King David

King David

Author: Jonathan Kirsch

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2009-07-22

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 0307567818

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David, King of the Jews, possessed every flaw and failing a mortal is capable of, yet men and women adored him and God showered him with many more blessings than he did Abraham or Moses. His sexual appetite and prowess were matched only by his violence, both on the battlefield and in the bedroom. A charismatic leader, exalted as "a man after God's own heart," he was also capable of deep cunning, deceit, and betrayal. Now, in King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel, bestselling author Jonathan Kirsch reveals this commanding individual in all his glory and fallibility. In a taut, dramatic narrative, Kirsch brings new depth and psychological complexity to the familiar events of David's life--his slaying of the giant Goliath and his swift challenge to the weak rule of Saul, the first Jewish king; his tragic relationship with Saul's son Jonathan, David's cherished friend (and possibly lover); his celebrated reign in Jerusalem, where his dynasty would hold sway for generations. Yet for all his greatness, David was also a man in thrall to his passions--a voracious lover who secured the favors of his beautiful mistress Bathsheba by secretly arranging the death of her innocent husband; a merciless warrior who triumphed through cruelty; a troubled father who failed to protect his daughter from rape and whose beloved son Absalom rose against him in armed insurrection. Weaving together biblical texts with centuries of interpretation and commentary, Jonathan Kirsch brings King David to life in these pages with extraordinary freshness, intimacy, and vividness of detail. At the center of this inspiring narrative stands a hero of flesh and blood--not the cartoon giant-slayer of sermons and Sunday school stories or the immaculate ruler of legend and art but a magnetic, disturbingly familiar man--a man as vibrant and compelling today as he has been for millennia.


The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel

The David Story: A Translation with Commentary of 1 and 2 Samuel

Author: Robert Alter

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2009-10-21

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 0393070255

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"A masterpiece of contemporary Bible translation and commentary."—Los Angeles Times Book Review, Best Books of 1999 Acclaimed for its masterful new translation and insightful commentary, The David Story is a fresh, vivid rendition of one of the great works in Western literature. Robert Alter's brilliant translation gives us David, the beautiful, musical hero who slays Goliath and, through his struggles with Saul, advances to the kingship of Israel. But this David is also fully human: an ambitious, calculating man who navigates his life's course with a flawed moral vision. The consequences for him, his family, and his nation are tragic and bloody. Historical personage and full-blooded imagining, David is the creation of a literary artist comparable to the Shakespeare of the history plays.


King David Versus Israel

King David Versus Israel

Author: Gary Greenberg

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9780981496610

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In this challenging and controversial biography Greenberg offers compelling evidence that King David was widely despised among the ancient Israelites and relied on Philistine allies to keep himself in power against ongoing popular resistance from the people of Israel.


David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory

David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory

Author: Jacob L. Wright

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2014-05-12

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1107062276

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This book presents a new thesis on the history of Israel: David was originally king of Judah, not of Israel. The tales of his encounters with Goliath, Saul, Jonathan, Michal, Bathsheba, Absalom, and Solomon are later additions to the account. The work develops a new model for the study of biblical literature.


King David

King David

Author: Steven L. McKenzie

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 0195132734

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David's story, writes McKenzie, "reads like a modern soap opera, with plenty of sex, violence, and struggles for power.""--BOOK JACKET.


King David

King David

Author: Mark Healy

Publisher: Firebird Books Limited

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 54

ISBN-13: 9781853140082

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Traces David's rise from shepherd to King of Israel and describes his political and military achievements that marked a high point in Jewish history.


National Geographic Who's Who in the Bible

National Geographic Who's Who in the Bible

Author: Jean-Pierre Isbouts

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1426211597

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Presents a family guide to the Bible that, told through historic art and artifacts, tells the stories of biblical characters and highlights their greater meaning for mankind.


David and Solomon

David and Solomon

Author: Israel Finkelstein

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2007-04-03

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1416556885

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The exciting field of biblical archaeology has revolutionized our understanding of the Bible -- and no one has done more to popularise this vast store of knowledge than Israel Finkelstein and Neil Silberman, who revealed what we now know about when and why the Bible was first written in The Bible Unearthed. Now, with David and Solomon, they do nothing less than help us to understand the sacred kings and founding fathers of western civilization. David and his son Solomon are famous in the Bible for their warrior prowess, legendary loves, wisdom, poetry, conquests, and ambitious building programmes. Yet thanks to archaeology's astonishing finds, we now know that most of these stories are myths. Finkelstein and Silberman show us that the historical David was a bandit leader in a tiny back-water called Jerusalem, and how -- through wars, conquests and epic tragedies like the exile of the Jews in the centuries before Christ and the later Roman conquest -- David and his successor were reshaped into mighty kings and even messiahs, symbols of hope to Jews and Christians alike in times of strife and despair and models for the great kings of Europe. A landmark work of research and lucid scholarship by two brilliant luminaries, David and Solomon recasts the very genesis of western history in a whole new light.