Tab Article

Ratings: ★★★★☆(4.2/5)
Genre: Biblical History / Biography / Religious Studies / Archaeology

Book Review:
Stripping Away the Myth to Reveal a Flawed and Fallible King
For millennia, King David has been held up as a paragon of virtue: the shepherd boy who slew a giant, the poet who composed the Psalms, the king who united Israel and established Jerusalem as its capital. But what if this beloved image is a carefully constructed myth? In ''The Sins of King David,'' Gary Greenberg sets out to do just that: to strip away the layers of legend and reveal the flawed, and often brutal, historical figure beneath.

Greenberg, president of the Biblical Archaeology Society of New York, brings a scholar's rigor and a detective's instincts to his task. He re-examines the biblical texts with a critical eye, looking for inconsistencies, omissions, and clues that point to a different story. He also draws on archaeological evidence and historical context to paint a fuller picture of the world in which David lived.

What emerges is a portrait of a man who was, in Greenberg's telling, a ruthless and ambitious politician, a ''tyrant and a murderer'' who stopped at nothing to achieve and maintain power. Greenberg argues that David was responsible for the massacre of seven sons of his predecessor, Saul; that he did not kill Goliath (that honor, he suggests, belongs to another); and that he arranged the murder of his loyal soldier Uriah to cover up his affair with Bathsheba.

This is a deliberately provocative book, and it is sure to be controversial. Greenberg challenges deeply held beliefs and offers a interpretation that will be unsettling to many. But he does so with careful argumentation and a deep knowledge of his subject. Whether or not one agrees with his conclusions, the book is a fascinating and thought-provoking read.

One reviewer (from the front cover) recommends it as ''a worthy addition to the library of first-rate and challenging books on [King] David.'' It is a book that will force readers to confront the distance between the biblical legend and the possible historical reality. For anyone interested in biblical history, archaeology, or the enduring power of myth, ''The Sins of King David'' is a compelling and worthwhile read.