“Was David Overreacting? Analyzing 1 Samuel 25 in Light of the Ancient Hospitality Code” Themelios Article

My article on 1 Samuel 25 is out:

Jared Garcia, “Was David Overreacting? Analyzing 1 Samuel 25 in Light of the Ancient Hospitality Code,” Themelios 50:2 (Aug 2025): 251-60.

You can download it here or read it here.

I wrote this article with two purposes in mind: (1) to understand 1 Samuel 25 and (2) to demonstrate an appropriate use of cultural backgrounds.

Understanding 1 Samuel 25

In Bible Talk Episode 95 (one of my favorite podcasts), Sam Emadi (with Alex Duke) and Jim Hamilton disagree on how to read 1 Samuel 25. Sam and Alex view David’s retaliation against Nabal negatively. Jim, however, comments that something cultural in the text makes him hesitant to judge David negatively.

My essay attempts to bring out the cultural background that hopefully illuminates our understanding of the text that is consistent with its literary context.

Here is the abstract of the article:

Was Nabal’s refusal to give food for six hundred people such a terrible wrong that David in 1 Samuel 25 would have been justified in seeking vengeance by killing Nabal’s entire household? Did David simply overreact? This paper demonstrates that an acquaintance with the hospitality code of the Ancient Near East aids in the understanding of the events in 1 Samuel 25. First, part 1 analyzes the ancient hospitality code, examining typical scenes of hospitality along with observations from social anthropologists who study Mediterranean culture. Part 2 exhibits how the hospitality code answers the questions raised from the narrative in 1 Samuel 25.

The Use of Cultural Backgrounds

In addition to understanding the text, I hope to make two hermeneutical points. First, I would like to make a subtle case for using the Bible as a historical document to interpret itself. I argue that

the most overlooked source for the hospitality code in the ANE is the Bible as a historical document. The Old Testament Scripture records extant writings of narratives, laws, and poems that reflect the culture of the ANE. 

Second, I want to demonstrate an appropriate use of cultural backgrounds for hermeneutics. I made this conclusion,

In the treatment of hospitality in 1 Samuel 25, the cultural background serves the details of the text instead of altering the text in order to accommodate the data found in the historical-cultural background. It illuminates the text. The biblical text continues to be the priority over the details provided by the cultural research. The greatest danger in the use of historical backgrounds is to force history, archaeology, or literature into the biblical text. Instead of illuminating the text, it eliminates the text.⁴⁰ If this danger is avoided, however, historical-cultural background provides valuable insight in discovering the meaning of the biblical text that benefits the church of Christ.

Errata

I am thankful to Dr. Brian Tabb and Hernan Wu for fixing all my mistakes. They definitely improved the essay. Whatever errors remain are all mine.

This includes a few missing footnotes. Two of them are significant. Quotations from David G. Firth and Robert D. Bergen on p. 252 should have these footnotes:

•   David G. Firth, 1 and 2 Samuel, AOTC (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 267.
•  Robert D. Bergen, 1 and 2 Samuel, NAC 7 (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996), 243.

The other missing footnotes are perhaps unnecessary.