A Deeper Look into the Life of David

During these days of trouble for the Jewish community and for the State of Israel, the inspirational phrase from Psalm 122 keeps coming into my mind: “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

This phrase was composed by the great warrior and poet king of the United Kingdom of Israel – King David.

David’s life was filled with irony. He wrote beautifully of peace but was of necessity a man of war. Jerusalem, the City of David, is known as the City of Peace. The idea of peace (shalom) is linguistically embedded in the very name of Jerusalem — Yerushalayim. Yet, a little over 3,000 years ago, David conquered Jerusalem from the Jebusites.

David’s life always had two sides: the poetic and spiritual side, and warrior and political side. As a result, his life was replete with the glory of war and conquest; but we remember him as well, indeed perhaps more, for his soft words of wisdom and comfort: the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want… (Psalm 23) is one example.

David slew the Philistine champion, the giant — Goliath of Gath. David fought the great enemy, the Philistines, more effectively than Samson or Saul had, yet at one point, he took refuge among the Philistines when King Saul sought to kill him.

David was Saul’s loyal soldier, son-in-law, and best friend to the king’s son, Jonathan. Yet, David fled from the jealousy and paranoia of his father-in-law.

David wrote beautifully of Saul and Jonathan after they were killed in battle against the Philistines, “How the mighty have fallen.”

David would take revenge on the Philistines, effectively destroying them as a threat.

David would enter Jerusalem dancing before the ark, recaptured from the Philistines, as it entered Jerusalem. Yet, King David, being a warrior through his service to Saul, and then through his long reign, could not build G-d’s holy temple which would house the Ark of the Covenant. That honor would fall to David’s remaining son, Solomon, whose name, Shlomo, means the man of shalom – of peace.

David would have many children but little peace. Two of David’s sons, Absalom and Adonijah, would rebel against him. Another son, first born of Bathsheba, died because David and Bathsheba had committed adultery, and because David arranged that her previous husband, Uriah the Hittite, might die in battle so that the lustful king could be free to marry the woman he loved. The prophet, Nathan, excoriated David for this grave sin.

David’s dual nature is paralleled for me in the city which is called the City of David. Yerushalayim shel Zahav — Jerusalem of Gold. It is the city which looms so large in the imagination of western civilization. That is why Jerusalem was at the center of medieval maps. It is at the crossroads of three continents, and also of the three Abrahamic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Like its founder, as the center of Jewish and western spirituality, King David, it is full of contradictions and irony: the City of Peace in our aspirations, but a city of war for the most part over thousands of years.

And yet we pray with David: we pray for the peace of Jerusalem.