Summary of The Secret Chord: by Geraldine Brooks | Includes Analysis

By Instaread Summaries

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks | Summary &  Analysis

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The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks is a fictionalized story of the Old Testament hero and king, David.

Natan, friend and advisor to King David, receives permission to write David’s biography. Da

• Language: English
• Publisher: Instaread, Inc
• Release date: May 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781683782865

Book preview

Summary

The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks is a fictionalized story of the Old Testament hero and king, David.

Natan, friend and advisor to King David, receives permission to write David’s biography. David has asked Natan to use three sources who knew David before Natan met him. These include Mikhal, the first of David’s wives, Shammah, David’s older brother, and Nizevet, a member of Shammah’s household in Beit Lehem.

As he travels to meet Shammah and Nizevet, Natan thinks on how David kept the roads free of bandits, making him remember how David was once a bandit himself. That was when Natan and David met. Natan was a 10 year old herding his father’s goats when his flock wandered into David’s bandit camp. David sent Natan home with a message instructing his father to provide food and wine for the bandits. Avigail, David’s kind and wise third wife, warned Natan that David would retaliate if Natan’s father denied him. Natan’s father did refuse and David slaughtered him to make an example of his defiance. Natan just stood there. David thought he must be simple, so he let the boy live. Then Natan spoke his first prophecy, promising David a throne, an empire, and a line that would last forever. He did not know what he was saying until afterward because he passed out when he was done. When he woke, David and Avigail cared for  him with kindness. David said he was sorrowful for the killings, but he had to do whatever was necessary