사무엘상 13:1의 번역 제안 - 사울의 즉위 나이와 ‘2년’의 역사적 의미 -

Abstract

1 Samuel 13:1 contains important information about the age of Saul’s accession and reign of Saul, the first king of Israel. However, many Old Testament scholars doubted the historical reliability of this information. The Hebrew text of this verse does not mention a detailed number regarding the age of Saul’s accession, but suggests a relatively short, two-year reign of Saul.<BR> Why is the detailed age of Saul’s accession not mentioned in 1 Samuel 13:1a? The reason is that it was not possible to know exactly when Saul, who started as a military leader of the chiefdom centered on the tribe of Benjamin became the king of Israel. For this reason, the age of Saul’s accession had to be left blank.<BR> Given the historical context where the age of Saul’s accession is unknown, the total duration of Saul’s reign would neither have been known because information on the age of a king’s accession is essential to mention the entire reign of a king. After all, the ‘two years’ mentioned in 1 Samuel 13:1b does not mean Saul’s entire reign lasted two years, but can be seen as referring to a specific two-year period during Saul’s reign because the entire content of 1 Samuel 13-14 is far from the situation in the first two years of Saul’s reign. For example, a significant number of standing armies were organized (1 Sam 13:2, 15) and the existence of the Philistines cannot be confirmed in Gibeah, the capital of Saul’s kingdom, where the Philistine garrison previously stayed (1 Sam 13:2; 14:2). Above all, Saul and Jonathan attacked the Philistine garrison at Geba (1 Sam 13:3, 16) and Michmash (1 Sam 13:23; 14:11, 31), and expelled them from Israeli territory (1 Sam 14:46).<BR> This fact indicates that Saul’s reign had passed considerably, and that his system of governance was relatively stable. In other words, it means the last two years after Saul’s first victory in the battle against the Philistines (1 Sam 13-14), that is, from the moment he escaped from the political influence of the Philistines until his death at the Battle of Gilboa (1 Sam 31). Through such acts of Saul in the last two years, Saul is regarded as the first king of Israel who changed the former political dynamics of subordination to the Philistines.