Nathan: Prophet, politician and novelist?

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

Volumn 26, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 43-54

  Bodner, Keith ^a  

^a Tyndale University College   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60950575179     PISSN: 03090892     EISSN: 14766728     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/030908920102600103     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. G.H. Jones, The Nathan Narratives (JSOTSup, 80; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1990)
2. Jones, The Nathan Narratives, pp. 20-21, 145
3. P.K. McCarter, II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary (AB, 9; Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984), pp. 210-31
4. cf. A.A. Anderson, 2 Samuel (WBC, 11; Dallas: Word Books, 1989), pp. 109-16
5. Summarized in Anderson, 2 Samuel, p. 114
6. An extensive overview of the scholarship on the editorial history of the passage is provided in MeCarter, II Samuel, pp. 220-24
7. W. Brueggemann, First and Second Samuel (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 253
8. L. Eslinger, House of God or House of David: The Rhetoric of 2 Samuel 7 (JSOTSup, 164; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994)
9. R. Polzin, David and the Deuteronomist (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993), p. 71
10. Polzin, David and the Deuteronomist, pp. 71-72
11. Eslinger, House of God or House of David, p. 26
12. R. Alter, The David Story (New York: Norton, 1999), p. 257
13. Rather than referring to these narratives as 'juridical parables', Pyper describes them as 'oath-provoking stories' since their primary function is to induce the king to swear an oath. See H.S. Pyper, David as Reader: 2 Samuel 12:1-15 and the Poetics of Fatherhood (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1996), p. 109
14. Alter, The David Story, p. 257
15. Cf. Polzin, David and the Deuteronomist, pp. 120-26
16. E.g. N. Wyatt, '"Jedidiah" and Cognate Forms as a Title of Royal Legitimation', Bib 66 (1985), pp. 112-25
17. J.P. Fokkelman, Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel. I. King David (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1981), p. 92
18. R.D. Nelson, First and Second Kings (Interpretation; Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1987), p. 16, comments as follows: 'Adonijah's sacrifice meal was not necessarily the occasion for an unauthorized coronation, although the wily Nathan makes it out to be just that. It may have been only a way of building good will among his potential supporters. Although the narrator leaves our suspicions unconfirmed either way, most commentators have for some reason bought Nathan's story at face value.'
19. R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative (New York: Basic Books, 1981), pp. 98-99, additionally observes that this phrase affixes 'a higher order of binding solemnity to the vow. Perhaps Nathan as a man of God was nervous about taking His name in vain (especially, of course, if the whole idea of the pledge was hoax) and so omitted that phrase from his instructions.'
20. Fokkelman, King David, p. 356
21. B.O. Long, 1 Kings, with an Introduction to Historical Literature (FOTL, 9; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), p. 38, notes 'Nathan's posture is remarkable
22. Contrast v. 13, where Bathsheba receives no formal announcement. Cf. J.T. Walsh, 1 Kings (Berit Olam; Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1996), p. 16
23. Cf. the translation and comments of S.J. DeVries, 1 Kings (WBC, 12; Waco, TX: Word Books, 1985), pp. 15-16. DeVries notes that this statement is an 'ironic exaggeration', and the fact that 'Nathan feels the need to inform the king in detail shows that he does not actually believe that David ordered Adonijah's coronation, an attitude which his question of v 27 underscores'
24. Cf. Fokkelman, King David, p. 354