find the

David, the Bible's First Real Hero

the landscape of this region seems

unchanged from how it probably looked

thousands of years ago in fact it's a

landscape that's baked into the stories

of the Bible and so many of them involve

stones they're rocks all over the place

one of the most famous stories is about

a stone and a slingshot how the boy

David faced off against the great

hulking giant Goliath the same David who

the Bible says grew up to be the king

who built the city of Jerusalem David is

one of the most fascinating characters

in world literature

he looks polished David is the Bible's

first real hero David was a very

talented man who could sing who could

fight who could lead he's a poet

he's a musician we're told that he's

absolutely gorgeous to look at and God

loves him and he's been portrayed by

some of Hollywood's biggest stars in

movies such as David and Bathsheba and

King David respect what is ours and we

should keep faith with you David was

ancient Israel's greatest king he is

also one of Islam's earliest prophets

and Christians believe Jesus is directly

descended from David and yet this hero

was a deeply flawed man David was kind

of a bastard there are some texts in

which we can see so clearly it David is

a problematic character he's running a

protection racket

he's got bodies piling up all over the

place he's strategically marrying women

in different parts of the Land of Israel

to consolidate his run for the throne

but that wasn't how it all started

the first time we meet David in the

Bible he's an innocent young shepherd

boy with that stone in his hand he was

the only one from his tribe brave enough

to face Goliath

the most fearsome fighter from a rival

tribe the Philistines whom the Bible

describes as over 10 feet tall we don't

have any proof

David actually ever fought Goliath and

yet it does to a certain extent make


we know that the Philistines are there

we know that the Israelites are there we

know that they're banging heads against

each other and it is written that David

felled the Giant

with only a slingshot and we all think

of it as the teeny little pea that

brought down a giant well the slingshot

at that time was in fact rather like

these sort of sniper rifle of today when

these were could be huge stones they

could be propelled at incredible

velocity and they could go straight

through Armour a handheld bazooka that

can actually stop a tank and today from

Tiananmen Square to Tahrir Square the

story is invoked when the most unlikely

heroes stand up to forces that seemed

certain to crush them Prophet David does

win against the Goliath it's not only

about him but the underprivileged the

underdog the week has rendered

victorious ultimately according to the

Bible David's triumphs continued he

recaptured the Ark of the Covenant from

the Philistines it had held the Ten

Commandments and he brought together the

warring tribes of the 12 sons of jacob

to form a nation even today the flag of

modern israel founded 3,000 years after

his reign bears the symbol known as the

Star of David

and Jerusalem is the place he chose as

his capital making it not only a holy

city but a political one too

there's evidence that King David really

lived just 20 years ago in northern

Israel archaeologists discovered a kind

of ancient royal archive called a

stealer and it mentions a house or

dynasty of David and the reading is

clear it also mentions an entity a state

like entity called Israel it may seem

like a small thing but it's an important


it makes David the earliest biblical

figure whom we can confirm actually

existed but the stealer doesn't confirm

some of the more scandalous details of

David's life David here was a guy who

was the king oh and it all he could have

anything he wanted he had absolute

loyalty of his soldiers he was on top

and then he goes out breaks a moral

covenant with God David's was on his

roof in Jerusalem and he saw this

beautiful woman bathing on the roof and

he said who's that woman they said

that's Bathsheba wife of Uriah his

height his eye is the beginning of the

problem his eye that makes him forget

everything he's heard in terms of God's

commandments he says she's hot and I I

want that bring bring me that and his

henchmen go bring him Bathsheba and so

that eye leads him to the act of

adultery and when the woman says I am

pregnant he goes deeper and deeper into

the darkness and here is where the Bible

becomes a little like pulp fiction King

David tried to cover his tracks by

getting Bathsheba's husband Uriah drunk

in the hopes that Uriah will immediately

bed his wife and be none the wiser all

does not go according to plan

david has Uriah killed and then brings

Bathsheba the intimate details of

David's personal life are unlike

anything else found in the Bible and

that suggests that some of the text is

extremely ancient and may be based on an

actual memoir or is called the good the

portrayal of David is so real it's a

familiar story the sometimes reckless

sense of entitlement that comes with

power it's known today as the Bathsheba

syndrome a lot of people think of that

as a story about sexual lust and it kind

of is but it's a story about power and

how power corrupts and Wow that's all

over our world today but this Bible

story is also a cautionary tale

Davidson's impact his children and his

grandchildren all the way down David's

sons have grown up learning how to deal

with women from their father

two of David's sons grew up to be

rapists and indeed David did suffer the

consequences of his actions

the child he's conceived with bash of

adye's and he mourns and mourns and once

again you get the old attractive lovely

David again we have to look at David in

both ways he rose to the heights of

power and he sought to the depths of

depravity and yet he comes back he

repents and the Bible tells us that God

never stops loving David he forgives the

sins of this imperfect hero David was

given a second chance a second child

with Bathsheba a son named Solomon