The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel

Rating:
Summary: Fire in the text
Review: Having enjoyed Robert Alter's translation of Genesis I approached `The David Story' with keen anticipation. The same high standard is maintained - I had half-expected that there would be less to remark upon as these stories are so familiar. The vivid characters, their speech, the detail of their lives all seem to gain new life in this version.

Although I am no Hebraist it seems to me that part of Alter's success lies in the high view he takes of the ancient text and its integrity. He has little time for the deconstructionist cut-and-paste scholars who would see a committee, or a series of committees, as being capable of producing such a closely crafted and unified piece of literature - as if Shakespeare could be written by consensus. I break out in silent applause when Alter expresses his candid views on these theories. For example, on II Sam. 11&12: "Though analytic scholars have variously sought to break up break up these chapters into editorial frame, and Succession Narrative...emending patches of the text as they proceed, such efforts are best passed over in silence." He also gives good, consistent reasons for these statements, if not for all of his other opinions.

For those interested in the translation process itself, the footnotes give a fascinating over-the-shoulder view of his workings. He naturally relies heavily on the Masoretic text but explains his usage of the alternative sources - Dead Sea scroll, the Septuagint, Josephus, and even the Targums. As Samuel is in places a notoriously difficult (and imperfect) Hebrew text his explanations are very welcome. He also makes use of background detail such as the archeological discovery which supplied our understanding of the Hebrew word `pim'. This word occurs only once in the bible, and is found in Samuel. Its meaning of `two thirds of a shekel' was rediscovered when trading weights marked with this word were unearthed, a small but welcome advance.

The other part of Alter's success is that his grasp of style is as acute in English as it is in ancient Hebrew. He is at pains to transmit fast-paced Hebrew narrative as fast-paced English prose, and ensure that the poetry still sounds poetic. That said, the dialogue is my favourite feature, with the outstanding linguistic skills of king David giving him the star part. Altogether this adds up to a version which reads very well out loud: a great asset to preachers.

On the debit side, there are an alarming number of errors in the commentary and footnotes that evaded the proof-reader. Fortunately I could find none in the text itself. A small sample: `casual' for `causal' not once, but twice (p.xii and p.230), and misspelling of `Israel' (p.369).

Sadly Alter's viewpoint is secular and he knows nothing of revelation or spiritual experience. (Curiously this is an advantage when he is criticising the deconstructionists, who usually discount refutations from the Christian and Jewish believer on ideological grounds.) However, it is the fire in text that saves the translation from being a cold etymological exercise, and I for one hope for an Isaiah, or even a psalter from his pen next.

Rating:
Summary: Good cross reference
Review: I picked this up while doing study of David and I and II Samuel and it proved to be a interesting reference point, with all the commentary, as well as providing a great alternative text. The attempt to closely preserve the nuances of the original language made the reading more interesting, but also a bit daunting.

Overall, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in getting deeper into the David story.

Rating:
Summary: A must read for those interested in the Bible
Review: Most versions of the biblical text succeed either because of a superb translation or because of thought provoking commentary. David Alter gives the world one of those rare treatments that succeeds on both scores and provides a truly important addition to biblical scholarship.

Alter's analysis of the language can be a true bridge for those who want to know the text but do not speak Hebrew. By pointing out to the reader places where the language is unclear, he lets him or her make the choice of what the texts real meaning is. Only the Everett Fox translation is equal or superior.

As for commentary, Alter's literary critique of the text helps bring it to life and helps the reader understand how those in the period of redaction read the text.

Alter has already made many noteworthy contributions to biblical scholarship. With this work, he assures his place in the illustrious pantheon of important biblical scholars.

Rating:
Summary: A must read for those interested in the Bible
Review: Most versions of the biblical text succeed either because of a superb translation or because of thought provoking commentary. David Alter gives the world one of those rare treatments that succeeds on both scores and provides a truly important addition to biblical scholarship.

Alter's analysis of the language can be a true bridge for those who want to know the text but do not speak Hebrew. By pointing out to the reader places where the language is unclear, he lets him or her make the choice of what the texts real meaning is. Only the Everett Fox translation is equal or superior.

As for commentary, Alter's literary critique of the text helps bring it to life and helps the reader understand how those in the period of redaction read the text.

Alter has already made many noteworthy contributions to biblical scholarship. With this work, he assures his place in the illustrious pantheon of important biblical scholars.

Rating:
Summary: Reading David ...
Review: Okay, so I get hung up on odd things when I approach such a book. How shall I read it? being the major thing. That is, do I want to read the introduction before or after I read the body of the work, and, more importantly, do I want to read the entire David story and then read the commentary, referring as needed to the story, or do I want to read the bit of story and the commentary on it on page 234 before I go on to the bit of story and the commentary on page 235. Well, even though I've tasted it more times than I can count, I read the story first. After all, I know the story will be my favorite part -- and why should I deprive myself. A rip roaring good story it is, too, the kind of story that lasts because no matter who you are or how you read, whether your bent is religious, historical, or literary, whether you think the material came down untouched to the present day or whether you think someone went back and added all the boring stuff, the story can stand up to the interpretation. As for the commentary, Alter is best when he talks literary, when he shows the the insight, choices, the shaping, the devices, the vision that mark the David story a work of literary art.

Rating:
Summary: Scholarly translation and fascinating commentary
Review: The best way to approach this book, in my opinion, is to take what you like and leave the rest. The author is a fine Biblical scholar and it's no surprise that there's much here to like; what is surprising is that there's so much to leave. The reviewers who have taken Alter to task for reading things into the text that just aren't there are dead on right. For some reason, Alter has decided that David was a "Machiavellian prince" and whatever there is to be found in the text that does not support this view is tagged "ambiguous". Alter's notion that Abigail had set her cap for David and in choosing just the right moment to tell Nabal of his visit she was making shrewd use of her knowledge of her husband's supposed ill-health to precipitate his death by heart attack or stroke is downright laughable. That particular plot line is nauseatingly familiar: I could swear I remember it from an old episode of "Ironside".

Rating:
Summary: Feast for the Mind
Review: The stories of Samuel, Saul, and David are high points of Biblical narrative, and Robert Alter's superb new translation with commentary is geared to make the slightest nuances of the richly woven stories available to the reader who must read them in English. Both translation and commentary are first-rate: The David Story alerts the reader to puns and plays on words in the Hebrew, while Alter's own interpretations are enriched by his use of insights by other fine scholar/critics such as Fokkelman, Polzin and Sternberg, along with the traditional rabbinic sources. (A gentleman as well as a scholar, Alter gives credit where it is due.)

The Book of Samuel comes down to us in a Hebrew text that is clearly faulty in spots, and it is also obvious that more than one author has been at work. Some scholars, like Kyle McCarter, editor of the Anchor Samuel, looking for documentary origins, emphasize the breaks in the text, the inconsistencies that suggest that different traditions have been incompletely harmonized with one another. In accordance with his views in "The Art of Biblical Narrative" and his practice in his translation of the book of Genesis, Alter plays down the "documents" approach and instead emphasizes the skill of the final redactor of Samuel who wove those disparate stories into a single skein.

For example, we are confronted by two disparate stories of how David comes to be introduced into Saul's court, first as a skilled musician in Saul's entourage and second as the shepherd boy from Bethlehem who comes from his flock and slays Goliath. Early in chapter 17, that harmonizer is at work when he tells us that "David would go back and forth from Saul's side to tend his father's flock in Bethlehem" (1 Sam 17:15).

For me the problem is that the work of the redactor seems inconsistent. By the end of the chapter, Saul seems not to know who David is, for he asks his general, "Whose son is the lad, Abner?" How can Saul not know his own musician? How can he not know the shepherd boy to whom he wanted to lend his armor? Alter argues that "for the ancient audience, and for the redactor, these contradictions would have been inconsequential in comparison with the advantage gained in providing a double perspective on David," and Alter compares this feature of Biblical narrative with the competing versions of Greek myths.

Alter may be right in this, but there may be a different sort of explanation here. Perhaps Saul is asking whose son David is, not because he does not recognize David, but because he now wants desparately to make David his OWN son. Saul has already been told by Samuel that no son of his will succeed to the throne of Israel. Recognizing in David his successor, with all the ambivalence one might expect, Saul is soon negotiating for David to become his son-in-law, offering him first Merab and then Michal from among his daughters. Even after they have become bitter enemies, Saul asks "Is this your voice, my son, David?" (1 Sam 24:17).

Alter is as good at seeing the forest as the individual trees, and keeps us aware of how the individual stories of Samuel, Saul and David repeat and echo each other. These narrative patterns include the way the sons of Eli, of Samuel, of Saul, and of David rebel against their fathers and betray their principles. All in all, The David Story is a genuine feast for the mind.

Rating:
Summary: Understanding the Story
Review: This is the second book by Robert Alter that I have read--the other being his commentary on Genesis--and what I enjoy most is the way that he gets to the meaning of the STORY. His is not a religious point of view nor an anti-religious point of view. His point of view is one of getting to the meaning of the story as intended by the writer.

That having been said, this David Story is not about the David that you met in Sunday School when you were seven. Alter's commentary highlights the political character of David that might be missed when one reads the Bible on one's own. My view of David will never be the same. I will never read the Bible in the same way.

Thank you, Robert Alter.

Rating:
Summary: nicely compiled textual guide
Review: _The_David_Story_ by Professor Alter provides a nicely balanced translation and commentary for the books of Samuel. The background provided for textual difficulties and idiosyncratic terms from ancient Hebrew greatly facilitate a better understanding of one of the more popularly read historical portions of the scriptures. Alter sketches the major characters from the Masoretic and Septuagint texts: a manipulative and vindictive Samuel, an insecure and troubled Saul, a calculating and often ruthless David, a violent and vindictive Joab. The cross-referencing of texts helps distinguish the conflicting traditions after centuries of transcription and redaction. A reader might want to consult additional references on the neighboring Iron Age II peoples around the Israelite tribes, particularly the Philistines. I identified one minor geographic discrepancy in the notes on page 191 -- based on John Rogerson's _Atlas_of_the_Bible_, Beth-shan was five miles northeast of Mt Gilboa rather than eleven miles southwest, and Jabesh-gilead was about eight miles southeast of Beth-shan rather than twelve miles southeast. Otherwise, Alter's commentary on Samuel is a wonderful literary resource.