Character Highlight: David
- Ashley Brown
- 10 minutes ago
- 7 min read
What if the Bible’s most famous names held untold stories waiting to be discovered?
To better understand the Bible, we must get to know the people who lived it.
Introduction
Let's talk about David.
David is one of the most complex figures in the Bible. As Walt Whitman famously wrote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” Whitman used this line to express the complexity and expansiveness of the human spirit. Like David, he both checked the boxes and crossed out a few lines.
David was a shepherd boy who later became a king, he came from humble beginnings and was exalted later in life. His writings reflect a man that knew both triumph and sorrow.
Was David just a biblical legend, or a real king with a lasting legacy? While archaeology confirms his existence, scripture reveals his character.
Tel Dan Stele (9th Century BCE), A stone inscription discovered in northern Israel in 1993. It’s the earliest known extrabiblical reference of the “House of David”.
David’s Early Life
In his youth, David was a shepherd boy. Being a shepherd was humble work, often assigned to the youngest in the family, and for David, that was him, the youngest of eight brothers. This job would have been physically demanding, as he would have to devote his life to it, making David socially insignificant and often overlooked. Shepherds had to defend their flock from predators, you know nothing major, just lions and bears!
“Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh my!”
Alone in the field, he learned to fight, to sing, and most importantly, to trust God. Sometimes I like to envision David prancing around in a field of sheep, frolicking, talking to God. I believe his prayers were poetry to God’s ears, they certainly are to mine. His thankfulness wasn’t just circumstantial, as we can read, I believe it was rooted in trust as he approached God’s ear.
It was in the field that God found a king. Have you ever felt unseen, like David in the fields?
This image reminds us that intimacy with God often begins in solitude.
David’s Anointing & Calling
In Hebrew, “Messiah” means “Anointed One,” and David becomes a symbol of the Christ who was to come. When Samuel anointed David with oil, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him and remained with him. Though David continued tending to sheep for a short time, David had entered a season of divine preparation.
While his brothers stood in line hoping to be chosen, David was still in the fields. But God saw his heart and placed a purpose on his life. The anointing wasn’t just ceremonial; it was confirmation of a calling. King Saul was still on the throne, but David had been chosen by God.
The pouring of oil was a traditional act of consecration, and in that moment, David was marked as God’s king. The Spirit of the Lord empowered him to now shepherd a nation.
So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good-looking. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!”
David’s Rise & Conflicts
Moving forward in David’s life, one of the key moments is when he becomes King Saul’s court musician and armor bearer. David tried on Saul’s armor, but it didn’t fit his small stature, a detail that becomes significant when he faces Goliath, a giant covered in heavy bronze armor. David didn’t need Saul’s armor because God had already equipped him with what he needed.
Do we truly understand that we’re allowed to be ourselves, without performing, without trying to fit into what we think others expect to see?
And a champion went out from the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
David defeated Goliath with a single shot from his sling, a stone to the forehead. This courageous moment gained recognition and favor for David. A bold young armor bearer, too small for the armor, outshined the King. Naturally, King Saul becomes furious with jealousy, and that puts our young David on the run, as a fugitive. Furthering our reading in First Samuel, we read how David is fearful of his life, but God’s will was for patience. Though presented with two opportunities to slay Saul, God’s mercy and wisdom taught to David, prevailed, David waited upon the Lord to take his rightful place as King. There were many Psalms written during this time frame, David reflects on his fear, but also his trust in God, he continually gave Thanks. (Psalm 56 & 59 and 142.)
David Worships with Gratitude
What does it mean to be thankful, and not just when life is good, but when everything is falling apart or seems uncertain? Despite David’s flaws, his heart-posture was consistently attuned to God in humility and with thankfulness The psalms David wrote in caves and during conflict became the foundation of Israel’s worship.
After King Saul died, David became King over all Israel, and he established Jerusalem as its capital. David unified the nation as their leader, appointed and anointed from God. David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, which symbolized God's presence returning to the heart of the nation of Israel.
The famous line, “David Danced before the Lord” is written here in Second Samuel chapter 6. Onto chapter 7, we read about the covenant that God makes with David, promising that David’s descendants will reign forever, and we find out in later scriptures that Jesus comes from this lineage. Nathan, a prophet, came to King David with a word from God.
If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.”
David’s Sin & Repentance
We have learned that David was obedient and faithful in praise and prayer. Now let’s talk about some flaws that befell David, about his faithful soldier Uriah, and his wife, Bathsheba. Overcome with desire for another man’s wife, David sinned with her and conceived a child. In desperation, David sent Uriah to the front lines of the battle, certain of his death. In David’s grief, he writes a Psalm to God.
Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
Then David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was cleansed from her impurity; and she returned to her house. And the woman conceived; so she sent and told David, and said, “I am with child.”
As it was, is, and is to come, God knew all that would unfold in David’s life, just as He knows ours. David and Bathsheba conceived a son, Solomon. As previously prophesied through Nathan to David, David’s seed would take the throne after David and succeed him, this is Solomon.
“As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress, just as I swore to you by the Lord God of Israel, saying, ‘Assuredly Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ so I certainly will do this day.”
David was both a warrior and a poet, sinner and worshiper, shepherd and king.
Chosen by God for his heart posture rather than his stature or status. David led with courage, his life was marked by repentance, gratitude, and an unwavering pursuit of God’s grace and mercy grounded in deep reverence for His power.
His legacy lives on not only through his reign, through the psalms that continue to inspire faith and compassion while honoring God.
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