The Bible Well

Character

The Story of David in the Bible — Shepherd, King, and Man After God's Heart

From the sheep pasture to the throne — and from a rooftop sin to a psalm of broken hope.

Era
Roughly 1040–970 BC (Iron Age, united monarchy of Israel)
Role
Shepherd, warrior, songwriter, second king of Israel
Key books
1 Samuel 16 – 1 Kings 2; Psalms; 1 Chronicles 10–29
Reign
About 40 years (7 in Hebron, 33 in Jerusalem)

David is the second king of Israel and the most fully drawn human being in the Old Testament. We meet him as the forgotten youngest son in a family of eight, watching sheep while his older brothers impress a prophet. We leave him as a dying old man giving his son Solomon final instructions for the kingdom. In between, he kills a giant, runs for his life from a jealous king, writes songs the Church is still singing three thousand years later, conquers Jerusalem, abuses his power in a way that ruins several families, and learns repentance the long way. The Bible never sanitizes him. And yet God calls him "a man after my own heart" (Acts 13:22).

The story

David's story begins not in a palace but a pasture. In 1 Samuel 16 the prophet Samuel comes to Bethlehem to anoint a new king to replace Saul, whom God has rejected for disobedience. Jesse the father parades seven impressive sons in front of the prophet. None of them is the one. Almost as an afterthought, Jesse sends for the youngest, who is out with the flock. When David walks in, God tells Samuel, this is the one. The prophet pours oil over his head while his older brothers watch.

The next chapter is the most famous Sunday-school scene in the Bible. The Philistine army has a champion — a nine-foot giant named Goliath who shouts daily insults across the valley while Israel's army cowers. David, sent by his father to deliver food to his brothers at the front, hears the taunts and is offended on God's behalf in a way the seasoned soldiers are not. He volunteers. King Saul tries to outfit him in royal armor that doesn't fit. David goes out with five smooth stones from a brook and a sling, hits Goliath in the forehead with the first one, and finishes the job with the giant's own sword. The army of Israel routs the Philistines, and David walks out of the valley a national hero (1 Samuel 17).

The next decade is darker. Saul, who at first loves David and makes him a son-in-law, becomes consumed by jealousy as the crowds sing of David killing "tens of thousands" (1 Samuel 18:7). Saul tries repeatedly to kill him — by spear, by ambush, by political manoeuvring — and David ends up on the run, hiding in caves, sheltering at one point with a Philistine king, refusing two clear chances to kill Saul because he will not lift his hand against "the Lord's anointed" (1 Samuel 24:10). His best friend in this period is Jonathan, Saul's own son, whose loyalty to David is one of the most moving friendships in Scripture.

Saul eventually dies in battle against the Philistines on Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31). Jonathan dies the same day. David grieves them both — even Saul — in a public song (2 Samuel 1). He is then crowned king over the southern tribe of Judah at Hebron, and after seven years over all twelve tribes. He captures the Jebusite stronghold of Jerusalem and makes it his capital, brings the ark of the covenant into the city with dancing, and proposes to build God a temple. God's answer through the prophet Nathan is one of the most theologically important passages in the Old Testament: no, I will build you a house — a dynasty that will never end (2 Samuel 7).

Then comes the rooftop. In 2 Samuel 11, at a time of year when kings normally went to war, David stays home. From his roof he sees a beautiful woman, Bathsheba, bathing. She is the wife of Uriah, one of David's most loyal soldiers, currently away fighting David's battles. David sends for her, sleeps with her, and when she becomes pregnant he engineers Uriah's death on the front lines to cover it up. The Bible records this with surgical bluntness. The prophet Nathan confronts David with a parable that traps him into condemning himself, and David — instead of killing the prophet, as many ancient kings would have done — breaks. Psalm 51, the great penitential psalm of the Bible, is what comes out of his mouth.

The remainder of David's reign is shadowed by the consequences. His son Amnon assaults his sister Tamar. Another son, Absalom, avenges her by killing Amnon and later leads an outright rebellion against David, briefly driving him out of Jerusalem. Absalom dies when his hair catches in a tree during battle and Joab kills him against David's explicit orders. David's grief — "O my son Absalom! ... if only I had died instead of you" (2 Samuel 18:33) — is one of the most painful lines a parent can read.

At the end of his life David hands the throne to Solomon, his son by Bathsheba, gives him both political instructions and spiritual ones, and dies after roughly forty years on the throne (1 Kings 2). 1 Kings remembers him simply: he "walked before [God] in faithfulness and righteousness and uprightness of heart" (1 Kings 3:6) — a verdict that is, given everything, an astonishing act of grace.

Timeline of key events

  • Anointed by Samuel as the next king while still a shepherd boy in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16).
  • Defeats Goliath in the Valley of Elah with a sling and a stone (1 Samuel 17).
  • Befriends Jonathan, marries Saul's daughter Michal, and becomes a national hero (1 Samuel 18–19).
  • Flees Sauland lives as a fugitive for years, twice sparing Saul's life (1 Samuel 20–26).
  • Becomes king over Judahat Hebron after Saul's death; seven years later over all Israel (2 Samuel 2–5).
  • Captures Jerusalem and makes it the capital; brings the ark of the covenant home (2 Samuel 5–6).
  • Receives the Davidic covenant — a promise that his throne will endure forever (2 Samuel 7).
  • Sins with Bathshebaand arranges Uriah's death; is confronted by Nathan and repents (2 Samuel 11–12; Psalm 51).
  • Absalom's rebellion drives David from Jerusalem; Absalom is killed in battle (2 Samuel 15–18).
  • Dies at about 70 after roughly forty years on the throne; Solomon succeeds him (1 Kings 2).

Five lessons from David's life

  1. God does not measure people the way people measure themselves.Samuel was ready to crown the tall one. God sent for the youngest. "The Lord does not look at the things people look at... the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).
  2. Courage comes from a settled view of who God is. David was not unafraid of Goliath because he was brave by temperament. He was unafraid because he had already watched God take care of lions and bears (1 Samuel 17:34–37). His courage was imported.
  3. Waiting is part of the calling. Anointed at maybe fifteen, David was not crowned king of Judah until he was about thirty. The middle was caves, betrayal, and years of refusing to kill the king who was hunting him. The throne was not the cost of his obedience; it was the destination of it.
  4. Power exposes the heart it does not transform. The David of the rooftop is the same David of the sheepfold, just with more options. Faithfulness in private is not optional once the platform is bigger; it is more necessary.
  5. The deepest difference between David and Saul is what they did when caught.Both men sinned. Saul made excuses (1 Samuel 15). David, accused by Nathan, said simply, "I have sinned against the Lord" (2 Samuel 12:13). Repentance is what a man after God's heart actually looks like — not flawless obedience, but honest return.

Key Bible verses about David

The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

— 1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

— 1 Samuel 17:45 (NIV)

Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.

— 2 Samuel 7:16 (NIV)

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul... Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

— Psalm 23:1–4 (NIV)

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

— Psalm 51:10–12 (NIV)

I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.

— Acts 13:22 (NIV)

How David points to Jesus

The whole arc of David's life is the rough draft of a better king. He was anointed in obscurity; Jesus was born in a stable. He was rejected by his brothers; Jesus was rejected by his own people (John 1:11). He killed the giant on behalf of the army that could not; Jesus defeated death on behalf of a humanity that could not. He was promised an eternal throne in 2 Samuel 7; Jesus is repeatedly called "the Son of David" in the New Testament and Luke 1 says outright that the Davidic throne is his (Luke 1:32–33).

Most importantly, David shows us what a believer in Jesus actually looks like in real life — not because he never sinned, but because when he did, he ran back to God rather than away. Christians are not people who never fall. They are people who learn, with David, to pray Psalm 51.

Related questions

+How old was David when he killed Goliath?

The Bible does not give a number, but the description in 1 Samuel 17 — a boy too small for Saul's armor, still running errands for his father, not yet a soldier — suggests David was in his mid-teens, perhaps fifteen or sixteen. He was not yet old enough to have been conscripted into the army.

+Why is David called a 'man after God's own heart' when he sinned so badly?

The phrase, first used in 1 Samuel 13:14 and quoted by Paul in Acts 13:22, does not mean David was sinless. It means his fundamental orientation was toward God — he wanted what God wanted, and when he failed catastrophically, he repented catastrophically. The contrast in 1 Samuel is with Saul, who, when caught, made excuses. David, when caught, broke. That is the heart God was after.

+Did David write all the Psalms?

No. About half of the 150 psalms (73 of them) are explicitly attributed to David in their superscriptions. Others are written by Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, and anonymous authors. David is, however, the dominant voice of the Psalter, and the Psalms were collected and ordered with his life clearly in view.

+How many wives did David have?

The Bible names at least eight: Michal (Saul's daughter), Ahinoam, Abigail, Maakah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 3:2–5; 2 Samuel 5:13–16). He also had concubines. Scripture records this without endorsing it — the practice of royal polygamy was common in the ancient Near East, and the consequences in David's own household (Amnon, Absalom, Adonijah) are part of the cautionary side of the story.

Further study

If you want one book on David's life, Eugene Peterson's Leap Over a Wallis a pastor's walk through David that is unusually honest about both his greatness and his failures. For a sermon-length introduction, almost anything Tim Keller preached on Psalm 51 will repay the hour.

On this site, you might keep reading with the parable of the prodigal son — the New Testament's clearest picture of the welcome David kept coming back to — or with Is God Real?, which asks what kind of God we should expect on the basis of stories like this one.