For it is only too easy to deceive oneself in thinking that one
has come upon some sound particular in a tainted whole. To what
is said in 2Samuel v. 9, "So David dwelt in the stronghold (Jebus),
and he called it the city of David, and he built round about from
the rampart and inward," there is added in 1Chronicles xi. 8, the
statement that "Joab restored the rest of the city (Jerusalem)."
This looks innocent enough, and is generally accepted as a fact.
But the word XYH for BNH shows the comparatively modern date of
the statement, and on closer consideration one remembers also that
the town of Jebus at the time of its conquest by David consisted
only of the citadel, and the new town did not come into existence
at all until later, and therefore could not have been repaired by
Joab; in what interest the statement was made can be gathered from
Nehemiah vii. 11. In many cases it is usual to regard such
additions as having had their origin in a better text of Samuel
and Kings which lay before the Chronicler; and this certainly
is the most likely way in which good additions could have got in.
But the textual critics of the _Exegetical Handbook_ are only too
like-minded with the Chronicler, and are always eagerly seizing
with both hands his paste pearls and the similar gifts of the
Septuagint.
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