[AS 3.1 (2005) 59-81] DOI 10.117/1477835105053515

The Relationship of the Text of Second Samuel with the Peshitta Text of First Chronicles

Craig Morrison

Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome

Introduction When, in the course of interpreting the Hebrew , the text critic perceives that the Masoretic Text has suffered corruption, recourse is often made to the biblical versions. At times, the versions may preserve readings that reflect a Hebrew text different from the mt. Other times, the versions offer various interpretations for a difficult Hebrew passage. But before individual readings from the versions are compared to the mt, the text critic must be aware of the character and translation tech- niques of the version in hand. In the case of the Peshitta, given that its origins and early textual history remain obscure, further consideration must be given to the possibility that its translation was influenced by the or the . These are some of the current questions that spur research into the character of the Peshitta as a translation. Second Samuel offers its own particular challenges since several of its episodes are retold in First Chronicles. This fact raises the ques- tion as to whether, at the time of the Peshitta’s translation or during its transmission, episodes in the Peshitta of 2 Samuel were harmo- nized with corresponding passages in the Hebrew or Peshitta text of 1 Chronicles. The related question, whether Peshitta 1 Chronicles was influenced by the Hebrew or the Peshitta text of 2 Samuel, is not under examination.1 These two questions should be kept separate, since a list of agreements between 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles can be deceiving if

1Thus, instances where Peshitta 1 Chronicles departs from the Hebrew text of Chronicles and agree with the Hebrew text and/or the Peshitta text of 2 Samuel are not considered. For example, the Peshitta text of 1 Chron. 16.3 adds wlzaw

c 2005 SAGE Publications (London, Thousand Oaks CA, and New Delhi) 60 Studies 3.1 (2005) the shared readings are not first evaluated as examples of translation techniques proper to the character of the Peshitta version of 2 Samuel or 1 Chronicles. When such internal explanations are overlooked, one runs the risk of drawing a conclusion on the basis of agreements that are patient of several explanations and are not necessarily examples of borrowing. Each reading presented below is first considered in light of the character of the Peshitta translation of 2 Samuel before it is proffered as evidence of borrowing.2 The harmonization of parallel passages in the Bible was given brief consideration by M.P. Weitzman in a study of duplicate texts in the Peshitta. He considered the question from the point of view of Peshitta Chronicles and concluded that in ‘Chronicles...where the translator looks to an earlier book he always consults the Hebrew text; and al- though he shares with his predecessors an idiosyncratic understanding of certain Hebrew words and certain characteristic choices of expres- sion, there is no evidence that he consulted their translations at all.’3 This paper presents the instances in which Peshitta 2 Samuel departs from the mt and its reading agrees with the Hebrew text or Peshitta text of 1 Chronicles in order to describe the relationship (if there is one) between the Peshitta translations of 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles.4 Does the Peshitta of 2 Samuel reveal traces of influence from Peshitta 1 Chronicles? At the outset of this study, several possibilities with varying de- grees of plausibility are allowed for explaining the agreements presented below. The translator of Peshitta 2 Samuel could have been influ- enced, consciously or unconsciously, by the Hebrew text of Chronicles htybl Cna am[ hlk in agreement with the Hebrew and Peshitta texts of 2 Sam. 6.19: wtybl ya µ[hAlk ûlyw. But because the Peshitta text of 2 Samuel is not involved, this agreement is not considered. 2The study by D. Englert (The Peshitto of Second Samuel [JBL Monograph Series, 3; Philadelphia: The Society of Biblical Literature, 1949]), an important contribution for its time, does not go very far in revealing the character of the Peshitta of 2 Samuel. 3M.P. Weitzman, The Syriac Version of the (Cambridge: Cam- bridge University Press, 1999), p. 202. 4Recently E. van Staalduine-Sulman has identified harmonizations between Tar- gum Samuel and Hebrew Chronicles. She writes: ‘Only where the text of Samuel can be clarified by the version of Chronicles within the boundaries of the accepted exegetical techniques [techniques that she identifies], TJon makes use of Chron- icles’ (The Targum of Samuel [Studies in the Aramaic Interpretation of Scripture, 1; Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2002], p. 133).