Editing David (section)

===Literary analysis===
[[file:David SM Maggiore.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Statue of David (1609–1612) by [[Nicolas Cordier]]]]
Biblical literature and archaeological finds are the only sources that attest to David's life. Some scholars have concluded that this was likely compiled from contemporary records of the 11th and 10th centuries BCE, but that there is no clear historical basis for determining the exact date of compilation.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hill |first1=Andrew E. |last2=Walton |first2=John H. |title=A Survey of the Old Testament |edition=3rd |year=2009 |orig-year=1991 |publisher=Zondervan |location=Grand Rapids |isbn=978-0-310-28095-8 |page=258 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3PhbDc-PdvMC&pg=PA258 |quote=The events of the book took place in the last half of the eleventh century and the early part of the tenth century BC, but it is difficult to determine when the events were recorded. There are no particularly persuasive reasons to date the sources used by the compiler later than the events themselves, and good reason to believe that contemporary records were kept (cf. 2 Sam. 20:24–25). |access-date=2019-12-27 |archive-date=2020-10-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011131826/https://books.google.com/books?id=3PhbDc-PdvMC&pg=PA258 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other scholars believe that the [[Books of Samuel]] were substantially composed during the time of [[Josiah]], king of Judah, at the end of the 7th century BCE, extended during the [[Babylonian captivity]] and substantially complete by about 550 BCE. Old Testament scholar [[A. Graeme Auld]] contends that further editing was done even after then—the silver quarter-[[shekel]] Saul's servant offers to Samuel in {{bibleverse|1|Samuel|9:8|KJV}} "almost certainly fixes the date of the story in the Persian or Hellenistic period" because a quarter-shekel was known to exist in Hasmonean times.{{sfn|Auld|2003|p=219}} The authors and editors of Samuel drew on many earlier sources, including, for their history of David, the "history of David's rise"<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Samuel 16:14–2, 5:10|multi=yes}}</ref> and the "succession narrative".<ref>{{bibleverse|2 Samuel|9–20}} and {{bibleverse|1 Kings|1–2}}</ref>{{sfn|Knight|1991|p=853}} The [[Books of Chronicles]], which tells the story from a different point of view, was probably composed in the period 350–300 BCE, and uses Samuel and Kings as its source.{{sfn|McKenzie|2004|p=32}}

Biblical evidence indicates that David's Judah was something less than a full-fledged monarchy: it often calls him {{lang|he|[[nagid]]}} ({{literal translation|prince, chief}}; {{langx|he|נָגִיד|nāgīḏ|links=no}}) rather than {{lang|he|[[melekh]]}} ({{langx|he|מֶלֶךְ|lit=king}}); David sets up none of the complex bureaucracy that a kingdom needs. His army is made up of volunteers and his followers are largely relations or from his home region of [[Hebron]].{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|pp=220–221}}

Beyond this, the full range of possible interpretations is available. A number of scholars consider the David story to be a heroic tale similar to the legend of [[King Arthur]] or the epics of [[Homer]],<ref>{{cite web |last=Thompson |first=Thomas L. |year=2001 |title=A view from Copenhagen: Israel and the History of Palestine |website=The Bible and Interpretation |url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/view-copenhagen-israel-and-history-palestine |access-date=December 25, 2020 |quote=The history of Palestine and of its peoples is very different from the Bible's narratives, whatever political claims to the contrary may be. An independent history of Judea during the Iron I and Iron II periods has little room for historicizing readings of the stories of I-II Samuel and I Kings.}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Redford|1992|pp=301–302|ps=: One (perversely perhaps) longs to see the result of the application of such a criterion to Geoffrey of Monmouth's treatment of Arthur, to the anonymous Joseph and Asenath, to the Alexander Romances, or a host of other Pseudepigrapha. Mesmerized by the literary quality of much of the writing in 1 and 2 Samuel—it is in truth a damned good story!—many scholars take a further step: "The Succession story must be regarded as the oldest specimen of ancient Israelite history writing."}}; {{harvnb|Pfoh|2016|p=54 n. 126|ps=: Isser links the David story with other heroic tales, like Homer's epics and King Arthur's legend}}</ref> while others find such comparisons questionable.<ref>Kalimi, Isaac. ''Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel'', Cambridge University Press, 2019, p. 53</ref>

The instance in the [[Book of Jashar]], excerpted in [[2 Samuel 1]]:26, where David "proclaims that Jonathan's love was sweeter to him than the love of a woman", has been compared to [[Achilles]]' comparison of [[Patroclus]] to a girl and [[Gilgamesh]]'s love for [[Enkidu]] "as a woman".{{sfn|Gordon|1955|p=89}}{{sfn|Horner|1978|p=19}} Others hold that the David story is a political apology—an answer to contemporary charges against him, of his involvement in murders and regicide.{{sfn|Baden|2013|p=12|ps=: the biblical narrative may be considered the ancient equivalent of political spin: it is a retelling, even a reinterpretation, of events, the goal of which is to absolve David of any potential guilt and to show him in a positive light.}} The authors and editors of Samuel and Chronicles aimed not to record history but to promote David's reign as inevitable and desirable, and for this reason there is little about David that is concrete and undisputed.{{sfn|Moore|Kelle|2011|pp=232–233}} Other scholars argue that, notwithstanding the apologetic tenor of the story, the authors of Samuel were also critical of David in several respects, suggesting that the text presents a complex portrait of him rather than a purely propagandistic one.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Book of Samuel and Its Response to Monarchy |last=Johnson |first=Benjamin J. M. |publisher=[[Kohlhammer Verlag]] |year=2021 |isbn=978-3-17-037041-8 |pages=225–241 |editor-last=Kipfer |editor-first=Sara |chapter=An Unapologetic Apology: The David Story as a Complex Response to Monarchy |editor-last2=Hutton |editor-first2=Jeremy M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vgUYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA225}}</ref>

Some other studies of David have been written: [[Baruch Halpern]] has pictured him as a brutal tyrant, a murderer, and a lifelong vassal of [[Achish]], the [[Philistine]] king of [[Gath (city)|Gath]];<ref>{{cite web |last=Carasik |first=Michael |date=June 2014 |url=http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/1551_3721.pdf |title=Review of Baruch Halpern's ''David's Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King'' |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070810172523/http://www.bookreviews.org/pdf/1551_3721.pdf}}</ref> Steven McKenzie argues that David came from a wealthy family, and was an "ambitious and ruthless" tyrant who murdered his opponents, including his sons.<ref name="McKenzie_on_David" /> Joel S. Baden has called him "an ambitious, ruthless, flesh-and-blood man who achieved power by any means necessary, including murder, theft, bribery, sex, deceit, and treason".{{sfn|Baden|2013}}{{page needed|date=November 2021}} [[William G. Dever]] described him as "a serial killer".{{sfn|Dever|2020|p=}}

[[Jacob L. Wright]] has written that the most popular legends about David, including his killing of Goliath, his affair with [[Bathsheba]], and his ruling of the unified [[Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy)|Kingdom of Israel]] rather than just Judah, are the creation of those who lived generations after him, in particular those living in the late Persian or Hellenistic periods.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/2014/07/wri388001 |title=David, King of Judah (Not Israel) |date=July 2014 |access-date=3 September 2017 |website=bibleinterp.arizona.edu}}</ref>