« Back to Issue 47

Walking the Walk ? The Rise of King David for Today

Reviewed by Mike Thornton.

This is a dramatic exposition of 1 Samuel 16 through to 2 Samuel 5.10, charting the rise of David to kingship over Israel. In that regard it delivers what it announces on the front cover. Yet the title says it is about the rise of King David “for today”, and Walking the Walk, the primary title, implies a personal application to me. Here I would draw back a little as the reader is substantially left to make those connections for himself.

Perhaps then it would help by stating what I think this book is not. First, it is not a commentary. While Wilcox’s reflections are clearly based on careful study, that is not overtly referenced in the text. Instead Wilcox retells and clearly exposes the drama of the unfolding events through these chapters, within its own context.

Second, this is not a Tom Wright Everyone, or William Barclay type work with illustrated applications. There is very little in the way of application unpacked in this book, save a paragraph at most at the end of each section and a similar amount in his final reflections at the end of the book.

What Wilcox does offer, is a good contextual reading. I warmed to this approach as it left me to bring the application out of my own experience rather than that of the author. I would therefore commend this book to people who would use it for private study and are willing to put the work into applying it to their own walk with God, or to ministers who again are willing to find their own illustrations and lead people to apply the wisdom of the text in their own contexts today.