Sunday, September 3, 2023

A Review of The David Story by Robert Alter

Robert Alter is a Hebrew scholar who has made a name by translating the Hebrew scrolls of the Old Testament, adding commentary to explain the Hebrew terms and possible interpretations.  I first read his work in his exceptional commentary on Genesis, a beautiful and elegant work that brings that ancient book to life and displays the artistry of the writer(s) of that book.

Alter is not a Christian and does not view the Old Testament in the way that many Christian scholars do but he does love the ancient text and has a high regard for its language and internal consistency. He will suggest, in places, that the text has been edited (where some Christian scholars will agree) but opposes the modern scholarly obsession of dividing the texts into multiple threads of authors and editors.

Alter has now translated the entire Old Testament, with copious notes and commentary. His translation of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel is available as a work called The David Story. (For completeness, it also includes the first two chapters of 1 Kings, covering David's death and the start of Solomon's reign.)  I have used the commentary in my blog on the Old Testament and it is exceptional.  I work through a chapter by first reading Alter's translation and then going back and reading his comments on the translation.  

In this commentary, Alter describes discrepancies in the ancient text (the traditional Masoretic Text of about 1000 AD, the scrolls of Samuel from the Dead Sea scrolls, c. 50 BC and the Septuagint Greek text, c. 250 BC.) He points out Hebrew wordplay in the text and the emotions and meanings carried by Hebrew words and terms. The scroll of Samuel (broken into 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel in modern Bibles) has an inclusio of songs, Hannah's song at the front in 1 Samuel 2: 1-10 and David's song at the end in 2 Samuel 22. These praise songs set off the remainder of the book, devoted to telling the story of Israel's great shepherd-king. Both songs announce that YHWH is the "horn of salvation", the one who has given them victory over their enemies.

In some places, the Hebrew words carry urgency of emotion that may be missed in modern translations.  In 1 Samuel 2: 14, Alter has greedy priests thrusting their forks "into the cauldron or the pot of the vat or the kettle", arguing that this flurry of terms, in the Hebrew text, adds to the image of greed and gluttony. In 1 Samuel 20: 30, when Saul accuses Jonathan of "the shame of your mother's nakedness" (Alter's literal translation), Alter argues that this is an abusive or violent sexual statement about Jonathan's mother. In other places, Alter insists that the term "son of..." is rude; when Saul calls David "son of Jesse" (1 Samuel 22: 7), he is refusing to say David's name and only naming his father. When Saul calls the priest Ahimelech "son of Ahitub" in 1 Samuel 22: 12 it is a rudeness that shows Saul's intent to kill the man. This use of the rude "patronymic" occurs in numerous places.

In 1 Samuel 9: 12-13, Alter suggests that the long rambling answers of the women around Saul might be a response to Saul's passivity in seeking out Samuel. He explains the proverb "Is Saul among the prophets?" (1 Samuel 10 and 1 Samuel 19: 23-24) as first being a statement of amazement at the signs given by Samuel but then later a mockery of Saul's attempts to stop David.

As Alter elaborates on the Hebrew language in 1 Samuel, we gain insight into Saul's character and his slow dissent into insanity, culminating in his visit to the woman of Endor the night before his death.

In numerous places, Alter suggests an explanation or interpretation of the ancient Hebrew names and points out wordplay, in which the ancient author has deliberately used homonyms, words that sound the same or very similar. For example, in 1 Samuel 13: 7, the text says "the Hebrews had crossed the Jordan..."  The uncommon description of the people as "Hebrews" is explained by the wordplay ivrim avru, Hebrew words translated "Hebrews had crossed". In 1 Samuel 16: 23, Saul's finding relief from the evil spirit, involves the same base word; ruah is spirit and rawah is relief. There are numerous places where this wordplay is hidden by English translations and only pulled out by Alter's notes.

Alter's translation of David's story is a beautiful study of the great shepherd-king of Israel and an artful argument for the power and majesty of the Old Testament writings.

Other reviews of Alter's commentary on 1 and 2 Samuel are: 

  • A short review by Patrick Reardon is here.
  • A review by the New York Times is here; it includes a link to the first chapter of the book.  in case one wants to see the style of the translation and commentary.
  • A review by the Los Angeles Times is here.
I have enjoyed slowly working through this book and marking up the pages!

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