Voices from below: The role of anonymous women’s opinion in the birth of Israel’s monarchy

Abstract

This article argues that the opinion of anonymous women in the books of Samuel exerts a powerful influence over the reputation and political fortune of Israel’s first kings. The descriptions of the singing women who greet Saul when he returns with David from battle (1 Sam 18.6-7, 21.12, 29.5) reveal that, in this turbulent period, popular opinion forms at the lowest rungs of society and percolates from the bottom up. David demonstrates his own appreciation of this fact by actively cultivating the favor of disenfranchised women (2 Sam 6.14-22). Previous studies of community sentiment within Samuel have paid insufficient attention to women as generators of public opinion during the formation of the united monarchy.