McKenzie explains: "The fact that the author felt the need to try to explain the motives behind David's deeds indicates that those deeds were widely believed to have occurred. (Throughout the book, McKenzie also refers to the many poems, plays, novels, paintings, and sculptures that have helped shape David's reputation.) The key to McKenzie's argument is the apologetic tone of the biblical David stories, which he traces with enthusiastic rigor. Thus, McKenzie's version of the David story "reads like a modern soap opera, with plenty of sex, violence, and struggles for power." McKenzie's arguments are based on ancient inscriptions and archaeological artifacts that shed light on the biblical stories of David's reign-and on the Bible stories themselves. McKenzie maintains that David was in fact tyrannical to the bone. Taking a stance against this traditional view, Hebrew scholar Steven L. King David: A Biography is a revisionist account of a life that has been viewed as heroic throughout history. David's story, writes McKenzie, "reads like a modern soap opera, with plenty of sex, violence, and struggles for power."Ĭarefully researched and vividly written, King David: An Unauthorized Biography offers a provocative reappraisal of the life of one of the Bible's most compelling figures. Throughout his scandalous reign, important figures who stood in his way died at convenient times, under questionable circumstances. While instituting a full-blown Middle Eastern monarchy, David was an aggressive leader, a devious politician, and a ruthless war chief. Similarly, McKenzie reveals how David's ascent to power, traditionally attributed to popularity and divine blessing, in fact resulted from a campaign of terror and assassination. McKenzie shows that the story of humble beginnings is utterly misleading: "shepherd" is a metaphor for "king," and David came from a wealthy, upper-class background.
This David, however, was no hero but a usurper, adulterer, and murderer-a Middle Eastern despot of a familiar type.
McKenzie concludes that David was indeed a real person. Through a close and critical reading of biblical texts, ancient history, and recent archeological discoveries, Steven L.
But was David a real person-and if so what kind of person was he? Michaelangelo's magnificent sculpture of him is perhaps the single best known work of art in the world, and the story of the humble shepherd who slew Goliath and became king has assumed a powerful mythological status. One of the most important and complex characters in the Bible, King David has been the subject of innumerable portraits, both artistic and literary.
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