David

DAVID

Scripture references:
1 Samuel 16-2 Samuel;
1 Chronicles; 1 Kings 1;
Numerous psalms

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Date:	Reigned 1010–970 b.c.
Name:	David [DAY-vid; “beloved”]
Greatest accomplishment:	David built a powerful Hebrew kingdom, greatly expanded Israel’s territory, and instituted major religious and political reforms.

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DAVID’S ROLE IN SCRIPTURE

Moses is Scripture’s prototype prophet; David is Scripture’s prototype king. Christ fulfilled the promise of a Prophet like Moses in His first coming when He introduced the new covenant era. In Christ’s Second Coming, He will fulfill the promise of a King like David, of David’s line, destined to rule over all. The Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming of a promised Ruler to spring from David’s line who would fulfill the promise implicit in the historic reign of Israel’s greatest king.

In his own day, David had a powerful impact on the political life of the Hebrew people. Prior to David, the Israelites had remained loosely associated tribes governed for centuries by charismatic judges, and then for a time by a flawed king, Saul. During these centuries, the Israelites were an oppressed minority in Canaan, squeezed into a narrow strip of the broad land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When David finally won the allegiance of the twelve Hebrew tribes, he was able to weld them into the most powerful Middle Eastern kingdom of his era. The Nelson Illustrated Bible Handbook summarizes David’s accomplishments as Israel’s ruler:

The years of David complete Israel’s transition from a loose tribal structure, under which God’s people lived in the days of the judges, to a monarchy. A number of important aspects of the transition are accomplished under David’s leadership:

•     Transition from government by judges to an established monarchy.

•     Transition from a loose confederation of tribes to a united nation.

•     Transition from anarchy to a strong central government.

•     Transition from bronze-age poverty to iron-age economy and wealth.

•     Transition from a subject people to conquerors. David expanded Israel’s territory some ten times!

•     Transition from decentralized worship to centralized worship, with one city as both political and religious capital.

While David proved to be a military and political genius whose accomplishments in Israel are unmatched, David’s contributions to Israel’s spiritual life are just as impressive. David himself was deeply committed to God and spiritually sensitive. The passion and intensity of David’s personal relationship with God are revealed in the seventy-three poems in the Book of Psalms attributed to him. In these psalms, David fully exposed his inner spiritual life, freely expressing his hopes and fears, his failures and his abiding confidence in the goodness of the Lord. David’s psalms, along with the others in this book of 150 religious poems, have served believers ever since as a pattern for praise and worship. They have led untold millions of people into a deeper relationship with the Lord.

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DAVID’S SHEPHERD PSALM

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green
pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord

Forever.

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David also expressed commitment to worship by desiring to construct a temple in Jerusalem. While God did not permit David to fulfill this dream, David spent his declining years laying out plans for its design and developing detailed organizational plans for the duties of the priests and Levites who would lead worship there. David also committed his personal wealth and much of the kingdom’s income to stockpiling the materials his son Solomon would use to build the temple of which David had dreamed.

David fell short in many ways, particularly in his family life. Yet, David’s military, political, and spiritual accomplishments cannot be overstated. David founded a dynasty that ruled in Judah, the southern Hebrew kingdom, from 1010 b.c. to its fall to the Babylonians in 586 b.c. And, as the prophets announced, Israel’s Deliverer and future Ruler of all was to emerge from David’s family line.

And so He did, when the babe destined to be both Savior and King was born to Mary in Bethlehem, the hometown of David, nearly a thousand years after David died.

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SAMPLING “DAVID” IN PROPHECY

“Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” (Isa. 9:7)

“In mercy the throne will be established;

And One will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle of David,

Judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.” (Isa. 16:5)

“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,

“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;

A King shall reign and prosper,

And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.” (Jer. 23:5)

“But they shall serve the Lord their God,

And David their king,

Whom I will raise up for them.” (Jer. 30:9)

“David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes, and do them.” (Ezek. 37:24)

“Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king.” (Hos. 3:5)

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son ofDavid … ” (Matt. 1:1)

All the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” (Matt. 12:23)

“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.” (Rev. 22:16)

See the companion book in this series, Every Covenant and Promise of the Bible, for a complete explanation of this theme.

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DAVID’S LIFE AND TIMES

David was born at a time when his people’s fate hung in the balance. Israel’s primary enemies at the time were the Philistines, who dominated their weaker neighbors. The Philistines had mastered the secrets of smelting iron, and they carefully guarded this new technology. When David was a youth, only King Saul and his son Jonathan carried iron weapons; the other members of Israel’s citizen militia were forced to use bronze knives and farm implements when they fought. During David’s lifetime, and largely due to his own efforts, this situation was transformed, and all of Israel’s neighboring enemies were subdued.

We can trace the transformation by looking at the differing period of David’s life.

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The stone in slings used by Israelites in David’s time were about the size of tennis balls, plenty large enough to fell even a giant like Goliath.

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David’s early life as a shepherd(1 Sam. 16:11). David was the youngest son of a man named Jesse, who lived in Bethlehem, a small town about six miles from the future site of David’s capital, Jerusalem. As the youngest, David was assigned the task of guarding his father’s sheep. Alone in nature, David experienced a growing awe of God as Creator. David’s sense of wonder is frequently expressed in the psalms. As David would one day write,

The heavens declare the glory of God;

And the firmament shows His handiwork.

Day unto day utters speech,

And night unto night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech nor language

Where their voice is not heard.
(Ps. 19:1–3)

As David cared for his sheep, he listened to nature’s testimony. During those quiet years, David developed a sense of God’s greatness that never left him. David’s later confidence in God’s power rested in large part on the lessons David learned as a shepherd.

David also learned to act on his confidence in God. Later, when asked how he dared challenge a giant Philistine warrior, David replied simply:

Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God (1 Sam. 17:34–36).

When Saul, Israel’s first king, proved weak and untrusting, God sent the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David as his successor. At first, Samuel assumed that one of David’s older brothers, impressively tall, was God’s choice. But God pointed out David, who was handsome but rather small of stature, as His choice. In one of the Bible’s most telling verses, the Lord reminded Samuel that “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). It was David’s heart for the Lord, nurtured during his shepherd years, that more than anything else equipped David for greatness.

David’s emergence as a military hero(1 Sam. 17–19). An invasion of Israelite territory by the Philistines created the opportunity for David’s emergence from obscurity. As the two armies lay camped on hillsides opposite each other, a Philistine warrior some nine feet tall strode out each morning to challenge the Israelites to send out a champion to fight him. Saul, the tallest and most powerful man in Israel’s army as well as king, cowered in his tent, promising to reward anyone who would venture out to do battle.

When David, then a teenager, came to camp to bring provisions to his brothers, David was shocked that no one was willing to fight the giant. In David’s eyes, the Philistine’s challenge demeaned the living God who would surely give victory to anyone who stepped out to represent Him and His people. So David volunteered, and the cowardly king permitted a stripling to attempt what no soldier in Saul’s army was willing to try.

As every Sunday school student knows, David killed the giant, Goliath. He was quickly accepted into Saul’s army as a junior officer, and immediately began to display the courage and brilliance that marked his entire military career. David was so successful, and so honored by the Israelites, that Saul grew jealous. Saul undoubtedly recognized in David that true faith and courage that he himself lacked. In the end, when several plots to rid himself of David failed, Saul attempted to kill David whom he now saw as a rival to the throne. David, although at the time the king’s son-in-law as well as a military officer, fled for his life.

David’s outlaw years (1 Sam. 20–31). David was alone when he fled from Saul; however, others soon joined him. Before long, David had assembled a band of some 600 fighting men and their families; fierce warriors, many of whom became the core of his army after David became king.

During these outlaw years, Saul often pursued David. Saul was determined to see David dead. Many close calls and last-minute escapes are described in these chapters. Particularly notable however is David’s refusal to assassinate Saul on two occasions when he had the opportunity. Saul had been anointed king by the prophet Samuel and thus appointed by God. God, not David, must remove him.

Only once during these years did David become discouraged. Convinced that sooner or later Saul would massacre his little band, David moved into Philistine territory and offered himself and his men as mercenaries to the king of Gath. God overruled however, and David was preserved from fighting against his own people when Philistia and Israel went to war again. Despite this one lapse, David generally maintained his confidence in God and realized that in time he would fulfill his destiny as Israel’s king.

David’s rule over Judah(2 Sam. 1–4). When at last Saul was killed in a battle with the Philistines, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin invited David to become their king. A son of Saul, Ishbosheth, was propped up as king of the other ten tribes by Abner, who had been Saul’s commanding general. For seven years the north [the ten tribes] and the south [David’s two tribes] skirmished. In the end, a perceived insult moved Abner to make peace with David and unify the nation under his rule. Even though David’s general, Joab, assassinated Abner, the transfer of power took place. David was king of a united Israel, and at last was in a position to fulfill his destiny.

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David ruled Judah and Dan for seven years before the other Hebrew tribes acknowledeged him as king.

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David builds a nation(2 Sam. 5–10; 1 Chron. 11–16). David’s first act as king was to establish a new capital. He chose Jerusalem, a city that lay between north and south and had been occupied by neither. David drove out the Canaanites who held the heights. David also set out to break the power of the enemy nations that surrounded the Israelites. In a series of wars, many of which were started by the enemy, David defeated all of Israel’s foes. In the process, David expanded Israelite-held territory ten times. During David’s reign, God’s people occupied nearly all the lands promised to Abraham long before.

With his borders secure, David organized his government, setting up an efficient administrative system. David also instituted religious reforms. Since the conquest of Canaan, some four hundred years earlier, the Israelites had offered their sacrifices and worshiped at the tabernacle, the portable worship center constructed under Moses’ supervision. Now David brought the ark of the covenant, the most holy object in Israel’s religion, to Jerusalem, and laid plans for the construction of a magnificent temple in which to house it. In this, David provided a third unifying symbol for his nation. Israel now had a common capital, a common king, and a common faith. The Israelites were at last a unified nation, no longer merely a loose confederation of tribes who shared a common heritage.

David’s declining years (2 Sam. 11–24; 1 Chron. 20–29).David’s faith and energy had enabled him to build a powerful and stable kingdom. But with this accomplished, a strange lethargy seems to have gripped David. All of life’s challenges seemed to have been met successfully; David had arrived at the top. Now David would face a different kind of challenge, a moral and interpersonal challenge.

David’s moral challenge (1 Sam. 11–20).One spring when David’s armies went out to do battle, David stayed in Jerusalem. There he chanced to see a beautiful woman bathing. Inflamed with desire, he sent for the woman and took her, and then tried to hide what was essentially a rape. David’s detour into sin caused him real anguish; likewise, it harmed others and outraged the Lord. David’s anguish is clearly expressed in Psalm 32, as well as being reflected in his great prayer of confession recorded in Psalm 51. When the prophet Nathan finally confronted David, he confessed his sin and was forgiven. But David’s moral failure had a terrible impact on his family. When his son Amnon followed his father’s example and raped his half-sister, Tamar, David did nothing. Robbed of moral authority by his own sins, David seemed strangely silent over the crimes committed by his children. Later Absalom, the brother of Tamar, murdered Amnon and fled the country. Again David said and did nothing. Still later Absalom returned to Jerusalem. Again David said and did nothing, despite the fact that Absalom sought to alienate the northern tribes from David. Absalom succeed in fomenting a rebellion, but he was killed in the battle between north and south.

David, so brilliant in building the nation, was strangely helpless to guide or govern his own family. How tragic when our sins impact our children so. We need to learn from David’s mistakes and guard our hearts against the attractions of sin.

David’s enthusiasm restored (1 Chron. 17–28). The challenges of kingdom building had all been met successfully. David had learned by painful experience that however attractive sin might appear, its consequences could be devastating.

In his declining years, David found a better way to invest his energies, and his enthusiasm for life was restored. Essentially David turned his thoughts and his efforts to preparing for the construction of God’s temple and to working out the details of how temple worship would be conducted. David also dedicated his own personal wealth to temple building and urged the wealthy in his kingdom to follow his example. First Chronicles describes in detail David’s plans; and, here again, we see David’s organizational genius displayed.

It is striking that the emphases in Second Samuel and 1 Chronicles, which cover the same periods of David’s life, differ so significantly. But there is a good explanation. The Books of Samuel and the Kings are historical reports of events in the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The books of Chronicles are divine commentary on those events. Second Samuel emphasizes David’s failure and its impact on David’s family, faithfully reporting conditions in the kingdom. But 1 Chronicles skips over David’s sin and its consequences to focus on evidence of his interior life with God. His sins like ours had been forgiven; his service remembered and celebrated.

Whatever else can be said of David, he was a human being who truly had a heart for God. Yes, David was flawed, as we all are. Nevertheless David loved and trusted God, and those qualities enabled him to use his many gifts to the fullest and mark him as one of the Old Testament’s greatest men.

EXPLORING DAVID’S RELATIONSHIPS

DAVID’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

Scripture testifies that God chose David to succeed Saul because David was a man after God’s “own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14). This does not mean that David was perfect. Far from it. It does mean that with all his flaws, David loved the Lord and was responsive to him.

David was responsive to God’s revelation of Himself in nature.David was deeply moved by the evidence of God’s greatness in nature and profoundly awed that God could care about human beings. His pondering is reflected in Psalm 8:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and stars, which You have ordained,

What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him? (Ps. 8:3–4)

In praise and wonder David exclaimed,

O Lord, our Lord,

How excellent is Your name in all the earth.” (Ps. 8:9)

David displayed confidence in God’s promises (1 Sam. 17).While all in Saul’s army quaked before the Philistine champion, Goliath, young David was merely surprised. Why hadn’t anyone been willing to fight Goliath? The Philistine wasn’t simply challenging men; he was challenging the forces of the living God. David was utterly convinced that the God of the covenant, the God of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, would fight for His people. Only David counted on God’s commitment to His people and looked beyond the giant foe to Israel’s far greater and more powerful God. All David’s life he displayed confidence in the Lord and counted on Him to keep His promises. As a result, He won great victories for his people.

David looked to God for guidance (1 Sam. 23:2). The historical books that tell the story of David’s life report some eleven times that David “inquired of the Lord” when facing difficult decisions. In David’s day this typically involved an appeal to the Urim and Thummim held by the high priest, as described in Exodus 28:30. It is significant that although a brilliant strategist and a decisive leader of men, David was also a humble believer, deeply aware of his need for divine guidance. David’s dependence on God is reflected in Psalm 31:3–5:

For You are my rock and my fortress;

Therefore for Your name’s sake

Lead me and guide me.

Pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me,

For You are my strength.

Into Your hand I commit my spirit;

You have redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth.

David encouraged others to honor and worship God. We see this ministry of David’s reflected in several ways.

David set a personal example (1 Sam. 26:1–12).On one occasion when King Saul pursued David and his band, David had an opportunity to assassinate Saul. Abishai, one of David’s men, urged him to kill Saul, arguing that God had delivered Saul into David’s hand. David refused: “The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord’s anointed.” God would remove Saul in His own time. David had too great a respect for God to kill a man the Lord had appointed to royal office.

David emphasized the importance of worship (2 Sam. 6).As soon as David had established himself as king and made Jerusalem the capital of a united Israel, he brought the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem. David himself led the celebration honoring God, again setting an example for his people and demonstrating his own passionate desire to honor and worship the Lord.

David devoted himself to producing a worship liturgy for his people.David’s psalms expressed his personal relationship with God. They also were intended to serve as guides to personal and corporate worship for David’s people. David knew it was vitally important for the Israelites to become a worshiping people. Many of the psalms David wrote have in their superscription the phrase “to the chief musician.” The “chief musician” was responsible for leading worship. David intended these psalms to become part of Israel’s worship liturgy.

David committed his later years to prepare for constructing the temple (1 Chron. 21–27).David’s deepest desire was to encourage worship of God. In his later years, he committed all his energies to raising the money and assembling the materials needed to construct a temple to the Lord in Jerusalem. While Solomon actually built the temple, David drew up the temple plans, organized the tasks of the priests and Levites who would ministered there, and energized the nation to undertake the project.

DAVID’S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD REFLECTED IN HIS PSALMS

Psalm	The relationship expressed
3, 4	David finds inner peace during Absalom’s rebellion.
5	David begins his day with prayer.
6	David entreats God for mercy.
7	David examines his own heart before the Lord.
8	David expresses awe at God’s concern for people.
9	David rejoices in the Lord and sings His praises.
11	David expresses trust in God.
12	David calls on God to judge the wicked.
13	David expresses trust despite unanswered prayer.
14	David ponders the foolishness of the wicked.
15	David describes the ways of those who fear God.
16	David rejoices in the blessings of knowing God.
17	David begs God to intervene.
18	David praises God as his rock and salvation.
19	David rejoices in God’s revelation in nature and Scripture.
20	David prays for others and encourages trust.
21	David expresses trust in God’s sovereign control.
22	David laments over God’s seeming silence.
23	David rests in God as his shepherd.
24	David looks forward to the coming of the King of glory.
25	David trusts God to guide and to deliver.
26	David begs God to vindicate him.
27	David praises God as an antidote to fear.
28	David urgently seeks God’s aid against enemies.
29	David worships.
31	David expresses trust in God as rock and fortress.
32	David contemplates sin, forgiveness, and guidance.
33	David calls on the righteous to praise God.
34	David praises God and urges all to trust Him.
35	David calls on God to defend him against enemies.
36	David praises God’s loving kindness and mercy.
37	David encourages delight in the Lord.
38	David shares his pain when God disciplined him.
39	David expresses frustration and begs for relief.
40	David praises God for His loving kindness.
41	David honors God for his mercy and goodness.
51	David confesses his sin with Bathsheba.
52	David warns the wicked.
53	David ponders the foolishness of the wicked.
54	David affirms God as his helper in a time of great stress.
55	David turns to God when fearful and pained.
56	David begs for mercy when captured by the Philistines.
57	David cries out to God when pursued by Saul.
58	David calls on God to judge the wicked.
59	David calls on God to scatter his enemies.
60	David cries out for help.
61	David expresses trust in God when overwhelmed.
62	David commits himself to wait for God.
63	David longs to know God better.
64	David expresses confidence that God will preserve him.
65	David praises God’s awesome deeds.
68	David reviews history in praise of God.
69	David begs God’s help against those who hate him.
70	David appeals to God to deliver him.
86	David cries out to God “all day long” for help.
101	David praises God for His mercy and justice.
103	David blesses God for his mercy and love.
108	David reaffirms his commitment to the Lord.
109	David seeks God’s help against enemies.
110	David foresees the work of God’s Messiah.
122	David rejoices in the privilege of worship.
124	David praises God for past deliverance.
131	David bows as a child before the Lord.
133	David affirms the blessings of unity.
138	David praises God with his whole heart.
139	David sees his life totally exposed to God’s scrutiny.
140	David begs God to keep him from the hand of the wicked.
141	David expresses commitment to God in evening prayers.
142	David contemplates answered prayers.
143	David expresses reliance on the Lord as he prays for deliverance.
144	David sings God’s praises.
145	David meditates on God’s splendor and works.

David repented when he sinned (2 Sam. 12). The Old Testament records more than one sin committed by David. Although David’s love for God was real, he was a fallible human being whose sins seem as great as his accomplishments. While Scripture records David’s sin in numbering Israel (2 Sam. 24), the sin all remember is his sexual assault on Bathsheba and his subsequent murder of her husband, Uriah. Even remembering that these actions were out of character, there is no excuse for David’s actions.

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David refused to strike when King Saul was in his power, for God had made Saul king and David believed only God should remove him.

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However, David’s deep sense of guilt, revealed in Psalm 32, and his public repentance, expressed in Psalm 51, remind us that David truly responded to God. In repentance, David relied on God’s grace to create in him a clean heart and restore the joy of his salvation. God restored David, encouraging each of us to turn quickly to the Lord when we sin. Even in David’s great failure God used David to teach transgressors God’s ways and to convert sinners to Him.

David was a man after God’s own heart not because he was sinless but because David trusted how God responded to Him. For most of his life, David sought to honor and obey God. His psalms remind us that David freely shared his inner life and emotions with the Lord and was as eager to commune with the Lord as to depend on Him. Even when David sinned, he relied on God’s grace and forgiveness to restore him to a right relationship with the Lord. In all this, David is an example of true godliness.

DAVID’S RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUL

In many ways, Saul was the opposite of David. Saul had been anointed king of Israel, but the pressures of leadership revealed that Saul was unwilling to trust God. As Saul became more and more alienated from the Lord, he grew erratic, fearful, and paranoid. All of Saul’s weaknesses are displayed in David’s relationship with the unworthy king.

David as a musician in Saul’s court (1 Sam. 16:14–23). After Saul had been rejected by the Lord and condemned by Samuel, he was frequently depressed. David was called to court to play the harp for Saul and cheer him. Saul liked the young man and made him his armor bearer, an official court position.

David as victor over Goliath and as an army officer (1 Sam. 17:1–18:16). David, a teenager, was at home from court when the Philistines invaded. His father sent him to carry supplies to his brothers, who were with the Israelite forces. There David volunteered to meet Goliath in single combat, and Saul reluctantly agreed. Saul’s question to his general, Abner, “Whose son is this youth,” (17:55), has been taken to contradict the story that David was already known to Saul. However, Saul’s question related to David’s lineage. Saul had promised his daughter in marriage to whoever killed Goliath, and understandably, he wondered about David’s family.

After David killed Goliath, Saul failed to give David his daughter, but he made David an officer in his army. David proved himself a gifted and successful military man, and rapidly became a hero to the people of Israel. David’s popularity aroused Saul’s resentment. Saul was both jealous and fearful, for Saul sensed that God, who had deserted him, was with David.

David as the king’s son-in-law (1 Sam. 18:17–19:24).When Saul’s daughter Michal fell in love with David, Saul saw a way to rid himself of the young army officer. He set David to earn Michal’s hand by killing Philistines, hoping that David would be the one killed. When David succeeded, Saul permitted the wedding, but soon was asking his servants and even his son Jonathan, David’s friend, to murder David.

During this time, David simply could not credit the reports that Saul was out to kill him. David had proven himself loyal to Saul, and he was the king’s son-in-law! Finally Saul moved openly against David, and David was forced to flee.

David as a fugitive (1 Sam. 20–30). For a number of years, Saul, who was still intent on seeing David dead, harried David and those who joined him. Twice while David and his men were being pursued, David had opportunities to kill Saul. Each time, David refused, but took tokens from Saul that revealed how close to death the king had come. Each time, Saul was forced to acknowledge that David was more righteous than he was, and each time Saul promised David a pardon. David, however, was too wise to trust Saul, and he continued to live as a fugitive. During those years Saul served as a grindstone, whose pressure strengthened David’s faith and honed his trust in the Lord.

Even so, it is not surprising that after years of narrow escapes even a person with as much trust in God as David displayed should become discouraged. Convinced that sooner or later Saul would take him, David left Israelite territory and enrolled his men as mercenaries with the king of Philistine Gath. David pretended to the Philistine ruler to lead raiding parties into Israelite territory, but instead David raided Israel’s enemies. This lapse of David’s faith created a serious situation. When the Philistines went to war with Israel, David, now a subject of the king of Gath, was expected to battle his own people! God extricated David from this situation, and in the battle that followed, Saul and his son Jonathan were both killed.

Saul had been God’s instrument to test David’s faith and his loyalty. David had passed the test; now it was time for a maturer David to lead God’s people.

How often God uses those who make themselves our enemies to strengthen and mature us. We need to be sure, however, that we follow the course David took, refusing to strike back, and treating our enemies with consideration and respect (see Matt. 5:44).

DAVID’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS WIVES

While David maintained an exemplary relationship with Saul, the same cannot be said for his relationship with his wives. We shall explore his relationship with three of the women David married.

David’s relationship with Michal, Saul’s daughter (1 Sam. 18–19; 2 Sam. 3, 6). Saul’s younger daughter, Michal, fell in love with the young and handsome army officer who had killed Goliath. Her father saw her love as an opportunity to strike at David. Saul established a dowry of one hundred Philistine foreskins, hoping his enemies would kill David. When David brought Saul the required dowry, Saul permitted the marriage. Later when Saul’s hostility became open and the threat to David’s life became clear, Michal helped David escape. After David fled, Saul married Michal to another man. In this manner, Saul callously used his daughter, showing no concern at all for her feelings.

There is no evidence that David tried to contact Michal during his fugitive years. But much later, when David was offered the throne of Israel, he demanded that Michal be returned to him. The Israelite general who was negotiating turning the northern tribes over to David went to Michal’s home and simply took her away from her husband and brought her to David.

To suppose that David was eager to have his first love restored to him would be romantic. However, the text suggests that David’s insistence on the return of Michal was a political rather than a loving act. Marriage to Saul’s daughter would help to legitimize David’s rule over the northern tribes that had remained loyal to Saul’s family. Michal’s expression of hostility toward David seen in 2 Samuel 6:16–23 reveals no affection between them.

David’s relationship with Michal reveals him to be as much an exploiter of women as Saul had been. The text tells us that Michal loved David; it never suggests that David loved Michal. Many years later when David demanded her return without consulting her, David showed a callous disregard for her feelings.

While some might excuse David’s actions by noting that women in the royal houses of the ancient world were universally regarded as pawns of public policy, such a heartless disregard of the feelings of a woman who had shown David such love and loyalty was inexcusable.

David’s relationship with Abigail (1 Sam. 25). Once when he was a fugitive, David’s men camped near the land of a wealthy rancher named Nabal. David’s men never stole a sheep to eat, but rather helped the shepherds guard the flock. Yet, at harvest time when David sent a delegation to ask Nabal for a gift, Nabal insulted David and sent the delegation away.

David’s anger flared, and he set out with his men to kill Nabal and his herdsmen. Warned by the herdsmen, who were appalled at what Nabal had done, Nabal’s wife Abigail quickly assembled some supplies and set out to intercept David.

Not only did Abigail intercept David, but she spoke so wisely that David realized his intent to take revenge was both wrong and politically unwise. He accepted Abigail’s gifts, and returned to his camp. When Nabal suffered a stroke and died a few days later, David sent for Abigail and married her. David recognized and appreciated Abigail’s strength of character and her wisdom.

Too many men today are threatened by strong women. David, a strong man himself, realized that a woman of strength and character is of great worth, and he took the opportunity to join her life to his. In this relationship, at least we can admire David’s choice and seek to emulate him.

David’s relationship with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11–12; 1 Kings 1). David’s initial attraction to Bathsheba was purely sensual. She was beautiful; David wanted her; David took her. The fact that Bathsheba was another man’s wife was something that David, driven by passion and power, simply ignored.

The text of 2 Samuel makes it clear that Bathsheba was a victim here; she was not the temptress some in their efforts to excuse David have tried to cast her (see 2 Sam. 11:1–6). It was night when Bathsheba was bathing in the privacy of the inner court of her own home, when David looked down from the palace roof and saw her. He “sent messengers and took her” and when she arrived at the palace, “he lay with her.” And then David simply sent Bathsheba home. Weeks later when she let him know she was pregnant, David called her husband home from the war, hoping to mask his responsibility for her condition. In the end, David arranged to have Bathsheba’s husband killed in battle, and then he married her himself, perhaps to further hide his rape of a young woman who was helpless in the hands of Israel’s king.

David and Bathsheba’s marriage was likely not a loving one at first. David’s lust, so shocking in a king who had a reputation for godliness, must have shaken Bathsheba. When she discovered she was pregnant by David, she clearly had lost control of her own life and was utterly powerless.

Yet we learn in the Chronicles that she later bore David four sons, and that one of those sons, Solomon, was David’s successor. Even more fascinating, as David lay dying and one of his sons acted to usurp the throne, the prophet Nathan enlisted the aid of Bathsheba to appeal to the king. Bathsheba reminded David of his promise to see Solomon crowned, but it was her reminder that after David died the lives of both herself and Solomon would be in danger (1 Kings 1:21) that moved David to act.

Something had happened to transform a relationship initiated in lust into a loving commitment of these two to each other.

In Psalm 51, we learn what happened. After David was confronted by the prophet Nathan and acknowledged his sin to the Lord, David took another significant step. David penned a confession and delivered it to the chief musician to be used in public worship. That confession, Psalm 51, is headed by a superscription that bluntly describes the occasion of its writing: “A psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”

In this public confession David took full responsibility for what happened, and wrote: “I acknowledge my transgressions” (51:3).

The public confession not only restored David’s relationship with the Lord, but also laid a foundation on which to build a loving relationship with Bathsheba.

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David showed himself a truly strong man when he listened to the advice of Abigail and changed his mind despite publicly stating he would take revenge.

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All too many women today are in abusive relationships. The first reaction of most victims is to hide the abuse out of a sense of guilt and shame, while the first reaction of the abuser is to his victim. Typically these relationships are marked by repeated expressions of contrition and promises never to do it again—all too soon followed by repeated abuse. Such relationships can be healed in only one way: David’s way. The abuser must take full responsibility for his actions and publicly exonerate the abused—just as David did in writing Psalm 51.

When we examine David’s relationships with his wives, what we find is not pretty. David showed a disregard for women that we rightly find repugnant. And yet, David also showed appreciation for the strong woman who repels rather than attracts so many men today. And in his relationship with Bathsheba, David did display a willingness to accept responsibility for the wrong he committed. In this, David pointed the way to the healing of many relationships today.

We can never study David without realizing how complex human beings are. And how greatly we need the grace, forgiveness, and guidance that can be ours through a personal relationship with David’s God.

DAVID’S RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS CHILDREN

It was not unusual in the ancient Middle East for kings to have a number of children. Nor was it common for kings to be close to their children while they were young. We know that David had a number of sons and daughters (cf. 1 Chron. 3:1–9). We also know that several of David’s children featured in Scripture came to a tragic end.

David’s relationship with Amnon and Tamar (2 Sam. 13). David’s son Amnon developed a consuming lust for his half-sister, David’s daughter Tamar. Amnon feigned illness and asked for Tamar. When Amnon got Tamar alone, he raped her. As soon as he had sex with her, his lust changed to hatred, and he sent her away, weeping bitterly. The text tells us that “when King David heard of all these things, he was very angry” (13:21). But David did nothing.

According to Old Testament law, Amnon should have married Tamar, a marriage she herself suggested before the rape. Surely David, whose relationship with Bathsheba had begun the same way and yet had been healed, could at least have advised his son. Yet rather than deal with the situation, David remained silent. Tamar hid herself in her brother Absalom’s home, and the pain and the anger the rape created festered. David’s failure to act made a tragic situation worse and made resolution impossible.

David’s relationship with Absalom (2 Sam. 13–15). Tamar was the full sister of Absalom, and her rape by Amnon kindled Absalom’s hatred. Absalom waited for two years, pretending to remain Amnon’s friend, and then arranged for Amnon to be assassinated. Absalom then fled to a friendly nation, where he remained in exile for some time. Finally, David was prevailed on to recall Absalom, but even then the king refused to see him. In this, David neither judged Absalom for his fratricide, nor confronted him as Nathan had confronted David, nor forgave him as God had forgiven David.

Nor did David act when Absalom set out on a carefully crafted campaign to win the allegiance of the northern Hebrew tribes. Soon it was too late: Absalom and a group of David’s old advisors led rebel forces into Jerusalem, forcing David to flee.

In the civil war that followed, Absalom was killed, and David wept inconsolably over his son. David had loved Absalom. But David’s failure to deal with the sin contributed to the tragedy and deaths that followed.

David’s relationship with Solomon (1 Chron. 29). Like many a dad whose children go into the family business, David had his doubts about Solomon’s readiness. Near the end of his life David commented in public, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced” (29:1). This may explain in part why David held on to the throne long after he was physically and mentally unable to rule. Even on his death bed David failed to confirm Solomon as his successor until another of his sons, Adonijah, took a chance and attempted to have himself crowned Israel’s ruler. Only then did David act and fulfill his pledge to see Solomon, God’s choice, crowned.

How easy it is to see our children as “young and inexperienced,” never realizing that until we let them step out on their own they will never gain the experience they need.

Yet David’s relationship with Solomon clearly mirrors his relationship with his other children. David was at best a passive parent. David cared deeply but he was never willing to step forward. David neither disciplined nor counseled. He neither confronted nor forgave. David’s inaction seems to have been perceived by David’s children as indifference; an indifference that left them free to cross the boundary between right and wrong.

David’s failures as a father warn us all. More than anything else our children need us to be involved in their lives. They may rebel as they grow up; they may seem to reject our values. But loving involvement gives a father an influential role in shaping a child that detachment never can.

Why did David detach himself from these intimate family matters? Some assume it was the press of great affairs—for David had a kingdom to manage. But I suspect that the underlying reason was David’s earlier failure with Bathsheba, which despite God’s forgiveness and her forgiveness too, robbed him of that moral authority that every parent needs. Seeing his own flaws repeated in his children, David seems to have drawn back, feeling helpless.

DAVID: AN EXAMPLE FOR TODAY

The more closely we examine David’s life, the more we realize how complex an individual David was. On the one hand, David was a mystic, deeply in awe of and in love with God. On the other hand, David was a military genius, a gifted leader.

On the one hand, David was deeply committed to the Lord, so concerned with doing right that he remained loyal to King Saul even when Saul betrayed David again and again. On the other hand, David was a man who casually exploited a woman who loved him, and who surrendered to lust for another man’s wife.

On the one hand, David was consumed with a desire to honor God and to lead his people to worship the Lord. On the other hand, David was a failure as a father; he proved unable to control, guide, or discipline his children.

Perhaps the best we can say of David was that he was a human being, writ large. Both David’s sins and his sanctity come across boldly, so much greater than either our sins or our meager efforts to nurture our relationship with the Lord. And so from David the lessons we can learn are great ones, too.

•     David came to know and love God early in life. The earlier we can introduce our children to God, the more significant their lives will be.

•     David was responsive to God’s self-revelation. David not only wished to honor God; David was eager to know God better and to glorify Him. A passion for the Lord will not keep us from sin by itself, but it will bring us back to Him should we fall.

•     David gave significant attention to worship. If we would know God better, we too will spend time in personal and corporate worship.

•     David’s flaws stand as warnings, signposts erected by God for our benefit. We are not to succumb to lust, nor are we to demean or exploit women. And we are not to withdraw from involvement with our children.

•     Yet David’s sterling qualities also point us toward significant lives. We are to be loyal to God and to others, faithful under persecution, trusting when things go wrong, captivated by the vision of serving God in whatever way He chooses. We are to be ready to confess our sins and quick to turn to the Lord when in need. In these things David can be our example. And for these things we rightly honor him today.

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