King David, Innocent Blood, and Bloodguilt
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Product details
- ISBN 9780198842200
- Weight: 586g
- Dimensions: 165 x 240mm
- Publication Date: 18 May 2023
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
- Language: English
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Of all the characters bequeathed to us by the Hebrew Bible, none is more compelling or complex than David. Divinely blessed, musically gifted, brave, and eloquent, David's famous slaying of Goliath also confirms that he is a redoubtable man of war. Yet, when his son Absalom rebels, David is dogged by the accusation than he will lose his kingdom because he is not merely a man of war, but a man of 'bloods' - guilty of shedding innocent blood. In this book, for the first time, this language of 'innocent blood' and 'bloodguilt' is traced throughout David's story in the books of Samuel and 1 Kings. The theme emerges initially in Saul's pursuit of David and resurfaces regularly as David rises and men like Nabal, Saul, Ishbosheth, and Abner fall. Innocent blood and bloodguilt also turn out to be central to David's reign. This is seen in a surprising way in David's killing of Uriah, but also in the subsequent deaths of his sons, Amnon and Absalom, his general, Amasa, and even in David's encounters with Shimei. The problem rears its head again when the innocent blood of the Gibeonites shed by Saul comes back to haunt David's kingdom. Finally, the problem reappears when Solomon succeeds David and orchestrates the executions of Joab and Shimei, and the exile of Abiathar. Attending carefully to the text and drawing extensively on previous biblical scholarship, David J. Shepherd suggests that innocent blood is not only a pre-eminent concern of David, and his story in Samuel and 1 Kings, but also shapes the entirety of David's history.
David J. Shepherd is Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Trinity College Dublin and founding director of the Trinity Centre for Biblical Studies. His research interests include the Hebrew Bible - Ezra & Nehemiah (2018), its reception in the Second Temple Period - Targum and Translation (2004), and its afterlife in the visual and performing arts - The Bible on Silent Film (2013), and Bertolt Brecht and the David Fragments (2020).
