ZONDERVAN. The Expositor s Bible Commentary: 1 Sam uel 2 Kings

Transcription

1 ZONDERVAN The Expositor s Bible Commentary: 1 Sam uel 2 Kings 1 and 2 Sam uel copyright 2009 by Ronald F. Youngblood 1 and 2 Kings copyright 2009 by Richard D. Patterson and Hermann J. Austel Requests for information should be addressed to: Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The expositor s Bible commentary 1 Sam uel 2 Kings/ [general editors], Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland. Rev. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. IBSN 13: Bible. OT Commentaries. I. Longman, Tremper. II. Garland, David E. BS E dc All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers printed in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Interior design by Tracey Walker Printed in the United States of America

2 Contents Contributors to Volume Three....6 Preface...7 Abbreviations , 2 Sam uel , 2 Kings

3 1, 2 Sam uel Ronald F. Youngblood

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5 Introduction 1. Title 2. Authorship and Date 3. Historical Context 4. Literary Context and Unity 5. Purpose 6. Literary Form 7. Canonicity and Text 8. Theological Values 9. Bibliography 10. Outline 1. Title In the Jewish canon the two books of Samuel were originally one. There is no break in the Masoretic text (MT) between 1 and 2 Sam uel; the Masoretic notes at the end of 2 Sam uel give a total of 1,506 verses for the entire corpus and point to 1 Sam uel 28:24 as the middle verse of the book (spr, singular). Like Kings and Chronicles, each of which is slightly longer than Samuel, the scroll of Samuel was too unwieldy to be handled with ease and so was divided into two parts in early manuscripts of the Septuagint (LXX). Not until the fifteenth century AD was the Hebrew text of Samuel separated into two books, and the first printed Hebrew Bible to exhibit the division is the Bomberg edition published in Venice in 1516/17. It is understandable that the ancient Hebrew title of the book was š e mû,el m since the prophet Samuel is the dominant figure in the early chapters. A major theme of the work, however, led the LXX translators to group Samuel together with m e la mkîm ( Kings ) and to refer to them collectively as Bibloi Basileio mn ( Books of Kingdoms ). Jerome modified the title slightly to Librı mre mgum ( Books of Kings ) so that Samuel and Kings, each divided into two parts, became known as 1, 2, 3, and 4 Kings respectively. To this day Catholic commentators and translators often refer to 1 and 2 Sam uel as 1 and 2 Kings (cf. the version by Ronald Knox), a practice that has caused no end of confusion, even if only temporary, to non-catholic users of their works. Protestants have uniformly reverted to labeling the books after their ancient Hebrew name. 2. Authorship and Date According to the Babylonian Talmud, Samuel wrote the book that bears his name (b. B. Bat. 14b). The same Talmud also asserts that the first twenty-four chapters of 1 Sam uel were written by Samuel himself (chs. 25 and beyond being excluded, since 1Sa 25:1 reports his death) and that the rest of the Samuel 23

6 1, 2 Sam uel corpus was the work of Nathan and Gad (b. B. Bat. 15a). First Chronicles 29:29 is doubtless the source of the latter rabbinic assessment: As for the events of King David s reign, from beginning to end, they are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet and the records of Gad the seer. Samuel, Nathan, and Gad may not have been the authors of the records that bear their names, however; and, in any event, 1 Chron icles 29:29 appears to be listing sources used by the Chronicler and therefore should not be understood as having anything to say about the authorship of the canonical books of Samuel. Although the priests Ahimaaz (cf. 2Sa 15:27, 36; 17:17, 20; 18:19, 22 23, 27 29) and Zabud (cf. 1Ki 4:5), among others, have been proposed as possible candidates, arguments in their favor fail to convince. In sum, we must remain content to leave the authorship of Samuel and, for that matter, of other OT books such as Joshua, Judges, Kings, and Chronicles in the realm of anonymity. Ultimately, of course, the Holy Spirit is the Author who prompted the inspired narrator and gave his work the omniscient quality often remarked upon. 1 Although the statement that Ziklag... has belonged to the kings [plural] of Judah ever since (1Sa 27:6) implies that Samuel was not written until after the division of the kingdom of Israel following the death of Solomon in 931 BC, the possibility of a modest number of later editorial updatings and/or modernizations of the original work cannot be ruled out. In any case, one imagines the writer of Samuel or the Chronicler as authors, not redactors, rather much as one might assume that any anonymous text, whatever its history might have been, implies an author and a reader whose narrative strategies and response may be inferred from the work. 2 With respect to the date of the books of Samuel, all that can be said for certain is that since they report the last words of David (2Sa 23:1), they could not have been written earlier than the second quarter of the tenth century BC (David having died ca. 970). On the basis of historical and archaeological data as well as literary analysis, Baruch Halpern concludes that the composition of Samuel cannot be placed later than the 9th century, and probably should be dated in the 10th century, shortly after David s death, 3 in Solomon s day Historical Context Because of its setting during the period of the judges, the book of Ruth was inserted between Judges and Samuel at least as early as the translation of the LXX and continues to occupy that position in most versions to the present time. In the Jewish canon, however, Ruth is one of the five festal scrolls (m e gillôt) and therefore appears closer to the end of the Hebrew Bible in a section called k e tûbîm ( Writings ). When Ruth is thus displaced, Samuel follows immediately upon Judges. After the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, the people of Israel experienced the normal range of problems that face colonizers of newly occupied territory. Exacerbating their situation, however, was not only 1. Cf. Shimon Bar-Efrat, Literary Modes and Methods in the Biblical Narrative in View of 2 Sam uel and 1 Kings 1 2, Imm 8 (Spring 1978): Burke O. Long, Framing Repetitions in Biblical Historiography, JBL 106/3 (1987): Baruch Halpern, David s Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001), Ibid., 298. For his useful summary of archaeological evidence that bears on the reign of David (as well as that of Solomon), see

7 INTRODUCTION the resilience of the conquered but also the failures moral and spiritual, as well as military of the conquerors. Their rebellion against the covenant that God had established with them at Sinai brought divine retribution, and the restoration that resulted from their repentance lasted only until they rebelled again (cf. Jdg 2:10 19; Ne 9:24 29). The dreary cycle of rebellion retribution repentance restoration rebellion is repeated over and over again throughout the book of Judges, which in many respects rehearses the darkest days of Israel s long history. By the end of Judges the situation in the land had become intolerable. Israel was in extremis and anarchy reigned: Everyone did as he saw fit (Jdg 17:6; 21:25). A series of judges, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord came (3:10; 6:34; 11:29) with energizing power (14:6, 19; 15:14), provided little more than a holding action against Israel s enemies within and without, who were both numerous and varied. More than three centuries of settlement (cf. 11:26) did not materially improve Israel s position, and thoughtful people must have begun crying out for change. If theocracy implemented through divine charisma was the hallmark of the period of the judges (cf. Jdg 8:28 29), theocracy mediated through divinely sanctioned monarchy would characterize the next phase in the history of the Israelites. In the days of the judges Israel had no king (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25), and it was becoming apparent to many that she desperately needed one. Judgeship did not end with Samson, however. The priest Eli and the prophet Samuel both served as judges (cf. 1Sa 4:18; 7:6, 15, 17). Not until the accession of Saul did the people have a king in the truest sense of the word and even then they expected him to judge them (cf. 8:5 6, 20). Edwin R. Thiele has succeeded in establishing 931/30 BC as the year when the division of the monarchy took place following Solomon s death. 5 If we interpret the biblical figures literally, Solomon reigned from 970 to 931 (forty years, 1Ki 11:42), David from 1010 to 970 (forty years and six months, 2Sa 5:5), and Saul from 1052 to 1010 (forty-two years, 1Sa 13:1). Assuming that Samuel was about thirty years old when he anointed Saul as king of Israel, we arrive at the approximate dates of 1080 (the birth of Samuel) to 970 BC (the death of David) as the time span covered in the books of Samuel. 4. Literary Context and Unity Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings constitute the first half of n e bî,îm ( Prophets ), the middle section of the Jewish canon. As the so-called Former Prophets, these four books present a carefully selected series of narratives that summarize the history of God s people during a period spanning well over eight centuries: from the beginning of the conquest of Canaan (ca BC) to the end of the monarchy and beyond (ca. 561 BC, the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah [2Ki 25:27]). Told from 5. Edwin R. Thiele, A Chronology of the Hebrew Kings (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1977), 15, 31. Although he objects to certain aspects of Thiele s overall tour de force, William Hamilton Barnes settles on 932 BC as the most likely year for the beginning of the divided monarchy; see his Studies in the Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel (HSM 48; Atlanta: Scholars, 1991), It becomes more and more doubtful that arguments in favor of an earlier (e.g., 945 BC; cf. E. W. Falstich, History, Harmony, and the Hebrew Kings [Spencer, Ia.: Chronology, 1986], 202 3) or later date (e.g., 927 BC; cf. John H. Hayes and Paul K. Hooker, A New Chronology for the Kings of Israel and Judah and Its Implications for Biblical History and Literature [Atlanta: John Knox, 1988], 18 19) will succeed in winning the day. 25

8 1, 2 Sam uel a prophetic viewpoint (cf. 2Ki 18:13, 17 37; 19:1 20:19 = Isa 36:1 38:8; 39:1 8; cf. 2Ki 25:27 30 = Jer 52:31 34), the story proclaims the central truth that Israel could anticipate the Lord s blessing only so long as she remained faithful to the stipulations of the Sinaitic covenant and to the laws and decrees that explicated them. It has long been recognized that the four books of the Former Prophets expand the paraenetic exhortations of Moses enshrined in the book of Deuteronomy, itself a covenant-renewal document of the first order. 6 That the Lord rewards the righ teous and punishes the wicked is only to be expected in the light of the covenantal blessings and curses detailed in Deuteronomy 27:9 28:68. One of the many interrelationships shared by the five books is a theology of monarchy, well summarized by Raymond B. Dillard: Deuteronomy also provided for the day that the people would want a king (17:14 20), so the [Deuteronomic] historian reports what life was like both without a king (Joshua, Judges) and with a king (Samuel, Kings); it is largely a record of the disobedience of the people and the faithfulness of God. 7 Building on the impressively Deuteronomic qualities of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, Martin Noth concluded that Deuteronomy should be detached from the Pentateuch (the remaining four books Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers thus their constituting a Tetrateuch ) and added to Joshua through Kings, thus forming a five-part continuous work that he called the Deuteronomistic History and that he claimed was compiled during the exilic period. 8 Its author made use of a number of independent literary units (including Deuteronomy itself), which he interwove with his own contributions to produce the finished product. Strictly speaking, the term Deuteronomic refers to the writer(s) of Deuteronomy, and the term Deuteronomistic applies to the compiler(s) of the great historical narrative that stretches from Deuteronomy through 2 Kings. Since the second term is cumbersome, however, the first is often used in both senses and will be thus employed throughout this commentary. How are we to evaluate Noth s theory? Undoubted similarities among the various books make it attractive indeed. Even the casual reader cannot fail to observe that Joshua begins with After the death of Moses, Judges with After the death of Joshua, and 2 Sam uel with After the death of Saul, and that 2 Kings begins similarly, although the corresponding phrase sits differently in its context and is therefore rendered in a slightly different way: After Ahab s death. It would therefore appear that the narrator 6. Cf. especially Meredith G. Kline, Treaty of the Great King: The Covenant Structure of Deuteronomy: Studies and Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963). 7. Raymond B. Dillard, David s Census: Perspectives on II Samuel 24 and I Chronicles 21, in Through Christ s Word: A Festschrift for Dr. Philip E. Hughes, ed. W. Robert Godfrey and Jesse L. Boyd III (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1985), 100; cf. also Gerald Eddie Gerbrandt, Kingship according to the Deuteronomic History (SBLDS 87; Atlanta: Scholars, 1986), Martin Noth, Überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien, 2nd ed. (Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 1957), 1 110; English translation: The Deuteronomistic History (JSOTSup 15; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1981). For helpful critiques of Noth as well as useful discussions of the scholarly debates that continue unabated concerning the putative sources of the books of Samuel, see Walter Dietrich and Thomas Naumann, The David-Saul Narrative, in Reconsidering Israel and Judah: Recent Studies in the Deteronomistic History, ed. Gary N. Knoppers and J. Gordon McConville [Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2000), ; Raymond B. Dillard and Tremper Longman III, An Introduction to the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994),