Philological Notes on the David-Bathsheba Story I

The David-Bathsheba story depicting the "royal affair" obviously fascinated not only its readers throughout the ages, but also its author and ancient translators, who were among its readers, as seen from a close study of the text in 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls has brought about renewed interest in the text of the Hebrew Bible and its ancient versions, notably the Greek version. The publication of 4Q fragments among them has further intensified this interest. The significance of these scholarly pursuits, however, lies not only in the importance these new texts have for our understanding of the evolution of the Hebrew text of the Scriptures, but also in the interface between the evolving text form on the part of the Hebrew original and its Greek derivatives on the one hand and exegetical interests one could identify therein on the other.