David and His Theologian

Literary, Social, and Theological Investigations of the Early Monarchy

Walter Brueggemann, K. C. Hanson, Hanson

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781610975346
  9781498214230
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621890874
• Topic: Théologie et religion
• Subtopic: Critique et interprétation bibliques

Throughout Walter Brueggemann's career, he has repeatedly found his way back to the David and royal traditions. From some of his earliest articles and essays to monographs, commentaries, and sermons, he has explored this rich field in literary, social, and theological depth. As he has said, "My preoccupation with David rests on the awareness that David occupies a central position in the imagination of ancient Israel and in the rendering of 'faith and history' by that community. As the genealogies locate David, he stands mid-point between the rigors of Mosaic faith and the destruction of Jerusalem; as a consequence he becomes, in the artistry of Israel, the carrier of all the ambivalence Israel knew about guarantees and risks in the world YHWH governs." This volume brings together some of Brueggemann's key essays on the David traditions, as well as their interrelationships with traditions in the book of Genesis. --from the Foreword

1

David and His Theologian1

The literary flowering of the Solomonic period has been called to our attention by various scholars, most notably by von Rad.2 He has shown that the conditions of the mid-tenth century permitted, in fact required, the literary production that ensued. This paper is concerned with two productions from that period (the Yahwist’s narrative of Genesis 2–11 and the narrative of the David family, 2 Samuel 9–20 + 1 Kings 1–2) and the relation between them.3

The J narrative in Genesis 2–11 has been interpreted with great perception by von Rad4 and in a derivative sense by Napier.5 Von Rad has persuasively argued that the narratives are not to be understood as a statement about beginnings in any historical sense6 nor are they a collection of ancient Near Eastern myths and legends in any primary way;7 but they are intended to be and indeed are an extremely sophisticated statement by one of Israel’s earliest, most profound theologians. Von Rad has shown that each of the sin stories (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the Tower of Babel)8 moves through the sequence of sin and punishment and culminates in the unexpected affirmation of Yahweh’s graciousness. The unified narrative, he has argued, moves determinedly toward Gen 12:1–3, where the call of Abraham is seen to be Yahweh’s final effort to deal with the human predicament.9 More recently Wolff has extended this line of interpretation to show the relation of Genesis 12–50 and the Patriarchal Narrative to Genesis 2–11 (J) as the relation of blessing to curse.10 The intention of the narrative then is to show the relation of Israel to the other peoples, or more specifically the tenth-century monarchy of David and Solomon to its contemporaries. Because of the work of von Rad and Wolff, we can now safely conclude that these stories are an attempt to create theological legitimacy for the monarchy and speak a warning in the context of covenant to the ambitions of the Davidic house.11

The other piece of literature from this period that concerns us is the remarkable story of the David family in 2 Samuel 9–20 + 1 Kings 1–2.12 Von Rad has shown that this piece of writing is a quite new kind of historical writing and that it reflects the context and influence of the Solomonic Enlightenment.13 Both von Rad and Napier14 have shown the great sensitivity and finesse of the author and the theological sophistication that motivates the writing.15

The two pieces of literature have much in common. Both seem to reflect this period of radical change in the life and faith of Israel. Both are eloquent forms of literary expression. Both have a keen theological sensitivity. But so far as this writer knows, no serious effort has been made to understand the relation between these two pieces,16 one concerned with the role of Israel among the foreign kingdoms and the other concerned with the family of David and the heir to the throne. Because they have so much in common, it is legitimate and important to ask about their interdependence. The present study addresses this question without in any way denying the distinctive character and function of each of these narrative pieces.

Granted that the Yahwist’s narrative in Genesis 2–11 is much indebted to ancient Near Eastern materials, why is it that the various episodes came to be ordered in this particular way and not some other? There is no parallel in the myths known to us that so orders the material. Moreover, why is it that the materials are put together so that in each case the central point is neither the disobedience of the human persons nor the wrath of God, but rather the unexpected and inexplicable graciousness of Yahweh?17

This paper seeks to answer these questions with this hypothesis: The J construction in Genesis 2–11 is dependent upon the David story. The particular order of the Genesis materials is dependent upon the career of the sons of David in their quest for the throne.18 The climactic affirmation of Yahweh’s graciousness in each Genesis episode is derived from the experience of the David family.19 Each such experience comes to completion in the awareness that even yet Yahweh keeps his oath to the Davidic family. Thus it will be argued that J in the tenth century ordered his materials the way he did because he had discerned this way of history in the royal family. It really happened that way! This hypothesis suggests that in Genesis 2–11, just below the surface of the mythological materials and affirmations about “the human predicament” lies the story of David’s family and the God of the Davidic house. What Israel in the tenth century knew about sin and grace, curse and blessing, it knew because it had seen it happen in the current royal establishment. The theologian has the task of extending the experience of this representative man and his family to the experience of all Israelites.20 This extension was a natural, legitimate thing to do, for in such a society, what happens to the king does indeed happen to every member of the realm. Thus the theologian is not simply applying a personal experience to the community but is asserting that the experiences of the royal house are in fact events in the life of the whole realm.

The structure and movement in the four stories of sin in Genesis 3–11 hold together and are rightly seen as elements in one dramatic whole:21

a) Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1–24)

b) Cain and Abel (Gen 4:1–16)

c) Noah and the Flood (Gen 6:5–8; 7:1–5, 7, 16b, 8–10, 12, 17b, 22–23; 8:6a, 2b, 3a, 6b, 8–12, 13b, 20–22; 9:18–27)22

d) The Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1–9).

While the stories contain much material common in Near Eastern myth, the two distinguishing features of the materials as they now stand are the contribution of the Yahwist : (a) The dramatic sequence moves persistently toward a more precarious relation between Yahweh and his human family. (b) The tendency in each story is to show that the real issue is the graciousness of Yahweh. The Succession Narrative is also structured according to four episodes:23

a) David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11–12)24

b) Amnon and Absalom (2 Samuel 13–14)

c) Absalom and David (2 Samuel 15–20)

d) Solomon and David (1 Kings 1–2).

In these stories the same factors are present: (a) The dramatic sequence moves persistently toward a climactic point at the end of the story.25 (b) The tendency of each episode is to show that the real issue is the graciousness of Yahweh. The historical data of the Succession Narrative was adopted by the Yahwist in terms of dramatic structure and in terms of its central theological conviction. Thus the episodes in the two sequences can be correlated:

David and Bathsheba Adam and Eve

Amnon and Absalom Cain and Abel

Absalom and David Noah and the Flood

Solomon and David The Tower of Babel

The Davidic history supplies the clues and patterning of his materials about a world under curse and Yahweh’s extraordinary way of dealing with that condition.

The First Episode: David and Bathsheba, Adam and Eve

The David-Bathsheba story includes at least five items that are relevant for our discussion, and they pretty well summarize the movement of the narrative:26

First, David is attracted to the one who is forbidden him. He desires her and takes her: “The woman was very beautiful . . .27 So David sent messengers and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her” (2 Sam 11:2–4).28 The narrative is clear in implying that the thing he had done was forbidden him.

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Table of contents

• David and His Theologian
• Foreword
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: David and His Theologian
• Chapter 2: On Trust and Freedom
• Chapter 3: The Trusted Creature
• Chapter 4: Life and Death in Tenth-Century Israel
• Chapter 5: Kingship and Chaos
• Chapter 6: Narrative Coherence and Theological Intentionality in 1 Samuel 18
• Chapter 7: Narrative Intentionality in 1 Samuel 29
• Chapter 8: On Coping with Curse: A Study of 2 Samuel 16:5–14
• Chapter 9: An Appendix of Deconstruction? 2 Samuel 21–24
• Credits
• Bibliography
• Additional Works on David and Second Samuel
• Index of Scripture
• Index of Authors