Bible Review

For another reconstruction of the historical Saul from the literary Saul, see Diana V. Edelman, “Saul ben Kish in History and Tradition,” in The Origins of the Ancient Israelite States, ed. Volkmar Fritz and Davies, JSOT Sup 228 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1996), pp. 142–159.

The Hebrew word ‘am, used in 1 Samuel 11:15, means both “people” and “army.” In this context, where the ‘am has just defeated the Ammonites, it refers to Saul’s army.

White, The Elijah Legends and Jehu’s Coup, Brown Judaic Studies 311 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997).

Giorgio Buccellati, Cities and Nations of Ancient Syria: An Essay on Political Institutions with Special Reference to the Israelite Kingdoms (Rome: Instituto di Studi del Vicono Oriente, 1967); Tomoo Ishida, The Royal Dynasties in Ancient Israel: A Study on the Formation and Development of Royal-Dynastic Ideology (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1977).

See White, “‘History of Saul’s Rise’: Saulide State Propaganda in 1 Samuel 1–14, ” in “A Wise and Discerning Mind”: Essays in Honor of Burke O. Long, ed. Saul M. Olyan and Robert C. Culley, Brown Judaic Studies 325 (Providence, RI: Brown Univ., 2000), pp. 271–292.

This is also true of the Solomonic narratives. See the previous endnote.

The Deuteronomistic History consists of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings. Most Hebrew Bible scholars identify the Deuteronomy-Kings corpus as a distinct theological history with origins separate from the Genesis-Numbers corpus.