"A masterpiece of contemporary Bible translation and commentary."—Los Angeles Times Book Review, Best Books of 1999 Acclaimed for its masterful new translation and insightful commentary, The David Story is a fresh, vivid rendition of one of the great works in Western literature. Robert Alter's brilliant translation gives us David, the beautiful, musical hero who slays Goliath and, through his struggles with Saul, advances to the kingship of Israel. But this David is also fully human: an ambitious, calculating man who navigates his life's course with a flawed moral vision. The consequences for him, his family, and his nation are tragic and bloody. Historical personage and full-blooded imagining, David is the creation of a literary artist comparable to the Shakespeare of the history plays.

Preliminary Material /KING DAVID -- Preface /KING DAVID -- Introduction /KING DAVID -- INTERPRETATION OF ACT I (II SAM. 9-12) /KING DAVID -- The triangle: David - Ziba - Mephibosheth /KING DAVID -- II Sam. 10-11: War, sexuality, and violence (scenes 2-4) /KING DAVID -- II Sam. 12: Confrontation and repentance; mourning, harmony, and victory /KING DAVID -- INTERPRETATION OF ACT II (II SAM. 13-14) /KING DAVID -- II Sam. 13: “Chips off the old block” (scenes 8-9) /KING DAVID -- II Sam. 14: Interventions /KING DAVID -- INTERPRETATION OF ACT III (II SAM. 15-20) /KING DAVID -- II Sam. 15-16:14, Absalom rebels and David flees /KING DAVID -- Absalom and his two counsellors; David warned /KING DAVID -- The outcome on the battlefield, David informed /KING DAVID -- Joab intervenes and the people deliberate /KING DAVID -- On the way back: David's conversations at the Jordan /KING DAVID -- The schism between Israel and Judah /KING DAVID -- INTERPRETATION OF ACT IV (I KINGS 1-2) /KING DAVID -- David decides about the succession /KING DAVID -- David's testament and the posthumous execution(s) /KING DAVID -- Synthesis and conclusion /KING DAVID -- Epilogue: prospects /KING DAVID -- Titles and abbreviations /KING DAVID -- Index of biblical verses treated /KING DAVID -- Appendix I /KING DAVID -- Appendix II /KING DAVID.

Narrative Art and Poetry in the Books of Samuel is the vast undertaking to interpret all the material in Samuel. Everything that the text has to offer can only be understood and appreciated to the full, and its interpretation can only lay claim to full validity by means of an integral view. Therefore the author has developed a textual model which regards and covers the composition of the Samuel books as a hierarchy of twelve levels. This volume bridges the gap between volume I and II. Throne and City carries on the work according to the principles of a sound and independent narratology. It differentiates II Sam. 2-5:5 (Act IX) and 5:6-18 (Act X) as the two final phases of David's long march to pow

How I wish this book had been available years ago when I as a young minister tried to preach on the life of King Saul. Dr. Cyril Barber has given us a commentary on 1 Samuel that balances dependable information, spiritual interpretation, and practical application. I predict that in years to come this volume will be a standard reference work for serious Bible students and careful expository preachers. But there is no dull academic atmosphere in these pages. The book is a joy to read. Dr. Barber makes ancient history exciting and practical, and he does so without spiritualizing the text. You will enjoy using this book. It will open up new facets of truth for you to receive and apply in your own life and then share with others. From the Foreword, by Warren W. Wiersbe

David and Goliath, the call of Samuel, the witch of Endor, David and Bathsheba — such biblical stories are well known. But the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, where they are recorded, are among the most difficult books in the Bible. The Hebrew text is widely considered corrupt and sometimes even unintelligible. The social and religious customs are strange and seem to diverge from the tradition of Moses. In this first part of an ambitious two-volume commentary on the books of Samuel, David Toshio Tsumura sheds considerable light on the background of 1 Samuel, looking carefully at the Philistine and Canaanite cultures, as he untangles the difficult Hebrew text.

The Book of Samuel is universally acknowledged as one of the supreme achievements of biblical literature. Yet the book's anonymous author was more than an inspired storyteller. The author was also an uncannily astute observer of political life and the moral compromises and contradictions that the struggle for power inevitably entails. The Beginning of Politics mines the story of Israel's first two kings to unearth a natural history of power, providing a forceful new reading of what is arguably the first and greatest work of Western political thought. Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes show how the beautifully crafted narratives of Saul and David cut to the core of politics, exploring themes that resonate wherever political power is at stake. Through stories such as Saul's madness, David's murder of Uriah, the rape of Tamar, and the rebellion of Absalom, the book's author deepens our understanding not only of the necessity of sovereign rule but also of its costs--to the people it is intended to protect and to those who wield it. What emerges from the meticulous analysis of these narratives includes such themes as the corrosive grip of power on those who hold and compete for power; the ways in which political violence unleashed by the sovereign on his own subjects is rooted in the paranoia of the isolated ruler and the deniability fostered by hierarchical action through proxies; and the intensity with which the tragic conflict between political loyalty and family loyalty explodes when the ruler's bloodline is made into the guarantor of the all-important continuity of sovereign power.--