“Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim, of the hill-country of
Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the
son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. And he had two wives. The name of
the one was Hannah…”
Here, we present a second point Abravanel makes in his prefatory comments to the Book of
Samuel. The subject of David, as stated above, takes center stage. The Book of Chronicles, too,
tracks the life and times of David (plus much more). Here’s the rub. Samuel and Chronicles
portray disparate pictures of David. Why do Samuel the prophet and Ezra the scribe relate such
different facets of one man? Put differently, what are both authors – Samuel and Ezra – aiming
at?
We find that Samuel omits details concerning David, while Ezra includes them. Moreover,
Samuel is mum regarding David’s considerable role in laying the foundation for the yet-to-be-
built Holy Temple. Other significant deeds are edited out of Samuel’s book as well.
By the same token, even a cursory glance at Chronicles reveals Ezra’s repeating of what Samuel
already covered concerning David. What do readers gain from the redundancy? And, as a
historical record of Biblical events goes, much is missing. Even Ezra’s treatment of David
appears patchy, with nary a word about David serving admirably under King Saul, David’s
anointment by Samuel, or his slaying of Goliath etc. This brings Abravanel to a major premise:
Samuel’s and Ezra’s accounts cannot be random.
Abravanel breaks new ground, focusing on Samuel’s and Ezra’s different reasons for having
written the Book of Samuel and Chronicles, respectively. Here is Abravanel’s takeaway. The
prophet sought to highlight four main aspects of David’s life. Simply sharing certain factoids or
providing material for posterity didn’t interest Samuel. For him, the main thing was conveying
knowledge crucial to promoting fear of God. Under this rubric of fostering a proper relationship
with the Maker, four categories may be discerned.
- Showing David’s wholeness or completeness
- Spotlighting David’s transgressions
- Sharing God’s miracles and kindnesses showered upon David
- Stating Heaven’s punishment to David for wrongdoing
In his running commentary on Samuel, Abravanel explores in greater detail all of these four
topics. Any aspect of David’s life or career that does not fall neatly within one of those four
categories holds scant interest for Samuel. Before moving on to Ezra’s goals behind his different
account of David in Chronicles, Abravanel throws us a teaser. He will argue convincingly, going
to great lengths to resolve a puzzling – and misunderstood – issue: Why didn’t the Creator
choose David to build His Holy Temple in Jerusalem? Why did that sacred task devolve upon
Solomon, David’s son? More about that in a separate essay.
Abravanel answers his questions regarding the sharp stylistic disparities of Samuel and Ezra,
and thereby, leads Bible students to glean one more titillating bit of information in his
introduction to Samuel: The prophetic process. The process, we learn, starts with painstaking
research. Thus, prophets applied themselves to intensely study all available information written
about any given historical period. We refer to those writings of the judges or kings (via scribes),
or perhaps the journals of a generation’s righteous individuals. Let us call these primary
research sources. God would then appear to these studious men or women of pious bearing,
imbuing them with a heavenly spirit, divine insight, and mission. God would next communicate
with these individuals, bidding them to take paper and pen, per se. Inspired from Above, they
would compose complete and authentic accounts of the subject at hand. An editorial or
refinement process followed, with some subjects stretched, some shortened. God oversaw this
multifaceted process. In the final analysis, Abravanel sums up, all of the prophets (Samuel
included) worked this way. Given: The end goal had two things to accomplish: To impart
reliable knowledge as well as foster fear of the Maker.
Ezra the scribe’s aim in writing Chronicles differed greatly from Samuel’s (and the other
prophets). For one thing, God hadn’t granted prophecy to Ezra. The great scribe sought to
portray David in the typical fashion of historians/biographers. Thus, he listed all of King David’s
efforts and successes.