The Nathan Narrative in 2 Samuel 7:1–17

A Traditio-historical Study

Watty

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781498200011
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

As with archaeology, traditio-historical research of Old Testament literature proceeds backwards from the received text, travelling through the earlier stages of compositions to the probable origins. The canonical structure of the Hebrew Bible has therefore been taken as the point of departure in the traditio-historical study of the Nathan Narrative in 2 Samuel 7:1-17. By progressing backwards from the Canonical Prophets, the stages in the composition of the Joshua-Kings corpus, and of 2 Samuel 7:1-17, have been recovered through the application of redactio-critical and literary critical methods. A pre-history of the Narrative has also been retraced in the traditions that were preserved in the oral stages, in the typical forms and settings of transmission.Notwithstanding the valuable insights that have accrued from Martin Noth's hypothesis of a "Deuteronomistic History," both the hypothesis itself and analyses deriving from it have failed to account satisfactorily for the place of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 in the Joshua-Kings composition. That failure is due to a methodological flaw of taking a non-canonical configuration--namely the Deuteronomy-Kings corpus--as the point of departure and the interpretative key. This study tries to remedy that flaw.

CHAPTER I

THE DAVID TRADITION IN THE HEBREW CANON—AN OVERVIEW

Notwithstanding the wide variety and high quality of the studies, and the sustained level of the output, the questions have not all been answered nor has a consensus been reached on important issues pertaining to the Nathan narrative in 2 Samuel 7:1–17. Questions still unresolved include its authorship and composition, date and purpose, originality and genre, connections with and distinction within its literary setting, and its canonical status. Even so, its importance for the biblical tradition generally, and Samuel especially, has generally been recognized. Early hints of the narrative might be detected in Judges and 1 Samuel (Judg 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25; 1 Sam 2:2–10; 13:14; 15:28; 16:1–13a; 24:20; 25:28; 28:17), and echoes in 2 Samuel and Kings (2 Sam 23:1–7; 1 Kgs 11:36; 15:4; 2 Kgs 8:19), the Latter Prophets (Isa 9:2–7; 11:1–9; Jer 23:5; 30:9; Ezek 34:23–24; 37:24; Amos 9:11; Mic 5:2) and the Writings (Pss 78:68–72; 89:3–4, 20–37; 132:1, 10, 17–18; 1 Chr 17:1–14).

It would be useful, by way of introduction, to overview the canonical profile, since the inclusion of the canonical text on the traditio-historical agenda seems both plausible and practical. The canonical text is but the culmination of a growing and developing tradition. Therefore, to focus exclusively on the final product without reviewing the preliminary stages is to miss whatever distinctive quality there might be in the traditional material, and to concentrate solely on the traditional material—its coalescence and growth in the pre-canonical stages—is to deprive the final product of its special significance. Either way, to detatch the text from its pre-history is to risk overlooking the intricacies and complexities of its composition and essential qualities of its content that might not be immediately apparent.

The first complete copy of the Bible did not mysteriously appear, nor was its final shaping, as Brevard Childs has suggested, the automatic outcome of transmission of an earlier received form of the tradition, unchanged from its original setting.1 There was no initial composition of the documents that predetermined the final shaping of the of the Old Testament text nor, on the other hand, was it wholly the outcome of an official approval conferred upon documents, previously unrelated, that were selected, assembled and arranged in a recognizable order. Moreover, canonization, far from being a formal imprimatur, involved basically the same systematic process of transmission. While, therefore, the canonical text marks the end of the evolving traditions, its special status need neither be compromised by, nor compromise, its contribution to an exploration of its origins and the history of its evolution, since it is the integrity and elucidation of the text that is the primary objective, and there, as nowhere else, the essential data for research have been preserved. Such considerations should both encourage and enhance a traditio-historical study of Old Testament literature.

David and the Nathan Narrative in The Law (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

In the Law, otherwise designated “the Pentateuch,” David’s achievements, and especially the supremacy to which he raised Israel, were foreshadowed in covenant traditions of promises which God made to his ancestors regarding property in Canaan and innumerable descendants (Gen 12:1–3; 13:14–18; 15:1–18; 22:16–18; 26:24; 28:13–14; 35:11–12). While Ronald Clements has been able, by traditio-historical research, to retrace a Davidic covenant to a tradition of promises made to Abraham,2 it is also evident that such traditions were reshaped in the course of their transmission. The nationalistic fervor that animated Noah’s blessing of Shem (Gen 9:25–27) and Isaac’s blessing of Jacob (Gen 27:1-29) reflected the Davidic and Israelite ascendancy over the Canaanite population in the one case, and domination of their Edomite neighbors in the other (cf. 2 Sam 8:13–14a; 1 Kgs 9:20–21; 11:15–16).

Although the Joseph narratives were originally intended to project Ephraim’s superior status (Gen 37–50; cf. 37:5...

Table of contents

• PREFACE
• Abbreviations
• Chapter I: THE DAVID TRADITION IN THE HEBREW CANON—AN OVERVIEW
• Chapter II: THE TRADITIO-HISTORICAL APPROACH
• Chapter III: THE ARGUMENT—2 SAMUEL 7:1–17 IN DEUTERONOMY–KINGS
• Chapter IV: 2 SAMUEL 7:1–17 IN PRE–CANONICAL REDACTION
• Chapter V: 2 SAMUEL 7:1–17—A LITERARY CRITICAL ANALYSIS
• Chapter VI: 2 SAMUEL 7:1–17 IN ORAL TRANSMISSION—A FORM CRITICAL STUDY
• Chapter VII: 2 SAMUEL VII: 1–17—THE EVOLUTION OF THE NARRATIVE—A SUMMARY
• SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY