King David
Introduction.
David was the second king of Judah. David received his anointing to become the king of Judah at a tender age when he was handling his fathers’ flock. David became king after Saul and his son Jonathan were killed in a war. The Bible narrative acknowledges that Saul was God chosen to lead the tribe of Judah as their king. Saul, David predecessor had a successful reign which was full of Gods favour and therefore in his reign, he was able to conquer many enemies and bring victory to the people of Judah. Saul always consulted with God before going to war through the prophet Samuel. Saul downfall, however, came as a result of refusing to adhere to Gods instruction which required him to completely destroy the Amalekites. Saul instead decided to take the fat flock for himself which hungered God (Clines and David p 212). Due to this God directed Samuel to go to the house of Jesse and amniote David as king. Jesse thought his eldest sons were the favourite to become Israelites king but to his surprise, the youngest son was the chosen one.
David had the gift of playing music which made him become close with King Saul as he used to play hymns for Saul when he became possessed with the evil spirits. Due to the relationship between Saul and David Saul gave his daughter Micah to David for marriage. A strong friendship also grew between David and Saul son Jonathan. David had become famous through the killing of Goliath the Philistine champion who was Israelites’ major threat.
David grew to become a strong soldier and conquered many battles for the Israelites. Saul shows him as a threat to his throne as he had acquired much liking from the Israelites for his bravery in the battlefield. Due to this, Saul decided to pursue him and kill him so as to eliminate the threat. Jonathan learns about his father plan to kill his friend and makes his fathers’ ill intention known to David. David escapes to save his life from Saul but the king peruses him to his hideouts.
David took refuge in caves as he hides from Saul who was desperate to kill him. the bible narrates a scenario when King Saul decided to go a nature call in one of the caves. Unfortunately, David and his men had hidden in the cave. David refused to kill his enemy despite his soldiers pressuring him to do it. David instead cuts a piece of the kings clothing which he later uses to proof to Saul how he had spared his life. From this scenario, David is seen to be a man of God whose interest was more of living a Godly live rather than just going after his own ambition to become king. By sparing Saul David showed his respect to the lord anointed. Despite the scenario, Saul continued to peruse David with the intention of killing him.
Another scenario happens and this time David manages to get into the king’s camp and take away the kings’ sword. Through saving the enemies live David shows his respect to Gods’ anointing and refuses to take up the throne by killing his master. David freed to the wilderness and waited until when Saul and his son Jonathan were stained in the battle. The messenger who brought the news about the killing of the two was stained after David realized that he had killed an anointed man.
David reign
After king, Saul and Jonathan were slain in battle the children of Israel came to David and begged him to become their king. King David reign was full of God’s grace and love. Due to the relationship between the two, God made a promise to his servant that the throne will never leave from his lineage. Just like any other man, however, divides reign was faced with some failures. The major failure during king David reigns was the conspiracy to have Uriah killed so that he could take up his wife. The act hungered God and brought about a curse to the lineage of David as God swore to David that the sword will not depart from his lineage. The son which Uriah wife had borne to David also died as part of the punishment. David was also denied the chance to built a temple for Yahweh due to that sin.
David also almost brought calamity upon the Israelites by allowing the devil into manipulating to ensure all the Israelites were numbered. God gave him three punishment to chose from, the choice, however, overwhelmed God and he confessed he had found a heart like his. King David had chosen to fall into Gods’ hand since he was gracious and merciful rather than failing in the hands of his enemies.
Nevertheless, the better part of David’s reign was full of God presence and grace. David conquered Jerusalem and brought back the ark covenant to the city and rebuilt the broken city. During his reign, however, his son Absalom tried to overthrow him which made him flee from the region. The Kings Army, however, manages to overthrow Absalom killing him and regaining the throne. Despite the circumstances under which the son has killed the bible shows David mourning his favourite son.
David remembers Jonathan
Jonathan and David had taken an oath of friendship which the king was supposed to honour. On remembering that David sent for any decent of Jonathan so that he could show them a favour for the sake of his friend Jonathan. The only remaining son was a cripple, now David summoned him to be brought before him so that he could show him a favour. The king gives him all the property that belonged to his grandfather Saul and sermons gardeners to look after the land.
King’s spiritual life.
The king was a strong worshiper, the Bible narrates about a scenario where the king danced to the lord until his clothes fell. The king also had a gift of creating psalms which were used in places of worship. The king had a strong relationship with God and for that reason, God granted him victory whenever he went ought for war.
Work cited.
Clines, David JA. “David the man: the construction of masculinity in the Hebrew Bible.” Interested parties: the ideology of writers and readers of the Hebrew Bible (1995): 212-43.
McKenzie, Steven L. King David: a biography. Oxford University Press, 2000.