Mitchell, Eric Alan

Dr. Eric Mitchell is Assistant Professor of Old Testament and Archaeology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He completed his Ph.D. in Old Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Literary Examination of the Function of Satire in the Mispat Hammelek of I Samuel 8

2007 0-7734-5311-3
This study is a literary examination of the Israelite request for kingship in 1 Samuel 8 with satire in view as its genre. Through a close reading of the passage this work contends that both Yahweh's and Samuel's speeches combine in the form a judgment speech to the nation of Israel. The greater unit of 1 Samuel 8-12 also shows a satiric dialectic that is subtly anti-Saul but not anti-monarchy. This study argues that 1 Samuel 8 is religio-political satire seeking to reform both the deviation from the covenantal norm of Yahweh's kingship and the deviation from the deuteronomic standard of Yahweh-initiated (i.e., prophet anointed) kingship.