Characterization In 1-2 Samuel: The Use Of Quotations And Intertextual Links -- By: Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.

Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 174:693 (Jan 2017)
Article: Characterization In 1-2 Samuel: The Use Of Quotations And Intertextual Links
Author: Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.


Characterization In 1-2 Samuel:
The Use Of Quotations And Intertextual Links

Robert B. Chisholm Jr.

Robert B. Chisholm Jr. is Chair and Senior Professor of Old Testament Studies, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.

Abstract

First and last quotations of characters in 1-2 Samuel and intertextual links between those characters and other individuals in the Former Prophets enrich their depictions and aid interpretation via access to the narrator’s assessment of them.

This article explores how the narrator of 1-2 Samuel utilizes quotations and intertextual links, including narrative typology, in evaluating the major characters in the story. For example, the first and last words of Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David at least typify and in some cases epitomize the narrator’s overall characterization of each.1 Intertextual links are another way in which the narrator evaluates the characters in the story. By casting a character in ways that echo earlier figures in the Former Prophets, the narrator enables readers to evaluate Saul, David, and Absalom and their contributions to the unfolding story.

First And Last Impressions: The Use Of Initial And Terminal Quotations In Characterization

Robert Alter observes that the first recorded words of a character are “usually, in biblical narrative convention, a defining moment of

characterization.”2 An examination of the most prominent characters in 1-2 Samuel supports this observation. In fact, both the first and last recorded words of these characters contribute significantly to the narrator’s characterization of Hannah, Eli, Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David.

Hannah

Though she appears only briefly at the beginning of 1 Samuel, Hannah is an important character. She is, of course, the mother of Samuel, who becomes the prophet through whom the Lord leads Israel out of spiritual darkness toward the light. She also has a paradigmatic function in the story. Her desperate situation as one who is oppressed mirrors Israel’s situation at that point in time, and her allegiance to the Lord and gratitude for his deliverance provide a model of how Israel should relate and respond to its covenant Lord. Indeed, Hannah sees her experience as foreshadowing what the Lord will do for his people through a coming king.

After describing Hannah’s childless condition and the oppression she experienced from Peninnah, who had produced both sons and daughters, the narrator records Hannah’s fi...

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