The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel

by Moshe Halbertal, Stephen Holmes

New insights into how the Book of Samuel offers a timeless meditation on the dilemmas of statecraft

The Book of Samuel is universally acknowledged as one of the supreme achievements of biblical literature. Yet the book's anonymous author was more than an inspired storyteller. The author was also an uncannily astute observer of political life and the moral compromises and contradictions that the struggle for power inevitably entails. The Beginning of Politics mines the story of Israel's first two kings to unearth a natural history of power, providing a forceful new reading of what is arguably the first and greatest work of Western political thought.

Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes show how the beautifully crafted narratives of Saul and David cut to the core of politics, exploring themes that resonate wherever political power is at stake. Through stories such as Saul's madness, David's murder of Uriah, the rape of Tamar, and the rebellion of Absalom, the book's author deepens our understanding not only of the necessity of sovereign rule but also of its costs―to the people it is intended to protect and to those who wield it. What emerges from the meticulous analysis of these narratives includes such themes as the corrosive grip of power on those who hold and compete for power; the ways in which political violence unleashed by the sovereign on his own subjects is rooted in the paranoia of the isolated ruler and the deniability fostered by hierarchical action through proxies; and the intensity with which the tragic conflict between political loyalty and family loyalty explodes when the ruler's bloodline is made into the guarantor of the all-important continuity of sovereign power.

The Beginning of Politics is a timely meditation on the dark side of sovereign power and the enduring dilemmas of statecraft.

Genres: Politics, Religion, Nonfiction, Judaism, History, Philosophy, Biblical Studies

232 pages, Hardcover

Published May 2, 2017

About the author

Moshe Halbertal (Hebrew: משה הלברטל; born Montevideo, Uruguay, 1958) is an Israeli philosopher, professor, and writer, a noted expert on Maimonides, and co-author of the Israeli Army Code of Ethics. He currently holds positions as Professor of Jewish Thought and Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Gruss Professor of Law at NYU School of Law. In 2021 he was elected to the American Philosophical Society

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating content that almost gets lost in needless, almost-unreadable academic jargon. Authors don't seem to subscribe to the inerrancy or divine inspiration of Scripture (or be religious of any type, for that matter), yet the content they presented was one of the more eye-opening "aha!" books I've read this year. Would recommend to anyone willing to wade through their sludge of a prose style - I only wish the highly-readable David Fohrman of "The Queen You Thought You Knew" had written this instead.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a stellar example of what happens when someone gets biblical, historial, and political analysis right.  There are a lot of bad books that try to talk about God's politics [1] but few manage to ask the right questions to the Bible or read the details that provide one with stark insight.  This book manages to do that with flair and elegance, and is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the essential ambivalence that the Bible has towards authority from the very beginning of the monarchy.  Reading this book helped me better understand my own thoughts about the absence of commentary in the Bible about the ideal forms of the Bible, and the authors of this book would suggest that such an absence is a reflection of the fact that there is no form of government that can deal with the essential tensions and dilemmas faced by those who set up or govern, or those who have to deal with the authority of others over them, and so little attention is paid in the Bible to such matters, despite our own great interest in them as children of the Enlightenment who believe that everything can be improved through rational analysis and proper structure.

The contents of this book are pretty straightforward but also rather impressive close reading at the same time.  The roughly 200 pages of this book include about 30 pages of pretty essential and deeply interesting endnotes, not a section of a book that many people read.  After acknowledgements and a note on the text they are using of 1 and 2 Samuel, the authors begin with a discussion of the emergence of politics in the space between viewing God as a sovereign over a nearly anarchical people as was the case in the book of Judges and the view of the king as a god as was common in the states surrounding Israel during the early Iron Age.  After this introduction, the authors discuss the way that even people who are not power-hungry by nature (Saul) or are pretty confident in the way they deal with power (David) become consumed by the need to keep a grip on power (1) before looking at the stories of the priests slaughtered at Nob and David's cold-blooded killing of Uriah to show two faces of political violence in the abuse of power by rulers (2).  The author then looks at the problems of dynastic legitimacy and the way that a lack of concern for daughters or a lack of ability to rein in one's sons can threaten the feasibility of dynasties (3) and also looks at the last words and will of David and the ruthless realpolitik shown by David and Solomon at the transition between the two (4).

Overall, this book is superb.  To be sure, the language used is a bit difficult, as it may be hard for those who are not familiar with the language of political science, for example, to appreciate the discussion of instrumentality by which people view other people as objects to be manipulated rather than people to be respected and see emotions through the rubric of personal and political advantage.  The authors convincingly show that the anonymous author of 1 and 2 Samuel does a good job at pointing out the fundamental ambivalence of authority, that the successful wielding of authority requires certain moral compromises, that one's authority is always limited and that subordinates will act to improve one's orders or manipulate authority for their own purposes, and that any authority that is strong enough to protect the people from outside harm will also be strong enough to oppress that people for the selfish whims of the ruler, a problem that is impossible to solve by constitutional means.  This is by no means a pleasant book to read but it is an essential book to read for an understanding of the complexities of the biblical view of power and politics, and there are clear implications that can be taken by the reader to understand a biblical view of institutional politics in our own time.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2011...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2017...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[David Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am by no means an Old Testament scholar. Far from it and when I run across a commentary that helps me better understand the narrative I tend to gravitate. This was one that a stumbled upon by accident. It is a detailing analysis of the Book of Samuel and how politics played a part in the destinies of David and Saul. While the events of the Book of Samuel occurred over 3,000 years ago, the authors draw parallels to modern politics and monarchies.

Monarchy came late to the history of Israel. Gideon, the prophet from Book of Judges, told the people that any attempt to establish a human monarch was idolatrous. And it was in that environment in which Saul and David followed, as did their political struggles. Samuel focuses on the dynamics of Saul and David, the first two kings of Israel. The underlying themes are the dynamics of power and monarchical families. The authors view the Book of Samuel as the first and greatest work of Western political thought.

The authors bring out the nuances of the Hebrew language, which is key to understanding the underlying story. A theme relevant to the Book of Samuel is the notion of revenge cultures. In these cultures, vengeance is considered one of the highest moral obligations that family members owe to one another. The book ties this with David’s obligation, who as king, had to ensure that he was able to restrain blood revenge, as the essence of kingship needs to rise about that of kinship.
The book details covert uses of sovereign power, the connection between violence and paranoia and violence and deniability, dynastic succession, and more. The book deals with the relationship between David and his son Absalom. The underlying theme is the conflict between the power of logic and familial love.

The Book of Samuel can be a manual for modern political life, be it a monarchy or democracy. Samuel is a lens through which to read what can potentially go so horribly wrong in politics. Kind of like what we are seeing domestically and internationally today.

Quotes

“When trying to convey God’s perspective on the establishment of human sovereignty in the form of dynastic monarchy, the author employed the following tone: I did not recommend that decision. It wasn’t the initial plan I had for you. Human kingship was your choice, which you insisted upon even after being warned. You wanted it and I couldn’t refuse you. So let us see how it unfolds, and what it means. And what will be my place in it. God’s ambivalence toward the political realm permeates the book with its nuanced and exploratory yet smolderingly critical force. Precisely because of its uncomfortable ambivalence, therefore, the Book of Samuel sets forth the proper attitude that should be assumed toward the political project as a whole. Illuminated from this systematically ambivalent stance, politics is seen as an overpowering human necessity that can never fully escape a potentially self-defeating betrayal at its very core.”

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Beginning of Politics by authors and NYU law school professors, Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes, is a brilliant analysis of the biblical Book of Samuel, and how the political lessons gleaned from the book are timeless and applicable to different forms of government. Halbertal and Holmes argue that there is a singular author to the Book of Samuel, who was familiar about court politics, although he was likely an outsider. The Book of Samuel is not intended to be an eyewitness account, rather it is based on what Halbertal and Holmes call a faithful skeletal account of historical events supplemented by fictional material, written from the vantage point of an "all knowing" narrator (this was the tradition at the time).

What makes the Book of Samuel unique for its time is its unflattering description of its characters. Rather than show a monarch as a god/king as was common in ancient near east/neighboring accounts of tribal monarchs, the author of the Book of Samuel portrays its kings, Saul and David, as men who are subject to the influences and corruptions of power. Halbertal and Holmes argue that the author is trying to convey the following themes when it comes to the influence that political power has on its wielders:
1. The instrumentalization of members of one's community: using people as a means-to-an-end to obtain political goals. People become pawns within the power wielder's schemes.

2. Politics as a means to maintain power for its own sake: once "in office" the power wielder will strive by any means to hold onto power, including morally unacceptable actions.

3. The ruler's obsessive fear of betrayal: due to the ambitious nature of those who surround the ruler - and their ability to control information flow to the ruler - the ruler will constantly question the motives of those closest to him.

4. Morally unjustifiable acts of violence that can be taken because they can be plausibly denied, being performed through a anonymous chain of emissaries: the responsibility of heinous acts is defused through the use of others in a government. The excuse is, "I was only following orders."

Halbertal and Holmes dissect relevant passages of the Book of Samuel to convey the above themes through analyzing the reigns of Saul and David, and their interactions with subordinates. After reading this book, it's not hard to deduce that the themes/lessons are timeless. One doesn't have to step too far back into history (or step back at all - example, North Korea) to see the corrupting effects of political power on the human condition. Even in less extreme forms of government, power wielders are prone to be influenced/corrupted by the power they hold.

The Beginning of Politics is not a long book (roughly 173 pages or so), but it's highly engaging and well-written. Highly recommended!

[Daniel Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remarkable book.

The authors analyze 1-2 Samuel for the light it sheds on the nature of political power, and argue that it shows profound insight into the dynamics of political action and motivation, and the seemingly inherent problems that come along with the apparent necessity of civil authority.

In their own final conclusion, the authors write: "The Book of Samuel is a kind of manual for all who are touched and defined by political life, be they kings, officers or subjects. It will serve them as a luminous lens through which to read their own reality and sometimes to overcome and remedy what can potentially go so wrong in politics." And they imagine the author of Samuel describing his own work like this: "The people of Israel embarked on this risky political project out of necessity. The deep problems inherent in such a project can be seen and analyzed most clearly in its initial phase. Here is my account of this experiment. Beware of what I saw and have told you now."

Using the Samuel narratives as a lens, the authors look at how the power to tax and conscript (two pillars of sovereign authority) imply the power to abuse—this is what the prophet Samuel warns about when the people ask for a king to "judge them and fight their battles." It analyzes how even a reluctant and unambitious person like Saul, when once in the grip of power, can be driven to instrumentalize people and institutions as vehicles for simply maintaining power as an end in itself. One like Saul can also easily fall into an isolated mistrust of subordinates, and a paranoia that issues in excessive violence in which the innocent inevitable suffer. The authors look at how political power allows its wielder to deputize others in carrying out crime (story of Uriah) and so create plausible deniability of guilt, and how the subordinates themselves can easily be incentivized to expand the crime for their own purposes. It looks at how political action is almost always ambiguous as to its true motivation. After all, even an act of justice can often simultaneously serve the double purpose of further securing or increasing the prestige of the one who carries it out.

The book of Samuel shows us all this and much more through its subtle and complex and often extremely succinct narratives about the lives of Israel's first two kings. The authors also push back strongly and convincingly on the common critical viewpoint that Samuel was originally just royal propaganda meant to legitimize David's claim to the throne. No, the authors argue, the writer of Samuel is not a Davidic partisan, but an incredibly shrewd observer of human nature and political dynamics, and a literary genius. There really is nothing else comparable that we possess from the ancient near east.

The text is under 200 pages, so it isn't a long book, but don't miss the endnotes which are extensive and worth checking, as they often are quite substantial and give a lot of extra insight and argumentation. Absolutely fascinating study.

[Dianne Danielson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps because it was written by Jewish scholars and not Christians, this book sees only politics and human frailty and very little of God. Many actions and statements by Samuel and David are viewed cynically; the author sometimes assumes a lot more cunning and sketchy motives than I have ever read the characters to have. It certainly made me think. It was a good read, but I’m curious about how other Christians have reviewed it.

[Michael Lewyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

interesting book about the necessary evils of power. Before the monarchy, the tribes of Israel were unable to defend themselves against outsiders, and occasionally embroiled in civil war. They called for a monarchy- a solution which created its own problems.

The book begins by focusing on King Saul and contrasting him with his successor David. At first, Saul is uninterested in being king. But his desire to maintain power for himself and his male descendants drives him first to manipulative behavior and then to paranoia and insanity. Ironically, Saul sacrifices his daughter to achieve this goal- first by sending the man she loved (David) on what Saul thought would be a suicide mission against the Philistines, and later by directly trying to kill him. Later, he is manipulated by courtiers into massacring a village full of priests because one priest in the village helped David. David, at first, is always sane and in control- but readers can never tell whether he is motivated by piety or by power. For example, he has Saul's remaining son sit in his court- but to honor him, or to control him?

Eventually, David too behaves in unambiguously inappropriate ways. In particular David has an affair with a woman (Bathsheba) and has her husband killed to avoid detection. The prophet Nathan tells him that "the sword will not swerve from your house"- and indeed there is much swordplay. First the heir apparent Amnon rapes a half-sister, causing her brother Absalom to have him killed. David first expels Absalom, then allows him to come back to court, and then shuns him- causing Absalom to begin a violent rebellion and eventually be killed by David's henchmen. At the end of David's life, another son, Adonijah, proclaims himself king, and David thwarts this plot by proclaiming another son, Solomon, king. And after David dies, Solomon has Adonijah executed.

Why were David's family relationships so toxic? Halbertal suggests that these problems are likely to crop up in a hereditary, patriarchal monarchy. A king is likely to indulge his sons as David did, because male heirs make a dynasty everlasting. The sons all want to be king and so are eager to fight each other. Halbertal could have added that this problem might be worse in a polygamous society, where the brothers don't owe as much family loyalty to each other as real brothers might.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 4 out of 5]

You would think me the ideal reader for this book. I am a former professor of political philosophy who's currently participating in the 929 program of reading through the entire Hebrew Bible, and we're currently in II Samuel. From my perspective, this was an enjoyable, instructive, and nearly indispensable book. I strongly recommend reading it, with a copy of the Biblical text at hand so you can move back and forth.

The book is particularly strong when the authors use their political and legal acumen to point out the implications of the biblical text. As good lawyers do, they can make the case for different readings of the same story, character, and motives, including the most pure and the most calculating and selfish.

When they move in the opposite direction and try to use the books of Samuel and the Saul/David cycle of stories to teach us about sovereignty, I find the book less compelling. The lessons they draw are elementary to students of politics, and repeated throughout the book. Sometimes they strain to relate the stories to the themes. Since they do not draw any conclusions for today's politics, I feel this side of their analysis was important to the authors but not important to me as a reader.

One missed opportunity: it would have been interesting for the authors to explore whether the Hebrew Bible teaches the same thing about the origins of politics in preventing endless feuds as Greek tragedy does. Which came first? Are they related, parallel, or in contrast to each other?

[Joe Natali · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the authors present a compelling account of the presence of a particular approach to politics in Samuel, they ultimately fail to account for several necessary factors in this particular text. First and foremost is their refusal to acknowledge divinely inspired motivation on behalf of the actors in the text. By constructing god as a deposed ruler, the Halbertal and Holmes downplay the fundamentally religious nature of the text, and in doing so, present a skewed understanding of the author’s intentions. This attempt to secularize the text and it’s author brings to bear the second problem with Halbertal and Holmes’ book, that being their assumption that Weber’s fact value distinction held true at the time, and continues to hold true as a universal constant in politics. Aside from such a claim being tenuous in Weber’s own framework, Halbertal and Holmes’ attempts to secularize the text denies the integration between religion and the state that is a clear theme throughout the Hebrew Bible. Finally, in making connections to their own particular view of politics, Halbertal and Holmes assume a great deal about the characters’ motivations, often ascribing politically cunning reasons for what the author seems to display as pious actions (I.e. David’s refusal to fight against Israel as a mercenary). All in all, Halbertal and Holmes provide much to be considered, but not many convincing answers of their own.

[Elliot Ratzman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short accessible book on a long, confusing masterpiece: the Biblical Books of Samuel. Using the transition to monarchical power in ancient Israel, the authors—one in Jewish Studies, the other political theory—see the story as a rejection of divine kings and as heralding an alternative to the “kingship” of God, who has relinquished control over daily affairs, replaced by a human sovereign who “taxes and drafts” a people for collective defense. The authors read Samuel not as partisan literature, but a complex “phenomenology of politics” itself. The page-turning account is organized along themes: how power corrupts, of political violence, the tensions between royal power and family love. The lessons seem to me too simple, the phenomenology not very complex. Still, this is an excellent gateway into these confusing stories of the prophet Samuel, the tragic reluctant king Saul, the calculating David—his entourage and enemies—and a brief coda on Solomon’s bloody transition to power.

[Stan Rea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short but extremely interesting book that looks at the story of Saul and David from a very political perspective. Did Politics start with these two? I doubt it, but as the authors of this book walk you through the story you will see details that you have probably overlooked.

One quick conclusion from my read is that this story is about real people. I know that sounds obvious, but I think many of us get an idyllic picture of some Old Testament characters. We see them as uber-humans and yet, they were very real and very human. The authors point out how the author of Samuel goes to great pains to show how the dynastic dynamic works and the petty jealousies that run rampant through it.

If you are doing a study of the Book of Samuel I highly recommend this book as a supplement to that study.

[Sophia Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

All you ladies who dream about marrying a "King David"-- a lion-wrestler, a giant-killer, a harp-strumming poet, a lover and a king-- will think twice after reading this book. Two Jewish scholars analyze The Book of Samuel as a masterpiece of political thought, and...our dashing hero David does not come out as rosy and ruddy as our Sunday School teachers taught us. In fact, David is seen as a self-serving manipulator, a cunning coward, and towards the end of his life, a weak puppet king who can barely discipline his own kids. This book was fascinating, but it lacks the concept of grace-- despite David's many public flaws (wouldn't you hate to be written about in the Bible?), God called him a man after His own heart. That says volumes-- enough to cover all of David's sins.

[Daniel Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the book is a political reading of the Book of Samuel, and its main characters are Samuel the prophet and the kings Saul and David, the lessons are relevant in every context that power is sought and exercised.

We have just finished an entire year of one long election season here in Israel, so it times the ideas are indeed timeless.

The book was an excellent read and considering it’s not a novel it was riveting. Totally readable and completely accessible. I think that having completed Halbertal’s analysis I will now have to go back and read Samuel again, although once seen, there are things that cannot be unseen.

For more: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/power...

[Ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fine book, analyzing power and politics in the Book of Samuel. Insofar as it stays close to the text, I find this book by two New York University law professors extremely insightful.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic with the analysis.

[Molly Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a unique and cool book walking through I & II Samuel with a purely political lens. Highly recommend!

[Melvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some people are just soooo smart