is rendered certain by the unmistakable marks of the influence of
the priestly code in chs. xx., xxi. The unanimity with which Israel
acts, the extraordinarily high numbers,[1] the prominence of such
words as "congregation," constitute indubitable evidence of a priestly hand. Some post-Deuteronomic hand, if not this same one,[2]
added the other appendix, xvi ., xvi i., the introduction, i.-i . 5,
and the sections in the body of the book already shown to be
late.[3]. The motives which prompted these additions were varied.
With regard to the minor judges, e.g., some suppose that the object
was simply to make up the number twelve; but general y speaking, the
motive for the additions would be the natural desire to conserve
extant relics of the past. The introduction, and appendix, though
added late, contain very ancient material. Many of the historical
notices in ch. i. are reproductions of early and important notices
in the book of Joshua, though with significant editorial additions,
usual y in honour of Judah; [Footnote: Cf. ch. i. 8, which
contradicts i. 21; and i, 18, which contradicts i. 19.] and the
story of the origin of the sanctuary at Dan, with its very candid
account of the furniture of the sanctuary and the capture of the
priest, is obviously very old. Doubtless also there is a historical
element in xix.-xxi., though it has been seriously overlaid by the
priestly redaction--possibly also in the notices of the minor
judges.
[Footnote 1: Ch. xx. 2 (of. Num. xxxi.). Contrast Jud. v. 8.]
[Footnote 2: Note the phrase in both stories. "In those days there was no king in Israel," xvi i. i, xix. I.]
[Footnote 3: Shamgar i i. 31; Abimelech (ix); minor judges, x. 1-5,
xi . 8-15; Samson (xvi.)]
This raises the question of the sources and historical value of the
stories in the body of the book, which, as we have seen, are very
easily separated from the redactional elements. Indeed, as those
elements are confined to the beginning and the end of the stories,
we may assume that the stories themselves were not composed by the
redactors, but already reached them in a fixed and finished form.
Further, it is important to note that, just as in the prophetic
portions of the Hexateuch, duplicates are often present--very
probably in the stories of Ehud, ii . 12ff., Deborah and Barak
(iv.), Abimelech (ix.), and Micah (xvii., xvi i.), but certainly in
the story of Gideon[1] (vi.-vi i.). According to the later version,
Gideon is the deliverer of Israel from the incursions of the
Midianites, and the princes slain are Oreb and Zeeb, vi . 24-vi i.
3; according to the earlier version, vi i. 4-21, which is on a
smaller scale, Gideon, accompanied by part of his clan, takes the
lives of Zebah and Zalmunna to avenge his brothers, whom they had
slain. In the case of duplicated stories, the Deuteronomic redactors
apparently found the stories already in combination, so that the
original constituent documents must be further back still. As the
narratives, with their primitive religious ideas and practices and
their obvious delight in war, are clearly the echo of an early time,
we shal be safe in relegating the original documents, at the
latest, to the eighth or ninth century B.C. It is a point on which
unanimity has not yet been reached, whether these documents are the
Jehovist and Elohist of the Hexateuch; but considering the fact that
the older notices in i.-i . 5, on account of the prominence of Judah
and for other reasons, are usually assigned to J, and that some of
the characteristics of these two documents recur in the course of
the book, the hypothesis that J and E are continued at least into
Judges must be regarded as not improbable.
[Footnote 1: In the story of Jephthah, ch. xi. 12-28, which
interrupt the connexion and deals with Moab, not with Ammon, is a
later interpolation.]
Fortunately we are able in one case to trace the source of a story.
The story of Deborah and Barak is told in chs. iv. and v. Ch. 5, which
is so graphic that it must have come from a contemporary-one had almost said an eye-witness--is undoubtedly the older form of the story, as it
is in verse. Partly on the basis of this poem ch. iv. has been built
up, and the account of Sisera's death in this chapter, iv. 21, which
differs from that in v. 26, 27, rests on a misunderstanding of the
situation in v. 26. Here we see the risks which the bal ads ran when
turned into prose, but more important is it to note the poetical origin of the story. Probably ch. v. original y belonged to such a collection
as the book of the wars of Jehovah or the book of Jashar, and it is
natural to suppose that other stories in the book of Judges--e.g. the
exploits of Gideon--may have similarly originated in war-ballads.
The religion of the book of Judges is powerful but primitive. The
ideal man is the ideal warrior. Grim tales of war are told with
unaffected delight, and the spirit of God manifests itself chiefly
in the inspiration of the warrior. Gideon and Micah have their
idols. Chemosh and Dagon are as real, though not so powerful, as
Jehovah. Unlike the redaction, the earlier tales are not given to
moralizing, and yet once at least the moral is explicitly pointed,
ix. 56ff. But elsewhere the power of religion in life is suggested,
not by explicit comment, but rather by the naturalness with which
every interest and activity of life are viewed in a religious light.
Nowhere is this more obvious than in the priceless song of
Deborah[1] (v.). Israel's battles are the battles of Jehovah; her
triumph is His triumph. The song is inspired by an intense belief in
the national God, but there was little that was ethical in the
religion of the period. Jephthah offers his child in sacrifice. Jael
is praised for a murder which was a breach of the common Semitic law
of hospitality. By revealing, however, so candidly the meagre
beginnings of Israel's religion, the book of Judges only increases
our sense of the miracle which brought that religion to its
incomparable consummation in the fulness of the times.
[Footnote 1: The song is not necessarily and not probably composed
by Deborah. In v. 12 she is addressed in the 2nd person, and
_v_. 7 may be similarly read, "Til _thou_, Deborah, didst
arise."]
SAMUEL
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the
book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the
book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of
Judges in al probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.;
while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two
chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very
happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part
to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate, as Samuel had much
to do with the founding of the monarchy. The Jewish tradition that
Samuel was the author of the book is, of course, a palpable fiction,
as the story is carried beyond his death.
[Footnote 1: Two books in the Greek translation, as in modern
Bibles; originally one in the Hebrew, but two from the year 1517
A.D.]
The book deals with the establishment of the monarchy. Its ultimate
analysis is very difficult; but, if we regard the summary notices in
1 Samuel xiv. 47-51 and 2 Samuel vii . as the conclusion of
sections--and this seems to have been their original intention--the
broad outlines are clear enough, and the book may be divided into
three parts: the first (1 Sam. i.-xiv.) dealing with Samuel and
Saul, the second (i Sam. xv.-2 Sam. vii .) with Saul and David, and
the third (2 Sam. ix.-xx., concluding with I Kings i., ii.) with
David, xxi.-xxiv. being, like Judges xvii.-xxi., in the nature of an
appendix.
The book opens in the period of the Philistine wars. Samuel's birth,
call and influence are described (I Sam. i.-i i.), and the
disastrous defeat which Israel suffered at the hand of the
Philistines. Jehovah, however, asserted His dignity, and the ark,
which had been captured, was restored to Israel (iv.-vi .). But the
peril had taught Israel her need of a king, and, by a providential
course of events, Saul becomes the chosen man. He gains initial
successes (vi i.-xiv.).
But, for a certain disobedience and impetuosity, his rejection by
God is pronounced by Samuel, and David steps upon the arena of
history as the coming king. His successes in war stung the
melancholy Saul, who at first had loved him, into jealousy; and the
tragedy of Saul's life deepens. Recognizing in the versatile David
his almost certain successor, he seeks in various ways to compass
his destruction, but more than once David repays his malice with
generosity. Saul's persecution, however, is so persistent that David
is compel ed to flee, and he takes refuge with his country's enemy,
the Philistine king of Gath. At the decisive battle between Israel
and the Philistines on Gilboa, Saul perishes. Soon afterwards, David
is made king of Judah; and emerging successfully from the subsequent
struggle with Saul's surviving son, he becomes king over al Israel,
seizes Jerusalem, and makes it his civil and religious capital (1
Sam. xv.-2 Sam. vi i.).
The story of his reign is told with great power and candour, and is
ful of the most diverse interest--his guilty passion for Bathsheba,
which left its trail of sorrow over all his subsequent career, the
dissensions in the royal family, the unsuccessful rebel ion of his
son Absalom, the strife between Israel and Judah (2 Sam. ix.-xx.).
The story is concluded in 1 Kings i., ii., by an account of the
intrigue which secured the succession of Solomon, and final y by the
death and testament of David. The appendix, which interrupts the story
and closes the book of Samuel (xxi.-xxiv.) consists of (_a_) two
narratives, with a dominant religious interest, which chronological y
appear to belong to the beginning of David's reign--the atonement by
which Jehovah's anger, expressed in famine, was turned away from the
land, xxi. 1-14, and the plague which, as a divine penalty, followed
David's census of the people (xxiv.); (_b_) two psalms--a song
of gratitude for God's gracious deliverances (xxii.=Ps. xvii .), and
a brief psalm expressing confidence in the triumph of justice,
xxi i. 1-7; (_c_) two lists of David's heroes and their deeds,
xxi. 15-22, xxii . 8-39.
In the book of Samuel, even more distinctly than in the Hexateuch,
composite authorship is apparent. Little or no attempt has been made
by the redactor[1] to reduce, by omissions, adaptations, or
corrections, the divergent sources to a unity, so that we are in the
singularly fortunate position of possessing information which is
exceedingly early, and in some cases al but contemporary, of
persons, events and movements, which exercised the profoundest
influence on the subsequent history of Israel. The book has been
touched in a very few places by the Deuteronomic redactor--not to
anything like the same extent as Judges or Kings. The few points at
which he intervenes, however, are very significant; his hand is
apparent in the threat of doom pronounced upon Eli's house (1 Sam.
ii. 27-36),[2] in the account of the decisive battle against the
Philistines represented as won for Israel by Samuel's intercession
(1 Sam. vii. 3-16), in Samuel's farewel address to the people (1
Sam. xi .) and--most important of al --in Nathan's announcement to
David of the perpetuity of his dynasty (2 Sam. vii.). A study of
these passages reveals the didactic interest so characteristic of
the redactors.
[Footnote 1: "Come and let us _renew_ the kingdom," 1 Sam. xi.
14, is a redactional attempt to reconcile the two stories of the
origin of the monarchy.]
[Footnote 2: Cf. 2 Kings xxi i. 9; Deut, xvi i. 6-8.]
Such a book as Samuel offered little opportunity for a priestly
redaction, but it has been touched here and there by a priestly
hand, as we see from 1 Samuel vi. 15, with its belated introduction
of the Levites to do what had been done already, v. 14, and from the
very significant substitution of "al the Levites" for "Abiathar" in 2 Samuel xv. 24, cf. 29.
The composite quality of the book of Samuel could hardly fail to
strike even a careless observer. Many of the events, both important
and unimportant, are related twice under circumstances which render
it practical y impossible that two different incidents are recorded.
Two explanations are given, e.g., of the origin of the saying, "Is Saul also among the prophets?" I Sam. x. 11, xix. 24. Similarly, the story of David's magnanimity in sparing Saul's life is twice told (1
Sam. xxiv., xxvi.), and there is no al usion in the second narrative
to the first, such as would be natural, if not necessary, on the
assumption that the occasions were real y different. There are also
two accounts of David's sojourn among the Philistines and of his
speedy departure from a situation fraught with so much peril (1 Sam.
xxi. 10-15, xxvii., xxix.). Of course there are not unimportant
differences between these two narratives: the voluntary departure of
the one story becomes a courteous, though firm, dismissal in the
other; but in the light of so many other unmistakable duplicates, it
is hard to believe that these are not simply different versions of
the same story. There are two accounts of the death of Saul:
according to the one, he committed suicide (1 Sam. xxxi. 4),
according to the other he was slain by an Amalekite (2 Sam. i. 10).
The Amalekite's story may, of course, be fiction, but it is not
necessary to suppose this.
The differences between the duplicate accounts are sometimes so
serious as to amount to incompatibility. In one document, e.g.,
teraphim are found in the house of a devout worshipper of Jehovah, 1
Sam. xix. 13, in another they are the symbol of an idolatry which is
comparable to the worst of sins, 1 Sam. xv. 23. Again, there is no
reason to doubt the statement in the apparently ancient record of
the deeds of David's heroes, that Elhanan slew Goliath of Gath, 2
Sam. xxi. 19. But if this be so, what becomes of the elaborate and
romantic story of i Samuel xvi ., which claims this honour for
David? The difficulty created by this discrepancy was felt as early
as the times of the chronicler, who surmounts it by asserting that
it was the brother of Goliath whom Elhanan slew (1 Chron. xx. 5).
Connected with this story are other difficulties affecting the
relation of David to Saul. In this chapter, Saul is unacquainted
with David, 1 Samuel xvi . 56, whereas in the preceding chapter
David is not only present at his court, but has already won the
monarch's love, xvi. 21. The David of the one chapter is quite
unlike the David of the other; in xvi. 18 he is a mature man, a
skil ed and versatile minstrel-warrior, and the armour-bearer of the
king; in xvi . 38, 39, he is a young shepherd boy who cannot wield a
sword, and who cuts a sorry figure in a coat of mail. Many of these
undoubted difficulties are removed by the Septuagint[1] which omits
xvi . 12-31 ,41, 50, 55-xvii . 5, and the question is raised whether
the Septuagint omitted these verses to secure a more consistent
narrative, or whether they were wanting, as seems more probable, in
the Hebrew text from which the Greek was translated. In that case
these verses, which give an idyllic turn (cf. ch. xvi.) to the story
of David, may have been added after the Greek version was written,
i.e, hardly earlier than 250 B.C., and a curious light would thus be
shed upon the history of the text and on the freedom with which it
was treated by later Jewish scholars. Equal y striking and important
are the conflicting conceptions of the monarchy entertained in the
earlier part of the book. One source regards it as a blessing and a
gift of Jehovah; the first king is anointed by divine commission "to be prince over my people Israel, and he shal save my people out of
the hand of the Philistines," 1 Sam. ix. 16; the other regards the request for an earthly king as a rejection of the divine king, and
the monarchy as destined to prove a vexation, if not a curse
(vi i.). Centuries seem to separate these conceptions--the one
expressing the exuberant enthusiasm with which the monarchy was
initiated, the other--perhaps about Hosea's time (cf. Hosea vi i.
4)--reflecting the melancholy experience of its essential
impotence.[2]
[Footnote 1: The Greek text of Samuel is often of great value. In 1
Sam. xiv. 18 it preserves the undoubtedly original reading, "bring hither _the ephod_, for he carried the ephod that day before
Israel," instead of "Being hither the ark of God." and in _ v_.
41 the Greek version makes it clear that the Urim and Thummim were
the means employed to determine the lot.]
[Footnote 2: If other proof were wanted that the book is not an
original literary unit, it might be found in the occasional
interruption of the natural order. 2 Sam. xxi.-xxiv. is the most
extensive and obvious interruption. But 2 Sam. ii . 2-5 is also out
of place, it goes with v. 6-16. So I Sam. xvii . 10, 11, which is
really a duplication of xix, 9, 10 is psychologically inappropriate
at so early a stage.]
These considerations suggest that at any rate as far as 2 Samuel
vii .--for it is universal y admitted that 2 Samuel ix.-xx. is
homogeneous--there are at least two sources, which some would
identify, though upon grounds that are not altogether convincing,
with the Jehovist and Elohist documents in the Hexateuch. One of
these sources is distinctly early and the other distinctly late, and
the early source contains much ancient and valuable material. Its
recognition of Samuel as a local seer wil ing to tel for a smal
piece of money where stray asses have gone, its enthusiastic
attitude to the monarchy, its obvious delight in the splendid
presence and powers of Saul, its intimate knowledge of the ecstatic
prophets, its conception of the ark as a sort of fetish whose
presence insures victory--al these things bespeak for the document
that relates them a high antiquity. The other document represents
Samuel as a great judge and virtual regent over al Israel, it has a
wide experience of the evils of monarchy, it idealizes David, and it
regards Saul as a "rejected" man. It is possible that these
documents, in their original form, were biographical--Saul being the
chief hero in the one and David in the other. A biography of Samuel,
which may or may not have included the story of the war with the
Philistines (I Sam. iv.-vi . 2), possibly existed separately, though
in its present form it is interwoven with the story of Saul.
It would be difficult to overpraise the literary and historical
genius of the writer who in 2 Samuel ix.-xx. traces the checkered
course of David's reign. He has an unusual y intimate knowledge of
the period, a clear sense of the forces that mould history, a
delicate insight into the springs of character, and an estimable
candour in portraying the weakness as wel as the strength of his
hero. The writer's knowledge is so intimate that one is tempted to
suppose that he must have been a contemporary; and yet such a phrase
as "to this day," 2 Sam. xvi i. 18, unless it be redactional, almost compels us to come lower down. Probably, however, it is not later
than the time of Solomon, whose reign appears to have been marked by
literary as well as commercial activity.[1]
[Footnote l: The Book of Jashar, whose latest known reference comes
from the reign of Solomon (cf. p.102), is supposed by some to have
been edited in that reign.]
The last four chapters, which interrupt the main narrative, contain
some ancient and some late material. The two tales, xxi. 1-14,
xxiv., which have much in common, were preserved because of their
religious interest; and although part of ch. xxiv. (cf. _vv_.
10-14) is in the later style, both stories throw much welcome light
on the early religious ideas of Israel. Of the poems 2 Samuel xxi .
in its present form can hardly be David's,[1] and the same doubt may
be fairly entertained with regard to xxi i. 1-7. Even if _v_. 1
be not an imitation of Numbers xxiv. 3, 15, it is hardly likely that
David would have described himself in terms of the last clause of
this verse. The eschatological complexion of _vv_. 6, 7 also
suggests, though perhaps it does not compel, a later date; further,
it is not exactly in favour of the Davidic authorship of either of
these psalms that they are found in a section which was obviously
interpolated later.[2] On the other hand, there can be no reasonable
doubt that the incomparable elegy over Saul and Jonathan in 2 Samuel
i. 19-27 is David's. Poetical y it is a gem of purest ray; but,
though its position in the book of Jashar[3] shows that it was
regarded as a religious poem, it strikes no distinctively religious
note. The little fragment on the death of Abner, 2 Sam. i i. 33ff.,
is also no doubt his.
[Footnote 1: See pp. 247, 248.]
[Footnote 2: The song of Hannah, 1 Sam. ii. 1-10, is proof that later
editors inserted poems at points which they deemed appropriate. If
the "anointed king," for whom prayer is offered in _v_. 10, be one of the historical kings, then the Ps. is pre-exilic; if the
Messianic king of the latter days, post-exilic. But in neither case
could the prayer be Hannah's, as there was no king yet. The clause in
_v_. 5--"the barren hath borne seven"--suggested the interpolation of the poem at this point.]
[Footnote 3: This may either mean the book of the upright or brave,
i.e. the heroes of Israel, or it may mean the book of Israel herself.]
The book of Samuel offers a large contribution to our knowledge of
the early religion of Israel. It presents us with a practical
il ustration of the rigorous obligations of the ban (1 Sam. xv.), of
the effects of technical holiness (1 Sam. xxi. 4, 5), of the
appearance of the images known as teraphim (1 Sam. xix. 13), of the
usages of necromancy (1 Sam. xxvii .), of the peril of unavenged
bloodshed (2 Sam. xxi.), of the almost idolatrous regard for the ark
(1 Sam. iv.), of the nature of the lot (1 Sam. xiv. 41, lxx.), of
the place of fasting and the inviolability of oaths (1 Sam. xiv.).
To the student of human nature, the book is peculiarly rich in
material. The career of David and still more that of Saul--David
with his weakness and his magnanimity, and Saul, a noble character,
ruined by jealousy and failure combined working upon a
predisposition to melancholy--present a most fascinating
psychological study. The ethical interest, too, though seldom
obtruded, is always present. In the parable of Nathan, it receives
direct and dramatic expression; but the whole story of David's reign
is haunted by a sense of the Nemesis of sin.
KINGS
The book[1] of Kings is strikingly unlike any modern historical
narrative. Its comparative brevity, its curious perspective, and-with
some brilliant exceptions--its relative monotony, are obvious to the
most cursory perusal, and to understand these things is, in large
measure, to understand the book. It covers a period of no less than
four centuries. Beginning with the death of David and the accession
of Solomon (1 Kings i., i .) it traverses his reign with considerable
fulness (1 Kings ii .-xi.), then carries on the history of the
monarchy in both countries from the disruption to the fall of the
northern kingdom (1 Kings xi .-2 Kings xvii.), and traces the story
of Judah from that point to the exile (2 Kings xvi i.-xxv.).
[Footnote 1: Original y and til 1517 A.D. Kings was reckoned in the
Hebrew Bible as one book. The Greek translation reckons it as two
books, which it entitles the third and fourth books of the kingdoms,
the first two being represented by the two books of Samuel.]
During this period events of epoch-making importance in politics and
religion were taking place. In it literary prophecy was born, trade
and commerce arose with their inevitable cleavage of society into
the rich and the poor, the northern kingdom disappeared as a
political force, and many of her people were carried into exile.