Ben Sirach, writing 800 or 900 years after the events, has high praise for David as the ideal king. Like the choice fat of the sacred offerings, so was David in Israel. He kind of glosses over the crimes that characterized David’s reign with a reminder that “the Lord forgave his sins.” This contradicts the opinion of Shakespeare in Mark Anthony’s speech: “The evil that amen do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” In the Bible it is the good that David did that continued to inspire Israel. Maybe the reason David is so admirable is that he continued to try. When he made a mistake he owned up to it and resolved to do better. A good model for us!
