Monarch Profile: King David of Israel

In the history of western civilization probably no other monarch looms as large as King David. As a figure, David dominates the political history of the Jews and, with the rise and spread of Christianity, this ancient king from Jewish tradition also came to play a huge part in the political iconography, traditions and culture of the European Gentiles as well. For the Jews, at least since the death of Joshua, King David became the pivotal figure with everything that happened before his reign, after Joshua, leading up to it and everything that happened to the Jews since being a result of the remarkable life and legacy of King David. For the nation of Israel and later for Christians as well it was King David who set the standard by which all subsequent monarchs were judged. He was the ideal king; humble, faithful, brave, pious and wise. King David has his flaws as well but even in his flaws, he was an example. His mistakes made the point that even the greatest of men was flawed and only God is perfect and when King David made mistakes he atoned for them so that these errors themselves, and how he dealt with them, made him even more of an example to emulate. In short, it would be quite impossible to overstate the legacy of King David and how far reaching it has been.

Of course, for someone from ancient times, there are details about David which remain a mystery but, from Biblical accounts, we do know a surprisingly great deal about him and there have been archaeological discoveries which have supported these accounts, showing that such a man did, actually, exist. Estimates vary but it seems he was born around the year 1000 BC, perhaps in Bethlehem, in the land of Judah. There are hints that he may have had some relation to the Ammonite royal family. He is usually described as being a brave boy of humble origins, a shepherd who became adept at the use of a slingshot while guarding over the family livestock. David fought in the wars against the Philistines and first came to prominence when a giant (and there are numerous accounts of giants in the Bible) named Goliath of Gath challenged the Israelis to send out their champion to face him in single combat. While others lacked the courage to face this monster, young David had faith that if God was on your side, no enemy should be feared and, scorning the use of armor, went out alone armed only with his slingshot, killed Goliath with a stone between the eyes and then cut his head off. The Philistines fled in terror and David became an instant celebrity and was taken in by King Saul as part of his inner-circle.

David became best friends with King Saul’s son Jonathan and married King Saul’s daughter Michal but soon his great deeds and popularity made King Saul jealous of him. Saul arranged to have David killed but the young man thwarted or avoided every attempt on his life and fled from the court to lead his own private army, winning further fame and glory much to Saul’s dismay. It was also this period which demonstrates how David is an example in his loyalty to a monarch who not only harsh and unkind to him but actually tried repeatedly to have him killed. David twice had Saul at his mercy and could have easily killed him but refused to do so, despite the urgings of his followers, because to raise his hand against the King, God’s anointed one, would be a sacrilege. He did, however, point this out to Saul, that he could have killed him but chose not to, which caused even King Saul to confess that David was a better man than he, treating Saul with kindness where Saul had treated David with cruelty. Though finally forced to flee to enemy country, David nonetheless remains loyal to his people and King Saul and kills the messenger who tells him of Saul’s death, saying that “a great man has fallen” in the midst of battle. Of course, part of what had been troubling King Saul was the words of the Prophet Samuel telling him that he had lost favor with God and that his crown would pass to David.

That point is also stressed a great deal that, though David was popular as a handsome, young warrior, it was the will of God rather than man that made him King of Israel. David is given a higher compliment than any mortal man in the Bible in I Samuel 13:14 which says of David, “The Lord has sought out a man after His own heart”. Because of that, King David is still remembered to this day as ‘a man after God’s own heart’. In subsequent battles, David defeats the remaining followers of Saul and becomes the undisputed King of Israel, making the conquered Jebusite city of Jerusalem his capital. With his people united behind him, and being an experienced, talented military leader, King David defeats his enemies and establishes a powerful kingdom, bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem though it is left to his son to build the first magnificent temple in which to house it. At the start of his reign, Israel was a divided nation, probably a vassal of the Philistines, yet King David led them to unity, independence and even domination over a number of neighbors. The Kingdom of Israel did not reach its peak under King David but it was he who certainly laid the foundations.

Of course, for all of the praise King David receives, we are left in no doubt that he was still a mortal man with mortal weaknesses. As is, perhaps, not too surprising, this man who led armies into fierce, hand-to-hand combat, looked death in the face countless times and even triumphed over a giant that had cowed an entire army, was not strong enough to resist the temptations of a beautiful woman. That woman was Bathsheba, the wife of a soldier named Uriah. King David and Bathsheba have an affair and Bathsheba becomes pregnant by him. In an effort to cover up his misdeed, King David has Uriah recalled from the front immediately, thinking that he will sleep with his wife and later everyone will assume the baby is his. However, in keeping with the custom of the time, as a soldier on active duty, Uriah does not sleep with his wife and so, desperate to avoid being found out as an adulterer, David has him sent to the front to be exposed to the greatest danger and killed in battle. However, this does not go unnoticed, the Prophet Nathan admonishes King David and he ultimately confesses and repents of his misdeeds. His apology is sincere but there was still a price to be paid for his wrongdoing. When a number of horrors befell his children, a son rebelled against him and Saul loyalists in the north rebelled, it was all taken as divine retribution on King David for what he had done.

This all served as an important lesson, both to show that God would punish the wicked for their misdeeds, that King David was not a perfect man but also that he would admit to his mistakes and make amends as best he could. It was probably a necessary lesson as otherwise King David would likely seem to good to be true. He represented the epitome of Old Testament kingship. All the troubles of Israel since the death of Joshua kept being traced back to their lack of an orderly succession of recognized leaders. With King David, the monarchy was given lasting divine favor and a legacy that would continue for thousands of years. Not only would special favor be shown to the Davidic dynasty among the Israelis but it would cast a shadow across the world by way of the Christian monarchies that would rise up later. That is because it was in the person of King David that we have the origin of the “Divine Right of Kings”.

Because of how beloved King David was, known as the man after God’s own heart, God made a covenant with King David that was unprecedented. Numerous times throughout Biblical accounts, God made covenants with mankind, invariably with provisions that included the person or people doing something for God, such as keeping His commandments, in exchange for which God would grant some divine favor. However, the covenant with King David was the only such agreement God ever made that was unconditional. God promised to King David that he and all his descendants would have a “divine right” to rule over God’s people and that if any of them did wrong, while God would punish them for that, because of how beloved King David was, their divine right would never be taken away from them. Because of this, no other dynasty held such a sacred significance for the Jews as the House of David did. It is why prophecies of the future Messiah would be bound up with associations with the sacred royal line and why even long after the Kingdom of Israel was a distant memory, Christian monarchs in Europe still found it advantageous to trace their genealogy back to King David.

Although exact dates are not known, King David probably died sometime around the year 961 BC. Under other circumstances he would be too large and lofty a figure to truly grasp, someone more suited to myths and fables than actual history. Yet, while there are aspects of his story that certainly could be read that way, few serious historians doubt that King David was quite real. His impact on Israel and later “Judeo-Christian” culture cannot be exaggerated. It was he who made Israel a united, independent nation state. It was he who established a royal line that would hold power for the next 400 years, it was he who made Jerusalem a capital city and center of the Jewish religion. For Christians, it was his line that would produce the Messiah, born in the city of his birth, crucified in the city that he ruled from and who was put to death on the accusation of claiming to be “King of the Jews”. King David also set the standard for what an ideal ruler was supposed to be for many, many generations to come. Everyone is familiar with his story. The story of the young boy who fought off the wolves to protect his sheep, the boy playing his harp to sooth the troubled brow of King Saul, the wiry youth who killed a giant, the faithful friend, the loyal subject, the heroic warrior-king. He is a larger-than-life figure.

And yet, King David also appears all too real and all too human. We see a real person in him rather than some marble image of Olympian perfection. His bravery on the battlefield did not match his character at home, where he surrendered to the temptations of lust and then plotted and schemed to cover up his crime in fear of being discovered. As a warrior-king he was unmatched but as a statesman-king or administrator-king he seemed to have less ability. His reign was often troubled and based on the actions of his children, he was not as good a father as he was a general. He could be indecisive, often refused to see facts that were painful to him and could be self-indulgent at times. All of that makes him human and he was just as aware of that as anyone. He was not perfect but he was ‘a man after God’s own heart’ and someone who many believed to be so pious that his prayers could bring down any favor from Heaven. Christians would later see him as a precursor of Jesus, giving him a feast day in the Eastern and Western Churches and ranking him among the “Nine Worthies” who best embodied the ideals of chivalry. Monarchs from three continents found it helpful to claim descent from him. Today, politics is a world away from where it was when King David was important even as a symbol but there is no denying that for most of the history of western civilization he was a colossal figure, the standard against which all others were judged.

Monarch Profile: King Saul of Israel

Although there has been some debate over the correct translation of titles such as king, chief or prince, the man recognized as the first King of Israel was Saul who ruled, roughly, from 1020 to 1000 BC. Due to the immense space of time that has elapsed since the reign of King Saul, much about him remains a mystery. We do not know exactly when he was born or even where exactly he was from. All we know is that he was from an unnamed town in the lands of the tribe of Benjamin. The primary source for information on his life is the First Book of Samuel. Saul was considered a Judge of Israel and was most known for being a great and accomplished warrior. He is portrayed as being somewhat similar to past Judges of Israel who also had a bit of the Prophet about him in that he was moved by God to do certain things. When the Ammonites attacked Jabesh-gilead in the Trans-Jordan, Saul felt compelled by God to take action and gathered together an army of Israelite warriors to defeat the Ammonites, one of his many military accomplishments. When the people of Israel began to demand a king to lead them, someone like Saul would have been a natural choice.

That choice, however, remains a controversial one. Even today, many defenders of republicanism point to the warnings the Prophet Samuel made in response to the public outcry for a king as a divine condemnation of monarchy, ignoring the huge accumulation of Biblical texts glorifying the monarchy and calling for obedience to the kings. However, the things that Samuel warns will happen to Israel under a king are things that would apply to any central government of any kind. It is also impossible to overlook the fact that there was some politics involved in all of this as Samuel represented the class of religious rulers who were about to lose power in the shift from theocracy to monarchy. Samuel was admired and respected but he was getting old and his sons, who we assume by this were viewed as possible successors in his pontifical role, were not as well regarded as he was. So, the people wanted a king to rule them and it is only natural that this would be met with some resistance by a Prophet like Samuel who had effectively been their ruler as the one looked to as the vicar of God for the people of Israel. Nonetheless, Samuel anoints Saul King of Israel.

It should be remembered that, according to the Scriptures, it was God who directed Samuel to anoint Saul King of Israel and this must be seen alongside the Prophet’s warnings about having a king. As God directed Samuel to anoint Saul, one is left with one of two options; either God was persuaded to participate in something that was wrong (not very omnipotent) or this was all according to a divine plan from the start. Obviously, the second would seem to be the obvious choice and, at the outset, Saul seemed to be the very embodiment of an ideal monarch. He is described as being strong, handsome, very tall and dedicated. He was also successful in the initial task which was to deliver Israel from the domination of the Philistines. After some initial victories against them, King Saul also won victories over virtually all of the enemy nations that had been plaguing the Israelites while throughout his life the on-going war with the Philistines continued to rage. He was, in short, a very adept and successful warrior king who had delivered his people from their enemies and put them back on the offensive. However, he fell out of favor rather quickly in an odd way.

The Prophet Samuel scolding King Saul

According to the Biblical account, the “crimes” for which King Saul lest divine approval appear to be what most people would consider trivial offenses (offering a sacrifice at Gilgal when Samuel -who was late- was supposed to do it) or something which most today would consider laudable; he showed mercy to his enemies and refrained from killing the Amalekite King Agog. God, through Samuel, had ordered King Saul to show no mercy, to take no prisoners and massacre the Amalekites to the last man and the last animal. King Saul, however, spared the king’s life and the best of his livestock (rebuked, he later did put King Agog to death). This has caused some historians to speculate that his later downfall at the hands of the Philistines was taken as a sign that God had abandoned him and these other issues were pointed to after the fact as a way to justify finding another monarch to take his place. Again, however, that is speculation as there is only the Biblical account that we have for information relating to King Saul, an account which tradition says was written by Samuel who would seem to be less than well-disposed toward Saul from the start. He first had to yield power to him and later the relationship between Saul and Samuel deteriorated ever further.

Throughout the rest of the scriptures dealing with King Saul he is portrayed as a fallen hero rapidly becoming a paranoid tyrant. He was constantly fighting battles with the Philistines, was becoming ever more antagonistic toward Samuel and falling ever farther from God’s favor. The young David was chosen by Samuel as the “true” monarch that God preferred and sometime after Samuel passed away. King Saul was thus also worried about a young rival in the person of David and tried, unsuccessfully, to kill him. His fears increasing, King Saul turned in desperation to the witch of Endor to conjure up the ghost of the dead Samuel. This brought him no comfort and was also a violation of God’s wishes and his own law by which he had earlier expelled all sorcerers from the land. When King Saul made war on the Gibeonites, when God had not ordered such an attack, a famine fell on the land for three years as punishment and David, who had refrained from killing Saul when he had the chance (as he was God’s anointed), had seven sons of Saul’s family executed. All of this was done, we are told, as retribution for King Saul turning away from God but it also helped secure the future throne of King David for his own dynasty, eliminating potential rivals.

David plays his harp for King Saul

So much of King Saul remains a mystery and views about him widely differ. The given narrative seems rather confusing and even as a good man turned bad narrative, there are always pieces that do not quite fit. One could easily read the Biblical account and come away viewing King Saul as a good man who was being picked on by a capricious deity. He was chosen for a position he did not seek, then admonished for defending that position when another was picked to replace him. He was punished for showing mercy to one enemy and later punished for not showing mercy to another. At times, he seemed to repent and admit his own faults but was not granted forgiveness. We do not know how long his reign lasted, the traditional dates being obviously incorrect, and as such it is hard to know exactly how much he did accomplish. Was his reign a short two years of constant violence or a longer period in which Israel reaped some calm and quiet from his victories? We will never know for sure. We know his end was a violent one but it is also mysterious given how his successor, King David, reacted to it.

King Saul was defeated in his last battle with the Philistines and, after being badly wounded, asked his aides to take his life. When they refused, he killed himself. His body, along with his sons, were put on display on the walls of Beth-shean but were rescued for burial by a raiding party of men from Jabesh-gilead. For a man who was portrayed in the Biblical account in a mostly villainous or at least antagonistic role, the reaction of King David to hearing of the death of Saul seems, again, somewhat curious and hints that he might not have been such a bad monarch after all. This was the last account we have addressing King Saul when David said, “Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you daintily in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!” It is an oddly positive and remorseful note on which to end the story of a monarch given grudgingly and then demonized as one God had turned His back on. Yet, it set the scene for the start of the rule of King David, known as a man after God’s own heart. The monarchy that Samuel warned against, under David, would be raised to exalted status and his dynasty secured with a covenant giving it a divine right to rule God’s people. For King Saul, he remains a mysterious figure, a monarch wanted, raised and then abandoned, punished and harassed and finally praised in death. There will doubtless always remain more questions about King Saul than there are answers. Nonetheless, his reign marks the beginning of the history of Israel as a united kingdom under one sacred monarchy.

MM Video: Kings of United Israel

Consort Profile: Queen Esther of Israel

One of the most famous women, and perhaps the most famous queen, in Jewish history is Queen Esther, consort to a King of Persia and a great heroine to her people. Her story is, or at least should be, well known to all Jews and Christians (if they read their Old Testament). As with almost anyone from Biblical times, there are a great many details about Queen Esther than remain a mystery, however, the important points are clearly recorded. She was born with the name Hadassah, we know not when or where. Her story begins with that of the man who would be her husband, there being some debate as to his identity. The Bible identifies him as Assuerus, “who reigned from India to Ethiopia over a hundred twenty-seven provinces” with the city of Susan as his capital. So, a big shot in Persian history without question. Traditionally it was thought this referred to King Xerxes I of the Achaemenid empire but more recent scholars have theorized it to have been a king of the later Sassanid empire.

In an effort to show off his greatness, King Assuerus held the party to top all parties, inviting all his regional governors and all the great men of Persia to party hardy for nearly 200 days. Of course, no such display could be complete without showing off your smoking hot trophy wife so King Assuerus, after getting gloriously drunk, called for his queen, Vasthi, but she refused to come. Somewhat astounded, the King was warned by his advisors that such defiance might provoke a wave of feminism which would leave all the great men of Persia frustrated and sleeping on their sofas. So, Queen Vasthi is given the boot and King Assuerus starts the hunt for a new royal consort. Every province was to send their most beautiful virgins for his inspection, with each undergoing a full year of preparation to make them suitable choices for the ruler of most of the known world at the time. After making his inspection, King Assuerus chose a famously beautiful Jewish girl named Esther, previously known as Hadassah. It is said that she was an orphan who had been raised by her cousin, a man named Mordecai. Hailing from the tribe of Benjamin she had stayed with her cousin, who was more like her father for all intents and purposes, even after Cyrus had allowed the Jews to return home to Jerusalem.

Queen Esther was presumably chosen for her loveliness but quickly proved her loyalty as well thanks to Mordecai who overheard two guards plotting to assassinate the King. He told Esther who told the King who had the men put to death. However, it was also Mordecai who would be the inadvertent instigator of the troubles to come. When he refused to bow down before a favorite prince of King Assuerus the prince, Aman, decided to take his revenge on all the Jews in the Persian Empire. He charged the Jews with spreading sedition against the King and obtained his approval on an order for their total annihilation. Mordecai went into mourning over this plan of genocide and tried to get Queen Esther to intervene with the King, pointing out that she would likely be killed too if the order was carried out. However, the Queen had to stay in the harem with the lesser concubines and could only go to the King if he called for her to attend to him. To do otherwise would see her killed instantly.

To add to her worry, the King had not called for her attention in about a month so she had no expectation that a summons would come in time. She had everyone in her own household and all her fellow Jews in Persia pray and fast for three days before Esther finally determined she could wait no longer and bravely decided to go on her own to see the King -summons or no summons. Thankfully, King Assuerus was not unhappy with her at all and when she appeared before him was exceedingly glad to see her. Once again enthralled by her, the King promised to grant her any request, even should she ask for half his empire, he would hand it over instantly. Showing she had brains to match her beauty and bravery, Queen Esther instantly formulated a plan and asked for a banquet to be attended by herself, the King and Prince Aman. It was done and during the banquet, when the king was compliant and feeling no pain, she asked him to hold another the next day. The King did so even while the gallows were being prepared to hang poor Mordecai.

Esther and the King in Italian Renaissance style

Such high living caused King Assuerus to have some trouble sleeping and he ordered someone to read to him some of the recent headlines from ‘The Persian Chronicle’ in the course of which he was reminded of how Mordecai had saved his life. He asked his servants how he had rewarded the man for this good deed only to be told he had not rewarded him at all. Well, the King couldn’t have that; it just made him look plain rude and ungrateful. So, he began to wonder what he could do to reward so valuable a subject. The next morning when Prince Aman arrived to get the go-ahead to hang Mordecai the King asked him, “What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honor?” Being a very self-centered sort to say the least, Prince Aman assumed the King was referring to him, quickly said that such a man should be dressed in kingly robes, put on the King’s own horse, have a crown put on his head and have all the princes and nobles hold his horse and sing his praises. One can imagine the shock when the King said, ‘Great idea! Go do that to Mordecai the Jew who sits outside the palace gate!’

Prince Aman was positively mortified and ran home to his wife, crying and wailing only to have her tell him he better suck it up and make nice with the Jew before the King gets angry. Just then the king’s eunuchs arrived to summon the prince to Queen Esther’s second banquet. He attended and the King asked Queen Esther again what he could do to show her his appreciation. Finally Esther said that Prince Aman was planning to massacre all of her people at which point the King stormed out in a fury and Prince Aman started doing some really fast talking to make nice with Queen Esther so that she might persuade the King to not tear him into little pieces when he came back. Yeah, probably not a good idea considering that Queen Esther was laying on her bed at the time and when the King came back he found Prince Aman all flushed and in a nervous sweat on the bed with his wife. “Fury” probably doesn’t begin to describe it. Immediately he had Prince Aman taken out and hanged on the same rope the prince had planned for Mordecai to set off his little genocide.

Esther portrayed in the film "One Night With the King"

The disaster was averted and to show his gratitude King Assuerus gave Aman’s palace to Queen Esther. She told the King that Mordecai was her “uncle” and the King gave him the prince’s ring. Queen Esther also put Mordecai in charge of her new palace, which beats sitting outside the gates all day. Queen Esther then fell before the King and begged him to call off the genocide against the Jews. Until that banquet Assuerus had not known his queen was a Jew at all. Naturally, he called off the genocide, discounting the late Aman’s claims of sedition and even went a step further by sending out orders throughout his empire that all the Jews were to be given permission to take their revenge on those who had planned to do them harm, to basically wipe them out and take their stuff. They snuffed out those who had been prepared to kill them but didn’t go on quite the rampage the King had authorized and didn’t take any loot from them. Nonetheless, the Jews in the Persian empire declared the occasion a new holiday for their people when they were saved from death thanks to the intervention of good Queen Esther, the orphan who became a queen who risked death to save her people from genocide. Certainly, queens do not come any better than that.

Israel and a Jewish Monarchy

Recently, there was celebrated the anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel, an historic event in more ways than the obvious. Where else has there ever been a nation, without land, scattered across the globe that was able to survive for more than a thousand years only to reestablish itself as a sovereign nation-state once again? If there are other examples, I cannot recall them. Like almost every other nation on earth, Israel was once a monarchy and an extremely influential one at that. The tradition of "sacred monarchy" for Christians, for example, comes more from the ancient Jewish kings than almost any other source. What about today? There are still Jewish monarchists who want to see the Kingdom of Israel restored along with the rest of their ancient traditions. I cannot help but feel that part of the reason they are given so little attention in the western media is because of the implications for other religions. When it comes to the Holy Land, the slightest twitch is enough to upset the world. However, they do exist and have been hard at work for many years trying to revive the Davidic monarchy of the Old Testament. The most prominent Israeli monarchist is Rabbi Yosef Dayan, recognized by most as the closest living blood heir of King David and thus most likely candidate for the throne. He is the founder and leader of the monarchist organization Malchut-Yisra'el. In 2005 the Jerusalem Post commented on the efforts to recall the Sanhedrin to proclaim a king. Efforts to revive the Sanhedrin are not new, but they seem more lasting in recent years and focus on such projects as a full restoration of traditional Jewish government, law, the House of David and the Temple. Rabbi Yosef Dayan is a member of the restored Sanhedrin.