THE POLITICS OF SEXUALITY IN THE STORY OF KING DAVID by Erin E. Fleming A dissertation submitted to Johns Hopkins University in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Baltimore, Maryland October 2013 © 2013 Erin E. Fleming All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT Among the stories surrounding the most famous of biblical kings—David—are a number of episodes that contain sexual components. Aspects of the sexual can be found especially in the narratives of David’s reign but also to a certain extent in the accounts of his rise to power and the succession of his son Solomon. Though David is not always directly involved, the episodes involving sexuality are closely intertwined with the story of David’s kingship over Israel and Judah. The sustained recurrence of sexual episodes surrounding David suggests that sexuality should be considered a literary motif in the David story found in 1 Samuel 16-1 Kings 2. In this thesis, I provide a systematic treatment of sexuality in the narratives of David’s rise to power, his reign, and Solomon’s succession as presented in 1 Samuel 16-1 Kings 2. Specifically, I focus on sexuality and kingship by examining how sexuality relates to royal ideology and political pragmatism in the narratives surrounding the establishment of the Davidic dynasty. This study considers how the sexual episodes in 1 Samuel 16-1 Kings 2 function within the overall narrative of David and what they might suggest about cultural conceptions of gender, sexuality, and kingship in ancient Israel and Judah within their ancient Near Eastern cultural context. From my analysis of the sexuality theme in the David Narrative, it appears that the motif of sexuality largely functions as a literary device for pro-David writers in their composition of a narrative supportive of the founding king of the Judahite dynasty. Sex, when assumed and not central to the narrative, is licit and helps to justify David’s kingship over Israel, as seen in the stories surrounding David’s early marriages. In ii contrast, when sex does appear in the David Narrative, either in characters’ discourse or explicitly narrated, it is illicit and irregular. Sex often represents a political threat that provokes a decisive response but also explains ruptured interpersonal relations with important political fallout. Advisor: Theodore J. Lewis Second Reader: P. Kyle McCarter, Jr. Committee Chair: Toby Ditz Readers: Paul Delnero Daniel E. Fleming Esther J. Hamori iii For my parents iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a pleasure to be able to express my gratitude to the numerous people whose support and guidance helped me to complete this dissertation. My advisor Theodore Lewis devoted much time and effort to this project, patiently guiding me from the first inchoate drafts to the final product, and provided much encouragement along the way. I have significantly benefited from his expertise and wisdom, and I hope someday to emulate the high bar he sets for both scholarship and teaching. Kyle McCarter provided comments and suggestions to several chapter drafts. His own masterful works on the books of Samuel will continue to be an inspiration, and I appreciate the vast amount I learned from him while at Hopkins. Paul Delnero gave helpful advice and suggestions throughout the dissertation process, and I am also greatly indebted to him for the superb Assyriological training I received during coursework. Daniel Fleming of New York University went above and beyond the duties required of a reader, supporting the project from its inception and giving detailed comments for several early chapter drafts. The present work benefited considerably from his questions and suggestions. Esther Hamori of Union Theological Seminary provided constructive suggestions during the defense, and I am also very grateful for the preparation and encouragement she gave me as a master’s student. Finally, I would like to thank Toby Ditz for chairing my defense and for her kind feedback. Outside of my committee, I am also thankful to professors Betsy Bryan and Richard Jasnow for their comments and suggestions on particular sections. Special v thanks also go to Julie Reiser for initiating and teaching the dissertation writing seminar at JHU, which was a tremendous help to me. Throughout my time at Hopkins, I have greatly appreciated the camaraderie of my classmates in the department of Near Eastern Studies and feel very fortunate to have been surrounded by such promising young scholars and wonderful colleagues. I would especially like to thank the members of my dissertation writing group, Heather Parker and Jaime Waters. Your discussions and critiques, boundless support and encouragement, and gentle accountability have been invaluable. To Heather in particular I am immensely grateful for turning a potentially very isolating experience into one shared with a colleague and dear friend. I am also very thankful for the support of and conversations with Tiffany Earley-Spadoni, Heath Dewrell, and Andrew Knapp. I am very grateful to Krieger School of Arts and Sciences for the funding I received through the Dean’s Teaching Fellowship during the Spring of 2012. I had a wonderful group of students, both in my course “The Politics of Sexuality in the Bible and the Ancient Near East” and in the Hebrew reading course on 2 Samuel I taught the same semester. I am thankful to my students for their enthusiasm and generosity of spirit as well as for their insightful thoughts and questions, which helped shape my own ideas. I would like to thank my department’s academic coordinators Glenda Hogan and Vonnie Wild for their assistance and consistent good humor during my years at Hopkins. Also, I would be remiss not to mention the great staff of Milton S. Eisenhower Library, particularly reference librarian Don Juedes and the impressively efficient people at the Interlibrary Loan/Eisenhower Express who made my life much easier. vi I would also like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the previous teachers whose inspiration and guidance helped prepare me for my studies at Hopkins. At Union Theological Seminary, I studied with remarkable scholars who contributed to my professional development. David Carr first introduced me to the critical study of the Hebrew Bible, encouraged me to pursue further studies in the field, and provided the solid preparation needed for me to do so. The late Edwina Wright made the biblical languages accessible and approachable. At Texas A&M University, outstanding English literature faculty Jerome Loving, the late Douglas Brooks, and especially Victoria Rosner honed my critical thinking skills, introduced me to gender and sexuality studies, and encouraged me to pursue graduate school. Additionaly, I would like to thank my high school English and humanities teacher Linda Buteyn for providing me with a solid foundation in critical writing. I am also extremely grateful to the Rev. Jack Buteyn, whose ministry first sparked my interest in the Bible as a child, and to the Rev. Erik Buteyn for encouraging me to go to seminary. I am incredibly grateful for the love, support, and encouragement I received from family and friends throughout this process. My parents Jerry and Becky Fleming, to whom this dissertation is dedicated, instilled in me both the importance of education and the belief that anything was possible, and my mom even moved to Baltimore for a semester to take care of my daughter while I was teaching. They and my brother Scott have always cheered me on, and I truly would never have made it to this point without their support. Both of my grandmothers, Vivian Leaton and the late Frances Fletcher, made generous financial contributions toward my education so that I would have better opportunities than they were given. My mother-in-law Renate Kotze provided vii innumerable hours of child-care, and without her help it would have been impossible to complete my dissertation. My aunt Kim Gordon also traveled from Texas to give extra help with child care during the final stages of writing. I am forever grateful for my precious two year-old daughter Rachel, who has been a constant reminder of what is really important and inspired me to finish so that I can “play, play, play” with her! Finally, my amazing husband Werner Kotze has given me unconditional love and support throughout this long and often arduous journey. Throughout it all, he has been my champion, coach, and friend. Words cannot adequately express my gratitude to him, and I look forward to beginning a new phase in our lives together. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………... v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS……………………………………………………………. xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION…………………………………….…………………... 1 1.1. Terminology………………………………………………………………… 3 1.1.1 Sexuality……………………………………………….…………… 3 1.1.2. The David Narrative: 1 Samuel 16-1 Kings 2……….……………… 5 1.2. Sexuality in the David Narrative…………………………………….……… 8 CHAPTER 2: HISTORY OF SCHOLARSHIP AND METHODOLOGY………………………. 11 2.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………. 11 2.2. The David Narrative within the Deuteronomistic History………………….. 16 2.3. Historical-Critical Approaches to the David Narrative……………………... 30 2.4. Literary-Critical Approaches to the David Narrative……………………….. 47 2.5. Feminist Biblical Criticism and the David Narrative……………………….. 51 2.6. Previous Discussions of Sex and the David Narrative……………………… 54 2.7 Conclusion……………………………………………………...…………... 62 CHAPTER 3: ASSUMPTIONS AND ALLIANCES, PART 1: DAVID’S MARRIAGES………... 63 3.1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………. 63 3.2 Saul’s Daughters…………………………………………………...……….. 66 3.2.1. Merab: 1 Samuel 18:17-19…………………………………...……... 66 3.2.2. Michal: 1 Samuel 18:20-29, 19:11-17, 25:44; 2 Samuel 3:12-16, 6:23, 21:1-14…………………………………………………...…… 70 3.3. Women of Judah……………………………………………………...…….. 89 3.3.1. Abigail: 1 Samuel 25………………………………………………... 90 3.3.2. Ahinoam: 1 Samuel 25:44……………………………….………….. 102 3.3.3. Ahinoam and Abigail: 1 Samuel 30; 2 Samuel 2:1-4……………….