Once King David had firmly established his place as ruler over Israel, he remembered the family of his predecessor, Saul, and brought Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, to Jerusalem to live with him. In this act, David exhibited a degree of mercy and grace that was uncommon for the time, when any living member of a previous king’s family would be put to death as a potential threat to the new king’s throne. The king not only spared Mephibosheth’s life but continued to treat him as a prince.
As much as David is lauded as a man after God’s own heart, he showed his humanity and sinful nature when he saw Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, bathing on the roof of her home. He brought her to his palace and slept with her, and she became pregnant. Rather than admitting his fault, David attempted to deceive Uriah into believing that the child was his before ultimately ordering Joab, the leader of Israel’s army, to place Uriah into a position where he would be killed in battle.
After David married Bathsheba and their child was born, the prophet Nathan confronted David with his sin, and the child grew gravely ill. David fasted and dressed himself in sackcloth. The child perished, and the king returned to his normal life. When questioned about this shift, David replied, “Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” David and Bathsheba later had another son, who was named Solomon.
As David approached the end of his life, one of his sons, Absalom, rebelled against the king, causing him to flee from Jerusalem. The rebellion ended when David’s and Absalom’s armies met in the forest of Ephraim. The usurper’s long hair became caught in the branches of a tree, and Joab, David’s commander, killed him despite David’s request that his son’s life be spared. The king mourned the death of his son in a manner that left his army feeling betrayed before David and his troops eventually returned to Jerusalem.
With plans for the future of the kingdom firmly in place, David directed his heir, Solomon, to construct the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem. The king prepared his son by procuring large quantities of building materials before he charged all of the elders of Israel to assist Solomon in this endeavor. Before his death, David offered a final prayer of praise to God.
Psalm 40 is one of the psalms of David where the king pours out his soul before God, acknowledging that God is the reason behind his success. Only with the Lord’s hand upon him was he able to succeed as a person, much less as a king.