King David is probably one of Israel’s greatest heroes and ruler. According to the Bible, David was a man after God’s own heart and God greatly loved him. As a matter of fact, David’s name means beloved by God, perfect, kind and grateful.
His life was full of adventure, suspense, pain, suffering, joy, gratitude and victory. In his youth, David might not have fully understood the fact that one day God was going to make him king of Israel and that he would permanently establish his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:16).
David becomes King of Israel appears as an event on the Biblical Timeline Poster 1055 BC. David’s story begins with the prophet Samuel. This particular prophet was Israel‘s last judge and ruler before the people decided that they wanted a king. God was reluctant to allow them to have a king, but he gave the people what they requested.
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Saul was chosen by God to be the first king over Israel and for his first few years he was a great ruler. Eventually, Saul didn’t obey God and spared the king of the Amalekites whom he should have killed. God told the prophet Samuel to tell Saul he would no longer be king and to kill the Amalekite leader (1 Samuel 16). Around this time, young David was a shepherd boy tending his flock. During the many days, he spent tending the sheep he learned how to fight by defending them from predators such as a bear and a lion. The Bible tells about the time when David killed a lion and bear probably with his sling (1 Samuel 17:31-37).
Since God had rejected Saul as king he sent Samuel to locate another ruler for the throne. The spirit of God eventually led the prophet Samuel to the house of Jesse and had him to anoint David to become Israel’s next monarch (1 Samuel 16:12). Young David didn’t become king right away he had to wait until Saul’s death before he took over as ruler. In the meantime, God had sent an evil spirit to torment Saul. King Saul found out about David’s ability to play the harp very well and asked Jesse if David could come to his fortress to soothe him whenever he was in torment by the demon (1 Samuel 16:14-23).
David became Saul’s armor bearer and their relationship got off to a good start. Soon afterward David slew a mighty Philistine giant and his fame began to spread. At this point, Saul had made David a permanent member of his court and once he did David began to fight many battles for Israel. God gave David many victories and Saul could see God was with him. The people began to speak about David’s conquests more so than Saul and Saul became jealous. He then started a campaign to torment David (1 Samuel 18).
David spent many years on the run from Saul fearing for his life and during this time period he created a lot of the scriptures that can be found in the book of Psalms. Eventually, Saul’s corruption became so great that the Lord had to kill him. David was saddened by the news of Saul’s death but after the old king had passed David was finally ready to lay claim to the throne. According to 2 Samuel 5:1-5, David became king when he was about 30 years old and he ruled Israel for 40 years.