The Faces of David

K.L. Noll

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series 242

For Tina

דבקה נפשי אחריך

בי תמכה ימינך

Copyright © 1997 Sheffield Academic Press

Published by Sheffield Academic Press Ltd

Mansion House

19 Kingfield Road

Sheffield S11 9AS

England

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 1-85075-659-7

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Chapter 1

Introduction

1. The Nature of this Study

2. Literary Approaches to Biblical Narrative

3. The Nature of the Story-World in the Former Prophets

Chapter 2

The Characterization of David in the Prose Story

1. The Themes of the Book of Samuel: Knowledge and Understanding

2. The Characterization of David

3. Excursus: The Illegitimacy of Solomon

Chapter 3

David’s Lament, 2 Samuel 1:19–27

1. The Literary Context of David’s Lament

2. David’s Rhetorical Strategy in the Lament

Chapter 4

David’s Song, 2 Samuel 22

1. The Literary Context of David’s Song

2. David’s Rhetorical Strategy in the Song

Chapter 5

David’s Oracle, 2 Samuel 23:1–7

1. The Literary Context of David’s Oracle

2. David’s Rhetorical Strategy in the Oracle

Postscript: Ancient Readers and Authors

Bibliography

Index of References

Index of Authors

Preface

This book was researched in 1994, composed in 1995, accepted as partial fulfillment for the PhD degree at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia in the spring of 1996, and slightly revised during the summer months of 1996. And yet it is not the study I intended to write. My goal is to write a history of the David tradition from its earliest recoverable appearance to the final centuries before the common era. That project will entail diachronic evaluation of biblical texts, study of extra-biblical texts (such as the Tel Dan fragments and the Moabite Stone), and a systematic socio-historical investigation into each text dealing with the David motif. Obviously, that project is too large to have served as a vehicle for fulfilling the requirements of a degree program. So in this work, I tackled one minor element of the larger effort, a synchronic study of the David tale as found in Samuel-Kings.

The larger project began in the late 1980s as a master’s thesis dealing with 2 Samuel 7 under the direction of Richard D. Nelson, continued with a second master’s thesis experimenting with the Saul narratives under W. Sibley Towner, and reaches its preliminary stage of completion here, under the direction of S. Dean McBride. During these years, both the project and I have undergone enormous changes. Yet, in some ways, the many drafts and revisions reflect a certain constancy. I can see now that my twelve years as a professional artist have had a profound impact on how I read ancient texts and the level of aesthetic pleasure I receive from them.

No one is more aware than I of the flaws in this study, nevertheless I believe that the effort achieves its relatively modest goals. Chapter 1’s discussion of method could ...