The Old Testament Study - King David

The Old Testament Study continued the story of King Saul and King David. The relationship between Saul and David is worth investigating. The story may be read as allegorical, and the children of Saul could be seen as representing aspects of Saul. This would make more sense rather than that the same story is told twice with only slight changes.

Next, the Study focussed on David’s wives and children. His first wife was the daughter of Saul, but Saul takes her away from David and Saul marries her off to another man. When David becomes king he demands to have her returned. Therefore it is clear that marrying another man’s wife was not frowned upon. What was frowned upon in his marriage to Bathsheba is that David did everything in secret and with cunning.

David reigns from Hebron for the first seven years. This was the home of Patriarchs. While he is in Hebron he marries six wives and each gives him a son. In total we know of 19 sons who were named and 2 who are not named as well as one named daughter and possibly many other daughters. His first son is Amnon. His third son is Absalom and his second son with Bathsheba is Solomon. Absalom means ‘father of peace’ and Solomon means ‘man of peace’. David then relocated and captured Jerusalem and set up his rule from Jerusalem, which had been the capital for Melchizedek, the ‘house of peace’.

David’s eldest son, who presumes he will be the next king, wishes to follow a tradition that was followed in many royal families up till quite recently which was to keep the inheritance within the family. This was done through marrying a sister. Many of the Pharaohs did this (and marrying a niece or a double first cousin was a practice in several of the royal lines of Europe until a few centuries ago). Amnon therefore wishes to marry a half-sister. But this tradition was not one that the YHWH wished the Hebrews to follow. The Old Testament Study has introduced several women that were not Hebrews that were brought into the family through marriage. Bathsheba may also not have been a Hebrew woman (as she was a wife to a Hittite). Because Amnon persisted with a custom that was not appropriate, his half-brother Absalom arranges his death. Absalom was a charismatic leader and a favourite of his father. He represents someone with astral forces that are in excess. His father wished the rebellion Absalom starts to be quelled but instructs that Absalom not be harmed. Unfortunately, the order is not fulfilled when Absalom is found hanging by his hair from a tree and the soldiers are too eager to kill him as the leader of the rebels, causing David great grief. The last part of the study of King David will be to look at him as the writer of the Psalms.