God communicates with many of the characters in The Hebrew Bible by telling them to complete certain tasks and to go against the status quo. However, even though God directly gives these prophets monumental and important duties, these prophets are often not all-around perfect people. Almost all of the characters in The Hebrew Bible, besides God himself, make some sort of mistake or poor decision. Yet, people revere these characters and their stories people as unabashedly holy and examples of what a leader of God should be. David is a character that although annointed directly by God and followed by many Israelites, makes questionable decisions and has some imperfect character traits. What is the purpose of depicting David in this way? Is there anyway to reconcile David as a prophet and as someone who makes immoral decisions?
Despite David’s ample character flaws, God considers him the ideal King of Israel. Further, in
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In 1 Samuel, the Israelites ask Samuel for a King for their people. Samuel then asks God for a king of the Israelites. God replies, “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king,” (1 Samuel 8:7). Samuel then tells the Israelites about what God has said, and warns them to to no longer ask for a king. However, the Israelites do not listen and allow Saul to be their first king. This entire situation represents a shift in ancient Israel from a theological to monarchical government. Because of this shift, when David comes to power as King, even though he is the most capable leader for the Israelites, he is not perfect because God disapproves of a monarch as ruler. Further, every single ruler of Israel is bound to have flaws and make poor decisions because they will never be as much of a perfect ruler as