Welcome to the month of love and friendship! This month I would like to recommend you, After God's Own Heart, a book exploring the gospel according to King David. The title of the book has "heart" in it so I guess that's tangential to a month associated with hearts and roses. This book's author, Mark J. Boda, currently serves as a professor in the McMaster Divinity College as well being a part of the NIV Bible Translation committee. Along with many other achievements, Pastor and Professor Mark J Boda joins a 17 volume series on The Gospel According to The Old Testament. Boda's entry to the series is accessible and informative. Here were my thoughts and reflections on the book.
Overview
The book starts with a description of Boda’s aim. Namely, to show a more informed take on the character of David with information garnered from history. The book begins with a discussion on God’s problem with kingship and why He was offended at the call for a king. Then the author gives some background to the two major points in the heritage of David. One is the Abrahamic story, and the other is the story of Ruth, the Moabite convert. These two points are important to the books main thread because it uplifts the Davidic Dynasty as intentional and desired by God. This matters because chapters four and five showcase the relationship David had with the Anointed Office. Which reminds me, this book leans heavily into the anointing of David as a prefigure of the Anointed One, Jesus. There’s nothing wrong with that, I just wanted to point it out because this motif is prevalent in enough Christian media that it can fly under the radar. For example, the relationship David has with anointing is what the author argues led to key moments such as David in the cave with Saul. The author shows that David was not eager to take kingship. He wasn’t power-hungry. Instead, David was a man who acknowledged and kept God as the reason and legitimacy of his rule. David knew he only ruled because God ruled. For this reason, a recognition that Saul ruled as king because God had ordained it, David spares Saul's life despite David's own persecuted state.
One of the most iconic moments in the life of David happens when he confronts Goliath. I believe this one scene in David’s life catapults David into people’s minds as a hero of faith. It’s one of the Bible’s best underdog stories, and After God’s Own Heart, nails this commentary. Easily my favorite part of reading came out of chapter six: David and Faith. That’s not to say the rest of the reading was downhill, but it stood out to me personally.
While the first two chapters of the book feel like an extended introduction, the remaining eleven chapters look at how David relates to different topics or themes as found in scripture. My favorite, as I mentioned, was the look at David’s perspective on faith. But maybe, you may find one of the other sections really speaks to you. I’m at a time in my life where I see a constant need for faith and hope. If you are interested in reading up on how the Bible portrays David’s attitudes on, worship, sin, justice, unity, leadership, or even the messianic promises, this book will not be a waste of time. Each one of these topics receives its own chapter.
Memorable Insights
I have quite a few highlights in this book but here I just want to share some of the most memorable:
“The key to this section of the story is found in verse 11 as we are told that ‘Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.’ Saul, the king after Israel’s heart, the king whose physical stature qualified him to lead Israel into battles, was cowering before this mighty warrior. And with that admission ringing in our ears, we are introduced to David.”[1]
“These many examples highlight David’s refusal to take the throne of Israel before God had given it to him. This reticence to grasp after the throne from other human claimants reveals an important character value within David that qualified him to rule under God in Israel.”[2]
“David reminds us that worship lies at the center of our life as the community of God […] The purpose of the church [is] not anthropocentric (the salvation of human souls), but rather theocentric (the worship of God).5 Such a shift in perspective reminds us that the human activities of evangelism and preaching are but means to a greater end: the worship of God.”[3]
“Through the tabernacle the holy and transcendent Creator made possible his immanent dwelling among his creation. By using a tent, he was truly dwelling among his people, who likewise were living in tents for their sojourn from Egypt to Canaan.”[4]
“It is often in the midst of failure that we find out much about a person and God.”[5]
I want to pause on this last quote because it broke me down. I have had. so. many. failures. But in each of those failures, I've had a chance to see what my relationship with God is like. I've known few things to show me my own true colors like failure. Maybe this is why King David is memorable. He was resiliant in his own failures and never stopped learning how to be better.
Things I liked
Further reflection section encourages you to leave a response on the page as a comprehension assessment of the previous chapter. I like these, but probably for a different reason than you do. The questions or prompts the author puts in his or her book, will say a lot about what the author thought the main points were. If you know what you’re looking for, you can gain an advantage over your reading of each chapter by starting at these reflections and then reading with the intent to find the thread that leads to those summary questions/prompts.
I like the hermeneutical approach.
the author assumes the bible and historical record have a harmony of veracity.
The author assumes the bible depiction of a character, and the historical facts about a character are not equal. namely, he assumes that the bible shows only a specific facet or combination to intentionally communicate a theology or anthropology to the reader.
It’s an easy read
Logical and responsible layout
I say layout because the headers and sections are well defined and titled. the flow from one topic to the next makes sense and touches on what i think matters in order to develop the
Maybe avoid if:
You like a straight to the point study. this meanders a bit and tends to belabor the point. if things become obvious to you quickly and you don’t like reading the something explained multiple ways before the chapter closes, this book will feel slow.
All in all, thank you for attending my first ever book of the month review! i'm grateful because i mainly writing these as a way to keep myself accountable for what i read. I often read without ever getting to share it so I imagine this will be a net positive on my ministry. For example, the memorable quotes were good for me because they helped me figure out, what usable/shareable things did I get out of this book? I hope they will be an encouragement to you too.
My pastoral rating is, 3 out of 3 Amens*.
*My 3 Amen rating looks at how well I think the book does in three areas, theology, organization and readability, and worthwhile content.
[1] Mark J. Boda, After God’s Own Heart: The Gospel according to David, ed. Tremper Longman III and J. Alan Groves, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2007), 68. [2] Ibid., 62. 5 J. Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993); J. Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990). [3] Mark J. Boda, After God’s Own Heart: The Gospel according to David, ed. Tremper Longman III and J. Alan Groves, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2007), 108. [4] Ibid., 114–115. [5] Ibid., 135.
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