The Etiological David

In my Hebrew Bible class (shout out to Dr. Spigel) our discussion centered around the genre of the Old Testament. Through form criticism scholars determine the genre of a biblical document. Once form is established the function of the text becomes clear (Coogan 68-69). Much of the Hebrew Bible consists of etiological stories “whose function is to explain the origin of a name, a geographical feature, or a religious custom” (Coogan 69). People often make the mistake of perceiving the Old Testament as history when in reality its purpose was to distinguish the Israelite God as the most powerful and explain certain natural occurrences in the world.

When reading Karen Armstrong’s novel Jerusalem she discusses King David and the history of his rule in Jerusalem. David conquered Jerusalem when it was under Jebusite control (Armstrong 37). According to the biblical narrative David was appointed king of Israel by “the Lord” (Second Samuel 5:2). In order to preserve the idea that the Israelite God, El, was the only God worthy of worship Davids invasion of Jerusalem would have to be a success. However, the actual scripture is ambiguous to the gravity of David's conquer. Historians doubt that when David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites he expressed the same intensity as when he fought the Philistines or Edomites (Armstrong 38). Armstrong discusses the possibility that David might have only captured the Jebusites citadel, because the biblical author places no emphasis on David conquering the city and slaughtering the Jebusites (Armstrong 38). David only “captured the fortress of Zion” and went to live in the citadel (Armstrong 38). Meaning that it is possible David let the people in Jerusalem live under his rule. Armstrong believes that David would have let Jebusites live to “help him keep the city running smoothly” (Armstrong 39).

The story of David conquering Jerusalem is a great example of biblical scripture being a source of historical knowledge. While some of the passages describing the event give good context clues to what might have been going on in history, the scripture still has to be looked at with an etiological eye. David’s courteous conquer of the Jebusites shows the goal of the Hebrew Bible was not to educate on history but to show that Yahweh was the highest God.  

Citations

Coogan, Michael David, and Cynthia R. Chapman. A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: the Hebrew Bible in Its Context. Oxford University Press, 2016.