstract

Along the process of textual transmission of the historical books Joshua-Kings) the variant readings mentioning “Israel” do increase clearly in number. “Israel” substitutes for, is juxtaposed to or is added to “people” (‘am) in different ways. This process of “israelitization” of the biblical text seems to have affected the proto-Masoretic text more than the Hebrew textual tradition attested by the Greek translation. The recensions of LXX and its secondary versions show this same tendency to increase the presence of the word “Israel”. The textual transmission continues and develops trends of the previous literary tradition, that extended the leading role of the tribal armies, the “people”, to “Israel”, to “all Israel” or to the “Israelites”. This phenomenon of “israelitization” affecting the textual biblical tradition and particularly the proto-Masoretic text sets the conditions for every lexical, literary or historical studies on the words and concepts “Israel” and “people”, which should be considered together and not, as it is customary, on an individual basis. This paper is chiefly an analysis of textual criticism on the variants that touch on the words “Israel” and “people” at the same time.