Read Online King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Jonathan Kirsch - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jonathan Kirsch
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ancient Israel that were under the occupation and rule of the Philistines.
If the king of Israel sought to kill him, David would not hesitate to place himself under the protection and at the service of Israel's old and bitter enemy.
“AM I SHORT OF MADMEN?”
According to one of the most bizarre tales in all of the Bible, “the sons of God”—or, more literally, “the sons of the
gods
” (
b'nai Elohim
) 7 —descended from heaven soon after the creation of the world and bedded the women who struck their fancy, thus siring arace of giants known as the Nephilim. (Gen. 6:2–4) Their descendants still lived in the land of Canaan when, countless centuries later, Moses sent spies ahead of the conquering army of Israel. “All the people that we saw in it are men of great stature,” went the “evil report” of the defeatists, “and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” (Num. 13:32, 33) When the Israelites fought their way into Canaan under the generalship of Joshua, all but a few of these giants were exterminated. “Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain,” goes a brief report in the Book of Joshua, naming three of the five cities of Israel that were still dominated by the Philistines even after the conquest of Canaan. (Josh. 11:22)
David's link to Gath began when he defeated Goliath, whom the Bible depicts as not just a man of impressive stature but the distant offspring of the sexual union between gods and mortals. 8 Now David presented himself to the Philistine overlord who ruled Gath, a king named Achish, and pleaded for refuge against Saul. But David discovered that, even among the Philistines, he was regarded as a dangerous young man.
“Is not this David the king of the land?” the wary counselors of Achish warned their king, claiming for David a crown that was not yet his own and urging Achish, like Saul, to see David as a threat to his throne. “Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,” they continued, stoking the king's fears, “saying: ‘Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’ ” (1 Sam. 21:12)
The peril in these whispered words was not lost on David, who “laid up these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish the King of Gath.” (1 Sam. 21:19) And so David, always daring and quick-witted but never more so than when in danger, contrived to put the Philistines at ease.
And he changed his demeanor before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
(1 Sam. 21:13)
So David feigned lunacy to save his own life. Here is a moment that strikes Bible scholars as something new and remarkable— where else in the writings of the ancient world do we find a sacred history in which a God-chosen king turns himself into a drooling and gibbering idiot? Indeed, the scene depicts David as not merely undignified but cowardly. Yet David's ploy works and the king of Gath is utterly fooled.
“The man is mad!” complained Achish. “Am I short of madmen that you bring this one to plague me?” (1 Sam. 21:16) (NEB)
So David was escorted out of the court to the king's dismissive cry—“Must I have this fellow in my house?”—and hustled out of Gath. (1 Sam. 21:16) (NEB) David was still on the run, but now he did not seek refuge amid the familiar comforts of a royal court. Rather, he sought refuge in a cave, more like a runaway slave than a man who would be king. 9
DESPERADOES
Word of David's desperate predicament—and the whereabouts of the cave in which he had barricaded himself—reached his tribal homeland, the land of Judah. Not only his brothers and the rest of his family but hundreds of men from the tribe of Judah sought out David's stronghold among the hills near Adullam. 10 But David quickly saw that if he was no longer alone, he was also no longer in the company of kings.
And every one that was in distress, and
If the king of Israel sought to kill him, David would not hesitate to place himself under the protection and at the service of Israel's old and bitter enemy.
“AM I SHORT OF MADMEN?”
According to one of the most bizarre tales in all of the Bible, “the sons of God”—or, more literally, “the sons of the
gods
” (
b'nai Elohim
) 7 —descended from heaven soon after the creation of the world and bedded the women who struck their fancy, thus siring arace of giants known as the Nephilim. (Gen. 6:2–4) Their descendants still lived in the land of Canaan when, countless centuries later, Moses sent spies ahead of the conquering army of Israel. “All the people that we saw in it are men of great stature,” went the “evil report” of the defeatists, “and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” (Num. 13:32, 33) When the Israelites fought their way into Canaan under the generalship of Joshua, all but a few of these giants were exterminated. “Only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod did some remain,” goes a brief report in the Book of Joshua, naming three of the five cities of Israel that were still dominated by the Philistines even after the conquest of Canaan. (Josh. 11:22)
David's link to Gath began when he defeated Goliath, whom the Bible depicts as not just a man of impressive stature but the distant offspring of the sexual union between gods and mortals. 8 Now David presented himself to the Philistine overlord who ruled Gath, a king named Achish, and pleaded for refuge against Saul. But David discovered that, even among the Philistines, he was regarded as a dangerous young man.
“Is not this David the king of the land?” the wary counselors of Achish warned their king, claiming for David a crown that was not yet his own and urging Achish, like Saul, to see David as a threat to his throne. “Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,” they continued, stoking the king's fears, “saying: ‘Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’ ” (1 Sam. 21:12)
The peril in these whispered words was not lost on David, who “laid up these words in his heart and was sore afraid of Achish the King of Gath.” (1 Sam. 21:19) And so David, always daring and quick-witted but never more so than when in danger, contrived to put the Philistines at ease.
And he changed his demeanor before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
(1 Sam. 21:13)
So David feigned lunacy to save his own life. Here is a moment that strikes Bible scholars as something new and remarkable— where else in the writings of the ancient world do we find a sacred history in which a God-chosen king turns himself into a drooling and gibbering idiot? Indeed, the scene depicts David as not merely undignified but cowardly. Yet David's ploy works and the king of Gath is utterly fooled.
“The man is mad!” complained Achish. “Am I short of madmen that you bring this one to plague me?” (1 Sam. 21:16) (NEB)
So David was escorted out of the court to the king's dismissive cry—“Must I have this fellow in my house?”—and hustled out of Gath. (1 Sam. 21:16) (NEB) David was still on the run, but now he did not seek refuge amid the familiar comforts of a royal court. Rather, he sought refuge in a cave, more like a runaway slave than a man who would be king. 9
DESPERADOES
Word of David's desperate predicament—and the whereabouts of the cave in which he had barricaded himself—reached his tribal homeland, the land of Judah. Not only his brothers and the rest of his family but hundreds of men from the tribe of Judah sought out David's stronghold among the hills near Adullam. 10 But David quickly saw that if he was no longer alone, he was also no longer in the company of kings.
And every one that was in distress, and
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