King David

How He Became King: Anointed by Samuel
When He Began Reigning: 30 years old
Reign Length: 40 years
Ruled Over: Israel + Judah
Type of King: Good
Prophet: Nathan
Death: Died of old age
Burial: Buried in Jerusalem

After Saul was killed in battle by the Philistines, God told David to go to Hebron. It was there that the men of Judah made David their king:

2 Samuel 2:1: “And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
2 So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal’s wife the Carmelite.
3 And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
4 And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabeshgilead were they that buried Saul.”

Although David was now king over Judah, he was not yet king over Israel. In an act of rebellion and defiance, Abner took Saul’s son Ishbosheth and made him king over Israel. Now, God had already chosen David to be king over His people and had Samuel anoint David as king many years ago, but Abner did not care. He used Ishbosheth to lead Israel into a rebellion against the king that God had chosen.

As it turned out, this rebellion was short-lived. Ishbosheth only reigned for two years. During that time the house of Saul fought the house of David, and David grew stronger while Saul’s house grew weaker. In the end this rebellion cost Abner and Ishbosheth their lives. Joab (the leader of David’s armies) tricked Abner and murdered him, and Rechab and Baanah assassinated Ishbosheth and brought David his head. Rechab and Baanah though that David would reward them for what they had done, but instead David had them both executed:

II Samuel 4:8: “And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the Lord hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.
9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them, As the Lord liveth, who hath redeemed my soul out of all adversity,
10 When one told me, saying, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, who thought that I would have given him a reward for his tidings:
11 How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed? shall I not therefore now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?
12 And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up over the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ishbosheth, and buried it in the sepulchre of Abner in Hebron.”

After this Israel made David their king. He began reigning when he was 30 years old, and he reigned for a total of 40 years. David reigned in Hebron for 7 years and he reigned in Jerusalem for 33 years:

2 Samuel 5:1: “Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh.
2 Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months: and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah.”

David took Jerusalem from the Jebusites (II Samuel 5:6-7) and brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (II Samuel 6). David wanted to build a temple, but God forbade him from doing so because he had been a man of war. When the Lord told him that one of his sons would build it, David began making preparations. By the time David died he had prepared blueprints for the Temple’s construction and had amassed a tremendous amount of raw materials.

However, David’s reign was not spotless. There came a time when David’s armies went to fight the Ammonites. Instead of going out with his armies, however, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. While he was there he happened to be on the roof of his palace one day, and from that vantage point he saw Bathsheba bathing. Despite the fact that Bathsheba was a married woman (and the granddaughter of his trusted counselor Ahithophel) he had her brought to his palace and committed adultery with her:

II Samuel 11:3: “And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?
4 And David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her uncleanness: and she returned unto her house.
5 And the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.”

When David found out that she was pregnant he had her husband Uriah brought back home. His plan was to get Uriah to sleep with his wife so that he would think the child was his, but despite David’s best efforts he could not get Uriah to go home to his wife. Since that plan failed, he told Joab to arrange for Uriah to be killed in battle:

II Samuel 11:14: “And it came to pass in the morning, that David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah.
15 And he wrote in the letter, saying, Set ye Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retire ye from him, that he may be smitten, and die.
16 And it came to pass, when Joab observed the city, that he assigned Uriah unto a place where he knew that valiant men were.
17 And the men of the city went out, and fought with Joab: and there fell some of the people of the servants of David; and Uriah the Hittite died also.”

The plan worked and Uriah was killed. David then married Bathsheba and she gave birth to their son. David thought that his sin had been hidden, but he was greatly mistaken. The Lord knew what David had done and He was very displeased. God sent Nathan the prophet to rebuke the king and tell him that because of this sin God would bring terrible judgment upon David:

2 Samuel 12:9: “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.”

Everything that the Lord said came to pass. David begged God to spare the child, but the child still died. David’s son Absalom then stole the hearts of Israel and led a rebellion against his father. David was very nearly killed, but he was warned about the uprising and fled:

II Samuel 15:13: “And there came a messenger to David, saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are after Absalom.
14 And David said unto all his servants that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee; for we shall not else escape from Absalom: make speed to depart, lest he overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city with the edge of the sword.”

Ahithophel had been David’s wisest and most trusted adviser, but in this rebellion he joined Absalom and told him how to kill David and seize his throne. (Since Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather, it’s entirely possible that the reason he did that was because he was angry with David for murdering his son-in-law.) However, Hushai defeated Ahithophel’s counsel and gave David the time he needed to escape and prepare for battle.

When the battle finally came, the servants of David defeated the servants of Absalom. David ordered his men to spare Absalom’s life, but Joab killed him anyway. The king wept when he found out that his son had been killed:

II Samuel 18:32: “And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is.
33 And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

Even though Absalom was now dead, the rebellion was not yet over. When David returned to Jerusalem the men of Judah got into an argument with the men of Israel, and Sheba drew Israel away from following David:

2 Samuel 20:1: “And there happened to be there a man of Belial, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjamite: and he blew a trumpet, and said, We have no part in David, neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse: every man to his tents, O Israel.
2 So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri: but the men of Judah clave unto their king, from Jordan even to Jerusalem.”

David ruled over Judah, but Sheba ruled over Israel. Joab and his men pursued Sheba and eventually cornered him in a city. When Joab came against the city a wise woman convinced the town to cut off Sheba’s head and throw it over the wall:

II Samuel 20:20: “And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy.
21 The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall.
22 Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Joab returned to Jerusalem unto the king.”

The rebellion was finally over, but there was still more trouble ahead for David. There came a time when God sent a three-year famine upon the country. When David inquired of God he discovered that the famine was punishment for Saul’s slaying of the Gibeonites. During Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, the Israelites had made peace with the Gibeonites and promised not to kill them. However, Saul broke this promise and slaughtered them – an act which greatly angered God. Even though Saul had not agreed to the treaty, the nation of Israel had made a promise to the Gibeonites and God expected them to keep it. The king was supposed to keep the nation’s promises, but instead he broke them.

In order to atone for Saul’s sins, David gave seven of Saul’s sons to the Gibeonites and they hanged them before the Lord:

II Samuel 21:5: “And they answered the king, The man that consumed us, and that devised against us that we should be destroyed from remaining in any of the coasts of Israel,
6 Let seven men of his sons be delivered unto us, and we will hang them up unto the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, whom the Lord did choose. And the king said, I will give them.
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan the son of Saul, because of the Lord’s oath that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul.
8 But the king took the two sons of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bare unto Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul, whom she brought up for Adriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite:
9 And he delivered them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them in the hill before the Lord: and they fell all seven together, and were put to death in the days of harvest, in the first days, in the beginning of barley harvest.”

After this the Lord was entreated and He lifted the famine. It may seem strange that God actually approved of this, but it is not as strange as it seems. Saul had killed innocent members of the Gibeonite family, so in return members of his own family were killed. God did to him what he had done to the Gibeonites.

However, there was still more trouble ahead for Israel. One day David forced Joab to take a census of Israel. This displeased the Lord, and as punishment God sent a pestilence over the land that killed 70,000 people. In order to stop the plague David bought the threshingfloor of Araunah, built an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings:

II Samuel 24:25: “And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.”

That brought an end to the plague.

When David was old he could not stay warm. His servants searched for a woman to lie with him, and they found Abishag. She ministered to him:

I Kings 1:3: “So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
4 And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.”

Since David was old, Adonijah exalted himself to be king with the help of Joab and Abiathar. When Bathsheba protested to David, he swore that her son Solomon would reign. Nathan then proclaimed that Solomon was king, and Adonijah’s supporters panicked and fled. Adonijah thought that he was going to be executed, but instead Solomon ordered Adonijah to be released and sent home:

I Kings 1:49: “And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way.
50 And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
51 And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me today that he will not slay his servant with the sword.
52 And Solomon said, If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die.
53 So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house.”

Adonijah’s life was spared – for the moment.

When it came time for David to die he told Solomon to obey God, and then gave him the plans he had made for the Temple and the supplies he had set aside for it. David then died and was buried in Jerusalem:

1 Kings 2:10: “So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David.”

David’s son Solomon then reigned in his stead.