1/15 The pragmatic-rhetorical function of temporal organization in Old Testament narratives: The case of the Chronicler's portrayal of King Josiah. 1 Dr. Louis Jonker Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch ABSTRACT In his text-pragmatical reading of Old Testament texts, Christof Hardmeier distinguishes between different types of temporal markers. He does, however, not provide a categorization of these markers. This paper not only briefly introduces this method, but also wants to contribute to the further development of certain distinctions made in this approach. 1. INTRODUCTION In the past two or three decades Biblical scholars have witnessed the rise of what could generally be called “rhetorical approaches” towards the reading of the Hebrew Bible 2 . Generally speaking, one could say that these approaches want to study the literary features of texts, not merely for their aesthetical value, but primarily for their pragmatic-rhetorical value. I.e., various literary features are analyzed and evaluated in order to determine the effect that they have on an audience in the process of communication. This shift is, however, not merely a methodological one. Behind this development lies a shift in perspective on what a text is. Whereas literary scholars would define Biblical texts as “literature”, and would analyze the different literary features in these texts synchronically in order to show how these features contribute to the development of a literary plot , rhetorical scholars would define texts as “communication” and would analyze the rhetorical features in order to show how these features contribute to the persuasion strategies by means of which an audience is influenced. This shift of emphasis can be observed clearly in the way in which temporal indications in Hebrew narratives are treated. Although literary approaches also give consideration to temporal features in Hebrew narratives (such as “narrative time” vis a vis “narration time”, order, gaps, duration and frequencey) 3 , these features are normally discussed to indicate how they contribute to the increasing and resolution of tension in the plot line. In pragmatic-rhetorical approaches temporal indications are treated as devices by means of which certain effects can be achieved, and by means of which an audience can be persuaded. In this article, I will concentrate on how one such approach, namely the text-pragmatical approach practised by Christof Hardmeier 4 , treat temporal indications in Hebrew narratives. It will be shown that this approach regard temporal organization as one of the most important features for determining the