David's Secret Demons: Messiah, Murderer, Traitor, King

by Baruch Halpern

Biblical tradition portrays King David as an exceptional man and a paragon of godly devotion. But was he? Some scholars deny that he existed at all. Did he? This challenging book examines the textual and archaeological evidence critically in an effort to paint an accurate picture of one of the Bible's central figures. A leading scholar of biblical history and the ancient Near East, Baruch Halpern traces the development of the David tradition, showing how the image of David grew over time. According to Halpern, David was the founder of the dynasty that progressively exaggerated his accomplishments. Halpern's clear portrait of the historical David reveals his true humanity and shows him to be above all a politician who operated in a rough-and-tumble environment in which competitors were ready literally to slit throats. David's Secret Demons explores a number of provocative Did King David actually exist?
Was David an Israelite or a Philistine?
Was Solomon really David's son?
Did David take the throne of Israel by the consent of the people?
How many murders did he commit on his way to the throne?
Are the biblical texts about David reliable? Challenging, well argued, and written with accessible, at times humorous prose, David's Secret Demons will provoke discussion by scholars and general readers alike.

Genres: Religion, Biblical Studies, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Judaism, Christianity

512 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Noah Dropkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book I read on King David. Written by one of the most well-respected scholars of ancient Israel and Biblical Texts, it is definitely not for the general audience. It is very much like a textbook.

However, the author points the reader to skip certain section that are not pertinent to their interest and the prose is quite readable.

Of the two books about David I am glad I read the interpretive essay book by Pinsky first as it was a good overview.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with a deep interest in King David, the period of his reign (about 1000-950 BCE) and the documentary hypotesis as applied to the books of Samuel I and II.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is not for the novice. It presupposes a tremendous knowledge of the scholarly literature on the Deuteronomistic History (Josh-2Kgs), its source and redaction criticism, the Syro-Palestinian archaeology of the Late Bronze Age through Iron II, and the history of the Ancient Near East including both Mesopotamia and Egypt.

The author's approach to the text of the books of Samuel is decidedly not literal, he takes a position that not only was the material about David composed from two sources, but that it was also rearranged out of chronological sequence and copies literary forms from other Near Eastern cultures. It was composed as an apology during Solomon's reign. In the author's reading of the book, David comes off as a non-Israelite warlord who founds an empire including Israel, proper. The shocking claims in the book: the sources from which Samuel was composed are some of the earliest material in the bible and pre-date the Pentateuch, Judah was not a tribe of Israel, the ark of the covenant was non-Israelite, the cult at the time was non-Israelite, and Solomon was not David's son. On the face, all of the above are plausible based on the evidence presented, however, it is not conclusive and radically strains the text as we have it. The most securely founded is probably the claim that the sources from which Samuel were composed are legitimately 10th century and therefore pre-date the Pentateuch, although possibly not portions of the Pentateuch--e.g., Song of the Sea--and in Judges, the Song of Deborah and Barak.

The book is not overly burdened with footnotes. It would have been nice for a bibliography to have been provided. Here again the book assumes that you already know the literature. If you are going to tackle this book, at a minimum you must have read an Introduction to the Old Testament such as Boadt's Old Testament An Introduction; a history of the Ancient Near East like Georges Roux, Ancient Iraq; The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt or another survey of Egyptian history; and Amihai Mazar's Archaeology of the Land of the Bible.

Halpern makes extensive use of the Anchor Bible commentaries on the books of Samuel by McCarter and Richard Elliott Friedman's Hidden Book in the Bible. Having those on hand would also be a good idea.

[Penni]

I've read some scholarly work in the past, both on the documentary hypothesis and on history, but David's secret demons reads very much like a text book. Ahem. Without seeing the direction of the author, (which I noticed after 'finishing' the book) I basically skimmed the book based on the index and table of contents, skipping the parts that drag.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was… long.

[Bill Silverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book resulted in my thinking about religion and history in new ways. It is written for scholars, so much of it was beyond my understanding. Still, I agreed with some conclusions and found others to be a bit of a stretch on the part of the author. David's "murder" of Nabal, Abilgail's husband, is convincingly told in a way that counters the biblical account of Nabal's coincidental death from natural causes. Less plausible, for example, is Halpern's assertion that Solomon could have been the son of Uriah the Hittite. All in all, well worth reading...especially the chapter (prepare yourself) "King David, Serial Killer."

[Erik Champenois · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong reading of King David based on biblical passages and incorporating an archaeological and regional perspective. Halpern argues for a core historicity to King David and to his reign as part of the united monarchy, arguing that reading biblical passages closely makes for a Davidic kingdom smaller than traditionally assumed, but larger than others might argue for. Well argued book, though much dryer than Baden's more popularized version - and I wish his division of the David narrative into separate strands, which apparently draws on the Anchor Bible commentaries on the Books of Samuel, had included an analysis and justification of this division.