David, King of Judah: What the Text Actually Says

Who He Was and When He Lived

David (Hebrew דָּוִד, Strong's H1732) is named in the dossier as king of Judah, a man of the tribe of Judah living in the era of the united kingdom. The chronology given is from Ussher, Annals of the World (1650): born 1085 BC, died 1015 BC (70 years). His footprint in Scripture is enormous: 964 verses across 259 passages, first at Ruth 4:17 and last in Revelation, concentrated in 1 Samuel (232 verses), 2 Samuel (225), 1 Chronicles (157), Psalms (86) and 1 Kings (74), with mentions reaching into Jeremiah, Isaiah, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Amos, Hosea and the New Testament. He is son of Jesse, brother of Eliab, Abinadab, Shimeah, Zeruiah, Nethanel, Raddai, Ozem and Elihu.

Loved by Israel, Hunted by Saul

The first scene the dossier opens is a friendship and a song. "Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even including his sword, his bow, and his sash" (1 Samuel 18:3-12). David is set over the men of war and behaves wisely, and the women sing, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands."

That popularity turns dangerous. "But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them" (1 Samuel 18:16-30). Saul offers his elder daughter Merab on one condition, that David fight Yahweh's battles, and the text exposes the motive without softening it: "Don't let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him." David answers from below, not above: "Who am I, and what is my life, or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?" Merab is then given to Adriel the Meholathite, and Michal, Saul's daughter, loves David. Michal appears in the dossier's family list as his wife. The flight from Saul is carried in passages the dossier lists but does not quote (1 Samuel 19:7-12; 1 Samuel 21:8-12; 1 Samuel 22:3-6; 1 Samuel 24:1-5; 1 Samuel 27:1-5).

Keilah: A King Who Asks First

At Keilah David is told the Philistines are robbing the threshing floors, and his response is to inquire. "Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, 'Shall I go and strike these Philistines?'" (1 Samuel 23:1-10). His men are afraid, so he inquires a second time, and the answer comes again: "Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand." The scene closes plainly: "So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah."

Ziph: Watching the Camp of the Man Who Hunts Him

The Ziphites betray his hiding place, and Saul comes down with three thousand chosen men of Israel to the wilderness of Ziph (1 Samuel 26:1-10). David sends out spies, confirms the report, and comes to the place where Saul had encamped, seeing where Saul lay with Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army. The fugitive stands over the sleeping king.

The Wars of the Kingdom

Two accounts record his campaigns. "After this, David struck the Philistines and subdued them" (2 Samuel 8:1-11); he strikes Moab, and "the Moabites became servants to David, and brought tribute"; he strikes Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah, and strikes twenty two thousand Syrians of Damascus. The parallel says he "took Gath and its towns" and counts one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen and twenty thousand footmen (1 Chronicles 18:1-11), where 2 Samuel counts one thousand seven hundred horsemen and twenty thousand footmen. The dossier gives both numbers; it does not reconcile them.

The Failures Scripture Names

The Moab campaign is reported without any excuse: "he measured them with the line, making them to lie down on the ground; and he measured two lines to put to death, and one full line to keep alive" (2 Samuel 8:2). Two out of three, killed by measurement. The family list also names nine partners, Michal, Abigail, Ahinoam, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, Bathsheba, and unnamed wives taken at Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:13), with twenty one children named, among them Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah, Tamar and Solomon. The dossier further carries the passages 2 Samuel 11:1-8 and 11:10-14, and the census and its aftermath at 2 Samuel 24:10-14 and 1 Chronicles 21:8-11, 21:16-19 and 21:21-26. Their text is not before us here, and I will not tell you from memory what is in them; read them.

What We Are Not Told

The dossier lists two parents, Jesse and Nahash (2 Samuel 17:25), and does not explain how both stand in that line. It marks the sister Abigail (2 Samuel 17:25) with a question mark. It records no explanation for the differing troop numbers between 2 Samuel 8 and 1 Chronicles 18. These gaps stay gaps.

The Line to Christ

The New Testament will not let David stay in the past. He is named in Matthew 1:1, 1:6, 1:17, 1:20; Matthew 9:27; 12:3, 12:23; 15:22; 20:30-31; 21:9, 21:15; 22:42-43, 22:45. He is named in Mark 2:25; 10:47-48; 11:10; 12:35-37, and in Luke 1:27, 1:32, 1:69; 2:4, 2:11; 3:31; 6:3; 18:38-39; 20:41-42, 20:44, and in John 7:42. The apostolic preaching returns to him repeatedly in Acts 1:16; 2:25, 2:29, 2:34; 4:25; 7:45; 13:22, 13:34, 13:36; 15:16, and the letters take him up in Romans 1:3; 4:6; 11:9, in 2 Timothy 2:8, and in Hebrews 4:7 and 11:32. Revelation names him last of all, in 3:7, 5:5 and 22:16. The man who asked "Who am I?" (1 Samuel 18:18) is the name the Gospels reach for when they announce Jesus.