The figure of David in the narratives of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles has inspired and fascinated writers, artists and the devout since ancient times. They have been drawn by the complexity of the character, presented as chosen by Yahweh to be king of Israel, exhibiting strong traits of leadership, but as beset by weaknesses in human relationships. Can an "historic" David be discovered amidst the several characterizations? While a definitive answer is not possible, the recognition that the narratives contain differing characterizations frees the student to distinguish between elements that are common, such as David's blamelessness before Yahweh, and those that are unique to certain stories, such as David's anointing by Samuel. / A review of the biblical scholarship on these narratives is followed by a chapter on modern sociological-ethnographic studies of the early Israelite monarchy. The efforts of several scholars to apply modern literary approaches to biblical narrative focuses on the analysis of characterization in literature. (An Appendix presents a review of the work of Russian Formalists and French Structuralist narratologists.) Finally, eight fairly distinct characterizations of David are analyzed in the narratives, according to the degree of human traits presented. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-03, Section: A, page: 0963. / Major Professor: John F. Priest. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_76881 |
| Contributors | Guedes, John Darcy., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 494 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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