108 - First and Second Samuel

First and Second Samuel

By Walter Brueggemann

Louisville, John Knox Press, 1990. 362 Pp. $24.95.

The books of Samuel are about transition. From a loose structure of tribes to a centralized state, from the leadership of the judge-prophet Samuel to the kingdom of David, Israel undergoes radical social transformation. How best does one read the books of Samuel for the church and for our lives? What is the meaning of this literature for a world facing its own transitions? These are the questions addressed by Walter Brueggeman in his commentary on First and Second Samuel in the Interpretation series.

This current of social transformation, Brueggemann explains, is fed from three streams: social-political reality, the personality of David, and the presence and power of the God of Israel. Only by attending to all three influences are we able to interpret the narrative adequately. This raises a methodological question. To examine this congruence of factors from either a strictly theological perspective ("What is the role of God?") or from a strictly historical perspective ("Did it really happen?") would be to limit severely our understanding of the text. The only way to ride the current of all three influences (realism, David, God) is to take a clue from the very shape of the narrative itself. Brueggemann, focusing on the final form of the text (rather than on questions of textual problems, historical issues, literary composition or redaction criticism) suggests an "artistic rendering" which both disciplines and releases the energies of conventional historical and theological interpretations. What becomes apparent from this method of artistic reading ("taking the text on its own terms") is the power of speech in the Samuel stories. "[The] shapers of the Samuel text intended that each return to the text would evoke a fresh discernment of life as a place where the power of speaking and listening matters to God and to us." From the song of Hannah at the opening of the Samuel narrative to the song of David at its close, the books are charged with the sung, spoken, prayed, and paraded words of the women and men of the drama.

110 - First and Second Samuel

Brueggemann's commentary is divided into six parts, generally along the lines of critical scholarly consensus. These include, "The Rise of Samuel" (I Samuel 1-7), "The Rule of Saul" (I Samuel 8-15), "The Rise of David" (I Samuel 16:1-II Samuel 5:10), "The Reign of David (II Samuel 5:11-8:18), "The Family of David" (II Samuel 9-20), and "Memories of David" (II Samuel 21-24). (There is also a bibliography, including books for further study.) Each part opens with a complementary quote from the New Testament, and a brief introduction to the section. Throughout the commentary, Brueggemann interlaces his interpretation of the Samuel text with analogies from both the Old and New Testament and from modern politics. This interweaving, especially of Christology, is helpful for the preacher seeking to relate the books of Samuel to the gospel story. Brueggemann models a style of rhetoric for the pulpit as he proclaims the message of Samuel to a contemporary world. His agenda is primarily one of liberation, and the style of this commentary is reminiscent of the language of The Prophetic Imagination. In his comment on David's lament over Saul and Jonathan, for example, he writes,

I submit that this poem is a useful model for public grief among us. We have nearly lost our capacity for such grief. We are characteristically so busy with power, so bent on continuity, so mesmerized by our ideologies of control that we will not entertain a hiatus in our control of life to allow for grief.... Although we may have lost our capacity for public grief, we still know from interpersonal relations that where loss is not grieved there are barriers to newness.

This book, as part of the Interpretation series, is targeted for students, teachers, and Christian clergy. Based on the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the commentaries are designed to reflect upon the meaning and interpretation of the text for the church and for the Christian community. Brueggemann has artistically adapted the charge of the series to craft a fine interpretation of the two books of Samuel.

DEBORAH KLEE DEES

Boston University
Boston, Massachusetts