David- Hebrew/Jewish FigureMortal"King of Israel"

The Forgotten Son

Samuel came to Bethlehem to anoint a new king while Saul still sat on the throne. He told Jesse to present his sons. Seven passed before the prophet, and Samuel rejected each one. He asked if there were others. Jesse mentioned the youngest, out in the fields with the sheep. David came in from the flock, ruddy, with bright eyes. God spoke to Samuel: "Rise and anoint him, for this is the one." Samuel poured oil on the boy's head, and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon him from that day forward.

The Giant

The Philistine army gathered at Socoh, and their champion stepped forward between the lines. Goliath of Gath stood over nine feet tall, his bronze coat weighing five thousand shekels. For forty days he shouted his challenge across the valley, and no Israelite answered.

David arrived at the camp bringing bread and cheese for his brothers. He heard the giant and asked why no one fought him. Saul offered his armor. David refused it. He picked five smooth stones from the streambed, put one in his sling, and walked toward Goliath. "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin," he called out, "but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts." The stone struck the giant's forehead. Goliath fell face down on the ground.

The Lyre Player

An evil spirit tormented Saul with fits of darkness. His servants found David, a shepherd who played the lyre. When David played for the king, the torment lifted and Saul was well. David stayed at court, musician and armor-bearer, until the day Saul's gratitude turned to jealousy.

Jonathan and Saul

Jonathan, Saul's son and heir, loved David as his own soul. He gave David his robe and his sword, and the two swore a covenant that outlasted everything that followed. Saul's daughter Michal also loved David. Saul demanded a bride-price of a hundred Philistine foreskins, expecting David to die in the attempt. David delivered two hundred.

But the women of Israel sang a song that poisoned everything: "Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands." Saul's jealousy turned murderous. He threw his spear at David while he played the lyre. David fled and spent years in the wilderness, gathering a band of outlaws, moving from cave to cave.

Twice he had the chance to kill Saul and refused. At En-gedi, he crept close enough in the dark to cut a corner from the king's robe. At the hill of Hachilah, he took the king's spear and water jug while Saul slept. Both times he withdrew. He would not raise his hand against the Lord's anointed.

The Ark

After Saul died on Mount Gilboa, David was anointed king at Hebron. Seven years of civil war ended when the northern tribes came to him. His first act as king of united Israel was to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites, a city that belonged to no tribe. He made it his capital.

David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem with trumpets and shouting. He danced before the Ark with all his might, leaping and whirling in a linen ephod. Michal watched from a window above and despised him for it. David told her he would gladly humble himself even further before the Lord.

Nathan's Promise

David told the prophet Nathan he wanted to build a house for the Ark, a temple of cedar. That night, God sent Nathan back with a different message. "Are you the one to build me a house?" God asked. He had never asked for one. He had walked with Israel in a tent since Egypt.

Then the promise turned. God would build David a house instead. Not a building, but a dynasty. "Your throne shall be established forever." Nathan delivered the words, and David sat before the Lord and answered: "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?"

Bathsheba

From the roof of his palace, David saw a woman bathing. Her name was Bathsheba, and she was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David's soldiers at the front. David sent for her. She conceived.

To cover the adultery, David recalled Uriah from the siege and told him to go home to his wife. Uriah refused. He slept at the palace gate with the servants, saying the Ark and the army were camped in the open field, and he would not go to his own house while they suffered. David tried again the next night, getting Uriah drunk. Still Uriah would not go home.

David wrote a letter to Joab, his commander, and sent it by Uriah's own hand: "Set Uriah in the front of the hardest fighting, then draw back from him." Joab obeyed. Uriah died. David married Bathsheba.

The prophet Nathan came to David and told him a story. A rich man with many flocks took a poor man's only lamb, the one that drank from his cup and slept in his arms, and slaughtered it for a guest. David's anger burned. "The man who did this deserves to die." Nathan said: "You are the man."

The child of the union would die. The sword would never depart from David's house.

Absalom

The consequences came through David's own children. His son Absalom won the hearts of the people and seized Jerusalem. David fled the city barefoot, with his head covered, weeping as he climbed the Mount of Olives. The king who had conquered Jerusalem left it on foot.

The armies met in the forest of Ephraim. David had given explicit orders: "Deal gently with the young man Absalom." Absalom's hair caught in the branches of an oak, and he hung there while his mule ran on beneath him. Joab found him and drove three javelins into his heart.

The messenger came to David. "Is the young man Absalom safe?" The messenger hesitated. David knew. He went up to the chamber above the gate and wept: "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!"