Texts in Conversation
1 Samuel 15 closely echoes Deuteronomy 25, drawing on its language to connect the command to destroy Amalek with Israel’s memory of being attacked by them after the exodus. This deliberate allusion situates the narrative within the broader Deuteronomistic history, attempting to reinforce the continuity between the narratives.
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Deuteronomy 25:17
Hebrew Bible
16 For anyone who acts dishonestly in these ways is abhorrent to the Lord your God. 17 Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your way from Egypt, 18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. 19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he is giving you as an inheritance, you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven—do not forget!
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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1 Samuel 15:2
Hebrew Bible
1 Then Samuel said to Saul, “I was the one the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel. Now listen to what the Lord says. 2 Here is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has said: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed Israel along the way when Israel came up from Egypt. 3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything they have. Don’t spare them. Put them to death—man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’” 4 So Saul assembled the army and mustered them at Telaim. There were 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... When the reader has established that to all appearances a perceived parallel is author-intended and intends to draw him or her to the other text, the question arises, what criteria do we have to determine the direction of dependence in textual parallels in the narratives? A related question concerns how to assess the phenomenon of shared phraseology in the narratives and Pentateuch that consists of recurrent use of a specific set of phrases and themes, disclosing a stylistic and conceptual relatedness. 1 Samuel 15:2–3 provides us with an example of an obvious literary connection between a narrative and a legal text in the Pentateuch ... Saul/the readers are expected to recognize and understand the veiled reference to a critical episode in the Amalekite-Israelite interrelationship that goes back to Israel’s very beginning as a people having experienced a recent liberation from slavery ..."
Vang, Carsten
Inner-biblical Quotations in Old Testament Narratives: Some Methodological Considerations
(pp. 515-537) Old Testament Essays 33/3, 2020
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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