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THE PHILISTINE INCURSIONS INTO the VALLEY of REPHAIM (2 Sam

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THE PHILISTINE INCURSIONS INTO the VALLEY of REPHAIM (2 Sam THE PHILISTINE INCURSIONS INTO THE VALLEY OF REPHAIM (2 Sam. v 17 ff.) by N. L. TIDWELL Alsager The topographical and chronological difficulties in the present narrative sequence of 2 Sam. v are the common stock of every com­ mentary on the chapter and every text-book on the history of Israel. On the chronological side, the present order of the text places David's encounters with the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim after his capture of Jerusalem but the introduction to the account of the two battles presents at least the first of them as the immediate Philistine reaction to the anointing of David at Hebron before his successful assault on Jerusalem. From the topographical angle, the comment that in response to the Philistine invasion David "went down to the stronghold" (v. 17) makes better sense with reference to Adullam or some other hide-out of David's Hebron period than to the recently acquired "stronghold of Zion" (vv. 7, 9). In addition, the location of the Rephaim valley is itself uncertain 1) and the setting of the second battle (vv. 22-25) in Rephaim is open to suspicion 2). No universally accepted solution to these difficulties exists. The evidence has been interpreted in three main ways, placing the capture of Jerusalem either before, after or between the two battles 3). Behind every solution that has been proposed, however, there lies what appears to be a largely unexamined assumption that the historical reference of the stories in 2 Sam. v 17-25 in their present setting is es­ sentially, or in some cases very specifically, correct and original. At the same time it is widely acknowledged today that the material in 2 Sam. v has undergone considerable adaptation and re-arrangement in the course of that process of tradition from which the present text 1) For the three main sites that have been advocated see C. E. Hauer, Jr., "Jerusalem, the Stronghold and Rephaim", CBQ 32 (1970), p. 573, note 10. 2) Cf. the remarks of E. G. Kraeling, Rand McNally Bible Atlas (New York, 1956), p. 198, and see further below. 3) A representative list of advocates of each of these views is given in Hauer, p. 571, notes 1, 2 and 3. THE PHILISTINE INCURSIONS INTO THE VALLEY OF REPHAIM 191 emerged 4). At various stages in this history of tradition older mat­ erial was adapted to serve new purposes and the earlier narrative or annalistic order of events was re-arranged to suit the needs of a larger narrative sequence. Thus, for example, before its incorporation into that chapter of the Deuteronomic History Work which forms our present book(s) of Samuel, the largest tradition (and possibly literary) complex to which 2 Sam. v belonged was the story of David's Rise 5), of which it was apparently the concluding chapter appropriately culminating in the final defeat of the Philistines and the capture of Jerusalem. Within the larger context of the Vorgeschichte Davids 2 Sam. ii (46)-v has also been recognised as a separate unit represent­ ing a yet earlier stage in the gathering together of the material of this part of 2 Sam.6). In this smaller composition chapter v has again the character of an appropriate recapitulating conclusion (cf. Carlson, p. 49). This kind of tradition-history which is thought to lie behind the present form of 2 Sam. v is a clear enough warning that the present import of the materials in this chapter and the purpose they now serve may well not be their original import and purpose. At least an exact or necessary identity of their original and their present purpose cannot or ought not to be unquestionably assumed. But this is precisely the assumption which is made by all existing attempts to solve the problems presented by the two accounts of battles against the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim. Every existing solution, no matter how it relates these battles chronologically to the capture of Jerusalem, accepts that the stories describe, as in their present setting it is their obvious purpose to do, two mqjor clashes between David and the Philistines which had far-reaching politico-military consequences for ancient Israel. The message of the present text is that by these two encounters Yahweh through David finally opened the way to the total fulfilment of the ancient promise of the Land. That the accounts of the Philistine incursions into the valley of Rephaim have some such purpose in the present form of the text is 4) For the traditio-historical criticism of this chapter see especially, M. Noth, Oberliejerungsgeschichtliche Studien I (Halle, 1943), pp. 63, 105, note 5; R. A. Carlson, David the Chosen King. A Traditio-Historical Approach to the Second Book of Samuel (Uppsala, 1964), pp. 52-57; J. H. Gr0nbaek, Die Geschichte vom Aufstiegs Davids (1 Sam. 15-2 Sam 5) (Copenhagen, 1971), pp. 242-52. 5) In addition to the literature cited in note 4 see also L. Rost, Die Oberliejerung von der Thronnachfolge Davids 6 (Stuttgart, 1926). 6) Cf. H. Gressmann, Die iilteste Geschichtsschreibung und Prophetie Israels 2 (Gottingen, 1921) pp. xiv fr.; also Carlson, pp. 41-49; Gt0nbaek, p. 254. .
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