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In a decisive departure from traditional biblical scholarship, Miscall offers a reading of 1 Samuel that is strongly influenced by New Criticism, Structuralism, and Deconstruction.
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1 Samuel
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Indiana Studies in Biblical Literature Herbert Marks and Robert Polzin, General Editors
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1 Samuel A Literary Reading Peter D. Miscall INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS BLOOMINGTON
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To My Father and My Mother— That my days may be long and that it may go well with me in the land. (Deut. 5:16) This book was brought to publication with the aid of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Portions of chapters 4, 5, and 6 first appeared in The Workings of Old Testiment Narrative. Reprinted by permission of The Society of Biblical Literature. © 1986 by Peter D. Miscall All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data Miscall, Peter D. 1 Samuel: a literary reading. (Indiana studies in biblical literature) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Bible. O.T. Samuel, 1st—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title. II. Title: First Samuel. III. Series. BS1325.2.M57 1986 222'.43066 8542948 ISBN 0253342473 ISBN 0253203651 (pbk.) 1 2 3 4 5 90 89 88 87 86
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Contents
Introduction
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1. 1 Samuel 1–3
1
2. 1 Samuel 4–7
26
3. 1 Samuel 8–12
41
4. 1 Samuel 13–15
81
5. 1 Samuel 16–18
115
6. 1 Samuel 19–23
126
7. 1 Samuel 24–26
144
8. 1 Samuel 27–31
163
Postscript
184
Bibliography
186
Index
187
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Introduction The What I claim much and I claim little for this work. I claim much, because the work is a decisive departure from and challenge to historical criticism and the biblical studies, whether historical, literary, or theological, based on it or associated with it. I accept few of historical criticism's presuppositions, modes of analysis, types of questions asked, or kinds of answers or meaning sought. At the same time, I claim little, because the work is only a beginning in new readings of Old Testament narrative and, indeed, is only a beginning in new readings of 1 Samuel. Fuller readings need to be done; individual themes, issues, characters, etc., traced and developed; implications of the reading further analyzed. At this stage, I can only point to some of these. Like the opening chapters of 1 Samuel, this book declares an older period at an end, heralds an as yet vague and indeterminate future, but cannot leave that past behind to approach the future with a clean slate. A basic conviction—the Old Testament is different from Western literature, from classical to modern, but it is just as complex and sophisticated as any Western writing, whether narrative, poetry, philosophy, or theology. To be different is not to be less, is not to be simplistic and primitive. I read the Old Testament as on a par with, although different from, Homer, Tacitus, Plato, Augustine, Chaucer, Aquinas, Luther, Shakespeare, Hegel, Nietzsche, Yeats, and RobbeGrillet. I depart from historical criticism and associated methods and disciplines, because they do regard and treat the Old Testament as simplistic a