In many respects similar to the discussion of the 'historical Jesus' the emerging dispute of the 'historical David' promises to produce many and varied accounts. No doubt some efforts will merit more time than others.
David Remembered, written by perhaps the best Second Temple scholar of this generation Joseph Blenkinsopp, is a book that demands our attention. In it, he examines the development of traditions about David in the collective memory of the people of Israel and the first Christians and covers the period from the extinction of the Davidic dynasty in the sixth century B.C.E. to the early common era, the first generation after Christ's death.
David Remembered focuses on the memory of David as a powerful cultural and religious factor in the formation of Second Temple Jewish social identity, its political activities (especially in reaction to imperial rule), and in ideological projections of the future viewed as the restoration of a never-forgotten ideal Davidic past.
