When the End is the Beginning: Creating a National History For Michael Niemann

Contrary to Kierkegaard's words about living history forwards, although writing it backwards, biblical scholars have followed a different path, not understanding the implications of writing history backwards. Instead they have seen the biblical history as if it was written as a running commentary on the fate of ancient Israel as history progressed. Israel's history as told by Old Testament historiographers is not reflecting the progress of history; it is cultural memory constructing this history backwards and building on institutional models present in the time of these historiographers, such as the Greek amphictyony. Thus Martin Noth was after all right: Israel is reconstructed as an amphictyony in biblical historiography, although there never was an Israelite amphictyony in the real world.