How (not) to murder a king: Variations on a theme in 1 Sam 24; 26

Abstract

Much progress has been made in recent years in the study of the nature of interrelating texts, and many have demonstrated how interrelation has been used in ancient literature as a device for advancing ideology. This paper will discuss the nature of the relationship between the stories about how David twice spared Saul's life (1 Sam 24 and 26) and the purpose served by including double incidents within a larger narrative framework. The discussion of literary interrelations is not without danger since many such studies have been criticized as reflecting nothing more than one reader's personal associations. Without arguing whether authorial intent is of greater value than subsequent readers' interpretations, it must be owned that establishing authorial intent is essential to the questions of whether one text is patterned upon another or engages another in discussion, and such questions are of great importance to historical reconstruction and discussion of the history of ideas. Thus, it first proves necessary to establish a methodology for laying bare authorial intent in textual interrelations, and on the basis of such a methodology I shall clarify the nature of the relationship between the stories about the sparing of 1 This article is based upon a paper presented at

A Mimetic Reading of Deuteronomy 21:18‐21

“… As Cynthia Edenburg has noted, the ‘unique recurrence of peculiar formulations… Recurrent use of rare… expressions may support an argument for literary interrelationship.’ Cynthia Edenburg, ‘How (Not) to Murder a King: Variations on a Theme in 1 Sam 24; 26,’ Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament 12, no. 1 (): 72. A relationship between Psalm 78:5‐8 and Deuteronomy 21:18‐21 is, therefore, highly likely because both of these texts employ the extremely rare word pair, sôrēr ûmōre .…”

Rest and Victory in Revelation 14.13

“… 26. This technique of using ‘ungrammatical’ constructions to mark an allusion seems to be an existing practice among the Jews, because it is also attested in the Hebrew Bible (see Edenburg 1998: 68-69). …”

Intertextuality and Methodological Bias: Prolegomena to the Evaluation of Source Materials in 1 Peter

“… 23. E.g., Edenburg 1998: 72-74; Carr 2001; Stackert 2007: 21-27; Leonard 2008; Lyons 2009: 59-67; Tooman 2011: 31-34; Bergsma 2012. …”

“… 35. Cf. Edenburg 1998: 72; Leonard 2008: 253-55; Winn 2010: 32-33. …”