LIBRARY OF HEBREW BIBLE/ OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES 575 Formerly Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series Editors Claudia V. Camp, Texas Christian University Andrew Mein, Westcott House, Cambridge Founding Editors David J. A. Clines, Philip R. Davies and David M. Gunn Editorial Board Alan Cooper, John Goldingay, Robert P. Gordon, Norman K. Gottwald, James Harding, John Jarick, Carol Meyers, Patrick D. Miller, Francesca Stavrakopoulou, Daniel L. Smith-Christopher SONS OR LOVERS An Interpretation of David and Jonathan’s Friendship Jonathan Y. Rowe NEW YORK • LONDON • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY Bloomsbury T&T Clark An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 175 Fifth Avenue 50 Bedford Square New York London NY 10010 WC1B 3DP USA UK www.bloomsbury.com First published 2012 © Jonathan Y. Rowe, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author. eISBN: 978-0-5673-0616-6 Typeset by Forthcoming Publications Ltd (www.forthpub.com) For Mark CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xi INTRODUCTION 1 Chapter 1 INTERPRETING DAVID AND JONATHAN 11 1. Hearing Voices: Reading with Mikhail Bakhtin 12 2. Family Practices: Reading with Anthropology 17 3. Interpretative Understanding 27 Chapter 2 “REAL MEN” 32 1. Bravehearts 36 2. Profanity! 43 3. Spearmen 50 Chapter 3 FAMILY FIRST 54 1. “Honour your father and mother” 57 2. Loyalty to Kin 63 3. Understanding David and Saul’s Family Values 70 Chapter 4 FRIENDS FOREVER 77 1. The Loyalty of Love 78 2. Friendship 83 3. Understanding Jonathan’s (Dis)Loyalty 90 Chapter 5 SHAMEFULLY DISGRACED 102 1. “Shall my honour be as shame?” 102 2. “Honour and Shame” 107 3. Understanding Saul’s Accusation 118 viii Contents Chapter 6 HONOURABLY DISLOYAL 126 1. Keeping Faith 126 2. Sons or Lovers 129 Appendix A: RELATIVE AGES OF SELECTED CHARACTERS IN 1 SAMUEL 133 Appendix B: COLLOCATION OF (cid:267)(cid:275)(cid:272)(cid:275)(cid:270) WITH OTHER ELEMENTS OF OATH FORMULAE 136 Bibliography 137 Index of References 156 Index of Authors 162 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book explores the biblical story of David and Jonathan’s friendship in the context of their family relations. The questions I ask about the narrative arose during many years living away from my native England. Perhaps this was only natural, for while even a casual reader of the Bible can echo L. P. Hartley’s quip that “the past is a different country: they do things differently there,” personal experience of cultural dislocation (and adaptation) obliges readers to face the issue head on. Living in Uganda, Pakistan and Spain helped me realize that not only is the Old Testament a “strange land”—they do things differently, but also that my suppositions would have been quite foreign to its original recipients. Sons or Lovers, therefore, attempts to sensitize contemporary readers to these differences. I do not suppose to “bridge the gap,” as if the dichotomy could be over- come or collapsed, but instead point to ways in which the ancient texts might be understood anew: my aim is “interpretative understanding.” Special thanks are owed to my family for their support and forbear- ance during the years that it has taken for this book to reach publication. I am most grateful, also, to readers of various versions of the draft manuscript who made perceptive comments that have sharpened my argument considerably: Mario Aguilar, Dennis Byler, Richard Cleaves, Nathan MacDonald, Chris Wright, and an especially diligent anonymous reviewer for T&T Clark International. The usual disclaimers apply. Chapter 1 contains some material, appropriately revised, that was (cid:191)rst published in my Michal’s Moral Dilemma: A Literary, Anthropological and Ethical Interpretation (New York: T&T Clark International, 2011). At other points I have also re-utilized some of my article “Is David Really David’s ‘Wife’? A Response to Yaron Peleg,” JSOT 34 (2009): 183–93. The table entitled “The Amiable Relations of Kinship and Friendship” in this book was originally published by Cambridge Uni- versity Press in Julian Pitt-Rivers, “The Kith and the Kin,” in The Character of Kinship (ed. J. Goody; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1973), 96. I am grateful to the copyright holders for the relevant permissions.