I had the privilege last quarter of teaching a class on first & second Samuel.  Studying those books in depth was very beneficial for me and I hope for those in my class.  I sometimes feel that I am woefully ignorant of Old Testament history and I am resolved to correct that.

During one class my father-in-law made an observation that I was struck by – he said he saw a television program where one of the speakers noted that King David ran his kingdom much like a mafia don.  The more I’ve thought about it, the truer that statement seems.

Some of King David’s actions seem to be much like the mafia kingpins of the movies:

He was at times strangely merciful, while at other times displaying what appears to be arbitrary cruelness (like when he made the men lie down, drew lines around them, and killed some at random in 2 Samuel 8).

Like the mafia code of not killing a “made man”, he deferred to the relentless Saul and spared him when he could have killed him (although, of course, David refused to kill Saul because he always viewed him as the Lord’s anointed).  David’s guilt after cutting off part of Saul’s robe (1 Samuel 24) is a strange incident.  While few of us could blame David for taking Saul out, David deferred to a higher “code”.

King David kept his army and his bodyguards separate.  That is the kind of move that a Mafioso could appreciate.  When you see how little it took for Abner and Ishbosheth to fall out (2 Samuel 3), you can appreciate David’s decision to keep these groups separate.

Like any smart “godfather” would tell you, you can’t succeed in times of war without some dangerous and loyal men serving under you.  For David, Joab was like a merciless “capo”.  Joab was determined that David, not himself, would get the glory for the taking of Rabbah (2 Samuel 12).  Joab was willing to say what needed to be said, even if it put him in danger, to ensure that David retained his power (2 Samuel 19).  At the same time, Joab was a ruthless and vengeful man, which is seen in the vendetta that ended in Abner’s murder (2 Samuel 3).  He also (against David’s wishes) killed the defenseless Absalom, which while defiant, was probably in David’s best interests.  Could David have been the successful warrior that he was without Joab at his side?  I doubt it.

The end of King David’s days as recorded in 1 Kings brings to mind the day of reckoning where all of the old scores are settled in the Godfather movies.  Basically on his deathbed, David has Solomon take care of some unfinished business – namely the executions of Joab and Shimei.  Joab is supposedly to be killed for the murders of Abner and Amasa (although I’d venture a guess that the real motivation was the murder of Absalom).  Shimei had probably gotten comfortable considering that David spared him in 2 Samuel 19 for cursing him as he fled.  After violating the conditions that Solomon had laid out, Solomon finally had his excuse to execute Shimei.  If David was Vito Corleone, then Solomon was Michael.

It really is a fascinating comparison – King David and the modern mafia (at least as we see them in movies and television).  Perhaps Mario Puzo got some inspiration from Israel’s greatest king.  The era of the kings of Israel is a rewarding, and fascinating, study.