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David and Goliath
David hoists the severed head of Goliath by Gustave Dore

The Israelites are facing the Philistines in the Valley of Elah. David is bringing food to his older brothers who are with King Saul, and hears Goliath challenging the Israelites to send their own champion to decide the outcome in single combat. http://myface.com/Louis_J_Sheehan He insists that he can defeat Goliath (whose height, according to the Bible, was six cubits and a span and according to Maimonides, was 6 cubits, or around 9 feet, tall), and Saul sends for him and reluctantly allows him to make the attempt. David is victorious, felling Goliath with a stone from his sling, at which the Philistines flee in terror and the Israelites win a great victory. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire David cuts off the giant’s head and brings it to Saul, who asks who the young hero is; David replies, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.” 1 Samuel 17:58

The enmity of Saul

Saul makes David a commander over his armies and offers him his daughter Michal in marriage. (1 Samuel 18:17-19) David is successful in many battles, and the women say, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” His popularity awakened Saul’s fears - “What more can he have but the kingdom?” - and by various stratagems the jealous king seeks David’s death. But the plots all prove futile, and only endear David the more to the people, and especially to Saul’s son Jonathan, one of those who love David. Warned by Jonathan of Saul’s intention to kill him, David flees into the wilderness.[3]

(The relationship between David and Jonathan, Saul’s rightful heir, is a central element in the story of David’s rise. Jonathan recognizes David as the rightful king, and 1 Samuel 18 - “Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul” - implies a close personal relationship between the two.[4])

[edit] David in the wilderness

In the wilderness David gathers a band of followers and becomes the champion of the oppressed while evading the pursuit of Saul. He accepts Ziklag as a chief from the Philistine king Achish of Gath, but continues secretly to champion the Israelites. Achish marches against Saul, but David is excused from the war on the accusation of the Philistine nobles that his loyalty to their cause cannot be trusted!

[edit] David made king

Saul and Jonathan are killed in battle with the Philistines. David mourns their death, then goes up to Hebron, where he is anointed king over Judah; in the north, Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth is king over the tribes of Israel. War ensues between Ish-Bosheth and David, until Ish-Bosheth is assassinated. The assassins bring forward the head of Ish-Bosheth to David hoping for reward, but David executes them for their crime against the Lord’s anointed. Yet with the death of the son of Saul, the elders of Israel come to Hebron, and David, 30 years old, is anointed King over Israel and Judah.

David’s reign

David conquers the Jebusite fortress of Jerusalem and makes it his capital, “and Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house.” David brings the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, intending to build a temple.[8] God, speaking to the prophet Nathan, forbids it, saying the temple must wait for a future generation. But God makes a covenant with David, promising that he will establish the house of David eternally: “Your throne shall be established forever.”

David goes on to conquer Zobah and Aram (modern Syria), Edom and Moab (roughly modern Jordan), Philistine lands, as well as other territories, in many cases exterminating large portions of their citizenry.

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