The Darkside of King David

Biblical history tells us that David was the youngest son of Jesse, having seven older brothers¹.

A Philistine, Goliath, had been intimidating the Israelites, taunting them to send a man forth to fight him. According to the Bible, Goliath was 9 feet tall. The young David took Goliath's challenge and faced him with several stones and a sling. David stunned Goliath with a stone from his sling. He took Goliath's own sword and beheaded the Philistine.

David's fame spread after he killed Goliath.²

There are two conflicting stories in the Bible regarding how David met King Saul who reigned when David was young. David's subsequent networking with King Saul and his court won him favorable status with the King and he became Saul's armor bearer.

Rather than footnote references, the two different accounts of David's meeting with Saul are found just below and taken from the NEW LIVING TESTAMENT (NLT).

THE FIRST ACCOUNT

1 Samuel 16:14-23

Now the Spirit of the LORD had left Saul, and the LORD sent a tormenting spirit that filled him with depression and fear.

Some of Saul's servants suggested a remedy. "It is clear that a spirit from God is tormenting you," they said. "Let us find a good musician to play the harp for you whenever the tormenting spirit is bothering you. The harp music will quiet you, and you will soon be well again."

"All right," Saul said. "Find me someone who plays well and bring him here."

One of the servants said to Saul, "The son of Jesse is a talented harp player. Not only that; he is brave and strong and has good judgment. He is also a fine-looking young man, and the LORD is with him."

So Saul sent messengers to Jesse [David's father] to say, "Send me your son David, the shepherd." Jesse responded by sending David to Saul, along with a young goat and a donkey loaded down with food and wine.

So David went to Saul and served him. Saul liked David very much, and David became one of Saul's armor bearers.

Then Saul sent word to Jesse asking, "Please let David join my staff, for I am very pleased with him." And whenever the tormenting spirit from God troubled Saul, David would play the harp. Then Saul would feel better, and the tormenting spirit would go away.

THE SECOND ACCOUNT

1 Samuel 17:55-58

As Saul watched David go out to fight Goliath, he asked Abner, the general of his army, "Abner, whose son is he?" "I really don't know," Abner said. "Well, find out!" the king told him.

After David had killed Goliath, Abner brought him to Saul with the Philistine's head still in his hand. "Tell me about your father, my boy," Saul said. And David replied, "His name is Jesse, and we live in Bethlehem."

When Saul died, David rose to power and eventually became king.

David was king of Judah for seven years and of united Israel for another thirty-three years. ³ Jerusalem was Israel's first capital and David, its first king.

According to the Bible, David was buried in Bethlehem.⁴

While the purpose of this page is to illustrate Biblegod's extreme pleasure with a man who was not only a politician and a king but also a murderer, a deceiver, a liar and an adulterer, it is interesting to note that in two chapters of the Bible, one following the other, there are two conflicting accounts on how Saul and David met each other. While bibliolaters will go to any extreme in a attempt to harmonize errors found in the Bible, this is yet one more example of Biblical errancy.⁵

Neither should King David's cruelty to animals be lightly taken. The Bible is clear that he "hamstrung all but a hundred of the chariot horses".

An animal is "hamstrrung" by severing the great tendon leading to the large muscle in the back of the leg. The cutting of the tendon cripples the horse permanently by severely restricting its ability to walk. If the tendons of both hind legs are severed then the animal cannot walk and will die.

David clearly had no regard for the physical pain the horses felt or the resulting consequence of severing the tendons in their legs. Since the Bible claims that animals were created to be under man's dominion, it gave David the right to commit mayhem on the horses.

The scriptures above indicate Biblegod's great love, allegiance and support for David and the history of David's immorality, his contempt for Biblegod and his anti-social, cruel and criminal actions against both Biblegod and those over whom he ruled.⁶

David's immoral behavior was rewarded with Biblegod's admiration and blessings.

It is incomprehensible that the Bible refers to David as

• "an angel of God"
  
• ". . .did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord"
  
• Found by Biblegod as ". . .a man after mine own heart"
  
• Has". . .a perfect heart. . ."
  
• David ". . .fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days"

Yet this is the same Biblegod who, according to the Bible, condemns millions to hell for their sins, killed the entire earth's population, kills firstborn infants, toddlers, prisoners of war, the elderly and sick.

It is the same Biblegod who born again fundamentalist and evangelical Christians tout as merciful, fair and just.

If there is a Universal Creative Intelligence, it is not the smallminded, oft-changing, ambivalent, evil-rewarding, murderous god of the Bible.

Footnotes:

1. 1 Samuel 16:6-12
2. 1 Samuel 16
3. 1 Kings 2:11
4. 1 Kings 2:10

5. Because bibliolaters go to far extremes to harmonize scriptures which contradict each other, it is conceivable that they will suggest that King Saul first witnessed the killing of Goliath and later sent for David, knowing he was the same lad who had accomplished the slaying of the Philistine. This is nowhere indicated and must be regarded as an assumption and a stretch to cover a contradiction.

6. Bibliolaters respond to David's "mistakes" by attributing them to his quick rise to power and because of the times in which he lived which, they claim, necesitated his immoral actions.

9-16-01



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8-29-01


Created 8-29-01
Revised 7-13-03