The King-Priest in Samuel: A Messianic Motif

By Nicholas Majors and Jason S. DeRouchie

Scholars studying the ANE have noticed that Canaanite kings ruled as a representative of their god and served in a priestly role. Yahweh allows Israel to have a king "like all the nations" (Deut 17:14), but he shapes the monarchy according to his covenant. A key question remains, does God's allowance for a king "like all the nations" include a king-priest model? This study presents a synchronic view of the king as a priest within the MT of Samuel, analyzing the motif and considering how the narrator heightens the hope for the coming anointed one, whom the narrator describes as both king (1 Sam 2:10) and priest (2:35-36). This study will argue that, from the monarchy's inception, Yahweh considered Israel's kingship a sacral task. My study examined the king as a priest through a synchronic literary-theological approach.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Release date: May 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666766011

Nicholas Majors

Nicholas Majors currently serves as an adjunct professor at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Colorado Christian University. He serves as the book review editor for the Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies. He has written numerous articles and presented at various conferences that wrestle with the message of the Old Testament and its relationship to Christians.

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PART I

1. Introduction

Scholars have commonly relegated the union of the offices of priest and king in Israel to Ps 110 and ancient Near Eastern (ANE) correspondence. Leslie Allen comments on Ps 110:4, "The unique reference to the king’s role as khn, ‘priest,’ raises the controversial issue of Israelite sacral or sacerdotal kingship."

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This controversy relates to the question, Was Israel’s king a priest? Psalm 110 does not answer this question, for it addresses an eschatological king-priest whose oversight and reign addresses a period beyond the days of David or any other pre-exilic monarch (cf. Matt 22:44; Luke 20:42–43; Acts 2:34–35; Heb 1:13; 5:6; 7:17, 21).

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However, a brief survey of the rise of the monarchy in the book of Samuel suggests that David’s royal Lord in Ps 110 bore a priestly role not unlike what God called Israel’s kings to bear.

Scholars studying the ANE have noticed that Canaanite kings ruled as a representative of their god and served in a priestly role. Yahweh allows Israel to have a king like all the nations (Deut 17:14), but he shapes the monarchy according to his covenant. John Walton states, In the ancient world the king stood between the divine and human realms mediating the power of the deity in his city and beyond.

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Among Israel’s neighbors, the king’s duties were not limited to the court, for he often oversaw cultic festivals and ceremonies. The Canaanite nations viewed their kings as semi-divine, but this opposed God’s law in Deut 17:14–20, which stressed that Israel’s king must be a man under Yahweh’s authority who ruled in accordance with Yahweh’s torah.

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Thus, scholars have sought to discern the correspondences and differences between Israel’s monarchy and the surrounding nations.

A key question remains, does God’s allowance for a king like all the nations include a king-priest model? The focus upon Ps 110 has not provided a consensus, and ANE studies have highlighted the need for further clarification. The book of Samuel provides a litmus test to determine whether God allows for a king-priest model. The book of Samuel follows chronologically the book of Judges, which includes the refrain, In those days there was no king in Israel; the people did what was right in their own eyes (Judg 17:6; 21:5; cf. 14:3, 7; 18:1; 19:1). Judges anticipates a king who will order Israel’s society according to the law of God so that Israel does what is right in the eyes of Yahweh. The book of Samuel begins with Eli and his sons serving as priests before Yahweh but abusing his sacrifices. Amid this immorality, the narrator introduces Hannah and her struggle to bear a child, and she responds with a prophetic song that looks forward to a future king who will be the agent of God’s protection and judgment to the ends of the earth (1 Sam 2:10). Soon after Hannah’s song, the narrator inserts an oracle of doom against the Elide dynasty and promises to replace this priestly house with another in Israel (1 Sam 2:35–36). The book of Samuel anticipates the rise of an anointed king and a priest, yet there remains the question how these figures relate and whether the narrative indicates in whom these prophecies are fulfilled.

The book of Samuel continues by describing the rise of the monarchy through the elders requesting a king like all the nations (1 Sam 8:4), and the narrator portrays both Saul and David performing priestly activities. However, scholars have not reconciled why Saul is judged for his priestly offering (1 Sam 13:10–14), and the narrator praises David for performing priestly duties (2 Sam 6:17–19). A brief survey of the literature shows that no study to date has thoroughly assessed the priestly role of the king within the whole book of Samuel. For example, J. P. Fokkelman and Robert Polzin analyzed the story and literary elements of the book of Samuel, but they only briefly commented on the king as a priest.

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Other synchronic studies have largely analyzed only 1 or 2 Sam or groups of texts within the whole that describe the king-priest.

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As a result, no single study focuses on the king as a priest in 1–2 Sam, and the literary purpose that the narrator employs in characterizing Saul and David performing priestly functions.

The present literary study of the book of Samuel considers how the narrator portrays the priestly role and dynasty of kings Saul and David both to supply a model for the monarchy in Israel and to heighten hope for the fulfillment of the prophecies of an anointed king and priest in 1 Sam 2:10, 35–36. This study will argue that, from the monarchy’s inception, Yahweh considered Israel’s kingship a sacral task in which the king-priest was to oversee elements in three overlapping spheres: the law, the priesthood, and sacred space.

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These terms were chosen because they are central to the vision for worshiping across the Old Testament (OT), especially the Pentateuch.

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Yahweh revealed himself to Moses (Exod 3) and gave him the law that describes how Israel should worship Him (Exod 19–24). In Samuel, the narrator uses priestly language to describe the role of the king, but he stands distinct from the Levitical priesthood. A key distinction between the king-priest and other priests is how they interact with sacred space. Thus, these terms guide how this study defines and investigates the king as a priest.

Evaluations of the King as Priest in 1–2 Samuel

Summary of Previous Approaches

It is noteworthy that scholars have engaged in a literary analysis of 1–2 Sam for the last two hundred years.

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The trends in the interpretation of the OT and the book of Samuel have changed during that time, with literary studies in 1-2 Sam shifting from a diachronic approach focused on constructing a textual history to a synchronic approach that examines the book as it appears in the MT today.

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The advocates of source criticism have posited a multiplicity of voices in Samuel, which include opposing perspectives on the monarchy.

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Early diachronic studies attempted to reconcile the views by appealing to the source material.

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The transition to synchronic analysis has given credence to interpreting as a whole the book’s final form as reflected in the MT.

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And these studies have proposed a unified view on the monarchy and investigated the overarching literary story and techniques.

Nevertheless, despite the unprecedented increase in biblical studies in the late twentieth century, there remains a lack of emphasis on the king’s priestly role within Samuel. Although previous studies assessed the book’s overarching literary story and techniques, they only briefly investigated the king’s priestly role.

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The question remains: How do the dynasties of Saul and David relate to the law, the priesthood, and sacred space in the book of Samuel?

An Introduction to the Present Approach

This dissertation analyzes the rhetoric of Samuel that heightens the hope for the coming anointed one, whom this study will argue the narrator describes as both king (1 Sam 2:10) and priest (2:35–36). Thus, 1 Sam 2:10, 35–36 are foundational to the present investigation.

To identify the most relevant texts in Samuel related to the king as a priest, this study identifies verbs and nouns related to three overlapping spheres: the law, the priesthood, and sacred space. Because Israel’s elders allude to Deut 17:14–20 to initiate the monarchy (1 Sam 8:5),

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this study also analyzes how Deut 17:14–20 anticipates the priestly role of the king. Thus, the vocabulary for the law includes words alluding to Deut 17:14–20 within 1–2 Sam and words that describe different covenant stipulations, a king obeying or disobeying the law, and Yahweh electing a king. The category for the priesthood includes texts in which the narrator mentions Levitical priests, but it also highlights where the narrator portrays the king functioning in a priestly way by his attire, his offering sacrifices and his implementing the specific items for offerings, his inquiring of God, or his receiving an oracle. Lastly, the category of sacred space describes a king engaging Yahweh in sacred locales within the book of Samuel. The table below highlights the key vocabulary and contextual clues that help determine the passages selected in this study.

TABLE 1: LAW, PRIESTHOOD, AND SACRED SPACE VOCABULARY

In addition, this dissertation will analyze literary allusions to the promises of the king and priest in 1 Sam 2:10, 35–36. The focus will be upon shared language between 1 Sam 2:10, 35–36, and other texts within Samuel. Thus, the literary allusions encompass when the narrator describes (1) Yahweh judging ( ), giving his king strength ( ), exalting his anointed’s ( ) horn ( ), or building a sure house ( ). They also include when the narrator (2) portrays individuals as Yahweh’s anointed ( ) or as faithful ( ), (3) points to God’s heart in relation to human obedience (e.g., ) or God’s election (e.g., ), (4) highlights someone or something going in and out before another ( ).

TABLE 2: 1 SAMUEL 2:10, 35–36

Finally, this study will analyze allusions to kingship law (Deut 17:14–20), promises of a king (e.g., Gen 17:6, 16; 49:10; Num 24:7, 17), and inner-biblical allusions concerning the role of the king-priest. This study identifies literary allusions through a sliding scale of means: words to phrases and shared contexts to parallel events. Thus, the more shared similarities between the two texts will give a greater warrant for an allusion. The sliding scale proposed above is an adaptation of Jeffery M. Leonard’s eight principles that identify literary allusions:

(l) Shared language is the single most important factor in establishing a textual connection. (

2

) Shared language is more important than nonshared language. (

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) Shared language that is rare or distinctive suggests a stronger connection than does the language that is widely used. (

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) Shared phrases suggest a stronger connection than do individual shared terms. (

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) The accumulation of shared language suggests a stronger connection than does a single shared term or phrase. (

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) Shared language in similar contexts suggests a stronger connection than does shared language alone. (

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) Shared language need not be accompanied by shared ideology to establish a connection. (

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) Shared language need not be accompanied by shared form to establish a connection.

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In summary, this study identifies the most relevant texts for describing the king as a priest within the parameters of the law, the priesthood, and sacred space. These three categories determine which passages present the king as a priest and eliminate other passages. In addition, this study focuses on two types of allusions: allusions for the messianic hope within Samuel and allusions to the promise of a king in the wider biblical narrative. The first category of allusion traces the messianic hope with the shared language between the promise of a king-priest (1 Sam 2:10, 35–36) and other texts within Samuel. The focus is upon the rhetoric of the book of Samuel and how the narrator portrays Saul and David to heighten hope in the Messiah. The second category analyzes allusions to the Pentateuch’s kingship law and promises of a king along with inner-biblical allusions that clarify the role of the king as a priest. This category connects the king as a priest in its biblical-theological context. Thus, both the allusions and the vocabulary isolate the role of the king as a priest within the book of Samuel.

This Study’s Literary-Theological Methodology

The theology of the book of Samuel presents Saul and David as kings who act in a priestly fashion. This dissertation explores the king-priest motif within the ideological framework of 1–2 Sam.

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This dissertation synchronically explores this motif from a literary-theological perspective. The literary approach will concentrate on Hebrew narrative poetics by focusing on the narrator, the narrator’s characterization of others, and repetition.

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The literary focus will develop an understanding of the king-priest motif by describing how the narrator evaluates the king functioning as a priest. The theological angle will uncover this motif by describing the king-priest from the final form of the text to create a unified picture for faith, doctrine, and life. The study presents a literary-theological investigation of the king’s role as a priest, which follows other literary studies of motifs within the book of Samuel undertaken recently by Michael Avioz, Rachelle Gilmour, Matthew Newkirk, and Brian A. Verrett.

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As a result, this study’s description of the king-priest relies on the poetics of Hebrew narrative for an exegetical, literary, and theological analysis of texts to create a holistic picture of the king within Samuel. Thus, considering the king as a priest in the whole of 1–2 Sam provides insight into the book’s overall purpose and meaning.

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The literary-theological methodology analyzes the OT synchronically from the MT. Nevertheless, the present study does not ignore diachronic approaches but considers them only in relation to their importance to the text in its final form. As a result, the present study does not significantly account for 1–2 Sam’s relationship with 1–2 Kgs or the synoptic accounts in 1–2 Chr. However, this study does consider Samuel’s relation to Genesis through Judges when 1–2 Sam quotes or alludes to them.

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The following section describes components of the present methodology: motif, narrator, characterization, and repetition.

Motif

The present section describes the methodology that guides this study in identifying and analyzing the motif of the king-priest in Samuel. The term motif is fundamental to the present investigation of the king-priest within Samuel. Natascha Würzbach defines a motif as the concrete realization of a fixed abstract idea.

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Similarly, Horace P. Abbott defines a motif as a discrete thing, image, or phrase that is repeated in a narrative.

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Thus, a motif is a repeated image, word, or idea within a narrative that is made concrete through its realization.

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The motif under investigation is the king functioning as a priest and involved with God’s law, the priesthood, and sacred space within Samuel. The following section considers how the narrator describes the king-priest using indirect characterization.

The Narrator

The biblical narrator describes events and characters from an omniscient point of view, presenting a reliable description of events.

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The narrator knows events that occur in secret and hears the conversations and thoughts of the characters. As a result, the narrator’s point of view has greater weight than that of the characters. Berlin stated, But all claims to reality are not equal. When one becomes conscious of point of view in narrative, one realizes that the omniscient narrator’s version takes priority over a character’s version.

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The narrator’s point of view is similar to God’s in that he foresees the end of the story and presents individuals within the narrative for his purposes. Thus, he describes the narrative through an omniscient point of view (at least in relation to the events described) in order to tie all the constituent parts together, but he also selects information pertinent for his reader. As a result, the narrator’s point of view frames the narrative sequence to evaluate the king-priest. The narrator comments on and evaluates characters who reveal his purpose, his plan, and the theological meaning within the text. This study will attempt to isolate specific words, phrasing, and syntactic arrangements that clarify the theological functions while indicating the narrator’s point of view.

The narrator combines different characters’ points of view to create an internal chronology and setting that guides the reader in interpreting events, characters, and ideas. The four points of view are subsequent, simultaneous, prior, and interpolated narration.

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These narrations reflect the narrator’s points of view on events, actions, other characters, and revealing his purpose and the meaning of the text.

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Bar-Efrat stated, Biblical narrators make no reference to their activity in writing the narrative.

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As a result, the interpreter must infer from the narrator’s implicit commentary to interpret events, characters, and ideas within the story. The following paragraphs describes the types of narrations that reveal the narrator’s point of view from the least obscure to the clearest reference.

Subsequent narration describes events in the past from the narrator’s perspective; this type of narration dominates Samuel’s narratives. The significance in Samuel is that subsequent narration describes background information that characterizes individuals. Simultaneous narration describes events occurring at the narrative level by describing what the characters see around them.

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The narrator’s view is opaque in simultaneous narrations, but he reveals his perspective through the characters’ dialogues and actions. The narrator’s view may initially be difficult in simultaneous narration, but an analysis must consider how the narrator intends each character’s response or result from a characters’ speech.

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For example, a flawed character expresses a false reality within the narrative, and the narrator then juxtaposes his view against other characters to contradict his perspective.

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The narrator’s view is hard to discern in subsequent and simultaneous narration; therefore, this dissertation will give more attention to prior and interpolated narration for identifying the narrator’s view within Samuel.

Prior narration exposes the narrator’s structural devices by signaling what is about to happen through dreams or prophecies.

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For example, Hannah prayed in 1 Sam 2:10 concerning God’s anointed, stating, He will give strength to his king and will exalt the horn of his anointed. Her prayer shapes the narrative as the reader anticipates its fulfillment. Thus, the narrator guides the reader at the macro-plot level by confirming a previous prophecy, prayer, or wish that a character states about the future. However, not all prior narrations have the same weight in the book of Samuel; prophecies signal a divine intervention within the story and structure the narrative at the macro-plot level. Prayers confirm the faith and divine relationship with a character. For example, Nathan’s word of judgment on David in 2 Sam 12:10–12 structures the events in 2 Sam 13–20, as the sword does not depart from David’s house, and Absalom lays with his wives publicly (2 Sam 15:7–12, 16:23).

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The narrator reveals his meaning directly through interpolated narration, which occurs when he combines different narration levels.

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This typically includes the narrator describing a character, event, or the internal narrative, then reflecting on its current meaning.

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For example, the two songs at the end of Samuel (2 Sam 22:1–23:7) describe moments of the narrative past, but the narrator also reflects on their meaning for David at that point.

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Although a narrator describes events and characters from various points of view, it is necessary to weigh his words to analyze the theological meaning. The next section addresses how an interpreter evaluates the multiple perspectives within the narrative.

Characterization

The narrator reveals his view of characters along a sliding scale of means, in ascending order of explicitness and certainty, for conveying information about the motives, the attitudes, and the moral nature of characters.

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The sliding scale of reliability for determining the narrator’s ideology begins with actions or appearances, direct speech, inward speech, and ends with the narrator’s explicit comments.

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The narrator characterizes directly by describing the appearance or inner personality, but he also characterizes indirectly by using the speeches and actions of other characters.

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However, the book of Samuel favors the narrative mode of showing rather than telling.

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Thus, the narrator’s evaluation of characters is oblique through various indirect characterizations.

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Nevertheless, the poetics of Hebrew narratives guide the reader in discerning the narrator’s ideology or intended meaning. For example, the narrator indirectly characterizes the king as a priest by the speeches and actions that denote their priestly functions.

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The narrator does not always offer commentary on whether a character’s perspective, action, or speech is right or wrong. Instead, he builds upon the previous covenant history of Israel so that the relationship between Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomistic History is one of influence rather than redaction.

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For example, the allusion to Deut 17:14–20 in 1 Sam 8:5 invites the reader to read the monarchy in light of Moses’s guidelines.

Observing how the narrator portrays different perspectives on the king functioning as a priest exposes the meaning within the narrative text.

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Although the narrator employs different points of view, he presents a unified picture within the book of Samuel, since the narrator dictates what will be narrated and how.

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As a result, the narrator leads the reader to adopt his implicit values and attitudes towards the monarchy.

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One way that the narrator presents different perspectives is through repetition to tie scenes together and show emphases.

Repetition

The narrator recasts scenes, episodes, and even particular words for emphasis. The attention to repetition began with James Muilenburg’s presidential address to the Society of Biblical Literature in 1968, which provided the impetus for American scholarship:

Persistent and painstaking attention to the modes of Hebrew literary composition will reveal that the pericopes exhibit linguistic patterns, word formations ordered or arranged in particular ways, verbal sequences which move in fixed structures from beginning to end. It is clear that they have been skillfully wrought in many different ways, often with consummate skill and artistry. It is also apparent that they have been influenced by conventional rhetorical practices. This inevitably poses a question for which I have no answer. From whom did the poets and prophets of Israel acquire their styles and literary habits?

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Muilenburg’s appeal to pay attention to the various literary and structural strategies that give the text its artistic qualities highlight the great potential of focusing on delimiting literary units to identify major motifs within the text.

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For this reason, the present study focuses on literary units that have the vocabulary or contextual clues that describe Saul or David relating to the law, the priesthood, and sacred space to identify the king-priest motif. After these passages have been selected based upon these criteria, this dissertation analyzes the use of repetition in these passages to help clarify the narrator’s intention.

Narrative Analogy

The narrator’s use of repetition is not limited to poetry but is a major stylistic feature of Hebrew narrative.

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The narrator repeats motifs, themes, and sequences of actions.

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Narrative analogy is one of the more prominent techniques through which the narrator provides implicit commentary.

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R. P. Gordon described the technique as follows:

Narrative analogy is a device whereby the narrator can provide an internal commentary on the action which he is describing, usually by means of cross-reference to an earlier action or speech. Thus, narratives are