{"id":57720,"date":"2019-06-19T12:21:04","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T09:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57720"},"modified":"2023-01-12T13:21:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-12T11:21:16","slug":"how-old-was-saul-and-how-long-his-reign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-old-was-saul-and-how-long-his-reign\/","title":{"rendered":"How Old Was Saul, And How Long His Reign?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[721],"acf":{"old_id":"57720","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":56490,"related_cahpter":"245","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Some textual puzzles, and possible answers","content":"

And now for some technical material about the biblical text. The Masoretic text is the one that has been read by Jews for almost 2000 years now. But in antiquity, different versions circulated. \u00a0We have explicit evidence for this amongst the Dead Sea Scrolls, where different Hebrew versions of the biblical books (especially Samuel, in fact) are preserved. In addition, we have implicit evidence for such when we look at ancient translations, such as the Septuagint, the Greek version translated by the Jews of Alexandria, Egypt, 3rd century B.C.E.<\/span><\/p>\n

1 Sam 13:1 reads <\/span>ben shanah sha\u02beul be-<\/span>molko<\/span><\/em>, literally, \u201cSaul was (one) year old when he ruled\u201d (in Hebrew the numeral \u2018one\u2019 is not expressed in such constructions); and then the verse continues, \u201cand he reigned over Israel for two years.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Most scholars assume that a word fell out during the scribal transmission. Compare other biblical verses, such as: Gen 25:20 <\/span>ben \u02bearba\u02bfim shanah<\/span><\/em> \u2018forty years old\u2019 (Isaac); Gen 37:2 <\/span>ben sheva\u02bf \u02bfe\u015breh shanah<\/em> <\/span>\u2018seventeen years old\u2019 (Joseph); Exod 7:7 <\/span>ben shemonim shanah<\/em> <\/span>\u2018eighty years old\u2019 (Moses);<\/span> etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

The verse is wholly missing from the Septuagint. Two later sources, the church father Origen and a Christian revision of the Septuagint provide the numeral \u2018thirty\u2019 for Saul\u2019s age at the time of his accession to kingship. Curiously, Josephus does not provide a number, though see below for the second part of this verse.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second half of the verse yields similar difficulties, for it is hard to imagine that the entirety of Saul\u2019s reign as described in the book of Samuel transpired over the course of two years. According to Acts 13:21, Saul reigned for forty years; while Josephus supplies two different figures, in one place forty years (<\/span>Antiquities<\/span><\/em>, 6.378), and in another place twenty years (<\/span>Antiquities<\/span><\/em>, 10.143). Note that the proposed forty years accords with the reigns of David (2 Sam 5:4) and Solomon (1 Kgs 11:42), thereby creating a symmetry for the first three kings of united Israel. In sum, one should assume that the reading of \u2018two years\u2019 in the Masoretic Text needs to be emended, perhaps to \u2018twenty\u2019, perhaps to \u2018forty\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n

Or perhaps not: for recently Rachelle Gilmour and Ian Young (University of Sydney) have observed that the two-year reign, while not historically accurate, bears <\/span>literary<\/em> <\/span>meaning: \u00a0\u201ca reign of \u2018two years\u2019 had the symbolic meaning of a failed kingship, and a doomed dynasty.\u201d \u00a0In addition to Saul\u2019s two-year reign, note the following monarchs, who also ruled for two years: \u00a0Ish-bosheth, Nadab, Elah, Ahaziah, Pekahiah, and Amon. The Bible describes the reigns of each of these six monarchs in very negative terms (they worshipped Baal, etc.), and in all such cases the dynasty came to an end (though with Amon such did not occur immediately).<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first part of v. 1, questions remain. But for the second part of v. 1, thanks to Gilmour and Young, we may be closer to a solution. <\/span><\/p>\n

Image: I Sam 13:1, from Mikara\u2019ot Gedolot \u2018Haketer<\/em>\u2019, based on Aleppo Codex and early medieval mss, Bar Ilan University, 2005. With <\/span>masorah magna<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>masorah parva<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i> Photo by 929.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":57722,"id":57722,"title":"isam13-mt","filename":"isam13-mt-1.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam13-mt-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/how-old-was-saul-and-how-long-his-reign\/isam13-mt\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam13-mt","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57720,"date":"2019-06-19 09:20:47","modified":"2019-06-19 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