David An Honest Man

David, from the Hebrew word pronounced daw-veed, meaning beloved, is one of the best known people of all of the Scriptures (see Old Testament Fact File and New Testament Fact File). David was of the tribe of Judah (see Children of Jacob and The Chosen People), and is a direct physical ancestor of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:1-17) King David leading The Ark David was born about 1040 B.C., the eighth and youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem (see also Ruth). Little is recorded of David's parents - Jesse was apparently of modest means, and there is no record of David's mother's name. David's appearance is not known in great detail, however we do know that he was described as handsome, had red hair (i.e. "ruddy"), and was relatively short in stature (1 Samuel 16:12, 17:42).

David was a Shepherd, which out of necessity at the time also taught him fighting skills when defending the flocks from predatory wild animals, including lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:34-35). In quieter times, he also developed his musical skills with the flute and harp. After God rejected the foolish and corrupt Saul, Israel's first king, He sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David as the successor (1 Samuel 16:1-13). The transition would be gradual however. David returned to caring for the sheep, but "The Spirit of The Lord came upon David from that day forward," (1 Samuel 16:13) and "The Spirit of The Lord departed from Saul" (1 Samuel 16:14) David served King Saul from time to time as a musician and armor bearer (1 Samuel 16:21-23). 

It is quite certain that Saul did not yet know that his young harp player would soon take his place as king. If he had, he would have killed him - just as he actually tried to do over and over again later. Then followed one of the most famous incidents of The Bible - David And Goliath (1 Samuel 17:1-58) in the valley of Elah, about 15 miles / 24 kilometers southwest of Bethlehem. David's defeat of Goliath put the Philistines to flight and resulted in a great victory for Israel. The heroic act made David a favorite of the people, much to the disfavor and jealousy of Saul (1 Samuel 18:6-16). From then on, Saul wanted David killed, and personally made a number of attempts (1 Samuel chapters 18-30). When Saul made his first attempt to kill David, the young shepherd fled to Samuel in Ramah where he was given refuge for a time among the prophets (1 Samuel 19:12-18). Some are of the opinion that David composed the 6th, 7th and 11th Psalms while he was there. 

When Saul discovered David's whereabouts, David fled again, this time to Nob (1 Samuel 21:1-9), and then to Gath among the Philistines. The Philistine king refused him, so David continued over to Adullam (1 Samuel 22:1-4, 1 Chronicles 12:8-18) where 400 men joined him and accepted him as their leader. In the mean time, upon the orders of Saul, Doeg the Edomite murdered 85 priests and their families who had innocently given refuge to David at Nob. The news of the massacre reached David by the sole survivor, Abiathar, a son of the high priest Ahimelech (1 Samuel 22:11-23) For a while, David found himself in the rather bizarre situation of fighting Saul's enemies and fleeing Saul at the same time. David and his men drove the Philistines from Keilah (1 Samuel 23:1-14) and then moved to the hill country of Judah to escape Saul. While there, David met with Jonathan, Saul's son, who had been, and always remained, a loyal friend with David (1 Samuel 23:16-18). Jonathan was killed in battle with the Philistines not long after.