Dr. Dylan Johnson

Right, exactly. It's something that I struggle to teach the students sometimes is that there's a clear narrative trajectory in the Bible from the beginning of time to more or less the Persian period. And at certain points, that intersects with actual chronology. But again, it's a narrative chronology.

So when something occurs early in the biblical text or it's based early, it doesn't have much bearing on when that text was actually written. So the best example is the story of creation is probably pretty late, whereas a prophetic text like Hosea is probably much older. So you can't exactly correlate the narrative context with the scribal context, the composition of those texts.

So when something occurs early in the biblical text or it's based early, it doesn't have much bearing on when that text was actually written. So the best example is the story of creation is probably pretty late, whereas a prophetic text like Hosea is probably much older. So you can't exactly correlate the narrative context with the scribal context, the composition of those texts.

So when something occurs early in the biblical text or it's based early, it doesn't have much bearing on when that text was actually written. So the best example is the story of creation is probably pretty late, whereas a prophetic text like Hosea is probably much older. So you can't exactly correlate the narrative context with the scribal context, the composition of those texts.

Right, exactly. So this gets to a completely different, also in Genesis, but it's a completely different chapter in chapter 14. which is a chapter that has long been recognized as one of the strangest chapters in the book of Genesis. It's going all over the place in terms of what it's talking about, its content.

Right, exactly. So this gets to a completely different, also in Genesis, but it's a completely different chapter in chapter 14. which is a chapter that has long been recognized as one of the strangest chapters in the book of Genesis. It's going all over the place in terms of what it's talking about, its content.

Right, exactly. So this gets to a completely different, also in Genesis, but it's a completely different chapter in chapter 14. which is a chapter that has long been recognized as one of the strangest chapters in the book of Genesis. It's going all over the place in terms of what it's talking about, its content.

It concerns international politics, which is completely out of place in the book of Genesis. That's more at home in Kings and Samuel and things like that. It has Abram in this section, essentially as a king with an army that he raises. He encounters a strange priest called Melchizedek, who's the priest of El Elyon in pre-Israelite Jerusalem.

It concerns international politics, which is completely out of place in the book of Genesis. That's more at home in Kings and Samuel and things like that. It has Abram in this section, essentially as a king with an army that he raises. He encounters a strange priest called Melchizedek, who's the priest of El Elyon in pre-Israelite Jerusalem.

It concerns international politics, which is completely out of place in the book of Genesis. That's more at home in Kings and Samuel and things like that. It has Abram in this section, essentially as a king with an army that he raises. He encounters a strange priest called Melchizedek, who's the priest of El Elyon in pre-Israelite Jerusalem.

And then, of course, there's these references to this strange battle between the four kings of the east and then the five cities of the plain. And so... What's most interesting here, before I even get into the content of Genesis 14, is that this is the story, this is the Sodom and Gomorrah, and then the three other cities, that other biblical texts seem to know.

And then, of course, there's these references to this strange battle between the four kings of the east and then the five cities of the plain. And so... What's most interesting here, before I even get into the content of Genesis 14, is that this is the story, this is the Sodom and Gomorrah, and then the three other cities, that other biblical texts seem to know.

And then, of course, there's these references to this strange battle between the four kings of the east and then the five cities of the plain. And so... What's most interesting here, before I even get into the content of Genesis 14, is that this is the story, this is the Sodom and Gomorrah, and then the three other cities, that other biblical texts seem to know.

They don't know Genesis 18 through 19, at least there's no clear indication. But texts like Amos 4, Hosea 11, and 1st Isaiah, so texts that we tend to date earlier, or at least while there's still a monarchy around, they know this text. They know this story.

They don't know Genesis 18 through 19, at least there's no clear indication. But texts like Amos 4, Hosea 11, and 1st Isaiah, so texts that we tend to date earlier, or at least while there's still a monarchy around, they know this text. They know this story.

They don't know Genesis 18 through 19, at least there's no clear indication. But texts like Amos 4, Hosea 11, and 1st Isaiah, so texts that we tend to date earlier, or at least while there's still a monarchy around, they know this text. They know this story.

And the associations of Sodom and Gomorrah, therefore, are not with sin and punishment and all of the details in chapters 18 and 19, but with the strange battle in chapter 14.

And the associations of Sodom and Gomorrah, therefore, are not with sin and punishment and all of the details in chapters 18 and 19, but with the strange battle in chapter 14.

And the associations of Sodom and Gomorrah, therefore, are not with sin and punishment and all of the details in chapters 18 and 19, but with the strange battle in chapter 14.

Right. So we're talking about the existence of biblical or Israelite and Judahite monarchies. Basically, the time frame we're imagining here is roughly 1000 to 586. So texts produced in that period we call monarchic. Texts produced after 586, when Judahites were exiled into Babylon, we'll call exilic.