David

VIEW:14 DATA:01-04-2020
well-beloved, dear
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


("beloved".) His outer life is narrated in the histories of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles; his inner life is unfolded by himself in the Psalms. The verbal coincidences in Psalms and the allusions incidentally to facts which the histories detail are evidently undesigned, and therefore confirm the genuineness of both. The youngest of the eight sons of Jesse of Bethlehem (1Sa_16:11); great grandson of Ruth and Boaz, "a mighty man of wealth" (Rth_2:1; Rth_4:21;Rth_4:22). Born, according to the common chronology, 1085 B.C. Began to reign when 30 years of age. but over Judah alone, 1055 B.C. (2Sa_5:4; 1Ki_2:11; 1Ch_29:27); over all Israel, seven years and six months later, 1048 B.C. He died in 1015 B.C., 70 years old. In early life he tended Jesse's flocks, thereby being trained for his subsequent career, for he had ample scope for quiet and prayerful meditations such as Moses had in his 40 years retirement in Midian before his call to public life, and as Paul had in the Arabian sojourn (Gal_1:17) before his worldwide ministry.
Those who are to be great public men often need first to be men of privacy. His intimate acquaintance with the beauties of nature, alike water, field, hill, and forest below, and the sun, moon, and glorious heavens above, gives coloring to many of his psalms (Psalm 29; Psalm 8; Psalm 19, etc.). His shepherd life, exposed to wild beasts, yet preserved by God amidst green pastures and still waters, furnishes imagery to Psa_22:20-21; Psalm 23; Psa_7:2. His active energies were at the same time exercised in adventures amidst the hills and dales of Judah, in one of which his courage was tested by a close encounter with a lion, and in another with a bear, both of which he slew, grasping the beast by the beard and rescuing a lamb out of his mouth. These encounters nerved him for his first great victory, the turning point of his life, the slaying of Goliath of Gath (1Sa_17:35). Moreover, his accurate acquaintance with all the hiding places in the cavern-pierced hills, e.g. the cave of Adullam, proved of great service to him afterwards in his pursuit by Saul.
The Bible authorities for his biography are the Davidic psalms and poetic fragments in the histories (2Sa_1:19-27; 2Sa_3:33-34; 2Sa_3:22; 2Sa_23:1-7); next the chronicles or state annals of David (1Ch_27:24); the book (history) of Samuel the seer, that of Nathan the prophet, and that of Gad the seer (1Ch_29:29). Jesse had a brother, Jonathan, whom David made one of his counselors (1Ch_27:32). Jesse's wife, David's mother, is not named; but Nahash her former husband is the one by whom she had two daughters, David's half-sisters: Zeruiah, mother of Abishai, Joab and Asahel; and Abigail, mother of Amasa by Jether or Ithra (1Ch_2:13-17; 2Sa_17:25). Jesse was an old man when David was a mere youth (1Ch_17:12). His sisters were much older than David, so that their children, David's nephews, were his contemporaries and companions more than his own brothers. David shared some of their war-like determined characteristics, but shrank from their stern recklessness of bloodshed in whatever object they sought (2Sa_3:39; 2Sa_19:7).
His oldest brother, Eliab, behaved unkindly and imperiously toward him when he went like a second Joseph, sent by his father to seek his brethren's welfare (1Sa_17:17-18; 1Sa_17:28-29). Eliab's "command," as head of Jesse's sons, was regarded by the rest as authoritative (1Sa_20:29), and the youngest, David, was thought scarcely worth bringing before the prophet Samuel (1Sa_16:11). Hence, he had assigned to him the charge of the flock, ordinarily assigned to the least esteemed of the family, women, and servants, as was the case with Moses, Zipporah, Jacob, Rachel. When David became king, instead of returning evil for evil he made Eliab head of the tribe of Judah (1Ch_27:18), Elihu = Eliab. His brother Shimeah had two sons connected with his subsequent history, Jonadab, the subtle, bad, selfish adviser of incestuous Amnon (2Sa_13:3; 2Sa_13:32-33), and Jonathan who killed a giant of Gath (2Sa_21:21). Nahash was probably one of the royal family of Ammon, which will account for David's friendship with the king of the same name, as also with Shobi, son of Nahash, from both of whom he received "kindness" in distress (2Sa_10:2; 2Sa_17:27).
Ammon and David had a common enemy, Saul (1 Samuel 11); besides David's Moabite great grandmother, Ruth, connected him with Moab, Ammon's kinsmen. Hence, it was most natural to him to repair to Moab and Ammon when pursued by Saul. At first sight, we wonder at his leaving his father and mother for safe-keeping with the king of Moab (1 Samuel 22); but the Book of Ruth shows how coincident with probability this is, and yet how little like the harmony contrived by a forger! His Gentile connection gave him somewhat enlarged views of the coming kingdom of Messiah, whose type and ancestor he was privileged to be (Psa_2:8; Mat_1:5). His birthplace was Bethlehem (as it was of his Antitype, Messiah: Luk_2:4, etc.); and of his patrimony there he gave to Chimham a property which long retained Chimham's name, in reward for the father Barzillai's loyalty and help in Absalom's rebellion (2Sa_19:37-38; Jer_41:17). His early associations with Bethlehem made him when in a hold desire a drink of water from its well while the Philistines held it.
Three of his 30 captains broke through and brought it; but David, with the tender conscientiousness which characterized him (compare 1Sa_24:5; 2Sa_24:10), and which appreciated the deep spirituality of the sixth commandment, would not drink it but poured it out to the Lord, saying, "My God forbid it me: shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy?" (1Ch_10:15-19). Saul, the people's choice, having been rejected from being king for disobedience, God manifested His sovereignty by choosing one, the very last thought of by his own family or even by the prophet; not the oldest, but the youngest; not like Saul, taller than the people by head and shoulders, but of moderate stature. (See SAUL.) A yearly sacrificial feast used to be held at Bethlehem, whereat Jesse, as chief landowner, presided with the elders (1 Samuel 16; 1Sa_20:6; compare at Saul's selection, 1Sa_9:12). But now suddenly at God's command, Samuel, though fearful of Saul's deadly enmity, appears there driving a heifer before him, to offer an extraordinary sacrifice.
The elders trembling, lest his visit should be for judicial punishment of some sin, inquired, "Comest thou peaceably?" He answered, "Peaceably." Then inviting them and Jesse's sons he caused the latter to pass successively before him. Seven sons passed by but were rejected, notwithstanding Samuel's pre-possession in favor of Eliab's countenance and stature, since Jehovah, unlike man, "looks not on the outward appearance but on the heart." David, seemingly the least likely and the youngest, was fetched from the sheep; and his unction with oil by the prophet previous to the feast was accompanied with the unction of the Spirit of the Lord from that day forward. Simultaneously, the Spirit of Jehovah left Saul and an evil spirit from Jehovah troubled him. David was "a man after the Lord's own heart" (1Sa_13:14; Act_13:22). Moreover, he did not lack those outward graces which were looked for in a king; "ruddy," i.e. with auburn hair, esteemed to be a beauty in the South and East, where black hair is usual; with "bright eyes" (margin, 1Sa_16:12; 1Sa_16:18); goodly in countenance, and comely in person (1Sa_17:42); besides being "mighty, valiant, a man of war," and altogether "prudent."
Like his nephew, Asahel, his feet were by his God made "like hinds' feet." David adds (Psa_18:33-34): "He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms." Nothing could be more homely than his outward attire, with a staff or wand in hand used for dogs, and a pouch around his neck for carrying a shepherd's necessaries (1Sa_17:40-43). But God gave him "integrity of heart and skillfulness of hands," qualifying him for "feeding and guiding Israel," after that he was "taken from the sheepfolds" (Psa_78:70-72), and "from the sheepcote" (2Sa_7:8). Nor was he ashamed of his early life, but he delighted gratefully to acknowledge before God that he was "the man raised up on high" (2Sa_23:1; compare Psalm 89). The first glimpse we have of David's taste in music and sacred poetry, which afterward appears so preeminent in his psalms, is in his having been chosen as the best minstrel to charm away the evil spirit when it came upon Saul (1Sa_16:15-23).
Thus, the evil spirit departed, but the good Spirit did not come to Saul; and the result was, when David was driven away, the evil returned worse than ever. (Compare 1 Samuel 28 with Mat_12:43-45). David doubtless received further training in the schools of the prophets, who connected their prophesying with the soothing and elevating music of psaltery, tabret, pipe, and harp (1Sa_10:5); for he and Samuel (who also feared Saul's wrath for his having anointed David: 1Sa_16:2) dwelt together in Naioth near Ramah, i.e. in the "habitations" of the prophets there, connected together by a wall or hedge round; a school over which Samuel presided, as Elisha did over those at Gilgal and Jericho; schools not for monastic separation from life's duties, but for mental and spiritual training with a view to greater usefulness in the world. (See NAIOTH.) Thus, he became "the sweet singer of Israel" (2Sa_23:1), "the inventor of instruments of music" (Amo_6:5). Compare 1Ch_23:5; 1Ch_15:16; 1Ch_15:19-21; 1Ch_15:24; 1Ch_25:1; 2Ch_29:25-26.
The use of cymbals, psalteries, and harps, in a form suitable for the temple worship, was by his command; the kinnor (the lyre) and the nebel (the psaltery, a stringed instrument played by the hand) being improved by him and added to the cymbals, as distinguished from the "trumpets." The portion 1 Samuel 17 - 18:2 has been thought a parenthesis explaining how David became first introduced to Saul. But
1Sa_17:12; 1Sa_17:15 show that Saul already had David in attendance upon him, for Jesse his father is called "that Ephrathite" (namely, that one spoken of above), and it is said before David's going forth to meet Goliath that "David went and returned from Saul to feed his father's sheep at Bethlehem." How then shall we account for Saul's question just before the encounter, "Abner, whose son is this youth?" and after it," Whose son art thou, young man?" (1Sa_17:55-58.) Also, is this question consistent with his being already "Saul's armor-bearer and loved greatly" by him (1Sa_16:20-21.)
The title "armor-bearer" was honorary, like our aide-de-camp, e.g. Joab had ten (2Sa_18:15). David merely attended Saul for a time, and returned to tend his father's sheep, where he was when the war broke out in which Goliath was the Philistine champion. Saul's question (1Sa_17:55-58), "Whose son art thou?" must therefore imply more than asking the name of David's father. Evidently, he entered into a full inquiry about him, having lost sight of him since the time David had been in attendance. The words (1Sa_18:1) "when David made an end of speaking unto Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit unto the soul of David," imply a lengthened detail of all concerning his father and himself. The sacred writer of 1 Samuel probably embodied in his narrative some fragments of the authoritative documents mentioned above, stamping them with divine sanction; hence arises a variation between the different documents which would be cleared up if we knew more fully the circumstances. Both are true, though the explanation of how they harmonize can only be conjectured with more or less probability.
The battle was at Ephes-Dammim in the boundary hills of Judah; Saul's army on one side of the valley, the Philistines on the other, the brook Elah (i.e. the Terebinth) running between. Goliath's complete armor contrasted with the ill-armed state of Israel, whose king alone was well armed (1Sa_17:38). (See EPHES-DAMMIM.) For, as Porsena imposed on the Romans the stipulation that they should use no iron except in farm work (Pliny, 34:14), so the Philistines forced the Israelites to have "no smith throughout all their land, lest the Hebrew make them swords or spears" (1Sa_13:19-20). David at this moment, when all the Israelites were dismayed, came to bring supplies for his brethren and to get from them a "pledge" that they were alive and well. Arriving at the wagon rampart (not "the trench" as KJV) round Israel's camp, he heard their well-known war shout (Num_23:21, compare Num_10:35). Leaving his Carriage (the vessels of supplies which he carried) in the hand of the baggage-master, he ran to greet his brethren in the midst of the lines, and there heard Goliath's challenge repeated on the 40th day for the 40th time. (See CARRIAGE.)
The meekness with which David conquered his own spirit, when Eliab charged him with pride, the very sin which prompted Eliab's own angry and uncharitable imputation, was a fit prelude to his conquest of Goliath; self must be overcome before we can overcome others (Pro_16:32; Pro_13:10). The same principle," judge not according to the appearance" (Joh_7:24), as. at his anointing (1Sa_16:7), is set forth in the victory of this "youth" over "a man of war from his youth." Physical strength and size, severed from God; is mere beast strength, and must fall before the seemingly feeblest whose God is the Lord. This is the force of his words: "thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God." Man becomes beastlike when severed from God, and is only manly when he is godly. (See BEAST; DANIEL.) Confidence in God, not self, grounded on past deliverance, and on God's honor being at stake before the assembled people of God and the enemies of God (1Sa_17:45-48), filled him with such alacrity that he "ran" toward the enemy, and with his simple sling and stone smote him to the ground.
His armor David took first to his tent, and afterward to the tabernacle at Nob; his head David brought to Jerusalem (the city, not the citadel, which was then a Jebusite possession). At this point begins the second era of David's life, his persecution by Saul. A word is enough to rouse the jealous spirit, especially in a king towards a subject. That word was spoken by the women, unconscious of the effect of their words while they sang in responsive strains before the king and his champion, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." "They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me but thousands, and what can he have more but the kingdom?" Conscience told him he had forfeited his throne; and remembering Samuel's word after his disobedience as to the Amalekites (1Sa_15:28), "the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbor of thine that is better than thou," he "eyed David" as possibly the "neighbor" meant. Envy moved Saul under the evil spirit to cast his javelin at him, but twice he eluded it.
His already noted (1Sa_16:18) prudence, whereby "he behaved himself wisely in all his ways," was now brought into play; a quality which in dependence upon Jehovah, its Giver (Psa_5:8), he in Psa_101:1, by an undesigned coincidence, professes in the same words his determination to exercise, and which as it was the characteristic of Jacob, Israel's forefather, so it has been prominent in his descendants in all ages, modern as well as ancient, especially in times of persecution; analogous to the instinctive sagacity of hunted animals. So wisely did he behave, and so manifestly was the Lord with him, that Saul the king was afraid of David his subject; "therefore Saul removed him from him and made him captain over a thousand" (1Sa_18:13). Subsequently, he was captain of the king's bodyguard, next to Abner the captain of the host and Jonathan the heir apparent, and sat with the king at table daily (1Sa_20:25; 1Sa_22:14). Next, after Saul broke his promise of giving Merab his older daughter to be David's wife, by giving her to Adriel instead, Michal, Saul's second daughter, became attached to David.
Saul used her as a "snare" that David might fall by the Philistines. The dowry Saul required was 100 foreskins of the Philistines. David brought him 200, which, so far from abating his malice, seeing that the Lord was so manifestly, with David, made him only the more bitter "enemy." But God can raise up friends to His people in their enemy's house; and as Pharaoh's daughter saved Moses, so Saul's son Jonathan and daughter Michal saved David. After having promised in the living Jehovah's name David's safety to Jonathan, and after David had "slain the Philistines with a great slaughter" from which they did not recover until the battle in which Saul fell, Saul hurled his javelin at David with such force that it entered into the wall and then would have killed David in his own house, but that by Michal's help he escaped through a window. Jonathan, his bosom friend, he saw once again and never after. Michal was given to Phaltiel, and was not restored to him until he made her restoration a condition of peace with Abner (1 Samuel 19; 2Sa_3:13-16).
How striking a retribution by the righteous God it was, that Saul himself fell by the very enemy by whom he hoped to kill David! How evidently this and kindred cases must have been in David's mind when he wrote of the sinner, "he made a pit and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made" (Psa_7:15-16); the title of this psalm probably refers to Saul, the black-hearted son of Kish the Benjamite, enigmatically glanced at as "Cush (Ethiopia; compare Jer_13:23; Amo_9:7) the Benjamite." This first act in his long wanderings forms the subject of Psalm 59. The title states the occasion: "when Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him." The "bloody men" are Saul and his minions (Psa_59:2). "The mighty are gathered against me, not for my transgression; ... they run and prepare themselves without my fault" (Psa_59:3-4); herein he appeals to the all-knowing Jehovah, since the earthly king will not believe his protestations of innocence of the treason laid to his charge.
This psalm harmonizes with the independent history, 1Sa_18:8-30; 1Sa_20:30-31; 1Sa_22:8; 1Sa_24:9. This is the "lying" alluded to (Psa_59:12). Saul's "pride" would not brook that David's exploits should be extolled above his; hence flowed the "lying" and malice. His minions, "like a dog returning at evening," thirsting for prey which they had in vain sought throughout the day, came tumultuously besieging David's house "that night" after Saul's vain attempt to destroy him in the day. His doom answered to his sin. Greatly trembling at the Philistine hosts, war-like though he was, but cowed by a guilty conscience, he who had made David to "wander up and down" now in his turn wanders hither and there for that spiritual guidance which Jehovah withheld and at last by night in disguise was a suppliant before the witch of Endor, which sealed his destruction (1 Samuel 28; 1Ch_10:13). As David was "watched" by Saul's messengers (1Sa_19:11) so David's remedy was, "because of his (Saul's) strength will I wait upon (watch unto, Hebrew) Thee."
David, seeing no hope of safety while within Saul's reach, fled to Samuel and dwelt with him at the prophet's school in Naioth. Saul sent messengers to apprehend him; but they and even Saul himself, when he followed, were filled with the spirit of prophecy; and they who came to seize the servant of God joined David in Spirit-taught praises of God; so, God can turn the hearts of His people's foes (Pro_16:7; Pro_21:1); compare Act_18:17 with 1Co_1:1, especially Saul's namesake (Act_7:58 with Acts 9). After taking affectionate leave of Jonathan, David fled to Nob, where the tabernacle was, in order to inquire God's will concerning his future course, as was David's custom. Herein Psa_16:7 undesignedly coincides with
1Sa_22:10; 1Sa_22:15. Ahimelech, alarmed at David's sudden appearance alone, lest he should be charged with some unwelcome commission, asked, "Why art thou alone?" (1 Samuel 21.) (See AHIMELECH.) David, whom neither beast nor giant had shaken from his trust in the Lord, now through temporary unbelief told a lie, which involved the unsuspecting high priest and all his subordinates in one indiscriminate massacre, through Doeg's information to Saul.
Too late David acknowledged to the only survivor, Abiathar, that he had thereby occasioned their death (1 Samuel 22); so liable are even believers to vacillation and to consequent punishment. (See ABIATHAR.) By the lie he gained his immediate object, the 12 shewbread loaves just removed from the table to make place for the new bread on the sabbath, and also Goliath's sword wrapped up in cloth behind the high priest's own ephod (shoulder dress), so precious a dedicatory offering was it deemed. One gain David derived and Saul lost by his slaughter of the priests; Abiathar, the sole survivor of the line of Ithamar, henceforth attended David, and through him David could always inquire of God, in God's appointed way (Psa_16:7, in undesigned coincidence with 1Sa_23:2; 1Sa_23:4; 1Sa_23:6; 1Sa_23:9; 1Sa_30:7-8). Saul on the contrary had bereft himself of those through whom he might have consulted the Lord. So at last, "when the Lord answered him, neither by dreams, by Urim, nor by prophets," he filled up the measure of his guilt by repairing to the witch of Endor.
Surely men's "sin will find them out" (1Sa_28:6-7; Num_32:23). The title of Psalm 52 informs us that it was composed in reference to Saul's cruel act on Doeg's officious tale-telling information. The "boaster in mischief, the mighty man" (the very term used of Saul, 2Sa_1:19), is not the herdsman Doeg, the ready tool of evil, but the master of hero might in animal courage, Saul. True hero might belongs to the godly alone, as Psa_18:25 saith, "with an upright hero (Hebrew for 'man') Thou wilt show Thyself upright." Saul's "lying and all devouring words" (Psa_5:3) are, with undesigned coincidence, illustrated by the independent history (1Sa_24:9), "wherefore hearest thou men's words, ... Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?" Saul's courtiers knew the road to his favor was to malign David. Saul was thus the prime mover of the lying charge. Doeg, for mischief and to curry favor, told the fact; it was Saul who put on it the false construction of treason against David and the innocent priests; compare David's similar language, Psa_17:3-4.
Saul was "the man that made not God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches and strengthened himself in his wickedness" (Psa_52:7). For in undesigned coincidence with this the history (1Sa_22:7-9) represents him saying, "Will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards?" etc., implying that he had all these (as Samuel foretold would be "the manner of the king," 1Sa_8:14) to give, which David had not. Singularly prophetic of Saul's own doom are the Words (Psa_52:5) hinting at his having rooted out Ahimelech's family, "God shall likewise ... pluck thee out of try dwelling-place, and root thee out of the land of the living." Not only Saul, but all his bloody house save Mephibosheth, died by a violent death, by a righteous retribution in kind (1Sa_31:6; 2Sa_21:1-14; Psa_18:25-26). Unbelieving calculation of probabilities, instead of doing the right thing in prayerful faith, led David to flee to Israel's enemies, the Philistines and Achish of Gath.
(See ACHISH.) As Psalm 56 represents him praying for deliverance at this crisis, so Psalm 34 (in alphabetical acrostic arrangement in Hebrew), which by its tranquil tone shows it was composed in a season of quiet, is his permanent memorial of thanksgiving for the deliverance granted to his prayers. The title of Psalm 56, Jonath-elem-rechokim, means "the dumb dove among strangers." David was "dumb," inasmuch as, feeling words useless to enemies who "wrested" all he said (Psa_56:5), he silently left his cause with God (Psa_38:13-14). "Dove" represents his defenseless innocence, while pursued as a bird. He longed to have "wings like a dove to fly away and be at rest" (Psa_55:6-7; 1Sa_26:20). The "strangers" are the Philistines, among whom he was sojourning in his "wanderings" (Psa_56:8). The title of Psalm 34 says "he changed his behavior" or "concealed his intellect" (Hengstenberg), i.e. feigned madness," scrabbling on the doors and letting his spittle fall on his heard" (1Sa_21:10-15): so that Achish "(See ABIMELECH", (literally, father of a king, hereditary not elective monarch) drove him away, and he departed.
"Goliath's sword" perhaps betrayed him, for Achish's servants immediately said, "Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing, ... David hath slain his ten thousands?" The sword which he had dishonestly got from Ahimelech now cuts the ground from under him, before Abimelech (Num_32:23), and the song of his former triumph is the very occasion of their interpreting it to mean his kingship. The title of Psalm 56 implies he was "taken" prisoner, and only escaped by feigning madness. He now became an independent outlaw (1Sa_22:1), and gathered a band of fugitives through debt or distress, in the cave some miles S.W. of Bethlehem, the largest in the land, (See ADULLAM. "His father's house (probably including Zeruiah's sons, certainly Abishai: 2Sa_23:13; 2Sa_23:18) went down there to him," an appropriate expression, for the path goes down from Bethlehem to it toward the Dead Sea. As formerly a shepherd he knew every winding of the cavern, as the Arabs now do.
Some of Canaanite origin joined him, as Ahimelech the Hittite (1Sa_26:6). Long after we read of "600 men coming after him from Gath" (2Sa_15:18). As Psalm 56 refers to his stay with the Philistine king, so Psalm 57 title, "when he fled from Saul in the cave," refers to his subsequent stay in the cave of Adullam. The "cave" symbolizes a gloomy position (Heb_11:38); and perhaps never did David's position seem darker than at that time, as he subsequently sets forth in the maschil (spiritual instruction) Psalm 142, for the edification and comfort of God's people when in similar cavelike positions of gloom and trial. From Adullam he went to Mizpeh ("watchtower, mountain height") of Moab, the Moabite royal residence on Mount Pisgah, and there, on the ground of kindred through Ruth the Moabitess, committed his aged parents to the charge of the king to secure them from Saul's enmity. This was the time probably when Nahash the Ammonite king showed him kindness (2Sa_10:2). Here too his future biographer, the prophet Gad, whose acquaintance he may have made when among the prophets at Naioth, joined him.
His name makes it possible he was a Gadite, the forerunner of the 11 Gadite chieftains who crossed the then overflowing Jordan to reach David shortly afterward. But now he was on the E. side of Jordan in Mizpeh-hold. Gad's warning, "Abide not in the hold, depart into Judah" (1Sa_22:5), implies that he was not to seek refuge outside the Holy Land, but trust in the Lord as his refuge. Tradition reports that the Moabites murdered his parents; if true, it must have been subsequently, since here it is implied David's parents left the hold when David left it. One thing is certain, that many years afterward David treated the subjugated Moabites with extraordinary severity," making them lie down upon the ground, and then with two lines measuring to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive," i.e. killing two-thirds of their fighting men, and sparing only one third. If in the interim, in violation of the rights of hospitality and kindred, they treacherously murdered his parents, his exceptional severity is accounted for. In Psa_60:8, "Moab is my washpot," he marks their ignominious subjection to the slave's office of washing the feet of the master.
Annually they had to pay 10,000 lambs and as many rams (2Ki_3:4; Isa_16:1). In Psalm 27 he alludes to this severance from his parents, who possibly (such is man's selfishness in calamity) blamed him for their exile: "when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up" (yaaspheeni), as a child disowned by its parents, and taken up by the adoptive father from the streets; compare Eze_16:5-6. The "sorrow multiplying" idolatries surrounding him, while among the Philistines and in Moab, and his prayer for preservation amidst all, suggested the related pair of psalms, Ps 16 and Psalm 17 "Preserve me, O God, for in Thee do I put my trust" (Psa_16:1); "their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another God"; in contrast to which his blessed experience is, "the Lord is the portion of mine inheritance," "the lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea I have a goodly heritage." The names for idol gods and sorrows are almost identical; 'alztseboth, 'atsabbim; a bad augury for those who "hasten after" (as one buying a wife at the price of a costly dowry, Hebrew) them.
In undesigned coincidence with this, David at Hachilah, in his appeal to Saul, fixes on this as the chief hardship of his exile from the Holy Land; they who stirred thee up against me" have driven me out from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve other gods:" The Moabite stone of Dibon strikingly confirms the Scripture representation of the free contact carried on between Israelites and Moabites, not being impeded by difference of language; Moab, if sprung from Lot as the Bible states, would use a language not widely different from that of Lot's uncle Abraham's descendants; so the Dibon stone is inscribed (about 900 B.C.) with a language almost identical with the Hebrew of the Bible histories, Samuel and Kings. Next, David by Gad's warning fled to Hareth forest. (See HARETH.) But hearing that the Philistines were robbing the threshing floors of Keilah (in the lowland of Judah toward Philistia), love of country prevailed over every thought of his own safety.
(See KEILAH.) But first he inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go, ... and save Keilah?"
Upon receiving a favorable response twice, probably through Gad, he went in spite of the remonstrance of his men, whose faith yielded to fears. He saved the city, killed many Philistines, and carried away their cattle. His self-devotion in behalf of Keilah was rewarded by treacherous ingratitude on the part of the citizens so saved. For, on Saul's secretly plotting mischief against him while shut up in Keilah, he learned by inquiry of the Lord, through Abiathar with the ephod, that the men of Keilah would betray him if he stayed, a type of Him who was betrayed by those whom He came to save (1 Samuel 23). From Keilah David and his 600 men (to which number they had increased from 400 in Adullam, 1Sa_22:2,) going to a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph, dispersed in the fastnesses "wheresoever they could go." It is to this occasion that Psalm 11 refers: "in the Lord put I my trust, how say ye to my soul, flee as a bird to your mountain." Literally he did flee; but the flight from which his spiritual instincts recoiled (compare Neh_6:11) was that from trust in Jehovah; though his followers' faith was giving way, especially when even Saul was claiming God as on his side against David (1Sa_23:3; 1Sa_23:7.)
The image of a "bird" is the very one the independent history represents him using while in the same neighborhood (1Sa_26:20): "the king of Israel is come out as when one doth hunt a partridge in the mountains." At an alarm birds flee from the open plain to the covert of a hill. "The wicked bending their bow ... that they may privily shoot at the upright" (Psa_11:2), points to the treacherous Ziphites tracking "his foot" (the margin of 1Sa_23:22), and guiding Saul and his Benjamite bowmen toward David. They "compassed" him (as Psa_17:9 expresses it, in agreement with the history) so closely at the wilderness of Maon, they on the one side while he was on the other, that David only by "making haste got away." God's providence interposed, for just as Saul was on the verge of overtaking him the Philistines unintentionally saved David by invading Judah and so requiring Saul in haste to meet them, the very enemies by whom Saul had hoped to kill David (1Sa_18:21)!
The name Sela-hammah-lekoth, "the rock of divisions," marked the spot where David climbed down one side while Saul was surrounding the mountain on the other side. Psalm 54 was written "when the Ziphims came and said to Saul, Doth not David hide himself with us?" Twice they informed Saul (1 Samuel 23; 1 Samuel 26). The exact words corresponding in both show that 1Sa_23:19 is the occasion meant in Psalm 54 "Strangers are risen up against me" (Psa_54:3); i.e., the Ziphites, who by the ties of country ought to have been friends, are behaving as hostile "strangers"; compare Isa_25:5; Psa_120:5. So in Psa_54:5 the" enemies" are shoreray, "those who watch me," liers in wait. Next, David dwelt in the strongholds of Engedi ("the fountain of the goat or kid"), "the rocks of the wild goats" (1 Samuel 24). This was in the neighborhood of the Dead Sea, the scene of the destruction by fire of the guilty cities of the plain. How naturally here the idea would suggest itself (Psa_11:6), "upon the wicked Jehovah shall rain fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest" ("the wrath wind," zil'aphot; compare" the breath of the Lord," Isa_30:33).
See last paragraph for the undesigned coincidence between Psa_11:1-2 and 1Sa_26:20-25. Here Providence put Saul the persecutor in his victim David's power. For Saul went into one of the caves with which the chalk and limestone conical hills W. of the Dead Sea abound, "to cover his feet" (to perform nature's necessities, Jdg_3:24; i.e. to defecate) while David's men were lurking in the sides. David silently cut off Saul's skirt on his spreading out his long robe before and behind. But though his men regarded it as an opportunity for killing him, appointed by Jehovah, David said," Jehovah forbid that I should ... stretch forth mine hand against ... Jehovah's anointed." Nay, his conscience even "smote him because he had cut off Saul's skirt." After Saul had left the cave David cried after him, "wherefore hearest thou men's words, ... Behold, David seeketh thy hurt?" So in Psa_7:3 he says, "if I have done this," namely, what my calumniators allege, "if there be iniquity in my hands." How undesignedly and naturally his words in the history coincide: "My father, see the skirt of try robe in my hand, for in that I killed thee not, know there is neither evil nor transgression in mine hand, yet thou huntest my soul."
The same favorite expressions occur in the psalm, "lest he tear my soul" (Psa_7:2; Psa_7:5), and "persecute me" (Psa_7:1), as in 1Sa_24:14, "whom dost thou persecute?" (Hebrew) Saul was astonished at David's magnanimity as something above the mere natural man:" if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? Wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day." How natural that the charge which Saul had alleged against David as his plea for persecuting him, but which really lay at Saul's own door, should be uppermost in David's mind: Psa_7:4, "if I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me." Moreover, the same phrases occur in 1 Samuel 26, describing the similar magnanimity of David toward Saul (1Sa_26:18), and the same allusion to men's calumnies against David to gain Saul's favor. In Psa_7:3-5 he defends himself against these calumnies; and the title, "concerning the words," refers to them, for the real calumniator was Saul himself, and his flatterers uttered the calumnies to please him, therefore the title attributes "the words" to "Cush the Benjamite," i.e. the Ethiopian (black) hearted son of Kish of Benjamin = Saul.
As in 1Sa_24:12; 1Sa_26:15, David says, "The Lord judge between me and thee ... but mine hand shall not be upon thee; the Lord render to every man his righteousness"; so in Psa_7:8; Psa_7:11 "Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness ... God judgeth the righteous." In both alike appears the same committing of his righteous cause to the righteous God (compare Psa_18:20). Jehovah's "whetted sword" and "arrows ordained against the persecutors" literally smote Saul, in accordance with David's prophecy in Psa_7:13, for he was smitten by the arrows of the very Philistines by whom he had hoped to smite David, and he fell by his own sword (1Sa_18:17; 1Sa_18:21; compare 1Sa_31:3-4). David, of whom Saul had said, Let the hand of the Philistines be upon him, was actually saved by them (1Sa_27:1-3), it was Saul who was slain by them. So accurately was the retributive law fulfilled; "he made a pit and digged, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come upon his own pate" (Psa_7:15-16). The last interview between Saul and David was further S. in the same region, at the hill of Hachilah before Jeshimon, where Saul lay in the camp with the usual fortification of wagons and baggage around (1Sa_26:5 margin). David abode in the wilderness, and having ascertained by spies Saul's presence, sallied forth with Ablshai, and found Saul asleep, with his spear stuck in the ground beside him. Abishai would have smitten him with the spear, but David interposed: "Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless?" adding prophetically, "the Lord shall smite him ... or he shall descend into battle and perish" (compare 1Sa_31:6). This phrase became a motto to him, "Destroy not," Altaschith, prefixed to Psalm 57; 58; 59, and copied by Asaph, Psalm 75 He could say "Destroy not" to God, when he "destroyed not" his enemy (Mat_18:32-35; Mat_26:52).
Contenting himself with taking Saul's cruse, and the spear which had so nearly transfixed him, David appealed to the persecutor, whose heart was touched, and so David overcame evil with good. While in Maon David sought contributions from Nabal of Carmel (1 Samuel 25), of the house of Caleb but sadly degenerate from his wholehearted ancestor; David's men had been "very good" to Nabal's shepherds, neither hurting men nor taking property though in their power, yea "being a wall unto them both by night and day." But Nabal churlishly replied, "Shall I take my bread, my water, and my flesh (the repeated "my" marks his covetous God-forgetting selfishness, Hos_2:5), and give it to men whom I know not from whence they be? There be many servants (glancing at David) nowadays that break away every man from his master." David here was strongly tempted to that which he had abstained from in the case of Saul, personal revenge. Abigail, Nabal's wife, by her timely present of bread, wine, sheep, and fruit, saved herself and her house when David was bent on vengeance for having been requited evil for good.
With wise unselfishness she said, "Upon me let this iniquity be ... let not my lord regard this man of Belial, for as his name is so is he; Nabal ("fool") is his name, and folly is with him." At the same time she salved over the dishonor Nabal had done to David personally:" my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord (compare 1Sa_18:17); yet a man is risen ... to seek thy soul; but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life, ... and the souls of thine enemies shall the Lord sling out as out of the middle of a sling," with feminine tact alluding to the great achievement of David, his slaying Goliath with a sling. In ten days after Nabal's unreasonable and drunken feast, from which he awoke only to hear of his imminent danger, the Lord struck Nabal down in such a way that he died. Then David blessed Jehovah for having" "pleaded his cause" (the phrase in the history coinciding undesignedly with that in Psa_35:1) against Nabal, and having kept David from self-revenge; compare Rom_12:19.
Another coincidence between David's language in the independent history and that in his sacred poetry appears from comparing
1Sa_25:39, "the Lord hath returned the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head," with Psa_7:16, "his mischief shall return upon his own head." Scripture, which calls things by their right names, designates the unbelieving sinner a "fool," however wise in his own eyes and those of the world because gilded by worldly success. David could not fail to be deeply impressed with this in Nabal's case, whose name expressed his self-indulging, unbelieving folly. Having taken Abigail as his wife, David must have often thought of the remarkable providence under which he met her. How naturally then in the psalm which was indited for private devotion in the form of Psalm 53, and for public use in the sanctuary in the form of Psalm 14, does he stigmatize godlessness as the secret spring of the FOLLY of worldlings: "the fool (Nabal) hath said in his heart, No God!" How suddenly "great fear" came upon him in the midst of his godless feasting, "when no fear was" (Psa_53:5).
For when told, in the morning after his revel, of his danger, "his heart died within him, and he became as a stone"; the same heart which just before had been so "merry within him"; like the rich man who in the midst of his self-aggrandizing and indulging plans received the awful summons," Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee" (Luk_12:16-20). The death of Saul, after he had "played the fool and erred exceedingly" (1Sa_26:21), and the utter "perishing" of Aamlek's "memorial with them," because their "hand was against the throne of the Lord" (Exo_17:16 margin), illustrate the same principle as set forth in David's Psalm 9, with the title Muth-Labben, i.e. an anagram for Nabal," concerning the dying of the fool," the phrase of David again in 2Sa_3:33. (See AMALEK.) Unbelieving fear ("I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul") and human calculations (such is the vacillation even in believers) induced David again to seek refuge among the Philistines; but now no longer a fugitive, but captain of an organized band, 600 men with their wives and families.
Achish of Gath (son of the former Achish says tradition), according to the usage of eastern monarchs, gave him Ziklag for his maintenance, which thenceforth appertained to Judah (1 Samuel 27). So did his power grow that a band of Benjamites, of Saul's brethren, right-handed and left-handed slingers and archers, with their captains, including Ismaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man over the 30, joined him here (1Ch_12:1-7), and he stayed "a full year and four months." David during his stay smote the Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites, the very people the sparing of whom in disobedience to God was the cause of Saul's rejection; but he was guilty of a deception to Achish, saying his inroad was upon the Jerahmeelites and Kenites, nomadic races on the S. of Judah, allied to Israel. But for God's providential interposition his putting himself in this false position would have been fatal to his peace of conscience, for he would have had to join with the pagan Philistines in the battle of Gilboa against his own countrymen.
He narrowly escaped by the protest of the Philistine nobles (1 Samuel 28-29). Psalm 34, referring probably to both his stays in Philistia (see title), celebrates how "the angel of the Lord encamped around" him because he "feared" God, and "delivered" him; and how "the Lord redeemeth the soul of His servants," besides "keeping all his bones" so that "not one of them is broken." On the march toward Gilboa, and as he turned back to Ziklag, several captains of the thousands of Manasseh joined him, "all mighty men of valor," so that his army increased "day by day until it was a great host, like the host of God" (1Ch_12:19-22). Upon returning, he discovered that the Amalekites had burned Ziklag with fire (1 Samuel 30), and they carried away all its inhabitants - women and children - as captives. "David was greatly distressed," for besides his own deep grief, his two wives Ahinoam and Abigail being among those carried off, the people with characteristic fickleness "bade stone him." But distress now brought out into strong relief his faith which had vacillated in his coming to Philistia, so "he encouraged himself in the Lord his God."
In undesigned coincidence with this representation, in the history of his fears silenced by his faith, in Psalm 56, which commemorates his two stays in Philistia, he says (Psa_56:3), "what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee." Consulting, as was his custom, God through Abiathar and the ephod, and receiving a favorable response, he pursued with 400 men (probably including some of the recently joined Manassites, 1Ch_12:21), leaving 200 who were faint at the brook Besor. By an Egyptian's information he came upon the Amalekites and killed all except 400 who escaped on camels, and recovered all the captives and spoil. Besides, he took large spoil belonging to Amalek, and of it distributed "presents to all the places where David and his men were wont to haunt." This suggested his language Psa_68:18, "Thou hast received gifts for men," as explained in relation to the Antitype (Eph_4:8). The law of division of plunder equally, among those engaged in the field and those guarding the baggage, was established (1Sa_25:13; 1Sa_30:25).
David's generosity to his fallen enemy appears in his punishment of the Amalekite, who, bringing news of Saul's death, and carrying to David the crown and bracelet stripped from him, confessed that he had put an end to Saul. David composed the beautiful elegy on Saul and Jonathan (2Sa_1:17-27), which he bade the children of Judah to be "taught" (compare title Psalm 60) in, designated "the bow" song, not as KJV "he bade them teach the children of Judah (the use of) the bow." Having first consulted the Lord, as always, David by His direction went up to Hebron, the sacred city where the patriarchs were buried and Caleb had his inheritance, and was there anointed king over Judah, which he continued to be 7 1/2 years. His noble-heartedness appears in his thanks to the men of Jabesh Gilead for burying Saul: "Blessed be ye of the Lord, that ye have showed this kindness ... now the Lord show kindness and truth unto you... I also will requite you this kindness." What a contrast to Saul's thanks to the Ziphites for betraying David: "Blessed be ye of the Lord (thus claiming God's sanction to treachery, malice, and bloodthirsty persecution of the innocent), for ye have compassion of me." Ishbosheth was not made king at Mahanaim until after David had reigned five years.
Probably all the country, except Judah in the S. and part of the transjordanic tribes on the E., were under the Philistine dominion after the fatal battle of Gilboa. Gradually, Israel recovered its land, and Abner at the close of the five years made Ishbosheth king. David however "waxed stronger and stronger," while "Saul's house waxed weaker and weaker" (2 Samuel 2-3). After a skirmish, disastrous to Ishbosheth's cause, that weak king offended Abner by charging him with an intrigue with Rizpah, Saul's concubine. Abner embraced David's side and procured David's wife Michal for him, severing her from her second husband Phaltiel. Then followed Joab's murder of Abner, which David felt himself politically unable to punish; but left the avenging of his blood to God, "these men the sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me, the Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness" (2Sa_3:39), in coincidence with David's Psa_28:4. David paid every honor to his memory, following the bier, and composing a dirge on his death. (See ABNER.)
Next followed Ishbosheth's murder and David's punishment of the murderers, Rechab and Baanah, who thought to gratify David by bringing his enemy's head. The coincidence between 2Sa_4:9, "as the Lord liveth who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity," and Psa_31:5; Psa_31:7, is obvious. His sense of justice, even in the case of adversaries, his dependence continually on Jehovah, and humble ascription of all that he was to Him alone, kept him from behaving proudly in prosperity. Then he was anointed for the third time king, namely, over Israel (his reign lasting 33 years besides the previous 7 1/2 years over Judah), upon his making a league with them; and they kept a three days' joyous feast (1Ch_12:38-40). Contingents from every tribe formed his army, which he put under Joab's command. The men of Issachar are especially noted as "men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do," also of Zebulun men "expert in war, with all instruments of war ... which could keep rank, and were not of a double heart."
The Aaronites Jehoiada and Zadok, then young, of the rival house of Eleazar. also joined David, in addition to Abiathar of the house of Ithamar already with him (1Ch_12:27-28; 1Ch_27:5). Prosperity now tested David. He, in conformity with the usage of eastern kings, but in opposition to Deu_17:17, multiplied wives to himself besides Abigail, Ahinoam, and Michal: Maachah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur, whom probably he took in his raid (1Sa_27:8), Haggith, Abital, Eglah. Beauty was his snare; and Ammon, Absalom, and Adonijah, the offspring of these connections, proved his subsequent curse. David's martial achievements as king of the nation began with taking from the Jebusites the stronghold of Zion, thenceforth the city of David and the capital. The Jebusites had said that, so secure was their fort, the blind and the lame would suffice to defend it. David said, "Whosoever ... smites ... the lame and blind (i.e. all the defenders of Zion, whom David designates derisively after the Jebusites' words) hated of David's soul, he shall be chief and captain."
For "getteth up to the gutter" as Keil translated it, "whosoever smites the Jebusites, let him hurl into the waterfall (at the foot of the precipice) both the lame and the blind, hated of David's soul." Thence the proverb arose, "the blind and the lame (i.e. repulsive persons) shall not come into the house." Hence, the extraordinariness of their entering the temple and being healed by Christ (
Mat_21:14; compare Lev_21:17-18). Others take it as proverbial of an impregnable fort; "the blind and lame are there, let him enter if he can." The objection to this is, David did enter in spite of "the lame and the blind"; how then could the proverb originate of an impregnable house or fortress? Thus, Joab won the commander-in-chiefship (1 Chronicles 11; 2 Samuel 5). The Philistines were the first to assail David. With characteristic dependence on God, David first consulted God's will, and then assailed them. Attributing the victory to Jehovah alone, "the Lord hath broken forth upon mine enemies as the breach of waters," he called the place Baal Perazim (the plain of breaches).
Their idols he took and burned. On their spreading themselves in the valley of Rephaim again, David once more consulted Jehovah, and on being told to "turn away from them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees," instead of the impatience and disobedience of Saul (1Sa_13:8-14; 1Sa_14:18-19; 1Sa_15:22-23) he patiently took God's time and God's way, and so prevailed (1 Chronicles 14). Compare Isa_28:16; Isa_28:21. The imagery of the thunderstorm in Psa_18:7-14 and Psalm 29 may allude to this breaking forth of the Lord on the flood of enemies, and so giving His people peace. Hiram of Tyre now became David's ally, and helped with cedars toward building his palace (2Sa_5:11; 2Sa_7:2). David's next concern was to remove the ark from the forest town, Kirjath Jearim or Baale of Judah, where it had lain mostly neglected during Saul's reign (1Ch_13:3), to the tabernacle which David pitched for it in the city of David.
After a three months stay of the ark at Obed Edom's house, owing to the breach upon Uzzah because of irreverent rashness (2 Samuel 6; compare 1Sa_6:19, a sad contrast to God's breaking forth upon David's enemies at Baal Perazim), David brought it up, stripping off his royal robe in the presence of the symbol of Jehovah's throne, the true King, and in a linen ephod, to mark his assuming the priestly along with the kingly function, "dancing before the Lord with all his might," The sacrosanctity of the ark, thus solemnly vindicated by the breach on Uzzah, naturally suggested the stress laid on holiness as the requisite for dwelling in God's house in Psalm 15; Psalm 24, written on this occasion. In Psalm 14 the words "when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of His people Jacob shall rejoice" give no ground for assigning the date to the Babylonian captivity. It is a Hebrew phrase for reversing misfortune. In Jdg_18:30 "the captivity of the land" means the capture of the ark by the pagan Philistines (1Sa_4:10-11; 1Sa_7:4). Psa_78:60-61 proves this, "God forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh and delivered His strength into captivity."
When this captivity was reversed by the bringing back of the ark to Kirjath Jearim, "they of Bethshemesh rejoiced to see it," just as David says "Jacob shall rejoice." The hitherto victorious Philistines were defeated by Jehovah's thunderings, through Samuel's intercession at Mizpeh, and so "were in great fear where no fear was," i.e. when they had supposed they had nothing to fear from the prostrated Israelites. God's presence "in the congregation of the righteous" was the cause; so "God scattered the bones of him that encamped against" Israel (Psa_53:5). David's "bringing again" the ark and settling it permanently on Zion amidst all "Israel's gladness" completed the reversal of Israel's captivity, prayed for in Psalm 14. So Psalm 15 appropriately follows. The settlement of the ark on Zion marked Jehovah's new relation to His people, as manifesting Himself in Jerusalem, thenceforth to be the center of the nation's devotions. Ephraim is gently warned by David's contemporary musician, Asaph, not to resist this appointment of God for transferring the seat of worship from Shiloh of Israel to Zion of Judah (Psa_78:67-71).
David's love for God's abode appears in Psa_26:8, "Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thine house and the place where Thine honor dwelleth," harmonizing with the history, "I have set my affection to the house of my God" (1Ch_29:3). On the occasion of bringing up the ark David convened a national assembly, the Levites foremost (1Ch_13:2; 1Ch_13:5-6; 1Ch_15:3-4), and appointed the music, Heman, Asaph, Ethan, with cymbals, others with psalteries and harps, and Chenaniah chief of the Levites for song. David as a king priest offered burnt offerings and peace offerings and blessed the people in the name of the Lord (1Ch_16:2; 2Sa_6:17). Michal's contemptuous reception of him when he returned to bless his house (for public piety should be followed by home piety) was the only drawback to the joy of that day (1Ch_15:29; 1Ch_16:43; 2Sa_6:16-23).
As Psalm 101 embodies David's good resolutions, of a thankful perfect walk, in entering his new house, followed by Psalm 102 implying distress and praying for deliverance, and Psalm 103 rendering the thanksgiving here resolved on, the three forming a trilogy; so Psalm 15; Psalm 24, were composed to commemorate the bringing up of the ark to David's tabernacle for it on Zion, while the Mosaic tabernacle and altar remained at Gibeon (1Ch_16:39). The anonymous pilgrim song, Psalm 132, was probably composed like most of the "songs of degrees" (i.e. going up to the three great feasts at Jerusalem) after the return from Babylon, pleading that Jehovah should remember David's former zeal for His house, as a ground for remembering David's race now in affliction (compare Psalm 89). The progress of the ark's removal is traced; while we were "in Ephratah (Bethlehem) we heard of it," as a mere hearsay, "we found it in" Kirjath Jearim = the city of the woods.
Then the prayer: "arise, O Lord, into Thy rest; Thou and the ark of Thy strength; let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let Thy saints shout for joy," is followed by God's immediate answer exactly corresponding to the prayer: "Jehovah hath chosen Zion ... this is My rest for ever ... I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her saints shall shout aloud for joy." Fragments of David's poetry he at this time delivered into the hand of Asaph for the tabernacle service (1Ch_16:8-36). Long afterward they were embodied in Psalm 96, which comforts Judah, when threatened by Assyria, with the prospect of Messiah's coming kingdom; also Psalm 105; Psalm 106, which console the Jews, now probably in the Babylonian captivity, with the thought that God's promise of Canaan to their fathers when "few and strangers" there gives hope that God will restore their covenanted possession, and pardon their unfaithfulness now that they turn to Him (Psa_105:12; Psa_105:23-44; Psa_105:45; Psa_106:3-6; Psa_106:44-48).
God overruled David's words, which in his time applied to the captive Jews taken by Edomite invaders (Psalm 60's title), to suit the nation in the Babylonian captivity, and at present also in their long dispersion. With David begins the widely extending Israelite monarchy. The sudden rise of Israel to power and magnificence in the reigns of David and Solomon for above 50 years, and its collapse at Solomon's death, seem at first sight inconsistent with its position midway between the great rival powers, Egypt and Assyria. But in the East such sudden rises and falls are common, as in the case of Babylon, Media, Persia, Timur, Jenghis Khan. Moreover the monuments show that exactly at that time Egypt and Assyria were exceptionally weak. Egypt after Rameses III's time (1200 B.C.) ceased to be aggressive in the Syrian direction, and continued until Shishak's (Sheshonk's) accession (990 B.C.) quiet and unwarlike. Assyria about 1100 B.C. ruled as far as the Orontes and threatened Palestine, but was defeated by an Aramaean monarch 1050 B.C. and driven again beyond the Euphrates.
Syria revolted, and Assyria declined in power until 884 B.C. when again Assur-nazir-pal crossed the Euphrates and threatened Syria. For an Israelite empire to arise it was necessary that both its powerful neighbors should be weak. Their simultaneous weakness was precisely at the time of the rise of the Israelite empire under Saul, David, and Solomon, between 1100 and 990 B.C. Solomon alone of David's sons seems to have possessed his father's higher qualities. Solomon's line became united with Absalom's daughter or granddaughter, Maachah, and so carried on the royal race. David's strong parental affection betrayed him into too fond indulgence of his sons (2Sa_13:31-36; 2Sa_14:33; 2Sa_18:5; 2Sa_18:33; 2Sa_19:4; 1Ki_1:6). David "had not displeased Adonijah at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?" Thus, David laid up scourges in store for himself. David's militia was twelve divisions of 24,000 each, on duty month by month (1 Chronicles 27).
His bodyguard numbered 600 "mighty men," subdivided into three bands of 200 each with "the three" over them, and 30 bodies of 20 each with "the thirty" over them. "The captain of the mighty men" commanded the whole, namely, Abishai David's nephew (1Ch_11:9-47; 2Sa_23:8-39). Gad "the seer" represented the old prophetic schools, and accompanied his exile. Nathan's first appearance was to announce the continuation of his dynasty (of which he was the founder and is therefore called "the patriarch," Act_2:29) and kingdom. So there were two high priests, Abiathar and Zadok, representing the two rival Aaronic houses, Ithamar and Eleazar. Also there were the masters of music, Asaph, Heman Samuel's grandson, and Jeduthun (1 Chronicles 25). David was the great center of all, at once himself the soldier, prophet, priest (2Sa_6:14; 2Sa_6:17-18) in acts (his sons are called so 2Sa_8:18, Hebrew for "chief rulers"), and poet musician. Such a combination was never before or since realized, and shall only be eclipsed by the divine Antitype "sitting and ruling upon His throne, and being a priest upon His throne" (Zec_6:13).
Within ten years from capturing Zion David reduced Philistia on the W., Moab on the E (2 Samuel 8; 2Sa_23:20), Syria on the N.E. as far as the Euphrates, Edom on the S., and Ammon S.E. The capture of Rubbah, at which David was present, crowned the last war, in which the ark accompanied the host (
2Sa_11:11; 2Sa_12:31). The cruel punishment inflicted upon the fighting prisoners was a righteous retribution for Ammon's own cruelties which they sought to inflict on Israel (1Sa_11:2; Amo_1:13). Solomon "the peaceful" was at this time so named in token of universal peace secured. David had now "a great name like unto the name of the great men in the earth" (2Sa_7:9). Psalm 68, modeled after Deborah's song (Psa_68:7-8; compare Jdg_4:14; Jdg_5:4, and Psa_68:18 with Jdg_5:12), commemorates the ark's return to Zion in triumph, after God bad scattered the Ammonites before him; compare Psa_68:1-24 with Num_10:35-36.
"Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head" (Psa_21:3) alludes to the costly crown of Ammon (2Sa_12:31). Psalm 44 is Israel's cry of distress sung by the sons of Korah when Edom had invaded the Holy Land during the absence of David and his warriors, who were then striving with Aram of the two floods and Aram Zobah, on the Euphrates. Israel's slain lay unburied until Joab returned from smiting Edom. The scattering among the pagan (Psa_44:11) was only partial (2Sa_8:13; 1Ch_18:12; 1Ki_11:15-16). Psalm 60 was composed by David subsequently when he had beaten down Aram Naharaim (Syria of the two floods), 2 Samuel 8; 2 Samuel 10. Joab did not return until he had, at the head of the main army, conquered fully the Syrians. The victory over Edom in the Valley of Salt is variously attributed to David as king, Joab as commander in chief, and Abishai under Joab (2Sa_8:13; 2Sa_10:10; 1Ch_18:12). Abishai killed 6,000, and Joab slew 12,000.
Psa_60:4 alludes to the victory as the earnest that the expedition at this time setting out to occupy Edom and Petra, "their strong city" of rock, for its invasion of Israel, would succeed. "Over Edom will I cast out my shoe" in token of taking possession of Edom. The casting of the shoe implied transference of possession (Rth_4:7; Jos_10:24; compare Psa_60:8-9; Psa_60:12 with 2Sa_8:14). Psalm 108 passes from the literal Edom to the foes of God's people in general, of which it was the type (Psa_108:9-10). The three years famine (2 Samuel 21) seems to have been chronologically earlier, and only placed where it is as no opportunity for its insertion occurred earlier. "God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." Saul, who had been so little zealous in fulfilling God's commands against Amalek (1Sa_15:20), "in his zeal to Israel" sought to slay the Gibeonites t
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Da'vid. (well-beloved). The son of Jesse. His life may be divided into three portions:
i. His youth before his introduction to the court of Saul;
ii. His relations with Saul;
iii. His reign.
1. The early life of David contains, in many important respects, the antecedents of his future career. It appears that David was the youngest son, probably the youngest child, of a family of ten, and was born in Bethlehem B.C. 1085.
The first time that David appears in history at once admits us to the whole family circle. The annual sacrificial feast is being held when Samuel appears, sent by God to anoint one of Jesse's sons as they pass before him, 1Sa_16:6-10, Samuel sends for the youngest, David, who was "keeping the sheep," and anoints him. 1Sa_16:11-13.
As David stood before Samuel, we are enabled to fix his appearance at once in our minds. He was of short stature, with red or auburn hair, such as is not unfrequently seen in his countrymen of the East at the present day. In later life, he wore a beard. His bright eyes are specially mentioned, 1Sa_16:12, and generally he was remarkable for the grace of his figure and countenance ("fair of eyes," "comely," "goodly"), 1Sa_16:12; 1Sa_16:18; 1Sa_17:42, well made and of immense strength and agility. His swiftness and activity made him like a wild gazelle, his feet like hart's feet, and his arms strong enough to break a bow of steel. Psa_18:33-34.
After the anointing, David resumes his accustomed duties, and the next we know of him, he is summoned to the court to chase away the king's madness by music, 1Sa_16:14-19, and in the successful effort of David's harp, we have the first glimpse into that genius for music and poetry which was afterwards consecrated in the Psalms.
After this, he returned to the old shepherd life again. One incident alone of his solitary shepherd life has come down to us — his conflict with the lion and the bear in defence of his father's flocks. 1Sa_17:34-35. It was some years after this, that David suddenly appears before his brothers in the camp of the army, and hears the defiant challenge of the Philistine giant Goliath. With his shepherd's sling and five small pebbles, he goes forth and defeats the giant. 1Sa_17:40-51.
2. Relations with Saul. — We now enter on a new aspect of David's life. The victory over Goliath had been a turning point of his career. Saul inquired his parentage, and took him finally to his court. Jonathan was inspired by the romantic friendship which bound the two youths together to the end of their lives.
Unfortunately, David's fame proved the foundation of that unhappy jealousy of Saul towards him which, mingling with the king's constitutional malady, poisoned his whole future relations to David. His position in Saul's court seems to have been first, armor-bearer, 1Sa_16:21; 1Sa_18:2, then, captain over a thousand, 1Sa_18:13, and finally, on his marriage with Michal, the king's second daughter, he was raised to the high office of captain of the king's body-guard, second only, if not equal, to Abner, the captain of the host, and Jonathan, the heir apparent.
David was not chiefly known for his successful exploits against the Philistines, by one of which he won his wife, and drove back the Philistine power with a blow from which it only rallied at the disastrous close of Saul's reign. He also still performed from time to time the office of minstrel; but the successive attempts of Saul upon his life convinced him that he 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 one and assisted by the other, he escaped by night, and was, from thenceforward, a fugitive.
He at first found a home at the court of Achish, among the Philistines; but his stay was short. Discovered possibly by "the sword of Goliath," his presence revived the national enmity of the Philistines against their former conqueror, and he only escaped by feigning madness. 1Sa_21:13.
His first retreat was the cave of Adullam. In this vicinity, he was joined by his whole family, 1Sa_22:1, and by a motley crowd of debtors and discontented men, 1Sa_22:2, which formed the nucleus of his army.
David's life, for the next few years, was made up of a succession of startling incidents. He secures an important ally in Abiathar, 1Sa_23:6, his band of 400, at Adullam, soon increased to 600, 1Sa_23:13, he is hunted by Saul from place to place like a partridge. 1Sa_23:14; 1Sa_23:22; 1Sa_23:25-29; 1Sa_24:1-22; 1Sa_24:26.
He marries Abigail and Ahinoam. 1Sa_25:42-43. Finally comes the news of the battle of Gilboa and the death of Saul and Jonathan. 1 Samuel 31. The reception of the tidings of the death of his rival and of his friend, the solemn mourning, the vent of his indignation against the bearer of the message, the pathetic lamentation that followed, will close the second period of David's life. 2Sa_1:1-27.
3. David's reign. — As king of Judah at Hebron, 7 1/2 years. 2Sa_2:1; 2Sa_5:5. Here David was first formally anointed king. 2Sa_2:4. To Judah, his dominion was nominally confined. Gradually, his power increased, and during the two years which followed, the elevation of Ish-bosheth a series of skirmishes took place between the two kingdoms. Then rapidly followed the successive murders of Abner and of Ish-bosheth. 2Sa_3:30; 2Sa_4:5.
The throne, so long waiting for him, was now vacant, and the united voice of the whole people at once called him to occupy it. For the third time, David was anointed king, and a festival of three days celebrated the joyful event. 1Ch_12:39. One of David's first acts after becoming king was to secure Jerusalem, which he seized from the Jebusites and fixed the royal residence there. Fortifications were added by the king and by Joab, and it was known by the special name of the "city of David." 2Sa_5:9; 1Ch_11:7.
The Ark was now removed from its obscurity at Kirjath-Jearim with marked solemnity, and conveyed to Jerusalem. The erection of the new capital at Jerusalem introduces us to a new era in David's life and in the history of the monarchy. He became a king on the scale of the great Oriental sovereigns of Egypt and Persia, with a regular administration and organization of court and camp; and he also founded an imperial dominion which for the first time realize the prophetic description of the bounds of the chosen people. Gen_15:18-21.
During the succeeding ten years, the nations bordering on his kingdom caused David more or less trouble, but, during this time, he reduced to a state of permanent subjection, the Philistines on the west, 2Sa_8:1, the Moabites on the east, 2Sa_8:2, by the exploits of Benaiah, 2Sa_23:20, the Syrians on the northeast as far as the Euphrates, 2Sa_8:3, the Edomites, 2Sa_8:14, on the south; and finally the Ammonites, who had broken their ancient alliance, and made one grand resistance to the advance of his empire. 2Sa_10:1-19; 2Sa_12:26-31.
Three great calamities may be selected as marking the beginning, middle and close of David's otherwise prosperous reign, which appear to be intimated in the question of Gad, 2Sa_24:13, "a three-years famine, a three-months flight or a three-days pestilence."
a. Of these, the first (the three-years famine), introduces us to the last notices of David's relations with the house of Saul, already referred to.
b. The second group of incidents contains the tragedy of David's life, which grew in all its parts out of the polygamy, with its evil consequences, into which he had plunged on becoming king. Underneath the splendor of his last glorious campaign against the Ammonites was a dark story, known probably, at that time, only to a very few — the double crime of adultery with Bath-sheba and the virtual murder of Uriah.
The clouds, from this time, gathered over David's fortunes, and henceforward, "the sword never departed from his house." 2Sa_12:10. The outrage on his daughter Tamar, the murder of his eldest son Amnon, and then, the revolt of his best-beloved Absalom, brought on the crisis which once more sent him forth as wanderer, as in the days when he fled from Saul. 2Sa_15:18
The final battle of Absalom's rebellion was fought in the "forest of Ephraim," and terminated in the accident which led to the young man's death; and, though nearly heartbroken at the loss of his son, David again reigned in undisturbed peace at Jerusalem. 2Sa_20:1-22.
c. The closing period of David's life, with the exception of one great calamity, may be considered as a gradual preparation for the reign of his successor. This calamity was the three-days pestilence which visited Jerusalem at the warning of the prophet Gad. The occasion which led to this warning was the census of the people taken by Joab at the king's orders, 2Sa_24:1-9; 1Ch_21:1-7; 1Ch_27:23-24, which was for some reason sinful in God's sight. 2 Samuel 24.
A formidable conspiracy to interrupt the succession broke out in the last days of David's reign; but the plot was stifled, and Solomon's inauguration took place under his father's auspices. 1Ki_1:1-53. By this time, David's infirmities had grown upon him. His last song is preserved — a striking union of the ideal of a just ruler which he had placed before him and of the difficulties which he had felt in realizing it. 2Sa_23:1-7. His last words to his successor are general exhortations to his duty. 1Ki_2:1-9. He died, according to Josephus, at the age of 70, and "was buried in the city of David."
After the return from the captivity, "the sepulchres of David," were still pointed out "between Siloah and the house of the mighty men," or "the guard-house." Neh_3:16. His tomb, which became the general sepulchre of the kings of Judah, was pointed out in the latest times of the Jewish people. The edifice shown as such from the Crusades to the present day is on the southern hill of modern Jerusalem commonly called Mount Zion, under the so-called "Coenaculum;" but it cannot be identified with the tomb of David, which was emphatically
within the walls.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


the celebrated king of Israel, was the youngest son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah, and was born 1085 years before Christ. The following is an abstract of his history: He was chosen of God to be king of Israel, and at his command was anointed to this dignity by the hands of Samuel, a venerable prophet, in the room of Saul; who had been rejected for his disobedience to the divine orders, in feloniously seizing, to his own use, the prey of an enemy, which God, the supreme King of Israel, had devoted to destruction. He was introduced to court as a man expert in music, a singularly valiant man, a man of war, prudent in matters, of a comely person, and one favoured of the Lord. By his skill in music, he relieved Saul under a melancholy indisposition that had seized him, was highly beloved by his royal master, and made one of his guards. In a war with the Philistines he accepted the challenge of a gigantic champion, who defied the armies of Israel, and being skilful at the sling, he slew him with a stone, returned safely with his head, and thus secured to his prince an easy victory over his country's enemies. The reputation he gained, by this glorious action, raised an incurable jealousy and resentment against him, in the mind of the king his master; who made two unsuccessful attempts to murder him. In his exalted station, and amidst the dangers that encompassed him, he behaved with singular prudence, so that he was in high esteem both in the court and camp. The modesty and prudence of his behaviour, and his approved courage and resolution, gained him the confidence and friendship of Jonathan, the king's eldest son, “Who loved him as his own soul,” became his advocate with his father, and obtained from him a promise, confirmed by an oath, that he would no more attempt to destroy him. But Saul's jealousy returned by a fresh victory David gained over the Philistines; who, finding the king was determined to seek his life, retired from court, and was dismissed in peace by Jonathan, after a solemn renewal of their friendship, to provide for his own safety. In this state of banishment, there resorted to him companies of men, who were uneasy in their circumstances, oppressed by their creditors, or discontented with Saul's tyrannical government, to the number of six hundred men. These he kept in the most excellent order, and by their valour he gained signal advantages for his country; but never employed them in rebellion against the king, or in a single instance to distress or subvert his government. On the contrary such was the veneration he paid him, and such the generosity of his temper that though it was thrice in his power to have him cut off, he spared him, and was determined never to destroy him, whom God had constituted the king of Israel. His friendship with Jonathan, the king's son, was a friendship of strict honour, for he never seduced him from his allegiance and filial duty. Being provoked by a churlish farmer, who evil treated and abused his messengers, he, in the warmth of his temper, swore he would destroy him and his family; but was immediately pacified by the address and prudence of a wife, of whom the wretch was unworthy: her he sent in peace and honour to her family, and blessed for her advice, and keeping him from avenging himself with his own hand. Being forced to banish himself into an enemy's country, he was faithful to the prince who protected him: and, at the same time, mindful of the interest of his own nation, he cut off many of those who had harassed and plundered his fellow subjects. When pressed by the king, into whose dominions he retired, to join in a war against his own country and father-in-law, he prudently gave him such an answer as his situation required; neither promising the aid demanded of him, nor tying up his hands from serving his own prince, and the army that fought under him; only assuring him in general, that he had never done any thing that could give him just reason to think he would refuse to assist him against his enemies. Upon the death of Saul, he cut off the Amalekite who came to make a merit of having slain him; and by the immediate direction of God, who had promised him the succession, went up to Hebron, where, on a free election, he was anointed king over the house of Judah; and after about a seven years' contest, he was unanimously chosen king by all the tribes of Israel, “according to the word of the Lord by Samuel.” As king of Israel, he administered justice and judgment to all his people, was a prince of courage, and great military prudence and conduct; had frequent wars with the neighbouring nations, to which he was generally forced by their invading his dominions, and plundering his subjects. Against them he never lost a battle; he never besieged a city without taking it; nor, as for any thing that can be proved, used any severities against those he conquered, beyond what the law of arms allowed, his own safety required, or the cruelties of his enemies rendered just, by way of retaliation; enriching his people by the spoils he took, and providing large stores of every thing necessary for the magnificent temple he intended to erect, in honour of the God of Israel. Having rescued Jerusalem out of the hands of the Jebusites, he made it the capital of his kingdom, and the place of his residence; and being willing to honour it with the presence of the ark of God, he brought it to Jerusalem in triumph, and divesting himself of his royal robes, out of reverence to God, he clothed himself in the habit of his ministers, and with them expressed his joy by dancing and music; contemned only by one haughty woman; whom, as a just punishment of her insolence, he seems ever after to have separated from his bed. Though his crimes were heinous, and highly aggravated in the affair of Uriah and Bathsheba, he patiently endured reproof, humbly submitted to the punishment appointed him, deeply repented, and obtained mercy and forgiveness from God, though not without some severe marks of his displeasure, for the grievous offences of which he had been guilty. A rebellion was raised against him by his son Absalom. When forced by it to depart from Jerusalem, a circumstance most pathetically described by the sacred historian, he prevented the just punishment of Shimei, a wretch who cursed and stoned him. When restored to his throne, he spared him upon his submission, and would not permit a single man to be put to death in Israel upon account of this treason. He, with a noble confidence, made the commander of the rebel forces general of his own army, in the room of Joab, whom he intended to call to an account for murder and other crimes. After this, when obliged, by the command of God, to give up some of Saul's family to justice, for the murder of the Gibeonites, he spared Mephibosheth, Micah, and his family, the male descendants of Saul and Jonathan, who alone could have any pretence to dispute the crown with him, and surrendered only Saul's bastard children, and those of his daughter by Adriel, who had no right or possible claim to the throne, and could never give him any uneasiness in the possession of it; and thus showed his inviolable regard for his oaths, his tenderness to Saul, and the warmth of his gratitude and friendship to Jonathan. In the close of his life, and in the near prospect of death, to demonstrate his love of justice, he charged Solomon to punish with death Joab, for the base murder of two great men, whom he assassinated under the pretence of peace and friendship. To this catalogue of his noble actions must be added, that he gave the most shining and indisputable proofs of an undissembled reverence for, and sincere piety to, God; ever obeying the direction of his prophets, worshipping him alone, to the exclusion of all idols, throughout the whole of his life, and making the wisest settlement to perpetuate the worship of the same God, through all succeeding generations.
To this abstract a few miscellaneous remarks may be added.
1. When David is called “the man after God's own heart,” a phrase which profane persons have often perverted, his general character, and not every particular of it, is to be understood as approved by God; and especially his faithful and undeviating adherence to the true religion, from which he never deviated into any act of idolatry.
2. He was chosen to accomplish to their full extent the promises made to Abraham, to give to his seed the whole country from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates. He had succeeded to a kingdom distracted with civil dissensions, environed on every side by powerful and victorious enemies, without a capital, almost without an army, without any bond of union between the tribes. He left a compact and united state, stretching from the frontier of Egypt to the foot of Lebanon, from the Euphrates to the sea. He had crushed the power of the Philistines, subdued or curbed all the adjacent kingdoms: he had formed a lasting and important alliance with the great city of Tyre. He had organized an immense disposable force; for every month 24,000 men, furnished in rotation by the tribes, appeared in arms, and were trained as the standing militia of the country. At the head of his army were officers of consummate experience, and, what was more highly esteemed in the warfare of the time, extraordinary personal activity, strength, and valour. The Hebrew nation owed the long peace of Solomon the son's reign to the bravery and wisdom of the father.
3. As a conqueror he was a type of Christ, and the country “from the river to the ends of the earth,” was also the prophetic type of Christ's dominion over the whole earth.
4. His inspired psalms not only place him among the most eminent prophets; but have rendered him the leader of the devotions of good men, in all ages. The hymns of David excel no less in sublimity and tenderness of expression than in loftiness and purity of religious sentiment. In comparison with them the sacred poetry of all other nations sinks into mediocrity. They have embodied so exquisitely the universal language of religious emotion, that they have entered with unquestioned propriety into the ritual of the higher and more perfect religion of Christ. The songs which cheered the solitude of the desert caves of Engedi, or resounded from the voice of the Hebrew people as they wound along the glens or the hill sides of Judea, have been repeated for ages in almost every part of the habitable world, in the remotest islands of the ocean, among the forests of America or the sands of Africa. How many human hearts have these inspired songs softened, purified, exalted! Of how many wretched beings have they been the secret consolation! On how many communities have they drawn down the blessings of Divine providence, by bringing the affections into unison with their deep devotional fervour, and leading to a constant and explicit recognition of the government, rights, and mercies of God!
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


From humble beginnings as the youngest son of a Bethlehem shepherd named Jesse, David rose to become Israel’s greatest king. He established a dynasty out of which, according to God’s plan, came the great Messiah, the son of David, who was Jesus Christ, Saviour of the world (1Sa_16:1; 1Sa_16:11; 2Sa_5:3-4; 2Sa_5:12; Isa_9:7; Luk_1:32-33; Luk_2:11).
Early progress
After the failure of Saul as king, God directed Samuel to the young man David, whom Samuel marked out to be Israel’s next king (1Sa_13:14; 1Sa_15:28; 1Sa_16:11-14). Many years passed before David became king, and during those years he steadily matured in mind and body. He became skilled in speech, writing and music, and grew into a brave fighter through having to defend his flocks against wild animals and raiding Philistines (1Sa_16:18; 1Sa_17:34-36; cf. Psalms 23).
David’s introduction to Saul’s court was as one whose music relaxed the king’s troubled nerves (1Sa_16:16). After his victory over the Philistines’ champion fighter, he became Saul’s armour-bearer and full-time court musician (1Sa_16:21; 1Sa_17:50; 1Sa_18:2). At this time a close friendship began to develop between David and Saul’s son Jonathan. It lasted many years, and was ended only by Jonathan’s tragic death in battle (1Sa_18:1; see JONATHAN). David’s successes in battle won him promotion, but further successes and growing popularity so stirred up Saul’s jealousy against him that Saul tried to kill him (1Sa_18:5-11).
By this time David had no doubt begun the psalm-writing activity for which he is well known. The biblical book of Psalms contains many of the songs and poems he wrote during his long and eventful career. In these writings David gives his personal views of many of the incidents that another writer records in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel (see PSALMS, BOOK OF).

Flight from Saul
Unsuccessful in his direct attacks on David, Saul tried to have him killed in battle. He promised that if David could kill one hundred Philistines, he would give his daughter Michal to David for a wife. David again succeeded and, through marrying Michal, became part of the royal family (1Sa_18:20-29). But Saul’s jealousy resulted in further attempts to kill him (1Sa_19:1; 1Sa_19:10-11; Psalms 59).
After seeking temporary shelter with Samuel at Ramah (1Sa_19:18), David returned in secret to find out from Jonathan whether it was safe for him to enter Saul’s court. Upon discovering it was not, he obtained provisions from a priest at Nob and fled (1Sa_20:1; 1Sa_20:12-14; 1Sa_21:1-9).
When the Philistine city of Gath proved an insecure refuge (1Sa_21:10-15; Psalms 34; Psalms 56), David found a good hiding place in a cave at Adullam. Here he was joined by his family along with several hundred others, who for various reasons were dissatisfied with Saul’s administration (1Sa_22:1-2; Psalms 57; Psalms 63; Psalms 142). From these people David built himself a strong fighting unit, which in later times became the central force of his royal army (1Sa_22:2; 1Sa_23:13; 1Ch_11:10; 1Ch_11:15; 1Ch_12:8-18). But as long as Saul was king, David never allowed his men to attack him (1Sa_24:7; 1Sa_26:9).
Saul’s pursuit drove David increasingly into the semi-barren regions of Judah. David was pleased to use his fighting force to rescue the town of Keilah from the raiding Philistines (1Sa_23:4), but he was angry when the people of another Judean town, Ziph, betrayed him to Saul (1Sa_23:19; Psalms 54). On two occasions when he had an opportunity to kill Saul, he refused to (1Sa_24:3-7; 1Sa_26:5; 1Sa_26:9).
David supported his small army by protecting farmers against the raiding Philistines and then demanding food supplies as payment (1Sa_25:7-8; 1Sa_25:16; 1Sa_25:21). When one farmer refused to pay, David was saved from rash retaliation only by the quick thinking and wise words of the farmer’s wife, Abigail. When the farmer died, David married Abigail (1Sa_25:39).
Tired at the cruel pursuit by Saul and his Benjaminite supporters, David fell to the temptation to give up defending his righteousness. He decided to avoid further hardship by going and joining the enemy Philistines (1Sa_26:19; 1Sa_27:1-2; cf. Psalms 7; Psalms 11). From Philistia David enriched himself by carrying out brutal raids on neighbouring tribal people, though he repeatedly deceived the Philistine king concerning his activities. It was a disgraceful sixteen months David spent in Philistia, and, so far as we know, no psalm of his comes from this period (1Sa_27:7-11). Only after his own camp was cruelly raided did David stop his ungodly behaviour and return to the Lord (1Sa_30:1-7).
At this time the Philistines had gone to battle against Israel. David and his men had set out with the Philistines, but the Philistine leaders sent them back. They feared that David’s men might betray them and fight for Israel (1Sa_29:1-4). In the battle that followed, both Saul and Jonathan died (1Sa_31:1-5), and David composed a song in memory of them (2Sa_1:17-27).
Established as king
After Saul’s death there was confusion in Israel. David was declared king in Hebron, which was in the area of his own tribe Judah in the south, but one of Saul’s sons was declared king in the territory east of Jordan (2Sa_2:3-4; 2Sa_2:8-9). After two years of conflict, the supporters of David overpowered their opponents. However, David executed the murderers of Saul’s son, to make it clear that he had no desire to gain Saul’s throne by murder (2Sa_3:1; 2Sa_4:9-12; cf. 2Sa_1:14-16).
For the next five years David ruled from Hebron (2Sa_5:3-5). Being deep in the territory of Judah to the south, Hebron was not a suitable place from which to rule all Israel. Therefore, in an attempt to ensure the allegiance of the northern tribes, David decided to make Jerusalem his capital. Jerusalem was on a well fortified hill and belonged to no tribe, for it had remained under the control of the enemy since the time of Joshua. David conquered Jerusalem and soon united all the tribes under his rule (2Sa_5:5-7; 2Sa_5:12).
David then set out to make Jerusalem the religious as well as the political centre of the nation. He brought the ark from the country house where it had sat neglected during Saul’s reign, and placed it in a special tent he had erected for it (2Sa_6:2; 2Sa_6:17; cf. 1Sa_7:1-2; 1Ch_13:6). The conquest of Jerusalem and the arrival of the ark there are celebrated in some of David’s best known psalms (Psalms 24; Psalms 68; Psalms 110). Further psalms show the ideals he aimed at in his government (2Sa_23:1-7; Psalms 101), and express his deep gratitude to God for all his gracious blessings (Psalms 8; Psalms 103).
When David expressed his desire to build God a permanent house (meaning a temple), Nathan the prophet told him that God had a better purpose, and that was to build David a permanent house (meaning a dynasty). God had chosen David as the one through whose royal family he would bring the Messiah, the Saviour of the world (2Sa_7:8-17; Psa_2:7-9; Psa_89:19-37; Mat_22:42; Luk_1:68-70; Act_13:22-23).
As David’s military victories continued, Israel’s power grew, showing that God was strengthening David’s throne according to his promise. David’s power spread beyond the borders of Israel, so that he dominated all the neighbouring peoples, from the Nile River and the Red Sea in the south to the Euphrates River in the north (2 Samuel 8; cf. Psalms 18). Unfortunately, pride in his expanding power prompted David to carry out a census. He knew he deserved God’s punishment, but asked that it be mixed with mercy (2Sa_24:10; 2Sa_24:14; cf. Psalms 32).
David’s military conquests had involved him in much bloodshed. Therefore, although God granted David’s request for a temple, he considered that he was not a fit person to build it (1Ch_28:3; 1Ch_28:6). That privilege was given to David’s son, Solomon, though David helped him by preparing plans and setting aside money and materials for its completion (1Ch_22:2-6; 1Ch_28:11).
Family troubles
When he was at the height of his power, David committed a series of deliberate sins that affected the rest of his life. His sexual desire for Bathsheba led him to adultery and murder, as a result of which God assured him that his own family would be torn apart through adultery and murder (2Sa_12:7-12). David confessed his sin and God in his mercy forgave him (2Sa_12:13-14; Psalms 51), but that did not remove the suffering and distress that David had brought upon himself and his family.
David’s example of adultery and murder was followed in the family. One of the sons raped his sister, only to be murdered by another of the sons (2Sa_13:11-14; 2Sa_13:28-29). The murderer, Absalom, fled into exile. Three years later he returned to Jerusalem, but a further two years passed before David allowed him back into the palace (2Sa_13:38; 2Sa_14:24; 2Sa_14:28; 2Sa_14:33).
Over the next four years Absalom strengthened his position, till he was able to launch a surprise rebellion. David was forced to flee Jerusalem, and Absalom seized the throne (2Sa_15:1-7; 2Sa_15:14; Psalms 3). In the battle that followed, Absalom was killed, in spite of David’s instructions that no harm be done to him (2Sa_18:5; 2Sa_18:14). Only after the people had shown they wanted David back as their king did he return to Jerusalem (2Sa_19:9-15).
The peace of former times never returned to David’s throne. Soon he had to deal with another rebellion, this one led by a man called Sheba, who tried unsuccessfully to lead the northern tribes to break away from David (2Sa_20:1; 2Sa_20:22).
David’s closing years were saddened by conflict in the palace concerning which son would succeed him as king. His choice was Solomon, but the ambitious Adonijah tried to seize the throne for himself before David died. Again the rebellion failed. These stirring events gave the weak and aged David renewed strength, and with great haste he had Solomon anointed as the new king (1Ki_1:5-8; 1Ki_1:16-18; 1Ki_1:38-40). In due course he arranged a second anointing, this one public and with full regal ceremony, where he presented Solomon to the people as the divinely chosen successor (1Ch_28:1-10; see ADONIJAH; SOLOMON).
Hope for the future
In spite of his failures, David was one of the greatest men that Israel produced. In the centuries that followed, when Israelites looked for the coming of the Messiah, the best example by which they could imagine an ideal king was that of David (Hos_3:5). The Messiah was, as it were, a greater David (Eze_34:23-24; Eze_37:24-25). Being of David’s family, he was known as David’s son and he sat on David’s throne (Isa_9:7; Jer_23:5; Jer_33:15; Mat_12:23; Mat_20:31; Mat_21:15; Luk_1:32; Joh_7:42). Yet he was also David’s Lord (Mat_22:42-45; cf. Psa_110:1). As to his humanity, the Messiah Jesus was descended from David, but as to his divinity he was the eternal Son of God (Rom_1:3-4; Rev_22:16; see MESSIAH).
Because many of David’s psalms celebrate his victories and express the ideals that he looked for in his kingdom, the New Testament sometimes quotes them in relation to the Messiah Jesus (cf. Psalms 2 with Act_4:25; Act_13:33-34; 1Co_15:24-25; Heb_1:5; Heb_5:5; Rev_12:5; Rev_19:15; cf. Psalms 110 with Mat_22:42-45; Heb_7:15-17; Heb_7:21-22). Other psalms speak of David’s sufferings, and the New Testament quotes these also in relation to Jesus (cf. Psalms 22 with Mat_27:39-43; Mat_27:46; Joh_19:24; Heb_2:12; cf. Psalms 69 with Mat_27:34; Mat_27:38; Joh_2:17; Joh_15:25; Rom_15:3).
Not all David’s psalms, however, may be quoted as applying to Jesus, for many reflect David’s wrongdoings. The reader’s first consideration must be to consider the psalms in relation to the immediate circumstances about which David wrote (Psa_38:3; Psa_41:4; Psa_51:1-2). (For further details concerning the use of David’s psalms in the New Testament see PSALMS, BOOK OF.)
According to the titles in the book of Psalms, David wrote 73 of the 150 in the collection. His poetry appears in 2 Samuel also (2Sa_1:17-27; 2Sa_3:33-34; 2 Samuel 22; 2Sa_23:1-7). His exceptional abilities as a musician and a poet were well known (1Sa_16:17-18; 1Sa_16:23; 2Sa_23:1). He used those abilities in organizing the services for the proposed temple and in setting up official groups of singers and musicians (1Ch_6:31-32; 1Ch_15:16-28; 1Ch_16:7; Ezr_3:10; Neh_12:24; Neh_12:36; Neh_12:45-46). David served God faithfully in his own generation, and through his music and psalms has been of service to God’s people throughout succeeding generations (Act_13:36).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


dā?vid (דּוד, dāwı̄dh, or דּויד, dāwı̄dh, ?beloved?; Δαυειδ, Daueid, also in New Testament, Δαυίδ, Dâ uid, Δαβίδ, Dâ bid; see Thayer's Lexicon):
I. Name and Genealogy
II. Early Years
1. Shepherd
2. Slinger
3. Harpist
4. Poet
5. Psalmist
6. Tribesman
III. In the Service of Saul
1. David First Meets Saul
2. His First Exploit
3. Envy of Saul and Flight of David
4. Jonathan and David
IV. David in Exile
1. David as Outlaw
2. David Joins the Philistines
V. David as King
1. Civil War
2. Conquests Abroad
3. Political Situation
4. The Ark
VI. Domestic Life
1. His Wives and Children
2. Domestic Troubles
VII. His officials
1. Prophets
2. Priests
3. Military Officers
4. Other Officials
5. Mutual Rivalry
VIII. Personal Character of David
1. Chronicles
2. Psalms
3. Complex Character
4. Physical Courage
5. Moral Courage
6. Prudence
7. Strategy
8. Nobility
9. David in Relation to His Family
10. David in Relation to His Friends
11. His Success
12. His Foreign Friends
13. Nemesis
14. References in the New Testament
Literature
I. Name and Genealogy
This name, which is written ?defectively? in the older books, such as those of Samuel, but fully with the yodh in Chronicles and the later books, is derived, like the similar name Jedidish (2Sa_12:25), from a root meaning ?to love.? The only person who bears this name in the Bible is the son of Jesse, the second king of Israel. His genealogy is given in the table appended to the Book of Ruth (Rth_4:18-22). Here the following points are to be noted: David belonged to the tribe of Judah: his ancestor Nahshon was chieftain of the whole tribe (Num_1:7; Num_2:3; 1Ch_2:10) and brother-in-law of Aaron the high priest (Exo_6:23). As no other descendants of Nahshon are mentioned, his authority probably descended to Jesse by right of primogeniture. This supposition is countenanced by the fact that Salma (Salmon), the name of the son of Nahshon and father of Boaz, is also the name of a grandson of Caleb who became ?father? of Bethlehem, the home of Jesse (1Ch_2:51). David was closely connected with the tribe of Moab, the mother of his grandfather Obed being Ruth the Moabitess. Of the wife or wives of Jesse we know nothing, and consequently are without information upon a most interesting point - the personality of the mother of David; but that she too may have been of the tribe of Moab is rendered probable by the fact that, when hard pressed, David placed his parents under the protection of the king of that country (1Sa_22:3, 1Sa_22:1).
II. Early Years
The home of David when he comes upon the stage of history was the picturesque town of Bethlehem.
1. Shepherd
There his family had been settled for generations, indeed ever since the Israelite nation had overrun the land of Canaan. His father was apparently not only the chief man of the place, but he seems to have been chieftain of the whole clan to which he belonged - the clan of Judah. Although the country round Bethlehem is more fertile than that in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, the inhabitants joined to the cultivation of the soil the breeding of cattle (Luk_2:8). David's father, not only cultivated his ancestral fields, but kept flocks of sheep and goats as well. The flocks were sent out every day to pasture in the neighboring valleys attended by the herdsmen armed so as to defend themselves and their charge, not only against marauders from the surrounding deserts, but also from the lions and bears with which the country was then infested. David seems to have been in the habit of accompanying his father's servants in their task (1Sa_17:20, 1Sa_17:22), and on occasion would be left in full charge by himself. Nor was his post at such times a sinecure. He had not only to keep a sharp lookout for thieves, but on more than one occasion had with no other weapon than his shepherd's club or staff to rescue a lamb from the clutches of a lion or a bear (1Sa_17:34). Such adventures, however, must have been rare, and David must often have watched eagerly the lengthening of the shadow which told of the approach of sunset, when he could drive his charge into the zariba for the night and return home. There is, indeed, no life more monotonous and enervating than that of an eastern shepherd, but David must have made good use of his idle time. He seems, in fact, to have made such good use of it as to have neglected his handful of sheep. The incidents of which he boasted to Saul would not have occurred, had his proper occupation taken up all his thoughts; but, like King Alfred, his head seems to have been filled with ideas far removed from his humble task.
2. Slinger
David, like Nelson, does not seem to have known what it was to be afraid, and it was not to be expected that he could be satisfied with the lot of the youngest of eight sons of the now aged chief (1Sa_17:12; 1Ch_2:13). In the East every man is a soldier, and David's bent was in that direction. The tribesmen of Benjamin near whose border his home was situated were famed through all Israel as slingers, some of whom could sling at a hair and not miss (Jdg_20:16). Taught, perhaps, by one of these, but certainly by dint of constant practice, David acquired an accuracy of aim which reminds one of the tales of William Tell or Robin Hood (1Sa_17:49).
3. Harpist
Another of the pastimes in the pursuit of which David spent many an hour of his youthful days was music. The instrument which he used was the ?harp? (Hebrew kinnor). This instrument had many forms, which may be seen on the Assyrian and Egyptian monuments; but the kind used by David was probably like the modern Arabic, rubaba, having only one or two strings, played not with a plectrum (Ant., VII, xii, 3) but by the hand (compare 1Sa_16:23, etc., which do not exclude a quill). Whatever the nature of the instrument was, David acquired such proficiency in playing it that his fame as a musician soon spread throughout the countryside (1Sa_16:18). With the passing of time he becomes the Hebrew Orpheus, in whose music birds and mountains joined (compare Koran, chapter 21 ).
4. Poet
To the accompaniment of his lyre David no doubt sang words, either of popular songs or of lyrics of his own composition, in that wailing eastern key which seems to be an imitation of the bleating of flocks. The verses he sang would recount his own adventures or the heroic prowess of the warrior of his clan, or celebrate the loveliness of some maiden of the tribe, or consist of elegies upon those slain in battle. That the name of David was long connected with music the reverse of sacred appears from the fact that Amos denounces the people of luxury of his time for improvising to the sound of the viol, inventing instruments of music, like David (Amo_6:5). (It is not clear to which clause ?like David? belongs, probably to both.) The only remains of the secular poetry of David which have come down to us are his elegies on Saul and Jonathan and on Abner (2Sa_1:19-27; 2Sa_3:33, 2Sa_3:14), which show him to have been a true poet.
5. Psalmist
Did David also compose religious verses? Was he ?the sweet psalmist of Israel? (2Sa_23:1)? In the oldest account which we have, contained in the books of Samuel, David appears as a musician and as a secular poet only, for it is obvious the poetical passages, 2 Sam 22:1-23:7, do not belong to the original form of that book but are thrust in in the middle of a long list of names of David's soldiers. The position is the same in Amo_6:5. It is in the later books and passages that sacred music and psalms begin to be ascribed to him. Perhaps the earliest instance is the passage just cited containing the ?last words? of David (2Sa_23:1-7). The Chronicler (about 300 bc) seems to put parts of Psalms 105; Psa_96:1-13, and 106 into the mouth of David (1Ch_16:7), and Neh_12:36 regards him apparently as the inventor of the instruments used in the Temple service (1Ch_23:5), or as a player of sacred music. So too in the Septuagint psalter (Ps 151:2) we read, ?My hands made an organ, my fingers fashioned a psaltery?; and gradually the whole of the Psalms came to be ascribed to David as author. In regard to this question it must be remembered that in the East at any rate there is no such distinction as that of sacred and secular. By sacred poetry we mean poetry which mentions the name of God or quotes Scripture, but the Hebrew or Arab poet will use the name of God as an accompaniment to a dance, and will freely sprinkle even comic poetry with citations from his sacred book. David must have composed sacred poems if he composed at all, and he would use his musical gift for the purposes of religion as readily as for those of amusement and pleasure (2Sa_6:14, 2Sa_6:15). Whether any of our psalms was composed by David is another question. The titles cannot be considered as conclusive evidence, and internal proofs of his authorship are wanting. Indeed the only psalm which claims to have been written by David is the 18th (= 2 Sam 22). One cannot help wishing that Psa_23:1-6 had been sung by the little herd lad as he watched his father's flocks and guarded them from danger.
6. Tribesman
There are sayings of Mohammed that the happiest life is that of the shepherd, and that no one became a prophet who had not at one time tended a flock of sheep. What Mohammed meant was that the shepherd enjoys leisure and solitude for reflection and for plunging into those day dreams out of which prophets are made. If David, like the Arab poet Tarafa, indulged in sport, in music and in poetry, even to the neglect of his charge, he must have sought out themes on which to exercise his muse; and it must have been with no little chagrin that he learnt that whereas the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Issachar, Zebulun, Levi, Dan, and even the non-Israelite tribes of Kenaz and the debatable land of Gilead could boast of having held the hegemony of Israel and led the nation in battle, his own tribe of Judah had played a quite subordinate part, and was not even mentioned in the national war song of Deborah. As contrasted with the poets of these tribes he could boast in his verses only of Ibzan who belonged to his own town of Bethlehem (Jdg_12:8). The Jerahmeelites were no doubt a powerful clan, but neither they nor any other of the subdivisions of Judah had ever done anything for the common good. Indeed, when the twelve pathfinders had been sent in advance into Canaan, Judah had been represented by Caleb, a member of the Uitlander tribe of Kenaz (Num_13:6). He became apparently the adopted son of Hezron and so David might claim kinship with him, and through him with Othniel the first of the judges (Jdg_1:13). David Thus belonged to the least efficient of all the Israelite tribes except one, and one which, considering its size and wealth, had till now failed to play a worthy part in the confederacy. It is difficult to believe that the young David never dreamed of a day when his own tribe should take its true place among its fellows, and when the deliverer of Israel from its oppressors should belong for once to the tribe of Judah.
III. In the Service of Saul
The earliest events in the career of David are involved in some obscurity.
1. David First Meets Saul
This is due mainly to what appears to be an insoluble difficulty in 1 Samuel 16 and 17. In chapter 16, David is engaged to play before Saul in order to dispel is melancholy, and becomes his squire or armor-bearer (1Sa_16:21), whereas in the following chapter he is unknown to Saul, who, after the death of Goliath, asks Abner who he is, and Abner replies that he does not know (1Sa_17:55). This apparent contradiction may be accounted for by the following considerations: (a) 1Sa_16:14-23 may be inserted out of its chronological order for the sake of the contrast with the section immediately preceding - ?the spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward ... the spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul? (1Sa_16:13, 1Sa_16:14); (b) The fact of David becoming Saul's squire does not imply constant personal attendance upon him; the text says David became an (not his) armor-bearer to Saul. The king would have many such squires: Joab, though only commander-in-chief, had, it seems, eighteen (2Sa_23:37 reads ?armor-bearers?); (c) David would not play before Saul every day: his presence might not be required for a space of weeks or months; (d) Saul's failure to recognize David may have been a result of the 'evil spirit from Yahweh' and Abner's denial of knowledge may have been feigned out of jealousy. If we accept all the statements of the dramatis personae in these narratives we shall not get very far.
2. His First Exploit
The facts seem to have been somewhat as follows: It had become evident that Saul was not equal to the task to which he had been set - the task of breaking the Philistine power, and it became the duty of Samuel, as the vicar of Yahweh and as still holding very large powers, to look about for a successor. He turned to the tribe of Judah (the full brother of his own ancestor Levi), a tribe which was fast becoming the most powerful member of the federation. The headman of this clan was Jesse of Bethlehem. His name was well known in the country - Saul does not require to be told who he is (1Sa_16:18; 1Sa_17:58) - but he was by this time advanced in years (1Sa_17:12). He had, however, many sons. Old men in the East often foretell a great future for a young boy (compare Luk_2:34). Samuel saw that David was formed of other clay than his brothers, and he anointed him as he had done Saul (1Sa_10:1). But whereas the anointing of Saul was done surreptitiously and for a definite purpose which was explained at the time (1Sa_10:1), that of David was performed before his whole family, but with what object he was not told (1Sa_16:13). His brothers do not seem to have thought the matter of much consequence (compare 1Sa_17:28), and all David could conclude from it was that he was destined to some high office - perhaps that of Samuel's successor (compare 1Ki_19:15, 1Ki_19:16). It would have the effect of nerving him for any adventure and raising his hopes high and steeling his courage. Whether by accident or by contrivance he became attached to Saul as minstrel (compare 2Ki_3:15) and subsequently as one of his armor-bearers. He would probably be at this time about twenty years of age. It must have been after an interval of some months that an event happened which made it impossible for Saul ever again to forget the existence of David. This was the famous duel between David and the Philistine Goliath, which saved the situation for Saul for the time (1 Sam 17). In regard to this narrative it must be noted that 1 Sam 17:12-31, 1Sa_17:41, 1Sa_17:50, 1Sa_17:55-58 and 1Sa_18:1-5 are lacking in the best manuscript of the Septuagint, that is, the sending of David from Bethlehem and his fresh introduction to Saul and Saul's failure to recognize him are left out. With the omission of these verses all the difficulties of the narrative vanish. For the reason why David could not wear the armor offered him was not because he was still a child, which is absurd in view of the fact that Saul was exceptionally tall (1Sa_9:2), but because he had had no practice with it (1Sa_17:39). It is ridiculous to suppose that David was not at this time full-grown, and that two armies stood by while a child advanced to engage a giant. The event gained for David the reputation won in modern times at the cannon's mouth, but also the devoted friendship of Jonathan and the enmity of Saul (1Sa_18:1-9).
The next years of David's life were spent in the service of Saul in his wars with the Philistines. David's success where Saul had failed, however, instead of gratifying only inflamed the jealousy of the latter, and he determined to put David out of the way. More than once he attempted to do so with his own hand (1Sa_18:11; 1Sa_19:10), but he also employed stratagem. It came to his ears that his daughter Michal, as well as his son Jonathan, loved David, and Saul undertook to give her to David on the condition of his killing one hundred Philistines.
3. Envy of Saul and Flight of David
The gruesome dowry was paid, and David became Saul's son-in-law. The Hebrew text states that Saul first offered his elder daughter to David, and then failed to implement his promise (1Sa_18:17-19, 1Sa_18:21), but this passage is not found in the Greek. David's relation to Saul did not mitigate the hatred of the latter; indeed his enmity became so bitter that David determined upon flight. With the help of stratagem on the part of Michal, this was effected and David went to Samuel at Ramah for counsel and advice (1Sa_19:18). There Saul pursued him, but when he came into the presence of the prophet, his courage failed and he was overcome by the contagion of the prophetic ecstasy (1Sa_19:24) as he had been on a previous occasion (1Sa_10:11). David returned to Gibeah, while the coast was clear, to meet Jonathan, but Saul also returned immediately, his hatred more intense than before. David then continued his flight and came to Ahimelech, the priest at Nob (1Sa_21:1). It is sometimes supposed that we have here two inconsistent accounts of David's flight, according to one of which he fled to Samuel at Ramah, and according to the other to Ahimelech at Nob; but there is no necessity for such a supposition, and even if it were correct, it would not clear up all the difficulties of the narrative. There is evidently much in these narratives that is left untold and our business should be to fill up the gaps in a way consistent with what we are given. That Saul made sure that David would not return is shown by the fact that he gave his daughter Michal to a man of the tribe of Benjamin as wife (1Sa_25:44).
4. Jonathan and David
The relation existing between Jonathan and David was one of pure friendship. There was no reason why it should not be so. A hereditary monarchy did not yet exist in Israel. The only previous attempt to establish such an institution - that of Gideon's family (Jdg 9) - though not of Gideon himself (1 Sam 8:23) - had ended in failure. The principle followed hitherto had been that of election by the sheikhs or caids of the clans. To this Saul owed his position, for the lot was a kind of ballot. Moreover, behind all national movements there lay the power of the prophets, the representatives of Yahweh. Saul was indebted for his election to Samuel, just as Barak was to Deborah (Jdg_4:6). Like the judges who preceded him he had been put forward to meet a definite crisis in the national affairs - the rise of the Philistine power (1Sa_9:16). Had he succeeded in crushing these invaders, the newly-established kingdom would in the absence of this bond of union have dissolved again into its elements, as had happened on every similar occasion before. He was the only judge who had failed to accomplish the task for which he was appointed, and he was the only one who had been appointed on the understanding that his son should succeed him, for this constitutes the distinction between king and judge. Moreover, not only was Saul aware that he had failed, but he saw before him the man who was ready to step into his place and succeed. His rival had, besides, the backing of the mass of the people and of Samuel who was still virtual head of the state and last court of appeal. It is not to be wondered at that Saul was hostile to David. Jonathan, on the other hand, acquiesced in the turn things had taken and bowed to what he believed to be the inevitable. Such was his love for David that he asked only to be his wazeer (vizier) when David came to the throne (1Sa_23:17). David's position was perhaps the most difficult imaginable. He had to fight the battles of a king whose one idea was to bring about his ruin. He was the bosom friend of a prince whom he proposed to supplant in his inheritance. His hope of salvation lay in the death of his king, the father of his wife and of his best friend. The situation would in ordinary circumstances be intolerable, and it would have been impossible but for the fact that those concerned were obsessed by a profound belief in Fate. Jonathan bore no grudge against David for aiming at the throne, because to the throne he was destined by the will of Yahweh. To David it would never occur that he had the choice of declining the high destiny in store for him. Had he had the power to refuse what he believed to be the decree of Fate, he would hardly escape censure for his ambition and disloyalty.
IV. David in Exile
1. David as Outlaw
From the moment of his flight David became an outlaw and remained so until the death of Saul. This period of his career is full of stirring adventures which remind us of Robert Bruce or William Wallace of Scotland. Like King Arthur and other heroes he carried a famous sword - the sword of Goliath (1Sa_21:9). Having obtained it of Ahimelech, he for the first time left Israelite territory and went to the Philistine city of Gath (1Sa_21:10). Not feeling safe here he left and took up his abode in the cave of Adullam (1Sa_22:1) in the country of Judah, almost within sight of his native Bethlehem. This cave was admirably suited to the outlaw's purpose and no doubt David had many a time explored its recesses when a boy. Here he was joined by his parents and brothers, with their servants, as well as by all sorts of persons who were at war with the government, debtors, fugitives from justice, and discontented persons generally. David Thus became the chief of a band of outlaws who numbered about 400. Of such stuff some of his bravest soldiers were made (2Sa_23:13). He had an augur, too, to direct his actions, and, after the massacre of the priests at Nob, a priest, Abiathar, carrying an ephod with which to cast lots (1Sa_22:5; 1Sa_23:6). During this period he supported himself and his men by making raids on the Philistine outposts and levying blackmail on his own countrymen (1Sa_25:2) in return for giving them his protection from the Philistines (1Sa_23:1). Hard pressed both by Saul and the Philistines (who had established themselves even in Bethlehem) he committed his parents to the keeping of the king of Moab, and began to rove as a freebooter through the country (1Sa_23:5, 1Sa_23:15, 1Sa_23:25, 1Sa_23:29). On two occasions David had Saul in his power, but refused to seize the opportunity of taking his life (1 Sam 24-26). Here again there are no adequate grounds for supposing we have two accounts of one and the same incident. During his wandering David's followers increased in numbers (compare 1Sa_22:2; 1Sa_23:13; 1Sa_25:13). His chief lieutenant was his nephew Abishai, the son of his sister Zeruiah, but his brothers, Joab and Asahel, do not seem to have joined David yet. Another of his nephews, Jonathan the son of Shimei (Shammah), is mentioned (2Sa_21:21; compare 1Sa_16:9) and the Chronicler thinks many other knights joined him during this period (1Ch_11:10). The position of David at this time was very similar to that of the brigand Raisuli of late in Morocco. That there was some stability in it is shown by his taking two wives at this time - Ahinoam and Abigail (1Sa_25:42, 1Sa_25:43).
2. David Joins the Philistines
David now, abandoning all hope of ever conciliating the king (1Sa_27:1), made a move which shows at once his reckless daring and consummate genius. He offered the services of himself and his little army of 600 men to the enemies of his country. The town of Gath appears to have been an asylum for fugitive Israelites (1Ki_2:39). David's first impulse on his flight from Saul had been to seek safety there (1Sa_21:10-15). Then, however, he was the hero of Israel, whose assassination would be the highest gain to the Philistines; now he was the embittered antagonist of Saul, and was welcomed accordingly. Achish placed at his disposal the fortified town of Ziklag in the territory of the now extinct tribe of Simeon, and there he and his followers, each of whom had his family with him, took up their quarters for sixteen months (1Sa_27:6, 1Sa_27:7). The advantages to David were many. He was safe at last from the persecution of Saul (1Sa_27:4); he could secure ample supplies by making raids upon the Amalekites and other tribes hostile to Israel toward the South (1Sa_27:8); and if the opportunity presented itself he could deal a serious blow at the Philistine arms. The position was no doubt a precarious one. It could last just as long as David could hoodwink Achish by persuading him that his raids were directed against his own tribe (1Sa_27:10). This he succeeded in doing so completely that Achish would have taken him with him on the campaign which ended in the decisive battle of Gilboa, but the other chiefs, fearing treachery, refused to allow him to do so. David was forced to return with his followers to Ziklag, only to find that town razed to the ground and all the women and children carried off by his old enemies the Amalekites (1Sa_30:1, 1Sa_30:2). By the time he had recovered the spoil and returned in triumph to Ziklag the battle of Gilboa had been fought and Saul was slain. The conduct of David in his relations with the Philistines was not more reprehensible than that of the Cid who allied himself with Al-Mu'taman of Saragossa, or of Coriolanus who went over to the Volsci. David composed upon the death of Saul and Jonathan an elegy every sentence of which has become classic.
V. David as King
1. Civil War
David immediately removed from Ziklag and took up his quarters at Hebron, where he was at once anointed king over his own tribe of Judah. Thus began the cleavage between Judah and Israel. Here he was joined, apparently for the first time, by his nephew Joab. Abner, however, loyal to his former master, had Esh-baal (1Ch_8:33), son of Saul, anointed king over the remaining tribes at Mahanaim, a fortified town east of the Jordan. War continued between David and Abner for several years, fortune always favoring David. Seeing things were going against him Abner forced Esh-baal into a personal quarrel with himself and then transferred his allegiance and persuaded his side to transfer theirs to David (2Sa_3:21). He did not reap the fruit of his defection, as he was immediately after assassinated by Joab in revenge for the death of Asahel whom Abner had killed in self-defence (2Sa_3:27). Deprived of his chief support Esh-baal also fell a victim to assassination (2Sa_4:2). David denounced both crimes with apparent sincerity. He composed an elegy and fasted for Abner (2Sa_3:33) and avenged the death of Esh-baal (2Sa_4:9). Yet these acts of violence laid the sovereignty of all Israel at his feet. Of the male heirs of Saul there remained only a son of Jonathan, Merib-baal (1Ch_8:34) who was a crippled child of 7. David was therefore elected king over the nation (2Sa_5:1). His sovereignty of Judah is said to have lasted 7 1/2 years and that over the undivided people 33, making a reign of 40 years, beginning from David's 30th year (2Sa_5:5; 1Ch_3:4; in 2Sa_2:10 the text is probably corrupt). These are round numbers.
2. Conquests Abroad
King of all the Israelite tribes, David found his hands free to expel the foreigners who had invaded the sacred territory. His first step was to move his headquarters from the Southern Hebron, which he had been compelled at first to make his capital, to the more central Jerusalem. The fort here, which was still held by the aboriginal Jebusites, was stormed by Joab, David's nephew, who also superintended the rebuilding for David. He was in consequence appointed commander-in-chief (1Ch_11:6, 1Ch_11:8), a post which he held as long as David lived. The materials and the skilled workmen for the erection of the palace were supplied by Hiram of Tyre (2Sa_5:11). David now turned his attention to the surrounding tribes and peoples. The most formidable enemy, the Philistines, were worsted in several campaigns, and their power crippled (2Sa_5:17; 2Sa_8:1). In one of these David so nearly came by his death, that his people would not afterward permit him to take part in the fighting (2Sa_21:16, 2Sa_21:17). One of the first countries against which David turned his arms was the land of Moab, which he treated with a severity which would suggest that the Moabite king had ill-treated David's father and mother, who had taken refuge with him (2Sa_8:2). Yet his conduct toward the sons of Ammon was even more cruel (2Sa_12:31), and for less cause (1Sa_10:1). The king of Zobah (Chalkis) was defeated (2Sa_8:3), and Israelite garrisons were placed in Syria of Damascus (2Sa_8:6) and Edom (2Sa_8:14). The sons of Ammon formed a league with the Syrian kingdoms to the North and East of Palestine (2Sa_10:6, 2Sa_10:16), but these also had no success. All these people became tributary to the kingdom of Israel under David (2Sa_10:18, 2Sa_10:19) except the sons of Ammon who were practically exterminated for the time being (2Sa_12:31). Thus, Israel became one of the ?great powers? of the world during the reign of David and his immediate successor.
3. Political Situation
There is no doubt that the expansion of the boundaries of Israel at this period almost to their ideal limits (Deu_11:24, etc.) was largely due to the fact that the two great empires of Egypt and Assyria were at the moment passing through a period of weakness and decay. The Assyrian monarchy was in a decadent state from about the year 1050 bc, and the 22nd Dynasty - to which Shishak belonged (1Ki_14:25) - had not yet arisen. David, therefore, had a free hand when his time came and found no more formidable opposition than that of the petty states bordering upon Palestine. Against the combined forces of all the Israelite tribes these had never been able to effect much.
4. The Ark
It had been the custom of the Israelites on setting out upon expeditions in which the nation as a whole took part to carry with them the sacred box or ?ark? which contained the two stone tables (Jos_4:7, etc.). When David had secured the fortress of Jebus for his metropolis one of his first thoughts was to bring into it this emblem of victory. It was then lying at Kiriath-jearim, possibly Abu Gosh about 8 miles Northwest of Jerusalem (compare Ps 132). Owing to the sudden death of one of the drivers, which he interpreted as indicative of anger on the part of Yahweh, David left the ark at the house of a Philistine which happened to be near at hand. Since no misfortune befell this person, but on the contrary much prosperity, David took courage after three months to bring the sacred chest and its contents into his royal city. The ceremony was conducted with military honors in 2Sa_6:1 and with religious dancing and music (2Sa_6:5, 2Sa_6:14) and festivity (2Sa_6:18, 2Sa_6:19). A tent was pitched for it, in which it remained (2Sa_7:2), except when it was sent with the army to the seat of war (2Sa_11:11; 2Sa_15:24). David, however, had already built for himself a stone palace, and he wished now to add to it a chapel royal in the shape of a small temple, such as the neighboring kings had. He was the more anxious to so do since he had much of the material ready at hand in the precious metals which formed the most valuable part of the plunder of the conquered races, such as bronze from Chalkis (2Sa_8:8), gold and silver (2Sa_8:11) and the vessels which he had received as a present from the king of Hamath (2Sa_8:10). He was persuaded, however, by the prophet Nathan to forego that task, on the ground of his having shed much human blood, and to leave it to his successor (1Ch_22:8; 1Ch_28:3).
VI. Domestic Life
1. His Wives and Children
In accordance with the practice of the kings of his time, David had several wives. His first wife was Michal, the younger daughter of Saul. When David fled from Saul she was given to Phaltiel, but was restored to David after Saul's death. She does not appear to have borne any children. In 2Sa_21:8 ?Michal? should be Merab (1Sa_18:19). During the period of separation from Michal, David took to wife Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the wife of Nabal (1Sa_25:43, 1Sa_25:12), who accompanied him to Ziklag (1Sa_27:3), when they were among those captured by the Amalekites (1Sa_30:5). A fourth wife was the daughter of Talmai of Geshur, Maacah, whom he had captured in war (1Sa_27:8; 2Sa_3:3). When he removed to Hebron Ahinoam bore him his oldest son Amnon, and Abigail his second son Chileab or Daniel (2Sa_3:2, 2Sa_3:3; 1Ch_3:1); his third son was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, and his fourth Adonijah. His mother's name was Haggith; nothing is known about her. Two other sons, Shephatiah and Ithream were also born in Hebron (2Sa_3:2-5; 1Ch_3:1-4). When David added the kingdom of Israel to that of Judah, he, in accordance with custom, took more wives with a view to increase his state and dignity. One of these was Bathsheba, who became the mother of Solomon (2Sa_5:13; 1Ch_3:5; 1Ch_14:3). David's sons discharged priestly functions (2Sa_8:18; compare Nathan in Zec_12:12).
2. Domestic Troubles
It was perhaps inevitable that in so large a household the usual dissensions and crimes of the harem should have sprung up in plenty. A most unvarnished account of these is given in 2 Sam 11 through 20 - it has been suggested by Abiathar the priest in order to avenge himself on Solomon for his disgrace (1Ki_2:26, 1Ki_2:27), Solomon's mother being Bathsheba (2 Sam 11; 12). 1Ch_13:1-14 recounts the wrong done to Tamar, the daughter of David and Maacah, and sister of Absalom, and how the last named, having avenged his sister's honor by killing Amnon, his oldest brother, fled for asylum to his mother's father, the king of Geshur. Thence after two years he returned (chapter 14), only to foment rebellion against his father (chapter 15), leading to civil war between David and Judah on the one side and Absalom and Israel on the other (chapters 16; 17), and ending in the death of himself (chapter 18) and of Amasa, David's nephew, at the hands of his cousins Joab and Abishai (2Sa_20:7), as well as nearly precipitating the disruption of the newly founded kingdom (2Sa_19:43). The rebellion of Absalom was probably due to the fact of Solomon having been designated David's successor (compare 2Sa_12:24; 1Ch_22:9), for Absalom had the best claim, Amnon being dead and Chileab apparently of no account.
VII. His Officials
As David's circumstances improved he required assistance in the management of his affairs.
1. Prophets
The beginning of his good fortune had been the friendship of the prophet Samuel (1Sa_16:13; 1Sa_19:18). The prophet or seer was keeper of the king's conscience and was not appointed by him, but claimed divine authority (2Sa_7:3, 2Sa_7:1; 2Sa_12:1; 2Sa_24:11). Among the persons who discharged this duty for David were Gad the seer (1Sa_22:5) and Nathan the prophet (1Ki_1:11). All these are said to have written memoirs of their times (1Ch_29:29; 2Ch_9:29).
2. Priests
Next to the prophet came the priest. The kohen (priest) was, as the name indicates, a soothsayer or diviner. The duty of Abiathar, David's first priest (1Sa_22:20), was to carry the ephod - an object used for casting lots (1Sa_23:6), in order to decide what to do in cases where there was no other way of making up one's mind (1Sa_30:7). It is not to be confused with the dress of the same name (1Sa_2:18). Later, at Hebron, Abiathar was given a colleague, Zadok (1Ch_12:28), and it became their duty to carry the ark in expeditions (2Sa_15:24). Shortly after the death of David, Abiathar was deposed by Solomon for his part in Adonijah's attempt to seize the throne (1Ki_2:26, 1Ki_2:27), and Zadok remained sole priest to the king (1Ki_2:35). David's sons also acted in the same capacity (2Sa_8:18). An extra private priest is mentioned in 2Sa_20:26 (compare 2Sa_23:26, 2Sa_23:38).
3. Military Officers
When still an outlaw David required the services of a henchman to take command of his men in his absence. This post was held at first by different persons according to circumstances, but generally, it seems, by his nephew Abishai (1Sa_26:6). It was only after the death of Saul that his brother Joab threw in his lot with David. His great military talents at once gave him a leading place, and as a reward for the capture of Jebus he was given the chief command, which he held against all rivals (2Sa_3:27; 2Sa_20:10) during the whole reign. David's special body-guard of Philistine troops - the Cherethites and Pelethites - were commanded by Benaiah, who in the following reign, succeeded Joab (1Ki_2:35).
4. Other Officials
The office of recorder or magister memoriae was held during this reign and in the following by Jehoshaphat (2Sa_8:16); and that of secretary by Seraiah (2Sa_8:17), also called Shavsha (1Ch_18:16) or Shisha (1Ki_4:3). There were also the counselors, men noted for their great acumen and knowledge of human nature, such as Ahithophel and Hushai.
5. Mutual Rivalry
It was natural that there should be much mutual jealousy and rivalry among these officials, and that some of them should attach themselves to one of David's many sons, others to another. Thus, Amnon is the special patron of David's nephew Jonadab (2Sa_13:3; compare 2Sa_21:21), and Absalom is backed by Amasa (2Sa_17:25). The claim of Adonijah to the throne is supported by Joab and Abiathar (1Ki_1:7), as against that of Solomon who is backed by Nathan, Benaiah, Zadok (1Ki_1:8) and Hushai (compare Ant, VII, xiv, 4). Ahithophel sides with Absalom; Hushai with David (2Sa_15:12, 2Sa_15:32).
VIII. Personal Character of David
1. Chronicles
We would obtain a very different idea of the personal character of David if we drew our conclusions from the books of Samuel and Kings or from the books of Chronicles. There is no doubt whatever that the former books are much truer to fact, and any estimate or appreciation of David or of any of the other characters described must be based upon them. The Chronicler, on the other hand, is biased by the religious ideas of his own time and is prejudiced in favor of some of those whose biographies he writes and against others. He accordingly suppresses the dark passages of David's life, e.g. the murder of Uriah (1Ch_20:1-8), or sets them in a favorable light, e.g. by laying the blame of the census upon Satan (1Ch_21:1). David's success, especially as against Saul's misfortune, is greatly exaggerated in 1Ch_12:2, 1Ch_12:22. Ceremonial functions are greatly elaborated (chapter 16; compare 2 Sam 6). The various orders of priests and singers in the second temple have their origin traced back to David (1Ch_16:4, 1Ch_16:37; 1 Ch 23 through 27), and the temple of Solomon itself is to all intents and purposes built by him (chapters 22; 28). At the same time there may be much material in the shape of names and isolated statements not found in the older books, which so long as they are not tinged with the Chronicler's pragmatism or ?tendency,? may possibly be authentic records preserved within the circle of the priestly caste, e.g. we are told that Saul's skull was fastened in the temple of Dagon (1Ch_10:10). There is no doubt that the true names of Ish-bosheth, Mephibosheth and Eliada (2Sa_2:8; 2Sa_4:4; 2Sa_5:16) were Ish-baal (Esh-baal), Merib-baal and Beeliada (1Ch_8:33; 1Ch_9:39; 1Ch_8:34; 1Ch_9:40; 1Ch_14:7); that the old name of Jerusalem was Jebus (1Ch_11:4, 1Ch_11:5; compare Jdg_19:10, Jdg_19:11); perhaps a son of David called Nogah has to be added to 2Sa_5:15 from 1Ch_3:7; 1Ch_14:6; in 2Sa_8:8 and 2Sa_21:18, for Betah and Gob read Tebah (Tibhath) and Gezer (1Ch_18:8; Gen_22:24; 1Ch_20:4). The incident recounted in 2Sa_23:9 happened at Pasdammim (1Ch_11:13). Shammah the Harodite was the son of Elika (2Sa_23:25; compare 1Ch_11:27), and other names in this list have to be corrected after the readings of the Chronicler. Three (not seven) years of famine was the alternative offered to David (2Sa_24:13; compare 1Ch_21:12).
2. Psalms
If we could believe that the Book of Psalms was in whole or in part the work of David, it would throw a flood of light upon the religious side of his nature. Indeed, we should know as much about his religious life as can well be known about anyone. Unfortunately the date and authorship of the Psalms are questions regarding which the most divergent opinions are held. In the early Christian centuries all the Psalms were ascribed to David and, where necessary, explained as prophecies. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of the Book of Psalms simply as ?David? (Heb_4:7). The Greek text, however, of that book ascribes only some 87 of the poems to David, and the Hebrew only 73. Some of these are not David's, and in the whole book there is only one which professes from its contents to be his, namely, Ps 18 (= 2 Sam 22). The occasion on which a psalm was composed is stated only in the case of thirteen psalms, all of which are ascribed to David. Each of these is referred to some incident recorded in the books of Samuel, although sometimes the citation is erroneous (see PSALMS). The Septuagint supplies occasions to two or three more psalms; but all such statements are merely the conjectures of readers and scribes and are of no historical value.
3. Complex Character
To form a correct opinion of anyone is much more difficult than to state the facts of his life; to form an opinion which will be generally accepted is impossible. Of David's character the most opposite estimates have been formed. On one hand he is extolled as a saint, and yet few men have committed worse crimes. The character of David must remain, like that of everyone, an insoluble enigma. A person is to be judged by his motives rather than by his actions, and one's true motives are unknown even to oneself (Jer_17:9). There are several sides of David's nature in regard to which there cannot be two opinions.
4. Physical Courage
Perhaps the feature of his character which stands out most prominently in his earlier years, at any rate, is his boundless physical courage. He never shirked danger (1Sa_17:28, 1Sa_17:34) and delighted in hairbreadth escapes in 1Sa_26:6. Like most Semites he was fond of gambling and liked to take risks (1Sa_18:26; compare 1Sa_23:9; 1Sa_30:7), even when modesty would have led him to decline them (1Sa_17:32; compare Jdg_8:20). A native indifference to the shedding of blood grew into a liking for it, giving rise to acts of gross cruelty (1Sa_27:9; 2Sa_8:2; 2Sa_16:7, etc.). He had need, indeed, to be a brave man, considering the character of the men whom he ruled (1Sa_22:2). Yet he could rule them by gentleness as well as by force (1Sa_30:23). All classes had unbounded confidence in his personal courage and soldierly qualities (2Sa_18:3), and were themselves driven to restrain his military ardor (2Sa_21:17).
5. Moral Courage
Whether David possessed moral courage to an equal degree is another matter. Had he done so he would hardly have permitted the execution of seven sons of Saul (2Sa_21:1), and that, too, at the cost of breaking his plighted word (1Sa_24:21); he would not have stood in awe of the sons of his sister Zeruiah (2Sa_3:39), and would have punished Joab instead of weakly invoking an imprecation on his head (2Sa_3:29), however much he might have felt the loss of his services. But in many matters his natural sense of justice was blunted by the superstitions of the age in which he lived.
6. Prudence
But David was even more prudent than courageous. He is so described by the person who recommended him (somewhat eulogistically) to Saul (1Sa_16:18). Prudence or wisdom was indeed what his biographer most remarks in him (1Sa_18:5, 1Sa_18:30), and situated as he was he could not have too much of it. It shows itself in the fact that he consistently made as many friends and as few enemies as was possible. His wonderful foresight is shown in such acts as his conciliating the Judean chiefs with gifts taken from his spoil (1Sa_30:26), in his commendation of the men of Ja-besh-gilead (2Sa_2:5-7), and in his reception of Abner (2Sa_3:20). Yet it must be confessed that this constant looking forward to the future takes away from the spontaneity of his virtue. His gratitude is often a keen sense of favors to come. His kindness to Merib-baal did him no harm and some advantage (2Sa_9:1-13; 2Sa_19:24), and his clemency to Shimei helped to win him the tribe of Benjamin (2Sa_19:16). Even in his earliest youth he seems to have preferred to attain his ends by roundabout ways. The means by which he obtained introduction or reintroduction to Saul (1Sa_17:26) afford some justification for the opinon which his oldest brother held of him (1Sa_17:28). Perhaps nothing proves the genius of David better than his choice of Jebus as the capital of the country - which it still continues to be after a lapse of three thousand years.
7. Strategy
Yet it must be confessed that David's prudence often degenerates into cunning. With true oriental subtlety he believed firmly in keeping one's secret to oneself at all costs (1Sa_21:2). The manner in which he got himself out of Gath after this first visit there (1Sa_21:13) and the fact that he hoodwinked Achish during sixteen months (1Sa_27:1-12; 1Sa_28:1; 1Sa_29:1-11) may excite our admiration but not our respect. The Oriental, however, delights in a display of cunning and makes use of it without shame (2Sa_15:34), just as the European does in secret. There is something curiously modern in the diplomacy which David employed to ensure his own return in due state (2Sa_19:11). We must remember, however, that David lived among persons hardly one of whom he could trust. Joab accuses Abner of deceit, while he himself was faithful to none except David (2Sa_3:25). Ziba accuses Merib-baal of treachery, and Merib-baal accuses Ziba of falsehood, and David cannot tell which is speaking the truth (2Sa_16:1; 2Sa_19:24). David himself is out-witted by Joab, though with a friendly purpose (2Sa_14:1). The wonder, therefore, is, not that David was guilty of occasional obliquity, but that he remained as straightforward and simple as he was.
8. Nobility
David was, indeed, a man very much ahead of the times in which he lived. His fine elegies upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, Abner and Absalom show that his nature was untainted with malice. It was no superstitious fear but a high sense of honor which kept him back from putting out of his way his arch-enemy when he had him in his power (1 Sam 24-26). He even attempts to find an excuse for him (1Sa_26:19), while depreciating himself (1Sa_24:14; 1Sa_26:20) in phrases which are more than a mere oriental metonymy (2Sa_9:8). It was the ambition of his life to be the founder of a permanent dynasty (2Sa_7:29), yet he was willing that his house should be sacrificed to save his nation from destruction (2Sa_24:17). Like most Orientals he was endowed with a refinement of feeling unknown in the West. His refusal to drink of water obtained at the cost of bloodshed has become classic (2Sa_23:17). And he seems to have been gifted with the saving sense of humor (1Sa_26:15). That he was a religious person goes without saying (2 Sam 7; 2Sa_8:11). He probably did not believe that outside the land of Israel Yahweh ceased to rule: the expression used in 1Sa_26:19 is not a term of dogmatic theology. Like other Hebrews David had no theology. He believed in Yahweh alone as the ruler, if not of the universe, at any rate of all the world known to him. He certainly did not believe in Chemosh or Milcom, whether in the lands of Moab and Ammon or out of them (2Sa_12:30; for ?their king? read Malcam (Milcom)).
9. David in Relation to His Family
David discharged, as most Orientals do, his duty toward his parents (1Sa_22:3). To Michal, his first wife, his love was constant (2Sa_3:13), although she did not bear him any children. In accordance with the custom of the times, as his estate improved, he took other wives and slave-girls. The favorite wife of his latter days was Bathsheba. His court made some show of splendor as contrasted with the dwellings of the peasantry and the farmer class (2Sa_19:28, 2Sa_19:35), but his palace was always small and plain, so that it could be left to the keeping of ten women when he removed from it (2Sa_15:16). David and Michal seem to have lived on terms of perfect equality (2Sa_6:20). In this he contrasts somewhat with Ahab (1Ki_21:5). David's chief weakness in regard to his family was his indulgence of some of his sons and favoring some above others, and want of firmness in regard to them. He could refuse them nothing (2Sa_13:27). His first favorite was his oldest son Amnon (2Sa_13:21, Septuagint). After the death of Amnon, Absalom became the favorite (2Sa_18:33), and after the death of Absalom, Adonijah (1Ki_1:6). Yet David lived for two whole years in Jerusalem along with Absalom without seeing him (2Sa_14:28), and he was succeeded not by Adonijah, but by Solomon, whose mother was the favorite wife of his later years.
10. David in Relation to His Friends
Not only did David know the value of having many friends, but he was capable of sincere attachment. There is no reason to doubt the sincerity of his love for Jonathan, although it is not so completely cut off from all suspicion of self-interest as is that of Jonathan for him. David, indeed, had the faculty of winning the confidence and love of all sorts and conditions of people, not only of Jonathan (1Sa_18:1; 20; 1Sa_23:16), but of Jonathan's sister Michal (1Sa_18:20), of the whole people (1Sa_18:28 Septuagint; 2Sa_19:14), and even of his people's enemies (2Sa_17:27). His friendship lasted as long as the object of it lived (2Sa_1:17; 2Sa_10:1 f). In the case of his officers this was partly due to his faculty for choosing good men (2Sa_8:16), so that the same persons often held the same offices during David's life (2Sa_20:23). Yet the services of one of them at least were retained more by compulsion than by choice (2Sa_3:39). He seems, indeed, to have continued Joab in his post because he felt he could not do without him. Joab was devoted to David with the devotion of Caleb Balderstone to his master, and he was as utterly unscrupulous. He did not hesitate to commit any crime that would benefit David. The latter dared not perpetrate these atrocities himself, but he did not mind taking advantage of such a useful instrument, and never punished Joab for them, save with an impotent curse (2Sa_3:29). He dealt otherwise with malefactors who could be better spared (2Sa_1:14; 2Sa_4:9). Indeed, a suspicious juryman might find that David put both Abner and Amasa, in the way of Joab (2Sa_3:23; 2Sa_19:13; 4ff). It does not say much for David that he fell so low as to fear losing the good opinion even of Joab, this ready instrument of his worst crime (2Sa_11:25).
11. His Success
One reason for the high position David held in the popular estimation was no doubt his almost uninterrupted success. He was regarded as the chosen of Heaven, by friend and foe alike (1Sa_23:17). Fortune seemed to favor him. Nothing could have been more timely than the death of Saul and Jonathan, of Ishbaal and Abner, of Absalom and Amasa, and he did not raise his hand against one of them. As a guerrilla chief with his 600 bandits he could keep at bay. Saul with his 3,000 picked men (1Sa_24:2; 1Sa_26:2), but he was not a great general. Most of the old judges of Israel did in one pitched battle what David effected in a campaign (1Sa_18:30; 1Sa_19:8; 1Sa_23:1; 2Sa_5:17; 2Sa_21:15). Most of his conquests were won for him by Joab (1Ch_11:6; 2Sa_11:1), who willingly accorded David the credit of what he himself had done (2Sa_12:27, 2Sa_12:28; compare 2Sa_8:13; 1Ch_18:11 with the title of Psa_60:1-12). And to crown all, when he came to turn his arms east and west, he found his two most formidable opponents in these directions crippled and harmless. That he ever survived Saul he owed to a timely incursion of the Philistines (1Sa_23:24), and his whole career is largely to be explained by the fact that, at the moment, the tribe of Judah as a whole was passing from insignificance to supremacy.
12. His Foreign Friends
In the prosecution of his military achievements David employed everyone who came to his hand as an instrument without any question of nationality. This is not to impugn his patriotism. Eastern peoples are united not by the ties of country but of religion. Still it does seem strange that two of David's best friends were two enemies of his nation - Nahash, king of the sons of Ammon (1Sa_11:1; 2Sa_10:1) and Achish, lord of Gath (1Sa_21:10; 1Sa_27:1-12; 1Sa_28:1; 1Sa_29:1-11). He appears to have found the Philistines more reliable and trustworthy than the Hebrews. When he became king, his personal body-guard was composed of mercenaries of that nation - the Cherethites and Pelethites - with whom he had become acquainted when at Ziklag (1Sa_30:14; 2Sa_8:18; 2Sa_20:23). It was to a native of Gath that he committed the care of the sacred ark on its passage from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem (2Sa_6:10, 2Sa_6:11). When the rebellion broke out under Absalom, he committed one-third of his forces to a banished soldier of the same town, who had come to him a little while before with a band of followers (2Sa_15:19; 2Sa_18:2). Some of the soldiers in whom he placed the greatest confidence were Hittites (1Sa_26:6; 2Sa_11:6), and his commissariat was furnished by persons outside of Israel (2Sa_17:27; the Machir tribe were half Syrian; Gilead is the son of Machir, 1Ch_7:14). The threshing-floor of a Jebusite became the site of the temple of Solomon (2Sa_24:18).
13. Nemesis
David was a strong believer in the power of Nemesis, and that daughter of Night played a considerable part in his life. He felt a peculiar satisfaction in being undeservedly cursed by Shimei, from a conviction that poetic justice would in the end prevail (2Sa_16:12). He must have felt that the same unseen power was at work when his own oldest son was guilty of a crime such as his father had committed before him (2 Sam 13 and 11), and when the grandfather of the wife of Uriah the Hittite became the enemy whom he had most to fear (2Sa_11:3; 2Sa_23:34; compare Psa_41:9; Psa_55:12 f). And David's own last hours, instead of being spent in repose and peace following upon a strenuous and successful life, were passed in meting out vengeance to those who had incurred his displeasure as well as commending those who had done him service (1Ki_2:5).
14. References in the New Testament
Even as early as Ezekiel, David became the ruler who was to govern the restored people of Israel (Eze_34:23, Eze_34:14; Eze_37:24). If there were to be a ruling house, it must be the Davidic dynasty; it did not occur to the Jews to think of any other solution (Amo_9:11; Hos_3:5; Jer_30:9; Zec_12:8). That Jesus was descended from David (Mat_9:27, etc.) is proved by the fact that his enemies did not deny that he was so (Mat_22:41). In the New Testament, David is regarded as the author of the Psalms (Act_4:25; Rom_4:6; Heb_4:7). He is also one of the Old Testament saints (Heb_11:32) whose actions (unless otherwise stated) are to be imitated (Mat_12:3); but yet not to be compared with the Messiah (Act_2:29; Act_13:36) who has power over the life to come (Rev_3:7) and who is ?the Root of David? (Rev_5:5; Rev_22:16).
Literature
See the commentaries on the books of Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, and Psalms, and histories of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, especially Wellhausen and Kittel. A sketch of the life and historical position of David from the modern Continental point of view will be found in G. Beer, Saul, David, Salomo, published by Mohr, T?bingen, 1906.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Da?vid. The word probably means beloved. The reign of David is the great critical era in the history of the Hebrews. It decided that they were to have for nearly five centuries a national monarchy, a fixed line of priesthood, and a solemn religious worship by music and psalms of exquisite beauty; it finally separated Israel from the surrounding heathen, and gave room for producing those noble monuments of sacred writ, to the influence of which over the whole world no end can be seen. His predecessor, Saul, had many successes against the Philistines, but it is clear that he made little impression on their real power; for he died fighting against them, not on their own border, but on the opposite side of his kingdom, in Mount Gilboa. As for all the other 'enemies on every side'?Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and the kings of Zobah?however much he may have 'vexed them' (1Sa_14:47), they, as well as the Amalekites, remained unsubdued, if weakened. The real work of establishing Israel as lord over the whole soil of Canaan was left for David.
The life of David naturally divides itself into three portions:?I. The time which he lived under Saul. II. His reign over Judah in Hebron. III. His reign over all Israel.
I. In the first period we may trace the origin of all his greatness. His susceptible temperament, joined to his devotional tendencies, must, at a very early age, have made him a favorite pupil of the prophets, whose peculiar mark was the harp and the psalm (1Sa_10:1-12; 1Sa_19:20-24; see also 2Ki_3:15). His hospitable reception, when in distress, by Ahimelech the priest, and the atrocious massacre innocently brought by him on Nob, the city of the priests (I Samuel 21 and 1Sa_22:9-19), must have deeply affected his generous nature, and laid the foundation of his cordial affection for the whole priestly order, whose ministrations he himself helped to elevate by his devotional melodies. At an early period he attracted the notice of Samuel; and if we are to arrange events according to their probable connection, we may believe that after David had been driven away from Saul and his life several times attempted, Samuel ventured on the solemn step of anointing him king. Whenever this took place, it must have produced on David a profound impression, and prepared him to do that in which Saul had so eminently failed, viz. to reconcile his own military government with a filial respect for the prophets and an honorable patronage of the priesthood. Besides this, he became knit into a bond of brotherhood with his heroic comrades, to whom he was eminently endeared by his personal self-denial and liberality (1Sa_30:21-31; 1Ch_11:18). This, indeed, drew after it one most painful result, viz. the necessity of enduring the turbulence of his violent but able nephew Joab; nor could we expect that of a band of freebooters many should be like David. Again, during his outlawry David became acquainted in turn not only with all the wild country in the land, but with the strongholds of the enemy all round. By his residence among the Philistines he must have learned all their arts and weapons of war, in which it is reasonable to believe the Israelites previously inferior (1Sa_13:19-23). With Nahash the Ammonite he was in intimate friendship (2Sa_10:2); to the king of Moab he entrusted the care of his parents (1Sa_22:3); from Achish of Gath he received the important present of the town of Ziklag (1Sa_27:6). That Ziklag was a strong place may be inferred from 1Ch_12:1; 1Ch_12:20. The celebrity acquired in successful guerilla warfare, even in modern days, turns the eyes of whole nations on a chieftain; and in an age which regarded personal heroism as the first qualification of a general (1Ch_11:6) and of a king, to triumph over the persecutions of Saul gave David the fairest prospects of a kingdom.
The account transmitted to us of David's dangers and escapes in the first period is too fragmentary to work up into a history: nevertheless, it seems to be divisible into two parts, differing in character. During the former he is a fugitive and outlaw in the land of Saul, hiding in caves, pitching in the wilderness, or occasionally with great risk entering walled cities (1Sa_23:7): in the latter he abandons his native soil entirely, and lives among the Philistines as one of their chieftains (1Sa_27:1). While a rover in the land of Judah, his position (to our eyes) is anything but honorable; being a focus to which 'all who were in distress, in debt, or discontented, gathered themselves' (1Sa_22:2). Yet as the number of his followers became large (six hundred, we read, 1Sa_23:13), and David knew how to conciliate the neighboring sheep-masters by his urbanity and kind services, he gradually felt himself to be their protector and to have a right of maintenance and tribute for them. Hence he resents the refusal of Nabal to supply his demands, as a clear injustice; and, after David's anger has been turned away by the prudent policy of Abigail, in blessing her for saving him from slaying Nabal and every male of his family, the thought seems not to have entered his mind that the intention of such a massacre was more guilty than Nabal's refusal to pay him tribute (1Sa_25:34). This whole narrative is characteristic and instructive. By his marriage with Abigail he afterwards probably became rich (for she seems to have been a widow at her own disposal), and on passing immediately after into the land of the Philistines, he was enabled to assume a more dignified place. Becoming possessed of the stronghold of Ziklag, he now appeared like a legitimate chieftain with fixed possessions, and no longer a mere vagabond and freebooter. This was accordingly a transition-state in which David was prepared for assuming the kingdom over Judah. In Ziklag he was joined, not, as before, by mere outcasts from Israelitish life, but by men of consideration and tried warriors (1Ch_12:1-22), not only of the tribe of Judah, but from Gad, Manasseh, and even 'from Saul's brethren of Benjamin.'
II. Immediately upon the death of Saul the tribe of Judah invited David to become their prince.
His first step, after his election, was to fix on Hebron as the center of his administration?an ancient city, honorable by its association with the name of Abraham, and in the middle of his own tribe. He then strengthened himself by a marriage with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2Sa_3:3); a petty monarch whose dominions were near the sources of the Jordan, and whose influence at the opposite end of the land must have added a great weight into David's scale. From Abigail, widow of the churlish Nabal, David, as we have already observed, seems to have received a large private fortune. Concerning his other wives we know nothing in particular; only it is mentioned that he had six sons by six different mothers in Hebron. The chief jealousy was between the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, as Saul had belonged to the former; and a tournament was turned by mutual ill-will into a battle, in which Abner unwillingly slew young Asahel, brother of Joab. 'Long war,' after this, was carried on between 'the house of Saul and the house of David.' We may infer that the rest of Israel took little part in the contest; and although the nominal possession of the kingdom enabled the little tribe of Benjamin to struggle for some time against Judah, the skill and age of Abner could not prevail against the vigor and popular fame of David. A quarrel between Abner and Ishbosheth decided the former to bring the kingdom over to David. The latter refused to treat unless, as a preliminary proof of Abner's sincerity, Michal, daughter of Saul, was restored to David. The possession of such a wife was valuable to one who was aspiring to the kingdom. His demand was immediately complied with. After giving her back, Abner proceeded to win the elders of Israel over to David; but Joab discerned that if this should be so brought about, Abner of necessity would displace him from his post of chief captain. He, therefore, seized the opportunity of murdering him when he was come on a peaceful embassy, and covered the atrocity by pleading the duty of revenging his brother's blood. This deed was perhaps David's first taste of the miseries of royal power. He dared not proceed actively against his ruthless nephew, but he vented his abhorrence in a solemn curse on Joab and his posterity, and followed Abner to the grave with weeping. Anxious to purge himself of the guilt, he ordered a public wearing of sackcloth, and refused to touch food all the day. The feeble Ishbosheth, left alone, was unequal to the government, and shortly suffered the same fate of assassination. David, following the universal policy of sovereigns, and his own profound sense of the sacredness of royalty, took vengeance on the murderers, and buried Ishbosheth in Abner's tomb at Hebron.
III. The death of Ishbosheth gave to David supremacy over all Israel. The kingdom was not at first a despotic, but a constitutional one; for it is stated, 'David made a league with the elders of Israel in Hebron before Jehovah; and they anointed David king over Israel' (2Sa_5:3). This is marked out as the era which determined the Philistines to hostility (2Sa_5:17), and may confirm our idea, that their policy was to hinder Israel from becoming united under a single king. Two victories of David over them follow, both near the valley of Rephaim; and these were probably the first battles fought by David after becoming king of all Israel.
Perceiving that Hebron was no longer a suitable capital, he resolved to fix his residence farther to the north. On the very border of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin lay the town of Jebus, which with its neighborhood was occupied by Jebusites, a remnant of the old Canaanitish nation so called. In spite of the great strength of the fort of Zion, it was captured, and the Jebusites were entirely expelled or subdued; after which David adopted the city as his new capital, greatly enlarged the fortifications, and gave or restored the name of Jerusalem [JERUSALEM]. After becoming master of Jerusalem, David made a league with Hiram, king of Tyre, who supplied him with skilful artificers to build a splendid palace at the new capital. That the mechanical arts should have been in a very low state among the Israelites, was to be expected; since, before the reign of Saul even smiths' forges were not allowed among them by the Philistines. Nothing, however could have been more profitable for the Phoenicians than the security of cultivation enjoyed by the Israelites in the reigns of David and Solomon. The trade between Tyre and Israel became at once extremely lucrative to both, and the league between the two states was quickly very intimate.
Once settled in Jerusalem, David proceeded to increase the number of his wives, perhaps in part from the same political motive that actuates other Oriental monarchs, viz. in order to take hostages from the chieftains round in the least offensive mode. We know nothing further concerning his family relations, than the names of eleven sons born in Jerusalem (2Sa_5:14-15), of whom four were children of Bathsheba (1Ch_3:5), and therefore much younger than the elder sons.
Jerusalem, now become the civil metropolis of the nation, was next to be made its religious center; and the king applied himself to elevate the priestly order, to swell the ranks of attending Levites and singers, and to bring the ark to Jerusalem. The bringing of the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem established the line of high-priests in direct service before it; and from this time we may presume that the ceremonies of the great Day of Atonement began to be observed.
When the ark entered Jerusalem in triumph, David put on a priest's ephod and danced before it. This proved the occasion of the rupture between him and his royal spouse, Michal (2Sa_6:21). After this event, the king, contrasting his cedar palace with the curtains of the tabernacle, was desirous of building a temple for the ark; such a step, moreover, was likely to prevent any future change of its abode. The prophet Nathan, however, forbade it, on pious and intelligible grounds.
David's further victories are narrated in the following order?Philistines, Moab, Zobah, Edom, Northern League stirred up by the Ammonites, Ammon. 1. The short notice concerning the Philistines just gives us to understand that this is the era of their decisive, though not final, subjugation. Their towns were despoiled of their wealth (2Sa_8:12), and doubtless all their arms and munitions of war passed over into the service of the conqueror. 2. The Moabites were a pastoral people, whose general relations with Israel appear to have been peaceful. The slight notice of Saul's hostilities with them (1Sa_14:47) is the only breach recorded since the time of Eglon and Ehud. In the book of Ruth we see them as friendly neighbors, and much more recently (1Sa_22:3-4) David committed his parents to the care of the king of Moab. We know no cause, except David's strength, which now drew his arms upon them. A people long accustomed to peace, in conflict with a veteran army, was struck down at once, but the fierceness of his triumph may surprise us. Two-thirds of the population (if we rightly interpret the words, 2Sa_8:2) were put to the sword; the rest became tributary. 3. Who are meant by the Syrians of Zobah, is still a problem [ZOBAH]. We here follow the belief that it was a power of northern Syria, then aiming at extensive empire, which had not only defeated and humbled the king of Hamath, but had obtained homage beyond the Euphrates. The trans-Jordanic tribes in the time of Saul had founded a little empire for themselves by conquering their eastern neighbors, the Hagarenes: and, perhaps, occasionally overran the district on the side of the Euphrates, which Hadadezer, king of Zobah, considered as his own. His efforts 'to recover his border at the river Euphrates' first brought him into collision with David, perhaps by an attack which he made on the roaming Eastern tribes. David defeated not merely his army, but that of Damascus too, which came, too late, with succor; and put Israelite garrisons into the towns of the Damascenes. 4. Another victory, gained 'in the valley of salt,' ought, perhaps, to be read, as in 1Ch_18:12, and in the superscription of Psalms 60, 'over the Edomites,' not 'over the Syrians.' 5. After David had become master of all Israel, of the Philistine towns, of Edom, and of Moab, while the Eastern tribes, having conquered the Hagarenes, threatened the Ammonites on the north, as did Moab on the south, the Ammonites were naturally alarmed, and called in the powers of Syria to their help against a foe who was growing dangerous even to them. The coalition against David is described as consisting of the Syrians of Bethrehob and of Maacah, of Zobah and of Tob. The last country appears to have been in the district of Trachonitis, the two first immediately on the north of Israel. In this war, we may believe that David enjoyed the important alliance of Toi, king of Hamath, who, having suffered from Hadadezer's hostility, courted the friendship of the Israelitish monarch (2Sa_8:9-10). We are barely informed that one division of the Israelites under Abishai was posted against the Ammonites; a second under Joab met the confederates from the north, 30,000 strong, and prevented their junction with the Ammonites. In both places the enemy was repelled, though, it would seem, with no decisive result. A second campaign took place. The king of Zobah brought in an army of Mesopotamians, in addition to his former troops, and David found it necessary to make a levy of all Israel to meet the pressing danger. A pitched battle on a great scale was then fought at Helam?far beyond the limits of the twelve tribes?in which David was victorious. The Syrians henceforth left the Ammonites to their fate, and the petty chiefs who had been in allegiance to Hadadezer hastened to do homage to David. 6. Early in the next season Joab was sent to take vengeance on the Ammonites in their own home, by attacking their chief city, or Rabbah of Ammon. The natural strength of their border could not keep out veteran troops and an experienced leader; and though the siege of the city occupied many months (if, indeed, it was not prolonged into the next year), it was at last taken. It is characteristic of Oriental despotism, that Joab, when the city was nearly reduced, sent to invite David to command the final assault in person. David gathered a large force, easily captured the royal town, and despoiled it of all its wealth. His vengeance was as much more dreadful on the unfortunate inhabitants than formerly on the Moabites, as the danger in which the Ammonites had involved Israel had been more imminent (2Sa_12:31; 1Ch_20:3).
During the campaign against Rabbah of Ammon the painful and never-to-be-forgotten outrage of David against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah the Hittite took place. It is principally through this narrative that we know the tediousness of that siege; since the adultery with Bathsheba and the birth of at least one child took place during the course of it.
The latter years of David's reign were afflicted by the inevitable results of polygamy and despotism, viz. the quarrels of the sons of different mothers, and their eagerness to seize the kingdom before their father's death. Of all his sons, Absalom had naturally the greatest pretensions, being, by his mother's side, grandson of Talmai, and king of Geshur; while through his personal beauty and winning manners he was high in popular favor. It is evident, moreover, that he was the darling son of his father. When his own sister Tamar had been dishonored by her half-brother Amnon, the eldest son of David, Absalom slew him in vengeance, but, in fear of his father, then fled to his grandfather at Geshur. Joab, discerning David's longings for his son, effected his return after three years; but the conflict in the king's mind is strikingly shown by his allowing Absalom to dwell two full years in Jerusalem before he would see his face.
The insurrection of Absalom against the king was the next important event; in the course of which there was shown the general tendency of men to look favorably on young and untried princes, rather than on those whom they know for better and for worse. Absalom erected his royal standard at Hebron first, and was fully prepared to slay his father outright, which might probably have been done, if the energetic advice of Ahithophel had been followed. While they delayed, David escaped beyond the Jordan, and with all his troop met a most friendly reception, not only from Barzillai and Machir, wealthy chiefs of pastoral Gilead, but from Shobi, the son of the Ammonite king Nahash, whose power he had destroyed, and whose people he had hewed in pieces. We likewise learn on this occasion that the fortunes of David had been all along attended by 600 men of Gath, who now, under the command of Ittai the Gittite, crossed the Jordan with all their households, in spite of David's generous advice that they would return to their own country. Strengthened by the warlike eastern tribes, and surrounded by his experienced captains, the king no longer hesitated to meet Absalom in the field. A decisive victory was won at the wood of Ephraim, and Absalom was slain by Joab in the retreat. The old king was heart-stricken at this result, and, ignorant of his own weakness, superseded Joab in the command of the host by Amasa, Absalom's captain. Perhaps Joab on the former occasion, when he murdered Abner, had blinded the king by pleading revenge for the blood of Asahel; but no such pretence could here avail. The king was now probably brought to his determination, partly by his disgust at Joab, partly by his desire to give the insurgents confidence in his amnesty. If Amasa is the same as Amasai, David may likewise have retained a grateful remembrance of the cordial greeting with which he had led a strong band to his assistance at the critical period of his abode in Ziklag (1Ch_12:18); moreover, Amasa, equally with Joab, was David's nephew, their two mothers, Abigail and Zeruiah, being sisters to David by at least one parent (2Sa_17:25; 1Ch_2:13; 1Ch_2:16). The unscrupulous Joab, however, was not so to be set aside. Before long, catching an opportunity, he assassinated his unsuspecting cousin with his own hand; and David, who had used the instrumentality of Joab to murder Uriah, did not dare to resent the deed.
A quarrel which took place between the men of Judah and those of the other tribes in bringing the king back, had encouraged a Benjamite named Sheba to raise a new insurrection, which spread with wonderful rapidity. Amasa was collecting troops as David's general at the time when he was treacherously assassinated by his cousin, who then, with his usual energy, pursued Sheba, and blockaded him in Bethmaachah before he could collect his partisans. Sheba's head was cut off, and thrown over the wall; and so ended the new rising. Yet this was not the end of trouble; for the intestine war seems to have inspired the Philistines with the hope of throwing off the yoke. Four successive battles are recorded (2Sa_21:15-22), in the first of which the aged David was nigh to being slain. His faithful officers kept him away from all future risks, and Philistia was once more, and finally, subdued.
The last commotion recorded took place when David's end seemed nigh, and Adonijah, one of his elder sons, feared that the influence of Bathsheba might gain the kingdom for her own son Solomon. Adonijah's conspiracy was joined by Abiathar, one of the two chief priests, and by the redoubted Joab; upon which David took the decisive measure of raising Solomon at once to the throne. Of two young monarchs, the younger and the less known was easily preferred, when the sanction of the existing government was thrown into his scale; and the cause of Adonijah immediately fell to the ground. Amnesty was promised to the conspirators, yet it was not very faithfully observed [SOLOMON].
Numerous indications remain to us that, however eminently David was imbued with faith in Jehovah as the national God of Israel, and however he strove to unite all Israel in common worship, he still had no sympathy with the later spirit which repelled all foreigners from co-operation with Jews. In his early years necessity made him intimate with Philistines, Moabites, and Ammonites: policy led him into league with the Tyrians. He himself took in marriage a daughter of the king of Geshur: it is the less wonderful that we find Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11), Gether the Ishmaelite (1Ch_2:17), and others, married to Israelitish wives. The fidelity of Ittai the Gittite, and his six hundred men, has been already alluded to. It would appear, on the whole, that in tolerating foreigners Solomon did not go beyond the principles established by his father, though circumstances gave them a fuller development.
No attempt seems to have been made in David's reign to maintain horses or chariots for military purposes. Even chieftains in battle, as Absalom on his fatal day, appear mounted only on mules. Yet horses were already used in state equipages, apparently as a symbol of royalty (2Sa_15:1). That in the opening of Saul's reign the Philistines had deprived the Israelites of all the most formidable arms, is well known. It is probable that this may have led to a more careful practice of the sling and of the bow, especially among the southern tribes, who were more immediately pressed by the power of the Philistines. Such weapons cannot be kept out of the hands of the rustics, and must have been essential against wild beasts. But, from causes unknown, the Benjamites were peculiarly celebrated as archers and slingers (Jdg_20:16; 1Ch_8:40; 1Ch_12:2; 2Ch_14:8; 2Ch_17:17), while the pastoral tribes beyond the Jordan were naturally able to escape all attempts of the Philistines to deprive them of shield, spear, and sword. Hence the Gadites, who came to David at Ziklag, are described as formidable and full-armed warriors, 'with faces like lions, and swift as mountain roes' (1Ch_12:8).
The standing army which Saul had begun to maintain was greatly enlarged by David. An account of this is given in 1 Chronicles 27; from which it would seem that 24,000 men were constantly maintained on service, though there was a relieving of guard every month. Hence, twelve times this number, or 288,000, were under a permanent military organization, with a general for each division in his month. Besides this host, the register proceeds to recount twelve princes over the tribes of Israel, who may perhaps be compared to the lord-lieutenants of English counties.
The cabinet of David (if we may use a modern name) is thus given (1Ch_27:32-34) with reference to a time which preceded Absalom's revolt:?1, Jonathan, David's uncle, a counselor, wise man, and scribe; 2, Jehiel, son of Hachmoni, tutor (?) to the king's sons; 3, Ahithophel, the king's counselor; 4, Hushai, the king's companion; 5, after Ahithophel, Jehoiada, the son of Benaiah; 6, Abiathar the priest. It is added, 'and the general of the king's army was Joab.'
Twelve royal bailiffs are recited as a part of David's establishment (1Ch_27:25; 1Ch_27:31), having the following departments under their charge: 1, The treasures of gold, silver, etc.; 2, the magazines; 3, the tillage (wheat, etc.?); 4, the vineyards; 5, the wine-cellars; 6, the olive and sycamore trees; 7, the oil-cellars; 8, the herds in Sharon; 9, the herds in the valleys; 10, the camels; 11, the asses; 12, the flocks. The eminently prosperous state in which David left his kingdom to Solomon appears to prove that he was on the whole faithfully served, and that his own excellent intentions, patriotic spirit, and devout piety (measured, as it must be measured, by the standard of those ages), made his reign beneficial to his subjects.
The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Rth_4:22 (c) He is a type of the Christian and of CHRIST who lives for GOD in his youth, is persecuted and rejected by his brethren, is tempted in the wilderness, but finally is exalted on the throne.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.


David
(Heb. David', דָּוַד[in the full form, דָּוַידin 1Ki_3:14, and in Chron., Ezra, Neh., Song of Solomon, Hos., Amos, Eze_34:23, and Zech.], affectionate or beloved; Arab. in common use Daoud; Sept. Δαυϊvδ, N.T. Δαβίδ, older MSS. Δαυείδ; Joseph. Δαυϊvδης), the second but most prominent of the line of Jewish kings. The prominence of this personage in the Old Testament history as well as in the Christian economy requires a full treatment of the subject here.
A. Personal Biography. — The authorities for the life of David may be divided into the following classes:
(I.) The original Hebrew authorities:
(1.) The narrative of 1 Samuel 16, to 1Ki_2:10; with the supplementary notices contained in 1Ch_11:1 to 1Ch_29:30.
(2.) The “Chronicles” or State-papers of David (1Ch_27:24), and the original biographies of David by Samuel, Gad, and Nathan (1Ch_29:29). These are lost, but portions of them no doubt are preserved in the foregoing.
(3.) The Davidic portion of the Psalms, including such fragments as are preserved to us from other sources, viz., 2Sa_1:19-27; 2Sa_3:33-34; 2Sa_22:1-51; 2Sa_23:1-7. SEE PSALMS.
(II.) The two slight notices in the heathen historians, Nicolaus of Damascus in his Universal History (Josephus, Ant. 7:5, 2), and Eupolemus in his History of the Kings of Judah (Euseb. Praep. Ev. 9. 30).
(III.) David's apocryphal writings, contained in Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus V. Test. p. 906-1006.
(1.) Psalms 151, on his victory over Goliath.
(2.) Colloquies with God, on madness, on his temptation, and on the building of the Temple.
(3.) A charm against fire. Of these the first alone deserves any attention.
(IV.) The Jewish traditions, which may be divided into three classes:
(1.) The additions to the Biblical narrative contained in Josephus, Ant. 6:8- vii. 15.
(2.) The Hebrew traditions preserved in Jerome's Quaestiones Hebraicae in Libros Regum et Paralipomenen (vol. 3, Venice edit.).
(3.) The Rabbinical traditions reported in Basnage, Hist. des Juwfs, lib. v, c. 2; Calmet's Dictionary, s.v. David.
(V.) The Mussulman traditions, chiefly remarkable for their extravagance, are contained in the Koran, 2:250-252; 38:20-24; 21:79-82; 22:15, and explained in Lane's Selections from the Koran, p. 228-242; or amplified in Weil's Legends, Eng. tr. p. 152-170.
(VI.) In modern times his life has been often treated, both in separate treatises and in histories of Israel. Many of the monographs on almost every point in his life will be found referred to below. In English, the best known are, Delany's Hist. Account (Lond. 1741-2, 3 vols.), Chandler's Life (Lond. 1766, 2 vols.; new edit. Lond. 1853), and Blaikie, David King of Israel (London, 1856); in French, De Choisi's, and that in Bayle's Dictionary. One of the most recent, and, in some respects, the best treatment, is that in Ewald's Geschichte des Volkes Israel, 3, 71-257. See also Kitto, Daily Bible Illustrations, vol. 2. Other treatises on his life as a whole, or on the several incidents of it, are referred to in Darling's Cyclopoedia, 3, 290 sq.
David's life may be divided into the three following portions, more or less corresponding to the three old lost biographies by Samuel, Gad, and Nathan:
I. His youth before his introduction to the court of Saul.
II. His relations with Saul.
III. His reign.
I. The early life of David contains in many important respects the antecedents of his after history.
1. His family are mostly well known to us by name, and are not without bearing on his subsequent career. For an extended view of David's lineage, SEE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST.
It thus appears that David (born B.C. 1083) was the youngest son, probably the youngest child, of a family of ten. His mother's name is unknown. SEE NAHASH. We can only conjecture her character from one or two brief allusions to her in the poetry of her son, from which we may gather that she was a godly woman, whose devotion to God's service her son commemorates as at once a token of God's favor to himself, and a stimulus to him to consecrate himself to God's service (Psa_86:16; and perhaps Psa_116:16). His father, Jesse, was of a great age when David was still young (1Sa_17:12). His parents both lived till after his final rupture with Saul (1Sa_22:3). Certain points with regard to his birth and lineage deserve special mention.
(a) His connection with Moab through his ancestress Ruth. This he kept up when he escaped to Moab and entrusted his aged parents to the care of the king (1Sa_22:3). This connection possibly gave greater breadth to his views, and even to his history, than if he had been of purely Jewish descent. Such is probably the significance of the express mention of Ruth in the genealogy in Mat_1:5.
(b) His birthplace, Bethlehem (q.v.). His recollection of the well of Bethlehem is one of the most touching incidents of his later life (1Ch_11:17). From the territory of Bethlehem, as from his own patrimony, he gave a piece of property as a reward to Chimham, son of Barzillai (2Sa_19:37-38; Jer_41:17). It is this connection of David with Bethlehem that gave importance to the place again in later times, when Joseph went up to Bethlehem, “because he was of the house and lineage of David” (Luk_2:4).
(c) His general connection with the tribe of Judah, in which the tribal feeling appears to have been stronger than in any of the others. This connection must be borne in mind throughout the story — both of David's security among the hills of Judah during his flight from Saul, and of the early period of his reign at Hebron, as well as of the jealousy of the tribe at having lost their exclusive possession of him, which broke out in the revolt of Absalom.
(d) His relations to Zeruiah and Abigail. Though called in 1Ch_2:16, sisters of David, they are not expressly called the daughters of Jesse; and Abigail, in 2Sa_17:25, is called the daughter of Nahash. Is it too much to suppose that David's mother had been the wife or concubine of Nahash, and then married by Jesse? This would agree with the difference of age between David and his sisters, and also (if Nahash was the same as the king of Ammon) with the kindnesses which David received first from Nahash (2Sa_10:2), and then from Shobi, son of Nahash (17:27).
2. As the youngest of the family, he may possibly have received from his parents the name, which first appears in him, of David, the darling. But, perhaps for this same reason, he was never intimate with his brethren. The eldest brother, who alone is mentioned in connection with him, and who was afterwards made by him head of the tribe of Judah (1Ch_27:18), treated him scornfully and imperiously (1Sa_17:28), as the eldest brothers of large families are apt to act; his command was regarded in the family as law (1Sa_20:29); and the father looked upon the youngest son as hardly one of the family at all (1Sa_16:11), and as a mere attendant on the rest (1Sa_17:17). The familiarity. which he lost with his brothers, he gained with his nephews. The three sons of his sister Zeruiah, and the one son of his sister Abigail, seemingly from the fact that their mothers were the eldest of the whole family, were probably of the same age as David himself, and they accordingly were to him — especially the three sons of Zeruiah — throughout life in the relation usually occupied by brothers and cousins. In them we see the rougher qualities of the family, which David shared with them, while he was distinguished from them by qualities peculiar to himself. The two sons of his brother Shimeah are both connected with his after history, and both seem to have been endowed with the sagacity in which David himself excelled. One was Jonadab, the friend and adviser of his eldest son Amnon (2Sa_13:3); the other was Jonathan (2Sa_21:21), who afterwards became the counselor of David himself (1Ch_27:32). It is a conjecture or tradition of the Jews preserved by Jerome (Qu. Heb. on 1Sa_17:12) that this was no other than Nathan the prophet, who, being adopted into Jesse's family, makes up the eighth son, not named in 1Ch_2:13-15. But this is hardly probable.
The first record of David's appearance in history at once admits us to the whole family circle. B.C. 1068. There was a practice once a year at Bethlehem, probably at the first new moon of the year, of holding a sacrificial feast, at which Jesse, as the chief proprietor of the place, would preside (1Sa_20:6), with the elders of the town. At this or such like feast (1Sa_16:1) suddenly appeared the great prophet Samuel, driving a heifer' before him, and having in his hand a horn of the consecrated oil of the Tabernacle. The elders of the little town were terrified at this apparition, but were reassured by the august visitor, and invited by him to the ceremony of sacrificing the heifer. The heifer was killed. The party were waiting to begin the feast. Samuel stood with his horn to pour forth the oil, as if for an invitation to begin (1Sa_9:22). He was restrained by divine intimation as son after son passed by Eliab, the eldest, by “his height” and “his countenance,” seemed the natural counterpart of Saul, whose rival, unknown to them, the prophet came to select. But the day had gone by when kings were chosen because they were head and shoulders taller than the rest. Samuel said unto Jesse, Are these all thy children? And he said, There yet remaineth the youngest, and behold he keepeth the sheep.” The boy was brought in. We are enabled to fix his appearance at once in our minds. He was of short stature, thus contrasting with his tall brother Eliab, with his rival Saul, and with his gigantic enemy of Gath. He had red or auburn hair, as is occasional in the East; or at least a rufous complexion and sanguineous temperament. SEE RUDDY.
Later he wore a beard. His bright eyes are especially mentioned (1Sa_16:12), and generally he was remarkable for the grace of his figure and countenance (“fair of eyes,” “comely,” “goodly,” 1Sa_16:12; 1Sa_16:18; 1Sa_17:42), well made, and of great strength and agility. His swiftness and activity made him (like his nephew Asahel) like a wild gazelle, his feet like harts' feet, and his arms strong enough to break a bow of steel (Psa_18:33-34). He was pursuing the occupation allotted in Eastern countries usually to the slaves, the females, or the despised of the family (comp. the case of Moses, of Jacob, of Zipporah, and of Rachel, and in later times of Mohammed; Sprenger, p. 8). The pastures of Bethlehem are famous throughout the sacred history. The Tower of Shepherds (Gen_35:21) was there; and there too the shepherds abode with their flocks by night (Luke 2). He usually carried a switch or wand in his hand (1Sa_17:40), such as would be used for his dogs (17:43), and a scrip or wallet round his neck, to carry anything that was needed for his shepherd's life (1Sa_17:40). Such was the outer life of David when (as the later Psalmists described his call) he was “taken from the sheepfolds, from following the ewes great with young, to feed Israel according to the integrity of his heart, and to guide them by the skillfulness of his hands” (Psa_78:70-72). The recollection of the sudden and great elevation from this humble station is deeply impressed on his after life. “The man who was raised up on high” (2Sa_23:1) “I have exalted one chosen out of the people” (Psa_89:19 “I took thee from the sheepcote” (2Sa_7:8). The event itself prepared him to do that in which Saul had so eminently failed, viz. to reconcile his own military government with a filial respect for the prophets and an honorable patronage of the priesthood. Besides this, he became knit into a bond of brotherhood with his heroic comrades, to whom he was eminently endeared. by his personal self-denial and liberality (1Sa_30:21-31; 1Ch_11:18).
3. But there was another preparation still more needed for his office, which probably had made him already known to Samuel, and which, at any rate, is his next introduction to the history. When the bodyguard of Saul were discussing with their master where the best minstrel could be found to chase away his madness by music, one of the young men in the guard suggested David. Saul, with the absolute control inherent in the idea of an Oriental king, instantly sent for him, and in the successful effort of David's harp we have the first glimpse into that genius for music and poetry which was afterwards consecrated in the Psalms. It is impossible not to connect the early display of this gift with the schools of the prophets, who exercised their vocation with tabret, psaltery, pipe, and harp (1Sa_10:5), in the pastures (Naioth; comp. Psa_23:2), to which he afterwards returned as to his natural home (1Sa_19:18). Whether any of the existing Psalms can be referred to this epoch of David's life is uncertain. The 23d, from its subject of the shepherd, and from its extreme simplicity (though placed by Ewald somewhat later), may well have been suggested by this time. The 8th, 19th, and 29th, which are universally recognized as David's, describe the phenomena of nature, and, as such (at least the two former), may more naturally be referred to this tranquil period of his life than to any other. The imagery of danger from wild beasts, lions, wild bulls, etc. (Psa_7:2; Psa_22:20-21), may be reminiscences of this time. And now, at any rate, he must have first acquired the art which gave him one of his chief claims to mention in after times — “the sweet singer of Israel” (2Sa_23:1), “the inventor of instruments of music” (Amo_6:5); “with his whole heart he sung songs and loved him that made him” (Sir_47:8).
4. One incident alone of his solitary shepherd life has come down to us — his conflict with the lion and the bear in defense of his father's flocks (1Sa_17:34-35). But it did not stand alone. He was already known to Saul's guards for his martial exploits, probably against the Philistines (1Sa_16:18), and when he suddenly appeared in the camp his elder brother immediately guessed that he had left the sheep in his ardor to see the battle (1Sa_17:28). To this new aspect of his character we are next introduced. B.C. 1063.
The scene of the battle is at Ephes-dammim (q.v.), in the frontier hills of Judah, called probably from this or similar encounters “the bound of blood.” Saul's army is encamped on one side of the ravine, the Philistines on the other; the watercourse of Elah, or “the Terebinth,” runs between them. A Philistine of gigantic stature, and clothed in complete armor, insults the comparatively defenseless Israelites, among whom the king alone appears to be well armed (1Sa_17:38; comp. 13:20). No one can be found to take up the challenge. At this juncture David appears in the camp, sent by his father with ten loaves and ten slices of cheese to his three eldest brothers, fresh from the sheepfolds. Just as he comes to the circle of wagons which formed, as in Arab settlements, a rude fortification round the Israelite camp (1Sa_17:20), he hears the well-known shout of the Israelite war-cry (comp. Num_23:21). The martial spirit of the boy is stirred at the sound; he leaves his provisions with the baggage-master, and darts to join his brothers (like one of the royal messengers) into the midst of the lines. Then he hears the challenge, now made for the fortieth time — sees the dismay of his countrymen — hears of the reward proposed by the king-goes with the impetuosity of youth from soldier to soldier talking of the event, in spite of his brother's rebuke — he is introduced to Saul — undertakes the combat. His victory over the gigantic Philistine is rendered more conspicuous by his own diminutive stature, and by the simple weapons with which it was accomplished — not the armor of Saul, which he naturally found too large, but the shepherd's sling, which he always carried about with him, and the five polished pebbles which he picked up as he went from the watercourse of the valley, and put in his shepherd's wallet. Two trophies long remained of the battle — one, the huge sword of the Philistine, which was hung up behind the ephod in the Tabernacle at Nob (1Sa_21:9); the other the head, which he bore away himself, and which was either laid up at Nob, or subsequently at Jerusalem. See Nos. Psalm cxliv, though by its contents of a much later date, is by the title in the Sept. “against Goliath.” But there is also a psalm, preserved in the Sept. at the end of the Psalter, and which, though probably a mere adaptation from the history, well sums up this early period of his life:
“This is the psalm of David's own writing (?) (ίδιόγραφος είς Δαυίδ), and outside the number, when he fought the single combat with Goliath.” “I was small amongst my brethren, and the youngest in my father's house. I was feeding my father's sheep. My hands made a harp, and my fingers fitted a psaltery. And who shall tell it to my Lord? He is the Lord, he heareth. He sent his messenger (angel?), and took me from my father's flocks, and anointed me with the oil of his anointing. My brethren were beautiful and tall, hut the Lord was not well pleased with them. I went out to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols. But I drew his own sword and beheaded him, and took away the reproach from the children of Israel.”
David's susceptible temperament, joined to his devotional tendencies, must, at a very early age, have made him a favorite pupil of the prophets, whose peculiar mark was the harp and the psalm (1Sa_10:11-12, and 1Sa_19:20-24; see also 2Ki_3:15). There is no small difficulty in reconciling the recommendation of David to Saul as a skillful player and warrior in 1Sa_16:14-23, with the account in the following chapter of David's appearance in the camp of Saul, and his introduction to that monarch in consequence of his victory over Goliath. Both narratives apparently give the account of David's first introduction to Saul, and yet it is not possible to combine them into one. Some would transpose the latter part of the 16th chap. so as to make it follow after 18:9 (Horsley, Bib. Crit. 1:332); but it is not easy to see what is gained by this; for if David was known to Saul, and accepted into Saul's service as there narrated, how could Saul send for him to his father's house, and receive him as a perfect stranger, as narrated in 1Sa_16:14-20? On the other hand, if David came before the notice of Saul under the circumstances mentioned in this 16th chapter, and was received into his favor and service as there narrated (21-23), how could the facts recorded in the 17th chapter, especially those in 1Sa_17:31-37, and 1Sa_17:55-58, have occurred? The Vatican MS. of the Sept. rejects 1Sa_17:12-31; 1Sa_17:55-58, and 1Sa_18:1-5, as spurious; and this Kennicott approves as the true solution of the difficulty (see his discussion of the question, Dissert. on the Hebrew Text, p. 418-432, 554-558). What gives some plausibility to this is, that 1Sa_17:32 naturally connects with 1Sa_18:11, and all between has very much the aspect of an interpolation. At the same time, it can hardly be permitted on such grounds to reject a portion of Scripture which has all other evidence, external and internal, in its favor. The old solution of the difficulty, that as David, after his first introduction to Saul, did not abide constantly with him, but went and came between Saul and his father's house (1Sa_17:15), he may have been at home when the war with the Philistines broke out; and as Saul's distemper was of the nature of mania, he very probably retained no recollection of David's visits to him while under it, but at each new interview regarded and spoke of him as a stranger — still leaves unexplained the fact of Abner's ignorance of David's person, which appears to have been as complete as that of the king, and the fact of David's professing ignorance of warlike weapons, though he had been for some time Saul's armor-bearer. This last difficulty may be alleviated by the consideration that the statement in 1Sa_16:21 may be proleptical; or David, though Saul's armor-bearer, may have had so little practice in the use of armor as to prefer, in such a crisis, trusting to the weapons with which he was familiar. The best adjustment of these passages, however, is to transpose the account in 1Sa_16:14-23, so as to bring it in between 1Sa_18:4-5, and to regard the statement in 1Sa_18:2, of David's permanent residence at court after Goliath's slaughter as referring merely to an attachment to the royal person as a general thing and for the present. On the breaking out of Saul's hypochondria, David may naturally have returned home.
II. David's History in connection with Saul. — The victory over Goliath had been a turning-point of his career. Saul inquired his parentage, and took him finally to his court. Jonathan was inspired by the romantic friendship which bound the two youths together to the end of their lives. The triumphant songs of the Israelitish women announced that they felt that in him Israel had now found a deliverer mightier even than Saul; and in those songs, and in the fame which David thus acquired, was laid the foundation of that unhappy jealousy of Saul towards him which, mingling with the king's constitutional malady, poisoned his whole later relations to David. Three new qualities now began to develop themselves in David's character. The first was his prudence. It had already been glanced at on the first mention of him to Saul (1Sa_16:18), as “prudent in matters;” but it was the marked feature of the beginning of his public career. Thrice over it is emphatically said, “he behaved himself wisely,” and evidently with the meaning that it was the wisdom called forth by the necessities of his delicate and difficult situation. It was that peculiar Jewish caution which has been compared to the sagacity of a hunted animal, such as is remarked in Jacob, and afterwards in the persecuted Israelites of the Middle Ages. One instance of it appears immediately, in his answer to the trap laid for him by Saul's servants, “Seemeth it to you a light thing to be the king's son-in-law, seeing that I am a poor man and lightly esteemed?” (1Sa_18:23). Secondly, we now see his magnanimous forbearance called forth, in the first instance, towards Saul, but displaying itself (with a few painful exceptions) in the rest of his life. He is the first example of the virtue of chivalry. Thirdly, his hairbreadth escapes, continued through so many years, impressed upon him a sense of dependence on the Divine help, clearly derived from this epoch. His usual oath or asseveration in later times was, “As the Lord liveth who hath redeemed my soul out of adversity” (2Sa_4:9; 1Ki_1:29); and the Psalms are filled with imagery taken even literally from shelter against pursuers, slipping down precipices (Psa_18:36), hiding-places in rocks and caves, leafy coverts (Psa_31:20), strong fastnesses (Psa_18:2). This part of David's life may be subdivided into four portions: 1. His Life at the Court of Saul till his final Escape (1Sa_18:2 to 1Sa_19:18). — His office is not exactly defined. But it would seem that, having been first armor-bearer (1Sa_16:21; 1Sa_18:2), then made captain over a thousand — the subdivision of a tribe — (1Sa_18:13), he finally, on his marriage with Michal, the king's second daughter, was raised to the high office of captain of the king's body-guard, second only, if not equal, to Abner, the captain of the host, and Jonathan, the heir apparent. These three formed the usual companions of the king at his meals (1Sa_20:25). David was now chiefly known for his successful exploits against the Philistines, by one of which he won his wife, and drove back the Philistine power with a blow from which it only rallied at the disastrous close of Saul's reign. He also still performed from time to time the office of minstrel. But the successive snares laid by Saul to entrap him, and the open violence into which the king's madness twice broke out, at last convinced him that his life was no longer safe. He had two faithful allies, however, in the court — the son of Saul, his friend Jonathan — the daughter of Saul, his; wife Michal. Warned by the one and assisted by the other, he escaped by night, and was from that time forward a fugitive. B.C. 1062. Jonathan he never saw again except by stealth. Michal was given in marriage to another (Phaltiel), and he saw her no more till long after her father's death. SEE MICHAL. To this escape the traditional title assigns Psalms 59. Internal evidence (according to Ewald) gives Psalms 6, 7 to this period. In the former he is first beginning to contemplate the necessity of flight; in the latter he is moved by the plots of a person not named in the history (perhaps those alluded to in 1Ch_12:17) — according to the title of the psalm, Cush, a Benjamite, and therefore of Saul's tribe. SEE CUSH, 2.
2. His Escape (1Sa_19:18 to 1Sa_21:15). — He first fled to Naioth (or the pastures) of Ramah, to Samuel. This is the first recorded occasion of his meeting with Samuel since the original interview during his boy. hood at Bethlehem. It might almost seem as if he had intended to devote himself with his musical and poetical gifts to the prophetical office, and give up the cares and dangers of public life. But he had a higher destiny still. Up to this time both the king and himself had thought that a reunion was possible (see 20:5, 26). But the madness of Saul now became more settled and ferocious in character, and David's danger proportionately greater. The secret interview with Jonathan, of which the recollection was probably handed down through Jonathan's descendants when they came to David's court, confirmed the alarm already excited by Saul's endeavor to seize him at Ramah, and he now determined to leave his country, and take refuge, like Coriolanus, or Themistocles in like circumstances, in the court of his enemy. Before this last resolve he visited Nob (q.v.), the seat of the tabernacle (1 Samuel 21), partly to obtain a final interview with the high- priest Ahimelech (1Sa_22:9; 1Sa_22:15), partly to procure food and weapons. On the pretext of a secret mission from Saul, he obtained from Ahimelech some of the sacred loaves of shew-bread (q.v.) and the consecrated sword of Goliath, of which he said, “There is none like that; give it me.” The incident was of double importance in David's career. First, it established a connection between him and the only survivor of the massacre in which David's visit involved the house of Ahimelech. Secondly, from Ahimelech's surrender of the sacred bread to David's hunger (see Osiander, De Davide panes propositionis recipiente, Tubing. 1751) our Lord drew the inference of the superiority of the moral to the ceremonial law, which is the only allusion made to David's life in the N.T. (Mat_12:3; Mar_2:25; Luk_6:3-4). It is also commemorated by the traditional title of Psalms 52. His hospitable reception, when in distress, by Ahimelech the priest, and the atrocious massacre innocently brought by him on Nob, the city of the priests (1 Samuel 21 and 1Sa_22:9-19), must have deeply affected his generous nature, and laid the foundation of his cordial affection for the whole priestly order, whose ministrations he himself helped to elevate by his devotional melodies. SEE AHIMELECH, 1.
His stay at the court of Achish (q.v.) was short. Discovered possibly by “the sword of Goliath,” his presence revived the national enmity of the Philistines against their former conqueror; and he only escaped by feigning madness, by violent gestures, playing on the gates of the city, or on a drum or cymbal, letting his beard grow, and foaming at the mouth (1Sa_21:13, Sept.). (See Ortlob, De Davidis delirio, Lips. 1706; Hebenstreit, De Dav. furorem simulante, Vit. 1711; Krafft, De Dav. in aula Getheorum, Erlang. 1768.) The 56th and 34th Psalms are both referred by their titles to this event, and the titles state (what does not appear in the narrative) that he had been seized as a prisoner by the Philistines, and that he was, in consequence of this stratagem, set freely Achish, or (as he is twice called) Abimelech. SEE ACHISH, 1.
3. His Life as an independent Outlaw (1Sa_22:1 to 1Sa_26:25). —
(1.) His first retreat was the cave of Adullam, probably the large cavern (the only very large one in Palestine), not far from Bethlehem, now called Khureitun (see Bonar's Land of Promise, p, 244). From its vicinity to Bethlehem, he was joined there by his whole family, now feeling themselves in danger from Saul's fury (1Sa_22:1). This was probably the foundation of his intimate connection with his nephews, the sons of Zeruiah. B.C. 1061. Of these, Abishai, with two other companions, was among the earliest (1Ch_11:15; 1Ch_11:20; 1Sa_26:6; 2Sa_23:13; 2Sa_23:18). Besides these were outlaws and debtors from every part, including, doubtless, some of the original Canaanites, of whom the name of one, at least, has been preserved, Ahimelech the Hittite (1Sa_26:6). SEE ADULLAM.
(2.) His next move was to a stronghold, either the mountain afterwards called Herodium, close to Adullam, or the fastness called by Josephus (War, 7:8, 3) Masada, the Graecised form of the Hebrew word Metsadah (1Sa_22:4-5; 1Ch_12:16), in the neighborhood of En-gedi. While there, he had deposited his aged parents, for the sake of greater security, beyond the Jordan, with their ancestral kinsman of Moab (ib. 3). The neighboring king, Nahash of Ammon, — also treated him kindly (2Sa_10:2). Here another companion appears for the first time, a school- fellow, if we may use the word, from the schools of Samuel, the prophet Gad, his subsequent biographer (1Sa_22:5); and while he was there occurred the chivalrous exploit of the three heroes just mentioned to procure water from the well of Bethlehem, and David's chivalrous answer, like that of Alexander in the desert of Gedrosia (1Ch_11:16-19; 2Sa_23:14-17). He was joined here by two separate bands: one a little body of eleven fierce Gadite mountaineers, who swam the Jordan in flood- time to reach him (1Ch_12:8); the other, a detachment of men from Judah and Benjamin, under his nephew Amasai, who henceforth attached himself to David's fortunes (1Ch_12:16-18).
(3.) At the warning of Gad, he fled next to the forest of Hareth (somewhere in the hills of Judah), and then again fell in with the Philistines, and again, apparently advised by Gad (1Sa_23:4), made a descent on their foraging parties, and relieved Keilah (q.v.), in which he took up his abode. While there, now for the first time in a fortified town of his own (1Sa_23:7), he was joined by a new and most important ally — Abiathar, the last survivor of the house of Ithamar, who came with the high-priest's ephod, and henceforth gave the oracles, which David had hitherto received from Gad (1Sa_23:6; 1Sa_23:9; 1Sa_22:23). By this time the 400 who had joined him at Adullam (1Sa_22:2) had swelled to 600 (1Sa_23:13).
(4.) The situation of David was now changed by the appearance of Saul himself on the scene. Apparently the danger was too great for the little army to keep together. They escaped from Keilah, and dispersed, “whithersoever they could go,” among the fastnesses of Judah. Henceforth it becomes difficult to follow his movements with exactness, partly from ignorance of the localities, partly because the same event seems to be twice narrated (1Sa_23:19-24; 1Sa_26:1-4, and perhaps 1Sa_24:1-22; 1Sa_26:5-25). But thus much we discern. He is in the wilderness of Ziph. Once (or twice) the Ziphites betray his movements to Saul, who literally hunts him like a partridge; the treacherous Ziphites beating the bushes before him, and 3000 men being stationed by Saul to catch even the print of his footsteps on the hills (1Sa_23:14; 1Sa_23:22 [Hebrews], 24 [Sept.]; 24:11; 26:2, 20). David finds himself driven to the extreme south of Judah, in the wilderness of Maon. On two, if not three occasions, the pursuer and pursued catch sight of each other. Of the first of these escapes, the memory was long preserved in the name of the “Cliff of Divisions,” given to the cliff down one side of which David climbed, while Saul was surrounding the hill on the other side (1Sa_23:25-29), when he was suddenly called away by the cry of a Philistine invasion. On another occasion David took refuge in a cave “by the spring of the wild goats” (En-gedi), immediately above the Dead Sea (1Sa_24:1-2).
The rocks were covered with the pursuers. Saul entered, as is the custom in Oriental countries, for a natural necessity. The followers of David, seated in the dark recesses of the cave, seeing, yet not seen, suggest to him the chance thus thrown in their way. David, with a characteristic mixture of humor and generosity, descends and silently cuts off the skirt of the long robe spread, as is usual in the East on such occasions, before and behind the person so occupied and then ensued the pathetic scene of remonstrance and forgiveness (1Sa_24:8-22). The third was in the wilderness further south. There was a regular camp, formed with its usual fortification of wagon and baggage. Into this inclosure David penetrated by night, and carried of the cruse of water, and the well-known royal spear of Saul, which twice had so nearly transfixed him to the wall in former days (1Sa_26:7; 1Sa_26:11; 1Sa_26:22). The same scene is repeated as at En-gedi — and this is the 1st interview between Saul and David (1Sa_26:25). B.C. 1055. David had already parted with Jonathan in the forest of Ziph (1Sa_23:18).
To this period are annexed by their traditional titles Psalms 54 (“When the Ziphim came and said, Doth not David hide himself with us?”); 57 (“When he fled from Saul in the cave,” though this may refer also to Adullam); 63, “When he was in the wilderness of Judah” (or Idumaea, Sept.); 142 (“A prayer when he was in the cave”).
While he was in the wilderness of Maon occurred David's adventure with Nabal (q.v.), instructive as showing his mode of carrying on the freebooter's life, and his marriage with Abigail. His marriage with Ahinoam from Jezreel, also in the same neighborhood (Jos_15:56), seems to have taken place a short time before (1Sa_25:43; 1Sa_27:3; 2Sa_3:2).
4. His Service under Achish (1Sa_27:1; 2Sa_1:27). — Wearied with his wandering life, he at last crosses the Philistine frontier, not, as before, as a fugitive, but the chief of a powerful band — his 600 men now grown into an organized force, with their wives and families around them (1Sa_27:3-4). After the manner of Eastern potentates, Achish gave him for his support a city — Ziklag, on the frontier of Philistia — and it was long remembered that to this curious arrangement the kings of Judah owed this part of their possessions (1Sa_27:6). Here we meet with the first note of time in David's life. He was settled therefor a year and four months (1Sa_27:7), and his increasing importance is indicated by the fact that a body of Benjamite archers and slingers, twenty-two of whom are specially named, joined him from the very tribe of his rival (1Ch_12:1-7). Possibly during this stay he may have acquired the knowledge of military organization and weapons of war (1Sa_13:19-23), in which the Philistines surpassed the Israelites, and in which he surpassed all the preceding rulers of Israel. During his outlawry, David had also become acquainted in turn not only with all the wild country in the land, but with the strongholds of the enemy all around. The celebrity acquired in successful guerilla warfare, even in modern days, turns many eyes on a chieftain; and in an age which regarded personal heroism as the first qualification of a general (1Ch_11:6) and of a king, to triumph over the persecutions of Saul gave David the fairest prospects of a kingdom. That he was able to escape the malice of his enemy was due in part to the direct help given him by the nations around, who were glad to keep a thorn rankling in Saul's side; in part also to the indirect results of their invasions (1Sa_23:27).
He deceived Achish into confidence by attacking the old nomadic inhabitants of the desert frontier, and representing the plunder to be of portions of the southern tribes or the nomadic allied tribes of Israel. But this confidence was not shared by the Philistine nobles, and accordingly David was sent back by Achish from the last victorious campaign against Saul. In this manner David escaped the difficulty of being present at the battle of Gilboa, but found that during his absence the Bedouin Amalekites, whom he had plundered during the previous year, had made a descent upon Ziklag, burnt it to the ground, and carried off the wives and children of the new settlement. A wild scene of frantic grief and recrimination ensued between David and his followers. It was calmed by an oracle of assurance from Abiathar. It happened that an important accession had just been made to David's force. On his march with the Philistines northward to Gilboa, he had been joined by some chiefs of the Manassites, through whose territory he was passing. Urgent as must have been the need for them at home, yet David's fascination carried them off, and they now assisted him against the plunderers (1Ch_12:19-21). They overtook the invaders in the desert, and recovered the spoil. These were the gifts with which David was now able for the first time to requite the friendly inhabitants of the scene of his wanderings (1Sa_30:26-31). A more lasting memorial was the law which traced its origin to the arrangement made by him, formerly in the attack on Nabal, but now again, more completely, for the equal division of the plunder among the two thirds who followed to the field, and the one third who remained to guard the baggage (1Sa_30:25; 1Sa_25:13). Two days after this victory a Bedouin arrived from the north with the fatal news of the defeat of Gilboa. The reception of the tidings of the death of his rival and of his friend, the solemn mourning, the vent of his indignation against the bearer of the message, the pathetic lamentation that followed, well close the second period of David's life (2Sa_1:1-27). B.C. 1053.
III. David's Reign. —
(I.) As King of Judah at Hebron, 7.5 years (2 Samuel 2 :l-5:5). — Hebron was selected, doubtless, because it was the ancient sacred city of the tribe of Judah, the burial-place of the patriarchs and the inheritance of Caleb. Here David was first formally anointed king-by whom it is not stated; but the expression seems to limit the inauguration to the tribe of Judah, and therefore to exclude any intervention of Abiathar (2Sa_2:4). To Judah his dominion was nominally confined. But probably for the first five years of the time the dominion of the house of Saul, whose seat was now at Mahanaim, did not extend to the west of the Jordan, and consequently David would be the only Israelite potentate among the western tribes. He then strengthened himself by a marriage with Maacah, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur (2Sa_3:3), a petty monarch whose dominions were near the sources of the Jordan, and whose influence at the opposite end of the land must have added a great weight into David's scale. From Abigail, widow of the churlish Nabal, David seems to have received a large private fortune. Concerning his other wives we know nothing in particular, only it is mentioned that he had six sons by six different mothers in Hebron. The chief jealousy was between the two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, as Saul had belonged to the former; and a tournament was turned by mutual ill-will into a battle, in which Abner unwillingly slew young Asahel, brother of Joab. “Long war,” after this, was carried on between “the house of Saul and the house of David.” We may infer that the rest of Israel took little part in the contest; and although the nominal possession of the kingdom enabled the little tribe of Benjamin to struggle for some time against Judah, the skill and age of Abner could not prevail against the vigor and popular fame of David. Gradually David's power increased, and during the two years which followed the elevation of Ishbosheth, a series of skirmishes took place between the two kingdoms. First came a successful inroad into the territory of Ishbosheth (2Sa_2:28).
Next occurred the defection of Abner (2Sa_3:12). A quarrel between Abner and Ishbosheth decided the former to bring the kingdom over to David (see Ortlob, De pacto Davidis et Abneri, Lips. 1709). The latter refused to treat unless, as a preliminary proof of Abner's sincerity, Michal, daughter of Saul, was restored to David. The possession of such a wife was valuable to one who was aspiring to: the kingdom; and although David had now other wives, he appears not to have lost his affection for this his earliest bride. She, too, seems to have acquiesced in his claim as being greater than that of the man on whom her father had arbitrarily bestowed her, and the sincere kindness of her new husband had probably not effaced her former attachment to David, although we afterwards find her betrayed into an unworthy act by her pride of position. After giving her back, Abner proceeded to win the elders of Israel over to David; but Joab discerned that if this should be so brought about, Abner of necessity would displace him from his post of chief captain. He therefore seized the opportunity of murdering him when he had come on a peaceful embassy, and covered the atrocity by pleading the duty of revenging his brother's blood. This deed was perhaps David's first taste of the miseries of royal power. He dared not proceed actively against his ruthless nephew, but he vented his abhorrence in a solemn curse on Joab and his posterity, and followed Abner to the grave with weeping. SEE ABNER.
Anxious to purge himself of the guilt, he ordered a public wearing of sackcloth, and refused to touch food all the day. His sincere expressions of grief won the heart of all Israel. The feeble Ishbosheth (q.v.), left alone, was unequal to the government, and shortly suffered the same fate of assassination. David, following the universal policy of sovereigns (Tacit. Hist. 1:44), and his own profound sense of the sacredness of royalty, took vengeance on the murderers, and buried Ishbosheth in Abner's tomb at Hebron. During this period, it is not stated against what people his marauding excursions were directed. It is distinctly alleged (2Sa_3:22) that his men brought in a great spoil at the very time at which he had a truce with Abner; possibly it may have been won from his old enemies the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30). The throne, so long waiting for him, was now vacant, and the united voice of the whole people at once called him to occupy it. B.C. 1046. A solemn league was made between him and his people (2Sa_5:3). For the third time David was anointed king, and a festival of three days celebrated the joyful event (1Ch_12:39). His little band had now swelled into “a great host, like the host of God” (1Ch_12:22). The command of it, which had formerly rested on David alone, he now devolved on his nephew Joab (2Sa_2:28). It was formed by contingents from every tribe of Israel. Two are specially mentioned as bringing a weight of authority above the others. The sons of Issachar had “understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do,” and with the adjacent tribes contributed to the common feast the peculiar products of their rich territory (1Ch_12:32; 1Ch_12:40). The Levitical tribe, formerly represented in David's being followed only by the solitary fugitive Abiathar, now came in strength, represented by the head of the rival branch of Eleazar, the high-priest, the aged Jehoiada and his youthful and warlike kinsman Zadok (1Ch_12:27-28; 1Ch_27:5). The kingdom was not at first a despotic, but a constitutional one; for it is stated, “David made a league with the elders of Israel in Hebron before Jehovah; and they anointed David king over Israel” (2Sa_5:3). This is marked out as the era which determined the Philistines to hostility (2Sa_5:17), and may confirm our idea that their policy was to hinder Israel from becoming united under a single king.
Underneath this show of outward prosperity, two cankers, incident to the royal state which David now assumed, had first made themselves apparent at Hebron, and affected all the rest of his career. The first was the formation of a harem, according to the usage of Oriental kings. To the two wives of his wandering life he had now added four, and including Michal, five (2Sa_2:2; 2Sa_3:2-5; 2Sa_3:15). The second was the increasing power of his kinsmen and chief officers, which the king strove to restrain within the limits of right; and thus, of all the incidents of this part of his career, the most plaintive and characteristic is his lamentation over his powerlessness to prevent the murder of Abner (2Sa_3:31-36).
(II.) Reign over all Israel, 33 years (2Sa_5:5, to 1Ki_2:11). — The reign of David is the great critical era in the history of the Hebrews. It decided that they were to have for nearly five centuries a national monarchy, a fixed line of priesthood, and a solemn religious worship by music and psalms of exquisite beauty; it finally separated Israel from the surrounding heathen, and gave room for producing those noble monuments of sacred writ, to the influence of which over the whole world no end can be seen. His predecessor, Saul, had many successes against the Philistines, but it is clear that he made little impression on their real power; for he died fighting against them, not on their own border, but at the opposite side of his kingdom, in Mount Gilboa. As for all the other enemies on every side” — Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and the kings of Zobah — however much he may have “vexed them” (1Sa_14:47), they, as well as the Amalekites, remained unsubdued, if weakened. The real work of establishing Israel as lord over the whole soil of Canaan was left for David.
1. The Foundation of Jerusalem. — It must have been with no ordinary interest that the surrounding nations watched for the prey on which the Lion of Judah, now about to issue from his native lair, and establish himself in a new home, would make his first spring. One fastness alone in the center of the land had hitherto defied the arms of Israel. On this, with a singular prescience, perceiving that so southerly a position as Hebron was no longer suitable, David fixed as his future capital. By one sudden assault Jebus was taken, and became henceforth known by the names (whether borne by it before or not we cannot tell) of Jerusalem and Zion. B.C. 1044. SEE JERUSALEM.
Of all the cities of Palestine great in former ages, Jerusalem alone has vindicated by its long permanence the choice of its founder. The importance of the capture was marked at the time. The reward bestowed on the successful scaler of the precipice was the highest place in the army. Joab henceforward became captain of the host (1Ch_11:6). The royal residence was instantly fixed there, fortifications were added by the king and by Joab, and it was known by the special name of the “city of David” (1Ch_11:7; 2Sa_5:9). In the account of this siege, some have imagined the Chronicles to contradict the book of Samuel, but there is no real incompatibility in the two narratives. Joab was, it is true, already David's chief captain; but David was heartily disgusted with him, and may have sought a pretense for superseding him by offering the post to the man who should first scale the wall. Joab would be animated by the desire to retain his office, at least as keenly as others by the desire to get it; and it is credible that he may actually have been the successful hero of that siege also. If this was the case, it will further explain why David, even in the fullness of power, made no further effort to expel him until he had slaughtered Absalom.
The neighboring nations were partly enraged and partly awestruck. The Philistines had already made two ineffectual attacks on the new king (2Sa_5:17-20), both near the valley of Rephaim; and these were probably the first battles fought by David after becoming king of all Israel. A retribution on their former victories now took place by the capture and conflagration of their own idols (1Ch_14:12). Tyre, now for the first time appearing in the sacred history, allied herself with Israel; and Hiram sent cedarwood for the buildings of the new capital (2Sa_5:11), especially for the palace of David himself (2Sa_7:2). That the mechanical arts should have been in a very low state among the Israelites was to be expected, since, before the reign of Saul, even smiths forges were not allowed among them by the Philistines. Nothing, however, could be more profitable for the Phoenicians than the security of cultivation enjoyed by the Israelites in the reigns of David and Solomon. The trade between Tyre and Israel became at once extremely lucrative to both, and the league between the two states was quickly very intimate. Unhallowed and profane as Jebus had been before, it was at once elevated to a sanctity which it has never lost, above any of the ancient sanctuaries of the land. The ark was now removed from its obscurity at Kirjath-jearim with marked solemnity, B.C. 1043. A temporary halt (owing to the death of Uzzah) detained it at Obed-edom's house, after which it againr moved forward with great state to Jerusalem. An assembly of the nation was convened, and (according to 1Ch_13:2; 1Ch_15:2-27) especially of the Levites. The musical arts, in which David himself excelled, were now developed on a great scale (1Ch_15:16-22; 2Sa_6:5). Zadok and Abiathar, the representatives of the two Aaronic families, were both present (1Ch_15:11). Chenaniah presided over the music (1Ch_15:22; 1Ch_15:27). Obed-edom followed his sacred charge. The prophet Nathan appears for the first time as the controlling adviser of the future (2Sa_7:3). A sacrifice was offered as soon as a successful start was made (1Ch_15:26; 2Sa_6:13). David himself was dressed in the white linen dress of the priestly order, without his royal robes, and played on stringed instruments (1Ch_15:27; 2Sa_6:14; 2Sa_6:20). As in the prophetic schools where he had himself been brought up (1Sa_10:5), and as still in the impressive ceremonial of some Eastern dervishes, and of Seville cathedral (probably derived from the East), a wild dance was part of the religious solemnity. Into this David threw himself with unreserved enthusiasm, and thus conveyed the symbol of the presence of Jehovah into the ancient heathen fortress (see J. E. Muller, De Davide ante arcam saltante, in Ugolini Thes. 32). SEE DANCE.
In the same spirit of uniting the sacerdotal with the royal functions, he offered sacrifices on a large scale, and himself gave the benediction to the people (2Sa_6:17-18; 1Ch_16:2). The scene of this inauguration was on the hill which, from David's habitation, was specially known as the “City of David.” As if to mark the new era, he had not brought the ancient tabernacle from Gibeon, but had erected a new tent or tabernacle (1Ch_15:1) for the reception of the ark. It was the first beginning of the great design, of which we will speak presently, afterwards carried out by his son, of erecting a permanent temple or palace for the ark, corresponding to the state in which he himself was to dwell. It was the greatest day of David's life. One incident only tarnished its splendor-the reproach of Michal, his wife, as he was finally entering his own palace, to carry to his own household the benediction which he had already pronounced on his people. SEE MICHAL. His act of severity towards her was an additional mark of the stress which he himself laid on the solemnity (2Sa_6:20-23; 1Ch_15:29).
A large number of psalms, either in their traditional titles, or in the irresistible evidence of their contents, bear traces of this great festival, besides those which may be referred either to this occasion, or to the dedication of Solomon's Temple, or even to the restoration of the sacred services on the return from Babylon. The 15th, 101st; and 118th, by their contents, express the feelings of David on his occupation of his new home. The 68th, at least in part, and the 24th, seem to have been actually composed for the entrance of the ark into the ancient gates of the heathen fortress -and the last words of the second of these two psalms may be regarded as the inauguration of the new name by which God henceforth is called, The Lord of hosts. Who is this king of glory?” “The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory” (Psa_24:10; comp. 2Sa_6:2). Fragments of poetry worked up into psalms (Psa_96:2-13; Psalms 105; Psa_106:1; Psa_106:47-48) occur in 1Ch_16:8-36, as having been delivered by David “into the hands of Asaph and his brother” after the close of the festival. SEE PSALMS.
The priests or Aaronites must, for a long time, have had little occupation in their sacred office; for the ark was at Kirjath-jearim, under the care of a private family. Indeed, during the reign of Saul, we find shew-bread to have been set forth at Nob (1Sa_21:4-6) by Ahimelech the priest; and it is possible that many other ceremonies were performed by them, in spite of the absence of the ark. But after the dreadful massacre perpetrated on the priestly order by Saul, few Aaronites are likely to have felt at ease in their vocation. To wear an ephod — the mark of a priest who is asking counsel of Jehovah — had almost become a crime; and even after the death of Saul, it is possible that the Aaronites, like the other Israelites, remained organized as bands of soldiers. At least Jehoiada (who, according to 1Ch_27:5, was high-priest at this time, and joined David at Hebron with 3700 Aaronites) was father of the celebrated warrior Benaiah, afterwards captain of David's body-guard-a man whose qualities were anything but priest-like; and Zadok, afterwards high-priest, who joined David “with twenty-two captains of his father's house” at the same time as Jehoiada, is described as “a young man mighty of valor” (1Ch_12:27-28). How long Jehoiada retained the place of high-priest is uncertain. It is probable that no definite conception then existed of the need of having one high-priest; and it is certain that David's affection for Abiathar, because of his father's fate, maintained him in chief place through the greater part of his reign. Not until a later time, it would seem, was Zadok elevated to a coordinate position. SEE ABIATHAR.
Any further remarks concerning the orders and courses of the priests will be better reserved for the article on that subject. It is enough here to add that the cruel slaughter ordered by Saul of the Aaronites of the line of Ithamar, whom Abiathar now represented, naturally gave a great preponderance of numbers and power to the line of Eleazar, to which Zadok belonged. We must also refer to the article LEVITES for further information concerning them. The bringing of the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem established the line of high-priests in direct service before it; and from this time we may presume that the ceremonies of the great day of atonement began to be observed. Previously, it would appear, the connection between the priesthood and the tabernacle had been very loose. The priests fixed their abode at Nob, when the ark was at Kirjath-jearim, a very short distance; yet there is nothing to denote that they at all interfered with Abinadab in his exclusive care of the sacred deposit.
After this event, the king, contrasting his cedar palace with the curtains of the tabernacle, was desirous of building a temple for the ark; such a step, moreover, was likely to prevent any future change of its abode. This design, when imparted to the prophet Nathan, was received by him with warm encouragement. He had to learn, however, that the seemingly obvious fitness of a public measure did not excuse a prophet from the obligation of consulting the Lord before he ventured to utter an authoritative opinion; for the next day he had to return to the king with an intimation that he must abandon the intention of executing this great undertaking. The design is indeed commended; yet as he had been a warrior from his youth, and had shed much human blood, he was pronounced unfit for this sacred work, which was therefore to be reserved for the peaceful reign of his successor. Encouraged by the divine approbation, and by the high promises which were on this occasion given to him, David henceforth made it one of the great objects of his reign to gather means and materials for this important undertaking, the credit of which he is fairly entitled to divide with his son, by whom it was actually executed. SEE SOLOMON.
Great as might appear the advantage of establishing the same city as the religious and civil metropolis, the effect was, in one respect, most unfortunate; it offended the powerful and central tribe of Ephraim. They had been accustomed to regard Shiloh as the rightful abode of the ark. Against Kirjath-jearim no envy was felt, especially while the ark and its priests were in obscurity; but when so much honor attended it; when it became a peculiar glory to Judah and Benjamin — tribes already too much favored; when a magnificent edifice was erected to receive it, the seeds were sown of that disaffection which ended in a rending of the tribes apart. Nor was the argument unreasonable that a more central spot was needed for Israel to assemble at year by year.
2. Foundation of the Court and Empire of Israel (2 Samuel 8-12). — The erection of the new capital at Jerusalem introduces us to a new era in David's life and in the history of the monarchy. Up to this time h: had been a king, such as Saul had been before him, or as the kings of the neighboring tribes, each ruling over his territory, unconcerned with any foreign relations except so far as was necessary to defend his own nation. But David, and through him the Israelitish monarchy, now took a wider range. He became a king on the scale of the great Oriental sovereigns of Egypt and Persia, with a regular administration and organization of court and camp; and he also founded an imperial dominion which for the first time realized the prophetic description of the bounds of the chosen people (Gen_15:18-21). The internal organization now established lasted till the final overthrow of the monarchy. The empire was of much shorter duration, continuing only through the reigns of David and his successor Solomon. But, for the period of its existence, it lent a peculiar character to the sacred history. For once, the kings of Israel were on a level with the great potentates of the world. David was an imperial conqueror, if not of the same magnitude, yet of the same kind as Rameses or Cyrus. “I have made thee a great name like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth” (2Sa_7:9). “Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars” (1Ch_22:8). And as, on the one hand, the external relations of life, and the great incidents of war and conquest receive an elevation by their contact with the religious history, so the religious history swells into larger and broader dimensions from its contact with the course of the outer world. The enlargement of territory, the amplification of power and state, leads to a corresponding enlargement and amplification of ideas, of imagery, of sympathies, and thus (humanly speaking) the magnificent foreshadowings of a wider dispensation in the prophetic writings first became possible through the court and empire of David.
a. In the internal organization of the kingdom the first new element that has to be considered is the royal family, the dynasty, of which David was the founder, a position which entitled him to the name of “Patriarch” (Act_2:29) and (ultimately) of the ancestor of the Messiah. Once settled in Jerusalem, David proceeded to increase the number of his wives, perhaps in part from the same political motive that actuates other Oriental monarchs, viz. in order to take hostages from the chieftains round in the least offensive mode. This explanation Will not apply to the concubines. We know nothing further concerning David's family relations than the names of eleven sons born in Jerusalem (2Sa_5:14-15), of whom four were children of Bathsheba (1Ch_3:5), and therefore much younger than the elder sons.
Of these, Absalom and Adonijah both inherited their father's beauty (2Sa_14:25; 1Ki_1:6), but Solomon alone possessed any of his higher qualities. It was from a union of the children of Solomon and Absalom that the royal line was carried on (1Ki_15:2). The princes were under the charge of Jehiel (1Ch_27:32), perhaps the Levite (1Ch_15:21; 2Ch_20:14), with the exception of Solomon, who (according at least to one rendering) was under the charge of Nathan (2Sa_12:25). David's strong parental affection for all of them is very remarkable (2Sa_13:31; 2Sa_13:33; 2Sa_13:36; 2Sa_14:33; 2Sa_18:5; 2Sa_18:33; 2Sa_19:4; 1Ki_1:6).
b. The military organization, which was, in fact, inherited from Saul, but greatly developed by David, was as follows:
(1.) “The Host,” i.e. the whole available military force of Israel, consisting of all males capable of bearing arms, and summoned only for war. This had always existed from the time of the first settlement in Canaan, and had been commanded by the chief or the judge who presided over Israel for the time. Under Saul we first find the recognized post of a captain or commander-in- chief in the person of Abner; and under David this post was given as a reward for the assault on Jerusalem to his nephew Joab (1Ch_11:6; 1Ch_27:34), who conducted the army to battle in the absence of the king (2Sa_12:26). There were 12 divisions of 24,000 each, who were held to be in duty month by month, and over each of them presided an officer selected for this purpose from the other military bodies formed by David (1Ch_27:1-15). Besides this host, the register proceeds to recount twelve princes over the tribes of Israel, who may perhaps be compared to the governors of our own states in their military capacity. The enumeration of these great officers is remarkable, being as follows:
1, Of the Reubenites;
2, of the Simeonites;
3, of the Levites;
4, of the Aaronites;
5, of Judah
6, of Issachar;
7, of Zebulon;
8, of Naphthali;
9, of Ephraim;
10, of Manasseh;
11, of Manasseh beyond the Jordan;
12, of Benjamin;
13, of Dan.
Here the names of Gad and Asher are omitted without explanation. On the other hand, the Levites and Aaronites are recounted, as though they were tribes coordinate with the rest, and Zadok is named as prince of the Aaronites. It is not to be supposed that the Levites or Aaronites were wholly shut out from civil and military duties. It has already been remarked that Zadok (here chief of the Aaronites) was described in the beginning of David's reign as “a mighty man of valor” (1Ch_12:28), and the same appellation is given to the sons of Shemaiah, a Levite (1Ch_26:6). Benaiah also, now captain of David's body-guard, was son of the late high-priest Jehoiada (1Ch_27:5, and 1Ch_12:27). The army was still distinguished from those of surrounding nations by its primitive aspect of a force of infantry without cavalry. The only innovations as yet allowed were the introduction of a very limited number of chariots (2Sa_8:4), and of mules for the princes and officers instead of asses (2Sa_13:29; 2Sa_18:9). According to a Mussulman tradition (Koran, 21:80), David invented chain armor. The usual weapons were still spears and shields, as appears from the Psalms. For the general question of the numbers and equipment of the army, SEE ARMS and SEE ARMY.
(2.) The Bodyguard. This also had existed in the court of Saul, and David himself had probably been its commanding officer (1Sa_22:14; Ewald). But it now assumed a peculiar organization. They were, at least in name, foreigners, as having been drawn from the Philistines, probably during David's residence at the court of Gath. They are usually called from this circumstance “Cherethites and Pelethites” (q.v.), but had also a body especially from Gath among them, of whom the name of one, Ittai, is preserved as a faithful servant of David (2Sa_15:19). The captain of the force was, however, not only not a foreigner, but an Israelite of the highest distinction and purest descent, who first appears in this capacity, but who outlived David, and became the chief support of the throne of his son, namely, Benaiah, son of-the chief priest Jehoiada, representative of the eldest branch of Aaron's house (2Sa_8:18; 2Sa_15:18; 2Sa_20:23; 1Ki_1:38; 1Ki_1:44).
(3.) The most peculiar military institution in David's army was that which arose out of the peculiar circumstances of his early life. The nucleus of what afterwards became the only standing army in David's forces was the band of 600 men who had gathered round him in his wanderings. The number of 600 was still preserved, with the name of Gibborim, “heroes” or “mighty men.” It became yet further subdivided into three
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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