God's Covenant with David

Saul was the first king of Israel. Saul was tall and handsome just like the people wanted, but he was a wicked man who did not obey God, so God chose a different man to be king in his place.

This man's name was David. David was a shepherd. He was a humble and righteous man who obeyed and trusted God.

David was also a great soldier and leader. When David was only a young man, he fought against a giant named Goliath. Goliath was a trained soldier who was very tall and very strong, but God helped David defeat Goliath. This demonstrated that God had chosen David to be the next king.

Saul was jealous of David and tried many times to kill him. David refused to kill Saul so he could become king. One day, Saul went into the same cave David was hiding in. Instead of killing Saul, David cut off a piece of his clothes to prove to Saul that he would not kill him. Eventually, Saul died in a battle with the Philistines. Then David became king.

David was a good king and the people loved him. God blessed David and made him successful. While David was king Israel became very large, powerful and wealthy. David built himself a large, fancy house in which to live.

Then David wanted to build a house where everybody could worship God and offer Him sacrifices. For about a thousand years, the people had been worshiping God and offering sacrifices to Him at the Tabernacle that Moses had built.

David started making plans for the building, but God sent the prophet Nathan to David and said, "You will not build me this house, but your son will. However, I will bless you greatly - someone from your family will always sit on the throne of Israel. More than this, the Messiah will be one of your descendants!"

When David heard these words, he immediately thanked and praised God because He had promised David a great honor and many blessings. The Israelites would have to wait a long time before the Messiah came, almost one thousand years.

David ruled with justice and faithfulness for many years and God blessed him. However, toward the end of his life he sinned greatly before God.

One day, when all of his soldiers were out fighting, David got up from an afternoon nap and was walking on the roof of his house when he saw a beautiful woman bathing. Her name was Bathsheba.

Instead of looking away, David sent someone to bring her to him and he slept with her and sent her back home. A short time later Bathsheba sent a message to David saying that she was pregnant.

Her husband, Uriah, was one of David's best soldiers. David called Uriah back from the battle and told him to go home. David did this to make it look like Uriah was the father of the baby. But Uriah refused to go home while the rest of the soldiers were on the battlefield. So David sent Uriah back to the battle with a letter for Uriah's commander which told him to place Uriah where the enemy was strongest, so that he would be killed. The commander obeyed and Uriah was killed.

Then David married Bathsheba. God was not pleased with what David had done, so He sent the prophet Nathan to confront David.

When David saw his sin, he repented and God forgave him. But as a punishment for his sin, David's baby boy died. Also there was fighting in David's family for the rest of his life and David's power was greatly weakened. Even though David had been unfaithful to God and broken His laws, God was still faithful to His Covenant.