David’s political mourning in the Hebrew Bible: an analysis of how David mourns in instances of political significance

Whyte, Matthew John Martin James (2022) David’s political mourning in the Hebrew Bible: an analysis of how David mourns in instances of political significance. Masters thesis, Middlesex University / London School of Theology. [Thesis]

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Abstract

With growing research indicating that mourning is culturally bound, criticisms of David’s political mourning by scholars such as Pamela Reis and Malul Meier seem increasingly uninformed. Both sympathetic and critical readers of David can often make conclusions without considering that David lives in a culture distant from our own, and therefore his special responsibilities, among other things, may often inform his actions. That is not to say that David cannot gain personally from his actions, but scholarship must consider all factors that impact David’s response, not only those which are to his benefit. The point of this thesis, therefore, is to distinguish mourning rites as appropriate and inappropriate politically, thereby discovering what may have been personally or politically advantageous and what may have been politically dignified. Rather than cast a negative judgement on David for his mourning, it is far more fruitful to investigate why David mourns, by laying out frameworks for various mourning rites, thereby indicating through cross-examination why David’s mourning is political.

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