Give Us a King!: Samuel, Saul, and David (Hardcover)

by Dr. Everett Fox (Author) "THE BOOK THAT introduces the institution of kingship into the Bible begins, appropriately, with a birth..." (more)
Key Phrases: weapons bearer, ancient versions, Coffer of God, God of Israel, Children of Ammon (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Give Us a King! Samuel, Saul, and David is Everett Fox's new translation of Saul I and II. Fox, whose translation of The Five Books of Moses is by far the best contemporary rendering of Hebrew Scripture, has performed another literary miracle with Give Us a King!. His style presumes that "the reader of the Bible should ideally recite the text aloud, allowing himself or herself to be led by its sound rather than presupposing what is to be found there," as Fox explains in this book's introduction. Consequently, Fox's translation (which appears on the page in the form of free verse, not as prose) preserves the strangeness of the Hebrew text, rather than smoothing it over with English euphemisms and elegant transitions. The style of Fox's translation, one hopes, will bring new readers to consider the perennially urgent matters described by Samuel I and II. According to Fox, the central themes of these stories are personal responsibility and leadership--"a people's struggle with what it means to ask for leadership, how the leaders measure up to the task, and how the ideals of a culture fare in that process." This book might be most productively read along with Robert Alter's very different but equally impressive translation of the same texts, The David Story. --Michael Joseph Gross

From Library Journal
Following up on his popular and acclaimed Five Books of Moses, Fox (biblical studies, Clark Univ.) again uses his skills as a Scriptural translator. This book is a real achievement and certainly does much to strip away many centuries of cultural accretion around the great narratives found here--even if his scrupulously literal rendering of Hebrew is at times surprisingly awkward ("Now David sang-dirge (with) this dirge..."). This volume will be much in demand where the first book was popular; for most collections.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Schocken; 1st edition (November 2, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805241604
• ISBN-13: 978-0805241600
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #254,665 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #53 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Christianity > Reference > Biographies > Old Testament

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine work from a master translator., April 3, 2000

By	John S. Ryan "Scott Ryan" (Silver Lake, OH) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In my very positive review of Everett Fox's _The Five Books of Moses_, I wrote in an affectionate parody of his style that not all readers seem to have found "helpful." So here I'll play it straight.

This translation lives up to every standard Fox set in his earlier work. As with _The Five Books_, the text begs to be read aloud -- the more so as it deals with a crucial moment in the history of Israel and includes some of the Bible's most memorable characters.

A sample may be in order. From 1 Samuel 17:45-47: "But David said to the Philistine: You come at me with a sword and a scimitar and a spear, but I come at you with the name of YHWH of the Heavenly-Armies, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have mocked! This day, YHWH will turn you over to my hand, so that I will strike-you-down and will remove your head from you; I will give your carcass and the carcass of the Philistine camp this day to the fowl of the heavens and to the wildlife of the earth, so that all the earth may know that Israel has a God, and that all this assembly may know that it is not with a sword or with a spear that YHWH delivers -- for the battle is YHWH'S, and he will give (all of) you into our hand!"

Go ahead. _Try_ reading that without at least moving your lips. Can't do it, can you?

Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig, by whose principles of translation Fox is inspired, would have been delighted with this work. And -- not incidentally -- the paintings, etchings, and drawings by American-Israeli artist Schwebel are lovely too.

You will love, yes, love this way-cool-book. Even if the use-of-hyphens (is) a little-funny! (Sorry -- I know I said I'd play it straight. And, darn, I almost made it, too.)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Careful what you wish for..., June 27, 2003

By	FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

Perhaps the phrase, be careful what you ask for, should have been coined for this early story. In the books of Samuel, the nation of Israel essentially 'comes of age', and enters the arena of other nations by forming a central hierarchical structure.

The politics of Israel was interesting at this point. From the time of the Exodus (after Moses and Joshua) to the time of Samuel (some 400+ years later, if the Biblical account of years can be trusted -- the exact meaning of some time phrasings is still in doubt), Israel had no central authority, no hierarchy. The people lived in a mostly agrarian culture, with small farming, flocks and herds as the norm. Cities were rare, and generally despised. For instance, the Philistines and the Egyptians were both known primarily as city-dwellers, and both were considered enemies in many respects.

Israel was guided by judges, who recognised God as King. This, however, was unsatisfactory to the people of Israel. The other nations had kings, to lead the battles and to rule and adjudicate. Samuel (and God, through Samuel) warned against having kings, but (interestingly) did not forbid the institution of a kingly dynasty to the people of Israel. Samuel selected Saul to be king. Of course, his kingship was a rocky one, and ended badly, not least of which because David was a challenger to the throne through most of Saul's reign, presumably based upon Samuel's (and God's) decision to take legitimacy away from Saul.

Finally, David succeeds to the kingship, and has a rather stormy reign himself, made however into the glorious reign that is still considered the model of God-sanctioned kingship under God by many Jews and Christians.

Everet Fox, who did a remarkable job at translating 'The Five Books of Moses' a few years ago (please see my review of that), turned next to the stories in the books of Samuel, and retranslated them as part of the new Schocken Bible Series, which his book entitled 'Give Us A King! Samuel, Saul, and David'. Fox had as one of his intentions in the retranslation of the Torah, which carries forward as a theme in this work, the adherence to the oral and aural aspects of the original Hebrew, sacrificing the scholarly-clarity issues that guide translations such as the New Revised Standard Version and others that are meant to be read, for this that is meant to be read aloud. One gets a greater sense of the way in which the Hebrew stories would have been conveyed.

Now David sand-dirge (with) this dirge
over Sha'ul and over Yehonatan his son,
he said:
To teach the Children of Judah the Bow,
here, it is written in the Book of the Upright:
O beauty of Israel, on your heights are the slain:
how have the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gat,
spread not the news in Ashkelon's streets,
lest they rejoice, the daughters of the Philistines,
lest they exult, the daughters of the foreskinned-ones!
Ohills of Gilbo'a, let there be no dew, no rain upon you,
or surging of the (watery) deeps,
for there lies-soiled the shield of the mighty, the shield of Sha'ul,
no more anointed with oil.

Fox accompanies his new translation with an interesting introductory essay setting context and meanings in place, as well as notes that explain both translation textual issues as well as interpretive issues in the text.

Included in this volume are drawings, paintings and etchings by the artist Schwebel. While these works are intriguing and inspired works of modern art with an influence from various historical patterns and themes, I found some of the art work, having modern settings in high streets with cars, shop signs, etc., hard to merge thematically with the ancient texts sometimes.

This is a fascinating text, a wonderful new translation, which gives new insight and fresh meaning to an ancient story.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Stories of Saul, Samuel and David Spring to Life, September 20, 2002

By	Craig L. Howe "The Pointed Pundit" (Darien, CT United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I am not a Hebrew Scholar; I do not even qualify as a Hebrew Student. Yet this Biblical translation infuses new life into the Old Testament books of I and II Samuel. The meter, the poetry, the nuisances lost in other English translations have been magically restored by Everett Fox.

Mix in an insightful commentary and you have what is rapidly becoming the translation I reach for when I read or study the stories of Saul, Samuel and David. Hopefully Fox is fast at work on a translation of David's poetry - The Psalms.