King David Hero or Vilian

King David Hero or Villain

University of Southern Indiana

Chris Govert

Most notable of David’s great accomplishments is the battle between him and Goliath. Common held views of David in this battle described David as a weakling and incapable of defeating the giant Goliath. However, history has revealed this as a farce and that David was more a Goliath than Goliath. David’s rise to power of the Israelite kingdom in 1000 BCE was shrouded in the timely deaths of a few people, which were in his way to the power of the throne. Another death ensued from his miss use of power to cover up his adulterous ways. Is David the hero of legend or is he just another power hungry monarch who gained his power through bloodshed to have ruled in ancient Mesopotamia.

Sometimes in ancient history a battle’s victory could be decided between two combatants as was the case in the Israeli and philistine battle which featured Goliath. Goliath was known for his size and brute strength who stared for the philistines. On the other side of the battle was David long thought to have been just a simple shepherd. The analogy of this fight between the gargantuan and the small is used still today, to symbolize the match up or the surmounting of enormous odds, from a wide arrangement of cases from sporting events, political arenas, to the business world.

According to Britannica David’s meteoric rise in fame throughout the Israeli people was based on his military prowess which threatened the King named Saul. Saul was threatened so much that Saul had plotted to kill David. David learned of this and fled to escape the king’s wrath. In hiding David further cemented his popularity among the Israelites by “Beginning as an outlaw, with a price on his head, David led the life of a Robin Hood on the desert frontier of his country (Judah). He became the leader and organizer of other outlaws and refugees; and, according to the Bible, “. . . everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them.” This group progressively ingratiated itself with the local population by protecting them from other bandits or, in case they had been raided, by pursuing the raiders and restoring the possessions that had been taken” (Britannica). David gained his popularity from this and eventually lead him to being selected as King.

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