Agents of Exaltation: Monotheism, Divine Supremacy, and Focal Institutions in the Book of Chronicles

Despite the ceaseless flood of publications on the origins of monotheism, and its alleged "refinement" in the exilic period (especially Deutero-Isaiah), attention to the varieties and functions of monotheistic discourse in the Persian/early Hellenistic period literature is scant by comparison. I contend that this is due, in part, to scholarly assumptions that monotheism necessitated a departure from the particularist commitments to institutions that defined Israel's life as a nation in the land. Monotheism, it is often thought, completely severed the participatory bonds between divine and human realms. This study questions such assumptions through an investigation of the book of Chronicles, a work with clear monotheistic rhetoric and clear particularist commitments to Israel's temple, priesthood, and kingship. My primary questions are, in what kind of theological world does monotheistic rhetoric emerge in the book of Chronicles? How does Chronicles conceive the interrelation and interaction between Yhwh qua supreme deity and Israel's particularist commitments to the temple, priesthood, and kingship? In address of these questions, I suggest that (a) Chronicles depicts a highly integrated divine and institutional world, such that (b) expressions of divine supremacy and sole divinity have correlate expressions and manifestations in Israel's focal institutions (the temple, priesthood, and Davidic king).;The primary aim of this dissertation, therefore, is to elucidate the nature and context of monotheizing processes in the book of Chronicles. By monotheizing processes, I refer to the various means by which Chronicles expresses and creates the conditions for the expression of Yhwh's oneness and absolute distinctiveness. I contend that exalting and featuring Israel's focal institutions are key ways that Chronicles exalts Yhwh, and at times, gives expression to Yhwh's sole divinity. Monotheism and divine exaltation are part of a mutually reinforcing dynamic between Yhwh and Israel's focal institutions (the temple, priesthood, and kingship). However, this study also attends to ways that Chronicles expresses and navigates tensions between divine supremacy and the institutional flaws that were part of Israel's history. As such, it also challenges another scholarly perspective that sees monotheism-institutional relationships as only fatal in Israel's thinking and experience. Chronicles bears witness to a history of periodic and partial manifestation of divine grandeur through Israel's institutions. Chronicles avoids claiming an intrinsic or necessary connection between divine supremacy and Israel's institutions, but maintains vigorously its ongoing possibility. My study thus recovers a notion of the participation of institutions in divine reality by focusing on the idea that supposedly severed their bond---monotheism.