And in Geraldine Brooks’ skillful prose, the reader is right there at the feet, in the dust of Shammah’s courtyard, listening to a witness tell firsthand of one of the most legendary battles in history. Shammah, David’s brother speaks of his 14-year-old brother’s duel with Goliath, champion of the Plishtim foes.
King David tasks the prophet Nathan, our narrator, with compiling record of his life and from that beginning, Nathan sets out to interview David’s jealous brother, his loving (but guilt-ridden) mother, his first wife Mikhail and ultimately, Nathan finishes the story from the vantage point of his own decades-long relationship with the king. The Secret Chord relates the well-known Biblical incidents in David’s life through the eyes of those closest to him.
The cuffs glinted in the low slant of early light as his arm muscles flexed. His hair, the same color as the copper, was undressed, and fell in a dense mane against the fine black wool of his mantle. His fists, balled tight, were planted on the wide sill of the window embrasure, his arms encircled by polished copper cuffs. It had been a while since I had found him in a room by himself. all was in order, yet something was not right. My eye traveled around the space, the woven pillows, the low tables set with sweating ewers of cool water. Yet as I stepped into the chamber I had a sense of something out of place. What is the nature of Natan’s feelings toward David? Would you be able to serve a man like him?ġ3.Gerritt van Honthorst, King David Playing the HarpĪ man alone in a room. What might David have done if he had known that Natan was hiding what he knew about his sons’ futures? Would David hesitate to kill Natan if he felt the prophet had betrayed him?ġ2. Are you familiar with the psalms attributed to David? If so, do you have a favorite?ġ1. David is a man driven by passion and violence, but he loves God with equal fervor. How well does Geraldine Brooks capture David’s era and his essence?ĩ. Which of David’s wives do you believe suffered the most at his hands? Did he love Yonatan more than any of them? If so, why might that be?Ĩ.
What is David’s worst crime? His greatest achievement?ħ. Would David make a good leader today? Why or why not?Ħ.
Do you believe that some people are chosen to speak in God’s name? What role do prophets play in the events of man?ĥ. What might it mean that God chose to bestow so much upon a man as imperfect as David?Ĥ. How does David’s childhood inform your understanding of the man he will become?ģ. Natan’s first prophecy spares him from certain death but also sets him apart from other men.
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