1 Samuel 8:11-18 as "A Mirror for Princes"

Abstract

The prophet Samuel's declaration of משפט המלך to the assembled Israelites in 1 Sam 8:11-18 has generally been understood in the history of scholarship as a cat alogue of monarchic excess. Scholarly interpretations of this passage enumerate various literary parallels found in both biblical and nonbiblical texts. These pur ported parallels include memories of the reign of Solomon by a later writer, descrip tions of Canaanite royal practices preceding the start of the Israelite monarchy, and accounts of Assyrian royal behaviors close in time to the composition and redac tion of the Deuteronomistic History (DtrH). This article shifts focus away from charting specific literary parallels to 1 Sam 8:11-18 in other ancient Near Eastern texts. I argue instead that 1 Sam 8:11-18 takes inspiration from a diverse group of literary materials and rituals designed to constrain monarchic power, the excesses of which brought ruin on cult and country. These diverse materials range from the Babylonian Fiirstenspiegel to priestly rituals that are part of the Babylonian New Year festival. Together they constitute a genre of discourse, a term coined by Tzvetan Todorov to describe how diverse literary and nonliterary materials can