Literary Devices in 2 Samuel
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
The Book of Second Samuel takes us back to a strange time, when everything was up for grabs and it was "hip to be square." No, not the '80s (although Absalom may have very well had big hair). We're...
Genre
Okay. So 2 Samuel isn't actually a work of scholarly history. It's got biases and its own perspective, and legends and exaggeration could very well be all mixed up with it. But it's a work that all...
What's Up With the Title?
We're glad you asked this question, because we haven't really mentioned this until now, and it might've caught your attention: the book is called "2 Samuel" but Samuel the Prophet isn't actually in...
What's Up With the Ending?
We get to hear David's last words… but we don't get to see him die. That won't happen until the beginning of 1 Kings. It's an out-of-order way of doing things, but so what? We guess the editors j...
Trivia
The Nine Worthies were a group of three Jewish, three pagan, and three Christian warriors who were all considered to be great examples of chivalry in the Middle Ages. David was one of them—along...
Sex, Drugs, And Violence Rating
The Second Book of Samuel is filled with hair-raising incidents of sex and violence. There are the numerous war sequences, Joab gutting Amasa, home-invaders beheading Ishbaal, Absalom having sex wi...
Allusions
"The Crooked Man" by Arthur Conan Doyle In this classic Sherlock Holmes story, the tale of David's adultery with Bathsheba proves to be a key piece of evidence in unraveling the mystery of a B...