| ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ BIBLE HEROES - David uses lateral thinking BIBLE ARCHITECTURE - Jerusalem, city of David
|
|||||
| BIBLE PEOPLE - THEIR STORIES |
|
||||
|
DAVID |
 |
||||
|
NEW: Jerusalem, holy city of David King David - the flawed hero |
At bottom of page: |
||||
| David
is introduced to us in three different stories. In the first, a wise man
and soothsayer called Samuel has come looking for someone who will be
God's chosen one. He chooses David over all his older brothers.
In the second, David leaves the sheep he is tending and takes food supplies to his brothers in the battlefield. He offers to fight the fearsome Philistine giant Goliath, and he defeats this ogre by cunning rather than physical strength. (For more on David's use of lateral thinking, see BIBLE TOP TEN: YOUNG PEOPLE In the third story, David charms King Saul with his music and poetry, and is accepted into the inner core of Saul's court. Each of the three stories is significant, because they show a different aspect of David: his ability to please the right people; his use of cunning rather than traditional fighting methods - the Israelites were most successful in battle when they used guerilla warfare; and his great personal charm, which he would use without scruple all his life. David joined the court of Saul, but he constantly undermined the King. Saul saw what was happening. He ruled by public acclamation, and now David was drawing the popular vote to himself. Several times Saul tried to get rid of David, and in the end David was forced to flee. But not before he had formed close relationships with two of Saul's children - Jonathan, Saul's trusted son and heir, and Michal, Saul's younger daughter who fell passionately in love with David. In an attempt to lessen the threat David posed, Saul let Michal marry David, but it did not good, and eventually Saul made an open attempt on David's life. David, helped by Michal, fled from the court, becoming an outlaw. David then acquired two additional wives, Abigail and Ahinoam, and a considerable number of seasoned warriors. They formed an outlaw group moving from place to place and living by their wits. He took this band of men and began fighting for his former enemies, the Philistines, but he did not actually take part in the battle in which Saul and all but one of his sons, including Jonathan, died. He did, however, send large gifts to the Israelite leaders as a conciliatory measure. When David heard that Saul and his sons were dead, he went to Hebron where he was anointed king by the men in Judah who had received his gifts. One of Saul's sons remained, Ishbosheth, but he was murdered in his bed by two of his retainers who brought the boy's head to David. David, now a king himself, sensibly killed the two retainers who had killed their king. He also took Michal back from her second husband, even though she and he were most reluctant to leave each other. David now launched himself on the task of uniting Israel and extending its territory - by alliance or warfare. He moved his capital to Jerusalem, since it was more central to the northern provinces he now included in his territory. He also brought the Ark from Hebron to Jerusalem, thus making his new capital a sacred city. In the procession leading the Ark into the city, a lightly-clad David pranced at the head of the procession so that his genitals were displayed. Michal, conscious of the need for royal dignity, was contemptuous of this behavior and said so. He relegated her, now an unnecessary thorn in his side, to perpetual chastity so that she could never have a child.
|
'One
evening when he was walking on the terrace of his palace he saw a woman
bathing after her menstrual period, and sent for her. She came, they had
sexual intercourse, and in due course she discovered she was
pregnant.' |
||||
| One
of the first things that David did in Jerusalem was get an extended
building program under way. He began to plan a suitable temple to house
the Ark, and a palace for himself and his growing family.
He became engrossed in reform and administration, and no longer accompanied his military forces when they went into battle. Instead, he stayed in Jerusalem. One evening when he was walking on the terrace of his palace he saw a woman bathing after her menstrual period, and sent for her. She came, they had sexual intercourse, and in due course she discovered she was pregnant. Since she - Bathsheba - was already married this posed a problem, which David solved by organizing the death in battle of her husband. She entered David's harem, the baby was born, but she later gave birth to another son who became King Solomon. David seems to have had little control over his children. His heir apparent Ammon raped his half-sister Tamar and then refused to marry her - this would have been the normal procedure at that time. Tamar's brother Absalom murdered Ammon, then later led a revolt against his own father, David, but was killed in battle. David's family life is not too far removed from Greek tragedy. When David was old his sexual potency failed him. This was a serious problem since the potency of the king was still linked with the well-being of the country. A beautiful young woman was introduced, naked, into David's bed, but it did not good. Seeing his chance, David's eldest remaining son Adonijah led an attempted coup d'etat against his father, to take power from the ailing old man. He was supported by his own brothers and by the general populace - the 'people of the land'. But Bathsheba had other ideas - if Adonijah became king, her own son Solomon and his brothers would almost certainly be executed. She formed an alliance with various powerful groups in the country, religious and military, and replaced Adonijah with her son Solomon. Soon after, David died - he 'slept with his ancestors, and was buried in the city of David. The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years: seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three in Jerusalem'.
|
|||||
|
__________________________________________________________________________
|
|||||
| BIBLE
REFERENCE 1 Samuel 16:13 - 1 Kings 2:11; 1 Chronicles 10:14 - 29:30
|
|||||
| PEOPLE
IN THE STORY David, a self-made man of exception ability and charisma - flawed and brilliant at the same time. He was fascinating to later generations because the Bible shows him not as a perfect hero, but as a realistically drawn man of God. Saul, the king he betrayed and replaced Michal and Jonathan, the daughter and son of Saul, both of whom loved David Bathsheba, mother of David's heir Solomon
|
|||||
| FAMOUS
QUOTES '....David took the lyre and played, and the evil spirit departed.' 1 Samuel 16:23 'David put his hand in his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead....' 17:49 'Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands.' 21:11 'How the mighty have fallen!' 2 Samuel 1:19 'You are the man!' 12:7 'O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!' 18:33 '...he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.' 11:2
__________________________________________________________________________________
|
|||||
|
INTERESTING SITES - stories, pictures, reconstructions Archaeological finds connected to the story
of David Bandit
leader then king, David was almost constantly at war Jerusalem,
the city that became David's capital The saga of David is one of the ancient
world's great stories See
how the boy David uses lateral thinking when he confronts the giant Goliath David blots his copy-book with Bathsheba _______________________________________________________________________
ACTIVITIES AND FOCUS QUESTIONS Reflection:
David as Leader Learning
from David In
depth study of one person's story In
your presentation (approximately 10 minutes), answer the following questions: 1.
What are the main events of the person's life? 2. What were their main qualities? What made them stand out from the crowd? 3.
What obstacles did they face? 4.
How did they use their abilities to do God’s work? 5. Which part of their story appeals to you most? Why? You must include three short quotations from the Bible texts to illustrate the points you are making.
Focus
Questions for the story of David
|
|||||
|
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
|
|||||
Custom Search
|
|||||
