If you have followed this series on Brian Peterson’s The Authors of the Deuteronomistic History, it will come as no surprise that Peterson proposes that David’s priest, Abiathar, was the author of 1 and 2 Samuel.
Previously, he has argued that Abiathar edited old material from Moses in Deuteronomy, Joshua or some other eye-witness in Joshua, and that he wrote the earliest version of Judges. Many scholars would claim that Deuteronomy did not exist in Abiathar’s time. So you should note that his thesis that Abiathar gave these books a Deuteronomy-flavored editing depends on his theory about Deuteronomy.
Anyway, his evidence for Abiathar’s role in Samuel includes the fact that whoever wrote these books was pro-David and anti-Saul. He also thinks it had to be somebody who was alive throughout David’s reign. He adopts the view held by several scholars that the story of David’s rise is an apologetic work…
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James' Ramblings 