The Genealogy of David
13So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the LORD made her conceive, and she bore a son. 14Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without next-of-kin;f and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age; for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has borne him.” 16Then Naomi took the child and laid him in her bosom, and became his nurse. 17The women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David.
18Now these are the descendants of Perez: Perez became the father of Hezron, 19Hezron of Ram, Ram of Amminadab, 20Amminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon, 21Salmon of Boaz, Boaz of Obed, 22Obed of Jesse, and Jesse of David.
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a Or one with the right to redeem
b Or one with the right to redeem
c OL Vg: Heb from the hand of Naomi and from Ruth
d Or one with the right to redeem
e Or one with the right to redeem
f Or one with the right to redeem
4.1–17 Tension mounts as we wait to see whether the closer kinsman will accept the responsibility of purchasing the land and marrying Ruth. He declines, leaving the way open for Boaz. Boaz and Ruth are married and receive the blessing of the community for progeny. The blessing is realized; a son is born. He is a comfort to Naomi and a fulfillment of the hope for family continuity. He is to become an ancestor of David.
4.1 The city gate was the commercial center. Various business and legal transactions took place there. Friend. The closer kinsman is not named. In Hebrew he is called peloni ’almoni, “So-and-so.”
4.3 Parcel of land. This is the first we hear that Naomi owned real estate. It is not clear whether it has already been sold or whether it is now up for sale for the first time. The redeeming of land would fall within the duties of the go’el to keep the land in the family.
4.5 Acquiring Ruth. It is less clear that a go’el would be obligated to marry the widow of the deceased landowner. This may be an early form of levirate marriage, which in Deut 25.5–10 is limited to the brother of the deceased (cf. also Gen 38). Or it may be a ploy by Boaz to protect the interests of Naomi and Ruth by ensuring that Ruth and her children would not be separated from this landholding, as would happen if the kinsman redeemed the land but did not marry Ruth. Boaz accepts the double obligation of acquiring the land and Ruth, in order to maintain the dead man’s name on his inheritance (4.9–10). This echoes the language of the levirate in Deuteronomy. Regardless of the exact legal obligation (which is disputed), Boaz’s loyalty to family emerges strongly. In this his loyalty mirrors that of Ruth.
4.7 Took off a sandal. This ancient practice, which needed to be explained even to biblical readers, is not to be confused with the pulling off of the sandal in the case of a brother who declines to marry the widow (Deut 25.9). The sandal is a physical representation of the conveying of goods or rights from one party to another.
4.12 Tamar…Judah. See Gen 38.
4.16 His nurse. The child’s guardian, like a godmother; not a wet nurse.
4.17 A son has been born to Naomi, not a biological son or even a biological grandson, but a son in that he replaces the family that Naomi has lost. The son represents the continuation of the family. Naomi is the central focus at the end of the story, even as she was at the beginning.
4.18–22 The genealogy begins with Perez, the first of the twins born to Judah by Tamar (Gen 38.29). The places of honor in the list, seventh and tenth, are occupied by Boaz, the hero of our story, and David, the preeminent king of Israel and founder of the dynasty of Judah. The genealogy turns the story into a chapter in the ancestry of David and raises the theme of family continuity to a theme of national continuity. The story of a family becomes the story of the royal family and hence the nation.
1 SAMUEL
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
THE BOOKS OF SAMUEL describe the origins of kingship in Israel and recount the reigns of the first two kings, Saul and David. The two books fall roughly into five narrative sections followed by a miscellany of assorted materials. The first section is the story of Samuel (1 Sam 1.1–7.17), which provides a transition between the period of the judges and the monarchy. The account is dominated by a view of the prophet as a divinely appointed leader capable of functioning as priest, seer, war leader, and judge. It contains as a strong background theme the condemnation of the priestly house of Eli and rejection of the priesthood of Shiloh.
The second section describes the inauguration of kingship in Israel (1 Sam 8.1–15.34). The central figure is Saul, Israel’s first king, who is introduced in auspicious terms as a tall, earnest young man capable of leading Israel on the battlefield. He continues to share the stage with Samuel, however, and the predominant atmosphere is suspicious of monarchy in general and of Saul’s kingship in particular. Not long after Saul has proven himself in battle, his fortunes change and his life begins to unravel. Soon he is condemned for failing to obey the prophetically mediated divine word.
The third narrative section is the story of David’s rise to power (1 Sam 15.35–2 Sam 5.10). It is animated by the conflict between the young David, to whom the Lord has promised Saul’s throne, and the increasingly jealous and often irrational old king. David is depicted in the most favorable terms as handsome and charismatic, endowed with extraordinary skills as a musician and soldier, and consistently successful in everything he undertakes because, as the narrator repeatedly reminds us, “The LORD is with him.”
The fourth section records a number of events from the reign of David (2 Sam 5.11–12.31). It centers upon the oracle of Nathan in ch. 7, in which David is promised that his descendants will rule after him in Jerusalem in an unending dynasty and that his son will build a temple for the Lord. The fifth section describes the unsuccessful revolt of David’s son Absalom (2 Sam 13.1–20.22). David is now a mature and tragic figure who is obliged to flee Jerusalem in fear for his life and very nearly loses his throne while witnessing the death of two of his sons. At the end of 2 Samuel is a miscellany (2 Sam 20.23–24.25) containing poetry attributed to David, lists of his various officers and warriors, and a variety of narrative materials loosely related to other parts of Samuel and Kings.
Literary History
THE LITERARY FOUNDATION of 1 and 2 Samuel is a group of early narrative sources upon which later editors and compilers drew. At least four of these can be specifically identified. The first is the ark narrative, which is found in 1 Sam 4.1–7.1 and parts of 1 Sam 2 (some scholars would also include parts of 2 Sam 6). This narrative explains the capture of the ark by the Philistines as a consequence of the Lord’s anger over the corruption of the priesthood of Shiloh (see 2.12–17, 22–25) and shows how the Lord used the occasion to afflict the Philistines with plague. The second early source, which is much less well defined, is a cycle of stories about Saul. These stories underlie various passages in 1 Samuel, including the tale of Saul’s anointing in chs. 9–10, the account of his liberation of Jabesh-gilead in ch. 11, and the description of his Philistine wars in chs. 13–14. The third early source is the story of David’s rise to power (1 Sam 16.14–2 Sam 5.10), which is designed to demonstrate David’s innocence of wrongdoing in his conflict with the house of Saul and to explain his dramatic ascent to the throne as a consequence of divine favor. The fourth early source is the account of Absalom’s revolt in 2 Sam 13–20. Its purpose is to disclose the private circumstances leading to the civil war that forced David temporarily into exile. The account explains the death of both Absalom and Amnon, David’s firstborn, and it seems to have been combined with the story of David’s death and the accession of Solomon in 1Kings 1–2 to constitute a succession narrative, explaining how Solomon came t
o the throne instead of one of his several older brothers.
In their present form 1 and 2 Samuel are part of the Deuteronomistic History, which extends from Deuteronomy through 2 Kings (see also the Introduction to Joshua). It recounts the history of the Israelites from the time of their arrival on the plains of Moab and entry into the promised land until the time of their deportation to exile in Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. The intervening events are reported and evaluated according to principles derived from the Deuteronomic law code (Deut 12–26). Deuteronomistic editing is light in 1 and 2 Samuel, especially in contrast to Judges or Kings. The only major passages that can be attributed to the historian are the oracle against the house of Eli in 1 Sam 2.27–36 establishing the ascendancy of the Zadokite priesthood; the historical retrospective in Samuel’s farewell address in 1 Sam 12.6–15, which belongs to a series of such speeches by major figures in the history; and the oracle of Nathan in 2 Sam 7 proclaiming the Davidic dynasty and the erection of the temple in Jerusalem.
Many of the stories in 1 Samuel and to a lesser extent 2 Samuel have been influenced editorially by a point of view that regards the institution of kingship with suspicion while looking to the prophet as the one who can provide a check on royal abuses of power and serve as an avenue through which the divine will can be expressed. In certain parts of Samuel this prophetic view point has given the narrative its primary shape. These include the story of Samuel’s childhood and rise to power in 1 Sam 1–8, Samuel’s farewell address and the two accounts of the rejection of Saul in 1 Sam 12–15, the story of the anointing of David in 1 Sam 16.1–13, and the account of the Bathsheba affair and Nathan’s condemnation of the house of David in 2 Sam 11–12. Though some scholars date this prophetic material to the exile and associate it with the Deuteronomistic revision of the story, others argue that it derives from the time of the monarchy and underlies the final Deuteronomistic edition. In any case, it is necessary to recognize within it a group of passages that present the monarchy in a wholly negative way that makes no room for the Deuteronomistic affirmation of Davidic kingship or even the concept of a prophetically constrained monarchy. These passages include the accounts of Samuel acting as judge in 1 Sam 7.2–17, the people’s demand for a king in 8.1–22, the election of Saul as king in 10.17–27a, and Samuel’s farewell address in 12.1–25. This material is united not only by its retrospective view of the institution of kingship as a failure, but also by its common representation of the city of Mizpah as the meeting place of all Israel (cf. 1 Sam 7.5; 10.17), a historical situation that existed only after the destruction of Jerusalem, when Mizpah served as the Babylonian provincial capital and headquarters of the government of Gedaliah (2 Kings 25.23). The Mizpah material is best understood as an exilic redaction of the story of the origin of the monarchy told from a uniformly hostile point of view.
The story of the history of Israel recorded in the books of Samuel and Kings is largely retold in the books of Chronicles, which use the books of Samuel and Kings as major sources. That retelling has its own emphases and interests, reflecting the concerns of a later period in the history of Israel.
The Text
FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS, not all of them clear, the Hebrew text of 1 and 2 Samuel has come down to us in defective form. For this reason, translators must rely heavily on the Septuagint and other ancient versions as well as three fragmentary Samuel manuscripts from Qumran (4QSama, b, c). [P. KYLE MCCARTER JR.]
1 SAMUEL 1
Samuel’s Birth and Dedication
1There was a certain man of Ramathaim, a Zuphitea from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah son of Jeroham son of Elihu son of Tohu son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. 2He had two wives; the name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
3Now this man used to go up year by year from his town to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. 4On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and to all her sons and daughters; 5but to Hannah he gave a double portion,b because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. 6Her rival used to provoke her severely, to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. 7So it went on year by year; as often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat. 8Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?”
9After they had eaten and drunk at Shiloh, Hannah rose and presented herself before the LORD.c Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. 10She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD, and wept bitterly. 11She made this vow: “O LORD of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as a nazirited until the day of his death. He shall drink neither wine nor intoxicants,e and no razor shall touch his head.”
12As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. 13Hannah was praying silently; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard; therefore Eli thought she was drunk. 14So Eli said to her, “How long will you make a drunken spectacle of yourself? Put away your wine.” 15But Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman deeply troubled; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. 16Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation all this time.” 17Then Eli answered, “Go in peace; the God of Israel grant the petition you have made to him.” 18And she said, “Let your servant find favor in your sight.” Then the woman went to her quarters,f ate and drank with her husband,g and her countenance was sad no longer.h
19They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD; then they went back to their house at Ramah. Elkanah knew his wife Hannah, and the LORD remembered her. 20In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the LORD.”
21The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer to the LORD the yearly sacrifice, and to pay his vow. 22But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “As soon as the child is weaned, I will bring him, that he may appear in the presence of the LORD, and remain there forever; I will offer him as a naziritei for all time.”j 23Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do what seems best to you, wait until you have weaned him; only—may the LORD establish his word.”k So the woman remained and nursed her son, until she weaned him. 24When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with a three-year-old bull,l an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh; and the child was young. 25Then they slaughtered the bull, and they brought the child to Eli. 26And she said, “Oh, my lord! As you live, my lord, I am the woman who was standing here in your presence, praying to the LORD. 27For this child I prayed; and the LORD has granted me the petition that I made to him. 28Therefore I have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives, he is given to the LORD.”
She left him there form the LORD.
next chapter
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a Compare Gk and 1 Chr 6.35-36: Heb Ramathaim-zophim
b Syr: Meaning of Heb uncertain
c Gk: Heb lacks and presented herself before the LORD
d That is one separated or one consecrated
e Cn Compare Gk Q Ms 1.22: MT then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life
f Gk: Heb went her way
g Gk: Heb lacks and drank with her husband
h Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
i That is one separated or one consecrated
j Cn Compare Q Ms: MT lacks I will offer him as a nazirite for all time
k MT: Q Ms Gk Compare Syr that which goes out of your mouth
l Q Ms Gk Syr: MT three bulls
&n
bsp; m Gk (Compare Q Ms) and Gk at 2.11: MT And he (that is, Elkanah) worshiped there before
1.1–28 The auspicious story of the birth of Samuel, who dominates the first half of 1 Samuel, and of his dedication as a Nazirite (see vv. 11, 22).
1.1 Ramathaim, NT Arimathea, may have been in the northern Shephelah near Timnah and Lod. Elkanah, though called an Ephraimite here, is given a levitical genealogy in 1 Chr 6.26, where he is listed as a member of the clan of Kohath, which had special responsibility for the ark (see Num 3.29–31); this qualifies his son Samuel for the priestly duties he carries out in chs. 2–3. On Elkanah’s designation as a Zuphite, see note on 9.5.
1.3 Shiloh, in the Ephraimite hills about twenty miles north-northeast of Jerusalem, was the central sanctuary of the Israelites at the time of Samuel’s birth.
1.6 Her rival, i.e., Peninnah. The Hebrew word became a technical term for a second wife or co-wife in the rabbinic period.
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 115
