David, King of Israel, and Caleb in Biblical Memory

This book presents a new thesis on the history of Israel: David was originally king of Judah, not of Israel.

Jacob L. Wright (Author)

9781107672635, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 May 2014

284 pages
21.3 x 13.7 x 2 cm, 0.35 kg

'In engaging, limpid prose occasionally seasoned with humor, Wright argues that the stories of David and Caleb in the Tanakh were efforts in nation building. At the heart of Wright's argument is 'war commemoration'. Depicting characters as either helping or hindering David in one of his many military endeavors is, according to Wright, a key means by which individuals and communities were deemed to be part of, or outside, the people of Israel by the postexilic redactors of Samuel 1 and 2 and Kings 1 and 2. In narratives featuring Caleb, Wright explores how redactors transformed this Kenizzite, or outsider, into an exemplary Judahite, or insider. Wright bases his readings on a 'supplementation' model of textual development rather than the traditional documentary hypothesis. The result is a fresh and fruitful perspective on ways David and Caleb were used to construct Israelite peoplehood after Judah and the Temple were destroyed by the Babylonians. Wright succeeds in making painstaking textual inquiry into a stimulating book for general readers and experts alike.' Choice

Of all the Bible's personalities, David is the most profoundly human. Courageous, cunning, and complex, he lives life to the hilt. Whatever he does, he does with all his might, exuding both vitality and vulnerability. No wonder it has been said that Israel revered Moses yet loved David. But what do we now know about the historical David? Why does his story stand at the center of the Bible? Why didn't the biblical authors present him in a more favorable light? And what is the special connection between him and Caleb - the Judahite hero remembered for his valor during the wars of conquest? In this groundbreaking study, Jacob L. Wright addresses all these questions and presents a new way of reading the biblical accounts. His work compares the function of these accounts to the role war memorials play over time. The result is a rich study that treats themes of national identity, statehood, the exercise of power, and the human condition.

1. Slings and arrows - remembering King David
2. Flesh and stone - from war monuments to the David story
3. King of Judah - the earliest account of David's life
4. Tales of loyalty and betrayal - the cases of Keilah and Ziph
5. The bones of Saul - the loyalty of the Gileadites
6. Uriah the Hittite - a tale of royal modesty
7. Ittai the Gittite - mercenary allegiance versus national solidarity
8. David in exile - priests, statehood, and the Benjaminites
9. Territorial transitions - the Transjordan, Israel, and Judah
10. Chronicles - David as a catalyst of national unity
11. Caleb and the conquest - inventing a new hero
12. Caleb the warrior - the evolution of legends
13. Caleb the Judahite - an iconic figure
14. War-torn David - conclusions.

Subject Areas: Judaism [HRJ], Old Testaments [HRCF1]