The Sanitizing of David

by Doug Mason 12 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Doug Mason
    Doug Mason

    The Bible depicts King David as a deeply flawed, unsavory character, the perpetrator of evil acts including: murder, insurrection, adultery, banditry, and extortion. The sanitizing of David’s character during the following centuries and millennia created an image that idolizes him as the paragon of virtue, closely associated with the promised Messiah. My Study identifies the Davidic sanitizing process.

    https://www.academia.edu/s/390a7ba170?source=link

    Regards,

    Doug

  • Phizzy
    Phizzy

    Thanks Doug.

  • waton
    waton

    wt writers by parading out david, their posterboy as often as possibly, are implying, that their deeds also will be overlooked by the deity, that they have god's unwavering approval, because they see themselves , like jesse's shepherd boy, as anointed to rule.

    wt also learned from the story, that might makes right.

  • slimboyfat
    slimboyfat

    I find Psalm 51:3,4 problematic, where it has David saying that he sinned against God and no one else, because it seems to dismiss accountability to other humans for his actions.

    For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.

    Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
    so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment.

  • punkofnice
    punkofnice

    Even when I was a 'believer(tm)' I thought David was a bit of a twit.

  • TonusOH
    TonusOH

    I still think that he raped Bath'sheba. If their relations had been consensual, then she was guilty of adultery. But god did not punish her for her actions, even though they led to the murder of her husband. That says to me that she was coerced (not surprising- the king summons you to his bedroom and puts the moves on you, you might be afraid to say 'no').

    Then again, women in the old testament were on a lower tier than men, treated like property and with less freedom of action/choice. The writer of the story probably wasn't too concerned about her- she was just another prop.

  • road to nowhere
    road to nowhere

    I've always been jealous. Not of the murder part though. Well hung, eye for beauty, no qualms, no responsibility, lots of opportunity, even conscripted habishags.

    Power gives the opportunity, then and now.

  • waton
    waton
    Power gives the opportunity, then and now. rtn

    then from a slingshot, now from a kalashnikov

  • FedUpJW
    FedUpJW

    I thought David was a bit of a twit.

    That isn't the way I would have spelled "twit".

  • MeanMrMustard
    MeanMrMustard
    The Bible depicts King David as a deeply flawed, unsavory character, the perpetrator of evil acts...

    Well, to be fair, the Bible does the same for God himself. He's been whitewashed/sanitized too.

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