The Odyssey of King David: God’s Broken Vessel

By Dr. Sam Mayhugh and D. Paul Thomas

Dr. Sam Mayhugh and D. Paul Thomas have achieved a unique dramatic dialogue, resulting in a text both stirring and ennobling, enacting the compelling story of David’s struggles and showing how meaning and hope can come forth from our engagement with sorrow and pain. Everyone will see themselves in David’s story and hear with joy the insights that Dr. Sam offers us when we are overwhelmed by grief, sorrow, or remorse. Especially appropriate for those facing challenges in the midst of life, The Odyssey of King David shows how God is always at work in our lives, even when we feel most alienated or alone.
The Very Rev. Gary Hall, former Dean of the Washington National Cathedral

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From his adulterous affair with Bathsheba to the death of his beloved son, Absalom, this dramatic meditation on the life of King David highlights one of the Bible’s extraordinary figures.

Moving past a sanitized, Sunday school version of David’s life story, the authors paint a revealing portrait of him in all of his humanity, telling his story in the first person. David reveals his doubts and fears, anger and shame, with the authors sharing their keen observations of the complexities of his life throughout the story. Their insights help readers discover a source of healing that can restore all of us—God’s broken vessels—to health and wholeness.

Whether you want to learn more about this young shepherd who became king of Israel or need encouragement to overcome life’s sorrows and challenges, you’ll be inspired by The Odyssey of King David.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781664201514

Dr. Sam Mayhugh

Dr. Sam Mayhugh is an executive psychologist who recently retired from IBH, a behavioral healthcare company he founded thirty-one years ago. He is the author of Harold’s Story—A Journey of Uncommon Healing, and COVID-19, Resources for Coping with the Pandemic and Beyond. He is Managing Director of TGA Productions. D. Paul Thomas is an actor and dramatist. He appeared as “Jamie,” in Long Day’s Journey Into Night at the Kennedy Center. His play, Bonhoeffer 1945, was a “Best Pick” of the London Times. He is Creative Director of TGA Productions.

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Copyright © 2020 Dr. Sam Mayhugh and D. Paul Thomas.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written

permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed

since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not

necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Interior Image Credit: Amy Zaleta-Martinez

Scripture marked (KJV) taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978,

1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV

and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0150-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6642-0151-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020914808

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/31/2020

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A dramatic meditation based on the life of David.

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In memory of Arlene Middleton Mayhugh, loving wife

and mother, and Ron Silver, actor extraordinaire.

CONTENTS

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About the Artist

List of Illustrations

Introduction

Chapter 1     The Fatal Inquiry

Chapter 2     The Cover-Up

Chapter 3     The Trap

Chapter 4     A Deadly Silence

Chapter 5     Absalom’s Revenge

Chapter 6     Reconciled?

Chapter 7     The Usurper

Chapter 8     The Humiliations

Chapter 9     Bad Advice / Good Advice

Chapter 10   The Battle

Chapter 11   Back to Jerusalem

Chapter 12   The Final Journey

Epilogue

Dramatis Personae

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

ABOUT THE ARTIST

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Amy Zaleta Martinez calls Los Angeles home when she is not traveling around the world with her cinematographer husband, Abe Martinez, and their two sons, Elijah and Tzuriel. Trained as a fashion designer and illustrator at the Fashion Institute of Technology, Amy soon worked her way up to lead dress designer for a Fortune 500 clothier. She has traveled the world purchasing indigenous fabrics and creating one-of-a-kind dresses from these local treasures, eventually helping to launch an ethical fashion line. Moving with her family to Kenya in 2010, Amy assisted in creating a television show for kids living in the slums of Nairobi. Recently, the artist has completed a colorful collection of iconic paintings, aptly entitled Fashion Icons—a vibrant portraiture of twenty-one martyred, female saints, adorned with an ethnic, sartorial elegance.

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

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Bathsheba after bathing, page

Uriah rests on the palace steps, page

The poor man and his little lamb, page

Tamar seeks sanctuary at Absalom’s house, page

Amnon is slain at the sheep-shearing party, page

David receives Absalom, page

David mourns on the Mount of Olives, page

Ahithophel gathers the concubines, page

God’s bountiful provision, page

The death of Absalom, page

Returning to Jerusalem, page

David promises Bathsheba that Solomon shall be king, page

INTRODUCTION

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After I finished writing Harold’s Story—A Journey of Uncommon Healing, I found myself increasingly drawn to the scattered cast of characters we read about in the Bible and the spiritual principles that brought healing to their broken lives. As Solomon so aptly points out, There is nothing new under the sun, and so many of the leading actors in the Bible, both men and women, have psychological conditions similar to those of the patients I’ve worked with closely over the years.

I wondered what it would be like to hear directly from one of these biblical personalities—King David—as he shares his doubts and fears, anger, shame and suspicions—ancient maladies we now identify as self-esteem, depression, anxiety, hostility, guilt, and paranoia. While our descriptive language has changed, the human condition has not. Saints are not born, they are shaped, and, like David, all have gone through the crucible of brokenness. Without exception, they possess their saintliness in earthen vessels, accompanied by the chips and cracks and tragic flaws that flesh is heir to, and in constant need of repair and restoration.

I invite you to join me as we take a dramatic leap of faith and listen to David tell his intimate story of brokenness. He speaks candidly, directly to us in the first person, looking back over the odyssey of his life. Then I, Dr. Sam, will respond with some observations along the way. In the process, may we discover together that source of healing that can restore all of us—God’s broken vessels—to health and wholeness.

Dr. Samuel Mayhugh

May 1, 2020

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Bathsheba after bathing

Chapter 1

THE FATAL INQUIRY

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And David sent and enquired after the woman.

—2 Samuel 11:3 (KJV)

David: I should have gone with them. It was the spring of the year—the time when kings go out to battle. The previous spring, I had led my army in a decisive victory over the Arameans, killing forty thousand infantrymen and seven hundred charioteers. Now my inner circle was encouraging me to stay home, wanting to protect me from injury or death.

As the king, you’re too important to risk it, they warned me. Or did they have other concerns, concerns of diminished abilities, which were whispered about in the palace halls. In a moment of weakness, I acquiesced to my advisors and sent my men out to battle alone.

Days turned into weeks. I was bored, comfortably ensconced and pampered in the palace at Jerusalem. Late one afternoon, I tried to take a nap on the rooftop terrace. It was a humid day, with a gentle breeze blowing through the windowed tent, but I was restless, and sleep would not come. I should have been with my men. I am a warrior by trade. All kings are. At least good kings are.

From Goliath on, the Lord had promised me victory on the battlefield. And God was true to his word. When the combined armies of Judea and Israel were terrified to do battle with this brutish giant, I was confident that the Lord who had delivered me from the paw of the lion and the bear would now deliver me from the hand of this blasphemous Philistine, who had defied the armies of the living God (1 Sam. 17:36–37 NIV; author’s paraphrase).

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty (1 Sam. 17:45 NIV), I shouted up to the giant! I wanted the soldiers and the whole world to know that it is not