King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Jonathan Kirsch
Authors: Jonathan Kirsch
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convoluted, so treacherous, so deeply soaked in conspiracy that it reminds us of Shakespeare's
Richard III
or, for that matter, Richard Condon's
The Manchurian Candidate
. What seems especially and uncannily modern in the biblical life story of David is the sense of “fires within fires”—Arthur Miller's phrase for the paranoia that suffused the Salem witch trials. Just as conspiracy theories shaped politics and popular culture in America in the latter part of the twentieth century, the court history of King David as we find it in the Bible fairly crackles with the same tension and suspicion.
Even if Saul was mad, he was also wily, as we shall soon see for ourselves. The king devoted considerable effort and ingenuity to eliminating David as a rival without bloodying his own hands or alienating the considerable number of men and women in his little kingdom, including his own adult children, who had fallen so deeply in love with David. But David would prove wilier still.
THE HAND OF A KING'S DAUGHTER
Saul's first ploy was to remove David from the royal household by raising him to a yet higher rank in the army of Israel—“captainover a thousand” (1 Sam. 18:13)—and sending him off to fight the Philistines in the hope that he would be killed in action. Later, David would use the same ploy to murder a man whose wife he had seduced and impregnated. For David, the scheme worked perfectly. Not so for the unlucky Saul. David was victorious in battle again, the people of Israel came to love the war hero with even greater fervor, and Saul himself “lived in fear of him.” (1 Sam. 18:14–16) (AB)
So Saul made an even more calculating move against David. “Behold my elder daughter Merab,” he declared to David. “Her will I give you to wife—only be valiant for me, and fight the Lord's fight.” Saul figured that David would throw himself even more recklessly into the next battle with the Philistines if a royal princess was the prize of war. “Let not my hand be upon him,” Saul muttered to himself, “but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.” (1 Sam. 18:17)
David now revealed a gift that would turn out to be even more central to his survival than his physical courage or his soldierly skills—he was a master of political intrigue, and he quickly grasped the motive behind Saul's new gambit.
“Who am I, and what is my life,” said David to Saul in words so modest that they approach sarcasm, “that I should be son-in-law to the king?” (1 Sam. 18:18)
So David foiled Saul's plot by declaring himself unworthy to wed a woman of royal blood, and Merab was married off to another man. But soon a new opportunity presented itself to Saul: the king learned that his youngest daughter, Michal, had fallen in love with David. Once again, Saul sought to use the hand of his daughter as a way of putting David in harm's way, and his new plan was far less subtle than the first one.
“Speak with David secretly,” Saul ordered one of his courtiers, “and say: ‘Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee—now, therefore, be the king's son-in-law.’ ” (1 Sam. 18:22)
David was not fooled by the king's latest words of flattery and entreaty, and he turned aside the marriage proposal with yetanother declaration of his own unworthiness. “Does it seem to you a trifling thing to offer oneself as a son-in-law to the king?” he demurred to the king's emissary. “Well, as for me, I am poor and humble.” (1 Sam. 18:24) (AB)
When David's refusal was reported back to Saul, the king took the plea of poverty to mean that David was unable to come up with a suitable “bride-price” (
mohar
), the dowry-in-reverse that a suitor was expected to pay his future father-in-law in ancient Israel. So Saul extricated David from his predicament by proposing a bride-price that required only courage in battle, which David possessed in plenty, and not a hoard of gold.
“The king desires no bride-price,”
Richard III
or, for that matter, Richard Condon's
The Manchurian Candidate
. What seems especially and uncannily modern in the biblical life story of David is the sense of “fires within fires”—Arthur Miller's phrase for the paranoia that suffused the Salem witch trials. Just as conspiracy theories shaped politics and popular culture in America in the latter part of the twentieth century, the court history of King David as we find it in the Bible fairly crackles with the same tension and suspicion.
Even if Saul was mad, he was also wily, as we shall soon see for ourselves. The king devoted considerable effort and ingenuity to eliminating David as a rival without bloodying his own hands or alienating the considerable number of men and women in his little kingdom, including his own adult children, who had fallen so deeply in love with David. But David would prove wilier still.
THE HAND OF A KING'S DAUGHTER
Saul's first ploy was to remove David from the royal household by raising him to a yet higher rank in the army of Israel—“captainover a thousand” (1 Sam. 18:13)—and sending him off to fight the Philistines in the hope that he would be killed in action. Later, David would use the same ploy to murder a man whose wife he had seduced and impregnated. For David, the scheme worked perfectly. Not so for the unlucky Saul. David was victorious in battle again, the people of Israel came to love the war hero with even greater fervor, and Saul himself “lived in fear of him.” (1 Sam. 18:14–16) (AB)
So Saul made an even more calculating move against David. “Behold my elder daughter Merab,” he declared to David. “Her will I give you to wife—only be valiant for me, and fight the Lord's fight.” Saul figured that David would throw himself even more recklessly into the next battle with the Philistines if a royal princess was the prize of war. “Let not my hand be upon him,” Saul muttered to himself, “but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.” (1 Sam. 18:17)
David now revealed a gift that would turn out to be even more central to his survival than his physical courage or his soldierly skills—he was a master of political intrigue, and he quickly grasped the motive behind Saul's new gambit.
“Who am I, and what is my life,” said David to Saul in words so modest that they approach sarcasm, “that I should be son-in-law to the king?” (1 Sam. 18:18)
So David foiled Saul's plot by declaring himself unworthy to wed a woman of royal blood, and Merab was married off to another man. But soon a new opportunity presented itself to Saul: the king learned that his youngest daughter, Michal, had fallen in love with David. Once again, Saul sought to use the hand of his daughter as a way of putting David in harm's way, and his new plan was far less subtle than the first one.
“Speak with David secretly,” Saul ordered one of his courtiers, “and say: ‘Behold, the king hath delight in thee, and all his servants love thee—now, therefore, be the king's son-in-law.’ ” (1 Sam. 18:22)
David was not fooled by the king's latest words of flattery and entreaty, and he turned aside the marriage proposal with yetanother declaration of his own unworthiness. “Does it seem to you a trifling thing to offer oneself as a son-in-law to the king?” he demurred to the king's emissary. “Well, as for me, I am poor and humble.” (1 Sam. 18:24) (AB)
When David's refusal was reported back to Saul, the king took the plea of poverty to mean that David was unable to come up with a suitable “bride-price” (
mohar
), the dowry-in-reverse that a suitor was expected to pay his future father-in-law in ancient Israel. So Saul extricated David from his predicament by proposing a bride-price that required only courage in battle, which David possessed in plenty, and not a hoard of gold.
“The king desires no bride-price,”
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