In King Davids’ Shadow | The Messenger!
The army Jeep stopped at the crossroads to either Eilat or Dahab. As we all looked around at the desert in the late afternoon sun the young soldier took a drink from his canteen and then passed it to us.
“Ah, David,“ he said slowly. “He is like your King Arthur, a legend, an arrow, straight and true,”
I said, “yes.”
I gently moved my swollen leg and leaned heavily on the hard seat of the Jeep, feeling the warmth of the sun on my back. The Jeep turned for Eilat and the four-hour drive back north to Tel Aviv.
David was born in Bethlehem one thousand years before Jesus and led a very troubled and hard life both in his home and the small village that made up his world. His mother, Nitezvet, felt his hardships like they were hers. They formed a close bond.
Davids’ brothers followed their fathers’ path and shunned the young boy for deeds he knew nothing of and had not committed.
Excerpt from The Leper Messiah:
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“Light and dark,” Jessie explained. “For what is light without dark. And he is all of these things.”
“Let there be light,” Shimea exclaimed. “Yes, from the beginning,” Jessie muttered.
Jessie scratched his beard and turned towards his other sons, while David hid from sight.
He was heartbroken, the words were not so important as the way they were chosen in order to guide the other brothers on the right path.
Jessie turned away from his youngest thinking that he was not his, and so David did not know his path and had no guide to lead him tenderly along. He was alone.
These personal and intense moments shaped who the young boy would become. David kept his own council and spent a great deal of time by himself.
Excerpt from The Leper Messiah:
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The sun rose in the sky and a dusty trail followed the boy upwards toward the high ridges that overlooked Bethlehem. David came to the spot where he usually stopped. He took out his slingshot and quickly set up targets he used to hone his skill.
The rocky ledge was where the piece of wood went, then the olive branch, battered and notched with previous hits. He counted for a moment and ran quickly, his slingshot cocked and ready.
He somersaulted over a small hill and came up firing at the olive branch. He turned quickly letting out a volley of shots that split the wood.
Next, he dove into a thicket and laid still on his stomach taking deep breaths to slow his heartbeat. He then took aim at a lofty branch fifty feet away and hit it straight and true.
Afterward, he stopped and looked at a lamb that stood in judgment. “I will aim at you next,” he laughed at the kid standing by her mother,“ I am King of the goats and sheep,” he cried out along the hillside, “King of the goats.”
“Straight and true,” I smiled weakly at Deborah. We held on tightly as the Jeep went over some rough terrain.
I knew something of keeping my own council and felt a kinship with this young man-child who struggled for survival in the high country that surrounded Bethlehem three-thousand years ago.
David, survived at the hands of those without compassion as outlined in his psalm 69:21 “They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.”
But what was his message?
His universal message is a powerful one and involves David and the giant Goliath. The battle between them three-thousand years ago still resonates in the 21 century.
In popular culture today we see this battle materialize on a daily basis. A fight between the small family and the large insurance company, or the corner store being pushed out by a big-box-store. It’s a David and Goliath battle that still rings true in our time.
Are there any other messages from David which are relevant in our world?
Why did Michelangelo, for instance, choose this ancient warrior to create his masterpiece of renaissance art, and why is it a favorite sculpture in Florence?
What Magic did this Biblical hero hold?
Robert