Still more from the OT: David

I'm into the Books of the Chronicles now, so I'm well past the story of David and Solomon. Along with Daniel and Jesus, I think David's life story is my favorite.

David's story, while listening to it this time around on the CD's, struck me for the first time as being remarkably similar to Arthur's, which is definitely my favorite mythological cycle. There are a number of similar characters in the two stories: Arthur, of course, as the Pendragon, and the great king of Britain, is the analog of David, the Lion of Judah. Merlin, the druid/wizard/psychic who first recognized Arthur as the ordained King of Britain, who trained him in the right path, but died before the king's greatest test came, is a good fit for Samuel, chief priest of Israel. Uther, first king of Britain at constant war with the indigenous Brits and the Saxons, a flawed, war-mongering king, matches up with Saul. Uther was Arthur's father, Saul was father of David's best friend, his father-in-law through marriage, and his adopted father of sorts as David was brought to play before him.
David's great sin was impropriety with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite - it cost him his first son by her and a rightness with God that kept him from building the temple - a task left to his son Solomon. Arthur's great sin was an incestual relationship with his half-sister Morgan - it led to a wrongness that brought death to the land and kept the Holy Grail from him - this Grail was found by a member of his Round Table, Galahad. David's son, Absolom, brought civil war to the land in a bid for the throne, and David defeated him even as he loved him; Arthur's story with Mordred is remarkably similar.
We haven't even begun to compare ancillary characters, like Joab and Gawain.

I'm not sure if my love for Arthur started from reading Bible stories about David, or if the Arthurian legends are shaped around the Bible stories, or if I'm drawing parallels where there really aren't many.

Solomon's stories are pretty cool, too, and I hear there are a lot more of them in Arabian history. I think I'd like to look into that sometime.