The Life of David

by Alexander MacLaren

The Life of David-As Reflected in His Psalms is a classic old testament bible biography by Alexander Maclaren. Perhaps the most striking characteristic of the life of David is its romantic variety of circumstances. What a many-coloured career that was which began amidst the pastoral solitudes of Bethlehem, and ended in the chamber where the dying ears heard the blare of the trumpets that announced the accession of Bathsheba's son! He passes through the most sharply contrasted conditions, and from each gathers some fresh fitness for his great work of giving voice and form to all the phases of devout feeling. The early shepherd life deeply influenced his character, and has left its traces on many a line of his psalms. David[a] is described in the Hebrew Bible as the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah. In the biblical narrative, David is a young shepherd who first gains fame as a musician and later by killing Goliath. He becomes a favorite of King Saul and a close friend of Saul's son Jonathan. Worried that David is trying to take his throne, Saul turns on David. After Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle, David is anointed as King. David conquers Jerusalem, taking the Ark of the Covenant into the city, and establishing the kingdom founded by Saul. As king, David arranges the death of Uriah the Hittite to cover his adultery with Bathsheba. According to the same biblical text, God denies David the opportunity to build the temple and his son, Absalom, tries to overthrow him. David flees Jerusalem during Absalom's rebellion, but after Absalom's death he returns to the city to rule Israel. Before his peaceful death, he chooses his son Solomon as his successor. He is mentioned in the prophetic literature as an ideal king and an ancestor of a future Messiah, and many psalms are ascribed to him. Historians of the Ancient Near East agree that David probably existed around 1000 BCE, but that there is little that can be said about him as a historical figure. There is no direct evidence outside of the Bible concerning David, but the Tel Dan Stele, an inscribed stone erected by a king of Damascus in the late 9th/early 8th centuries BCE to commemorate his victory over two enemy kings, contains the phrase which most scholars translate as "House of David". Ancient Near East historians generally doubt that the united monarchy as described in the Bible existed. David is richly represented in post-biblical Jewish written and oral tradition, and is discussed in the New Testament. Early Christians interpreted the life of Jesus in light of the references to the Messiah and to David; Jesus is described as being descended from David. David is discussed in the Quran and figures in Islamic oral and written tradition as well. The biblical character of David has inspired many interpretations in fictional literature over centuries.

Genres: Nonfiction, Christian, Religion, Biblical, Biography, Faith

118 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1880

About the author

Maclaren was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of David Maclaren, a merchant and Baptist lay preacher. In 1836, his father went to Australia where from 1837 to 1841 he served as Resident Manager of the South Australian Company, leaving his family in Edinburgh. During his father's absence, Maclaren was converted and publicly baptized into the fellowship of the Hope St. Baptist Church, Glasgow, sometime between the ages of eleven and thirteen. He was educated at the Glasgow High School, and Glasgow University, and on the return of David Maclaren from Australia, the family moved to London. In 1842, at the age of sixteen, Maclaren entered Stepney College, a Baptist institution in London.

Reviews

[Delalorm]

Fantastic eye-opener and beautiful language for any psalmist who seeks to understand the mind of God's 'sweet psalmist of Israel'. Got me looking for more works by Alexander Maclaren.

[Philip Brown]

Read and worship.

[Carl]

A helpful way of looking at David's life through the Psalms, and thinking about how his life experience which he had at different points in his life shaped the Psalms he wrote. I enjoyed the reflection on how the creation pictures in Psalms 8 and 19 and the shepherd language in Psalm 23 drew from his early life as a shepherd and lover of God and His word. Similarities in substance with some of the untitled Psalms of David suggest that they could have been written at a similar time in his life. Unfortunately his style is quite dry throughout, so a project that could be devotionally very helpful often felt strangely dispassionate. Good content, but not such good delivery.

[Brandon Fertig]

A little hard to follow the flow of this book; yet an edifying read.

[Josiah Richardson]

A biography of sorts pulling directly from the Book of Psalms. MacLaren is a historical legend in the field of theology. There is a bunch of repetition here, but it is good repetition.

[Laurel Hicks]

Excellent! Worthy of a reread.

[Jacob Reed]

Was a super good book with an interesting concept. It gives a beautiful insight into the interior life of David as he goes through the different major events of his life. Only four stars because some of the theology is pretty faulty, so it’s important to filter the information as it’s coming through.

[Liam]

I found this book to be an extremely dispassionate read. I had little desire to continue throughout the book. I got about 60% of the way through, and probably should have set it down sooner as, more or less, a waste of my time.

The book isn’t necessarily bad, it was just almost a sleeper for me to get through. Maclaren’s writing was too quasi-devotional to be a biography, yet too coldly factual to be much of a devotional. Throughout, he waxes on and on about random things mentioned in each Psalm. I think he’s trying to be poetic or profound - but I just wanted to hear the biography of David. He gives several sentences at a time describing, in long pointless prose, clouds, or trees, or grass, or mountains. I don’t know, I just honestly got really tired of it. He does this all, in a somewhat cold and lifeless way. It’s a strange combination of an attempt at poetic description - but being very matter of fact. Just hit me weird.

This was all a bit odd - because I’ve read some of Maclaren’s sermons, and from what I can remember, they were not like this at all. perhaps my memory is off.

All in all, I just found this one to be a fairly lifeless and pointless read. Probably a 2.5, but rounded down to a 2.

[John Sheehan]

Dry but worth the journey

A dry difficult read but worth the journey finding some golden nuggets along the way. You will find a lot of re-reads to understand the authors point of view

[J]

This is a great commentary. There’s a lot of Bible history. A biography of king David is pieced together out of various OT passages. The Davidic psalms are matched up with that information, with commentary. I plan to give it another read in the future.

[Dany]

I have read the first chapters. Hard to continue, it's a bit slow and maybe too poetic for me?

[Valerie Romero]

Got so much more out of this this time around...