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Archive for the ‘David (king of Israel)’ Category

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Luke the Chronicler

In 1 & 2 Chronicles, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Samuel, Brill, Ched Spellman, David (king of Israel), Intertextuality, Luke-Acts, Mark S. Giacobbe on April 13, 2024 at 3:23 pm

2024.04.03 | Mark S. Giacobbe. Luke the Chronicler: The Narrative Arc of Samuel-Kings and Chronicles in Luke-Acts. Bible Interpretation Series 211. Brill, 2023. 289 pp. $144.00. 

Review by Ched Spellman, Cedarville University.

In the opening of the Gospel of Luke, the author includes a prologue that overviews his purpose in writing this “orderly narrative” and identifies elements of his method (Luke 1:1–4). Beyond these orienting authorial comments, is it possible to detect any specific textual template that Luke might have made use of as he structured his narration and interpretation of the story of Jesus and the early church?

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Matthew’s New David at the End of Exile

In Brill, David (king of Israel), Intertextuality, Matthew, Max Botner, Messianism, Nicholas PIOTROWSKI, review, Scripture on May 31, 2017 at 2:00 pm

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2017.05.12 | Nicholas G. Piotrowski, Matthew’s New David at the End of Exile: A Socio-Rhetorical Study of Scriptural Quotations. NovTSup 170. Leiden: Brill, 2016. ISBN: 9789004326781

Reviewed by Max Botner, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main.

Matthew’s use of the Jewish scriptures—particularly his fulfillment citations—has long perplexed modern readers. Has the evangelist ransacked his scriptures in a contorted effort to justify his Christology? Or is there another principle guiding his selection of scriptural source material? In this revised version of his 2013 Wheaton College dissertation “Scripture and Community: The Socio-Rhetorical Effect of Matthew’s Prologue Quotations,” Nicholas Piotrowski mounts a fresh and compelling argument for the latter. His thesis is that “the prologue-quotations, individually and collectively, select a frame that evokes one pervasive OT subplot: «David/end-of-exile»” (p. 4). Read the rest of this entry »


The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero

In Ancient Israel, Andrew Knapp, Archaeology, Biblical Criticism, David (king of Israel), HarperOne, HB/OT, Hebrew Bible, Historical Criticism, Joel BADEN on January 31, 2014 at 12:00 am

Historical David

2014.1.3 | Joel Baden. The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero. New York: HarperOne, 2013. 310 pages. ISBN: 9780062188311.

Reviewed by Andrew Knapp.

Many thanks to HarperOne for providing a review copy.

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It is often said of historical Jesus studies that each biography reflects the scholar who wrote it more than it reflects Jesus of Nazareth. Let us hope that the same does not apply to historical David studies, because Joel Baden considers the famed king of Israel to be a villainous, duplicitous, overreaching scoundrel. Through Baden’s critical reading of the biblical text, David “is revealed as a thoroughly amoral individualist, concerned only for his own well-being” (98). David was “a vile human being” (259) who “even in his own day, was considered guilty of horrific crimes” (260). Read the rest of this entry »