שנתים-שלוש

מאת: אבנר רמו

אל: avnerramu @ aol.com

In the Book of Samuel we read:
ויהי מספר הימים אשר היה דוד מלך בחברון על-בית יהודה--שבע שנים, וששה חדשים.
“And the number of the days that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months” (2 Sam 2:11).

Yet we also read in this book:
ויהי מספר הימים אשר-ישב דוד בשדה פלשתים--ימים, וארבעה חדשים.
“And the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months” (1 Sam 27:7; see also: Jud 19:2).

It is not clear how the English translator determined that here ימים (yamim) means “a full year.” The Greek translator ignores this word, however, as we find the expression: שנתים ימים - “two full years” (Gen 41:1; 2 Sam 13:23; Jer 28:3, 11), we may assume that here (and in Jud 19:2) ימים (yamim) is a word-deletion error of שנתים ימים (shnathaim yamim) - “two full years.”

It is therefore suggested that instead of ימים, וארבעה חדשים we should read:
שנתים ימים, וארבעה חדשים - “two full years and four months.”

In the Book of Samuel we also find:
ויאמר אכיש אל-שרי פלשתים, הלוא-זה דוד עבד שאול מלך-ישראל אשר היה אתי זה ימים או-זה שנים, ולא-מצאתי בו מאומה, מיום נפלו עד-היום הזה.
“And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines: Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who had been with me these days or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away unto me to this day” (1 Sam 29:3).

The Greek translator wrote here: “for days, this is the second year.” However, if here ימים (yamim) is a word-deletion error of שנתים ימים (shnathaim yamim) - “two full years” then שנים (shanim) could be a word-deletion error of שלש שנים (shalosh shanim) - “three years” (e.g. Lev 19:23; Deu 14:28; Jud 9:22; 2 Sam 13:38; 21:1; 1 Ki 2:39; 10:22; 15:2; 22:1; 2 Ki 17:5; 18:10; 24:1; Is 16:14; 20:3; 1 Ch 21:12; 2 Ch 9:21; 13:2; 31:16).

With these suggested corrections, instead of the expression זה ימים או-זה שנים we may read:
זה שנתים ימים או-זה שלש שנים - “for two year or for three years.”

It is possible that these deletions are intentional, made by a scribe who could not believe that the Israelite leader - David would stay with the Philistines for years.