David is the paradigmatic king in the Old Testament. His kingship recalls that of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and yet it points toward the King par excellence, Jesus Christ. In David the King, Bishop Barron helps us to understand this pivotal figure in light of the first king and the King of kings. Adam was the first king and steward of the rightly ordered Garden of Eden. He was called to govern the garden according to God's mind and purpose, but by allowing negative influences to wreak havoc on Eden, he did not fulfill his kingly responsibility. Long after Adam, David emerged as the definitive king who would restore order in the Garden and bring the world under the lordship of God. But like Adam, David fell, and his reign ushered in a succession of compromised kings and rejected prophets. The Scriptures, however, foretold a son of David who would realize the fullness of Israelite kingship . . . but whose actual reign defied expectation.
