As I explained to the children earlier in worship today this is the 1st sermon in a four week series that Donna and I have agreed to do this July about famous Biblical Kings and Queens. The Hebrew Bible offers us a rich history of powerful personalities of royalty… During the course of the regular church year we don’t often find time to pick up on these individuals whose lives are rich with story and inspiration as well as highs and lows…

So today then, we begin with consideration of King David. David was born in the town of Bethlehem approximately 1000 years before the birth of Jesus. He was raised as the youngest of 8 brothers to his father Jesse. We have heard already today (in the Message for all Ages) about how this teenage shepherd lad defeated the giant Goliath by simply trusting his gifts and skills and not being too overwhelmed by the Goliath’s bravado and inflated sense of his own prowess…

Additional Biblical stories about David are extensive! David’s name occurs more than 1120 times in Scripture! David is the only king to be born in Bethlehem, the same birthplace as Jesus. There is considerable information about David’s family and his descendants. Scripture tells us that David was called by God to reign as King of Israel at the age of 30 and that he continued his reign for an amazing 40 years!

We have lots and lots of historical information and story about King David – his life and all of its many facets… David is known as a brave and wise politician, certainly as a warrior (starting from his battle with the Giant Goliath)… David is also remembered as a poet and ballad writer as well as a harp player… And through it all, in spite of stories about his very human faults and failings, David is also remembered as a man of great faith and a man utterly loyal to God…

What is perhaps most unique about this man named David, called “the Lord’s Annointed” in II Samuel (19:21 and 23:1) is that because of his known gifts as poet and balladeer David is known to us in a unique way as the writer of at least 77 of the Psalms… These 77 Psalms (all ascribed to David) do reveal much about David’s inward life and his life of faith…

One of the major themes running through much of David’s writings in the psalms is that life presented him with times of great trial and much turmoil… Yet even in spite of this, David managed apparently to maintain an internal compass that nearly always pointed to “true north.”

Whereas many of us look for happiness based on external circumstances in our lives, David seemed to discover a deeper joy grounded in his inner self… While many of us strive for happiness that is external and temporary, David at least in his Psalms suggests that we need to look inward, towards a place of deeper well-being, to a place where we can develop trust and hope in God…

David points repeatedly toward the God who could provide joy and direction in life. David believes without a doubt that God has the capacity to take us beyond all of the external trials and tribulations of our lives…

Yet it is also clear that David did not come to this faith because his life was easy or without challenge… David’s life as both an attractive male and a political figure brought him into many difficult and trying circumstances. As the second King of Israel after Saul, King David did have the benefit of learning from Saul’s mistakes… Saul had no blue print to follow as Israel’s first King, but David had the distinct advantage of having seen things from the inside, as a friend (at least at first) of Saul.

Throughout his life King David had to be willing to adjust his plans, admit his mistakes, and seek God’s forgiveness when he erred. The Psalms reveal a man of faith who constantly needed God’s support and guidance yet who didn’t always keep that connection with God. David did go through times when he pulled away from God and had to be redirected back to trusting in God’s eternal presence with him.

The extensive history of David reveals a man with many gifts and skills… Not only was he handsome and good looking he was also blessed with the gift of music and poetry… He learned how to use these gifts and skills to great advantage over the years… David was often envied by others and folks often sought to bring him into harm’s way to try to get rid of him… Yet David was clever and astute and using his intelligence and his connections, he kept escaping sticky situations and avoided death repeatedly.

King David’s story is one of a man who indulges in all of life’s pleasures and pitfalls… David was a man who wielded power and sometimes let that power overtake him… He was a wise man but also a very human one who made plenty of mistakes along life’s way…

This David called “God’s Anointed” remained utterly loyal to God above all else, even when he made really big mistakes and errors in judgment…

Over the course of many years of political intrigue and battle King David took back Jerusalem and claimed that city for himself. The town even became known as the City of David. After having this city belong to various tribes through many previous years King David claimed Jerusalem for the crown and made it neutral territory even as tribal warfare continued just outside of Jerusalem.

David knew how to amass power and land and he was remarkably successful at bringing his plans to fruition. He built a fabulous palace in Jerusalem and brought the Ark of God to Jerusalem with grand celebration, pomp, and circumstance (oh yes, and some dancing that got him into trouble with is wife.)

King David completely changed Israel and solidified his power base over the years of his long reign. Throughout it all he was loved, adored and respected - not an easy feat even in ancient times! The one thing that he had hoped for was to build a temple befitting the God who he adored in Jerusalem. But God was clear with King David that God did not want David to build the temple…

Even from the earliest story of David and Goliath we learn that David could use violence… King David’s life continued to be marked by violence and the death of many opponents... There were plenty of documented war crimes in David’s time.

And then there’s the matter that King David, like so many politicians and even some American presidents, sometimes let power go to his head…

Scripture tells us many stories about how King David used his royal privilege and his power as a man in a patriarchal society to have his way with women, and even with women who were wives to other men.

Whereas in his earlier years King David consulted with God regularly and kept his faith and his loyalty to God clear, David’s faith went through some apparent dry spells. God had to find other ways to communicate with David and during that time prophets brought instruction from God to King David and sometimes David did not listen… As a consequence many of David’s whole family suffered for David’s crimes and mistakes…

The stories of political intrigue continue for a long while before David’s death… He continued to guide Israel through more wars, a major famine, a census, and a terrible plague… Hebrew Scriptures testify that God promised David an everlasting dynasty. A lot happened between the time he was a young lad facing down the Giant Goliath and the end of his reign and his death. And even though David’s relationship with God sometimes wavered it was apparently never completely severed. Israel became a strong and organized nation under King David and there is no doubt that David was a remarkable leader at so many different levels…

David loved God and God loved David. Despite his flaws, David is still lifted up as the ideal ruler - sanctioned by both the people and by God. Between approximately 1010 and 970 B.C.E. King David united the people of Israel, led them to victory in battle, conquered land and paved the way for his son, Solomon, to finally build the Temple in Jerusalem. We can admire his success and his gifts; we can disapprove of his faults and his failures. Yet David is just like us – a complex mixture of both good and bad…

(Acknowledgement here to a resource entitled Misbehavin’ Monarchs by Barbara J. Essex)