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Document Details : Title: David's Capture of Jebus and Its Sequels according to Josephus Subtitle: Ant. 7,60b-70 Author(s): BEGG, C.T. Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 74 Issue: 1 Date: April 1998 Pages: 93-108 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.74.1.504792 Abstract : Over the last decade or so, the brief, enigmatic account of David's seizure of Jebus/Jerusalem (2 Sam 5,6-10 // 1 Chron 11,4-8) and its immediate sequels (David's building measures and familial situation, 2 Sam 5,9-16 // 1 Chron 11,7-9 + 14,1-7 // 1 Chron 3,5-9) has generated a whole body of literature. In this essay I propose to investigate yet a third ancient version of these events which has often been cited in passing, but never systematically studied hitherto, i.e., the account given by Josephus in his Antiquitates Judaicae (hereafter Ant.) 7,60b-702. My investigation will involve a detailed comparison between the Josephan version and its Biblical parallels as represented by the following major witnesses: MT (BHS), 4QSama3, Codex Vaticanus (B) and the Lucianic (L) or Antiochene MSS of the LXX, the Vetus Latina (VL), the Vulgate (Vulg.), Targum Jonathan of the Former Prophets (TJ) and the Chronicles Targum (TC). I undertake this comparison with a number of general questions in mind: In recounting David's seizure of Jerusalem and its sequels did Josephus draw on the – somewhat divergent – presentations of both Samuel and Chronicles, or did he rather confine himself to one of these to the exclusion of the other? Which text-form(s) of Samuel and/or Chronicles did he have available in composing Ant. 7,60b-70? What kinds of rewriting techniques has he applied to the data of his source(s)? Are there noteworthy distinctive features to his version of events which result from his handling his source(s) the way he does? Finally, what messages might his account be intended to convey to Ant.'s double audience, i.e., cultivated Gentiles and fellow Jews? In proceeding now to my comparison I divide up the parallel material into three segments as follows: Jerusalem Seized, Ant. 7,60b-64 (2 Sam 5,6-8 // 1 Chron 11,4-6); David's Building Measures, Ant. 7,65-69 (2 Sam 5,9-12 // 1 Chron 11,7-9 + 14,1-2); David's Later Family, Ant. 7,70 (2 Sam 5,13-16 // 1 Chron 14,3-7 // 1 Chron 3,5-9). |
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