Showing David’s Good Side

1 Chronicles 18-20

            1 Chronicles 18-19 are practically verbatim repeats of 2 Samuel 8 and 10. 1 Chronicles 20 starts the same way, repeating 2 Samuel 11:1, with David staying in Jerusalem while Joab and the army attacked Ramah. Then 1 Chronicles skips about 10 chapters of 2 Samuel. The attack on Rabbah presaged the saga with Bathsheba and Uriah, but the Chronicle passes over that incident. He also passes over all the consequences: there’s no mention in Chronicles of Absalom murdering his brother, Amon; no mention of Absalom’s revolt; no mention of the incident with Shimei calling down curses on David.

            We could accuse the Chronicler of whitewashing David, but I think we should just let him tell the story he wants to tell. The Chronicler wants to show the legitimacy of his post-exilic Israelite community. Part of that purpose is to show that they ought to live up to the faithfulness of David, the promise of David. To do that, he highlights David’s best.

            This isn’t dishonesty; it’s kindness. And we do it all the time. In American history, we do it with presidents. We highlight the greatness of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln. A nuance approach would show that the first two were slaveholders and the latter was a latecomer to the cause of abolition. But we remember them for their achievements more than for their shortcomings. We do the same thing at funerals. We have a saying, “Don’t speak evil of the dead.” Of course, we could use the funeral as a chance to lay out our grievances with the departed, but in general we don’t. We choose instead to honor their memory and to find some inspiration in them. Just so, the Chronicler explains David in the kindest way in order to use him to inspire his generation.