Who was King David?

The shepherd nobody sent for

David enters the Bible in 1 Samuel 16 almost as an afterthought. The prophet Samuel comes to Bethlehem to anoint a king from among the sons of Jesse, while Saul still sits on the throne. Seven sons walk past him, and God turns down every one. The youngest is out in the fields keeping the sheep. Nobody thought to call him.

Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then Yahweh’s Spirit came mightily on David from that day forward.

Musician, giant-killer, outlaw

He reaches the royal court as a musician. When a dark spirit troubles Saul, David plays the harp and the king is refreshed (1 Samuel 16:23). Then comes the Valley of Elah and the single stone that brings down Goliath of Gath. The women of Israel dance and sing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7), and the king’s admiration curdles into jealousy.

Twice Saul’s spear flies at him. Saul’s own son Jonathan becomes David’s closest friend and warns him to run. For years he lives as an outlaw in the wilderness, at the head of six hundred men (1 Samuel 23:13). In a cave near En Gedi he has Saul at his mercy and cuts off only a corner of the king’s robe.

King in Hebron, then Jerusalem

Saul and Jonathan die fighting the Philistines on Mount Gilboa. David’s lament for them gave English a lasting phrase: “How the mighty have fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19).

David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

He takes the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites and calls it the City of David. He brings the Ark of the Covenant up to his new capital and dances before Yahweh “with all his might” (2 Samuel 6:14). Through the prophet Nathan comes a promise that his house and his throne will stand forever (2 Samuel 7:16). Later generations hung their hopes on it: one day a son of David would reign again.

The fall

At the height of his power David sees Bathsheba from the palace roof, takes her, and arranges for her husband Uriah to die at the front. Nathan tells him a story about a rich man who steals a poor man’s only lamb. David explodes at the rich man, and Nathan answers with four words: “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7). The king confesses. Tradition hears his prayer in Psalm 51: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.”

Forgiveness does not erase the cost. His later years bring a son’s revolt and the cry of a broken father, “My son Absalom!” (2 Samuel 18:33). Before he dies, he has Bathsheba’s son Solomon crowned king.

Why his name still matters

Seventy-three of the 150 Psalms carry his name in their Hebrew headings, so he is remembered as Israel’s singer as well as its warrior. Matthew’s Gospel opens by calling Jesus “the son of David” (Matthew 1:1). Michelangelo’s marble David, finished in Florence in 1504, stands over five meters tall. And whether a real king stands behind the story is the subject of Was King David a real person?