That’s great that Moyer is a friend. Give him my best, and let him know that a new generation of Brandeis students is pouring over his dissertation.

As far as David goes, he does seem to have been very shrewd politically. Of course, Ḫattušilliš seems to have been as well. There’s definitely a similarity in the rhetoric being used by both usurper kings. Perhaps the genre of “apology” requires sacral kingship?

Jim Moyer is a good friend of mine. He is also a good scholar and a very good teacher.

As for the sacral nature of Saul’s kingship, we have to remember that this is the only case in the Hebrew Bible where the idea of sacral kingship appears. I have a suspicion that the reason David did not kill Saul had to do more with politics and David’s desire to maintain good relationship with the Northern tribes than with the view of sacral nature of Saul’s kingship.

Claude Mariottini