King

A King David Novel (Book Five of the Davidic Chronicles)

Book five of the Davidic Chronicles continues to follow David's journey to fulfill his anointing and to become king of Israel. Forced to flee to the Philistines with his mighty men and their families, David lives in constant jeopardy, knowing that a single misstep will see him and everyone he loves destroyed. Meanwhile, other forces conspire to use David for their own ends in a bid to conquer Israel and prove that the gods of the Philistines are greater than the God of Israel.

Beautifully crafted with an air of ancient ambiance throughout, the Davidic Chronicles creates a masterful tapestry of woven threads that are both biblically and historically accurate. See the world as young David saw it. True to the story you know and love, these novels will delight, gratify, and enlighten readers of all ages. You will discover things you never knew but were always there in the pages of your Bible.

Inside King...

Ziklag burned, but there were no bodies. Everyone was gone. David, his strength spent from weeping and his tunic torn in his grief, had collapsed to his knees into the smoking ashes of his home. Only the doorposts of the house had survived. Blackened and smeared with soot, the words of the Shema could still be faintly seen where David had engraved them upon the posts. They mocked him. Had he truly obeyed the LORD his God? For if he had, would this have happened?

All around him, the wails and cries of his men smote the sky, their agony and despair an enemy he could not evade, could not hide from. And his wives were gone. Everyone was gone. No one had found a single body. It was the exact opposite of what David had done in his own invasions. Instead of killing everyone, the invaders had stolen everyone.

In a way, it was worse. David's imagination ran rampant. He knew what evil men were capable of. He knew what happened to women and children taken captive. He knew. And it terrified him. His men knew too. Fear, like a hungry beast let loose among imprisoned sheep, stalked through the men, devouring their hearts, their very souls, adding to David's own despair.

For the men now spoke of stoning him.

"Stand upon your feet, son of Jesse!" roared a voice David knew too well. "This evil be upon your head!"

Yet David did not have the strength to stand. He looked up. The pockmarked face of Shobal quivered in terrible rage. David remembered then that even a man such as he had a wife. David had never gotten to know her, and it struck him then that Shobal might also have children, children who were now captives of a roaming band of invaders. How could he ever be king when he could not even protect his own?