Kings and Wars: The Romantization of Kingship
In the diagnosis of the problem of violence and injustice in this world, the romanticizing of violence and power plays no small part. A quick look at what sells tickets at the movie theatre, or the way we tend to memorialize violence and power in our national monuments and our histories brings, this tendency into view. Simone Weil, in an essay on evil, discusses the distinction between evil as we experience it and how it is depicted in literature:
Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating. Therefore "imaginative literature" is either boring or immoral (or a mixture of both). It only escapes from this alternative if in some way it passes over to the side of reality through the power of art -- and only genius can do that. "Evil" in The Simone Weil Reader, p. 383
One example of the depiction of evil that succeeds in becoming art, in my estimation, is Picasso's Guernica.
One of the arguments put forward in this course is that in the polyglossia that makes up the Bible, God consistently stands on the side of the victim. This raises the question of whether the glorification of David belongs to a strand in the text that stands in tension with this divine propensity or whether the glorification of David is an act of the reader rather than inherent in the text? This takes us into the realm of hermeneutics, the philosophical discussion of the act of interpretation. As someone not yet persuaded that post-structuralism is our salvation, I contend that encoded in the text are significant cues to the reader that one ought not romanticize David and that the text tries to cultivate readers who romanticize neither violence nor power.
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King David: "One who rules over people justly, ruling in the fear of God, is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land." 2 Samuel 23:3b-4 |
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What Kings Really Do - I Sam 8
The Hammurabi Stele (Paris) Hammurabi was sixth king of the First dynasty of Babylon 17728-1686. This stele was found at Susa in Elam in 1902. The top shows Hammurabi standing before Shamash, the god of justice, who hands him the royal insignia of the ring and the staff. Engraved below is a code of law containing 282 articles ranging from property to family to criminal law. |
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The institution of the monarchy is depicted as a response to the desire for military security and economic prosperity. There is no mythical nationalism, no divinity or theology for the king. 1 Sam 8:7-8 indicates that human kingship threatens to overthrow YHWH's kingship. When Saul demonstrates his ability to bring martial security to Israel and the people renew his kingship in Gilgal (1 Sam 11:5-25), Samuel calls upon God to send thunder and fain as a sign that the people's demand for a king is wicked in the sight of the Lord. The story of the kings found in 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings must then be read with disapproval rather than as heroic acts. All that Samuel warns about kings, 1 Sam 8:11-18, comes to pass. The kings' conduct must be judged by the standards set out in Deut 17:16-17.
[We must also note that 2 Sam 7:12-16 (cf. Ps. 89), indicates that the David monarchy becomes the way in which God will relate to Israel. Brueggemann contends that what God is doing is making a commitment to protect and allow Israel to prosper (p. 606).]
| Trophies |
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| Weapons |
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| Women |
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| Crown | The crown of Milcom (2 Sam 12:26-21) |
| A Cult? |
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Why focus upon Joab? David is the politician. As Polzin notes, we rarely get to know what he is really thinking. How do we measure a man? By the quality of people who surround him? Joab is a visceral character. How he reads the king is in contrast to how the people see him and how David sees himself?
Another set of questions that we need to ask:
How does David react to Joab's actions? David reacts in ways that gain him public favor by disavowing responsibility for Joab's crimes.
What does David gain by Joab's actions? In the first few stories, he gains security or what he wants, but in the third and fourth story, it becomes clear that Joab threatens David's security. David cannot execute justice when the injustice is committed by a member of his army because he relies upon that army to keep him in power. When Joab kills Amasa, David can do nothing.
With reference to Joab's actions, does David administer his office according to Deutonomic guidelines? The answer is no. As long as David relies upon might for right, right does not obtain.
Why doesn't David rein in Joab? Why does he leave it to Solomon to punish Joab? It would seem that David fears Joab.
Abner: "To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and I will give you my support to bring all Israel over to you." 3:12 "Let me go and rally all Israel to my lord the king, in order that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires." 2 Sam 3:21 2:27 Joab disembowels Abner 2: 28David curses Joab "May the guilt fall on the head of Joab and on all his father's house; and may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge, or who is leprous, or who holds a spindle, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks food." 2 Sam 3:29 |
David gains security through Abner's death without losing prestige with the people. The people respond favorably to the appearance of mourning. If David condemn's Joab's actions why does he not execute justice. Machiavelli, The Prince: [18] For this reason a prince ought to take care that he never
lets anything slip from his [18] For that reason, let a prince have the credit of conquering
and holding his state, the |
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Joab and Uriah -- 2 Samuel 11:The foreign soldier and David's wife Uriah is murdered in battle David, "Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours now one and now another.'" 2 Sam 11:25 |
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Joab and Absalom -- 2 Samuel 14-18: The usurper of a throne and David's son Note how Joab uses the woman of Tekoain a manner comparable to God's use of Nathan. Does this illustrate Joab's understanding of prophetic power? 2 Samuel 14 Absalom looses his head and is stuck in the gut. David, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!" 2 Sam 18:33 Joab, "I perceive that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. So go out at once and speak kindly to your servants; for I swear by the Lord, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night; and this will be worse for you than any disaster that has come upon you from your youth until now." 2 Sam 19:6-7 |
David benefits in Absalom's death in that his throne is secure, but Joab suggests that David's power is guaranteed by the army rather than by God. |
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Joab and Amasa -- 2 Samuel 20: A General Amasa is disemboweled. David's last instructions to Solomon, "Moreover you know also what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner son or Ner, and Amasa son of Jether, whom he murdered, retaliating in time of peace for blood that had been shed in war, and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist, and on the sandals on his feet. Act therefore according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace." 1 Kings 2:5-6 |
Unlike Abner, Amasa is David's official representative and poses no threat to David's rule yet Joab's flagrant violation of the law goes unpunished by David. David's ability to execute the authority of his office according to scripture is hamstrung by his dependence upon military power. |
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Joab and God -- I Kings 1-2: Joab clings to the horns of the altar (~ Adonijah) Solomon, "The Lord will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because without the knowledge of my father David, he attacked and killed with the sword two men more righteous and better than himself, Abner ... and Amasa.... So shall their blood come back on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants forever; but to David, and to his descendants, and to his house, and to his throne, there shall be peace from the Lord forevermore." 1 Kings 2:32-33 |
Solomon may be free to do what his father has not been able to do, but one wonders what impact it will have on the quality of his own rule. His rule is not as violent as David's but, in the end, he is not faithful to God. |
Kings of Judah who die a violent death
Ahaziah (843-842) goes to war with King Joram against Jehu
asn is hot by an arrow, flees to Megiddo and dies there 2 Kgs
9:27-28
Athalia (843-837) the queen mother then reigns until she is cut
down with a sword by Jehoida the priest 2 Kgs 11:12-20
Amon (642-640) served and worshipped idols his servant conspire
against him and kill him in his house. 2 Kgs 21:23
Josiah (640-609) dies in battle against Pharaoh Neco at Meggido
2 Kgs 23:28-20
Johoiachim (598/7) is taken in captivity to Babylon 2 Kgs 24:15
Zedekiah (597-587/6) the Babylonian army slaughters his sons before
his eyes and then puts out his eyes, binds him and takes him to
Babylon 2 Kigs 25:7