Portraits of a Mature God by McEntire Mark

Author:McEntire, Mark
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4514-2627-4
Publisher: Fortress Press
Published: 2013-01-03T16:00:00+00:00

The LORD has done to you just as he spoke by me; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD, and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you today. Moreover, the LORD will give Israel along with you into the hands of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me; the LORD will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.

With this statement and prediction, the rejection and abandonment are complete. One is left to wonder only why God has let it drag out for so long. One of the great textual problems in all of the Old Testament lies back at 1 Sam. 13:1. Many versions simply leave blanks in the text because of the problems with the numbers providing Saul’s age of ascension and the length of his reign. Perhaps the unwillingness, or inability, of the biblical tradition to assign a length to Saul’s reign lies in the uncertainty of when it ended. Is it over in 1 Samuel 13, the first time Samuel undermines Saul; or in 1 Samuel 15, when YWHW rejects him; or in 1 Samuel 16, when David is anointed in his stead? Saul’s life ends on Mount Gilboah in 1 Samuel 31, in a story that makes no mention of the divine character.

This last observation about YHWH and Saul provides occasion to look at the issue of divine presence in the books of Samuel on a larger scale. Many readers have noticed that God appears irregularly in this long story, and that feeling can be confirmed with numerical data (see table 4-2).

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