The seventh episode of the second season of the Retelling the Bible Podcast is posted today (June 6, 2018). You can listen to the episode and subscribe to the podcast by following one of these links or by searching for the podcast on your favourite platform:

SHOW NOTES

This episode is a retelling of the story that is told in 1 Samuel 25 in the Old Testament of the Bible. (Click the reference to read the original story). Any direct biblical quotations in the episode are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the episode.

King David, Dynastic Founder

There is no historical evidence, apart from what we find in the Bible, of the existence of King David from his own lifetime but there is no real reason to doubt the man’s existence because the ruling dynasty that he founded, the House of David, was remarkably successful and continued to rule over the Kingdom of Judah for a very long time. The House of David is well attested historically speaking.

The story of David’s rise to power is one of the longest and most involved narratives in the entire Bible. These stories must have been produced within the courts of kings who were the heirs of David and who had a particular interest in the main thrust of the narrative which was that David was specially chosen by God and destined to rule in Jerusalem. It is a story about the legitimacy of David’s rule and, by extension, the rule of his successors.

For that reason, the writers of the First Book of Samuel had every reason to present David in the most positive light possible which is exactly what they do for the most part. But it would appear that this wasn’t exactly an easy job. The authors simply cannot manage to hide a number of very negative things about David, presumably because these things were generally well known or well attested in whatever sources they used. Thus they tell the stories about David’s adultery, rape of Bathsheba and his attempted cover-up by murdering the woman’s husband. (Yes, I know, I’ll have to make an episode out of the story of David and Bathsheba someday.) They also faithfully report the rebellions against David’s rule and how popular they were. They also report the incident with Nabal and Abigail.

The beginnings of David’s story is a bit hard to figure out. There are a few contradictory stories about how David came to the attention of a ruler known as King Saul. (Compare the David and Goliath story with the Lyre story and you will see what I mean.) He seems to have spent some time as Saul’s muscle. Saul’s power seems to have been quite limited. The Bible calls him the first king of all Israel but the accounts of his life and rule only portray him as operating within a limited territory. This has led some scholars to suggest that Saul was little more than a minor chieftain.

Eventually, Saul and David had a falling out. 1 Samuel seems to put the blame for this on the jealousy of Saul, but remember that this story is told from David’s point of view. If you met an employee who got fired and told you that it was only because their boss was jealous of their abilities, would you automatically believe that that was the whole story?

After that, David seems to have moved out on his own. He worked as a mercenary (working for a Philistine king) and as a bandit who attracted outcasts and rejects to serve him. The story in this episode takes place while David is living as a kind of outlaw.

What do we do with David’s Behaviour?

The story, as it is told in 1 Samuel, works very hard to justify David. It portrays Nabal in the worst possible light and implies that his death comes as a judgment by God against him. I am very much unconvinced. Nabal may have been foolish to refuse to pay protection to David, but I cannot condemn him as evil.

I must say that I have even more sympathy for Abigail in the story. As a woman, she has no power. Her marriage to Nabal would have had nothing to do with her own choice and neither does her marriage to David. She does act decisively and heroically to prevent her husband and his workers from being attacked by David, but it would appear that she has no power to save herself. Her situation is horrendous but I cannot help but admire her.

Remembering that the Book of Samuel was written to promote David as the founder of a great dynasty, he really does not come off very well in this story. He is petty, demanding, easily offended and totally self-centred. I’d like to think that no politician could get away with something like that today, but…

In a way, the mere fact that this story reveals so many of David’s flaws gives me more confidence in it. The writers did not hide some embarrassing truths about David as much as they may have wanted to. And yet, part of me wants to ask, if they reported these negative things, was there anything that was much worse that they covered up?

What I do with this

In sermons and commentaries on the story of King David, the line that is often taken is that we ought to reflect on the fact that, even though David was a flawed individual, God used him to do great things. It is an illustration of the power and scope of the grace of God. This is a good an positive idea, but I don’t necessarily think that David is the best example to take.

This contrast is often made between Saul and David. The difference between them, the traditional interpretation says, is that when Saul got something wrong, he didn’t confess and repent (see 1 Samuel 15) but when David was challenged with his sin, he did (2 Samuel 12:1-15). And, yes, David did confess, once, in the case of Bathsheba affair. Once, when he was caught and challenged by a prophet! But from what I see, David’s rape of Bathsheba was not just a one-time thing. It was a part of an overall pattern in his life where he used whatever power he could obtain to exploit other people.

I do accept that David did accomplish many good things and do not have any problem acknowledging that this is because of God’s grace. But I still want David (and anyone in a position like his) to be better — much better. I believe that God would demand as much as well.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE

“AhDah” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/