David the Great

By Victor Sutch

David is one of the great figures of the Old Testament. For one thing, he does what no one else could do: he conquers the Middle East. That fact alone makes him an important figure for all times, since very few people have ever been able to do that. And yet despite that, he remains a bit of a disreputable figure: he disobeys God, and he has an i

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stratton Press
• Release date: Feb 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781643458816

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Preface

This work is based upon the Bible. At present, it is only in the Bible that this material is available. The form of it that I am using here is the King James Version of that work; in many instances, however, readers will notice that is usually is the modern King James Version. We use that version because in the last four hundred years throughout English-speaking countries, it has been read by more people than all the other versions combined. It is also the version most readily available to the reader. And, it seems to me, it has a level of beauty that most of the others do not quite approach. In reading this work, one will of course find many references to biblical scripture, all set off with quotation marks and usually with the cited scripture noted near the quotation. If there is no Scripture notation but there are quotation marks, the reader may be sure that those are direct quotes from God’s Word.

There are other matters that need to be addressed: For one, I need to acknowledge the help of various people. I am at best a tyro when it comes to the computer, although I use it gratefully. However, a helpful gentleman named Rick Daniels has cheerfully bailed me out on that machine on a number of occasions when it became troublesome. In addition, the knowledgeable people at Inkwater Press have always been helpful and patient even when I changed my mind and, at times, my purposes. And I have a sister-in-law, Virginia Gibson, who is an editor of ability and who at times insisted that I make some changes and omit some paragraphs. She was almost always right. Finally at times, I have been told I talk too much. If so, people on occasion listen and sometimes are not slow to tell me I am wrong. All those people helped me, and I am grateful.

Introduction

The modern history of the Jewish nation has been one of almost total domination by the gentile governments and forces around them. That was true for so long that the Jews themselves became accustomed to that treatment, expected it, and were certain that that was their fate. They were often pictured in that sorry position in the early European theater. They did not struggle much against the role that was laid out for them. They were harried, beaten, slaughtered, stolen from, and driven from one country to another until that became a way of life for them. They seemed to think that God, their God, had brought them into existence to be the prey and victim for all the gentile governments of Europe as well as all the other enemies who surrounded them.

However, there was a time in history when the Jews dominated the Middle East. During that time, for over two generations, they controlled the whole area, and every other nation in the civilized part of the whole world acknowledged their leadership and accepted the order that they imposed. During that time, the Jews led the world and gave it peace and security. This work is the story of the man who brought that world into existence and was its chief governing figure for over forty years.

Chapter 1

Beginnings

David’s heritage begins with Judah. Judah was the fourth son that Leah, the unloved wife of Jacob, born to Jacob while he was in Padanaram taking care of his father-in-law’s sheep and cattle. One would think that David’s heritage should have begun with Joseph, the first son that Rachel bore him, and the one who was perhaps Jacob’s favorite child. But it was not so; David’s lineage runs through Judah, who had his father’s full confidence. It was Judah who saved Joseph and sent him to Egypt as a slave rather than permitting his brothers to kill him as they planned. It was Judah who was the stable one of Jacob’s son. It was he got his father’s permission to take Benjamin with them when they had to go to Egypt to find food for the family. It was his promise to care for Benjamin and see that he returned safely that convinced his father to let Benjamin go to Egypt with his brothers. Otherwise, the man in Egypt (Joseph) had said they would get no more food there unless Benjamin accompanied them. So it was Judah whom Israel trusted with his youngest son.

Judah promised that if anything endangered Benjamin, he himself would stay in Egypt in his place. That convinced Israel, and he put Benjamin into Judah’s hands. Judah has some problems, but it was through Judah that Jesus’s Jewish genealogy was to be, and is, chronicled today.

As for his immediate ancestors, his great grandfather was Boaz, and his great grandmother Ruth of the book of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite gentile. Boaz was a prosperous Jewish landowner. They produced a male heir whom they named Obed. Obed was David’s grandfather. For it was he who begot Jesse the Bethlehemite, the father of David.

Now to David, the Lord admonished Samuel to quit mourning over Saul (whom God had rejected as king) and go to Bethlehem to Jesse. For, said the Lord, I have chosen me a king from one of his sons.

Samuel was afraid. How can I do that? he wailed. Saul will be furious. He will kill me. (Saul was in the later period of his life when he was stubborn and dictatorial and often killed those who opposed him. We will discuss his life in detail later.)

The Lord told Samuel to take a heifer and tell everyone that he was going there to make a sacrifice to the Lord, When you get there, call Jesse to the sacrifice. Do as I tell you (1 Sam. 16:1).

The priest followed those instructions.

When he arrived, the elders of the community trembled. Have you come peaceably? they asked.

Peaceably, Samuel said. And Samuel sanctified the elders and called them to the sacrifice. He also sanctified Jesse’s sons and called them to the sacrifice also. Following that event, Samuel turned to Jesse and asked to see his sons individually.

All of Jesse’s sons were tall handsome men, and Jesse proudly called them before Samuel one at a time, starting with Eliab, the eldest. Samuel looked at this fine young man and thought to himself, Surely this must be the one. But he was rejected.

Don’t look at his manly looks or at his height because I have refused him. Man looks at outward appearances, but I, said the Lord unto Samuel, look on the heart.

Then he called his second son, Abinadab, also a very impressive-looking young man. He too was rejected. Then Jesse made Shammah, his third son, pass by, only to find that he too was rejected. Thus, Jesse called all the first seven of his sons in their proper order, only to find that all were in turn rejected by God.

Samuel was stunned. What was going on? He turned to Jesse and said, Are these all your sons?

No, said Jesse, I have another son, the youngest. He is out taking care of the sheep in the field. That is his job.

Bring him in, Samuel ordered, and quickly because we will not stop what we are doing here until he comes.

Jesse sent hurriedly for David. The boy quickly ran up to his house.

The Bible describes David as smaller than his brothers, ruddy (of healthy appearance), and of a very beautiful countenance. David would have been very probably thirteen or fourteen years of age at this time. God said, Arise, anoint him. This is he.

Samuel rose and poured his anointing oil upon the boy as he stood in the midst of his family. The Bible says that the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. As we shall see, for some reason his brothers were not much impressed by the honor given to their young brother. (This is the first evidence of David’s family problems. There is a significant amount of that in the biblical record.) After making the anointing, Samuel left immediately. He hurried away to Ramah. He was still worried about King Saul.

As a young man, Saul had been chosen by God and anointed by Samuel as king of Israel, and he certainly looked the part of a king. He was over seven feet tall and towered over everyone around him. As a young man, he was insecure, uncertain of himself, and immature in his judgments. As an old man, he was stubborn, domineering, and often brutal in his governing. Young and old, his judgment at times was atrociously bad. For instance, in his old age he set out to make God conform to his will.

During the early part of his reign, after having in power for a while, the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and the evil spirit that was to harry him for the remainder of his life began its work in his mind. In talking about this spirit, and we are going to spend some time discussing it, we should note that the evil spirit is always described in the Bible as a spirit from the Lord (1 Sam. 16:14). At this point, it is enough to say that Saul was deeply bothered by a spirit of worry and depression. At the beginning, it may indeed not have been focused upon anything or any one person. It may just have come upon him, as it does sometimes on many of us, from worry over the multitudinous duties that the monarchy required of him. We know of many a housewife—she works eight hours a day every day and cares for several children and does the cooking and cleaning upon getting home—who has broken down under the overwhelming number of her responsibilities. And of course in a monarchial system of government, that pressure would be multiplied several times over since nothing in the whole kingdom could be done without the king’s input and approval. That kind of activity would be enough to bring an evil spirit upon him. At any rate, Saul’s mind began to bother him. He could not sleep, and he began to seek a musician of skill to come and play soft and pleasant music so that his spirit could fine some peace. One of his advisors happened to know of David’s skill with the harp. He was a young boy but already was a musician of note. The man mentioned him to Saul, and Saul sent and had the lad brought to court.

David’s music did bring the king some relief. It is probably about this time that his older brothers began to be jealous of David. Here he is, thirteen or fourteen years of age, going to the court to play his harp for the king. That did not sit too well with his brothers. Their thought would inevitably have been, What is this runt of a brother doing leaving his sheep and gong to the court to play before the king? From the way they treated their young brother at various times, we can certainly say that was their grousing outlook when he received his summons to the court.

However, Saul apparently never paid much attention to the young musician because a few years later, he did not recognize David when the Goliath incident occurred. But that too is not a rare thing. Young people change rapidly in those early years of growing up, and if one has not seen them for a while, even uncles and aunts on occasion have to do a double take and wonder, Whose child is that?

Chapter 2

Saul as King of Israel

In the first years of his reign, Saul seemed an effective and successful king. In those years he fought against Moab, and against the children of Ammon, against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah…And he gathered a host and smote the Amalekites and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who had found God’s people so easy to spoil. And the Bible says, everywhere he met these enemies, he vexed them (1 Sam. 14:47–48). That is the picture of the king who is very much in charge, who is successful everywhere he turned.

And he was, except for his lifelong enemy—the Philistines. We need to talk about the Philistines for a moment. There is good evidence that they were both culturally and materially far advanced over the Jews of that period. Their trade around the Mediterranean gave them contacts everywhere, and they learned from everyone they traded with or fought with. That trade also brought them wealth and gave them resources that few peoples in that day possessed. Culturally, pottery shards indicate they had reached and excellent artistic level of achievement. When it came to material matters too, they were much advanced over the Jews. They were using iron when Israel’s tools and weapons were bronze. They possessed war chariots made of iron when Saul and his people had none. That meant they knew the value of breeding and training horses. With that advantage, they added cavalry units to their force. Saul’s people had none.

For these reasons, Saul was facing a capable, determined enemy, well equipped with greater resources than he and his people had. He could on occasion defeat this powerful enemy, but he could never come anywhere near the point of being able to destroy it, or to drive it out of the area completely. Thus, we find him engaged with the Philistines in the very beginning of his reign here, with some successes brought about by Jonathan and David, as we shall note. But years later at the end of his reign, it was the Philistines who finally brought him down. It could almost be said of the Philistines that which was said several centuries later about the Romans. They could, and did on occasion, lose important battles, but they never lost the last one.

With those resources and with their skilled, determined troops, when he became king, Saul found in the Philistines an overwhelming enemy. They were so powerful that at