David and his God: Religious Ideas as Reflected in Biblical Historiography and Literature (review)

Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 133 Reviews DAVID AND HIS GOD: RELIGIOUS IDEAS AS REFLECTED IN BIBLICAL HISTORIOGRAPHY AND LITERATURE. By Shamai Gelander. Jerusalem Biblical Studies 5. Pp. 206. Tel Aviv: Simor Ltd., 1991. Paper, $24.00. This relatively short book is a translation from the Hebrew manuscript and includes forty pages of bibliography, thirteen of abbreviations and indices, and a twelve page Hebrew summary. Despite its brevity, it does not make for easy or entirely convincing reading. In his introduction Gelander asks why David became the symbol of the Ideal King in Israelite tradition and why his enterprises were seen as more significant than those of such kings as Josiah and Hezekiah. Thus, the focal point of the book asks, "What does the [Deuteronomistic] historiographer wish to ascribe to David?" (p. 9). Gelander contends that the "editorauthor " of the final form of the text views David's achievements as essentially "a 'revolution' in the realm of faith and religion" (p. 10) and intends "to place on record the circumstances in which this change of faith took place" (p. 63). He analyzes only those texts which support this thesis, namely, 2 Samuel 6, 24, 7, and 5 in that order. The core of this Daviddirected theological revolution is the change it effects in the way God is perceived. In the traditional view, the Lord is a wandering tribal God who has no permanent abode, no predictable and reliable principles of action, and who is prone to "incomprehensible outbursts of fierce, destructive wrath" (p. 11). Divine manifestations are mysterious, and divine responses to petitioners are vague or uncertain. On the other hand, "a God with a permanent abode is one whose manners and customs are evident, and their moral basis can therefore be explained. He [sic] does not give vent to inexplicable outbursts of wrath ...The very fact that He is ensconced in a permanent abode also means that His response to petitioners is consistent, or at least has the clear, known element of constancy implied by routine" (p. 11). "Incomprehensible outbursts" occur in the accounts of Uzzah and the Ark in 2 Sam 6:6-7 and in the plague story of 2 Samuel 24, chapters recounting David's "first and last significant acts as king" (p. 138), although no such vengeful manifestations occur in the intervening chapters. In contrast , limited, reasoned chastisement is predicted in 2 Samuel 7. In Gelander's view, these three chapters (2 Samuel 6, 24, and 7) reflect a disturbing tension between the two concepts of God as well as a climate of fear and resistance to change. Hebrew Studies 34 (1993) 134 Reviews In chap. I, Gelander views 2 Samuel 6 as functioning to shape a specific picture of David. He is preferred by God over Saul because of his "greater faith" (p. 52) and is responsible for the revolutionary change in the concept of the Deity. The Lord's wrath, resulting in Uzzah's death, was an unreasonable outburst, uncaused and unexplained, manifesting "God's demonic aspect" (p. 44). It was David whose protest of halting the ark's journey to Jerusalem annulled the divine anger and obtained instead a blessing, thereby winning a victory over the Lord. Thus, Gelander concludes, the historiographer ascribes to David the revolutionary "attempt to establish belief in a Deity who can no longer be regarded as capricious, ill-tempered , wrathful" (pp. 45-46; 53). While there is evidence of an underlying political struggle and David is glorified at the expense of Saul, the intended message of 2 Samuel 6 is the theological one. Chapter 2 finds a similar message in 2 Samuel 24, where again the Lord is enraged for no obvious reason. This account, too, centers on David's success in restraining God's anger: the plague was terminated because of his initiative and prayer. The altar built on the site where the plague was arrested (and where the temple will be built) commemorates this annulling of divine vengeance. Together, 2 Samuel 6 and 24 are meant to indicate not only the relocation of the Deity to a permanent dwelling place, but also that "in the future the Deity must be associated with unchanging behaviour-the Lord...