Biblical Hebrew Forum

[goranson AT duke.edu]

Hi, Soren. I don't know the answer. I don't recall hearing this story. but,
since no one else replied, I'll make a few wild guesses of places to look.
Possibly relevant Library of Congress subject headings include David, King of
Israel--in literature. One book in that category, e.g., is
The David myth in Western literature /
Raymond-Jean Frontain;  Jan Wojcik 1980
English  Book xi, 212 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
West Lafayette, Ind. : Purdue University Press,

Simlarly, Mary Blessed Virgin, Saint--legends.
Charlesworth and Mueller edited The New Testament Apocrypha and
Pseudepigrapha:
a guide to Publications. Schneemelcher and Wilson NT Apocrypha didn't show
anything obvious, but I didn't look hard.

Another possibility is that this story could appear in an illuminated
manuscript
or other art. If so, The Index of Christian art from Princeton might help. It
has a subscription online form. And there's a related book:
King David in the Index of Christian art /
Colum Hourihane 2002  xxvi, 438 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ; ISBN: 0691095469 (cloth : alk.
paper) 9780691095462 (cloth : alk. paper) 0691095477 (pbk. : alk. paper)
9780691095479 (pbk. : alk. paper)

And whichever likely suspect periodical indexs at hand.
Good luck.
Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson


Quoting Søren Holst <sh AT teol.ku.dk>:

> I should have stated clearly:
>
> The note, although appended to a passage in 1 Sam, explicitly talks
> about this apocryphal episode taking place "in the New Testament",
> obviously intending a little typological parallelizing.
>
> In my rough translation of my colleaue's transcription of the Old
> Danish, it goes:
>
> "In the Old Testament, David expelled the Devil from Saul, but what
> he did in the New Testament was this: When a pious man was about to
> die, but for fear of the devil his soul was unwilling to leave the
> body (that is why the Virgin Mary asked her son not to have to see
> the devil at death), the angel of the aforementioned soul came and
> asked her [the soul, grammatically fem.] to depart voluntarily: no
> harm would come to her. And yet she refused. The angel then fetched
> David with his musical instrument, and he played for the dying man
> and he [writer's error? presumably she = the soul] gladly departed."
>
> kol tuv
> S
>
> -----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
> Fra: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] På vegne af Søren Holst
> Sendt: 9. november 2007 09:40
> Til: b-hebrew
> Emne: [b-hebrew] David "expelling" a soul in the New Testament?
>
>
> Dear listers
>
> Somewhat off-topic, I'm mainly hoping someone will tell me the
> correct place to ask the question:
>
> A colleague is working on a 13-14th century CE manuscript of a Danish
> Bible translation which is mostly just a straight rendering of the
> Vulgate, but has occasional additions.
>
> One tells of an instant, where the soul of a dying, pious man refuses
> to leave the body, and "it's (the soul's) angel" has to fetch king
> David with his musical instrument to persuade the soul.
>
> The instance is reported as a note to 1 Sam 16,23 (David driving the
> eveil spirit away from Saul) in the manuscript.
>
> There is bound to be a source for this information, be it an
> apocryphal gospel or an independent legend or whatever. But where???
>
> any suggestions highly appreciated
>
> kol tuv
> Soren
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