Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Peter Kirk <peterkirk AT qaya.org>]

On 04/08/2005 21:52, Heard, Christopher wrote:

> ...
>
> Although 2 Samuel 24:1 vs. 1 Chronicles 21:1 is a _locus classicus_  
> in understanding the difference between the Chronicler's treatment of  
> David and the Deuteronomistic Historian's treatment of David, ...
>
> ... Clearly, the  
> Chronicler is altering his Deuteronomistic source text. But is he  
> completely changing the referent, or just using a subtle circumlocution?
>
>  
Thank your for this interesting discussion. I discovered some time ago, 
from a book of parallel passages, that this whole passage is one of the 
few in Chronicles which is closely parallel to Samuel/Kings but not 
largely verbally identical. If the Chronicler did use the book of 
Samuel, or its predecessor, as a source, for some reason that is not 
clear he more or less rewrote the whole incident. The change from "God" 
to "Satan", or "an adversary", is only a very small part of this 
rewriting. It could well be that the Chronicler's source is actually a 
separate tradition or record of the same events. And the use of "Satan" 
or "an adversary" in the Chronicler's version might be come from this 
tradition or record, and so much older than the time of the Chronicler. 
This theory would also imply that this _locus classicus_ may actually be 
a rather untypical and misleading one.

--
Peter Kirk
peter AT qaya.org (personal)
peterkirk AT qaya.org (work)
http://www.qaya.org/