Table Of ContentSung-Hee Yoon
THE QUESTION OF
THE BEGINNING AND
THE ENDING OF THE
SO-CALLED HISTORY
OF DAVID’S RISE
A METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTION AND
ITS IMPLICATION
Sung-Hee Yoon
The Question of the Beginning and the Ending of
the So-Called History of David’s Rise
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für die alttestamentliche
Wissenschaft
Edited by
John Barton, Ronald Hendel,
Reinhard G. Kratz and Markus Witte
Volume 462
Sung-Hee Yoon
The Question of the
Beginning and the Ending
of the So-Called History of
David’s Rise
A Methodological Reflection and Its Implications
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Acknowledgments
This monograph is a slightly revised version of my doctoral thesis, completed
and examined in 2011. Without many people’s help, the completion of this
workwouldhavebeenimpossible,andIampleasedtohaveachancetoexpress
mygratitudetothem.Aboveall,IexpressmysinceregratitudetomyDoktorvater
Prof.JohnBartonforhisunfailingsupportandcontinuousinspiration.Hissup-
portneverceasedevenaftermydoctoralyears,andindeed,withouthisencour-
agement,Icouldnothavepulledmyselftogethertogetthisworkpublished.Iam
alsogratefultomydoctoralexaminers,Dr.JohnJarickandProf.FrancescaStav-
rakopoulou for their constructive critique and helpful advice. For failing to fol-
low their suggestions, I have nobody to blame but myself.
I thank those who have helped me greatly at various stages of this project.
Prof.KevinCathcarthasalwaysbeenkindtooffermewiseadviceandpriceless
friendship.Itwasalwaysagreatpleasuretohaveachatwithhimaboutallsorts
oftopic.Dr.GerryJ.Hughesalsohelpedmeagreatdeal,especiallybychalleng-
ing my position with pleasantly provocative questions. Prof. Reinhard Kratz
kindly invited me to work in the University of Göttingen for a term, so that I
could engage more intensively with German scholarship. Jesuits in Britain and
in Korea provided me with financial and spiritual support, so that I could con-
centrate on my work without much distraction. I also would like to thank my
former teachers, Prof. Bong-mo Song, SJ, Drs. Ann Jeffers and Jennifer Dines,
for their inspiration and encouragement. And my special thanks are extended
to Sabina Dabrowski, Sophie Wagenhofer and Katrin Mittman for helping me
to prepare the manuscript for publication.
Finally,Iwouldliketothankmyfamilyandmyfriends.Ioffermyaffection-
atethankstomymotherforherloveandcare,andtomywifeSoYoungandmy
son Sang-Hyeon for being mysource of joy. AndtoPeter Gallagher, Alan Harri-
son, John Montoya, Jonah Suh, and Ji-Won Jung, I owe a debt of gratitude—for
their priceless friendship. This book is dedicated to the late Fr. Matthias Chae
whose friendship and wise advice I miss so much.
Contents
Abbreviations and Sigla XI
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 The Beginning and the Ending of the So-Called History of David’s
Rise 3
The Ending of the HDR 4
. Criteria for the Identification: Textual Evidence 4
. Formal Markers 8
.. The List of the Officials in 2Sam 8:16–18 8
.. The List of the Sons in 2Sam 5:13–16 11
.. The annalistic note in 2Sam 5:4–5 12
.. The List of the Sons in 2Sam 3:2–5 13
.. The annalistic note in 2Sam 2:10–11 14
.. The formulaic expression ןכֵ־ירֵחֲאַ יהִיְוַ in 2Sam 2:1 15
. Linguistic Features and Phraseology 16
.. YHWH’s being with David 16
.. The title דיגִנָ 17
.. The divine name תוֹאבָצְ הוָהיְ 19
.. The phrase ןזא הלג 19
. Stylistic Features 20
.. The stylistic features of the HDR 20
.. The stylistic features of the “Succession Narrative” 27
.. The stylistic feature as a criterion for source division 29
The Beginning of the HDR 30
. Criteria for the Identification: Textual Evidence 30
. Formal Markers 31
.. The summary in 14:46–51 31
.. The Bridge in 15:35b 32
.. The Folkloristic Introduction in 17:12 32
. Phraseology and Style 33
How is the Decision Made? 37
. The Decision about the Ending 38
.. Wellhausen, Steuernagel, Brettler for 8:15–18 38
.. Weiser, Mettinger for 7:29 39
.. Grønbaek, Veijola, McCarter for 5:10 41
VIII Contents
. The Decision about the Beginning 43
.. Weiser for 16. 1 43
.. Grønbaek for 15:1 44
.. McCarter for 16:14 45
Chapter 2 Towards Understanding the Whole HDR 47
How We Understand the Whole HDR 47
. The Hermeneutic Circle as Fundamental Structure of Under-
standing 49
.. Friedrich Schleiermacher 49
... Martin Heidegger 51
.. Hans-Georg Gadamer 53
. Indeterminacy of Meaning? 55
. Nothing New Under the Sun? 58
. Relevance of Hermeneutical Reflection to Our Question 61
Synchronic Approaches 62
. In the Text: Literary Artistry of the Narrative 64
. Between Texts: Inevitable Influences from Other Texts 68
. Between the Text and the Reader 71
Diachronic Approaches 74
Chapter 3 The Nature of the HDR as a Whole 81
The Genre of the HDR 82
. What is Genre? How do we know it? 82
. The HDR as Propaganda/Apology 85
.. Reading the HDR as Propaganda/Apology 85
.. Resistance to the Framework 89
... Is the HDR unambiguously Anti-Saulide? 89
... Is the HDR unambiguously pro-Davidic? 97
... The Parallels with the Ancient Near Eastern Literature 101
... A Different Context of the Reader 105
. An Alternative Framework 108
.. Myth or Allegory 109
.. Traditional Story or Saga 111
.. Novelle and Novel 113
.. Popular History or Jewish Historical Novel 116
The Theme and Function of the HDR 119
Contents IX
Chapter 4 The Beginning and the Ending of the HDR Revisited 123
The Additions to the Shorter Version of 1Sam 17–18 123
. Two Versions of 1Sam 17–18: MT & LXXB 124
.. Hypothesis A: MTas an Expansion 125
.. Hypothesis B: LXX asan Abridgement of the MT Vorlage 126
. Toward the Solution 129
. Purpose and Date of the Expansion 133
The Deuteronomistic Additions 141
. The Deuteronomostic hypothesis 141
. The deuteronomistic additions in 1Sam 15–2Sam 8 145
.. 1Sam 15 146
.. 1Sam 16:1–13 150
... 1 Sam 20 153
.. 1Sam 25 154
.. 2Sam 3 157
.. 2Sam 5 159
.. 2Sam 7 162
The Persian-period Additions 164
. TheshorterversionoftheDavidandGoliathstory(1Sam17) 165
. The Duplications (1Sam 18:10–11; 26:1–25; 2Sam 1:5–10,
13–16) 166
. The Escape Episodes in 1Sam 19 171
. More Persian-period additions 172
.. The Merab Offer (1Sam 18:17–19) 172
.. David’sFlight toAhimelechandthemassacreofthepriestsatNob
(1Sam 21:2–10; 22:1–23) 173
.. Jonathan’s visit to David (1Sam 23:16–18) 173
.. David’s sparing of Saul (1Sam 26) 173
.. David’s flight to Achish (27:1–12) and David’s life among the Phili-
stines (28:1–2) 174
.. Saul’s visit to the woman in En-dor (1Sam 28:3–25) 174
.. The Philistine warlords’ rejection of David (29:1–11); David’s cam-
paign against the Amalekites (30:1–25); the list of the distribution
of the spoil (30:26–31) 175
.. The transfer of the Ark to Jerusalem (2Sam 6) 175
.. David’s Wars and His Cabinet (2Sam 8) 176
Conclusion and Remaining Questions 176
