his wives. Nowhere else are we told that David took Saul’s wives
for himself. Nevertheless, entering the royal harem was a way of claiming the
throne (cf. 16:21–22 and, in general, Tsevat 1958b), and it is plausible to
suppose that David took over Saul’s harem (from Ishbaal?) along with the
kingdom. Pointing to the present passage, Levenson and Halpern (1980:507,
513–14; cf. Levenson 1978:27) have argued for the identity of Saul’s only known
wife, Ahinoam daughter of Ahimaaz (1 Sam 14:50), with David’s wife Ahinoam of
Jezreel (1 Sam 27:3; 30:5; 2 Sam 2:2; 3:2); they might have cited the Talmud
(Sanhedrin 18a) in support of this argument. (P. Kyle McCarter, Jr.,
II Samule: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary [AYB
39; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008], 300)
