Berit Olam: 2 Samuel
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
King David ranks among the most intriguing persons in the Hebrew Bible. The Second Book of Samuel tells the story of David's kingship-his public successes and his private foibles. The narrator's rehearsal of this story, as questioning as it is vivid, glimpses the secrets of David's heart. In this commentary, Craig E. Morrison focuses on the aesthetics of the "art of the telling": how does the narrator succeed in breathing life into his portrait of David? How does he draw the reader into his story? This commentary is intended to accompany the reader's encounter with this ancient masterpiece so that one might cheer with David as he dances before the ark of God and weep with him as he grieves the death of his rebel son Absalom. Morrison's careful reading of 2 Samuel brings the reader face-to-face with David, whose multifaceted character eludes facile labels.
Key Features
- Places an emphasis on the Hebrew Bible as literature
- Provides thoughtful exegesis and interpretation
- Biblical research in the Catholic tradition
Top Highlights
“We witnessed that divine protection in 1 Samuel 18–31 when God guarded David from Saul’s machinations and more recently when David routed his principal adversary, the Philistines. Now David learns from the mouth of God what we have known since the day he was anointed by Samuel. The four first-person-singular verbs focus our attention on God as the sole actor in David’s life and in Israel’s history: I [God] took … I was with … I cut off … I will make.… David would still be with his flocks but for God’s design.” (Page 100)
“As the dialogue between David and God develops, a play on the word ‘house’ (appearing fifteen times) emerges. The house, namely, the Temple, that David intended to build for God becomes a house, namely, a royal line, that God will build for David. God seems to enjoy the wordplay. We should too.” (Page 93)
“While addressing Ziba, David expands on his opening question: his desire to express his ‘kindness’ (9:1; ḥesed) to Jonathan’s descendants becomes ‘the kindness [ḥesed] of God’ (9:3). This modification brings David’s words into closer conformity with Jonathan’s appeal in 1 Samuel 20:14, ‘show me the faithful love [ḥesed] of the Lord.’” (Page 123)
“his name is distinctly Hebrew,27 Uriah is a member of David’s military elite known as ‘the Thirty’ (23:39).” (Page 140)
“David’s inconsistencies, contradictions, and moments of shameless transparency allow us, modern readers, to reclaim our own experience. We meet our own half truths, duplicities, fictions, and moral ambiguities in David more than in any other character in the David Narrative and perhaps in the entire Hebrew Bible.” (Page 13)
Praise for the Print Edition
It is not often that one comes across a commentary so rich in exegetical insight despite so little attention given to other contemporary scholarship. Consistent with the stated aim of the Berit Olam series, Morrison prioritizes the final form of the text and approaches 2 Samuel as primarily a work of artistic storytelling, as literature directly comparable to Shakespeare and Austen, Homer and Dickens.
—James E. Patrick, Theological Studies
Morrison's 2 Samuel makes a wonderful addition to the Berit Olam series. He demonstrates considerable literary sensitivity in discussing a book as rich as biblical prose narrative gets. The series' specialization in Hebrew narrative and poetry is thus well met.
—Barbara Green, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
About Craig E. Morrison
Craig E. Morrison teaches Aramaic and biblical exegesis at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. Among his interests are an appreciation of the art of Hebrew narrative and lectio divina. He has written for The Bible Today, Word Among Us, The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, and other scholarly journals.
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
7 ratings
Dale Sechrest
4/19/2023
Forrest Cole
11/9/2021
Sergio Dario Costa Silva
10/1/2019
Phillip J. Long
9/14/2019
Tan Hock Seng
9/4/2019
Thomas Binder
8/31/2019
Arsène OUEDRAOGO
8/29/2019
B. J . Oropeza
8/22/2019
For a smaller commentary, I was surprised that it had a fair amount of content, for example, on the Bathsheba incident. If you like structural chiasms, you will like this volume (though in my view some chiasms are more plausible than others). One set back in this volume is that the author does not engage much with other authors. That may be a plus, however, for someone who may simply want to read this book cover to cover. Don't be impressed, however, if you are a serious researcher. At a little over 300 pages covering 24 different chapters in 2 Sam., you'll end up getting what you pay for.
Larry Craig
1/23/2018
OK, now I am annoyed. Actually I was annoyed before, but I wanted to be nice. Over and over again, Logos advertises a commentary, though it happens with a lot of books, and the sample pages are from the introduction. I could be interested in this, but without seeing how the book deals with the text, I don't have the right information to make a decision. So I'll pass. Again.
