David, from shepherd to king of Israel

David appears as a shepherd in Bethlehem of Judah and later becomes king of Israel. He was Jesse’s youngest son and was tending sheep when Samuel came to the household. Saul was still king, but God had sent Samuel to identify a new king. After the other sons passed before Samuel, David was called in and anointed among his brothers.

When an evil spirit troubled Saul, his servants proposed finding a skilled harp player. David came to serve Saul and became his armor bearer. When David played, Saul felt better and the spirit departed. The account also says that David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

During the war with the Philistines, Jesse sent David to bring food to his brothers at the front and find out how they were doing. David heard Goliath insulting Israel’s army and demanding that one man come out to fight him. Saul and the army were greatly afraid.

David offered to fight Goliath. He told Saul about rescuing lambs from a lion and a bear, saying that God would deliver him again. Saul dressed him in military clothing and armor, but David took it off because he had not tested it. He chose five smooth stones from a stream, put them in his bag, and went out with his sling.

When Goliath despised him, David answered that he came in the name of Israel’s God. He slung a stone that struck Goliath’s forehead and brought him down. David drew Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head. The Philistines saw that their champion was dead and fled.

Jonathan, Saul’s son, loved David as his own life and made a covenant with him. He gave David his robe, military clothing, sword, bow, and sash. Saul made David a commander. David behaved wisely wherever he was sent and gained the approval of the people and Saul’s servants.

When women sang that Saul had killed thousands and David tens of thousands, Saul became angry. He later threw a spear at David and planned for him to be killed by the Philistines. David fulfilled Saul’s marriage requirement and married his daughter Michal, but Saul became increasingly afraid of him.

Jonathan urged his father not to harm David, and Saul swore not to kill him. David returned to his service, but Saul threw a spear at him again. When David escaped that night, Saul sent men to watch his house and kill him in the morning. Michal warned David and lowered him through a window so he could flee.

David went to Ahimelech the priest at Nob and received the bread that had been set before God and then replaced, along with Goliath’s sword. He fled to Achish at Gath but became afraid when the people recognized him. David changed his behavior, pretended to be insane, and left.

At the cave of Adullam, David’s family and people in distress, debt, and bitterness gathered around him. He became the leader of about four hundred men. Meanwhile, Saul accused the priests who had helped David of conspiring against him. At Saul’s command, Doeg killed the priests and the people of Nob. Ahimelech’s son Abiathar escaped and came to David.

Chronicles also recounts deeds of the warriors who followed David. When David longed for water from the well by Bethlehem’s gate, three men broke through the Philistine camp to bring it. David called the water like the blood of men who had risked their lives. He refused to drink it and poured it out to God.

After asking God, David fought the Philistines and rescued Keilah. He then learned that its people would hand him over to Saul and left. Jonathan visited him in the wilderness and encouraged him to trust God. He said that David would be king and he would be next to him. They renewed their covenant; Jonathan went home and David stayed there.

When Saul entered the cave at En Gedi, David secretly cut off a corner of his robe. His heart troubled him afterward. He refused to harm God’s anointed king and restrained his men. Outside the cave, David showed Saul the cloth as evidence that he had not killed him. Saul wept and admitted that David was more righteous than he was.

On another night, David entered Saul’s camp with Abishai. He refused Abishai’s request to kill Saul and took only the spear and water jar beside the king’s head. From a distance, he called for someone to collect the spear and said that he had spared Saul. Saul promised not to harm him again. Later, David feared he would eventually die at Saul’s hands and fled to Philistine territory, where Achish gave him Ziklag.

When David and his men returned to Ziklag, the town had been burned and their wives and children taken captive by Amalekites. They wept until they had no strength left. In their grief, the men spoke of stoning David. David found courage in God.

David asked Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod and inquired whether he should pursue the raiders. God answered that he would overtake them and recover everything. David and his men pursued the Amalekites and brought back their families and what had been taken.

In the battle with the Philistines, Saul and his three sons, including Jonathan, died. When David and his men heard the news, they tore their clothes, wept, and fasted until evening. David composed a lament for Saul and Jonathan and ordered that it be taught to Judah.

After Saul’s death, David asked God where to go and traveled to Hebron. Judah anointed him king there. Saul’s commander Abner, however, made Saul’s son Ishbosheth king over the other tribes. A long war followed between the two houses.

After Ishbosheth was killed, Israel’s elders came to Hebron, made a covenant with David, and anointed him king. Chapter 5 says that David was thirty when he became king and reigned for forty years in total. It distinguishes his rule over Judah at Hebron from his rule over all Israel and Judah at Jerusalem.

David captured the stronghold of Zion in Jerusalem, lived there, and called it David’s city. Hiram of Tyre sent cedar, carpenters, and masons to build him a house. David recognized that God had established him as king of Israel.

When the Philistines attacked, David asked God before fighting and defeated them. When they gathered again in the Valley of Rephaim, he was told to circle behind them and attack in front of the mulberry trees. He was to move when he heard marching in their tops. David followed the instruction and defeated the Philistines.

During the first attempt to bring up God’s ark, the cattle stumbled and Uzzah reached out to hold it. God struck him, and he died beside the ark. David became afraid and left it at Obed-Edom’s house rather than taking it to his own city. It remained there for three months.

After hearing that God had blessed Obed-Edom’s household, David brought up the ark with rejoicing. He danced with all his might, but Michal despised him for it. When she accused him of exposing himself before the people, he replied that his celebration was before God. The ark was placed in the tent David had prepared.

David wanted to build a temple because he lived in a cedar palace while God’s ark remained in a tent. Nathan first agreed, but received God’s word that night. Chronicles says that David would not build the house; a son succeeding him would do so. Samuel also records the dynastic promise that this son would be disciplined if he sinned, but would not lose God’s loving kindness as Saul had.

David fought surrounding nations and brought several into submission. He also sought someone from Jonathan’s family to whom he could show kindness. He summoned Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, restored Saul’s land to him, and gave him a permanent place at the king’s table.

One evening, while David remained in Jerusalem, he saw Bathsheba from the palace roof. He learned that she was Uriah’s wife, yet sent for her and slept with her. She returned home and later told David that she was pregnant.

David summoned Uriah from the battlefield and told him to go home, but Uriah refused. He said that the ark, Israel’s army, Joab, and his fellow soldiers remained in tents and the open field; he would not go home to his wife. David sent Joab a letter ordering him to put Uriah in the fiercest fighting and withdraw so that he would be killed. Uriah died. After mourning her husband, Bathsheba became David’s wife.

God sent Nathan with a story about a rich man taking a poor man’s beloved lamb. When David became angry, Nathan identified him as that man and condemned his killing Uriah and taking his wife. David admitted his sin against God. Nathan said David’s sin had been put away and he would not die, but the sword would remain in his household and the child would die.

When the child became ill, David fasted and begged God to spare him. The child died on the seventh day. Bathsheba later bore Solomon. The account says that God loved him and, through Nathan, also gave him the name Jedidiah.

David’s son Amnon raped his sister Tamar after refusing to listen to her. Her brother Absalom hated Amnon and later ordered his servants to kill him. Absalom fled to Geshur before Joab brought him back to Jerusalem. At first he could not see the king. Eventually he came before David, bowed, and received his father’s kiss.

Absalom won support at the city gate by telling people seeking judgment that he wanted to give them justice. He went to Hebron, saying he would fulfill a vow, then arranged for people to proclaim him king there when the trumpet sounded. As the rebellion grew and news of its support reached David, David fled Jerusalem.

Before the battle, David commanded his officers to deal gently with Absalom for his sake. During the fighting, Absalom rode under an oak on his mule. His head caught in the tree and he was left hanging. Joab struck him with darts while he was alive, and his soldiers surrounded him and killed him.

When David learned of Absalom’s death, he went to the room over the gate and wept bitterly. Joab accused him of shaming the soldiers who had saved him and his family, and urged him to speak to comfort them. David sat in the gate to receive the people. He later crossed the Jordan and returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 24 recounts David’s order to count the people. Joab objected, but the king’s command was carried out. Afterward, David confessed his sin and sought forgiveness, while a plague struck the people. Following the prophet Gad’s instruction, he paid for Araunah’s threshing floor and cattle, built an altar, and offered sacrifices. The account says that God heard the prayer and the plague stopped.

When David was old and could not keep warm, his son Adonijah tried to become king. Nathan and Bathsheba informed David and reminded him of his promise concerning Solomon. David ordered Solomon to ride his mule to Gihon and be anointed king there. Zadok anointed him, and the people followed Solomon with rejoicing.

Chronicles also describes David’s preparations for Solomon’s temple. He gathered metals, timber, and stone, directed the leaders to help, and gave Solomon plans for the rooms, courts, and treasuries and the work of priests and Levites. He urged his son to work courageously and serve God wholeheartedly, warning that if Solomon abandoned God, he would be rejected.

David gave his own gold and silver for the temple, and the leaders also offered gifts willingly. The people and David rejoiced. In his praise, David said that they had given back what they had received from God. Chapter 29 also records the assembly offering sacrifices, rejoicing, and anointing Solomon as king a second time.

As death approached, David told Solomon to keep God’s commands written in Moses’ law. He stated the condition that his descendants must walk faithfully before God for the royal line to continue. He left instructions to punish Joab and Shimei and to give the sons of Barzillai, who had helped him, a place at the king’s table.

David died after a reign of forty years and was buried in David’s city. Kings records that Solomon took his father’s throne and that his kingdom was firmly established.