Succession to the Throne

This book unfolds the narrative intricacies in 2 Kings 11, the text about Athaliah, the only woman ruler of Judah. The synchronic analysis which utilizes the narratological approach highlights the narrative techniques of the text and makes a semantic study of the text. The diachronic analysis seeks to answer the inconsistencies of the text through textual and redaction criticism, identifies the particular interests of the deuteronomistic and priestly redactions knit together in the final text. The intertextual analysis unfurls the relation of 2 Kings 11 to other biblical texts like the birth narrative of Moses, the succession narrative of Solomon, the revolt of Jehu, the reform of Josiah, the Chronicler's parallel account and the book of Esther. Their results enable the study to explicate the complexities found in 2 Kings 11 and thereupon to propose a new model of reconstruction for the formation of 2 Kings 11.