Giving David His Due

Codex Vaticanus and the Masoretic Text witness to two§significantly different texts in 1 Samuel 17 18. But§do both texts reflect literary unity and coherence?§Text-critical analysis shows that the differences in§the texts are not due to translator activity.§However, the evidence is too inconclusive to§determine the textual history of the passage.§Literary-critical analysis focuses on instances of§repetition, contradiction, and accretion attributed§to the MT. Some of these difficulties can be§resolved, but it is evident that the major problem§with the MT is its chronology. A survey of rhetorical§features of the MT reveals the narrator s creative§use of structure to highlight his content, an§artistic quality that is missing in LXX. The study§also identifies elements of procedural discourse in§16:14-23 that exempt it from a strictly linear§narrative timeframe. This leads to a new§understanding of the chronology of the passage that§resolves the most difficult inconsistencies in the MT§and testifies to its coherence. This work serves as§an example of a multidisciplinary approach to§studying textual difficulties in the Hebrew Scriptures.