Lesson for May 7, 2025

The Life of David

Lesson 1

David was a servant of God who became the second King of Israel. We will look at his life as a boy in the pastures, an attendant to King Saul, a fighter of the Philistines, a friend of Saul’s son Johnathan, an enemy of Saul, a fugitive from Saul, the King of Israel, and a failure in David’s personal life. (I Chronicles 2:1-15; Matthew 1:3-6; Luke 3:31-33) The following is from biblegateway.com.

A Boy in the Pastures

I Samuel 16:1-13

When God determined to reject Saul as the king of Israel, He sent Samuel with oil to anoint one of the sons of Jesse. When Samuel arrived at Jesse’s home, he had the sons of Jesse brought forward one by one. Samuel favored Eliab, the eldest, but God showed him that he should not look on the outward appearance but in the person’s heart. God passed by seven of the sons of Jesse until only the youngest, David, remained.

David was then keeping his father’s sheep, and Jesse did not consider it important to bring him before Samuel. When Samuel insisted and David was brought before him, God indicated that this was His choice. David was anointed that day, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon him.

An Attendant to King Saul

I Samuel 16:14-23

God’s spirit departed from Saul, who was a believer and an evil spirit from Jehovah came and troubled him. God sometimes allowed demons to discipline believers. (Judges 9:23) On the advice of some to call a harpist to soothe Saul, one young man in the court recommended David as a skillful musician. So, Saul sent for David.

Jesse sent David to Saul with a donkey loaded with bread, wine, a goat, and a calf. When he arrived before Saul, Saul loved him at first sight and made David his armor bearer. Saul sought and received Jesse’s permission for David to be part of his court. Whenever the evil spirit came upon Saul, David was at hand with his harp to soothe him. He undoubtedly composed many Psalms in this period.

A Fighter of the Philistines

I Samuel 17:1-51

When the Philistines gathered to do battle with Israel in the valley of Elah, Goliath, a giant of the Philistines, came out and threatened Israel. David’s father, Jesse was quite old, and his three older sons were fighting with Saul. He sent David to the front to see how his sons were doing. He sent corn and bread with him for the brothers and cheeses for their captain. David went, leaving the sheep with a keeper and found his brothers in the camp.

As he was talking with his brothers, Goliath came out and began threatening them, as before. When David heard Goliath’s boasting, he became indignant. Eliab, David’s brother was disgusted with David for his interest in Goliath’s threats. He accused David of mere curiosity, but David ignored his brother. The men in the camp told David that Saul had promised to give his daughter and great riches to whoever killed Goliath.

David’s words of indignation against Goliath reached Saul and Saul sent for him. When David assured Saul he would fight Goliath, Saul listened. David related to Saul how he had cared for the sheep and protected them against a lion and a bear. He gave all the glory to God for his victories over the wild beasts. He confessed that he believed the same God would now deliver him from Goliath. Saul was convinced and sent him out to face the giant.

David rejected the use of Saul’s armor and instead took those weapons with which he was familiar, his staff, some stones and a sling—the weapons of a shepherd.

When Goliath saw this boy, he ridiculed and threatened him. David, not being afraid, affirmed his faith in God. He knew that God would give him the victory so that all might know that there is a God in Israel and that God’s people would know that God does not save by sword and spear, but by His strength. David ran to meet Goliath and killed him with the first stone from his slingshot. He then cut off Goliath’s head with his own sword and Israel won the battle.

David had great success in the battles against their enemies and eventually became the leader of the armies. This pleased everyone, but trouble developed because the women began to sing praises about David killing more of their enemies than Saul. Saul became jealous, thinking his throne was being threatened. After this Saul no longer trusted David.

A Friend of Saul’s Son, Johnathan

I Samuel 18:1-4

David remained in Saul’s court and a great friendship developed between him and Saul’s son Jonathan. The two made a commitment to one another to remain friends and Jonathan sealed it by giving David his robe, apparel, sword, bow, and belt. They remained friends, even when Saul was trying to kill David.

An Enemy of Saul

I Samuel 18:5-30

Saul’s fear of David continued to increase, since it was evident that God was with David but no longer with Saul. He demoted David to captain over a thousand men, but David continued to treat Saul with respect as king. Saul also tried to turn Jonathan against David. However, Jonathan warned David to avoid Saul and at the same time tried to persuade his father that David respected the king.

As soon as war began again, David’s popularity rose, and Saul again became jealous. He tried to kill David while he slept, but he escaped. David first went to Samuel, and together they fled. When Saul heard where he was hiding, he sent men to capture him. David fled back to Jonathan. Jonathan found it hard to believe that his father really hated David and promised to find out the truth. The truth was that Saul did hate David. Jonathan himself was nearly killed by his father who was now in a rage.

A Fugitive from Saul

I Samuel 20:1-42

David and Jonathan then made a pact in which Jonathan expressed assurance that David would one day be king, and David promised to protect Jonathan’s children, forever. Then David became a fugitive and fled into a cave with his family. Others also joined David and soon he had a fighting force of four hundred men. (I Chronicles 12:16)

From there David and his men went into Moab where he met Gad, the prophet, who warned him to leave and go to Judah. Meanwhile, Saul learned of David’s maneuvers. Saul complained that his own men did not help him and that they failed to inform him that Johnathan was working against him. So, Saul, in a rage, had the priests of the city of Nob killed.

Next, David fled to En-gedi, and Saul took three thousand men to capture him there. While Saul rested in a cave, in which David hid, David could have easily killed Saul. And even though David’s men urged him to kill the king, he refused, respecting God’s anointed. He did cut off Saul’s robe as proof that he could have killed him while Saul was sleeping in the cave.

When Saul left the cave, David showed from a distance how he had spared the king’s life. Saul, under stress and emotion, seemed to recognize his own wrongdoing toward David, and confessed that he believed David would be king. The change, however, was not long-lasting. One evening as Saul slept, David went into the camp where Saul slept. God had caused deep sleep to fall on all the camp. David took Saul’s spear and water jug and left the camp. David then called out to Saul to show him that David had spared his life. This seemed to convince Saul once again that David meant no harm to him.

David continually exercised his faith in God and honored Saul as the anointed king of Israel. He refused to kill Saul when he had the opportunity to do so because Saul was God’s anointed. David’s obedience and faithfulness to God was rewarded, as we will see in the next lesson.