King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

This is an excellent book that relates intricate details of King David of Israel which are not told in the Old Testament of The Holy Bible. In this novel We learn how David became the principle character of "The Star Prophecy" which actually came from an enemy of the Israelites, Balaam, and later, how David was forced to "bump", so to speak, Yahweh's chosen one, Saul, and usurp the throne. Furthermore, this book also illustrates King David as a "gangster", so to speak, in His declining years, ordering vengeance and securing even more followers at the same time. The only thing that could have made this novel better would have been to illustrate King David's parallelisms with Emperor Hungwu of China ... .

I don't profess to be a biblical scholar - in fact I am anything but that. My knowledge of David was mostly of his battle with Goliath, his role as King and as the father of Solomon. However, from the first few words of this book I was hooked. Kirsch brings reality to the legend of David. While I am sure some would be disturbed of a portrayal of David that was not pure, I found the description of David to ring true, and it left me wanting to learn more. And that is what a good book should do.

As described

Absolutely fascinating read that historically makes sense. It makes you dig for verification if you are not one to take anyone's word hook line and sinker. Kirsch has a habit of occasionally injecting his own personal vies into the narrative and sometimes incorrectly. As with anything, disregard what is not proven and stick with facts that can be backed up. None the less, the view is astonishingly compelling as he takes the reader down the road of probability. I very much came away with a new understanding as most of his books do. Very well written, informative and inspiring.

This book gives no particularly extraordinary insight into the stories of the Bible that you cannot find yourself by simply reading the Bible. The only extra insight given is that of the opinion of the author, who is very clearly annoyed at the personality of God as displayed in the authors perspective. I’ve garnered two concepts from this book. 1 - The story from the Bible that I have already read... in the Bible, believe it or not. It’s not terribly difficult to understand. This author does not give any insight that a fourth grader couldn’t conjure up from reading the quoted and/or alluded passages. 2 - The author really does not like God. Save your money and read the Bible itself and if you really want a full Jonathan Kirsch experience, just read the Bible and have a bad attitude about it. That’s what this book is. I was hoping for those “aha!” moments that might help explain some of the odd things about the story of David but all I got was “God is dumb and confused and therefore so is the story of the Bible”. If you’re into that, then this book is for you. If you want a real synthesis with deep insight and creative explanation, go elsewhere. This book is so worthless that I’m literally throwing it in the garbage. I wouldn’t even want to burden the local thrift store shopper with the $0.25 price tag that it might receive after donating it. I would return it, but I started reading too long after ordering it. You win some, you lose some. At least I can warn others not to lose on this one. But really, last thought: if you are even slightly intelligent, you can come to the same storyline conclusions on the story of David yourself just by reading the Bible. If not, better. I’d be curious to know how many times the author uses the word “cranky” or other similar words to describe God and other characters in this book. Perhaps that gives you a good idea of the vibe.

Goes beyond the mystique and blind acceptance of who David was. Presents evidence of David's character flaws and failures that reveals a man, who God did indeed favor, yet was a sinner through and through. A story of hope for us all in my opinion.

I really enjoyed listening to this book while in the car during a recent road trip. As someone who has spent much time in biblical scholarship, this served as a great introdution, and was able to refresh my mmory, on essential and yet forgotten details in the story of David. This book lays out the story of David, beginning with Samuel's birth until David's death by adding the author's additional insights while relying heavily on modern biblical scholarship. For example, while discussing the relationship between David and Jonathan, it is apparent that the author does agree with the higher critics that David was most likely bisexual. Although many scholars of the classical world, do not see this relationship having any sexual intimacy surrounding it. This is simply putting a modern read upon an ancient text. Besides the obvious mistake with Jonathan and David, the author, concludes that, without the story of David, none of the Hebrew Bible, either before, or after would not have been composed. There are certainly gaps in this argument that need to be explained. For example, if the entire Pentateuch was written to foreshadow David, why doesn't Judah receive greater attention in the book of Genesis, and why does not the tribe of Judah take on a more prominent role within the other four books of Moses? To say that David is the key figure of the Old Testament is undoubtedly fascinating, yet this should definitely be explained and argued in more detail in this book. If this argument was explained instead of assumed, it would have been a more delightful read and possibly more convincing. If one can oversee these many incorrect assumptions, one can thoroughly enjoy this book while gathering new insights into the story of King David.

I was very disappointed with this book. I suppose it was my own fault. I assumed that the person writing about David, a major character in the Bible, actually has belief in the veracity of the Bible. I'm not saying that a person needs to take every jot and tittle of the Bible at face value. I'm up for a bit of conjecture. But the overall tone of this book is one of scepticism. Kirsch has some interesting historical facts, but they are used to bolster the idea that what the Bible records about David is incorrect and based more in fairy tale than truth. I guess that is fine if that's what you are looking for. But what I was seeking was a book that taught me more about the David of the Bible -- not the David of Jonathan Kirsch's ideas. I'll need to look somewhere else for a biblically based study of David's life.

It started off a cracking read then descended into rambling. Finally the reader is treated to pure authoring (the author's personal viewpoint) which had nothing at all to do with King David. The author has no understanding of Hebrew, Hebraism or Hebrew gamatria so his writing is filled with moronic clichés. For example, 'Casting lots ' is not a haphazard gamble. It's consulting the Urim and Thummim for God's revelation. He treats God like a petulant toddler - why on earth would David go after the heart of a God like that? God doesn't need a female counterpart. The name 'El Shaddai' expresses the nurturing, mothering side of His nature. In the confrontation between Goliath and David he totally misses the fact that there was a 'boundary of blood' the giant could not cross, that David was activating his covenant right, or that Goliath ' s number works out to 666. Even without knowledge of any Hebrew gamatria people understand this number represents evil. The word 'Philistine' means 'wallowing in the dust' which is also very significant. Maybe the book gets better again towards the end but up to the point I read, David's life was merely a springboard for the author's low opinion of everything biblical. What a waste of time and money.