1 Kings 13-21: Prophet and the Loss Part I

All of God's fears of apostasy and exogamy are realized after the death of David with the new kings of Israel and Judah. These monarchs disobey God's commands by worshiping other deities and marrying outside of the Israelites. To counter these men and warn them of their wrongdoing, God sends prophets, vessels of his word, to speak out against the kings, inform them of their wrongdoings, and make an attempt at social change. The era of prophets ushered in with Samuel comes into full force in Kings, especially after the end of the united monarchy.

Prophets are interesting people in the bible. They are chosen by God to speak his word, though identifying the ones actually backed by God is tricky. They can lie to each other, and only know God's will insofar as he informs them. Sometimes prophets are ignorant of the plans of others or danger. Other times God is careful to keep them well informed.

The function of the prophet as mouthpieces of God helps to drive the plot of dialectical tensions that pushes the tale of Israel forward. Prophets arise when the Lord is being disobeyed. The book of 1 Kings features a number of prophets. Today's post will take a look at them and analyze how they function within the biblical narrative.

Getting to Know the Prophets: the Man of God


The South and the North - Judah and Israel - have been divided. Jeroboam now reigns over Israel, but like his ancestors has fallen from following the Lord. He has built golden calves for worship and appointed non-levitical priests. Apostasy like this is always condemned by the biblical author, and in this case a prophet directly condemns the action.

The unnamed "man of God" comes to King Jeroboam to deliver a bleak warning as he is about to offer incense on the altar:

O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: ‘A son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name; and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.’
(1 Kings 13.2)

The message is not for the King of Israel, but on the altar of offering. This is indeed fulfilled hundreds of years later during the reign of Josiah. However, the man of God offers an additional message with a sign of the Lord's hand in the matter of the altar:

The altar shall be torn down, and the ashes that are on it shall be poured out.
(1 Kings 13.3)

Upon hearing these words, the king points to the man of God and orders that he be seized, only to find his had withered, a trick with its roots in the Moses narrative (Exodus 4.6-7). The Lord protects his servant the prophet with one of the classic displays of the Lord's power. This display continues as the altar is torn down and the ashes scattered with no apparent cause, in fulfillment of the man's prophecy of the Lord. The prophet further confirms the power of the Lord by healing Josiah's hand. Apparently grateful, the king invites the man to eat and drink with him, but the man refuses because the Lord has commanded he should not do so in Bethel.

What follows is one of our first glimpses of prophet interaction - a scene that reveals a little about the secret lives of prophets. A man of Bethel, identified as a prophet, tracks down the man of God and lies to him, saying:

I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: Bring him back with you into your house so that he may eat food and drink water.
(1 Kings 13.18)

This deception is not detected by the man of God, indicating that prophets cannot identify false prophets by sight or the sound of their prophecies. In this sense prophets are only messengers of God, and are corruptible. Prophets, as explained by God through Moses, operate in a gray area:

You may say to yourself, “How can we recognize a word that the Lord has not spoken?” If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord but the thing does not take place or prove true, it is a word that the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; do not be frightened by it.
(Deuteronomy 18.21-22)

Their powers and messages can be imitated by others, and the only way to judge them is by the truth of their predictions or the power of their works, as in the destruction of the altar or the parting of the Red Sea. For day-to-day matters, prophecy seems to be indistinguishable from mere words. Truth is only revealed when the Lord takes action to prove or disprove the words. However, even the prophet of Bethel who speaks false words to the man of God is still a legitimate prophet. He fools the man of God into eating and drinking, at which time God comes to him to utter a legitimate prophecy:

Thus says the Lord: Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you, but have come back and have eaten food and drunk water in the place of which he said to you, ‘Eat no food, and drink no water,’ your body shall not come to your ancestral tomb.
(1 Kings 13.21-22)

Indeed, the man of God is killed by a lion who acts in a supernatural fashion. The lion's only prey is the man, not the donkey he rode on or those that pass by. The lion seems to have been sent by God to kill the man and stand besides his body.

Though responsible for his death, the prophet mourns the man of God as a brother. The dead man is recognized as a simple messenger - again, corruptible - and perhaps the prophet of Bethel realizes this as he mourns for the man as "my brother." The man of God is given a proper burial in the prophet's own grave, where the prophet himself will be buried when he dies. The prophet knows his guest was a true prophet, and so the two are to be buried together, both as vessels of the word of God.

Ahijah: The Mouthpiece of God


When King Jeroboam's son Abijah becomes ill, the king sends his wife to the prophet Ahijah to inquire after the boy's fate. She is to pretend to be another woman, but the Lord informs Ahijah of her purpose so that even the blind prophet knows who she is. Prophets, after all, are informed by the Lord, even if they do not desire to be. Ahijah utters a curse against Jeroboam: Because the king has not followed in the ways of David in leading Israel, all the men of his house will be "cut off" and will not receive proper burial. Rather, dogs and birds will pick at their corpses where they fall. In this way the boy is blessed. Only Abiah is to receive proper burial,

...Because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.
(1 Kings 14.13)

This is a twist on the traditional punishment afforded one who disobeys the Lord. The son dies for the father's sin, as usual, but the son is also exalted over the father - by receiving proper burial - for being a seed of promise. All Israel mourns the child's death.

The Lord delivers a further prophecy through Ahijah, prophecy characteristic of the later prophets of the bible:

The Lord will strike Israel, as a reed is shaken in the water; he will root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their ancestors, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their sacred poles, provoking the Lord to anger. He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to commit.
(1 Kings 14.15-16)

This is indeed fulfilled with the fall of Samaria in 721 BCE.

Elijah the Prophet: Supernatural

Elijah is introduced during the reign of King Ahab of Israel, inserted by the biblical author in such a place that he serves as a direct response to Ahab's fondness of the Canaanite god Baal. Baal is the god of storms and rain and fertility (among other things), so it is no surprise that Elijah's introduction undermines the god by predicting a three-year drought - caused by the Lord, of course. Elijah is the mouthpiece of God, and a man that will prove Baal's ineffectiveness.

Elijah's status as a prophet is quickly proven through three vignettes. In the first he is fed in the wilderness by the Lord's command by ravens bearing bread and meat (a story that draws obvious parallels to Exodus). In the second vignette, the Lord provides endless meal and oil to a widow so she may make cakes for Elijah, herself, and her son so that do not starve. In the third vignette, Elijah actually revives the widow's son from apparent death - with the aid of the Lord. Each of these stories shows Elijah either acting with the aid of God or God coming to Elijah's aid. In any case, Elijah has powerful backing.

When the Lord decides to end the drought, he sends Eljah to see Ahab, so that the rain may start again. Elijah has Ahab command the Israelites to meet at Mount Carmel so that the Lord's greatness may be demonstrated. The event directly challenges the 450 prophets of Baal to call on their god to light a fire on which a bull has been placed - an imitation of sacrifice at an altar. Baal's prophets fail, but Elijah succeeds in calling on the power of the Lord to light the fire. Consequently, the 450 prophets of Baal are killed for their inefficiency.

When it finally does rain, Elijah pulls off another superhuman display - this time of speed and endurance - running ahead of Ahab's chariot some 17 miles to Jezreel. Afterwards, Jezebel threatens Elijah's life, and he pulls off another miracle, surviving on mount Horeb 40 days and nights after eating only 2 cakes and drinking 2 jars of water. The man is like a biblical version of Chuck Norris!

In all seriousness, Elijah is a high-profile prophet, able to have a direct experience with God on Mount Horeb, just as Moses did. The encounter is one of the most poetic of the bible:

Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
(1 Kings 19.11-13)

The message of the biblical author is that God is ineffable. God is not in the wind, or the earthquake, or the fire. God is not even in the silence, though the silence leads to God. It is impossible by this description to exactly describe who or what God is. Perhaps this is the author's intent. It took a devoted prophet like Elijah to give us this glimpse of the supernatural.

Another Nameless Prophet and His Tool of the Trade

Farther into the narrative, a tradition of prophetic judgment called "juridical parable" is demonstrated by a nameless prophet. This tactic is used in Nathan's condemnation of David in 2 Samuel 12. Here the prophet appears to King Ahab as a warrior, and utters a parable that traps King Ahab in his own judgment. Ahab, thinking he condemns the man, utters words that describe his own impending condemnation.

Interestingly, the episode that follows closely follows the story of David's courting of Bathsheba. Here Ahab lusts for a piece of property - a vineyard - for which the owner is killed in order to claim it. A few details are changed, but the story remains the same, and punishment comes upon both Ahab and David. Elijah curses Ahab with the same language of 1 Kings 14.10-14, and curses Ahab and Jezebel specifically as well. For Ahab's prompt repentance his house is not destroyed in this day, but rather in the following generation.

1 Kings, 2 Kings: Infographic

I put a lot of thought into this post (and a lot of frustration toward my dying computer), but here, finally, is a post covering 1-2 Kings. It traces the kings of Israel and Judah from Saul to the fall and captivity of Judah. The x axis denotes the amount of time each king reigned over Israel or Judah. The y axis denotes the number of verses dedicated to each king.

Click the image below to see in greater detail!

Real Life 1.1-25: Holiday Madness

Dear Faithful readers,

I apologize that there is no update today. It has been a particularly busy few weeks at work and arranging data is not working for me right now. The weekly post will be up by Thursday. Thank you for your understanding.

Chris

1 Kings 1-11: The House of Solomon

I just finished reading Tracy Kidder's House, and my timing could not have been more perfect for writing this post. The work of long-form journalism follows the creation of a house from lines on an architect's drawing through the building process to habitation by the the family. It has resonances of Moby Dick as the narrator takes the reader through little adventures along the way into the history of house building or the creation of lumber. Detailed lists are not uncommon. These lists memorialize the materials that go into the making of the house, and seem meant to astonish with their breadth. Moreover, Kidder seems to argue that a house is a product of many different people, and that this one in particular is a particular manifestation of the people who paid for it and lived in it, the Souweine family.

It is clear that Kidder consulted the bible in constructing his narrative; he quotes from and refers to it a few times. Surprisingly, though, there is nothing about Solomon. Solomon is one of the greatest builders in the bible, constructing the temple in Jerusalem.

Just as Kidder found it necessary to interweave the ideas of house and home, the biblical author, writing millennia earlier, presents us with the establishment of three different houses in the tale of Solomon:

1. The establishment of the "house" of Solomon, continuation of the "house" of David
2. The construction of the temple, the "house" of the Lord
3. The construction of the structure that will house Solomon, his physical house

Two houses are promised through the covenant between God and David in 2 Samuel 7. The first of these is the house of David - the metaphorical house of his familial rule of Israel. The second is the house of God - the physical temple to be constructed by David's son.

Moveover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with you ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever...Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
2 Samuel 7.11-16

In effect God establishes a blueprint for the future of the Davidic line's rule over all Israel. But the metaphorical house of David, as it turns out, is to be built on contract. In House this means that the structure has a base price that changes as the architect fleshes out the features and design. In my biblical use it will mean there is a contract between God and the king of Israel that might prevent God's promise from being fulfilled if the king does not act in a suitable manner. Though the contract seems secure in the passage above, it is actually modified once Solomon begins his reign.

Creating David's House
The story of succession to David's throne, the continuation of the house of David, is one of political intrigue. David's son Adonijah wishes to make himself king, and is successful in gaining support. As primogeniture, he might believe he has a right to the throne. However, the bible tends to favor the youngest son and the one favored by the mother (like Isaac and Jacob). Solomon is the second son of Bathsheba, who loves him greatly (Bathsheba's first son died, which cleared David of his sin of adultery and in a way probably also cleared Bathsheba of sin as well). Therefore she and Nathan conspire to make Solomon king. The scene of trickery has resonances with the tale of Jacob and Esau, in which their father Isaac is old and blind, having to rely on other cues to (incorrectly) identify his son and deliver his blessing. Here, however, the son's physical presence is removed from the narrative entirely as Bathsheba and Nathan conspire together and remind David of an oath that he made that Solomon would succeed him. Whether this oath was actually made is a matter of debate. On the one hand, this oath is not mentioned in Samuel or Kings, and so might be a lie. On the other hand, there are a number of books mentioned in Kings that do not appear within the biblical canon and may exist no longer. In any case, Solomon is not active in seeking the throne; it is handed to him. Jacob, by comparison, is at least complicit in Rebekah's trickery as he acts to fool his father. The trickster characteristic that made Jacob so appealing was clearly not desirable to the biblical author of Solomon's story. In fact, the author (or composite of authors) of the King narrative is very careful to emphasize that neither David nor his son Solomon betray the present king and seek the throne. David does not kill Saul when he gets a chance because Saul is the Lord's anointed. Solomon does not sit on the throne until after his father's death. These are men chosen specifically by God to create his house. In this way, if no other, the house of David is pure.

Solomon's Housekeeping
King Solomon has some housekeeping to do after ascending the throne, just as his father David did in the early chapters of 2 Samuel. Solomon kills off dangerous characters that pose a threat to his throne, people like Adonijah, Hoab, and Shimei. In this way Solomon purifies his and his father's house.

1 Kings 4 reveals what we might call the "domestic" side of Solomon's reign: his 12-member cabinet of priests and officials, as well as 12 officials over the land, each of whom makes provisions for him one month out of the year. Under Solomon and his cabinet and officials, "Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they ate and drank and were happy" (1 Kings 4.20). His provisions are listed, revealing how Solomon keeps up with the great sacrifices for which he is acclaimed. His grounds and men are described in detail. These lists are an important part of biblical narrative, as we shall see. The biblical author in this capacity acts as a record keeper, recording in detail many different aspects of the king. This penchant for listing and describing in detail has already appeared in the bible many times, in particular in the instructions for and descriptions of the creation of the ark of the covenant and traveling tent of meeting in Exodus. These lengthy descriptions of materials and design have been recorded since the earliest days of writing, and continue up through modern classics like Moby Dick, House, and famously in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:

We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a saltshaker half-full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... Also, a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls.

Sections of literature like these suggest the building process itself by providing an ordered bill of materials. The author, in describing how something is built, builds something him or herself.

Building the Temple
This need for making lists reveals itself most clearly in the creation of God's house, the temple. Solomon is able to build, argues the author, on the basis of God's covenant with David and the current peace in the land.

Solomon contracts the men of King Hiram of Tyre to cut down the cedars of Lebanon to be used in the creation of the temple. The biblical author shows us a bit of the economy that comes into place: Hiram provides timber and Solomon supplies him with food, as well as 30,000 of his own men, 10,000 each working one-month shifts. Meanwhile, Solomon's own men work in the hill country quarrying great, costly stones: 70,000 laborers and 80,000 stone cutters, besides 3,300 supervisors.

The temple as constructed in 1 Kings 6 is described in great detail with all its great stones and walls of cedar laid over with gold. It is furnished with cherubim and decorated with carvings of open flowers, palm trees, and cherubim. All is conveyed in a matter-of-fact fashion; the literature seems almost to be a technical manual, which in fact it might be or at least be based off of. The house of God is a solid, beautiful structure, adorned with great pillars and basins of bronze. In total the size of the temple is 90 feet long, 30 feet high, and 45 feet tall, with a porch out front that measures 15 feet long by 30 feet wide. It takes seven years to build the structure, which is blessed with a grand housewarming festival and sacrifices.

Solomon's palace takes six years longer than the temple to construct, but employs the same language and detailed descriptions of construction and materials. 1 Kings 10 offers an even fuller treatment of the house of Solomon, with his possessions listed in lavish detail.

Housing Matters
As Solomon builds God's house, the word of the Lord comes to him:

Conerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes, obey my ordinances, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, then I will establish my promise with you, which I made to your father David. I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people.
1 Kings 6.12-13

As the house of David is built on contract, as mentioned earlier, the Lord reserves the right to modify the contract at any time. The earlier contract with David was unconditional, but here a condition is placed upon God's promise. God will only dwell among his people if Solomon obeys the Lord. Of course, this immediately raises the dialectical tensions that run through the bible, the tensions between God's will and human action. Humankind has a tendency to undermine the will of God through exogamy and apostasy. And though Solomon prays to the Lord, who he sees inhabit the temple in a cloud, he has a soft spot for foreign women, who eventually turn him away from God. It is a shame, because with the completion of the temple comes a resting place for God and the covenant after so many years of travel. Solomon explains to the Israelites:

Now the Lord has upheld the promise that he made; for I have risen in the place of my father David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 8.20-21

Unfortunately, the establishment of a home for the covenant does not put the matter of faith to rest. Faith in God is something that the people of Israel will always struggle with. This wavering devotion will eventually lead to the destruction of the temple and dispersal of the Israelites. And yet the Lord will always remain metaphorically at home in the temple:

I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you made before me; I have consecrated this house that you have built, and put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
1 Kings 9.3

I say the Lord remains in the temple metaphorically because Solomon is wise to note in his prayer:

But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Even heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, much less this house that I have built! Have regard to your servant’s prayer and his plea, O LORD my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day towards this house, the place of which you said, “My name shall be there”, that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays towards this place. Hear the plea of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray towards this place; O hear in heaven your dwelling-place; heed and forgive.
1 Kings 8.27-30

God has a strange characteristic in which he is simultaneously comprehensible and ineffable. Though the smoke of God’s presence fills the temple, God does not really reside there. God’s home serves to metonymically connect the incomprehensible ideal of God with a fixed dwelling place. The temple helps to focus devotion to a God that defies logic, and Solomon himself seems to recognize this. Solomon even expresses some of the paradox himself, first claiming that the highest heaven cannot contain God, and then referring to God whose dwelling place is in heaven. Perhaps the dwelling place does not actually describe the abstract truth about God, but it is perhaps the closest concrete thing that humans are able to understand.

Bad Houses
As mentioned above, Solomon fails to keep his house neat and clean; he corrupts it by marrying foreign women. These women turn Solomon’s heart away from God, so that he evens builds “high places” (altars) that serve as houses for foreign gods. Solomon thereby breaks the covenant with God and nullifies the agreement they had. The house of David is to end. For the sake of David, it will not end during Solomon’s time. Rather, the kingdom will be wrenched from Solomon’s son so that he only reigns over one tribe, Judah. The man who will receive the other 10 tribes is Jeroboam, whose future is revealed when the prophet Ahijah tears his garment into 12 pieces and gives Jeroboam 10, to signify the tribes he will rule over.

Mere years after its establishment, the figurative house of David begins to crumble. The physical temple of God will be destroyed within a few centuries. Solomon’s personal house will surely be destroyed before then.

But the beauty of the bible’s portrayal of God is that even without these things, even without a temple to centralize worship, God continues to be a real presence that people feel in their lives. As some advocate today for the building of the Third Temple in Jerusalem, God – and the conception of God – is a force to be reckoned with, and amazingly is able to survive without a physical home on earth.

2 Samuel 22: David's Song of Thanksgiving

2 Samuel 22 consists of a piece of biblical poetry, probably by multiple authors, but one with a consistent voice - that assigned to King David. The poem present a somewhat mystical image of God, in which God is not any one thing but is many things at once. Below the poem appears in 11 strophes that I defined by theme. I then analyze it in the subsequent section.

2 Samuel 22: David's Song of Thanksgiving
David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.

[1]
He said: The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge,
my savior; you save me from violence.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

[2]
For the waves of death encompassed me,
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me,
the snares of death confronted me.

[3]
In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I called.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry came to his ears.

[4]
Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked,
because he was angry.
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.

[5]
He bowed the heavens, and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.
He rode on a cherub, and flew;
he was seen upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness around him a canopy, thick clouds, a gathering of water.
Out of the brightness before him coals of fire flamed forth.
The Lord thundered from heaven;
the Most High uttered his voice.
He sent out arrows, and scattered them
—lightning, and routed them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
the foundations of the world were laid bare
at the rebuke of the Lord,
at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

[6]
He reached from on high, he took me,
he drew me out of mighty waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
from those who hated me;
for they were too mighty for me.
They came upon me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my stay.
He brought me out into a broad place;
he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

[7]
The Lord rewarded me
according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands
he recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.
For all his ordinances were before me,
and from his statutes I did not turn aside.
I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from guilt.
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me
according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness in his sight.

[8]
With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
with the blameless you show yourself blameless;
with the pure you show yourself pure,
and with the crooked you show yourself perverse.
You deliver a humble people,
but your eyes are upon the haughty to bring them down.
Indeed, you are my lamp, O Lord,
the Lord lightens my darkness.
By you I can crush a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.
This God — his way is perfect;
the promise of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?

[9]
The God who has girded me with strength has opened wide my path.
He made my feet like the feet of deer, and set me secure on the heights.
He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your help has made me great.
You have made me stride freely,
and my feet do not slip;
I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,
and did not turn back until they were consumed.
I consumed them; I struck them down,
so that they did not rise; they fell under my feet.
For you girded me with strength for the battle;
you made my assailants sink under me.
You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
those who hated me, and I destroyed them.
They looked, but there was no one to save them;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.
I beat them fine like the dust of the earth,
I crushed them and stamped them down like the mire of the streets.

[10]
You delivered me from strife with the peoples;
you kept me as the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.
Foreigners came cringing to me;
as soon as they heard of me, they obeyed me.
Foreigners lost heart, and came trembling out of their strongholds.

[11]
The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock, and exalted be my God,
the rock of my salvation, the God who gave me vengeance
and brought down peoples under me,
who brought me out from my enemies;
you exalted me above my adversaries,
you delivered me from the violent.
For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing praises to your name.
He is a tower of salvation for his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his descendants forever.


Analysis of 2 Samuel 22

[1]
God's protection acts in a continuum of capacities: A rock connotes constancy, so God acts as a form of continual safety. A fortress connotes warfare, so God acts on behalf of David in battle. A deliverer connotes oppression, so God acts as a revolutionary who overthrows the old order. The three terms form a continuum from safety to a liminal state of danger to persecution. The next terms - shield, horn, stronghold, refuge - all hold their own connotations as well, with shield and stronghold both suggesting battle or willful confrontation, and horn and refuge both suggesting one who seeks safety (as in the safety offered by grasping one of the horns of the altar; in a similar way blood is dashed on the horns to expiate wrongdoing when a sin offering is made). The closing image is again one of a savior, so that the "strophe" begins at one end of the spectrum and ends at the other.

[2]
Strophe 3 introduces the first water images in the poem, the "waves of death" and "torrents of perdition." These synonymous images recall the destructive waters of the Red Sea that washed over the Egyptians as they pursued the escaping Israelites. The next two synonymous images are objects of binding: cords and snares. These images, like the preceding water images, give the sense that death is an active force that pursues the living. The poet is encompassed, assailed, entangled, and confronted, all actions that frighten or oppress.

[3]
Here is the anthropomorphic God, who lives in the temple. I would argue that the fact of God's hearing is not as important to his anthropomorphism as his residence in the temple. Of course, the mention of the temple indicates composition after the time of David, as Solomon would only build the temple of the Lord after his father's death. But if we consider the temple as part of the poet's cohesive vision, we find that the establishment of a temple serves to make God's temporary residence in the traveling ark permanent with a fixed building. God has been physically present with his people since the time of Moses, and remains with them when the Temple is established. God is not accessed on mountains (as with Moses) or beside a river (as with Jacob), but rather in the temple.

[4]
This strophe is perhaps our first introduction to the prophetic poetry of the bible, with what we might call "apocalyptic" imagery ["Apocalyptic" not in the sense of The Book of Revelation but rather in the sense of revelation of God's actions on earth]. The earth suffers a tumultuous time due to God's anger, in a scene reminiscent of a volcanic eruption. God's anger causes the earth to quake, smoke to arise, and fire and coals to shoot out. These physical manifestations of anger come from God's body, mixing emotion with a very physical reaction, though not an anthropomorphic one per se. God has human features, but these display superhuman capabilities: shooting fire and smoke. The poet seems to say that God is in some ways like humankind, but clearly certain aspects of him are manifested differently. There is a strong connection with the natural world, if only it is the destruction of the natural world.

[5]
Violent imagery continues in strophe 6 as God mounts a campaign against the poet's enemies. God thunders from heaven, the source of wind and clouds and water, taking these elements with him to form a canopy of clouds, like the one that led Israel by day as they wandered in the wilderness. God is conveyed on the wind wrapped up in the natural world elements of clouds and water, and image that combines the most primeval elements of Genesis. He then uses natural and unnatural means to fight the poet's enemies: arrows and lightning. These two parallel verses are synonymous, demonstrating God's ability to defeat armies through natural and supernatural means. God's power lays bare the entire earth, sea and land, a demonstration of his utter hegemony.

[6]
Just as God "came down" in strophe 6, he reaches "from on high" to rescue the poet. God's exact location is indeterminate, but clearly it is some place "up." Here God is not the God that resides within the temple, but the God that protects on the field of battle. In two parallel verses, God rescues the poet first from "mighty waters" and second from a "strong enemy" that is "too mighty for me." The mixing of metaphor and reality helps to muddle the meaning of the poem, as the poet mixes a figurative event with a literal one. Unless this poem is attributed to a person that was saved both from mighty waters and a strong enemy, it is safe to assume that the mighty waters part is metaphor. This allows the reader to question, "What else is metaphor in this poem?" Indeed, we can now interpret a great deal of this poem as metaphor. Perhaps God does not actually breathe smoke and shoot fire from his mouth. Perhaps this application of natural and human images to the divine serves as an attempt at mysticism, an attempt to experience (or in this case, convey) the ineffable through physical means. Mysticism does not tell us that God is something, but rather that God is like something. In this way God can occupy both high places and the temple because this is an acknowledgment that there are certain things we do not understand about him. Mysticism allows for alternative experiences and explanations of God where the traditional falls short.

[7]
The poem shifts here from the nature motif to a description of God's ways. The Lord delivers the poet because of the poet's righteousness and likewise because "he delighted in me," as stated in strophe 7. Keeping with the covenant and all of God's ordinances, the "ways of the Lord," is essential to keeping God's favor. Righteousness is equated with spiritual cleanliness, a way of keeping "holy." In biblical parlance, "holy" means "separate." Spiritual cleanness means staying away from the grime of sin.

[8]
The first four verses of this strophe display a mirroring quality to God: God reveals himself to people the way they are. [By extension, God reveals to people how they act; the loyal see their loyalty mirrored in God and could know that they are loyal.] Ideally the Israelites fall under the first three categories: loyal, blameless, and pure. These humble people conquer others through God's action; God acts as a shield for them in which they take refuge, assuming a passive state. God is a rock. In this sense it seems to be God's work alone that conquers Israel's enemies. However, a few verses clarify God's powers. The Lord is a tool; a lamp to provide light or something that gives crushing or leaping power to the poet. There are "historical" instances of actions like this in the bible, but I wonder whether the poet means it literally. I do not have an answer for this question - but I think the answer to the question would tell us a little more about the person or people behind this poem.

[9]
From this point to the end of the poem, the subject modulates frequently between God/He/You, and I. In classical mystic fashion, this creates an ambiguous quality to the work, so that addressing the Lord in the second person is the same as speaking of him in the third. The added third voice of the poet (I) further confuses the poetry, so that I becomes wrapped up in God, who is also You and He.

The poet is very much concerned with feet, footing, and balance, which conveys the feeling of balance and movement. The Lord secures the poet's feet and strengthens the poet's arms. The poet is aided by the Lord in warfare, so that the poet's enemies are destroyed. They fall under the poet's nimble feet like dust or the muck on a street.

[10]
This strophe makes clear the "poet" is David, or at least a king. The poet is a leader with so many subjects he does not know them all. His name invokes fear in people he has never met, and people surrender to him without a fight.

[11]
Strophe 12 recaps the opposite ends of the spectrum: God as rock and God as deliverer. It closes out the poem with praise for God, who loves and supports his anointed, the king. God is the Savior of Israel forever.

The vision of God presented in the poem is not entirely cohesive, but this allows for a mystical interpretation of the passage. The biblical poet may not have been driving toward a mystical vision, but the fact that we are able to interpret it as such may indicate that the poet held a view of God that the Lord was somehow ineffable, and that language failed to describe God or any experience with God.