David

Bible Dictionary

David
(well-beloved), the son of Jesse. His life may be divided intothree portions:

His youth before his introduction to the court of Saul;

His relations with Saul;

His reign.

The early life of David contains in many important respectsthe antecedents of his future career. It appears that Davidwas the youngest son, probably the youngest child, of afamily of ten, and was born in Bethlehem B.C. 1085. The firsttime that David appears in history at once admits us to thewhole family circle. The annual sacrificial feast is beingheld when Samuel appears, sent by God to anoint one ofJesse s sons as they pass before him, (1 samuel 16:6-10)Samuel sends for the youngest, David, who was "keeping thesheep," and anoints him. (1 samuel 16:11-13) As David stoodbefore Samuel we are enabled to fix his appearance at once inour minds. He was of short stature, with red or auburn hair,such as is not unfrequently seen in his countrymen of theEast at the present day. In later life he wore a beard. Hisbright eyes are specially mentioned, (1 samuel 16:12) andgenerally he was remarkable for the grace of his figure andcountenance ("fair of eyes," "comely," "goodly,") (1 samuel16:12,18; 17:42) well made and of immense strength andagility. His swiftness and activity made him like a wildgazelle, his feet like hart s feet, and his arms strongenough to break a bow of steel. (psalms 18:33,34) After theanointing David resumes his accustomed duties, and the nextwe know of him he is summoned to the court to chase away theking s madness by music, (1 samuel 16:14-19) and in thesuccessful effort of David s harp we have the first glimpseinto that genius for music and poetry which was afterwardsconsecrated in the Psalms. After this he returned to the oldshepherd life again. One incident alone of his solitaryshepherd life has come down to us--his conflict with the lionand the bear in defence of his father s flocks. (1 samuel17:34,35) It was some years after this that David suddenlyappears before his brothers in the camp of the army, andhears the defiant challenge of the Philistine giant Goliath.With his shepherd s sling and five small pebbles he goesforth and defeats the giant. (1 samuel 17:40-51)

Relations with Saul

We now enter on a new aspect of David slife. The victory over Goliath had been a turning point ofhis career. Saul inquired his parentage, and took him finallyto his court. Jonathan was inspired by the romanticfriendship which bound the two youths together to the end oftheir lives. Unfortunately David s fame proved the foundationof that unhappy jealousy of Saul towards him which, minglingwith the king s constitutional malady, poisoned his wholefuture relations to David. His position in Saul s court seemsto have been first armor-bearer, (1 samuel 16:21; 18:2) thencaptain over a thousand, (1 samuel 18:13) and finally, on hismarriage with Michal, the king s second daughter, he wasraised to the high office of captain of the king sbody-guard, second only, if not equal, to Abner, the captainof the host, and Jonathan, the heir apparent. David was notchiefly known for his successful exploits against thePhilistines, by one of which he won his wife, and rove backthe Philistine power with a blow from which it only ralliedat the disastrous close of Saul s reign. He also stillperformed from time to time the office of minstrel; but thesuccessive attempts of Saul upon his life convinced him thathe was in constant danger. He had two faithful allies,however, in the court--the son of Saul, his friend Jonathan,and the daughter of Saul, his wife Michal. Warned by the oneand assisted by the other, he escaped by night, and was fromthenceforward a fugitive. He at first found a home at thecourt of Achish, among the Philistines; but his stay wasshort. Discovered possibly by "the sword of Goliath," hispresence revived the national enmity of the Philistinesagainst their former conqueror, and he only escaped byfeigning madness. (1 samuel 21:13) His first retreat was thecave of Adullam. In this vicinity he was joined by his wholefamily, (1 samuel 22:1) and by a motley crowd of debtors anddiscontented men, (1 samuel 22:2) which formed the nucleus ofhis army. David s life for the next few years was made up ofa succession of startling incidents. He secures an importantally in Abiathar, (1 samuel 23:6) his band of 400 at Adullamsoon increased to 600, (1 samuel 23:13) he is hunted by Saulfrom place to place like a partridge. (1 samuel23:14,22,25-29; 24:1-22; 26) He marries Abigail and Ahinoam.(1 samuel 25:42,43) Finally comes the new of the battle ofGilboa and the death of Saul and Jonathan. 1Sam 31. Thereception of the tidings of the death of his rival and of hisfriend, the solemn mourning, the vent of his indignationagainst the bearer of the message, the pathetic lamentationthat followed, will close the second period of David s life.(2 samuel 1:1-27)

David s reign

As king of Judah at Hebron, 7 1/2 years. (2 samuel 2:1; 2samuel 5:5) Here David was first formally anointed king. (2samuel 2:4) To Judah his dominion was nominally confined.Gradually his power increased, and during the two years whichfollowed the elevation of Ish-bosheth a series of skirmishestook place between the two kingdoms. Then rapidly followedthe successive murders of Abner and of Ish-bosheth. (2 samuel3:30; 4:5) The throne, so long waiting for him, was nowvacant, and the united voice of the whole people at oncecalled him to occupy it. For the third time David wasanointed king, and a festival of three days celebrated thejoyful event. (1 chronicles 12:39) One of David s first actsafter becoming king was to secure Jerusalem, which he seizedfrom the Jebusites and fixed the royal residence there.Fortifications were added by the king and by Joab, and it wasknown by the special name of the "city of David." (2 samuel5:9; 1 chronicles 11:7) The ark was now removed from itsobscurity at Kirjath-jearim with marked solemnity, andconveyed to Jerusalem. The erection of the new capital atJerusalem introduces us to a new era in David s life and inthe history of the monarchy. He became a king on the scale ofthe great Oriental sovereigns of Egypt and Persia, with aregular administration and organization of court and camp;and he also founded an imperial dominion which for the firsttime realize the prophetic description of the bounds of thechosen people. (genesis 15:18-21) During the succeeding tenyears the nations bordering on his kingdom caused David moreor less trouble, but during this time he reduced to a stateof permanent subjection the Philistines on the west, (2samuel 8:1) the Moabites on the east, (2 samuel 8:2) by theexploits of Benaiah, (2 samuel 23:20) the Syrians on thenortheast as far as the Euphrates, (2 samuel 8:3) theEdomites, (2 samuel 8:14) on the south; and finally theAmmonites, who had broken their ancient alliance, and madeone grand resistance to the advance of his empire. (2 samuel10:1-19; 12:26-31) Three great calamities may be selected asmarking the beginning, middle and close of David s otherwiseprosperous reign, which appear to be intimated in thequestion of Gad, (2 samuel 24:13) "a three-years famine, athree-months flight or a three-days pestilence." a. Of thesethe first (the three-years famine) introduces us to the lastnotices of David s relations with the house of Saul, alreadyreferred to. b. The second group of incidents contains thetragedy of David s life, which grew in all its parts out ofthe polygamy, with its evil consequences, into which he hadplunged on becoming king. Underneath the splendor of his lastglorious campaign against the Ammonites was a dark story,known probably at that time only to a very few--the doublecrime of adultery with Bath-sheba and the virtual murder ofUriah. The clouds from this time gathered over David sfortunes, and henceforward "the sword never departed from hishouse." (2 samuel 12:10) The outrage on his daughter Tamar,the murder of his eldest son Amnon, and then the revolt ofhis best-beloved Absalom, brought on the crisis which oncemore sent him forth as wanderer, as in the days when he fledfrom Saul. (2 samuel 15:18) The final battle of Absalom srebellion was fought in the "forest of Ephraim," andterminated in the accident which led to the young man sdeath; and, though nearly heartbroken at the loss of his son,David again reigned in undisturbed peace at Jerusalem. (2samuel 20:1-22) c. The closing period of David s life, withthe exception of one great calamity, may be considered as agradual preparation for the reign of his successor. Thiscalamity was the three-days pestilence which visitedJerusalem at the warning of the prophet Gad. The occasionwhich led to this warning was the census of the people takenby Joab at the king s orders, (2 samuel 24:1-9; 1 chronicles21:1-7; 27:23,24) which was for some reason sinful in God ssight. 2Sam 24. A formidable conspiracy to interrupt thesuccession broke out in the last days of David s reign; butthe plot was stifled, and Solomon s inauguration took placeunder his father s auspices. (1 kings 1:1-53) By this timeDavid s infirmities had grown upon him. His last song ispreserved--a striking union of the ideal of a just rulerwhich he had placed before him and of the difficulties whichhe had felt in realizing it. (2 samuel 23:1-7) His last wordsto his successor are general exhortations to his duty. (1kings 2:1-9) He died, according to Josephus, at the age of70, and "was buried in the city of David." After the returnfrom the captivity, "the sepulchres of David" were stillpointed out "between Siloah and the house of the mighty men,"or "the guard-house." (nehemiah 3:16) His tomb, which becamethe general sepulchre of the kings of Judah, was pointed outin the latest times of the Jewish people. The edifice shownas such from the Crusades to the present day is on thesouthern hill of modern Jerusalem commonly called Mount Zion,under the so-called "Coenaculum;" but it cannot be identifiedwith the tomb of David, which was emphatically within thewalls.

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