King David, Innocent Blood, and Bloodguilt

Abstract 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, this language of ‘innocent blood’ and ‘bloodguilt’ is traced for the first time 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 during the rise of David and the fall of men like Nabal, Ishbosheth, Abner, and Saul. 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, this book suggests that innocent blood is not only a pre-eminent concern of David, and his story in Samuel and 1 Kings, but also of those responsible for its final shape.