The following essay describes David's humble beginnings - and proves that even a great king of Israel is sometimes subjected to difficulty and abuse.

God revealed to Samuel the prophet that the successor to King Saul would be a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. The prophet was commanded to go to Bethlehem where God would show him the future king (I Samuel 16). Samuel asked Jesse to come with his sons to a feast. As we can well imagine, the great prophet's invitation was a rare privilege. Jesse came with seven of his sons; David was left behind. David - red of complexion, short of stature, tender of sheep, desert hermit - could not possibly become God's anointed.

There wasn't a soul in Bethlehem, not even his father or brothers, who thought that. No one knew that he was not alone in the fields, that he was attuning his soul to his Maker; that his very being was a harp in the hands of holiness, reverberating with the sweet songs that would become part of one of Israel's most precious legacies - The Book of Psalms. No one knew that the love he would later lavish on his people was being nurtured in his care of helpless sheep. No one knew that the fearless warrior of the future was single-handedly slaying lions and bears, learning that only God is to be feared.

The moment of anointment came, and Samuel asked that Jesse's sons come before him one by one. They were outstanding products of an outstanding family. The great prophet was impressed with Eliav, Jesse's first-born; he was sure that he was in the presence of God's chosen anointed - only to be told by God: “Look not on his countenance nor on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For it is not as a man sees, for a man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.”

So it was. One by one, each [of Jesse's sons] was rejected. Finally, Samuel asked if he had any more sons, and Jesse answered strangely, "There remains yet the youngest and he is tending the sheep." Samuel ordered that he be brought. He was - and he was anointed David, King of Israel.

[Tradition records that David was descended from Ruth, a Moabite convert. This put a question on David's lineage, since the Torah states: “…A Moabite may not marry into the Jewish nation” (Deut. 23:4). This is because the Moabites were especially cruel, refusing to even sell food and water to the Jewish people as they journeyed past the Moabite land. The Talmud clarifies that only a Moabite MALE is forbidden, but a Moabite FEMALE could in fact convert and marry. But that didn't stop some people from unfairly disparaging David's ancestral background.]

But the taint on David's origin was a stubborn one: “And when Saul saw David go out against the Philistine [Goliath], he said to Avner the captain of the host, 'Avner, whose son is this youth?' (I Samuel 17:55)

Didn't Saul know who David was? The Talmud asks: The Bible (I Samuel 16:21) says that Saul loved David very much and appointed him his personal armor-bearer. Obviously Saul knew him well!

Saul became apprehensive and began to fear that David was more than a talented singer and devoted shepherd. When David volunteered to defend the honor of Israel by facing Goliath in combat, Saul offered the young man his own armor. David put it on and it fit - but Saul was head and shoulders above even the tallest of Israel and David was shorter than average! That the royal armor fit could well be a Divine indication that David was to be Saul's successor as king. He asked Avner which branch of Judah was David from. If he was from Zerach, then he would be illustrious, but no threat to Saul. But if he was from Peretz, then he was royalty, for it was from Peretz that the kings of Judah would descend.

Then, Doeg the Edomi stepped forward. Doeg was one of the greatest scholars of the age, head of the Sanhedrin, and a close friend and adviser to the king. Doeg said, "Instead of asking whether or not he is worthy of kingship, ask whether or not he is fit to enter the congregation of God! He is descended from Ruth the Moabitess."

…These were the passions awakened by David. The greatest men of his generation questioned and agonized over his status. Finally it was only through a violent insistence upon the unshakable Jewish belief in its tradition as transmitted by the Torah greats that the royal house of David - embodiment of God's kingdom on earth - could come into being.

Doeg did not rest. Throughout the reign of Saul, he was David's nemesis, inflaming Saul against the young Judean shepherd whose love for, and loyalty to the king were unmatched. He urged Saul to kill David as a rebel and he succeeded in having 85 priests of the city of Nob executed for having harbored David (I Samuel 22).

David endured patiently all the barbs slung at him throughout his lifetime. Yet even this patient, long-suffering model of righteousness lashed out at Doeg in a passionate, poignant appeal to conscience and decency:

“You, a powerful and wealthy man, head of the Sanhedrin - stoop to such a low level of evil and slander!? Is it a show of strength to see someone teetering at the edge of an abyss and push him over? Or to see someone at the edge of a roof and throw him down? The true hero is the one who sees his fellow at the brink and pulls him back to safety! You saw how Saul became angry with me and you attacked me further. Is this how one serves his God? Do you think that if Achimelech [High Priest of Nob] had not yet welcomed me and given me a crust of bread that no one in all Israel would have given me food? A man who is occupied with God's goodness, the study of Torah, has no right to act this way. Why did you do this?” (Midrash Shocher Tov)

…Brilliant man though he was, Doeg was condemned to prove by his own downfall that his tirades against David were baseless. He forgot his learning before his death, and lost the respect of even his own students. Scintillating Doeg, who held sway over the great minds in Israel, died in disgrace as a ridiculed caricature of a Torah scholar. Of him the Talmud says: “Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out their days” (Psalms 55:24). Doeg died when he was only 33.

Not until then could David hold up his head without fear that the canard 'Moabite' would be slung at him.

But David's days of adversity were not numbered; they lasted throughout his life. War, betrayal, personal tragedy, rebellion, abuse - all of these were his constant lot. But he responded with a life that became “I am prayer;” David became the very embodiment of prayer, his entire being became a song of praise. In the end, David's greatness was acknowledged. He was worthy of his people, but his people were unworthy of him:

“David asked God: 'Why can I not build the Holy Temple?' God answered: 'Because if you build it, it will endure and never be destroyed.'” (Yalkut Shimoni, II Samuel 145)

David was so great, so consistent, that any act of his had to endure forever. The Jewish people were not yet worthy of a Temple built by David. It would be too great, too permanent - because it would be his, and his people would not rise to such a level until the coming of the Messiah.

When David died, he left us with two treasures:

1) The Biblical book of Psalms - songs of praise and prayer that have sustained countless Jewish sparks amid constant storms and holocausts; and

2) [The tradition that the Messiah will descend from David. Through the millennia, Jews have waited] for the day when a poor man will come riding on a donkey, possessing all talents and blessing, but ascribing nothing to himself and everything to God, leading all the world under the protective wings of Divine Presence…

That is King David's eternal legacy.