King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The difficulty of bringing into perspective figures that are larger than life is well known to Jonathan Kirsch, the author of a life of Moses and of the provocative biblical study The Harlot by the Side of the Road. In this well-researched narrative he attempts the same for King David, arguably the most important figure in the entire Jewish Bible. By searching for the real King David, Kirsch does not claim to bring new information to this study. He is more journalist than biblical scholar, and clearly acknowledges when he is speculating (as, for example, in his reconstruction of the scene when David first glimpses the beautiful Bathsheba). Rather, he wants to remind his readers that David is not myth but flesh and blood and is, astonishingly, presented this way in the biblical texts themselves. He is real, human, both heroic and flawed.

Following much of modern scholarship in calling the Bible "a patchwork of ancient texts that were composed and compiled by countless authors and editors," this study is clearly not going to appeal to most fundamentalist readers. Neither is it intended for scholars. It should, however, satisfy many readers who wish to explore more deeply the fascinating and pivotal life of a very real man, a charismatic leader who, as one historian puts it, "played exquisitely, fought heroically, and loved titanically." --Doug Thorpe

From Publishers Weekly

In this biography/commentary hybrid, Kirsch sheds light on biblical characters and gives readers a refresher course on Israel's monarchic period, from 1025 to 925 BCE. Arguing that the Old Testament may have originated as David's royal biography, Kirsch cites dozens of Bible scholars in his attempt to separate history from myth. The two myths he examines most closely are those cultivated by a "Court Historian" who embellished David's exploits to make him seem more kingly than he was, and those written by the "Deuteronomistic Historian," who revised the ancient texts about David to downplay his bad behavior and emphasize the sovereignty of Yahweh. Kirsch's citation of experts is dutiful but frustrating; only rarely does he mention the schools of thought to which his sources belong, which excludes readers from a crucial dimension of any intellectual debate. Kirsch's agenda is murky as well; it is never entirely clear whether he wishes to find the truth about David and extrapolate didactic messages or simply make a sport of listing the various and contradictory readings of his life. It may be that Kirsch eschews these complicated questions in the service of accessibility, and for that he can be forgiven, since secular books about the Bible are often inaccessible to all but a handful of scholars. This book, on the other hand, welcomes a wide audience to a scandalous, violent and surprisingly familiar ancient Israel, and both educates and entertains. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition edition (September 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345432754
• ISBN-13: 978-0345432759
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #544,018 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kirsch Always Makes Me Think, April 4, 2002

By	Timothy Haugh (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars no elaine pagel, September 3, 2001

By	M. Kossar "mitch" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

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.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining and Educational - To a point, September 14, 2006

By	B. Breen "Canuckster1127" (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

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.