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Book Cover for: King Lifted Up His Voice and Wept: David's Mourning in the Second Book of Samuel, Z. Niu

King Lifted Up His Voice and Wept: David's Mourning in the Second Book of Samuel

Z. Niu

This study is the first monograph that subjects to investigation all the pericopes relating Davis's mourning connected with human death in 2 Sam 3,26-39, for the infant born of Bathsheba in 2 Sam 11,27b-12,25, for the princes/Amnon in 2 Sam 13,23-39 and for Absalom in 2 Sam 18,19-19,9. Another unique feature of this project is that these stories are read and interpreted primarily through the lens of the Hebrew mourning rituals - an approach that has been hitherto rarely embraced. This thematic study, adopting a synchronic approach and focusing on its literary world, first conducts a close reading of each aforementioned text and then takes a collective look at them in the end. Besides allowing new meanings to surface in the reading of the individual stories, it has yielded at least the following general insights: 1 The primarily ceremonial mourning acts are not to be taken as Literal expressions of the mourners' genuine emotions - an insight that is of paramount importance in the interpretation of certain figures at various places in the text. 2 The arrangement of the texts betrays a concentric design which strongly favors the reading of 2 Sam as one integral unit. 3. The study of the mourning texts also supports the view - noted as well by other scholars - which sees the portrait of David as a dynamic one, evolving and developing with the progress of the narrative plot of 2 Sam.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Gregorian & Biblical Press
  • Publish Date: Sep 18th, 2013
  • Pages: 320
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00lb
  • EAN: 9788878392601
  • Categories: Christian Theology - General