Customer Reviews

King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Jonathan Kirsch is my favorite type of theological writer. He's not afraid to ask the tough questions about the cornerstones of faith and he's open to a wide variety of possibilities both traditional and liberal. He has a deft hand and obvious faith but his writing lacks the undercurrents (and, often, overtones) of other writers who ram particular points of view down a reader's throat. He is the kind of writer who gets the wheels in your head turning.

This time out Kirsch looks at the biblical figure of King David. He examines what we know of a man who is in many ways the key figure of the Bible. For those of us focused mainly on the New Testament, we need to be reminded that David was the pinnacle of Jewish success and the cornerstone of Messianic thought. It is no coincidence that Matthew and Luke are careful to trace the genealogy of Jesus through David. And Kirsch makes a very interesting case that it is possible that the books that carry the story of David (1 & 2 Samuel) may be among the oldest in the Bible around which even much of the Torah may have had its development.

Certainly, Kirsch reminds us of how very human David is. He is a virile youth and a successful warrior both for and against his countrymen. He is an anointed shepherd who takes years to secure a kingdom which he eventually must defend against his own sons. He is a servant of Yahweh who breaks nearly all the commandments at one time or another but repents. He is a believer but is steeped in pagan ritual and tradition who ultimately is not allowed to build a temple to his God. In the oldest stories, David gives us a glimpse of a people and religion that is trying to make itself into the Judaism we recognize but is still finding its way despite Abraham and Moses.

Ultimately, Kirsch leads us to an understanding of David and his time by fleshing out details and offering explanations for things that get short shrift in the Biblical text. Whether or not you accept all of Kirsch's possibilities, this book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants a clearer picture of the Old Testament world.

"Wanna read a bad book?" my friend asked. I wished I had had the foresight to answer "no." Unfortunately, I didn't, and I read all of Jonathan Kirsch's King David. This book is worse than bad, it's an embarrassment. If there's an original idea in the book, Kirsch does an incredible job of hiding it among his numerous quotations or, I should say, "adaptations" from Samuel. The scholarship is paper thin; Kirsch slavishly relies upon the work of others and offers nothing new himself. Basically, Kirsch takes the magnificent KJV translation of the story in I and II Samuel and "punches it up" with Newsweek style. Kirsch appears to pride himself on reading the stories skeptically, as one would hope of any modern journalist reading Samuel, and peppers his comments with phrases such as "as the biblical authors wished to remember him [David]," "so it would seem," and "theological spin." However, except for questions raised by others, Kirsch is one of the most credulous readers of this story I've ever met. He buys almost everything the author tells us about David and the others in this story. As just one example, Kirsch dutifully reports the description in I Samuel 13:3 of Amnon's cousin, Jonadab, as "a very subtle man." And what incredibly subtle advice to Jonadab give his cousin? That Amnon should rape his half-sister Tamar in his own bedroom after setting up the meeting in such a way that all the royal family would know what was going on. If this is "subtlety," then Micky Spillane is John LeCarre! Now of course, it is subtle if Jonadab were in cahoots with someone else in order to destroy Amnon, but Kirsch hasn't the imagination to explore that possibility - or even the possibility that the rape never occurred but its report was concocted for other reasons. On the other hand, if Jonadab was actually trying to help Amnon, then to buy Samuel's description of him as "subtle" is the apex of naivete. Indeed, you'd think Kirsch would ask: is the author being ironic? But no, that would be to expect too much from Kirsch.

Rather than waste your time on this book, let me suggest two others. If you want to accompany a masterful literary scholar reading the story of David, buy Robert Alter's illuminating The David Story. If you want to examine the story of David from the perspective of a modern, secular historian at the top of his craft, buy Baruch Halpern's David's Secret Demons. These are two very different books, and many who like one of them won't like the other. But happy is the reader who can appreciate both. If you choose to read neither Alter nor Halpern, don't waste your time on Kirsch. Just go get a copy of the KJV at your local motel and read Samuel for yourself.

Serious scholarship and so much more. Jonathan Kirsch brings the Bible to life. His David is a real man, charismatic, violent and lusty. "He is the original alpha male, the kind of man whose virile ambition always drives him to the head of the pack. He is the first stuperstar..." This is a great story of love, tragedy and power politics. It shows us a leader both sacred and profane. This well-researched book gives us a fresh insight into Bible. A masterful achievement.

I bought this volume with great anticipation, since Kirsch's "Harlot by the Side of the Road" was a five-star winner in every respect.

But I was disappointed from page one to the last footnote. Kirsch states that "Compared to David, Bill Clinton is a choir boy." Which is completely true, but Kirsch's story, which relies exclusively upon immediate Bible texts, put me to sleep night after night, until I finally finished. Basically, the book reads like an average seminary student doing a less than brillant term paper on the different aspects of David in Kings and Chronicles, without once encountering the drama of this mass murderer, adulterer, guerrella fighter and betrayer of father, son, loyal Uriah, etc.

And even Kirsch's biblical exegesis is sorely lacking: example, Kirsch never explains why David's trusted counselor, Ahithopel, joins with Absalom in Absalom's revolt against Absalom's aged father, David. Think what a decent graduate seminary student could have done by pointing out that Eliam, the father of Bathseba [Samuel 23:34] was the son of Ahithopel, and thus the grandfather of Bathseba. "As David's counselor in the palace, Ahithopel must have burned with rage to know that [David had raped Ahithopel's granddaughter, Bathseba] and killed Uriah, her husband, who was a fellow soldier with [Ahithopel's] son Eliam." {Jeffrey, "The Signature of God," p. 244.}

One is sad that the author of "The Harlot by the Side of the Road" was burned out when he chose to do a single volume on a single character, rather than a series of sharp, precise vignettes. David needs much better than this. Even the Gregory Peck Holy-wood treatment is superior to this insipid redaction ad infinitum.

I admit I just love layman books on religion.
I enjoy reading real scholars such as Elaine Pagel and super lay"men" like Karen Armstrong that try to concisely interpret the Bible in a modern way.
This book is written along similar lines, but fails in some ways. It is readable and makes good page turning, but it also makes you realize the scholarship behind other layman oriented books like The Origin of Satan and The History of God. The book is sloppily written, has lots of irrelevant analogies and comparisons, and has the sophistication of...as one other amazon reviewer put it...some college kid doing a paper. It shows that this guy is not a princeton phd, but a journalist, and he writes like one. Even if the writing was less silly, it is still lacking in rigor, even for the general public. In some ways it is heartening that one can recognize the difference between a layman book written by a scholar and a layman book written by...well a layman.
Nonetheless, I didn't see anything inaccurate, and I enjoyed it, being a sucker for these types of books.

I listened to this book on tape as read by the author himself.

This is one of what appears to be a significantly developing genre of books in the area of theology and Biblical History, designed to be read by the general populace to put in their hands what modern scholarship is saying.

This book does this reasonably well for anyone who is unfamiliar with such terms as Modern Bibical Criticism, J theory, Court Historian etc.

What is not so clear to the average listener is that the primary sources drawn from such as Howard Bloom, Wellhausen and company are considerably from the more liberal and secular camps and that there exists a large body of more conservative material that deals with thses issues with somewhat different conclusions.

There's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. What I find distrubing in these types of Historical Overviews - turned novel is that the hybrid product, while purporting to be factual, uses the change in genre to present the material as somehow more certain or less controversial than is really the case. What's wrong with being a little more deliberate in making the source literature drawn upon a little more diverse and truly allowing the reader to enter into the dialogue and interact with the issues, rather than being led to believe that things are as neat and tidy as a reading of this book would seem to indicate to a reader otherwise unfamiliar with the field?

Those concerns expressed, I did find this to be an interesting and worthwhile listen (read). Old Testament history has been a weakness for me and this did help to fill in some gaps in terms of the what some of the modern scholarship has been giving. In addition, it did present David in terms that helped to place him historically and, as much as the author's approach could allow for with all of its provisos and doubts, somewhat personally.

Listen critically to this work. It seeks, in my opinion, to gloss over some of the ommissions in terms of conflicting material, by making the format flow like a historical novel and a reader can be carried away with that and walk away feeling they have a strong grasp on all that is available in this field. They will not.

Life of David by Arthur Pink would be a good contrast work to see some of the other camp and provide some balance.

Interesting read, but again, read criticically and ask yourself what you're not being told in the midst of it.

This is the perfect educational book -- reads like a novel, but is highly instructive about life in biblical times, biblical analysis, and the meaning of this critical figure in our current times. Fascinating! It has inspired me to read the bible!

"King David" introduces the reader to the most central figure of the Old Testament. Author Jonathan Kirsch does an excellent job of fleshing out this legendary figure from the sketchy stories recorded in the Bible. Kirsch follows the biblical writings very closely, unlike other tomes on Biblical subjects which tend to discount the Scriptural accounts. Kirsch starts out with the Scriptural texts and then explains them in light of scholarship concerning the identity and purpose of the various sources and how each may have influenced the final draft of the story. He talks often of the Court Historian, believed to be the primary author, along with later editors who may have supplemented or altered the original text.

This book does a good job at exploring how King David, with all his faults, could be "A man after God's own heart." It tries to part the mists of history to find the flesh and blood man behind the ancient legend. It weaves the scattered Biblical accounts together to form a biography. It explains how David is central to all Biblical characters who follow him.

One standard by which I measure a book is whether it wets my appetite to read more on the subject. I am now reading the David narratives in the Bible. By this measure it passes with flying colors.

Kirsch gives us a detailed account of one of the most famous men in history, complete with the good, the bad, the ugly, and the very ugly. The real David is not for Sunday school students. One wonders why he was known as "a man after God's own heart." Kirsch also makes a good point by suggesting that there is almost no extra-biblical evidence for the existence of David or a united monarchy in Jerusalem. Yet the detail and honesty of which multiple books of the Bible speak of David is enough to convince most historians that he existed. However, do not tell your children about him until they are old enough to see an R-rated movie.

I've just finished this book and find the REAL life of David far more exciting then the shortened, beautified version of King David in our Bible teachings. He was quite the fellow with quite the story. I find the idea of religion and mostly the Bible fascinating, and enjoy it when I hear the real story. I emphasis Story because that is what I feel the Bible is.