King David

King David was one of the most important figures in Jewish history. Born in 907 BCE, he reigns as king of Israel for 40 years, dying at age 70 in 837 BCE.

He was the one to unite all 12 tribes of Israel (only during the reign of his and his son, Solomon, they will stay united, afterwards the kingdom will be divided and finally 10 tribes will be lost when Northern Kingdom of Israel will be conquered by Babilonia). He was chosen king and the only one to found a dynasty (BTW in XX century near Jerusalem  there has been archeological founding of scripture in clay referring to the "house of David" and confirming the Biblical story). He was also the one to conquer Jerusalem - Jebusite stronghold - the Book of Samuel and the Book of Chronicles describe how David's general, Yoab, climbs up a tzinor (literally "pipe") enters the city and conquers it. Some archaeologists speculate that this might refer to the city's ancient water system -- whose source was the Gihon Spring -- which is a tourist attraction in "David's City," outside the walls of today's Jerusalem. He makes Jerusalem a capital of Jewish nation. One of the reasons suposedly was that it allowed to avoid disputes among tribes as the capital lied outside of each and every one of their cities therefore choosing Jerusalem was a wise and diplomatic move. But the main reason behind it was God's guidance.

After David makes Jerusalem his capital, he buys the upper part of the hill above the northern boundary of the city from its owner Aravnah, the Jebusite. The purchase is recorded in the Bible in two places (2 Samuel 24:24 and 1 Chronicles 21:25).

This hill is Mount Moriah and what it may lack in physical size, it more than compensates for spiritual greatness.

From the earliest period of Jewish history, the Patriarchs of the Jewish people recognized the tremendous spiritual power of Mount Moriah. This is where Abraham, sensing God's presence, went up to offer Isaac as a sacrifice and later remarked as the Bible records:

"The Lord will see," as it is said to this day, "On the Lord's mountain, He will be seen." (Genesis 22:14)

This is where Jacob dreamt of a ladder going to heaven, and said:

"How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." (Genesis 28:17)

No wonder this is a spot that every major conqueror in all of human history has wanted to own. (Jerusalem has been conquered or destroyed 36 times in 3,000 years.)

There will be a temple - David is aware of it and dutifully brings the Arc from Siloh, however he is not allowed to build it - he was a warrior and had a lot of blood on his hands - it will only be Solomon who will build it.

There are more places strongly connected to David and one that made a strong impression on me is En Gedi, the place of caves where David was hiding from Saul trying to find him and kill him and when he was confronted with a powerful test of his personality as the future king and as a leader of God's people. Saul has been delivered right into his hands, defensless and not aware that David and his warriors are in the same cave he has entered seeking privacy. 

David's men have seen it as a clear sight of God's will - the enemy delivered straight to them. They advised David to kill Saul that seemed - from human and warrior's perspective - the obvious thing to do. But David hears the words "do with him (Saul) as is good in your eyes" - it is not right to kill the king, it is not right to kill God's chosen leader (and Saul was one inspite of his subsequent sins), it is not right to make the first passing from one king to the next (and Saul was the very first king of Israel) in a way of king's assassination. We may be sure David was (even if for a short while) entertaining a thought about killing Saul. Cutting a piece of Saul's mantel, that he repents so much a minute later, was in fact cutting the tzitzit - unfinished ridge of the mantel Saul was wearing accoring to the Law as all observant Jews did. What David really did was trying to cut the connection between Saul and God before killing the king. But right after that act he is horrified by what he thought about and repents. When he runs out from the cave and kneels before Saul fully expecting he may be killed this very minute he lets go the greatest gift he was given - the sword. From human point of view it makes no sense. From God's perspective - quite the opposite. David wins his whole future by NOT killing Saul and remaining God's chosen and obedient servant. Until fully understanding this moment of temptation, this moment when David tried to cut Saul's connection with God and NOT a piece of cloth there is no full appreciation of the scene.

In our lives many times we are confronted with situations clear from purely human and opportunistic point of view and equally clear (or close to) from God's point of view. But they are different points and different solutions and answers. Such situations are tests. David has passed his great test (and many others though, as we know from the story of Bat Sheba, definitely not all). He could recognise temptations and mistakes, not made before humans but before God.  It is greatness that we should try to excersize in our lives when tests and trials come

(writing the story of conquering Jerusalem I partly used a piece written by rabbi Ken Spiro)