David and Esau

Mark Biddle of the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond examines some of the intertextual connections between 1 Sam 25 and the Jacob narratives in Genesis ( JBL 121/4 [2002]). He discovers analogies between Nabal and Laban, Saul and Laban, and of course Nabal and Saul. Abigail is comparable to Rebekah and, intriguingly, Jacob. The latter parallel is particularly worth noting: Jacob and Abigail both send servants ahead to meet a threatening force (Gen 32:17; 1 Sam 25:19), and the servants in both cases are bearing gifts to pacify the attacker. Gen 32-33 employs the verb “pass on ahead” ( ‘abar ) several times, as does 1 Sam 25:19. Gen 32-33 uses the word PANIM, face, in a clearly thematic fashion, and Abigail bows with her face to the ground.

Of course, what this does is place David in the position of Esau, the attacker coming against a “Jacob.” The parallels with Esau are clear: Esau comes out to Jacob with 400 men, the same number as David uses to attack Nabal (Gen 32:7; 1 Sam 25:13). The Hebrew verb PAGASH (meet, encounter, especially in a threatening way) is also used in both passage (Gen 32:18; 33:8; 1 Sam 25:20).

In the light of the consistent portrayal of David as a new Jacob (see my A Son for Me ), this inversion is very striking, all the more so since 1 Sam 25 is the central chapter in the latter section of 1 Sam. At this one point, David/Jacob turns into his opposite, an Esau, intent on killing a brother, and has to be overcome by a shrewd and cunning female Jacob, a true Israelite.