Who was David in the Bible?

Most of the readers of the Bible know of David who started off as a shepherd in Bethlehem and ended up as king over all Israel. His story is retraced in many details in the Old Testament and he is also frequently mentioned and quoted in the New Testament. His life can be divided into two main parts:

The name signifies 'well-beloved.' David was the son of Jesse, a descendant of Boaz and Ruth, a Jew and a Gentile: both Jews and Gentiles are to be blessed in the Christ whom David typified. David was anointed when in humility, 'keeping the sheep.' His seven brothers had passed before Samuel, but the one to be anointed must be one after God's own heart, one that would care for and feed God's people. The spirit of Jehovah came upon him from that day. Christ was the true Messiah, whom David prefigured, being anointed at His baptism by the Holy Spirit before entering on His service toward Israel. David's spirit was stirred within him when he heard the boasting of Goliath against the God of Israel, and he then told how in secret he had protected the sheep and had slain the lion and the bear: in the name of God the giant would also be overcome. His faith was in Israel's God, and the giant was slain.

The women's song in praise of David raised the jealousy of Saul, who had more sense of his own importance than care for the Lord's people. He gave his daughter Michal to be David's wife, and thought thus to entrap him; but his wife became his deliverer. This called forth Ps. 59. He had faith that God would laugh at his enemies: God was his defence and the God of his mercy. Though the Psalms show the experiences of David's inner man, it must not be forgotten that they are prophetic, and his language is often that of the remnant of Israel in the future, and sometimes that of Christ. Ps. 59: speaks of the heathen who will oppose Christ.

A son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. There was nothing outstanding, so far as man could see, about his birth; but when we trace his genealogy, as given in Matthew's Gospel, how much there is to learn of God's ways in preparing His King, whether it be King David, or David's greater son, the Son of God. Although Jacob, when dying, had indicated that Judah was the royal tribe, it was not until David was anointed that the royal family came into evidence. None could have foreseen that David, the youngest in a family of eight sons, and that a family comparatively obscure, would be the one to sit upon Jehovah's throne. And who would have thought that the lowly Babe, born in Bethlehem's stable, was God's King; and that the little hand that appeared so weak would wield the sceptre of the universe, as it had formed the wide creation?

There cannot be any doubt that David's anointing with oil by Samuel, the judge and prophet of Israel, was a most important event in his life. Saul, the reigning king, was rejected, and by a process of elimination, David's brothers were rejected. David was manifested as God's choice and God directed Samuel to anoint him. David was the man of God's heart and purpose. By being anointed David was set apart as God's king to rule His people Israel. But more important than the symbolic anointing was the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The symbolic anointing gave him the royal position. The Spirit coming upon him gave him the power to fulfil his very great responsibilities to God and Israel. The unfolding life of David shows how well he fulfilled his God appointed task in spite of many failures and determined opposition.

David, the youngest son in the family of Jesse the Bethlehemite, was a shepherd. His father had given him a charge to look after a flock of sheep. David's integrity, his uprightness, is manifested by the way in which he met his responsibilities as a youth. He was feeding the sheep when Samuel told Jesse to send for him (1 Sam.16:11). His father's statement showed the confidence he had in David. After David was anointed king of Israel he returned to his shepherd duties. He was called from them to attend upon Saul, the rejected king of Israel (1 Sam.16:14-23). When Saul was engaged in fighting the Philistines, three sons of Jesse followed Saul to the battle. David returned to attend to his fathers' sheep (1 Sam.17:15). He was conscientious in fulfilling his responsibilities. When day after day Goliath laid down his challenge to the armies of Israel, David was commanded by his father to take provisions to his brethren. His care and concern for the sheep were expressed by making sure that the sheep had a keeper to look after them. His alacrity in rising early to do this and to obey his father was ample evidence of his upright and honest character. When eventually he offered to fight Goliath, Saul compared the young man David with the warrior. David answered Saul by telling the king of his courage in defending a lamb from the rapacity of a lion and a bear. He had been willing to risk his life to prevent the lamb from being devoured. His charge was performed with conscientious care, concern and courage. As a youth David was marked by integrity. No doubt his early training as a shepherd prepared him for greater responsibility in leading Israel, the flock of God. His example is worth remembering. Our youthful days are the formative ones. Lessons learned in youth abide through life. Faithfulness and integrity in youth prepare for greater responsibilities.

Samuel is interrupted in his mourning for Saul by a new command to fill his horn with oil for the anointing of another king. That king is to be chosen from the sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite. A sacrificial feast is appointed in connection with the approaching anointing of the son of Jesse, and Samuel is obedient and went to Bethlehem. Then he called Jesse and his sons to the feast. Then the seven sons of Jesse pass by, but the chosen one is not among them. Only one was left, the youngest who kept the sheep. He is brought in. "Now he was ruddy (literally, "reddish," perhaps referring to auburn hair) and withal of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look upon; and the LORD said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he." David the son of Jesse was anointed and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. And so David became the Lord's anointed. David means "beloved"; he is a shepherd, typifying the Beloved One, the good, the great and the chief Shepherd. What a contrast with Saul!

The first notice we have of David is where Samuel is sent of God to anoint him king instead of Saul. (1 Sam. 16) Here, in the first circle of his life which is presented to us, we trace the elements of the character and position of one who was so largely to engage our attention afterwards. We find him, the youngest son of Jesse, absent from home, caring for his father's sheep in the wilderness; and his countenance, that true index of the innermost being, announcing what manner of man he is — "ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." "And when Samuel anointed him, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward."

Bethlehem was important in the life of David, the son of Jesse. His great-grandfather Boaz, his grandfather Obed, his father Jesse and he were all born there (Ruth 2:4, 11; Ruth 4:17; 1 Sam. 16:1; 20:6). It was there that Samuel the prophet and judge of Israel anointed him to be king in the place of the unfaithful and rejected king Saul (1 Sam. 16:1-13). That was high honour for David. It was in his own town that David looked after his father's sheep and did his duties faithfully (1 Sam. 17:15, 34-35). This remarkable blend of royal dignity and lowly service in David was later seen in divine perfection in the Son of God. The incident involving David's three mighty men enacted at Bethlehem expressed the devotion they had towards him. When David expressed a desire to have a drink of water from the well in Bethlehem, his men broke through the ranks of the enemies, the Philistines, and brought the water to their leader and king. David, greatly touched by their courage and devotion, would not drink the precious water, but poured it out to Jehovah as a drink offering. A dangerous mission successfully accomplished was finalised by an offering to Jehovah (1 Chr. 11:15-19).

No such charge could be brought against David. He was prepared to venture his life in battle with Goliath and by defeating him he liberated God's people from fear (1 Sam. 17:45-47). He was a gathering point for the distressed and discontented in Israel (1 Sam. 22:1-2). He provided safety for those fleeing from Saul. With David there was no fear of the enemy succeeding (1 Sam. 22:23). David recovered all (1 Sam. 30:18). He delivered the captives of Israel out of the hands of the Amalekites and gave a portion from the spoil to those who had been too exhausted to follow David. He fed the weak and recovered the lost. He brought the lame Mephibosheth to his table and fed him royally (2 Sam. 9). On a day of rejoicing he fed Israel and blessed them (2 Sam. 6:18-19). He avenged the insult given to some of Israel's sheep (2 Sam. 10:4-19). David was prepared to suffer from the hand of God because of his pride in numbering the people. He had the heart of a shepherd. To feed is to satisfy, to maintain, to protect and to provide. David did all these things for Israel. He unified Israel and Judah. He conquered Israel's enemies. He secured peace which made Israel prosperous and strong. By any standards David was a great man.

In the end of 1 Samuel 30 the introduction of David and his men, and their faith in God lights up again the darkened page of Israel's royal history, and Hebron is mentioned as among the places where David and his men were wont to haunt, when by Saul's jealousy and persecution he was hunted like a partridge upon the mountains. After the death of Saul and Jonathan by the hands of the Philistines, and David's lamentation over them upon Gilboa, he enquired of the Lord whether he should go up to any of the cities of Judah, and the Lord said to him, Go up; and David said, Whither shall I go up? and he said, Unto Hebron. Caleb the heir in Judah, and the claimant of Hebron, four hundred years before, had given place to Othniel as their judge, and the deliverer of Israel from the oppression of the king of Mesopotamia. As we know, the prophet Samuel took the precedence, when the Aaronic priesthood had been corrupted by the profligacy of Eli's sons. David, the man after God's own heart, had been anointed as king from out of the midst of Jesse's sons: so David and his wives, and the men that were with him went up with their households, and dwelt in the cities of Hebron. The men of Judah thus take up the purposes of God and the blessing pronounced on this tribe by Jacob, and in their turn carry them out by anointing David king over the house of Judah. "The sceptre and the law-giver" are thus united; and kingship is now established upon Hebron, the bright answer to the faith of those who, in expectation of the day, gave commandment concerning their bones, and lay buried there in the caves of Machpelah. So David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul became weaker and weaker, and unto David were born sons in Hebron; and the time that he reigned over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. The man to whom God gave testimony, this son of Jesse who should fulfil all His will, schooled as he had been in the sheepfolds of the wilderness, was now to be invested with the entire majesty and royalty of the throne, and as the shepherd of Israel.