After rereading the story of David in 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and the first part of 1 Kings, and reading David Wolpe’s book David: The Divided Heart, it seems that the Godfather films (and presumably the novel, which I have not yet read) mirror the story of David in striking ways.
In no particular order: (1) David falls for Bathsheba / Michael falls for Apollonia in Sicily (the “thunderbolt”), (2) David eventually becomes king after Saul and the rest of Saul’s house fall away / Vito Corleone rises after Don Fanucci is killed in America and later returns to Sicily to kill Don Ciccio, (3) David’s years in exile harden him and teach him to act more forcefully / Michael’s exile in Sicily similarly changes him, (4) David’s son Absalom fights for succession to the throne, acting out of a sense of entitlement / Fredo resents being “stepped over” and betrays Michael, (5) David’s longtime general Joab eventually throws his support behind Adonijah instead of David’s son Solomon / Vito’s longtime capo Tessio switches sides against Vito’s son Michael, (6) Solomon does not initially push himself to become king / Michael is initially hesitant to take over the family business, (7) at the end of David’s life, he tells Solomon which enemies to watch out for and how to deal with them as Solomon takes the throne / at the end of Vito’s life, Vito tells Michael who the real enemies are and how he will recognize the traitor, (8) after Solomon takes over, he has several influential figures killed to stabilize the throne / Michael has several rivals killed during the baptism scene, and (9) Nathan tells David his house is cursed in that “the sword shall never depart from your house” / Michael comes to see that violence will never leave his family by the final scenes of Part II and Part III.
Interesting parallels. Perhaps the story of David is still underrated.