Donald F. Murray, «Under Yhwh’s Veto: David as Shedder of Blood in Chronicles», Vol. 82 (2001) 457-476
As grounds for Yhwh’s veto on David’s building the temple, the charge of shedding blood, in Chronicles made against David alone (1 Chr 22,8; 28,3), poses questions both about what is being referred to, and how the charge explains the veto, given that in the Hebrew Bible no other Israelite warrior incurs the charge for killing in warfare. This article explicates the charge, highlights how surprising it is, and then develops a line of argument, drawn principally from Num 31 and 35, that can explain how the Chronicler understood the charge both to be warranted, and to justify Yhwh’s veto.
moderns who demand a more stringent logic, but whether it would have satisfied the Chronicler. A propos of that, it is worth noting that Yhwh’s analogous prohibition of Moses, the model for David in Chronicles, from entering the Promised Land is no more perspicuously or convincingly explained in the Hebrew Bible.
In sum, then, the preceding argument has marshalled evidence from which I conclude that:
1) in Chronicles the charge of Md Kp#
is uniquely made against David;
2) this charge in 1 Chr 22,8; 28,3 is explicitly tied to
David’s killing in war;
3) in the Hebrew Bible such a charge against an Israelite
warrior is unique to Chronicles;
4) hence for Yhwh so to charge David, in Chronicles of all
texts, is astounding;
5) but a persuasive basis for the charge can be derived from
linking the #pn grh in Num 31,19 with the Md Kp#
in Num 35,33-34, through the #pn-hkm in 35,30 as
the middle term;
6) such an exegetical move fits both the general evidence for
the influence of Numbers on Chronicles, and the explicit link between ynpl hcr)
in one of our texts (1 Chr 22,8) and Num 35,33-34;
7) the basic concern in these Numbers passages, namely to
ensure that no Israelite brings religious contamination into proximity with Yhwh
so as to drive his presence from among his people, fits both the general
ideology of Chronicles, and the concerns of our passages in particular.