The Census (2 Samuel 24 // 4QSama // 1 Chronicles 21): The Relationship between the Textual Witnesses of the Book of Samuel

The question approached in this study concerns the relationship between the texts of Samuel preserved in 4QSama, on the one hand, and paralleled in Chronicles, on the other hand. A comparison of all such texts, excluding 2 Samuel 24, shows an unequivocal affinity between the scroll and Samuel, rather than Chronicles, in terms of both literary and text-critical issues. Why then do scholars assert that the author of the book of Chronicles used the text type preserved in 4QSama rather than a text such as MT Samuel? The answer lies in the intriguing case of 2 Samuel 24, where Chronicles is clearly closer to the scroll than it is to MT Samuel. In my view, 2 Samuel 24 is an exception and does not reflect the relationship between the texts in general. In contrast to the commonly held view that takes the version of 4QSama to be the original version
of the story (a version that also served the Chronicler), I argue that the revised version of the story should be attributed to the Chronicler. The comparison of Samuel and Chronicles throughout the story clearly demonstrates the Chronicler at work: he elaborates on a text similar to MT Samuel, takes care of the discrepancies, fills in gaps, and remodels the story into a hieros logos. The role of the angel is enhanced throughout the story, not only in the passage preserved in the scroll; this includes the concluding part, characteristically the Chronicler’s very own contribution. 4QSama is dependent on the Chronicler’s version, and is, in fact, aware of both Samuel and Chronicles. 2 Samuel 24 does not endorse the definition of 4QSam as either ‘rewritten Bible’ or ‘Midrash’; it rather represents a different edition of the book of Samuel, featuring occasional far-reaching interventions in the text, but still mainly concerned with the transmission of the running text of the book of Samuel.