Page:The Books of Chronicles (1916).djvu/185

Rh And it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David's servants came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent

viii. 18 (R.V.) David's sons are described as priests, a statement which is in all probability correct, but which the Chronicler, following the later theory of the priesthood, could not accept (see Introd., pp. xli f.).

XIX. 1—19 (= 2 Sam. x. 1—19).&emsp;

Chron. here omits the story of David's kindness in seeking out and befriending Mephibosheth (Merib-baal) the son of Jonathan (2 Sam. ix.), because he has ignored the story of David's relations with Saul. Further the Court History of David which occupies an important place in 2 Sam. is passed over altogether in Chron. Consequently the shameful episode of Bath-sheba, and the rebellion of Absalom vanish from the account of David. It is obvious how greatly the presentation of David's life and character is affected by these omissions. Yet from his point of view the Chronicler is right in passing these matters by in silence. He was concerned to present David essentially as the founder of the religious life of Israel as a kingdom and of the Temple as an institution of religion.

There are several variations in text between 2 Sam. x. and 1 Chr. xix., e g. vv. 6, 7 (addition in Chron.), 16 (omission from Chron.), 18 (variation in reckoning).

1. after this] The war with Ammon has already been referred to by anticipation in xviii. 11.

Nahash] Probably the Nahash mentioned in 1 Sam. xi. 1.

Ammon] The Ammonites were a kindred race to the Hebrews, being descended according to tradition from Lot, the nephew of Abraham; cp. Deut. ii. 19. The two Ammonite names here given are pure Hebrew, Nahash (= "Serpent") and Hanun (= "Favoured, Fortunatus"); the Ammonite language, like the Moabite, was doubtless very similar to Hebrew.

2. sent messengers to comfort him] A customary act of international courtesy; cp. 2 Kin. xx. 12. Its breach was resented. Thus in the Tell el-Amarna letters (x. 16) the king of Kardunias writes, "Should not my brother (i.e. the king of Egypt) have heard that I am sick? Why has he not comforted me? Why has he not sent his messenger, not looked into it?" (ed. H. Winckler, p. 23).