The tragedy of Abiathar of Nob: Identifying character-systems as an avenue to authorial intent

The high priest Abiathar serves a perplexing purpose in the narratives of King David’s rise and reign. While he is routinely instrumental in aiding David during crucial moments of heightened tension, he nevertheless receives no overt characterization and never once speaks. This paper argues that paying close attention to characters like Abiathar can offer readers additional insight into authorial intent. By implementing Alex Woloch’s theories of character-space and character-systems, minor characters become exceptionally helpful in clarifying the purposes of certain authorial decisions within the text. This paper serves as a test case for this new literary approach.