Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel

Much of the drama, theological paradox, and interpretive interest in the Book of Samuel derives from instances of God's violence in the story. The beginnings of Israel's monarchy are interwoven with God's violent rejection of the houses of Eli and of Saul, deaths connected to the Ark of the Covenant, and the outworking of divine retribution after David's violent appropriation of Bathsheba as his wife. Whilst divine violence may act as a deterrent for violent transgression, it can also be used as a model or justification for human violence, whether in the early monarchic rule of Ancient Israel, or in crises of our contemporary age.

In Divine Violence in the Book of Samuel, Rachelle Gilmour explores these narratives of divine violence from ethical, literary, and political perspectives, in dialogue with the thought of Immanuel Kant, Martha Nussbaum and Walter Benjamin. She addresses such questions as: Is the God of Samuel a capricious God with a troubling dark side? Is punishment for sin the only justifiable violence in these narratives? Why does God continue to punish those already declared forgiven? What is the role of God's emotions in acts of divine violence? In what political contexts might narratives of divine violence against God's own kings, and God's own people have arisen?

The result is a fresh commentary on the dynamics of transgression, punishment, and their upheavals in the book of Samuel. Gilmour offers a sensitive portrayal of God's literary characterization, with a focus on divine emotion and its effects. By identifying possible political contexts in which the narratives arose, God's violence is further illumined through its relation to human violence, northern and southern monarchic ideology, and Judah's experience of the Babylonian exile.

Rachelle Gilmour is a Bromby Senior Lecturer in Old Testament at Trinity College, University of Divinity in Melbourne, Australia. She is also the author of Juxtaposition and the Elisha Cycle and Representing the Past: A Literary Analysis of Narrative Historiography in the Book of Samuel.

The Lord Kills and Brings to Life: Introduction

Part 1: He Shall Repay the Lamb Fourfold: Retribution and Curse

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Retributive and Consequential Violence in 2 Sam 11-20
Chapter 3: The Characterisation of God and the Retributive Punishment of David
Chapter 4: Reading Retribution in the David Story Politically
Chapter 5: Retribution and 1 Sam 12
Chapter 6: Retribution and 2 Sam 21

Part 2: God has Become your Enemy: Upheavals in Divine Retribution

Chapter 7: Introduction
Chapter 8: Saul's Rejection in the Book of Samuel
Chapter 9: The Ethics and Characterisation of God and the Rejection of Saul
Chapter 10: Reading the Rejection of Saul Politically
Chapter 11: The House of Eli and God's Delight

Part 3: Who is Able to Stand before the Lord, this Holy God?: The Irruption of Divine Violence

Chapter 12: Introduction
Chapter 13: The Violence of the Ark
Chapter 14: The Characterisation of God in the Stories of the Ark
Chapter 15: Reading the Ark in Beth-Shemesh and Perez-Uzzah Politically

The Lord will Exalt the Power of his Anointed: Conclusion