Postcolonial\Native Readings of Kings

Abstract

The books of Kings decolonize themselves. They open with a (c)old and dysfunctional King David, and Solomon comes next to enslave Israel to carry out his empire building projects in order to fulfill Yhwh’s covenant with David. Yet Solomon is praised as a wise, peacemaking king. After Solomon, the divide between Israel and Judah dominates the rest of the narrative, ending with two exiles: Israel, to Assyria, and Judah, to Babylon. Those left behind ran to Egypt. Postcolonial readings of Kings draw attention to the colonization of land, the power of scripturalization, and the afterlife of biblical images; this chapter offers native readings that celebrate the presence and wisdom of natives and that expose the dispossession and abjectification of natives. The native readings “lean on” postcolonial readings and on Kings—a collection that shows its own agendas, e.g., kingship, and afterlife, e.g., coloniality, to be cold and dysfunctional.