Making Space for David’s Sons in 2 Samuel 3

THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM / ART RESOURCE, NY

Second Samuel 3 is part of an ongoing narrative detailing the conflict between the Houses of Saul and David as Israel’s nascent monarchy develops. Early in the chapter, however, a section of text (vv. 2–5) interrupts this narrative to present a list of David’s sons and their respective mothers. In both the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Masoretic manuscripts of the tenth and 11th centuries CE, this section is demarcated by white spaces before and after it, thus separating it from the running storyline in which it is set.

COURTESY OF THE LEON LEVY DEAD SEA SCROLLS DIGITAL LIBRARY / ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ARDON BAR-HAMA, SPONSORED BY GEORGE S. BLUMENTHAL