King David

1 Samuel 16The Shepherd Is Anointed

After God rejected King Saul, He sent the prophet Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint one of the sons of Jesse. Seven sons passed before Samuel, and the Lord chose none of them, “for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). The youngest, David, was out keeping the sheep. When he came in, the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him: for this is he,” and “the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (16:12–13). Soon David was called to play the harp for the troubled king.

1 Samuel 17David and Goliath

In the valley of Elah the Philistine champion Goliath of Gath, “six cubits and a span” tall, defied the armies of Israel for forty days. David, sent by his father with food for his brothers, could not bear to hear God mocked. He refused Saul’s armour, chose five smooth stones from the brook, and told the giant, “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts” (17:45). One stone from his sling brought Goliath down.

1 Samuel 18–20A Friend and a Jealous King

Saul’s son Jonathan loved David “as his own soul,” and the two made a covenant of friendship (18:1–3). But when the women sang, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (18:7), Saul grew jealous and afraid. Twice he threw a spear at David, sent him into danger, and finally ordered his death. David married Saul’s daughter Michal, who helped him escape through a window, and Jonathan warned him with a signal of arrows before the two friends parted in tears.

1 Samuel 21–31Years on the Run

For years David lived as a hunted man. He fled to Nob, to the Philistine city of Gath, and to the cave of Adullam, where four hundred men in distress gathered to him. Twice, in a cave at En-gedi and in Saul’s camp at night, David could have killed the king and would not lift his hand against “the LORD’s anointed” (24:6; 26:9). Abigail’s wisdom kept him from taking revenge on her foolish husband Nabal. At last Saul and Jonathan fell in battle against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa.

2 Samuel 1–5King at Hebron, Then Jerusalem

David mourned Saul and Jonathan with a lament: “how are the mighty fallen!” (2 Samuel 1:19). The men of Judah anointed him king at Hebron, where he reigned seven and a half years while Saul’s son Ish-bosheth ruled the other tribes. Then all the tribes came to Hebron and anointed David king over all Israel. He captured the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites and made Jerusalem “the city of David.” “And David went on, and grew great, and the LORD God of hosts was with him” (5:10).

2 Samuel 6–10The Ark and God’s Promise

David brought the ark of God up to Jerusalem with shouting and trumpets, and danced before the Lord with all his might (6:14–15). Living in a house of cedar, he longed to build a house for God. Instead, through the prophet Nathan, God promised to build David a house: a son to follow him and a throne established for ever (7:12–16). David answered in humble prayer. God gave him victory over his enemies, and David showed kindness to Jonathan’s lame son Mephibosheth for Jonathan’s sake (9:7).

2 Samuel 11–12David’s Great Sin

One spring, when he should have been with his army, David saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, and took her. When she was with child, he arranged for Uriah, one of his most loyal soldiers, to be killed in battle. God sent Nathan with a parable about a rich man who stole a poor man’s only lamb. When David burned with anger, Nathan said, “Thou art the man” (12:7). David confessed, “I have sinned against the LORD” (12:13), and was forgiven, though the child died. Psalm 51 is his prayer of repentance.

2 Samuel 13–20Trouble in David’s House

As Nathan had warned, trouble rose in David’s own family. His son Amnon wronged his half-sister Tamar, and her brother Absalom killed him. Later Absalom won the hearts of the people and seized the throne, and David fled Jerusalem, weeping as he climbed the Mount of Olives. In the battle that followed, Absalom was caught by his hair in an oak and killed by Joab. David’s grief broke out: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee” (18:33).

2 Samuel 21–24 · 1 Kings 1–2Last Words and a New King

In his last years David sang of God’s faithfulness, “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer” (2 Samuel 22:2), and spoke his last words as “the sweet psalmist of Israel” (23:1). He bought the threshing floor of Araunah for an altar, the place where Solomon later built the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1), and gathered materials for that house of God (1 Chronicles 22). When Adonijah tried to take the throne, David had Solomon anointed king. “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David” (1 Kings 2:10).