Having trouble with some of the MT material? Post your questions here. You can perhaps get some help from other students. Also, I'll check in from time to time and add my advice as well.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Guide to the Perplexed
Having trouble with some of the MT material? Post your questions here. You can perhaps get some help from other students. Also, I'll check in from time to time and add my advice as well.
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9 comments:
ZEDEKIAH? You gave us a little in class, what else were you looking for?
You need to know that Zedekiah is one of the last kings of Judah, that he is a puppet of the Babylonians and King Nebuchadnezzar (who, by the way, even changes his name). Zedekiah rebels, has his rebellion stopped, has to watch his sons killed, and then is blinded.
What I want you to do for now is to tie Zedekiah to II Kings as a tragedy. Echoes of Oedipus, maybe?
Later, we will talk about Zedekiah in connection with the prophet Jeremiah. But that's for after the MT.
I am slightly unclear about what we should know about the warts of Samson?
ADONIJAH. There is little about him. What else?
I was working on my ID's and I was having trouble with 3 of them... anyone have any insite as to what I should know for Abigail, Jonathan and the Philistines? Anything would be much appreciated!
Didn't Jonathan help David escape from Saul and the Philistines are the camp that David went to. Also Goliath was a Philistine. I cannot remember about Abigail
Comments:
Lots of ways to go with Samson. Obviously, he has a real weakness for foreign women, a weakness that gets him in trouble, but that also is the direct cause of his conflicts with the Philistines. Samson ignores his Nararite vow, and, most of the time gets away with it. No doubt he knew Delilah would cut his hair, but he probably figured he'd do just what he'd done before anyway. More than a bit of tragedy here...
Is Samson's destructive wrath something of a wart as well? Maybe so... Note the consequences of Samson's actions to his former prospective father-in-law. Hell hath no fury like a man scorned?
Adonijah can be connected to either the tragedy of David or the tragedy of Solomon. Note how David's multiple-wife policy results in the typical harem conspiracy, a conspiracy which eventually leaves his oldest surviving son dead.
Alternatively, note the start of Solomon's reign. He doesn't begin with the bloodthirsty slaughter of all who threaten his throne, but he does for one reason or another get rid of some key figures who might have joined against him. Is this wisdom? Perhaps. Does it also suggest Solomon's later problem with women? Is the Shunamite here the same woman Solomon declares his love for in the song of Solomon?
In class, I noted that David's loss of his "princess bride" Michal is the beginning of tragedy for him, and that he is constantly searching for a woman to take her place. Abigail is one of the first extra wives he takes. A beautiful and bright woman, yet not enough to make up for the hurt.
The story has always struck me as a bit strange. Should David be sued for alientation of affection? I wonder if that's what's going on here: David has lost his wife to another man, so he steals another man's wife.
I'd tie Jonathan to the tragedy of Saul. Jonathan was prepared to accept David as king, and would have found a place of honor had his good friend David been on the throne. Instead, Saul persecutes David, David's services are lost to Israel, and both Saul and Jonathan end up dead. See also David's eulogy of Jonathan: more than a little tragedy there I'd say.
You might also note Saul's command that all the army fast, a command that almost results in Jonathan's death. Saul use of the externals of religion backfires again...
As to the Philistines--well, they come up again and again. They are Samson's chief opponents. They are the people who kill Hophni and Phineas and capture the ark. They are among the chief people Saul has to fight (along with the Amalekites). Goliath is a Philistine--and ends up taking refuge with the Philistines while fleeing from Saul! All sorts of ways to go with this one....
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