David (3)

David Consoles Saul.

—Biblical Data:

Second King of Israel; according to 1 Chronicles 2:15, the youngest of the seven sons of Jesse the Bethlehemite; or, according to 1 Samuel 16:10 et seq., 17:12, the youngest of eight sons. His adventurous career before he became king was evidently a popular theme in Israel; and so many incidents were woven around his early years that it is now impossible to construct a strictly historic account from the traditions preserved. David kept his father's sheep, and found opportunities to prove himself a dauntless defender of his charges. He was further noted for his poetic and musical talents; and these determined his future. When Saul fell into an incurable melancholy, David was summoned to court to cheer the despondent king by playing upon the harp; and Saul became so fond of the young man that he selected him as his armor-bearer.

During the wars with the Philistines, which occupied most of Saul's reign, David distinguished himself so highly that he attracted the attention of all Israel. Saul gave him his daughter Michal for a wife; and the king's eldest son, Jonathan, became his intimate friend. David, however soon incurred the anger of the suspicious king, and had to flee in peril of his life. Thereupon the priests of Nob, who had innocently aided the fugitive, had to bear the brunt of the sick king's anger, and all but one —who escaped to David—were executed as traitors. David then placed himself at the head of a band of men daring and desperate. Eager to be of use to his countrymen, he relieved the city Keilah, which was threatened by the Philistines; but when Saul, regarding him as a rebel, advanced against him, David could make a stand only for a very short time.

After various adventures, during which he magnanimously spared the life of the king, David fled into the land of the Philistines, and became a vassal of King Achish of Gath, who assigned to him the city of Ziklag for a residence. He ruled here a year and four months, when the disastrous battle near the mountains of Gilboa ended the life and reign of Saul. These are the bare facts of David's early history, which in the second Book of Samuel are developed into a charming picture.

At the Battle of Gilboa.

The unfortunate battle of Gilboa completely changed the situation. Saul and three of his sons lay dead on the field; Israel was prostrate; and the country west of the Jordan was again under Philistine rule. East of the Jordan, in Mahanaim, Abner, Saul's general, founded a small kingdom for Saul's only surviving son, Ishba'al, or Ishbosheth, as the name is changed in Samuel; but this kingdom, too, was probably under Philistine suzerainty. David then determined upon returning to his own country; and after having opened negotiations in Ziklag with the tribes and families of Judea, he had himself anointed at Hebron as tribal King of Judea, without, however, giving up his relations as a vassal of the Philistines. This state of affairs lasted for seven years and six months; and when Abner attempted to conquer David's little kingdom for Saul's son, he was defeated at Gibeon by David's general, Joab. Afterward, owing to aquarrel between them in connection with Rizpah, one of Saul's concubines, Abner left Ishba'al and went over to David, but was killed by Joab on pretext of a vendetta. Ishba'al, also, was murdered soon afterward. Since Mephibosheth, a young lame son of Jonathan, was now the only surviving male descendant of Saul, the districts lately ruled over by Ishba'al offered David—as the heir of Saul through his marriage with Michal—the throne made vacant by death; and, after a solemn election, David was anointed at Hebron as King of all Israel.

King of All Israel.

The duties of the newly anointed king were marked out for him by the conditions of the country. His first task was to shake off the suzerainty of the Philistines and again make Israel an independent state. This undertaking was brilliantly accomplished by David. In a long series of fierce battles he "smote the Philistines and subdued them," and took Metheg-ammah out of their hands (2 Samuel 8:1), so that they were no longer a menace to Israel. David's next solicitude was to provide another center for his new kingdom; for, aside from the ancient rivalry between Judah and Joseph, the position of Hebron, in the extreme south, made it impossible for David, as King of all Israel, to remain there. He therefore selected Jerusalem for his capital, that city being still in possession of the Canaanite tribe of the Jebusites, and consequently on neutral ground. Notwithstanding its almost impregnable position, he conquered the city, and made it the political as well as the religious center of Israel by transferring to it the old national shrine, the Ark of the Covenant, in a solemn procession with sacrifices, in which he himself figured prominently as a worshiper and celebrant. In memory of its migrations in the wilderness, the Ark was at first placed in a tent. According to 2 Samuel 7:1-17, David thought of building a magnificent temple for it at Jerusalem, but was dissuaded by the prophet Nathan.

As a Conqueror.

Concerning David's military and political achievements, there is but meager information: a few isolated facts, however, are known; and the interrelation of these can only be conjectured. David subdued and made tributary to the new Israelitish kingdom the cognate tribes of Moab, Ammon, and Edom, as well as their neighbors on the northern frontier of Israel, the Arameans, who had joined the Ammonites in a war against David and his kingdom. Scanty as is the record of these wars, it indicates that they were not instituted for plunder or conquest; nor can it be proved that David was in a single instance the instigator. The Syrian-Ammonite war, the only conflict of which there is a detailed account, was occasioned by a frivolous provocation, the messengers of David having been wantonly insulted when on an errand of good-will and friendship (2 Samuel 10).

David waged his wars vigorously, and did not hesitate to employ stern measures. His punishment of Moab and Edom was especially severe; but his alleged cruelties against the Ammonites rest on a misinterpretation of 2 Samuel 12:31.

Death of Absalom.

Thus, through David, the people of Israel, who only a generation before had submitted to the insults of the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:2), became the ruling nation between the Nile and the Euphrates; and it seemed as if their king was to end his days in peace and in the enjoyment of the position he had attained. In the prime of life, however, and at the height of his fame, David sinned; and the inexorable consequences of his transgression plunged him into misery, and threatened even the stability of his kingdom. David's sinful connection with Bath-sheba, whose husband he indirectly assassinated, encouraged his eldest son, Amnon, to deal wickedly with his beautiful stepsister, Tamar; whereupon he was slain by Absalom, her full brother. Absalom had to flee, but was recalled at the intercession of Joab. Stung, however, by the ill-timed severity of his father, Absalom instigated a rebellion in David's former capital, Hebron. David, taken completely by surprise, had to flee across the Jordan; but gaining time through Absalom's fatal delay, he gathered his old, well-tried troops about him, and easily dispersed Absalom's undisciplined bands at Mahanaim. Joab, with his own hand, killed the fleeing Absalom, against the king's express command.

David irritated the Israelites by unwise and onesided negotiations with the Judeans, whose defection had evidently been a heavy blow to him; and this bitterness resulted in a conflict between the Israelites and the Judeans on the return march. This conflict, which took place at the Jordan, became so bitter that the Benjamite Sheba ben Bichri succeeded in urging Israel to a revolt, which Joab, however, immediately quelled. Sheba fled to the city Abel Beth-maachah, on the northern boundary of the kingdom; but the inhabitants seized him, cut off his head, and throw it over the wall to Joab.

Concluding Years.

The remaining years of David's life and reign were peaceful. The question of his successor, however, brought up new difficulties. Adonijah, the eldest of David's sons after Absalom's death, was generallyregarded as his heir, and David allowed him to appear officially as crown prince. The ambitious and intriguing Bath-sheba tried to secure the succession for her son Solomon, the youngest of David's children, and David, infirm and completely under Bath-sheba's influence, believed a report—whether true or false—that Adonijah, unable to a wait his father's death, had already proclaimed himself king and had received the oath of allegiance. David, therefore, solemnly presented Solomon to the people as his successor and had him anointed. Soon afterward he died, at the age of seventy, having reigned for seven years and six months at Hebron as tribal King of Judah, and thirty-three years at Jerusalem as the second King of all Israel.

—In Rabbinical Literature:

David, the "chosen one of God" (Ab. R. N.; ed. Schechter, p. 61), belonged to a family that was itself among the elect of Israel. His ancestors were the noblest of the noble, the great men of the most prominent tribe of Israel (Ruth 4:18-22), and he was a descendant of Miriam, the sister of Moses, although this is not clearly stated in Scripture (Sifre, Num. 78; ed. Friedmann, p. 20b). The judges see see IBZAN and OTHNIEL were David's relations (B. B. 91a; Sifre, c.), and as the "ruler David"(David ha-Melek) continued the honorable traditions of his family, so the "pious David" was the son of a man who died sinless (Shab. 55b). Notwithstanding his piety Jesse's marital life was not untroubled; he intended even to liberate his favorite female slave and marry her, but his wife frustrated this design by disguising herself as the slave, and Jesse unwittingly married her the second time. The result of this union was David, who was passed off as the son of the slave, in order to leave Jesse in his error (Yalḳ., Makiri, ed. Buber, 2:214; compare also Samuel Laniado's "Kele Yaḳar" to 1 Samuel 17). The supposed son of a slave, David was not educated with Jesse's other sons, but passed his days in the wilderness pasturing sheep (Yalḳ., Makiri, c.).

This pastoral life prepared him for the position he was to occupy. He treated the sheep entrusted to his care lovingly and tenderly, wherefore God said: "He understands how to pasture sheep; therefore he shall become the shepherd of My flock Israel" (Midr. Teh. 78:70; Ex. R. 2:2; for a similar Arabic legend see Grünbaum, "Neue Beiträge," p. 193). In the lonely desert David also found opportunity to display his extraordinary strength and courage. Thus, in one day he strangled with his hands four lions and three bears that attacked his flock (Baraita of the Thirty-two Rules,; Midr. Sam. ). David was once in great danger when he came upon a gigantic reem asleep. Taking it for a high mountain, he tried to climb it; but the animal awakened suddenly, and David found himself lifted high up into the air on its horns. David now vowed to God to build a temple 100 ells high—as high as the horns of the reem—if He would save him from the beast, and God thereupon sent a lion, which, as "king of the animals" (compare Ḳag. 13b), exacted respect even from this gigantic beast, which fell down before the lion, enabling David safely to alight. Then a deer came, which the lion immediately pursued, so that David escaped both from the reem and the lion (Midr. Teh. 22:22). David's pastoral life ended in his twenty-eighth year, when Samuel anointed him king (Yalḳ., Makiri, c.; compare also Seder 'Olam R. ).

David Anointed as King.

The prophet thought at first that Eliab, David's eldest brother, was destined by God to be king, but it was indicated to him by means of the holy oil that David was the chosen one. When Samuel attempted to pour oil from the vessel upon each of David's brothers in succession, the oil remained in the vessel; but when David's turn came it flowed freely of itself; the drops that fell on his garments changed immediately into diamonds and pearls; and when the anointing was finished the horn was as full as before. David's mother now came and revealed the secret that had been kept for so many years, and his father and brothers learned that he was not the son of a slave (Yalḳ., Makiri, c.; Yalḳ. 2:124 contains only a part of this legend; also Ephraem Syrus in his commentary to 1 Samuel 16:13, ed. Benedictini, p. 365; compare Ginzberg, "Die Haggada bei den Kirchenvätern," 1:27,28). Although the anointing was kept secret, its effects became evident in David's remarkable spiritual development, for he received even the gift of prophecy (Josephus, "Ant." 6:8, § 2; Sanh. 93b). He thereby excited the envy of many, especially of DOEG, who tried to prevent King Saul from calling David to his court (Sanh. c.; compare Doeg in Rab. Lit.). Saul became acquainted with David while the latter was still a boy, and grew attached to him, especially because of the cleverness he displayed on the following occasion: A woman who had to leave her home, and was unable to take her money with her, hid the gold pieces in barrels of honey, which she left in the care of a friend. The latter discovered the money, took it, and restored to the woman on her return only the honey. The woman brought the case before Saul, but as she could not prove her assertion the case was dismissed. When David, who was then a little boy playing before the king's house, heard the story, he undertook to convict the thief. At his suggestion the king commanded the barrels of honey to be broken, and two coins which the thief had not noticed were then found on the bottom, the theft being in this way proved (Jellinek, "B. H." 4:150,151, and in various "ma'aseh" collections).

David and Goliath.

David could enjoy the peace of court life only for a short time, as Goliath's appearance forced Saul into war. The sick king gladly accepted David's offer to march in his place against the blasphemous heathen (compare Goliath in Rab. Lit.), and when little David put on the great Saul's armor and found it to fit him perfectly, Saul recognized that David was intended for a higher mission. This change in David was due to the "holy oil" with which he was anointed; hence Saul became jealous of him, and David refused for this reason to go to battle in the king's armor (Tan., ed. Buber, 3:84). Five stones came of themselves to David (Midr. Sam. ), and when he touched them they changed into one stone (Zohar, Deut. 272). With them he intended to slayGoliath, for they symbolized God, the "three fathers" of Israel, and Aaron, whose descendants Hophni and Phineas had been killed shortly before by Goliath (Midr. Sam. c.; the Midrash quoted by Ḳimḥi to 1 Samuel 17:40 is somewhat different). As soon as David glanced at the giant the latter was struck with leprosy and rooted to the ground so that he could not move ("Ẓara'at"; Pesiḳ., ed. Buber, p. 175; see also Zohar, Num. p. 206, and parallel passages quoted by Buber). When David called out to Goliath "I shall give your flesh to the birds of heaven," Goliath looked up at the word "birds," the movement displacing his head-dress; and at the same moment the stone flung by David struck the giant's exposed forehead (Midrash quoted by ḳimḥi ad loc.; differently in Midr. Teh. ). As Goliath was armed cap-a-pie, David was at a loss how to cut off his head. Uriah offered to help David if the latter would give him a Jewess for wife, and when David consented Uriah showed him how the ends of the bands that held the armor together were joined across the soles of Goliath's feet. David gave Bath-sheba to the Philistine, and she became later a source of much trouble to him, because he had had so little regard for the dignity of a Jewess (Midr. quoted by Alshech to 1 Samuel 17:50, and by Samuel Laniado to 2 Samuel 12). David's victory over Goliath increased Saul's jealousy, who closely inquired into David's origin through his general Abner, in order to find out whether he really was a descendant of Pharez, for in that case Saul feared to see in David the future king. David's old enemy Doeg tried to prove that David being a descendant of the Moabitess Ruth, could not be regarded as a legitimate member of the Jewish community; the prophet Samuel, however, decided that the Biblical interdiction (Deuteronomy 23:3,4) referred only to the men and not to the women of that people (Midr. Sam.; Ruth R. iv, 4; somewhat differently Yeb. 76b, 77a, and Ephraem Syrus, c. 379; compare Ginzberg, c. pp. 32, 33).

David Fleeing Before Saul.

David did not remain long with Saul, being obliged to flee from him shortly after Goliath's death. God did not abandon him, however, and not only saved him from his enemies, but also instructed him how to rule the world justly and wisely. Thus, David once had an opportunity to find out that even lunacy, which he thought served no purpose, had its place in the plan of the universe, for he owed it to his fictitious madness that he was not slain by Goliath's brothers, who formed the body-guard of King Achish (Achish in Rab. Lit.; Midr. Teh. 34:1; Yalḳ. 2:131, with variants; Second Alphabet of Ben Sira, ed. Venice, p. 24). He was compelled to change his mean opinion of the spider in his flight before Saul, when he was hiding in a cave, and his pursuers, seeing a spider's web across the front of the cave, thought it useless to enter; for God had commanded the spider at that moment to give a proof of its usefulness (Ben Sira, c.; partly in Targ. to Psalms 57:3; compare Levy, "Chal. Wörterb." 1:48). David had a wonderful, and at the same time instructive, escape when he seized the water-flask of Abner (see 1 Samuel 26:7), and found himself caught between the legs of this giant as between two pillars; for a wasp stung Abner, who mechanically moved his feet, releasing David, who now recognized that even an apparently noxious insect can sometimes render service to man (Ben Sira, c.). Other miracles that David experienced in his flight before Saul were: the appearance of the angel informing Saul, who was about to seize David, that the Philistines were coming into the country (1 Samuel 23:26), whereupon Saul was obliged to give up the pursuit (Midr. Teh. ); and the heavenly aid sent to David on his expedition against the Amalekites (1 Samuel 30:17 et seq.), when the night was illuminated by lightning, thus enabling David to end the battle speedily (Lev. R. 30:3; Midr. Sam. ).

David's Wars as King.

David's first thought on coming to the throne was to capture the ancient holy city of Jerusalem from the Jebusites. He did not fear the power of these heathen, but he did fear the covenant Abraham had made with their ancestors, the words of which were engraved on bronze figures (Pirḳe R. El.; compare Jebusites in Rab. Lit.). The city was furthermore surrounded by a high wall, and David could enter only after the wall had miraculously lowered itself (Midr. Teh.; compare Joab in Rab. Lit.). Although the Jebusites could not appeal to the promise given to them by Abraham, because they had attacked the Jews in the time of Joshua, yet David would not seize the holy city without indemnifying them for it (Pirḳe R. El. c.). After the capture of Jerusalem David marched against the Philistines in the valley of Rephaim (2 Samuel 5:22 et seq.), and God commanded him to attack his enemy only after seeing the tree-tops bend, for God would judge the guardian angel of the heathen before giving the latter into the hands of the pious, and David was notified by the movement of the tree-tops (pseudo-Jerome commentary on 2 Samuel 5:24; compare Ginzberg, c. p. 125). On this occasion the pious king showed his great confidence in God, for there were only four ells between the two armies, and David had to use his utmost authority to make his followers refrain from battle, declaring that he would rather succumb in obeying God than conquer and be disobedient. He had hardly uttered these words when the tree-tops began to move, and he attacked the Philistines victoriously; whereupon God said to the angels: "Behold the great difference between him and Saul!" (compare 1 Samuel 14:19; Midr. Teh. ). The Philistines thought that David would not war against them, because they possessed a pledge—namely, the bridle of a charger that Isaac had given to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, as a covenant (Pirḳe R. El. )—and the Arameans thought the same, as they possessed the "maẓẓebot" which Jacob and Laban had erected as covenants. The Sanhedrin, to whom David applied, decided that he was not obliged to keep the covenants of the fathers with the heathen, because the Philistines of David's time were not the descendants of the ancient inhabitants of the country, but a new people that had come from Caphtor (see Amos 9:7); and the Arameans had lost all right to the covenantbetween Laban and Jacob on account of their attacks on Israel at the time of Moses and Joshua (Midr. Teh.; Pirḳe R. El. c.).

David as Ruler.

David was not only a warrior, but also a wise and energetic ruler. Shortly after his accession he appointed not less than 90,000 officials, but he made the mistake of omitting the wise Ahithophel, for which both paid dearly later, as it was principally David's curse that brought about Ahithophel's tragic end (Yer. Sanh. 10:29a, end; abbreviated in Suk. 52b, 53a; compare Ahithophel in Rabbinical Literature; PSALMS). Although he was king, he yet modestly asked counsel of his teachers Ira of Jair (M. Ḳ. 16b) and Mephiboshet regarding his decisions in ritual questions (Ber. 4a). He devoted so much time to the study of the Torah and to prayer that he was satisfied with "sixty breaths of sleep" (Suk. 26b). As soon as midnight had come the strings of his harp, made from the entrails of the ram that Abraham had sacrificed on Mount Moriah in place of Isaac, vibrated, and at the sound the king awakened and began to study the Torah (Ber. 3b; Yer. ib. 1:2d; Pirḳe R. El. ). David also devoted much time to prayer, the one hundred daily benedictions being his work (Yer. Ber., end; on the ancient reading of this passage, see Ratner, "Ahabat Ẓiyyon we-Yerushalayim," ad loc.). He also collected psalms from the time of Abraham down to his own day (B. B. 14b), and composed new ones. When he had finished he exclaimed: "O Lord of the world, is there any creature in the world that has praised Thee so much?" Whereupon God sent a frog to inform him that this mean little animal sounded the praise of God uninterruptedly from early dawn till late at night (Yalḳ. 2:889, end of Ps.). David, however, forgot himself so far as to boast only for a moment; generally he was very modest (Soṭah 10b). His coins showed on one side his shepherd's crook and scrip, and on the other David's tower (Gen. R.; contra, B. Ḳ. 97b).

David's Piety.