The Bible presents many writings by the second king of Israel, David. He is presented as a musician with many psalms and praises to Jehovah, the God of Israel.
The chronicles of Israel tell us that despite all his faults (including some accounts presented in detail in those chronicles), that King David was a man whose heart was close to Jehovah and in whom Jehovah found great favor.
Certainly David was a courageous warrior. He routed the Jebusites out of the hilly city of Jerusalem, a feat very difficult to accomplish. And his victory against Goliath and the Philistines at such a young age was quite impressive. And when his son Absalom swayed the majority of Hebrews against him and he had to flee, the way he fooled the enemy into thinking he was insane was very shrewd.
So was he a cunning, daring warrior with terrific battle plans, or was it that he really had God's favor and God was fighting for him and his nation?
The Israelite law said a king was not to take multiple wives. Yet David (in line with the common practice of polygamy in the region) not only took Saul's daughter Michal, but also Bathsheba (at the cost of the life of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband) and others. David's example of polygamy set a fine example for his son Solomon, who went on to marry hundreds of wives!
David took a census, which was clearly a violation of Israel's law which said to trust in their God rather than in superior manpower. David was given a choice of 3 penalties for this violation, and he took a slaughter of his people for a few days as the choice. What had these innocent people done to deserve such a fate, just because their King ignored what was understood to be God's law?
Then when David was supposed to be out defending his territory (the chronicles say it was the time of the year when kings sally forth in warfare), he was spying on his neighbor's wife, Uriah's wife Bathsheba. Deciding he just had to have her, he called her into the palace and got her pregnant. Then he tried to cover it up by inviting Uriah to come back from battle for a conjugal visit with his wife. Uriah refused, saying it was his duty to stay focused on warfare rather than such family matters. So then David has Uriah sent to the front lines, and then ordered that the troops withdraw from behind Uriah so that he would be facing the enemy all alone, guaranteeing his death.
And David's penalty for all this? The priest Uriah went to the king and gently told David he was a guilty man for this combination adultery and manslaughter. David, upon confessing his wrong in one brief sentence, was spared. But his wife had to suffer when the child died shortly after birth, and his family suffered strife from then on.
Another account was where David guarded the flocks and house of Nabal and his wife Abigail. When Nabal failed to repay the kindness, David got indignant and started to plot the death of this disrespectul man, Nabal. It took the sensibleness and generosity of Abigail to prevent David from murdering one of his own countrymen. David was supposed to be warring against enemy nations, not his own people.
David did all kinds of wrong, and the people around him suffered.
And yet the chronicles tell us he was a righteous man, one with a good heart before the God of Israel. He sure could write a good psalm.
Even though the chronicles seem to contain an honest recounting of David's mistakes, in the end we are told he is a wonderful man of God.
He got to enjoy the spoils of his warfare, and the resultant material blessings are evidently some kind of confirmation of God's blessing.
It seems to me that the winning warriors get to write history.
Was David a tyrant, or a meek servant of God?