David was a shepherd, prophet, musician, songwriter, army commander, and finally, king of Israel. He was the youngest son in his family from Bethlehem. The Scriptures say he was a man after God’s own heart, meaning he was loyal to God and wanted most of all to please Him. Also, Jesus came from David’s family line.

When he was young, David took care of his father’s sheep. At that time, Saul was king of Israel and Judah, and David soothed his nerves by playing the harp for him. 

When Israel’s enemy, the Philistines, gathered their armies to battle against Israel, they sent a giant man named Goliath to challenge them one-on-one in combat. David heard about the giant’s challenge and volunteered to fight him. David chose 5 smooth stones from a brook along with his slingshot, a weapon that could shoot rocks quickly to hurt an enemy. With God’s help, David defeated Goliath, and David gave all the glory to God for his victory. David became best friends with Saul’s son Jonathan, and Saul appreciated David so much that he chose him to be his armor bearer, which was an important military position. David became a commander of Saul’s army.

Unfortunately, because of Saul’s disobedience, God rejected him as king. Because of David’s loyal heart, God chose David to be the next king once Saul had passed away. 

In the meantime, Saul grew jealous of David and tried to kill him several times. Once, while hunting David, Saul walked into a cave, not knowing that David and his men were actually hiding there. Without Saul knowing, David cut off part of Saul’s robe, proving he did not want to harm him, even though Saul had been hunting him! David’s men said he should kill Saul, but in the book of 1 Samuel, David said, “I must not harm him in the least, because he is the king chosen by the LORD!"  (1 Samuel 24:6, Good News Translation) Instead of doing things his own way, David trusted that God would remove Saul from the throne in His own perfect time, and that’s exactly what happened.

So, who was David? A shepherd, prophet, musician, songwriter, army commander and king. Continue learning more about David’s life in our CQ Kids video, “Who was David? Part 2.” https://youtu.be/F2JIvkWUyEg

This video is from Christian Questions Podcast. For more information please go to https://christianquestions.com