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Headword: *daui/d
Adler number: delta,94
Translated headword: David
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
A prophet[1], forefather of our Lord and God.
[The man] who after becoming king grew even more powerful,[2] and the Lord Almighty was with him. He had 37[3] mighty men, so mighty that the least of them was the equal of 100, and the greatest of them the equal of 1000.[4] [...]
They were mighty and invincible against his enemies. Although carrying full shields and long lances, they were as nimble of foot as gazelles running upon the mountains.[5] Their preparation was astounding; their faces were like those of lions. And with respect to the warriors, whom David had with him, 3,320,000[6] were counted by Joab[7] his chief general.[8] [...]
And this deed was evil[9] before the Lord, so the Lord sent the prophet Gad to David and he said, "Thus says the Lord God: Choose for yourself one of three things to befall you, either three[10] years that famine be in the land, or three months that you flee before your enemies, or three days that pestilence[11] be in your land." And David said, "These three things are hard choices for me at every turn, but I will fall into the hands of the Lord." So he[12] chose pestilence, and 70 thousand died from morning until noon. And David said, "I am the shepherd[13] who has done evil, these are the sheep;[14] let your hand be upon me." Thus called upon to intercede, the Lord extended his hand whereby the slaughter ceased,[15] and David built an altar there.[16]
Greek Original:
*daui/d, profh/ths, propa/twr tou= kuri/ou kai\ qeou= h(mw=n. o(\s meta\ to\ basileu=sai e)poreu/eto megaluno/menos, kai\ ku/rios pantokra/twr h)=n met' au)tou=. ei)=xe de\ dunatou\s a)/ndras lz#, w(/ste to\n mikro\n au)tw=n poiei=n pro\s r#, to\n de\ me/gan pro\s xili/ous a)/ndras. dunatoi\ kai\ a)katagw/nistoi pro\s tou\s e)nanti/ous, qureou\s ai)/rontes kai\ do/rata me/gista, kou=foi toi=s posi/n, w(s dorka/des e)pi\ tw=n o)re/wn tre/xontes. h( kataskeuh\ au)tw=n e)/kplhktos, ta\ pro/swpa au)tw=n w(s leo/ntwn. tou\s de\ polemista/s, ou(\s ei)=xe *dabi\d met' au)tou=, muria/des tlb# kaqw\s h)riqmh/qh u(po\ *)iwa\b tou= a)rxistrath/gou au)tou=. kai\ tou=to ponhro\n e)fa/nh e)/nanti kuri/ou, kai\ a)pe/steile ku/rios *ga\d to\n profh/thn pro\s *dabi\d kai\ ei)=pe: ta/de le/gei ku/rios o( qeo/s: e)/klecai seautw=| gene/sqai soi e(\n tw=n triw=n, h)\ tri/a e)/th limo\n e)n th=| gh=|, h)\ mh=nas trei=s feu/gein e)/mprosqen tw=n e)xqrw=n sou, h)\ trei=s h(me/ras qa/naton e)n th=| gh=| sou. kai\ ei)=pe *dabi/d: stena/ moi pa/ntoqen ta\ tri/a: plh\n e)mpesou=mai ei)s xei=ras kuri/ou. kai\ e)cele/cato to\n qa/naton, kai\ a)pe/qanon a)po\ prwi/+qen me/xri w(/ras a)ri/stou xilia/des o#. kai\ ei)=pe *dabi/d: e)gw/ ei)mi o( poimh\n o( kakopoih/sas, ou(=toi ta\ pro/bata: gene/sqw dh\ h( xei/r sou e)p' e)moi/. kai\ paraklhqei\s o( ku/rios a)pe/steile th\n xei=ra au)tou= kai\ sune/sxen h( qrau=sis, kai\ w)|kodo/mhsen e)kei= *dabi\d qusiasth/rion.
Notes:
Source (after the opening gloss): George the Monk, Chronicon 1.176.10-13, 178.4-11, 179.5-25. Some repetition at omicron 974, and cf. sigma 1035.
For David see also delta 95, delta 96.
[1] Judaism, as in the Jerusalem Talmud (c.400 CE) (Ginzberg, 5.414), and Christianity (EncycJudaica, 5.1332) have extra-biblical traditions that identify David as a prophet. The Jerusalem Talmud (Sotah 9.24b), for example, cites David as an early prophet. Judaic canonization of the texts of Samuel and Kings (the primary sources of Davidic historiography) within the Nebi'im and their subcategorization as part of the Nebi'im Rishonim or Early (in the sense of Pre-Exilic) Prophets provided a lattice for Talmudic assertion of David as a prophet (EncycJudaism, 4.820-21). That said, it is moot as to whether Talmudic reference to a prophetic David influenced Christian perceptions. Christian aetiology here is more plausibly attributable to a reading-back to David of numerous NT assertions (in the Gospels and Acts) of Jesus as prophet. Moreover, the "prophetic expectation that God would raise up an ideal Davidic ruler" (Perkins, 630) is partially transferred in the Christian context to the progenitor, or as in the Suda, the propater himself, attracting David into the prophetic circle. By this retrospective apparatus (which also includes specific Davidic parallels, such as the showbread incidents in 1 Samuel (1 Kingdoms) 21:1-6; Luke 6:1-5, the "king" attributive, and other accretions), the Suda compiler can comfortably append the epithet "prophet" to the lineal credential (Matthew 1:1) linking David and the personage of Jesus.
[2] The Suda's use of e)poreu/eto truncates the LXX (and George's) syntax: kai\ e)poreu/eto (dieporeu/eto, 2 Kingdoms 5:10) *daui\d poreuo/menos kai\ megaluno/menos (1 Chronicles 11:9) (Brenton, 407; 544), in which {di}eporeu/eto plus its participle convey continuation. With kai/ plus the participle of the modified verb (megaluno/menos), the construction mimics the Hebrew expression for continuance with הלך halaḵ "walk, go"; {di}eporeu/eto) (Kautzsch, 334 {113u}; Brown, Driver, Briggs {BDB}, 233). At 2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms) 5:10 and 1 Chronicles 11:9, the Massoretic Text (MT) expresses halakh-continuance using the finite verb with its infinitive absolute (halōḵ) plus the infinitive absolute of the modified verb (here, gaḏōl); thus: וילך דוד הלוך וגדול wayyeleḵ Dawiḏ halōḵ wegaḏōl (and David become more and more powerful) (Kohlenberger, Vol 2, 264; Vol 3, 32). Unlike the MT citations, however, the LXX substitutes a participle for the halakh-infinitive absolute and a participle for the infinitive absolute of the modified verb.
[3] The list of David's warriors is found in 2 Samuel (2 Kingdoms) 23:8-39 and 1 Chronicles 11:10-47, with the total number given as 37 in 2 Samuel 23:39 (= LXX 2 Kingdoms 23:39). See, however, McCarter's comments to the effect that "this is an editor's computation, but it is difficult to discover how it was reckoned" (McCarter, 499-501).
[4] Hyperbole: the MT cites neither David's Three nor Thirty as the equals of 100 or 1,000 men. The minimum slain is 300 by Abishai at 2 Samuel 23:18 and 1 Chronicles 11:20; or by Jashobeam at 1 Chronicles 11:11; the maximum is 800 by Josheb-basshebeth (Jashobeam of 1 Chronicles 11:11) at 2 Samuel 23:8. The Suda appears to attribute the slaying of 1,000 to Shammah's battle at Lehi (2 Samuel 23:12); the slaying of that number was accomplished by Samson at his Lehi confrontation with the Philistines in Judges 15:15.
[5] See 1 Chronicles 12:8 (LXX, Eng); MT 1 Chronicles 12:9. See also 2 Samuel 2:18 for Asahel (a member of the Thirty) described similarly, and Josephus for Asahel outrunning a horse (Josephus, Jewish Antiquities 7.14).
[6] Literally, "332 myriads." In the MT, 2 Samuel 24:9 the total is 1,300,000; in 1 Chronicles 21:5 the total is 1,570,000. The LXX reads the same; Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews 7.320) gives a total of 1,300,000. George the Monk gives 234 myriads. The figures in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles as well as Josephus underscore a penchant for hyperbole. The Suda inflates the base number by a factor of 10,000; Joab wishes David a hundred-fold increase (2 Samuel 24:3). For inflation in 2 Samuel 24:9, see McCarter, 510.9. There is a tradition found in both Rabbinic and Christian sources that the numeric discrepancy in the two biblical accounts is due to Joab making two lists--only the incomplete one being made known to David (Ginzberg, 4.112; 6.270). But in any case, numerals are easily corrupted in textual tradition.
[7] For this story, see 2 Samuel 24 (= 2 Kingdoms) and 1 Chronicles 21.
[8] The Suda calls Joab a)rxistra/thgos or commander; cf. Lust, Part I, 64. Josephus uses the same term at Antiquities of the Jews 7.11, but shows strathgo/s at AJ 7.318. The LXX titles Joab the equivalent of "overall commander": a)/rxonta th=s i)sxu/os, 2 Kingdoms 24:2; a)/rxonta th=s duna/mews, 3 Kingdoms 1:19; a)rxistra/thgos, 3 Kingdoms 2:22. 1 Chronicles 21:2, however, would, without additional references, seem to cast Joab as primus inter pares (pro\s *)iwab kai\ pro\s tou\s a)/rxontas th=s duna/mews). See Brenton for LXX citations. In the MT, Joab's rank is שׂר החיל "sar hahayil" (2 Samuel 24:2) or שׂר הצבא "sar hatssaba'" (1 Kings 1:19); that is, general of the army. See also BDB, 978; McCarter, 504 (24.2).
[9] The plague's immediate cause is traceable to census purification rites violated by David, ignoring Joab's misgivings in 2 Samuel 24:3. See McCarter's comments at 2 Samuel 24:3 in the NRSV, and his more extensive discussion on the census-plague episode in McCarter, 508 (24.1); 512-18. The impropriety of David's census as inferred from Joab's questioning of it is reflected in Josephus, AJ 7.318-9. For Rabbinic sources which reflect the same details as found in Josephus, see references listed in Ginzberg, 6.270.
[10] The MT account in 2 Samuel 24:13 cites "seven years" and is followed by Josephus, AJ 7.321. The account in 1 Chronicles 21:12 and in 2 Kingdoms 24:13 gives "three years" and is followed by George the Monk and the Suda.
[11] Lust, Part I, 201 gives "mortality" for qa/natos at 2 Samuel 24:13, but cites "pestilence" for Exodus 5:3. The Hebrew at 2 Samuel 24:13 reads דבר "deber" or "plague" (Kohlenberger, Vol 2, 327; BDB, 184).
[12] Unlike 1 Samuel 5:6 and 2 Samuel 24:14, where xei/r and xei=ras are code for "plague" (McCarter: NRSV, 424; 507; Brenton for LXX), the Suda entry seems to compress into xei=rasnot only David's abrogation and God's impending plague choice (LXX: 1 Chronicles 21:14) but David's assertion of God's mercy (2 Kingdoms 24:14; 1 Chronicles 21:13). The Suda fails to specify an agent for e)cele/cato, although George the Monk has "David" as the subject. The LXX attributes the plague choice to David in 2 Kingdoms but to God in 1 Chronicles.
[13] "Shepherd," although not in the MT, is found in a Qumran Cave 4 scroll of 2 Samuel, in Josephus at AJ 7.328, and in Targum Jonathan, "these people who are like sheep under the care of a shepherd."
[14] At omicron 974, ou)/toi is read instead of ou(=toi, which would make the sense, "It is I the shepherd who have done evil, not the sheep."
[15] The compiler confuses sune/sxen with sunesxe/qh (2 Kingdoms 24:25) (Brenton, 440).
[16] At the threshing floor of Araunah (Ornan) the Jebusite (2 Samuel 24:18-25; 1 Chronicles 21:18-27).
References:
Brenton, C.L.B., The Septuagint with Apocrypha. Peabody: Henrickson, 1991 (reprint of 1851 ed.)
Brown, F., Driver, S.R., Briggs, C.A., A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1951
Encyclopaedia Judaica. Jerusalem: Encyclopaedia Judaica, 1973
Ginzberg, L. The Legends of the Jews, 7 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1998 (reprint of 1909, 1937 eds.)
Kautzsch, E. Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar. Oxford: Clarendon, 1910
Kohlenberger, J.R. The Interlinear NIV Hebrew-English Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987
Lust, J. A Greek-English Lexicon of the Septuagint, Part I. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1992
McCarter, Jr., P.K. II Samuel (The Anchor Bible). New York: Doubleday, 1984
McCarter, Jr. P.K. 1 and 2 Samuel in The Harper Collins Study Bible (NRSV). New York: Harper Collins, 1993
Perkins, P. "Messiah" in Harper's Bible Dictionary. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985
Targum Jonathan, The Bible in Aramaic, Alexander Sperber, ed., Vol. 2: The Former Prophets according to Targum Jonathan (Leiden: Brill, 1959)
Whiston, W. The Works of Josephus. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987 (reprint of 1736 ed.)
Keywords: aetiology; biography; Christianity; chronology; dialects, grammar, and etymology; food; historiography; history; imagery; medicine; military affairs; religion; zoology
Translated by: Lee Fields on 17 May 2001@15:35:37.
Vetted by:
Craig Miller (modified headword, modified translation, modified and expanded notes, expanded bibliography, expanded keywords, reset status) on 31 December 2001@13:05:00.
Craig Miller on 1 January 2002@00:32:55.
Craig Miller (additional editing) on 1 January 2002@08:33:32.
Craig Miller (cosmetics) on 21 January 2002@16:32:11.
Craig Miller on 21 January 2002@18:44:30.
Craig Miller on 21 January 2002@19:26:07.
Craig Miller on 21 January 2002@19:41:50.
Catharine Roth (simplified translation slightly) on 21 January 2002@20:02:16.
Craig Miller (cosmetics) on 21 January 2002@21:00:10.
Craig Miller (Cosmetics) on 25 January 2002@23:00:18.
Raphael Finkel (Added Hebrew; cosmetics.) on 31 October 2002@11:46:53.
David Whitehead (added opening note; added keyword; cosmetics) on 27 May 2003@10:04:48.
Catharine Roth (deleted defunct links) on 10 January 2012@01:30:30.
David Whitehead (more keywords; cosmetics) on 15 June 2012@12:19:41.
David Whitehead (another x-ref) on 26 January 2014@09:34:39.
Catharine Roth (tweaks and coding, new note 14) on 5 August 2014@23:10:12.
Raphael Finkel (Converted Romanization of Hebrew to ISO 259) on 7 August 2014@15:21:37.
Catharine Roth (indicated gaps) on 3 September 2014@01:04:26.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 4 September 2014@12:28:44.
Catharine Roth (tweaked notes) on 4 September 2014@12:46:03.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation and note 12) on 4 September 2014@13:20:24.
Catharine Roth (cosmetics) on 24 October 2014@00:54:54.
Catharine Roth on 24 October 2014@00:57:26.
Catharine Roth (more coding) on 29 October 2014@01:10:42.
Catharine Roth (typo) on 28 October 2018@01:46:11.

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