David's dismissal The kite raid on Ziklag Early Judean David Narratives no fault in him from the time that he came over to me to the present. 4But the commanders of the Philistines were enraged against him, and" said to him, Send back the man that he may return to the place where you have stationed him. Let him not go down with us to battle and let him not be in the campo an adversary to us; for with what could this fellow better ingratiate himself with his master than with the heads of these men? 5Is not this David of whom they sang responsively in the dances, saying, Saul has slain his thousands, "Then Achish called to David and said to him, As Jehovah liveth, you are upright, and it is my desire that you should go out and in with me in the camp; for I have found no evil in you from the time that you came to me to the present, but you are not regarded favorably by the tyrants. "Therefore now return and go in peace, that you may do nothing to displease the tyrants of the Philistines. 8And David said to Achish, But what have I done? And what have you found in your servant from the day that I entered into your service to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 9And Achish answered and said to David, I know that you are as good in my sight as a Messenger of God, but the commanders of the Philistines have said, 'He shall not go up with us to the battle.' 10Therefore now rise early in the morning, with the servants of your lord who came with you, and go to the place where I have stationed you, and do not entertain any evil design in your heart, for you are good in my sight, but rise early in the morning and as soon as it is light, depart. 11So David rose early, together with his men, to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel. § 18. David's Pursuit and Defeat of the Amalekites, I Sam. 30 Early Judean David Narratives I Sam. 30 1Now when David and his men on the third day came to Amale- Ziklag, the Amalekites had made a raid on the South Country and upon Ziklag, and had smitten Ziklag and burnt it with fire, 2and had carried away captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great, without slaying any, and had carried them off and gone on their way. 3 And when David and his men came to the city, there it was burned down, and their wives and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him wept aloud until they were no 294 So Gk., Syr., and Lat. The Heb. repeats, commanders of the Philistines. • 294 So Gk. and Luc. P 2910 A line has apparently dropped out of the Heb. which the Gk. and Luc. retain, relieving the verse of its awkward repetition in immediately succeeding sentences. The current English translations are only artificial attempts to eliminate the tautology. § 18 Vss. 5, 18b fit awkwardly in their respective contexts and appear to have been added later by an editor or scribe especially interested in David's family history. Otherwise the chapter is all from the earliest source. Early Judean David Narratives longer able to weep. And David's two wives had been taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. divine com to pur "And David was in great straits, for the people spoke of stoning him, The because the soul of all the people was embittered, each for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in reliance on Jehovah his mand God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Bring here to me the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. rauders 8And David inquired of Jehovah, saying, And he answered him, Shall I pursue this marauding band? Pursue, For thou shalt surely overtake, 8 sue the ma 9So David went, together with the six hundred men who were with him, and The came to the Brook Besor, where those who were left behind remained. 10But pursuit David pursued together with four hundred men; while two hundred remained behind, who were too faint to cross the Brook Besor. 11And they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David and gave him food to eat and water to drink; 12and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. And when he had eaten, his spirit revived, for he had eaten no bread and drunk no water for three days and nights. 13 And David said to him, To whom do you belong? And whence are you? And he said I am an Egyptian lad, an Amalekite's servant, and my master abandoned me because three days ago I fell sick. 14We made a raid upon the South Country of the Cherethites and upon that which belongs to Judah and upon the South Country of Caleb, and Ziklag we burned with fire. 15And David said to him, Will you bring me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God, that you will neither kill me nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this band. attack of the 16 And when he had brought him down, there they were spread over all The the land, eating and drinking and dancing, on account of all the great spoil and rethat they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of covery Judah. 17 And David smote them from twilight to evening in order to de- plunstroy them completely. And none escaped except four hundred young men, who rode upon the camels and fled. 18And David recovered all the persons whom the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 19And 4308 The brief, sententious, poetic form of the question and the oracle is strikingly apparent. 3012 The Gk. does not have the two clusters of raisins. 3012 Heb., his spirit returned to him. 3017 The Heb. is untranslatable, and all the versions found difficulties with the passage. The current English translations seem to follow a conjecture of Jerome. The above reading is based upon the reconstruction, which does least violence to the text and which is most consistent with early Heb. usage. Cf. Josh. 621, 82. der The precedent ing the Early Judean David Narratives there was nothing of them missing either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that they had taken to themselves-David brought back all. 20 And he took all the flocks and the herds and drove those animals before the people, and they" said, This is David's spoil. 21 Now when David came to the two hundred men, who had been too faint to follow him, so that he had to leave them behind at the Brook Besor, regard- they went out to meet David, and the people who were with him. And division when they came near to the people, they saluted them.w 22Then all the of spoil wicked and base scoundrels among the men who went with David began to say, Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we have recovered, except to each, his wife and his children, that he may take them away and depart. 23But David said, Do not so, after that which Jehovah hath given us* and after he hath preserved us and delivered the marauding band that came against us into our hand. 24 And who will give heed to you in this matter? For: Pres ents sent to the south ern chief tains As is the share of him who goes down into battle, 25 And from that time on he made it a statute and precedent in Israela to this day. C 26 And when David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, his friends,b saying, See! a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of Jehovah, 27to them who were in Bethel, in Ramoth in the South Country, in Jattir, 28in Aroer, in Siphmoth, and to them who were in Eshtemoa, 29in Carmel,d in the cities of Jerahmeelites, in the cities of the Kenites, 30in Hormah, Beersheba,e in Athach, 31in Hebron, and to those in all the places where David and his men had sojourned. u 3020 The Heb. is unintelligible, if translated literally. As it stands, the first verb is in the singular, but the rest in the plural with no suggestion as to what is their antecedent. Gk. and Luc. have all three in the singular and with the Lat. agree in omitting the David inserted in the Heb. in the first part of the verse. In the Lat. the first two verbs are in the singular and the last in the plural. The texts are clearly corrupt. The above reading involves only minor corrections and fairly represents the thought of the original. It was natural that David should take the initiative in dividing the spoil and that to him should fall the animals, while the people shared the booty secured in the camp. 3021 Heb., they; but Gk., Syr., and Lat. and certain manuscripts have, he. 3021 Heb., David came near to the people and saluted them; but the consistent reading suggested by Gk., Syr., and certain manuscripts has been followed above. 303 Restoring the Heb. with the aid of the Gk., otherwise the Heb. gives no sense. 3025 In Num. 3127 the late priestly writers, following their usual custom, attribute the origin of this institution to Moses. The present tradition is undoubtedly by far the older and well illustrates the origin of many of Israel's early laws. Cf. Introd., Vol. IV. b 302 Gk., Luc., and Syr., and to his friends or kinsmen. 3027 Not the Bethel north of Jerusalem but probably the Bethuel of I Chr. 430, near Ziklag. d 3029 So Gk. Heb., Racal. 3030 So Gk. and Luc. The Heb. has, Bor-ashan. § 19. Saul's Visit to the Medium of Endor, I Sam. 251*, Late Popular Prophetic Narratives 283-25 desire for a natural lation mid 1 Sam. 28 3Now Samuel had died and all Israel had lamented for him Saul's and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the wizards out of the land.f 4And when the Philistines assembled and supercame and encamped in Shunem, Saul assembled all Israel, and they en- revecamped in Gilboa. 5And when Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart was filled with apprehension. And Saul inquired of Jehovah, but Jehovah did not answer him either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets. 7Then Saul said to his servants, Find for me a medium who has a talisman that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is at Endor a medium who has a talisman. "Therefore Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes and went, The taking two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he night said, Divine for me by the talisman and bring up for me the one whom I scene in shall name to you. 9And the woman said to him, Behold, you know what at Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the wizards from the land. Why then are you laying a snare for my life, to put me to death? 10 And Saul swore to her by Jehovah, saying, As Jehovah liveth, no guilt shall come upon you for this thing. 11Then the woman said, Whom shall I bring up to you? And he said, Bring up Samuel. 12And when the woman saw Samuel, she screamed. And the woman said to Saul, Why have you deceived me, for you are Saul? 13And the king said to her, Do not be afraid! What do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. 14And he said to her, What is his appearance ? And she said, An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a mantle. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the earth and worshipped. $19 The natural sequel of the early Judean narrative in 281, 2, 29 (and the account of David's fortunes in 30), is the description of the final battle found in 31. In 29" the Philistines have already advanced to Jezreel at the foot of Mount Gilboa. It is difficult to find a place for the present story, which represents them as encamped at Shunem, 4, to the north of the plain of Esdraelon. This fact only confirms the other indications that it is from a different cycle of traditions. Its theme and representation, as well as its style, strongly suggest that it was a story long cherished in the minds of the people, whose beliefs it vividly reflects. It also has many points in common with the account of Saul's rejection by Samuel in 15. A later editor has further brought the two chapters into close connection by inserting in 17. 18 an allusion to and paraphrase of the prediction in 1523. In both, not Saul, but Samuel is the dominant figure and the king is under the shadow of the divine displeasure. Samuel, however, is not the prophetic judge as in the later Ephraimite prophetic narratives, but the seer whom Saul consults to secure an oracle much as in the early Judean story of 96-20. Samuel is still conceived of as the friend of Saul, cf.15 The pathetic picture which it gives of Saul also tends to support the conclusion that the tradition took written form in some later Judean rather than Ephraimite prophetic school at a period not long before the exile. The linguistic evidence also on the whole favors this conclusion. At the same time it is evident that the story, like 15, embodies some much earlier material and may well rest on a firm historical basis. f 283 Smith has a valuable note on this passage (Sam., 239), in which he adduces many references (cf. especially II Kgs. 216, 2324, Dt. 1810, 11 and Lev. 2027) to demonstrate that the reference bere is not to necromancers and wizards, but to the paraphernalia used in consulting spirits of the dead. From Dt. 1810, 11 and Lev. 2027, as well as the present story, it is evident that they were something through which an answer could be secured and supposed connection with the dead established. The woman of Endor, who possesses one, corresponds to the modern medium. The Gk. translation, ventriloquists, suggests the manner in which the deception was practised. The fact that, according to the story, not Saul but only the woman claims to see Samuel is likewise suggestive. the hut Endor The mes doom Effect upon Saul Late Popular Prophetic Narratives 15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me mg of up? And Saul answered, I am in great straits, for the Philistines are making war against me and God has turned from me and answers me no more, either by prophets or by dreams; so I have called you to tell me what I shall do. 16And Samuel said, Why do you ask of me when Jehovah hath turned from you and become your adversary? 17And Jehovah hath done to you as he declared by me; and Jehovah hath rent the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your associate (David). 18Because you did not heed the voice of Jehovah, and did not execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore Jehovah hath done this thing to you to-day. 19Ands to-morrow you and your sons with youh shall fall; Jehovah will deliver the army of Israel also into the power of the Philistines. 20Then Saul fell at once at full length upon the earth and was greatly afraid, because of the words of Samuel; also he had no strength in him, for he had not eaten bread during all the day and all the night. 21 And when the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly troubled, she said to him, See, your maid-servant has heeded your voice, and I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore, listen also to the advice of your maid-servant and let me set before you a morsel of meat, and eat that you may have strength when you go on your way. 23 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman urged him, until he listened to their advice. So he rose from the earth and sat upon the couch. 24And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she quickly killed it, and took flour and kneaded it and baked from it unleavened bread. 25 And she set it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose up and went away that night. Defeat Israel death § 20. The Defeat and Death of Saul and Jonathan, I Sam. 31, I Chr. 10 Early Judean David Narratives I Sam. 31 1Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the Israelof the ites fled from before the Philistines and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. ites and 2And the Philistines followed close after Saul and his sons; and the Philistines of Saul slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3And they pressed hard upon Saul, and the archers found him out, and he was wounded by the archers. Then said Saul to his armorbearer, Draw your sword and run me through with it, lest these uncircumcised Philistines come and make sport of me. But his armorbearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. 5And when #2819 A scribe has repeated by mistake at the beginning the clause found in the latter part of the vs., And Jehovah will deliver Israel also with you into the power of the Philistines. It has been omitted in the above translation. h 2819 So Gk. The Heb. has simply, with me, and no verb. The with me of the Heb. probably represents the with you of the Gk. which has retained the original. $20 Chap. 31 resumes the early Judean account of the Philistine invasion. The author of Chr. quoted this chapter practically verbatim, doubtless because he recognized in Saul's fall the event which opened the way for the accession of the king whom he regarded as the virtual founder of the temple. At the end of the quotation he adds a moral reflection which indicates that he had before him the fuller Saul history in I Sam. i 314 So Chr. The Heb. repeats, run me through, which was not what Saul feared but rather that the enemy would torture and abuse him. |