The Second Book of Samuel: A Study in Prophetic History

Martin Sicker

Aug 2013 · Author House

About this ebook

The subject of this study is the story of the rise of David to become the king of Judah and subsequently king of all Israel, and the anything but smooth transition from a tribal confederacy to a centralized state, from the ethnic kingdom of the Israelites to the territorial kingdom of Israel that also included numerous minority groups, as presented in the Masoretic text of the Second Book of Samuel. The term story rather than history of the transition is employed to describe the subject because the biblical book is a history only in the very special sense of prophetic history, which bears little relationship to history in the modern sense of the term. The distinguishing feature of prophetic history is that it is written from a prophetic perspective with a particular purpose in mind, namely, to illustrate to later generations of the children of Israel the historical consequences of failure by its political and religious leaders to observe and comply with the terms of the divine covenant entered into between God and the children of Israel. The story related in the Second Book of Samuel is based on events that were popularly believed to have taken place, but as perceived through a prophetic prism. Accordingly, the primary focus of these prophetic narratives is on the moral implications of the decisions and actions taken by men rather than the factual historical accuracy of the details of the events described.

About the author

Dr. Martin Sicker is a writer and lecturer on the Middle East and Jewish history and religion. His is the author of 44 previous books including Reading Genesis Politically; The Trials of Abraham; The Ordeals of Isaac and Jacob; Aspects of Jewish Metarational Thought; The Exodus and the Reluctant Prophet; The Convocation at Sinai; The Theopolitical Discourses of Moses; Pondering the Imponderable; and The Book of Daniel..