Bibliography
| Title: Saul's Demise, David's Lament and Custer's Last Stand Secondary Title: JSOT Volume: 73 Pages: 25-41 Type: Journal Article Year: 1997 Abstract: Halligan, John M. in: OTA 20.3 (1997), 441: "Many readers, beginning with Josephus (Ant. 6.4.343-50), perceive the death of Saul as narrated in 1 Sam 31:1-6 (cf. 1 Chr 10:1-6) to be heroic or otherwise ennobling, a courageous but doomed "last stand" in defense of his people. P.K. McCarter in particular finds this characterization also in David's lament, translating 2 Sam 1:19a "Alas, prince of Israel [=Saul] slain standing erect", a pose evocative of bravery. This characterization, however, is a case of eisgesis spawned by the workings of the "Martyred Hero" paradigm in the reader' minds and imaginations. This paradigm, identified by folklorist B.A. Rasenberg, itt typified by the American popular legend f "Custer's Last Stand" which envelops the death of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (25 June 1876). Even without this external and perhaps culturally anachronistic template, the ancient Hebrew narrative can be seen to represent Saul's death as cowardly and disgraceful. McCarters ingenious treatment of the phrase 'al bamoteyka hallal in 2 Sam 1:19a (and 1:25b) is rejected by B. on philological and literary grounds in favor of "slain upon thy back", as originally proposed by. D.N. Freedman in 1964. It is doubtful whether the biblical materials yield anything substantive about the actual circumstances of Saul's death - assuming, of course, that Saul actually existed." |