The Sins of King David: A New History
Attorney, author, and president of the Biblical Archeology  Society of New York, Greenberg (101 Myths of the Bible) offers  an alternative portrait of King David by analyzing Bible stories  and drawing on historical research. Comparing various  significant episodes in the biblical account of David's life,  Greenberg lays out the evidence, showing how these  contradictory, altered, invented, redacted, and rearranged  accounts were responsible for falsely casting David into the  part of a religious reformer and thinker who developed the basic  principles of Jewish worship. Placing these texts into their  historical, political, and geographical setting, Greenberg is  able to separate much historical fact from biblical fiction,  showing, for instance, that Goliath of the popular David and  Goliath story was actually killed by a Philistine warrior  Elhanan. Greenberg shows David to be an ambitious mercenary,  ruthless politician, unjust tyrant, and military imperialist.  The work contains maps, timelines, glossaries, and comparison  text, making it a comprehensive account of King David.  Greenberg's comparative analyses of the Bible stories are  supplemented by archaeological and historical writings, but the  lack of bibliography suggests that some of it was also based on  personal belief. Like his earlier book, this one may anger some  more conservative readers. Recommended for larger religious  collections.Leo V. Kriz, West Des Moines P.L., IACopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.