2 Samuel
18:5-33
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- Reading the Text:
- NRSV (with link to Anglicized NRSV) at Oremus Bible Browser.
- The Bible Gateway: NIV, NASB, CEV, The Message, KJV, etc.
- The Blue Letter Bible. KJV, alternate versions, Hebrew text with concordance, commentaries.
- The World Wide Study Bible includes commentary, exposition and sermons.
- Historical References, Commentary and
Comparative Texts:
-
Chapter III, The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, Ignatius of Antioch (c. 50 - 115). (Longer version only - 4th cent interpolation.)
- Rashi's Commentary, c. 1075. chabad.org.
- From the Geneva Notes.
- "... he considers both the judgment of God against his sin, and could not otherwise hide his fatherly affection for his son."
- From
Matthew Henry's
Commentary.
- "The best men are not always in a good frame; we are apt to over-grieve for what we over-loved. But while we learn from this example to watch and pray against sinful indulgence, or neglect of our children, may we not, in David, perceive a shadow of the Saviour's love, who wept over, prayed for, and even suffered death for mankind, though vile rebels and enemies."
- From
Wesley's
Notes.
- "My son - This he might speak from a deep sense of his eternal state, because he died in his sins, and because David himself had by his own sins been the occasion of his death. But it seems rather to be the effect of strong passion, causing him to speak unadvisedly with his lips."
- From the
Commentary on the Whole Bible
(Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, 1871).
- "The death of Absalom was a heavy trial, and it is impossible not to sympathize with the outburst of feeling by which David showed that all thoughts of the victory he had won as a king were completely sunk in the painful loss he had sustained as a father. The extraordinary ardor and strength of his affection for this worthless son break out in the redundancy and vehemence of his mournful ejaculations."
-
- Contemporary Commentary, Studies, and Exegesis:
-
Commentary, 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33, Ted A. Smith, Preaching This
Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.
- "We might even hear in the depths of David's song his horror at his own guilt, satisfaction, and relief."
- 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33, Studies on Old Testament texts from Series B, Ralph W. Klein, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
-
2 Samuel 18:5-33, Pentecost 10,
Commentary, Background, Insights from Literary Structure, Theological
Message, Ways to Present the Text. Anna Grant-Henderson, Uniting Church in
Australia.
- "There are a number of theological points we can take for ourselves from this story. The first is the deep grief at the loss of a son, even one who has betrayed his father and tried to kill him, as well as take over his kingdom. Furthermore, Absalom deliberately shamed David indicated by the story of the concubines. In spite of that David is in deep grief. David expects to be left to deal with his grief."
-
2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33,
Pentecost 10,
2009, The Old Testament Readings: Weekly Comments on the Revised Common
Lectionary, Howard Wallace Audrey Schindler, Morag Logan, Paul Tonson,
Lorraine Parkinson, Theological Hall of the Uniting Church, Melbourne,
Australia.
- "The depth of tragedy on the human plane is surpassed only by the irony of God?s overwhelming grace."
-
"The
Darkest Days of David's Life (2 Samuel 16:20 - 19:8)," by Robert Deffinbaugh at
the Biblical Studies Foundation.
- "The term good news is a rendering of the Hebrew term which means (as you would expect) ?good news.? When the translators of the Septuagint rendered this term in Greek, they used the term which we often find in the New Testament in reference to the proclamation of the gospel. The good news which Ahimaaz wanted to proclaim to David was that God had given him the victory by defeating the army of Absalom and by Absalom's death. The problem is that David is not inclined to accept this report as good news."
-
"History. The King Walks before You," chapter 3 in From Faith to
Faith -- Essays on Old Testament Literature by B. Davie Napier, 1955.
- "A difficult text in 18: 18. The Septuagint reading differs from ours, giving support to the sense that David had the Absalom memorial erected."
-
Commentary, 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33, Ted A. Smith, Preaching This
Week, WorkingPreacher.org, 2009.
- Articles & Background:
- "David the Man: The Construction of Masculinity in the Hebrew Bible," David J.A. Clines, 1995.
-
"Theologizing in a Win/Lose Culture," Carnegie Samuel Calian,
The
Christian Century, 1979.
- "Absalom lost his life, David lost a son, and the nation was divided and bloodstained with the lives of many."
- Absalom and the Ten Concubines, from And Adam Knew Eve: A Dictionary of Sex in the Bible.
-
Recommended articles
from ATLAS, an online collection of religion and theology journals, are
linked below.
ATLAS Access options are available for academic institutions, alumni of
selected theological schools, and clergy/church offices.
- Brueggemann, Walter,
"Life and Death in Tenth Century Israel," Journal of the American
Academy of Religion, 1972.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Brueggemann, Walter,
"On Trust and Freedom: A Study of Faith in the Succession Narrative,"
Interpretation, 1972.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Calian, Carnegie
Samuel,
"Theologizing in a Win/Lose Culture," The Christian Century,
1979.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Daube, David,
"Absalom and the Ideal King," Vetus Testamentum, 1998.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Firth, David G., "Shining the Lamp:
The Rhetoric of 2 Samuel 5-24," Tyndale Bulletin, 2001.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Flanagan, James W.,
"Court History of Succession Document? A Study of 2 Samuel 9-20 and I Kings
1-2," Journal of Biblical Literature, 1972.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Frolov, Serge,
"Succession Narrative: A 'Document' or a Phantom?" Journal of
Biblical Literature, 2002.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Jensen, Hans J.L.,
"Desire, Rivalry and Collective Violence in the 'Succession Narrative',"
Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 1992.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Knight, Douglas,
"Moral Values and Literary Traditions: The Case of the Succession Narrative
(2 Samuel 9-10; 1 Kings 1-2)," Semeia, 1985.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Olyan, Saul M.,
"Some Neglected Aspects of Israelite Interment Ideology," Journal of
Biblical Literature, 2005.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Smith, Carol,
"Biblical Perspectives on Power," Journal for the Study of the Old
Testament, 2001.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Weingreen, J.,
"The Rebellion of Absalom," Vetus Testamentum, 1969.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials - Wevers, John Wm.,
"A Study in the Exegetical Principles Underlying the Greek Text of 2 Sm 11:2
- 1 Kings 2:11," Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1953.
EBSCO ATLASerials, Religion Collection
EBSCO ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials
- Brueggemann, Walter,
"Life and Death in Tenth Century Israel," Journal of the American
Academy of Religion, 1972.
- Reviews:
- Review: Stanley Isser, The Sword of Goliath: David in Heroic Literature. Scholars Press, 2003. Review by Peter D. Micall in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 2004.
- Sermons:
- With Children:
-
"King David,"
Illustrating the Story (lessons, children's sermons),
coloring pages, activity sheets, crafts, children's songs. MSSS Crafts.
-
"King David,"
Illustrating the Story (lessons, children's sermons),
coloring pages, activity sheets, crafts, children's songs. MSSS Crafts.
- Drama:
- Graphics & Bulletin Materials:
- Images for this week's readings, Pitts Theology Library Digital Image Archive.
- Clip Art: Absalom's Death, Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld woodcuts, World Mission Collection, Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod.
- Hymns and Music:
- Fine Arts Images Linked at The Text This Week's Art Index:
- Movies scenes with the following themes, listed at The Text This Week's Movie Concordance:
- Study Links and Resources for the Book of 2 Samuel
