David- Triumph and Tragedy

 

I’ve always been drawn to complex characters in literature. I love reading about lives who have met with triumph and tragedy. I enjoy reading about how people react to both, and how lives are shaped by experiences. Will the righteous stay righteous? If they fall, will they rise again? What lessons can I learn from both triumph and tragedy?

One story that has captured my attention again and again is the story of David from the Old Testament. It is a complex story. Was he the man who held ultimate respect for the Lord’s anointed, or the man who could not respect another man’s wife? Was he the King who battled giants and lead Israel to military victory, or the King whom the sword could never depart from his house? Was he the beautiful poet, or the tragic lamenter? Was he ultimately a righteous or a wicked man? All but Christ have fallen short of perfection and commit sin.  How are my successes and failures like David’s? How are they not? Who was David really, and what lessons can be drawn from his life?

The Story

David’s story begins with the Prophet Samuel when the Lord tells Samuel that the current King, Saul, is no longer chosen. The Lord tells Samuel to take a calf for a sacrifice to where Jesse’s family lives because one of Jesse’s sons was to be the next anointed  king.

Jesse and his sons come to the sacrifice.  Samuel first sees Jesse’s oldest son Eliab. Eliab must have been the stereotypical oldest son—strong, good looking, confident, and charming. Samuel was sure that Eliab was mean to be the next king. However, the Lord told Samuel not to judge based on countenance, or height of stature. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord judges based on the heart. Eliab was not meant to be the next king. Seven of Jesse’s sons pass by Samuel, but none are chosen. Samuel asks Jesse if he has any more sons, and Jesse confesses that he does. His youngest, David, is home watching the sheep. Samuel has David brought to him. David is described as ruddy, which is young looking. The Lord tells Samuel to anoint David as king.

Meanwhile, the spirit has departed from King Saul. Saul’s advisors tell him he should bring in a musician to play music and soothe his soul. David is summoned to play the harp, and ever loyal to one of the Lord’s anointed, David comes to play. As David plays the harp, King Saul is refreshed.

The refreshed Saul heads off with his army to battle the Philistines. A large, intimidating giant named Goliath challenges Israel and says that if any in Israel can defeat him, the Philistines will become Israel’s servants. Meanwhile David had gone home to shepherd. David’s father asked David to bring supplies to his brothers on the battlefield. When David arrives, he asks King Saul if he can fight Goliath. With the help of the Lord he had already killed a lion and a bear. David knew the Lord would also deliver him from Goliath. King Saul agrees and requests that David take armor into battle. David declines believing that the Lord alone will be his protection.

When Goliath sees Israel has sent a young boy to fight him, he is offended. David tells Goliath that the Lord is on his side, and soon all of the Earth will know of Israel’s God. Goliath charges and David hits him directly on the forehead with a stone, causing Goliath to fall to the ground. David then takes Goliath’s sword and cuts Goliath’s head off. The Philistines flee and Israel rejoices.

The people of Israel now revere and love David. King Saul is jealous of the boy and tries to kill David with a spear. The attempt fails, but now the Lord is completely withdrawn from Saul and is with David.

Repeatedly, Saul tries to kill David, but each attempt fails. Even when David has opportunities to kill Saul, he won’t. David will not harm or remove the Lord’s anointed, even when that individual has fallen into sin and error. “Who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?” David trusts the Lords timing and knows that the Lord will remove Saul when it is time.

The Philistines go to battle with Israel again, and they wound King Saul. Rather than fall into their hands, Saul falls on his sword and dies.

David first gains control of the house of Judah, while Saul’s son Ish-bosheth rules over the other 11 tribes. Ish-bosheth is killed, and David is finally anointed king over all of Israel at age 30. He would rein for the next 40 years. As one of his first acts as King, they battle and conquer the Philistines and reclaim the Ark of the Covenant.

David moves the ark to the Jerusalem, and establishes that city as the capitol of Israel for the first time. He laments that the ark has dwelt in a tent for so long, while he dwells in a palace. However, the Lord tells him not to build a permanent temple for the ark.

Under David’s leadership, Israel continues to conquer and expand. While his army is at battle, David decides to stay home. While he is relaxing and enjoying the cool air on his roof, he sees Bathsheba bathing. Rather than look away, he lingers and lusts after her beauty. David has his servants bring Bathsheba to him, knowing full well that she was married to Uriah. David and Bathsheba lie together.

Bathsheba finds out that she is pregnant, and a panicked David tries to cover his sin. He has Uriah brought home from battle, and tells Uriah to go home and be with his wife. Every loyal to his brothers at battle, Uriah will not go home to his wife while his country is at war. David understands, and sends Uriah back to battle with a letter for the captain. The letter informs the captain to send Uriah to the front lines of the most deadly battle. The captain sends Uriah to fight, and Uriah is killed. David takes Bathsheba

 as his wife, which greatly angers the Lord.

The prophet Nathan visits David, and shares a parable with him. In the parable, a man with many possessions and many sheep takes another man’s only lamb. David is angry at the man in the story with much because of his selfish action in taking from the man with little. Nathan tells David that he is the man with much and prophecies that the sword will never leave David’s house. David’s baby with Bathsheba would also die. Devastated, David rents his clothes and begins to fast. Despite David’s fasting and pleading with the Lord, the baby dies. David and Bathsheba conceive again and Solomon is born.

Meanwhile, David’s home life continues to fall apart. His oldest son Amnon rapes his daughter Tamar. David does nothing, because he would feel hypocritical due to his own sexual sins. David’s son Absalom kills Amnon for the action.

Absalom then tries overthrowing his father. David is forced to flee, and Absalom  takes all of David’s concubines and possessions. The parties loyal to Absalom and those loyal to David prepare to fight, but Absalom is killed before that happens. Sheba then tries to overthrow David, but he is unsuccessful as well.

Israel is then cursed with a famine. David numbers his people, even though the Lord did not want this to happen. David is losing his ability to hear God’s voice.

As David is about to die, he hears Adonijah is trying to become the next king. David wants Solomon to be the king, so he brings Solomon and the prophet Nathan to him, and has Nathan anoint Solomon as the next king. David gives Solomon the advice to be strong and to always keep the commandments, and then dies.

15 Lessons

The Lord looks on the heart- David was small and looked young, while his brother Eliab looked strong and more like what you would imagine a king looks like. However, David was chosen as king. The Lord doesn’t judge us on our outward appearance. He doesn’t care if we are tall or short, attractive or unattractive, eloquent or not. The Lord looks on our inward characteristics. He cares if our thoughts are pure, if we keep the commandments, and if we will serve our fellow man. Many of those outward characteristics are things we can’t control, while the inward characteristics are things we can work on and develop.

Friends- David’s best friend Jonathan was one of his strongest allies. Jonathan would warn David anytime Saul would head out to kill David. In life our friends can be our strongest defense. They help shape our attitudes, opinions, and behaviors. They are there to cheer us on when we succeed, and there to help us out when we struggle.

Music- When King Saul felt the Lord was distant, he brought David in to play the harp to heal his troubled soul. When David’s soul was troubled, he wrote music to share his feelings and to heal. There is power in spiritual music. Music can help us feel the spirit, can enlighten our minds with new concepts and ideas, and can reenergize us. The song of the righteous is a prayer unto the Lord.

Trust the Lord- David trusted the Lord to deliver him from Goliath. He trusted the Lord’s timing and would not harm the Lord’s anointed king, even when Saul tried to kill him. He trusted the Lord to lead Israel in battle. We may not always see the beginning from the end, but the Lord does. If we trust him, and stay faithful to the commandments, he will help us fight and win our own personal battles. To paraphrase a scripture—Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Doubt not. Fear not. He shall direct thy paths.

What we see impacts us- One of David’s great wishes was to build a temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. He thought the Lord should have a house as nice as his own palace. However, he was never permitted to build that house. The Lord said that was because David had seen too much violence, war, and bloodshed to build a temple. The Holy Ghost is and still, small voice, and is extremely sensitive. When we see sin, or commit sins, we diminish our ability to feel the spirit and to act on behalf of the Lord.  This statement from the Lord should give us pause when we consider the media we watch.

Be where you should be/ Don’t stay idle- Rather than go to battle with his army, David stayed home to enjoy a leisurely night relaxing on his roof, which lead to him seeing Bathsheba bathing, and to adultery. When we are where we should be, the Lord can bless us.  When we have idle time and aren’t where we should be, we can make mistakes.

Sin is made worse when we try to hide it- David’s sin of adultery was bad, but it was made worse when he tried to make Uriah look like the father, and even worse when he had Uriah killed. To paraphrase another scripture--Behold, this is how you know if a man repents of his sins; he will confess and forsake them.  Hiding sin is the opposite of repentance. Also by trying to hide the initial sin, one sin snowballed into another until David had lost control.

Lust blinds- Lust destroys our ability to reason. It made adultery, lies, and murder seem like acceptable courses of action. Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.

Anyone can fall if they give in to their weaknesses – David was anointed by the Lord as a leader, yet he still fell. Any of us can fall. We have to stay vigilant, and repent when we make mistakes.

Sin incapacitates- After David sinned, he felt he could no longer lead on spiritual things. If we sin, we will likely feel hypocritical when trying to teach and serve others. Sin also restricts our ability to feel the spirit.

Sin leads to regret- David spent his who life regretting his sins. They were ever present in his mind, which you can see from his psalms. In a similar way, our sins hold us back and weigh us down.

Prayer- When David finds out that his child with Bathsheba will die, he attempts to fast and pray to change the will of the Lord.  However, prayer is less about changing God’s mind than it is about aligning our will with his. Prayer is about understanding.

The character of man– It is easier to think of people as purely good, or purely evil. However, this is rarely the case. Every one of us has good and evil within us. If we put our trust in man, we will always be let down at some point. We must understand that everyone makes mistakes—friends, family members, Sunday school teachers, other leaders—everyone. Thankfully the Lord allows us to repent. The only person who will never let us down is the Lord. Put your ultimate faith and trust in him and him alone.

Great leaders aren’t always great role models- David was a great leader. He led Israel to victory and claimed lands for the first time that had been promised to Abraham 1,000 years earlier. However, he committed adultery, lied, sinned, and had problems with his family. His life isn’t the best life for us to pattern our lives after. Similarly, we can think of today’s great business leaders or entertainers. They may invent great things, be charismatic, have fans, earn money, and seem to have it all. If they teach principles and fill their lives with actions that oppose what God wants, then we should not pattern our lives after them. That being said, there are lessons to be drawn from every life, just choose your role models carefully.

Enduring to the end – David did great things in his youth and early years on the throne. However, his later years were filled with sin, bloodshed, and regret. If we don’t endure to the end, then it is as if it all was for naught. The Lord will still bless us for every good thing we’ve done, but he can’t give us the ultimate blessings the Celestial Kingdom provides if we don’t stay faithful our entire lives.

The last thing that bothered me about David’s story had to do with the omniscience of God. If God can see the beginning from the end, and knows our characters so well that he knows the actions we will take, and knows how each of our stories will play out, why did he anoint David to be king? He knew David’s story would end with sin and the sword never departing his house. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I think the answer has to do with what David was anointed to be. David was not anointed to be the prophet, which would have required exact obedience to all of Gods commandments at all times. There was a chosen prophet in David’s time. David was anointed to be the King, and perhaps the calling of a king required less exact obedience since he wasn’t the spiritual leader. David turned out to be an extraordinary king. Under David, all of the 12 tribes of Israel were united. For the first time Jerusalem was set up as the capital of Israel, which was neutral land between the northern and southern tribes. Under David’s leadership Israel expanded its territory and conquered the lands that were promised to Abraham 1,000 years earlier. David held off and pushed back against Israel’s enemies. David was a great king and a great leader. It is for this reason that the Messiah would rein on David’s throne. Had the Philistines not conquered Israel, Jesus’ step-father Joseph would have been King of Israel, and then Jesus would have been the heir to the throne. Through David Christ would have been the great secular king, and through Heavenly Father he would have been the spiritual king.

So was David good, or was he evil? Certainly there are elements of both in his story. David is complex. Ultimately his life is worth studying, but he should not be our number one spiritual role model. The Lord promised David that he would be delivered from the lowest depths of Hell, but made no promise that he would ascend to the Celestial Kingdom. The good thing for us is that we can learn from both the positive and negative elements of David’s character.