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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2011 Not "Who Is on the Lord's Side?," but "Whose Side Is the Lord on?": Contesting Claims and Divine Inscrutability in Samuel 16:5-14 Timothy F. (Timothy Frederick) Simpson Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES NOT “WHO IS ON THE LORD’S SIDE?,” BUT “WHOSE SIDE IS THE LORD ON?”: CONTESTING CLAIMS AND DIVINE INSCRUTABILITY IN 2 SAMUEL 16:5-14 By TIMOTHY F. SIMPSON A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Religion in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Degree Awarded: Fall Semester, 2011 Timothy F. Simpson defended this dissertation on October 6, 2011. The members of the supervisory committee were: Matthew Goff Professor Directing Dissertation Dennis Moore University Representative Nicole Kelley Committee Member David Levenson Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the dissertation has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii For Kathy iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It takes a village to write a dissertation. I am so grateful to my teachers over the years who have encouraged and inspired me: Lee Hahnlen and Stephen Strehle from Liberty University; James Mueller and Sheldon Isenberg from the University of Florida; David Gunn, James D. Newsome and Walter Brueggemann of Columbia Theological Seminary; David Moessner, Carl Holladay, Vernon Robbins and Luke Timothy Johnson from Emory University; John Carroll and William P. Brown of Union Presbyterian Seminary; and especially David Levenson, Shannon Burkes, John Kelsay and Matthew Goff of Florida State University, who labored for many years to get me through this process. I also wish to thank Nicole Kelley and Dennis Moore for agreeing to serve as readers on my committee. Also worthy of thankful mention are the members of the Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church in Rock Island, IL. On my first day of work in my first church out of seminary, as my secretary left for the day, she hollered out “Don’t forget Wednesday night Bible Study at 6 o’clock.” My heart stopped because no one on the pastor nominating committee had ever mentioned that being one of my pastoral duties, since, it turned out, none of them ever attended. But others apparently did, and I was unprepared to teach them. So I went with what I knew best and wanted to study the most. I started that night with verse 1 chapter 1 of 1 Samuel, and for the next 39 months I and this intrepid group of Bible students went word-by-word, verse- by-verse through the books of Samuel. This gave me the reason and the opportunity to master the vast secondary literature on the subject, as well as to try out my readings on actual hearers, some of which have made it into the following pages. I am especially thankful for Jim and Barb Bertelsen, Brian Bollman and Sharon DeFrieze. Without their patience with me and their diligence in studying the text themselves, I would never have learned the material thoroughly enough to have written a dissertation on the subject. Many ministry colleagues have also encouraged me in my academic work. In particular, I want to thank the members of the “San Marco clergy group,” Vince Kolb, Betsy Haynes, Lou Lothman and John Ragsdale, as well as Paul Hooker and Gwin Pratt. In addition to sharing the burdens of pastoral ministry, these folks have challenged me for the last decade and urged me forward at every sign of progress, which were often few and far between. iv I have had the constant support and affirmation of my family throughout my entire life, without which I would never have achieved anything. My grandfather, the late Rev. Wendell Zimmerman was a towering figure in my development. On a Sunday night in early 1992, while on the platform of the church he had founded, he slumped over in his seat in full cardiac arrest just prior to preaching the evening sermon. At the same time on that night, I was at seminary 400 miles away, in my room, hammering out an exegesis paper on 2 Samuel 16:5-14 for a class with Walter Brueggemann due on that Tuesday morning. My mother called me about 7:30 in the evening to tell me that my grandfather was taken to the hospital and was not expected to live. Brueggemann had a policy of not accepting late papers under any circumstances, which meant that my paper had to get done right then. So I stayed up all night working to finish it so that I could leave and be with my family as soon as possible. My grandfather died early the next morning, just minutes after I had printed the paper that nearly twenty years later is the nucleus of what has become this dissertation. I am also grateful to my parents, the Rev. Dr. Jerry R. Simpson and Wenda S. Nelson. My mother gave me a love for reading and made me believe that I could do anything. My father gave me a love for studying, and convinced me that a life of service and commitment to others was the best and most fulfilling way to live. There really is no substitute for giving a child both confidence and a sense of purpose in life, and I have been blessed to have had both in abundance. My step-father, Randy Nelson, was also an important figure in my life and that of my kids, contributing greatly to getting me through so many years of school. I also want to thank my brother and oldest friend, Jon Marc Simpson, for a lifetime of support and companionship. Everything I learned, good and bad, about being a leader, got tried out on him first, and he loved me always anyway. And I am most grateful for the support and understanding from my children, Stephen, Caitlin and Jacob, and to their mother, Sherri Patray. They, above everyone else, know all of the costs of undertaking advanced theological education and paid that out over many long years as I pursued my goal. Finally, I wish to thank my wife, the Rev. Kathryn A. McLean, apart from whose encouragement this project would never have made it off of a thumb drive. She gave freely of her time, even before we were married, driving me to Tallahassee to meet with the department faculty, and to Atlanta to use the library, and then later spent hours typing and formatting page after page of bibliographic material in order to make it all turn out right. When I felt like the v obstacles to finishing were too high, which was quite often, she encouraged me to keep at it, never pressuring, always cheering. It was just what I needed, and the primary reason that this dissertation is finally getting done. It is to Kathy, with love and gratitude, that this work is dedicated. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Chapter One: “Confession Is Good for the Soul”: Owning up to Methodological and Theological Assumptions………………………………………………………………….1 1.1 Canonical Criticism: Privileging Theological Discourse and Reading the Text as Scripture………………………………………………………………….4 1.2 Reader-Response Criticism: A Diary of the Reading Process…………………...14 1.3 Intertextuality: Reading Scripture with Scripture..………………………………17 1.4 Summary……………..………………………………………………………….23 2. Chapter Two: “Out With the Old and in with the New”: Surveying the Work of Earlier Interpreters: What’s Worked, What Hasn’t and Why A Fresh Approach Is Needed…………………………………………………………………………………..25 2.1 Classical Historical-Critical Approaches to David……………………………....27 2.1.1 Leonhard Rost……………………………………………………………27 2.1.2 Martin Noth………………………………………………………………32 2.2 The Literary Reappraisal of the David Narratives……………………………….36 2.2.1 David M. Gunn…………………………………………………………..36 2.2.2 J.P. Fokkelman…………………………………………………………..42 2.2.3 Robert Polzin…………………………………………………………….46 2.3 Contemporary Historical and Literary Approaches to David……………………53 2.3.1 Baruch Halpern…………………………………………………………..54 2.3.2 Steven McKenzie………………………………………………………...57 2.3.3 Anthony Campbell……………………………………………………….59 2.3.4 Robert Alter………………………………………………………….…..62 2.3.5 Paul Borgman……………………………………………………………65 2.3.6 Robert Pinsky……………………………………………………………67 2.4 Walter Brueggemann…………………………………………………………….68 2.5 Summary…………………………………………………………………………72 3. Chapter Three: “The Lord Works In Mysterious Ways”: The Inscrutability of God and Attempts to Co-Opt It for Personal, Political Gain in 2 Sam 16:5-14………………74 3.1 The Story Thus Far………………………………………………………………75 3.2 The Fall and Rise of David: 2 Samuel 15-20……………………………………80 3.3 vv. 5-7a David on the Run from Absalom, Jerusalem………………………..…89 3.4 vv. 7b-8 Shimei Comes Cursing; Sounds Like a Prophet……………………..…94 3.5 v. 9 Abishai Speaks for Tradition; Offers to Settle the Matter Immediately…...110 3.6 vv. 10-12: David Affirms, Rejects Both Shimei, Abishai ……………………..119 3.7 vv. 13-14 Narrating the Exit from the Land; Dirt, Stones and Curses……...….133 3.8 Aftermath……………………………………………………………………….137 3.8.1 2 Sam 19:17-24 (ET 16-23): Shimei Begs David’s Pardon……………...138 3.8.2 1 Kings 2:5-9: David Instructs Solomon to Kill Shimei…………………140 3.8.3 1 Kings 2:36-46: Solomon Kills Shimei………………………………….143 3.9 Summary………………………………………………………………………..147 4. Chapter Four: Conclusion…………………………………………………………...……148 References………………………………………………………………………………………154 Biographical Sketch..…………………………………………………..……………………….175 vii ABSTRACT Second Samuel 16:5-14 is an important text for defining the character of both King David and Yahweh, the God of Israel. In this scene, the points of view of the various speakers battle for control of the narrative, attempting in turn to align their perspective with some aspect of what has been revealed earlier about Yahweh in the larger biblical story.

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