Illustration created for this project.
Doeg
An Edomite herdsman of Saul who slaughtered the priests of Nob when no Israelite would.
What we know โ and how we know it
Ancient writers โ non-biblical testimony ยท 1
Scholarly โ supported scholarly belief ยท 2
Life, role & deeds
Scan by NYPL โ Public domain (via Wikimedia Commons)
Ancient writersJosephus retells the Doeg episode in Antiquities of the Jews, Book VI, blaming him and Saul for the massacre of the priests of Nob. This is a first-century Jewish retelling dependent on the biblical narrative, not an independent attestation of the person.
Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 6.244-260 (a retelling of the Samuel account).
Death & legacy
ScholarlyLater rabbinic tradition made Doeg a stock figure of the wicked scholar, elaborating his fate and character well beyond the biblical text. The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 106b) is the best-known example; this is post-biblical legend, not historical evidence.
Rabbinic tradition; Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 106b, and parallels in the Jewish Encyclopedia entry on Doeg.
Name & titles
ScholarlyThe Hebrew name Doeg (ืึผืึนืึตื) derives from the root d-สพ-g, "to be anxious/to fear/to be concerned," so the name carries the sense "anxious one" or "one who is concerned." He is identified as an Edomite and Saul's chief herdsman.
Onomastic analysis of the root ืืื (to be anxious); standard Hebrew lexica (BDB / HALOT).
Where in scripture
1 SamuelPsalmsIn their own words โ 1 recorded saying
โThen Doeg, the Edomite, who was by the side of the servants of Saul, in answer said, I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub. And he got directions from the Lord for him, and gave him food, and put in his hand the sword of Goliath the Philistine.โ โ 1 Samuel 22:9-10
Speaker attribution: Clear Bible MACULA (CC BY 4.0). Wording: Bible in Basic English (public domain).