2.  Relations  of  David  with  Saul.  It  is  indeed  dif
ficult  at  the  present  day  to  say  on  what  exact  occasion
David  was  first  introduced  to  Saul,  for  there  seem  to  be  two
different  representations  of  this  event  in  the  present  Hebrew
text  (cfr.  Kings  xvi,  14-23,  with  I  Kings  xvii,  xviii),  and  sev
eral  theories  are  still  held  to  do  away  with  the  apparent  dis
crepancies  which  are  noticeable  between  the  two  representa
tions.  The  core  of  the  difficulty  is  briefly  as  follows  :  in
chapter  xvi,  the  first  introduction  of  David  to  Saul  is  con
nected  with  the  sending  of  Saul  to  Isai  for  his  youngest  son>
in  order  that  by  his  musical  skill  David  may  appease  the  fits
of  madness  to  which  the  Jewish  king  is  subject ;  in  chapter
xvii,  on  the  contrary,  David  seems  to  be  introduced  to  Saul
for  the  first  time,  in  connection  with  his  successful  fight
against  Goliath.  Of  the  many  theories  which  have  been
advanced  to  meet  this  difficulty,  only  two  appear  to  account
fully  for  its  presence  in  the  Hebrew  text.  The  first  theory
takes  notice  that  the  Septuagint,  or  oldest  Greek  translation
of  the  Hebrew,  does  not  contain  in  chapters  xvii  and  xviii  of
the  first  book  of  Kings  those  verses  the  presence  of  which
in  the  Hebrew  text  makes  the  whole  difficulty,  and  then  it
suggests  that  these  verses  did  not  exist  in  the  primitive
Hebrew  text  of  the  first  book  of  Kings,  but  are  glosses  of  a
later  date,  so  that  the  first  introduction  of  David  to  Saul
would  have  really  happened  as  it  is  recorded  in  I  Kings,
xvi,  14-23  (cfr.  MARTIN,  Critique  de  1'Ancien  Testament,
tome  i,  p.  62).  The  second  theory  holds  that  the  first  book
of  Kings  being  made  up  of  earlier  documents  (cfr.  HUMMEL-
AUER,  in  Libros  Samuelis,  p.  184),  the  compiler  of  the  book
adopted  various  documents,  some  connected  with  the  life  of
Saul,  others  with  that  of  David,  and  containing  already  the
discrepancy  in  question,  and  simply  embodied  them  in  his


J92  OUTLINES    OF    JEWISH    HISTORY.
