David's Social Drama: A Hologram of Israel's Early Iron Age (The Social World of Biblical Antiquity Series, 7)

379 Pages·1989·17.34 MB·English

by  James W. Flanagan

JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SUPPLEMENT SERIES
73
Editors
David J.A. Clines
Philip R. Davies
THE SOCIAL WORLD OF
BIBLICAL ANTIQUITY SERIES
7
General Editor
James W. Flanagan
Almond Press
Sheffield
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DAVID'S SOCIAL DRAMA
A Hologram of Israel's
Early Iron Age
JAMES W. FLANAGAN
The Almond Press • 1988
The Social World of
Biblical Antiquity Series, 7
General Editor
James W. Flanagan (Missoula, MT)
Consultant Editor
David M. Gunn (Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, GA)
Editorial Associates
Frank S. Frick (Albion, MI), Norman K. Gottwald (New York, NY)
Howard Harrod (Nashville, TN), Bernhard Lang (Paderborn, F.R.G.)
Carol L. Meyers (Durham, NC), Eric M. Meyers (Durham, NC)
Pamela J. Mime (Windsor, Ont.), John W. Rogerson (Sheffield, U.K.)
Thomas W. Overholt (Stevens Point, WI), Robert R. Wilson (New Haven, CT)
Keith W. Whitelam (Stirling, ILK.)
Copyright © 1988 Dunelm Enterprises, Inc.
Hologram of David copyright © 1988 Dunelm Enterprises, Inc.
Published by Almond Press
Editorial direction: David M. Gunn
Columbia Theological Seminary
P.O. Box 520, Decatur
GA 30031, U.S.A.
Almond Press is an imprint of
Sheffield Academic Press Ltd
The University of Sheffield
343 Fulwood Road
Sheffield S10 3BP
England
Typeset by Sheffield Academic Press
and
printed in Great Britain
by Billing & Sons Ltd
Worcester
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Flanagan, James W.
David's social drama: a hologram of Israel's
Early Iron Age.—(The Social world of biblical
antiquity, ISSN 0265-1408:7)—(Journal for
the study of the Old Testament supplement series,
ISSN 0309-0787:73)
1. Israel, ancient period
I. Title II. Series
III. Series
933
ISBN 1-85075-201-X
ISBN 1-85075-202-8 Pbk
CONTENTS
Preface, Acknowledgements and Credits 9
Abbreviations 15
Introduction 17
I
PROLEGOMENA TO A HOLOGRAM
OF THE EARLY IRON AGE
Chapter 1
DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIAL WORLD STUDIES 31
A. Demise of David's History 31
B. Social World Studies 53
Chapter 2
HOLOGRAPHIC MODEL FOR A SOCIAL
WORLD STUDY OF IRON AGE I 77
A. Hologram as Metaphor and Model 77
B. Anthropological Guides to Social World Studies 88
C. Holographic Model for Illuminating the Iron Age 108
II
MAKING A HOLOGRAM OF THE EARLY IRON AGE
Chapter 3
DOMAIN OF ACTIONS:
ARCHAEOLOGICAL IMAGES OF IRON AGE I 119
A. Geographical Setting 120
B. Archaeological Occupation Patterns 137
C. Preliminary Archaeological Systemic Model 168
Chapter 4
DOMAIN OF NOTIONS:
LITERARY IMAGES OF THE DAVID FIGURE 193
A. Psalmic, Chronicles', Deuteronomistic,
and Samuel Images 198
Models in Psalms 198
Chronicles' Model 207
Deuteronomistic Model 225
Samuel Model 236
B. A Systemic Model of the David Images in the Bible 250
HI
A HOLOGRAM OF THE EARLY IRON AGE
Chapter 5
THE SOCIAL WORLD OF DAVID'S DRAMA 275
A. Beyond Space-Time Systemics 276
B. A Hologram of the Early Iron Age 291
Appendix I
GEOGRAPHICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY 319
Appendix II
THE RISE OF ffiN SAUD 325
Appendix III
SAULIDE AND DAVIDIC GENEALOGICAL
CHARTS AND LISTS 343
Notes 349
Bibliography 351
Index of Biblical References 367
Index of Authors 369
Index of Subjects 371
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1: Territories Commonly Attributed to David's
Control 32
Figure 2: Research Research Design Outlined by Leach 45
Figure 3: Contrasting Emphases of Archaeological and
Anthropological Research as Described by
Leach 47
Figure 4: Technical Process of Constructing a Hologram 78
Figure 5: Technical Process of Constructing a Composite
Hologram 85
Figure 6: Harris' Domains within the Sociocultural Field
of Inquiry 89
Figure 7: Rappaport's Cognized and Operational Models 93
Figure 8: Holy's and Stuchlick's Domains of Notions and
Actions and their Folk and Investigators'
Models 99
Figure 9: The Relationship between Social Drama and
Ritual Process as Depicted by Victor Turner 107
Figure 10: Relationships in Social World Studies 113
Figure 11: Model for a Social World Studies Research
Design 113
Figure 12: Geological Development of the Tethys Sea
Embayment 121
Figure 13: Formation and Movement of Middle Eastern
Tectonic Plates 122
Figure 14: Geographical Subregions in the Northern
Levant 123
Figure 15: Geographical Subregions in the Southern
Levant 124
Figure 16: Annual Temperature Ranges in the Middle
East 130
Figure 17: Annual Rainfall in the Eastern Mediterranean
Basin 131
Figure 18: Late Bronze and Iron Age I Sites in the
Cisjordan Highlands 152-53
Figure 19: Transjordan Archaeological Sites 158-59
Figure 20: Ecological Zones in Cyrenaica with Corres-
ponding Husbandry 176
Figure 21: Distribution of the Hasa Tribes and Subtribes
across Ecological Zones 177
Figure 22: Initial Cultural / Ecosystem Interaction 184
Figure 23: Geological Fault Structures and Depressions 189
Figure 24: Geographical Zones in the Eastern Mediterranean
Basin 190
Figure 25: Types of Vegetation in the Eastern Mediterranean
Basin 191
Figure 26: Location of Principal Archaeological Sites
Mentioned in this Study 192
Figure 27: Stages and Transitions in the Yahwist Representa-
tional Model 202
Figure 28: Myth Structure of the Yahwist Representation 204
Figure 29: Abijah's Genealogy 215
Figure 30: The Deuteronomists' Representational Model 235
Figure 31: A Genealogy of Ancient Notions 259
Figure 32: The Dynamics and Metamorphoses in the
David Story 265
Figure 33: A Classic Form of a Segmenting Genealogy 279
Figure 34: Oppositions in David's Story 301
Figure 35: A Systemic Ecological Model of Religion 309
Figure 36: A Systemic Ecological Model of the Integrative
Function of Religion 314
Figure 37: A Tribal Map (Partial) of the Arabian Peninsula 328
Figure 38: Unification and Formation of Saudi Arabia
after Ibn Saud's Capture of Riyadh 329
Preface
If this book accomplishes its goal, it will first, enrich the understand-
ing of ancient Israel's early Iron Age, especially the processes of state
formation that the Bible attributes to David; and second, contribute
to the development of social scientific analyses of biblical antiquity.
The thesis, if one can be summarized, is that the "Israel" of the time
was transitional and in the betwixt and between religiously, socially,
politically, economically, and ecologically and that tradition casts
David in a mediator's role in each of the domains.
In terms of content and method, the volume must be read for what
it is: an attempt to advance an emerging subspecialty within biblical
studies (social world studies) by investigating a period that has left
comparatively little solid "historical" information. Many sections are
merely restatements of long-held positions; some incorporate opinions
that might be rejected if they were forced to stand by themselves; and
others raise doubts about conventional truisms in biblical studies. As
a result, new hypotheses are offered about the emergence of Yahwist
centralization and state on the one hand, and on the other about the
metaphors available to biblical historians for understanding and
describing the remote past.
As hypotheses, these, like every other historical reconstruction and
approach, are subject to immediate review and revision. Hence, the
description of the David figure and the social world of Iron Age I are
offered as tentative but informed portrayals. They are meant to add
perspectives and invite others to continue investigations on David
and the Iron Age.
Arrangement of the Volume
Because of the number of disciplines involved, the history of the
problems addressed, and the fact that distinct types of information
must be examined separately before a cohesive image can be
discussed, the volume is unusually complex. The approach necessitates
evaluating and re-evaluating similar issues in several chapters. In the
Introduction I cite briefly many of the issues that are taken up