Convenience and Craft in the story of King David

For the first unit paper, imagine you are a journalist today, assigned to inform the public about the “King David story” three thousand years later. Your task is not to repeat the plot or paraphrase the biblical text, but to analyse for your “readers” the credibility of the biblical text’s portrayal of David as a divinely-supported, national hero/leader/model for future kings. In your own “story,” make sure to include the following elements (you are welcome to include other elements as well if you wish):

David’s rise to the throne: how does the story explain and justify why David ends up as king of Israel and Judah in Jerusalem (note all three parts)? What parts of the story are you suspicious about, and why? What can you suggest to your readers might be going on behind the official story of how David gained the kingship?

David’s relationship with the deaths of people around him, such as:

Goliath, Abner, Ishbaal, Uriah, Absalom, Amasa, Sheba, Joab, and Shimei. What do you want your readers to hear about these deaths beyond what the biblical text explicitly says?

Solomon as David’s successor: why, exactly, does Solomon rather than Adonijah end up on the throne after their father’s death? Whose interests are being served?

Make sure your interpretation is grounded either in the text itself or reasonable inferences you can make from the context of a statement or incident, as well as the writers we’ve engaged (cite the writers specifically for any points you got from their work, including the page number of the place to which you are referring or quoting). Your paper must cite at least one of our Course Pack authors for each unit we studied.

Your paper should be 3-4 double-spaced pages. Longer is fine.

https://www.michelangelo.org/david.jsp

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/places/related-articl…

https://www.bibleodyssey.org/tools/bible-basics/do…

Answer preview:

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