Text
The books are fraught with text
critical problems, in that the MT appears to have many scribal errors and the
LXX version is longer and was considered more reliable (contrary to the usual
text critical rule that the shorter and more difficult text is the more
original). Since many difficulties in the Hebrew text stem from words and
phrases appearing to have dropped out in transmission, the Greek is not viewed
as expansionistic. With the discoveries at Qumran, the possibilities of
different Hebrew texts of Samuel have called into question some of the earlier
assessments while confirming others. (Randall C. Bailey, “Samuel, Books of,” in
Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, ed. David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers,
and Astrid B. Beck [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2000], 1163)
