7' History of Davids Rise, Part II: 2 Sam 28

1
7. History of Davids Rise, Part II 2 Sam 2-8

• BOT694 Exegesis of 1 2 Samuel

2
2 Sam 2.1-11 David becomes King of Judah

• Vv1-4a and 8-11 are associated by certain
  contrasts and similarities. Thus Ishbosheth's
  move to Mahanaim (v8) has it s parallel in
  David's move to Hebron (v3), while the crowning
  of the former (v9) provides an obvious
  counterpart to David's anointing (v4a) yet one
  set of event is apparently depicted as the
  outworking of Yahweh's blessing, while the other
  is the result of Yahweh's rejection. It is also
  clear that vv8-11 serve as a sort of prologue to
  the civil war episode (2.12-3.1) by introducing
  Abner, Ishbosheth, and their center of
  activities, Mahanaim (v8). Anderson, 32

3
2 Sam 2.1-11 David becomes King of Judah

• Is seems that the main function of this short
  report was to stress that the first thing David
  did after the mourning over Saul and Jonathan,
  was to seek Yahweh's counsel the Philistines and
  their possible plans are not even alluded to. It
  is plausible that Yahweh's oracular reply was
  thought to refer, in retrospect, not only to
  Hebron's takeover but also to David's anointing
  in Hebron. Anderson, 22
• This pericope is primarily concerned to
  emphasize the religious setting of David's move
  to Hebron it was guided by Yahweh. Anderson,
  25

4
2 Sam 2.12-3.1 Hostility between Judah and Israel

• The account has two foci. The first is the
  contest at Flints Field. The second is the death
  of Asael.... With respect to the clash at Flints
  Field, it is important to keep in mind the fact
  that such contests were believed to be decided
  not only by the relative strength and skill of
  the competitors but also, and more importantly,
  by the divine will.... The enmity between the
  surviving sons of Zeruiah and Abiner, their
  brother's killer, will be a major factor in the
  future course of events. McCarter, 98
• The juxtaposition of h9esed and sword invites
  a reflection on power and legitimacy, on the
  reality of blood in the midst of power and the
  limits of the strategic shedding of blood. The
  juxtaposition raises the question of how and in
  what way the vicious cycle of destructive power
  can ever be broken. Brueggemann, ibid., 224

5
2 Sam 3.2-5 David's Family in Hebron

• The original purpose of this list is not longer
  clear, but it may have been linked with the
  question of succession. In its present settling,
  it probably serve as an illustration of steady
  growth of the house of David and as an indication
  of the divine blessing and approval. Anderson,
  50

6
2 Sam 3.6-39 David and Abner

• The narrative in vv6-39 could be roughly divided
  into four sections vv6-11 depicts Abner's
  quarrel with Ishbosheth, while vv12-21 deal with
  Abner's negotiations with David, involving the
  restoration of Michal (vv13-16) and the planned
  covenant with Israel. Unfortunately, the
  finalization of the negotiations did not
  materialize because of Abner's tragic and
  untimely death (vv22-27). The last section
  (vv28-39) shows that David had no part in murder
  of Abner he curses Joab and laments Abner.
  Anderson, 55
• It is the chief goal of this part of the story
  of David's rise to demonstrate the new king's
  innocence of the two assassinations (viz. of
  Abiner and Ishbaal) that open the way to his
  kingship in the north.... Nevertheless, the
  suspicion arose - perhaps in retrospect, perhaps
  without justification, but it was there - and it
  lingered on throughout Davids reign, as attested
  by the Shimei incident in 16.5-14 and indeed by
  the persistently defensive one of the present

7
2 Sam 3.6-39 David and Abner

• account itself.... From the perspective of the
  larger narrative, the motivating force was
  Yahwehs will and his special favor for David,
  but the working out of the divine plan remains
  implicit in the present episode, becoming
  explicit only where a later hand has touched the
  original version and drawn it out (vv. 9-10, 18b,
  28-29). McCarter, 120

8
2 Sam 3.6-39 David and Abner

• Rizpah figures prominently in the story of the
  Gibeonites' revenge in 21.1-14. She was a
  concubine, a slave woman attached to the house
  of Saul, but the fact that she had borne two sons
  to the king (21.8) made her an important figure
  in the royal household, as the present incident
  attests. McCarter, 112
• Michal provided the necessary link in the broken
  chain of relationships. Therefore, David demanded
  her return as a condition for beginning the
  treasonous negotiations with Abner, who as a
  cousin of Saul may have been a candidate himself.
  After she had been returned, a deal was struck,
  and soon the deaths of Abner and Ishbosheth
  removed the incumbent and reduced the pool of
  eligible contenders David had rejoined. As
  husband of Micahl, he could be considered an
  adopted son (compare Num 271-11 361-2), and
  through optative affiliation, a custom which
  allowed a couple to affiliate with either the
  husbands or wifes family, he could enjoy
  succession rights as a stand-in

9
2 Sam 3.6-39 David and Abner

• or regent for his wife. Before long the elders
  of Israel were moved by the pressure of
  circumstances, the absence of viable
  alternatives, and Davids personal attractiveness
  to choose the Judahite as their leader. His
  marriage to Michal gave them a successor who was
  of the house of Saul. James W. Flanagan,
  Social Transformation and Ritual in 2 Samuel 6,
  in Coral L. Meyers and M. OConnor, eds., The
  Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth Essays in Honor
  of David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His
  Sixtieth Birthday, American Schools of Oriental
  Research Special Volume Series, No. 1, (Winona
  Lake, Indian Eisenbrauns, 1983), 366

10
2 Sam 4.1-12 The Death of Ishbosheth

• This chapter provides a parallel to 2 Sam
  1.1-16. In both accounts the messengers of the
  tidings were personally involved in the shaping
  of the events, and they hoped for rewards from
  David. Yet the only recompense they received was
  death. As the same time, David is depicted as the
  just judge if not also a caring kinsman of Saul
  and his family, and the author makes it clear
  that David has no part in the deaths of Saul and
  his sons. Anderson, 66
• The extreme defensiveness of the previous
  section is lacking here - the public
  circumstances are not as damning to David as in
  the case of Abiners assassination - but the tone
  is apologetic nevertheless.... It was David who
  stood to gain most from Ishbaals death.
  McCarter, 129

11
2 Sam 5.1-5 David King of Israel and Judah

• Chapter 5, like chapters 2-4, consists of a
  three-part ingress (5.1-5) followed by
  milha4ma4h units (5.6-9, 17-25) which enclose a
  be6ra4ka4h passage (5.10-16) similar to that
  found in 3.2-5. Here, too, the units are bounded
  by various associative elements further, the
  key-word principle is characteristic of the
  complex as a whole. At the same time the
  contribution made by the D-group is more notable
  here than in the previous complex. Carlson,
  ibid., 52
• ...here is the climax to which the story has
  been building since its beginning, when David
  came to Saul's court as a musician and royal
  weapon-bearer (1 Sam 16.14-23). David is king of
  Israel now, and with a final repetition of its
  central theological claim the narrative, its
  argument complete, can draw to a close.... it is
  not our narrator's purpose to celebrate David's
  kingship. Instead he wants, as we have seen, to
  absolve David from any suspicion of wrongdoing in
  the

12
2 Sam 5.1-5 David King of Israel and Judah

• course of his ascent to the royal office. To
  this end he has presented David throughout as a
  man innocent of overweening ambition, whose
  extraordinary successes result less often form
  self-interested undertakings of his own than from
  the willing deeds of others.... McCarter,
  ibid., 133

13
2 Sam 5.6-16 The Capture of Jerusalem and Its
Sequel

• This composite section revolves largely around
  Jerusalem and David's rise to fame, yet at the
  same time, the editor has clearly indicated that
  the triumphs and prosperity attained were the
  blessing of Yahweh (vv10 and 12). It is evident
  that although God had established David's
  kingdom, his primary concern was not the
  glorification of the king but the salvation and
  welfare of his people (cf. 2 Sam 3.18).
  Anderson, 88
• Jerusalem was a city at that time at least a
  thousand years old it occurs in Egyptian
  Execration Text and in the Amarna correspondence,
  and also in the accounts of the conquest in the
  Old Testament. Hertzberg, 268

14
2 Sam 5.17-25 The Philistine Campaigns

• It may be that these chapters (5.11-8.18) are
  simply a collection of important narratives
  placed back to back in the canon. Flanagan,
  however, has suggested an organizational patter
  which in my judgment is persuasive. Flanagan
  observes six primary narrative elements that are
  arranged chiastically in three pairs so as to
  trace the costly transformation for tribe to
  state
• 1. List of family (5.13-16) 3. Oracle as new
  claim (7.1-29)
• 2. Battle of Philistines (5.17-25) 2. Battle with
  two nations (8.1-14)
• 3. Ark as old (6.1-20) 1. List of officials
  (8.15.18)
• The two lists (6.13-16 8.15-18) form the outside
  boundaries of the unit, and the stories of ark
  (6.1-20) and oracle (7.1-29) form the central
  focus. Moreover, in each pair the second element
  is contrasted with the first. Thus the list of
  officers displaces the list of children as the
  monarchy moves from kinship toward bureaucracy.
  The battle with the Philistines is replaced by
  more expansive

15
2 Sam 5.17-25 The Philistine Campaigns

• battles, as David no longer struggles for
  survival but now is involved in territorial
  expansion. At the center, the old, precious ark
  is superseded by Nathans oracle, which bespeaks
  a radical innovation in Israel, breaking David
  free of old tribal loyalties carried with the
  ark. Brueggemann, 245

16
2 Sam 6.1-23 The Ark Brought to the City of David

• Chap. 6 comprises two main topics the transfer
  of the ark to Jerusalem (vv1-15, 17-19) and
  Michal's break with David (vv16, 20-23). Although
  the later episode is well integrated in the
  present context, it has been argued that the
  Michal story not have been an integral part of
  the Ark Narrative. Anderson, 99
• It is possible that at a later time the first
  entry of the ark in Jerusalem became an annual
  cultic event (Pss 24 and 132) but it is less
  certain that its liturgy has determined the
  present description of the original events.
  Anderson, 100
• Scholars have long recognized that 2 Sam 6
  contains material for the legitimation of the
  Davidic dynasty.... 2 Samuel 6 has to do with the
  inauguration of the new city and is, thus,
  comparable with similar religio-political rituals
  performed elsewhere in the Ancient Near East.
  Seow, Myth, Drama, and the Politics of David's
  Dance, 140

17
2 Sam 7.1-17 The Dynastic Oracle

• Chapter 7 is an unit complete in itself. It is
  divided into 7.1-17, the dynastic oracle and
  7.18-29, David's prayer. Its connection with
  chap. 6 is theologically interesting in that
  after the ark is installed in Jerusalem and YHWH
  is seen as the true king of Israel, then David
  who now wants to build a temple, is instead given
  a dynasty. On the other end, chapter 8 contains a
  list of David's past victories which it seem
  could have been place in another place. Although
  in its present location one wonders if David's
  victories are now able to be mentioned since YHWH
  is enthroned.
• ...2 Sam 7 forms a parallel passage to the
  oracle in 1 Sam 2.27-36.... In this passage the
  point at issue was the establishment of a new
  priestly dynasty in 2 Sam 7 a royal dynasty.
  Carlson, 104

18
2 SAM 7.18-29 The Prayer of David

• His purpose was to show that Davids request for
  a dynasty was buttressed by a divine promised,
  and that the erection of the temple was an
  outgrowth of the arrival of the ark in Jerusalem.
  That is, he sought to associate his own twin
  themes of dynastic promise and royal temple with
  events in the time of David. McCarter, 240
• In its final form Davids prayer has another
  focus, viz. praise of the uniqueness of Yahweh
  (v. 22b) and his ransom of Israel form Egypt (vv.
  23-24). This is characteristic of the editorially
  expanded prayers and litanies of the
  Deuteronomistic history. The shift of attention
  from the house of David to the people in general
  in v. 23, the presence of a long series of
  Deuteronomistic clichés in vv. 22b-26, and other
  factors... indicate that at least this section
  (vv. 22b-26) is late and thus that Davids prayer
  has undergone substantial revision. McCarter,
  240

19
2 Sam 8.1-14 The Wars of David

• This pericope (vv1-14) gives a short summary of
  David's military achievements, and is reminiscent
  of the brief resume of Saul's victories in 1 Sam
  14.47-48. It is doubtful that the events in our
  pericope are arranged in any chronological order
  essentially they are intended to illustrate
  David's God-given triumphs. The presentation of
  the material is done in an annalistic fashion,
  and there is neither plot nor dialogue. Nor is
  there any clear structure although the following
  outline sums up the content
• vv1-2 Victory over the Philistines and Moabites
• vv3-8 The Aramean wars
• vv9-10 King of Hamath congratulates David
• vv11-12 The dedication of the spoils
• vv13-14a The defeat of the Edomites
• v14b Conclusion Anderson, 130

20
2 Sam 8.15-18 David's High Officials of State

• The officers names at the close of the section
  indicate that the importance of kinship had
  declined during the Jerusalem years and was
  becoming restricted to the upper eschelon of
  Davids administration. By the time of this list,
  specializations had been institutionalized in
  offices which could be filled, by kin or non-kin,
  according to an individuals talent. Therefore, a
  list of sons gave way to a list of officers as
  the compilers explained the political transitions
  which had occurred. James W. Flanagan, Social
  Transformation and Ritual in 2 Samuel 6, in
  Coral L. Meyers and M. OConnor, eds., The Word
  of the Lord Shall Go Forth Essays in Honor of
  David Noel Freedman in Celebration of His
  Sixtieth Birthday, American Schools of Oriental
  Research Special Volume Series, No. 1, (Winona
  Lake, Indian Eisenbrauns, 1983), 363