Written by Terri Fivash
There are few figures in the Bible so riveting as David. From his anointing in 1 Samuel 16 to his death in 1 Kings 2, he remains center stage. Then the Chronicles give an abbreviated account of him – 18 chapters long. There are few stories in the Old Testament so impressed on the human race as the story of David and Goliath. Why shouldn’t he fascinate us? He was a king, a servant, a fugitive, a warrior, a musician. He was the ancestor and foreshadowing of Christ, Israel’s beloved singer and the shepherd boy who became king, the man of God who stood so high and fell so low.
Many people have written novels based on his story. A few years ago I searched my library system for such books; I found it hard to come by a really good one. Terri Fivash has written one.
Biblical fiction is hard on several levels. One is the need to remain faithful to the Bible. Terri Fivash largely succeeded. Where I thought she failed, it was out of misinterpreting Scripture rather than ignoring it. For an example, Fivash’s Dahveed was illegitimate. She bases this on Psalm 51:5 as found in the KJV: “Behold … in sin did my mother conceive me.” The NASB reads the same way, but the NIV and NLT read, “Surely I was … sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”
Unlike the first translation, this one leaves no room for the interpretation that David is confessing his illegitimate birth. Fivash accused the NIV and NLT of “contorting” this verse. I am generally skeptical of those who, not being professional translators, correct those who are. Fivash’s argument that David could not have been speaking of original sin, since that doctrine was first formulated by St. Augustine, holds no water for me. It is like saying that Jacob’s prophecy of the ruler’s staff coming to Judah could not have been a prophecy of the Messiah because the Patriarchs had no conception of the Messiah.
Another challenge of writing biblical fiction is bringing the figures of the Bible to life. This is where Terri Fivash does some of her best work. David was done well enough, but it is with Saul’s family that Fivash really shines. Michal and Jonathan are the ones typically featured in novels about David, and Dahveed is no exception. But the portrait is richer, more complex than often seen. Jonathan roars in this book. His passionate nature – his honor toward God and men, his anger and intense loyalty – enlivens the whole book. Even Merab, Eshbaal, Ishvi, and Malki-shua are drawn out. We see Saul and his family as a family – each member in their individuality, with their love, differences, tension, and loyalty.
The third challenge of biblical fiction – and where Terri Fivash excels – is creating a foreign culture. It’s distracting to read a story set 3,000 years ago and have the characters showcasing the assumptions of our own time. Fivash does not give her characters our western assumptions; she gives them assumptions of their own. The culture she creates is rich, meaningful, distinct. Ways of thinking foreign to us are taken for granted by her characters.
I deeply enjoyed Dahveed, as historical fiction and even more as biblical fiction. I was drawn into its story, its characters, and its emotions. I give it a high recommendation.