Test 2 - Concepts Flashcards
“The Poor Man’s Ewe Lamb” (2 Samuel 12)
Parable told by Nathan to David to convict him of his sin by taking the only thing Uriah held dear - his wife Bathsheba;
Result: Trouble will come against David from inside his family (turning point)
1 Samuel 10/11 and the Dead Sea Scrolls
An extra section found in the CEB giving more detail into a story about Saul
100 foreskins
Saul wanted David dead; offered his daughter Michal in exchange for the foreskins of 100 Philistines;
David completes his end of bargain, Saul’s plan didn’t work
Ark of the Covenant
Was believed to hold the tablets with the 10 Commandments; Equaled the presence of Yahweh; Israelites go before the ark for “divination” - asking questions of Yahweh
Blood Sacrifice
to kill for a sacred reason; women do NOT perform blood sacrifices; the medium performed the sacrifice which shows that she is a special woman
Blood Vengeance
Someone goes and kills the person who killed their family member;
never ending cycle of bloodshed
Bloodguilt
Not kill in times of peace
Central Intermediary
part of the court/temple; someone in central administration; calls on Yahweh or main god; trained to be who they are; usually men
David’s protection racket
David goes to Nabal and says I’ve been protecting you and give me food; threatened him, but Nabal was an idiot (his name means fool)
Divination
Using objects to receive an answer from Yahweh (i.e. ark of the covenant; Urim and Tummim)
Elohim
“divine being”
medium at En-Dor calls Samuel elohim when he comes to her in the ‘vision’
Ephod
linen priestly vest
1 Samuel 16:14
Heart-shaped cakes
Tamar makes heart shaped cakes for Amnon according to Jonadab’s plan;
Amnon then rapes Tamar
Incubation
Ritual where a person goes to sleep in a holy place in order to get an answer from Yahweh;
Saul tries this when Yahweh is no longer speaking to him;
It still doesn’t work so he goes to visit a medium
Intermediary
Someone who communicates with the upper world or the lower world (with the divine or with dead people); prophets, priests, diviners, and mediums
Male vs. Masculine
Male: a biological reality (sex)
Masculine: is socially constructed (gender)
Masculinity as “performed”
how you express your gender; men-strong; more rational; male potency (David kills 100 Philistines and gives their foreskins to Saul)
Masculinity as Socially Constructed
What men should be according to someone/something vs. what they are; Changes over space and time, gender performance
Masculinity as Unmarked
the assumption that masculinity is “natural.” Masculinity is only noticed by the lack or excess of. By marking masculinities where they are assumed, we find the source of its power, how it’s constructed and legitimized
Medium
Someone who communicates with the dead;
Saul banned all mediums to prevent people from being able to contact powerful leaders that have died
Monarchy
Saul is the first king, then David, then his son Solomon
Peripheral Characters in General
live far from central administration; they don’t follow the norms of the central monarchy
Peripheral Intermediary
usually women; are made sick and have to become a medium to be healed; considered unreliable;
Medium at En-Dor: doesn’t comply with gender roles when Saul needs her to tell him the outcome of the war and when she performs the blood sacrifice
Queen mother
a political position in the central monarchy head by a woman in the king’s life; Bathsheba gains this position after her and Nathan scheme and trick David into appointing Solomon as heir-apparent
Rape of Tamar
Jonadab comes up with a plan for Amnon to rape his half-sister. After he raped her, he sent her away; she was no longer a virgin so she had no value to her father; she went to live with her brother Absalom; Absalom kills Amnon; David does nothing about this
Red Bed
rape; lust
Saul declared king three times
Anointed by Samuel: favor of God, “Messiah”;
chosen by lot;
declared by the people in Gilgale: the people accept Saul as king after he massacres the Ammonities in Jabesh-Gilead
Saul’s masculine qualities
good looking; tall; rich; warrior; potency
Saul’s unmasculine qualities
hides when he is chosen as king; offers sacrifice without waiting on Samuel
sheep-shearing
usually a festival; Absalom kills Amnon at a sheep-shearing festival
Teraphim
statues that were household gods; one was used to make it look like David was lying in bed when he was about to be killed
Taking the wife of a king
someone taking or sleeping with the king’s wife was equivalent to them stealing the throne
“Urim and Tummim”
stones worn on priests clothes (breastplates) for divination; used to receive answers from Yahweh
Usurper
one who takes over the throne; David = usurper to Saul because the throne was not passed through the bloodline
Who controls a woman’s sexuality
her father controls her sexuality until she is married
David’s Masculine Qualities
warrior; potency; usurper; takes other men’s women; ambitious
David’s Unmasculine Qualities
senility/impotency; fails to rule his family; musician; schemer; relationship with Jonathan
Wise women
not an intermediary; peripheral; is told what to say but not how to say it; persuasive
Women Sexuality
sexuality is controlled by her father until she is married; she is worth more if she is a virgin; widows had some freedom; prostitutes had control of their sexuality
Controversy over whether Bathsheba knew she was visible to David when she bathed
did Bathsheba purposefully bathe in plain sight of David? She acts innocent and almost ignorant but she eventually comes into a position of power by not only marrying a king but by eventually becoming Queen mother; could have done this to gain power all along.
Half-brother and Half-sister Marriage
Tamar offers this to Amnon when he tries to rape her, suggesting that this may have been acceptable and not considered incest at least for the royals
Horned Altar
where Joab runs to in hopes of not being killed but is killed anyway. in the temple. Joab cries sanctuary
Importance of David’s Impotency
sexual vigor and ability to rule are considered one in the same; an impotent king cannot rule; Abishag is brought in to “keep him warm” which reveals his impotency
Jonathan turns over to David his status as heir apparent
Jonathan gives David items that are particular to the king’s son (his robe, armor, sword, bow, and belt); Jonathan is handing over the symbols of his position as king’s oldest son, as heir apparent, to David. Not in words, but in actions, Jonathan is making David the next king
Rapi’uma and Repha’im
god-like quality to someone who is deceased; dead kings and warriors
Saul loses the kingship twice
he didn’t wait for Samuel before he did the sacrifice because he was afraid (unmasculine); he didn’t completely annihilate all of the Amalekites
Stories in which David is tricked into making a decision
The Poor Man’s Ewe Lamb convinces him that he took something he shouldn’t have taken (i.e. Bathsheba from Uriah);
Nathan and Bathsheba want to overturn the birth order because they don’t support Adonijah; they convince him that he swore that Solomon would be the next king; guilt trip-Bathsheba and Solomon would be killed if Adonijah became king;
Joab sends a wise woman to David with a story about her family and that she didn’t want her son to be killed for killing her other son, David makes oath that the son wouldn’t be killed and she asks him why wouldn’t he allow Absalom back into the kingdom if she would allow her son to live
Why Bathsheba’s purifying herself is important
after her monthly menstruation she must purify herself to become spiritually pure in the eyes of Yahweh; also shows that she was not pregnant before David saw her on the rooftop and impregnated her
