The Nathan Narrative in 2 Samuel 7

As with archaeology, traditio-historical research of Old Testament literature proceeds backwards from the received text, travelling through the earlier stages of compositions to the probable origins. The canonical structure of the Hebrew Bible has therefore been taken as the point of departure in the traditio-historical study of the Nathan Narrative in 2 Samuel 7:1-17. By progressing backwards from the Canonical Prophets, the stages in the composition of the Joshua-Kings corpus, and of 2 Samuel 7:1-17, have been recovered through the application of redactio-critical and literary critical methods. A pre-history of the Narrative has also been retraced in the traditions that were preserved in the oral stages, in the typical forms and settings of transmission.

Notwithstanding the valuable insights that have accrued from Martin Noth's hypothesis of a ""Deuteronomistic History,"" both the hypothesis itself and analyses deriving from it have failed to account satisfactorily for the place of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 in the Joshua-Kings composition. That failure is due to a methodological flaw of taking a non-canonical configuration--namely the Deuteronomy-Kings corpus--as the point of departure and the interpretative key. This study tries to remedy that flaw.


""Biblical texts are products of social practice. Using the traditio-historical approach, Watty examines the oral traditions of the Nathan Narrative, at the deeper levels of the stages of its composition whereby existential realities emerge, integrating faith and history. Admitting that the oral phases of transmission are unreachable, conclusions are reached with caution. This daring and creative reading strategy challenges long held concepts and theories in biblical scholarship by giants in the field, teaching the value of putting text and reader in their place.""
--Oral A.W. Thomas, Dean of Studies and Lecturer in Biblical Studies and Caribbean Theology, United Theological College of the West Indies, Jamaica



William Watty is a retired Methodist minister. He was Lecturer in Old Testament Language and Literature (1972-85), president at the United Theological College of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica (1976-85), and president of the Connexional Conference of the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas (1992-97). He is a member of the Silk Advisory Committee of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Watty is the author of From Shore to Shore--Soundings in Caribbean Theology (1981).