The best books to understand who influenced King David (from the Christian Bible)

Because I write in the biblical fiction genre, I read widely in both the fiction and nonfiction categories. This was a masterpiece novel, earning my five-star rating as one of my top ten all-time reads because Jubilee’s creative fiction offered believable answers to many unanswered questions from history and the Bible.

From the moment David—a shepherd boy with good aim—killed Goliath, Saul’s son and Crown Prince, Jonathan, vowed his undying friendship to the man who would wrench the throne from Saul’s family. And Jonathan kept that promise even after God made it clear David would rise to Israel’s throne, not Jonathan. Jubilee explores the deep and sometimes heart-rending emotions these men felt for each other and for their nation being torn apart by Saul’s madness.

Connilyn’s novels always tease every emotion for me. I also love how her books, though written in series, both stand alone yet build on the series before it to follow the chronological story of the Bible. The main or minor characters in each new series are somehow connected to the family we met in her first book (Counted With the Stars) from her first series (Out of Egypt).

Connilyn uses fictional characters to tell the Truth about major events in the Bible. This book sets the stage for Israel’s historical and political landscape during the reign of King Saul. The series title, The King’s Men, previews the novels’ subject matter—the soldiers who fight alongside Prince Jonathan and what a soldier’s life might have been like with a romance complication or two.

This book was published in 2009. For many years before its release, I could only find three Christian authors writing biblical fiction. All other novels about biblical characters were published in the mainstream market without regard for biblical truth. Jill’s well-researched and biblically accurate account tells the story of King Saul’s daughter, who was given as a wife to the warrior David.

The story was raw, yet softened by the nuanced portrayal of both main characters. It showed what may have been the true motives behind the choices made in the biblical text. The depictions of the surrounding culture, living conditions, and daily life—masterfully woven into the story—felt like gulping cold water after years of drought.

I’m 61 years old, and I was diagnosed with ADHD ten years ago. Though it answered many of my questions about concentration, it’s still difficult to focus while reading any book.

This journal has been so helpful because 1) each volume contains only one book of the Bible; 2) when I open a passage, the left page is filled with Scripture; and 3) the right page is either blank (with faint lines for journaling) or has a small graphic to help creative doodlers start drawing. I write a date in the margins next to the Scripture and then journal what God is doing in my life or answer the question, “What does this verse—or these verses—say to me in this season of life?”

I live in a Western culture. I’ve visited Israel twice and read through the Bible a few times. But what do I really know about the ancient Hebrew language and heritage? My knowledge is limited to what I’ve learned through researching rabbinic interpretations of the Tanakh, Legends of the Jews, Josephus, and other Jewish sacred texts.

The Jewish Study Bible gives me expert rabbinic commentary on every verse from a Jewish perspective! I finally understood Abraham’s and his descendants’ vital role in preserving God’s story—His story, history—from Creation to present.

A dear friend told me the Bible was a single Love Letter written to me—Genesis to Revelation—and I’d find Jesus was the Messiah in Genesis, not only in the New Testament. So I opened my Bible—the Love Letter—and found God waiting there. Every day, He’s waiting there to chat.