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God’s First King
The Story of Saul
Shaul Bar
God’s First King
The Story of Saul
Copyright © 2013 Shaul Bar. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
Cascade Books
An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers
199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3
Eugene, OR 97401
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ISBN 13: 978-1-62032-491-2
EISBN 13: 978-1-63087-036-2
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Bar, Shaul.
God’s first king : the story of Saul / Shaul Bar.
xviii + 152 pp. ; 23 cm. Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 13: 978-1-62032-491-2
1. Saul, King of Israel. 2. Bible. O.T. 1 Samuel—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS580 S3 B37 2013
Manufactured in the USA
Chapter 6 “Saul and the Witch of En-dor” is used by permission from my earlier book: I Deal Death and Give Life (Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2010) 290–98.
Dedicated to the memory of
Shifra Lerner
Moshe (Monjek) Raz
Shuli Finkelstein Roth
Forever in our hearts
Acknowledgments
To start with, I would like to thank my colleague Stephen Benin at the University of Memphis who read an early draft of the manuscript and offered many perceptive comments and insights. Other friends read subsequent drafts of the manuscript, particularly Bob Turner, Circulation Librarian at Harding School of Theology. The Renaissance man, Dr. Steve Wachtel, read part of it and offered his wisdom. Dr. Dan Bahat, former Chief Archeologist of Jerusalem, made suggestions about archaeological matters. Anna S. Chernak read the manuscript and offered valuable advice and continuous encouragement.
I want to express appreciation for the resources and to the staff of the Harding School of Theology in Memphis, where Librarian Don Meredith led me to materials, Associate Librarian Sheila Owen helped me with research, and Evelyn Meredith supported my research with great cheerfulness. I am grateful as well to J. Andrew Sowers for preparing the index and to Clint Burnett, now a student at Boston University School of Theology, for helping with the preparation of the manuscript for publication.
Special thanks to the Hebrew Union College Library in New York, where Head Librarian Dr. Philip Miller provided me with all the necessary help and wisdom, and Librarian Tina Weiss helped me with research.
Finally, a special thanks to Dr. K. C. Hanson, editor in chief at Wipf & Stock, for his devotion and expertise in transforming my manuscript into this book.
Shaul Bar
Memphis, Tennessee
June 2012
Abbreviations
AASOR Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research
AB Anchor Bible
ABD The Anchor Bible Dictionary. 6 vols. Edited by D. N. Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992
AJBA Australian Journal of Biblical Archeology
ANEP The Ancient Near East in Pictures Relating to the Old Testament. Edited by J. B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1954, 1968
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament. 3rd ed. Edited by J. B. Pritchard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1969
BA Biblical Archaeologist
BAR Biblical Archaeologist Reader
BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research
BDB F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1907
BethM Beth Miqra
BHH Biblisch-historisches Hanwörterbuch. 3 vols. Edited by B. Reicke and L. Rost. Göttingen, 1962–1966
Bib Biblica
BN Biblische Notizen
BZAW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft
CS The Context of Scripture. Vol 1. Canonical Composition from Biblical World. Edited by W. W. Hallo. Leiden: Brill, 1997. Vol. 2: Monumental Inscription from the Biblical World. Leiden: Brill, 2000
EMiqr Entsiqlopedia Miqrait – Encyclopaedia Biblica. 8 vols. Jerusalem, 1950–1982
FAT Forschungen zum Alten Testament
FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments
HALOT The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by L. Koehler and W. Baumgartner. Translated by M. E. J. Richardson. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994–2000
HSM Harvard Semitic Monographs
IEJ Israel Exploration Journal
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JPOS Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society
JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament
JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series
JSS Journal of Semitic Studies
KTU Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, I, ed. M. Dietrich, O. Loretz, and J. Sanmartin. AOAT 24. Neukirchen-Vluyn , 1976
NCB New Century Bible
OTWSA Die Ou–Testamentiese Werkgemeenskap in Suid–Afrika
PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly
RB
