and thus shall you tell him who lives [in prosperity], Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have.
"The story of the stupid sheepherder with a beautiful and intelligent wife is one of the most delightful in Samuel. Its purpose is to lay one more brick in the edifice of David’s legitimacy, however, and not to entertain." [Note: Heater, "Young David . . .," p. 56.] 