Archpriest Nikolai Popov

The reign of Saul: his victories over the Philistines, Amalekites and other nations and disobedience to God

Saul became famous for his victories over the enemies of his people, but was not always obedient to God; for this he rejected him. In the second year of his reign, Saul began a war with the Philistines, gathered an army in Gilgal and waited for Samuel, who, before his arrival and before he made a sacrifice, forbade God to start a battle. The seventh day had already arrived, and Samuel had not come. Saul's army, fearing their enemies, scattered as a herd. Then Saul, without waiting for Samuel, himself made a sacrifice to God. He had barely finished the sacrifice when Samuel came and said to him: “You have acted badly in not fulfilling the commandment of the Lord. Now your reign cannot stand; The Lord will find a man after His own heart and will command him to be the leader of His people.” However, this time the Lord granted Saul victory over the Philistines.

After this, Saul won new victories over the Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites and the kings of Soba Syria ().

David's anointing as king. The Spirit of God departs from Saul

Having announced to Saul that the Lord would take away his kingdom, Samuel grieved for him for a long time at home. The Lord said to him: “How long will you grieve over Saul? Fill your horn with oil and go to Bethlehem, to Jesse; I will make a king for myself among his sons.”

Samuel came to Bethlehem and invited the elders of the city, along with Jesse and his sons, to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Jesse came with seven sons and brought each of them to Samuel. But Samuel said, “The Lord has not chosen any of these,” and asked Jesse, “Are all your children here?” Jesse answered: “There is also a younger son, David; he tends the sheep." Samuel ordered him to be brought. They brought David. He was blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face. The Lord said to Samuel: “Arise and anoint him: this is he.” Samuel took the horn of holy oil and anointed David among his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord rested on him from that day on.

When the Spirit of the Lord rested on David, he retreated from Saul, and the evil spirit began to disturb him. The servants suggested that Saul look for a person skilled in playing the harp, who would calm him down when the evil spirit disturbed him. One of them pointed to David as a skilled player and a brave, warlike and reasonable man. David was introduced to Saul, he liked him and became his armor bearer. And it happened when the evil spirit disturbed Saul, David played the harp, and Saul felt happier and better, and the evil spirit retreated from him ().

Victory of David over Goliath

The Philistines gathered their troops, entered Judea and stood on one mountain, in the tribe of Judah; the Israelites came out against them and stood on another mountain; there was a valley between them.

From the Philistine camp for forty days, morning and evening, a giant came out, Goliath, in a copper helmet, in scaly copper armor, in copper kneecaps on his legs, with a copper shield and an iron spear, and shouted to the Israelites: “Choose a man from you, and let him fight with me. If he kills me, then we will be your slaves, and if I kill him, then you will be our slaves.” The appearance of Goliath and his words terrified the bravest Israelites.

The three eldest sons of Jesse were in the army of Israel, and David was tending his father's sheep at that time. One day Jesse sent David to take food to his brothers. When David came to his brothers, Goliath came out with him and began to speak. All the Israelites, seeing him, ran away from him in fear. And the Israelites said: “If someone had killed him, the king would have given him great wealth, and would have given him his daughter in marriage, and would have made his father’s house free. David volunteered to fight Goliath. He was introduced to Saul. Saul, seeing David, said to him: “You cannot fight with this Philistine: you are still a youth.” David answered: “When I tended my father’s sheep, I killed the lion and the bear that attacked the flock, and the same will happen to this Philistine.” Then Saul dressed David in his own clothes, put a copper helmet on his head, and put armor on him. But David, walking around in such armor, said that he was not used to it, and took it off; Then he took his staff, five smooth stones from the stream, and a sling, and came out against the Philistine. The Philistine also came forward with his armor bearer. Seeing David, he looked at him contemptuously and said: “Why are you coming against me with a stick and stones: am I a dog? Come to me and I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.” And David answered him: “You come against me with a sword, and a spear, and a shield, but I come in the name of the Lord God of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you revile.” And so, when Goliath began to approach David, David hastily ran to meet him, took a stone from his bag and threw it with a sling at Goliath’s very forehead. The stone pierced Goliath's forehead and he fell face down on the ground. Then David ran up to Goliath, stepped on him, grabbed his sword and cut off his head with it. The Philistines, seeing that their strongman was dead, fled. The Israelites drove them out and took possession of their camp. After this victory, Jonathan, the son of Saul, loved David as his own soul, and gave him his clothes and weapons; and Saul made him a military leader, and all the people liked it ().

Persecution of David by Saul

When the Israelites returned home after David's victory over Goliath, women came out of all the cities to meet Saul with music and singing and exclaimed: “Saul defeated thousands, and David - tens of thousands.” Saul was very upset at this and said: “David was given tens of thousands, and I was given thousands; all he lacks is a kingdom.” And from that time on Saul began to look at David suspiciously, began to look for an opportunity to kill him and attempted to do so many times. But David with meekness and patience endured long-term persecution from him, honoring him as God’s anointed.

The next day after the solemn meeting, an evil spirit attacked Saul, and he raged in his house, and David played the harp in front of him. Saul began to throw his spear to pin David to the wall, but David dodged it twice.

Wanting David to die in battle with his enemies, Saul once told him: “I will give my eldest daughter, Merov, for you, only fight your enemies more bravely.” But when the time came to give her to David, Saul gave her to another. Then Saul, having learned that his other daughter, Michal, loved David, promised to marry her to him if he killed a hundred Philistines. David killed two hundred of them, and Saul had to marry Michal to him.

Having given his daughter Michal to David, Saul began to fear him even more and be at enmity against him. One day he gave an open order to kill him. But Jonathan managed to convince Saul of David’s innocence, and Saul swore not to kill him. David's new victory over the Philistines alarmed Saul, and he again, in a fit of rage, wanted to pin David to the wall with a spear, but David jumped back and ran away to his house. Saul sent his servants to the house of David to guard him and kill him. Michal secretly let him down from the window, placed the statue on his bed, closed it, and told the servants sent from Saul that David was sick. When Saul ordered David to be brought on the bed, Michal's cunning was revealed; but David had already managed to escape to Samuel in Ramah and began to live in Nawaf. Saul sent three times to take David, but those sent, seeing a host of prophets prophesying under the leadership of Samuel, began to prophesy themselves. Finally, Saul himself went to Ramah. As he walked, the Spirit of God came upon him, and he walked and prophesied, and, coming to Samuel, he prophesied before him and prostrated himself in involuntary reverence. After Saul returned home, Jonathan wanted to reconcile him with David through his intercession, but Saul almost killed him with a spear. After this, having said goodbye to Jonathan, David fled to Nob to the high priest Ahimelech, begged him for the sacred showbread and the sword of Goliath for the road, and fled from his fatherland.

From the land of Israel, David fled to the land of the Philistines to Achish, king of Gath. When the Philistines recognized David here and brought him to their king, David presented himself as devoid of intelligence, was released and retired to the cave of Adollam. His relatives and all the oppressed and unhappy people came here to him, about 400 people. David took his parents to the king of Moab, and he himself returned to the land of Judah and stopped in the forest. Saul, having learned that David was with the high priest Ahimelech, ordered to kill Ahimelech and 85 priests and destroy Nob. Only Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, escaped and fled to David. Upon learning that the Philistines had attacked the city of Keilah, David freed it from its enemies. Saul wanted to capture David at Keilah, but he withdrew to the desert of Ziph. Saul chased him into the desert of Ziph, and then into the desert of Maon, but, on the occasion of the Philistine attack on the land of Israel, he had to stop the pursuit.

Moving from one place to another, David came to the En-Gaddi desert and began to hide in caves here. Saul, having learned about this, went with an army to look for him. One day he alone went into the very cave in which David and his people were hiding. His men said to David: “Behold, the Lord has delivered you into the hands of your enemy.” But David only quietly cut off the hem of his robe and then, when Saul left the cave, he showed it to Saul from afar, as proof that he had no malicious intent against him. Saul was moved to tears by this, asked David to spare his descendants when he became king, and retired to his home.

About this time Samuel died. The Israelites gathered, mourned him and buried him in Rama.

David, fearing new persecution, withdrew into the Paran desert. Next door, in Maon, lived a man rich in cattle, Nabal. David, having learned that he was shearing sheep, sent several people to congratulate him and ask him for the preservation of his cattle, what he would find it possible to give. Nabal rudely refused the messengers. David gathered his men and went to destroy the entire house of Nabal. Abigail, Nabal's wife, having learned about this, secretly took gifts from her husband, went out to meet David and appeased him. Nabal soon died and David married Abigail.

After some time, Saul again pursued David in the desert of Ziph. One night Saul was sleeping in his tent, and his soldiers were around him. David and Abishai, his nephew, entered Saul's camp. Abishai said to David, “Let me pin him to the ground with one blow.” But David said to him: “Do not kill the Lord’s anointed; just take the spear that is at his head and the vessel of water.” And taking the spear and the vessel, they withdrew to the opposite mountain. From here David loudly began to reproach Abner, Saul’s military commander, for the fact that he was poorly guarding the king. Saul, hearing David's voice, began to repent of his persecution of him, called him to himself, and called him his son. But David could not believe him, returned the royal spear and retired to the king of Gath, Achishus.

Achish gave David the city of Ziklag. From here David made campaigns against the Amalekites and other enemies of his people, and told Achish that he was attacking the Jews. Getting ready to fight the Israelites, Achish took David with him. But the Philistine princes, fearing David, convinced Achish to let David go home. Returning to Ziklag, David found it plundered by the Amalekites, overtook them, defeated them, and sent gifts from the spoils to the elders of Judah, his friends ().

The defeat of the Israelites by the Philistines and the death of Saul. Execution of the regicide

When David, escaping the persecution of Saul, lived in the land of the Philistines, the Philistines invaded the land of Israel and camped near the mountains of Gilboa. Saul also gathered the people of Israel and camped on Mount Gilboa. Seeing the Philistine army, Saul was afraid and asked the Lord what he should do, but the Lord did not answer him. Then he, having changed his clothes, went at night to a sorceress in Endor and asked her to bring Samuel to him. And the sorceress saw Samuel and cried out loudly. Samuel asked Saul, “Why did you bother me to come out?” Saul answered: “It is very difficult for me: the Philistines are fighting with me, but he retreated from me and did not answer me anything, either through the prophets or in a dream, so I called you so that you could teach me what to do.” Samuel said: “The Lord will do what he spoke through me: he will take the kingdom from you and give it to David because you did not obey the Lord and did not destroy Amalek. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me, and the Lord will deliver the camp of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.” Having heard this, Saul fell to the ground in fear, then, refreshing himself with food, he returned to his camp.

The next day a battle took place. The Philistines put the Israelites to flight and killed three of Saul's sons, including Jonathan. Saul, being very wounded and not wanting to fall to his enemies alive, fell on his sword and died. The inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead burned his body and his sons and buried their bones (Chronicles 10).

The news of the defeat of the Israelites and the death of Saul was brought to David by an Amalekite. The Amalekite said: “Saul fell on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen of the enemy overtook him. Then he said to me: kill me; mortal melancholy has seized me, my soul is still within me. And I killed him." At the same time, the Amalekite presented David with the crown from Saul's head and the wrist from his hand. David ordered the execution of the Amalekite as the murderer of God's anointed, and mourned Saul and Jonathan in a lamentable song ().

David becomes king and executes the regicides (4449 from the creation of the world, 1060 BC)

After the death of Saul, the inhabitants of the tribe of Judah anointed David (30 years old) king over them in Hebron. Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, reigned over the other tribes of Israel.

Seven and a half years after David's accession to Hebron, the commanders of Ishbosheth killed the latter and brought his head to David. David executed them for this. After this, the elders of all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and anointed him king over all the people of Israel (Paral. 11, 12: 1-3).

Conquest of Jerusalem (4456 from the creation of the world, 1053 BC) and transfer of the Ark of the Covenant there. David's intention to build a temple for the Lord. David's care for the internal improvement of the kingdom

Having reigned over all the people of Israel, David went with his army to Jerusalem. Jerusalem, with its fortress Zion, standing on a rocky mountain, was then considered impregnable and was in the power of the Jebusites. David conquered Jerusalem, settled in the fortress of Zion, called it the city of David and built a cedar palace in it (Chronicles 11:4–9; 14:1).

After this, the Philistines attacked David twice, but he defeated them both times (Chronicles 11:13–19, 14:8–17).

Having established himself in the new capital, David decided to move the ark of God there from Kiriathiarim, from the house of Amminadab. For this purpose, he gathered his army and people to Kiriatiarim. They placed the ark of God on a chariot drawn by oxen and drove it away. David and all the Israelites played various musical instruments before him. In one place the oxen tilted it. The son of Amminadab, Uzzah, stretched out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it to hold it, just like an ordinary thing, but the Lord immediately struck him down. David was afraid to take the ark to his city and placed it in the house of Abeddar. Soon, hearing that the Lord blessed the house of Abeddar for the sake of the ark of God, David triumphantly carried it to his city. This time the priests and Levites carried the ark on their shoulders. During the procession, the Levites sang and played musical instruments, and David jumped in delight in front of the ark. Having brought the ark to his city, David placed it in the tabernacle he had newly built, offered sacrifices to God and treated the people.

To glorify God, during the service in the tabernacle, David organized a choir of 4,000 singers and musicians and composed many psalms, i.e. chants.

King David, in general, in all circumstances of his life, loved to pour out his soul before God in psalms. The collection of psalms is called the Psalter. There are quite a lot of prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Psalter. For example, that He will be God (), the Son of God (), that He will descend into humanity from the line of David (), die in shameful torment (), descend into hell (), rise again (), ascend to heaven (), sit at the right hand God the Father ().

After the ark was transferred to Jerusalem, worship began to be performed at two tabernacles - Moses in Gibeon and David in Jerusalem. David numbered the Levites from 30 years of age and upward, and their number was 30,000. Of these, he appointed 24,000 to serve at the tabernacle, 6,000 as scribes and judges of the people, 4,000 as gatekeepers and treasure-keepers, 4,000 as singers and musicians, and divided them, both priests and Levites. , serving at the tabernacle, for 24 turns, which changed every Saturday (Chronicles 13, 15, 16, 23: 3–32; 24–27).

Not content with building a new tabernacle for the ark of God, David one day said to the prophet Nathan: “Behold, I live in a house of cedar, and the ark of God stands under a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Do whatever is in your heart.” But that same night the Lord said to Nathan: “Go and tell My servant David: “It is not you who will build Me a house to dwell in, because you have shed much blood. When you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your Seed after you. He will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever; I will be His Father, and He will be My Son." Nathan related the words of the Lord to David. David thanked the Lord in prayer for His mercy towards him and his descendants and began to prepare everything necessary for the construction of the temple of the Lord (Chronicles 17; 1 Chronicles 22:8, 28:3).

After works of piety, David was most concerned with the internal improvement of his kingdom. In governing the kingdom, he was always guided by the law of God given through Moses. This law was his favorite reading: he studied it day and night. The trial was carried out under his strict supervision and was just and merciful.

David's victories over neighboring nations and the spread of his kingdom. David's war with the Ammonites, his fall and repentance. Conquest of the Ammonites

In the midst of peace and prosperity, the idea came to David to find out how many subjects he had. He ordered Joab to go through all the tribes of Israel and number the people. Joab numbered the people in all the tribes except Levi and Benjamin. After this, David himself realized that he had decided to count the people out of vanity, and began to ask God for forgiveness. But the next day the prophet Gad comes to him and, in the name of God, offers him a choice of one of three punishments: either three years of famine in his country, or three months of war and flight from enemies, or three days of pestilence. David answered the prophet: “Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, so long as I do not fall into the hands of men.” And David chose pestilence for himself. The Lord sent a plague, and 70,000 people died. On the third day of the plague, David saw between heaven and earth, above the threshing floor of Orna the Jebusite, an Angel with a sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David fell on his face and began to pray to the Lord for his people. Then the prophet Gad came to him and ordered him to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Orna. David bought from Orna the threshing floor and the whole Mount Moriah on which the threshing floor stood; He built an altar on the threshing floor, placed sacrifices on it, and called on the Lord. The Lord heard him and sent fire from heaven onto his victims, and the plague stopped. After this, David made sacrifices to God several times at this place and appointed it to build the temple (Paral. 21, 22).

Anointing for the kingdom of Solomon. Testament and death of David

When David grew old, his son Adonijah decided to proclaim himself king and attracted the high priest Abiathar, Joab and other military leaders to his side. David, having learned about this from Bathsheba and Nathan, ordered the high priest Zadok and Nathan to anoint his son Solomon as king, whom he chose to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. Zadok solemnly, in front of the people, anointed Solomon as king. Having learned about Solomon's anointing, Adonijah's accomplices fled, and Adonijah himself fled to the tabernacle and grabbed the horns of the altar. Solomon promised not to harm him if he was an honest man.

At the end of his life, David called Solomon and his other sons and the leaders of the people, convinced them to keep the commandments of the Lord and bequeathed Solomon to serve God with all their hearts and to build a temple for Him. After this instruction, he handed over to Solomon the drawings of the temple, compiled by him at the inspiration of God, and the materials prepared for him; invited everyone to donate to the temple and prayed to God for his people and for Solomon. The next day after this, Solomon was anointed king for the second time.

When the time approached for David to die, he made his last testament to Solomon to fulfill the law of God and protect himself from suspicious people, and he died at the age of 70 (Chronicles 22, 28, 29).

Beginning of Solomon's reign. His wisdom. (4489 year from the creation of the world, 1020 BC)

Solomon began his reign by ridding himself of his domestic enemies: he executed Adonijah, who sought to take away the kingdom from him; removed Abiathar and executed Joab and Shimei; then he secured his kingdom from the outside by marrying the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh and renewing his alliance with the king of Tyre, Hiram.

When the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon, he went to Gibeon, where the tabernacle of Moses was, and brought a thousand burnt offerings to God here. appeared to him in a dream at night and said: “Ask what to give you.” Solomon answered: “You, Lord, made me king. Give me wisdom to govern the people." This request pleased the Lord, and he said: “Because you do not ask for a long life or wealth, but ask for wisdom, I will give you wisdom, so that there was no one like you in wisdom and there never will be; Moreover, I will give you both riches and glory, so that there will be no one like you among kings all your days. And if you keep My commandments, then I will continue your life.”

First of all, Solomon showed wisdom in court. Upon Solomon's return to Jerusalem, two women came to him. And one woman said: “Sir! This woman and I live in the same house. I gave birth to a son; on the third day she gave birth to a son. And the woman’s son died because while he was sleeping she slept on him (lay on him). She got up at night, took my son from me and put him with her, and put her dead son with me. In the morning I saw that my son was not mine.” Then the other woman said: “No, my son is alive. and your son is dead.” And they argued before the king. Solomon said, “Give me the sword.” They brought a sword. The king said: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” Then the mother of the living baby said: “Oh, sir, give her the living child and do not kill him!” And the other said: “Let it be neither me nor you, cut it!” Then the king said: “Give the living child to the one who does not want him to be killed: she is his mother.” The Israelites heard how the king judged this case, and they began to fear him, because they saw that the wisdom of God was in him (Chronicles 1:1-13).

Construction of the temple and its consecration (4492 from the creation of the world, 1017 BC)

In the fourth year of his reign, Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, and built it for seven and a half years. The temple was built on the model of the tabernacle of Moses, only larger and more magnificent than the tabernacle.

To create the temple, David prepared 108,000 talents of gold, 1,017,000 talents of silver and many precious stones, copper, iron, marble and trees (1 Chron. 22:14; 29:4, 7). At the request of Solomon, the king of Tire, Hiram, sent him the artist Hiram, cedar, cypress and other expensive trees from the mountains of Lebanon to build the temple. The temple was built by 30,000 Jews and 150,000 foreigners.

The length of the temple was 60 cubits, width 20 cubits, height 30 cubits. The walls of the temple were made of huge hewn stones, lined on the outside with white marble, and on the inside with cedar boards, which were decorated with carved images of cherubs, palm trees and blooming flowers and covered with gold. It was built of cypress wood and covered with gold. The interior of the temple was divided into two parts: the Holy of Holies and the Sanctuary, which were separated by a cypress wall, decorated with carved images and overlaid with gold. The doors to the Holy of Holies were made of olive wood and covered with a curtain of precious material with images of cherubim, and the doors to the temple were made of cypress wood, decorated with carvings and overlaid with gold. In the Holy of Holies were placed two images of cherubim made of olive wood, overlaid with gold. The wings of the cherubs were spread out, and the wing of one touched one wall, and the wing of the other touched another wall; their other wings among the Holy of Holies met wing to wing. An altar overlaid with gold was placed before the Holy of Holies. On the right side of the Sanctuary there were five tables overlaid with gold and five golden lamps, and on the left side the same number of tables and lamps. On the eastern side of the temple there was a porch (porch), lined with gold inside. The porch was four times higher than the Sanctuary. Two copper pillars were placed in front of the porch. The porch was intended for priests, and the steps leading to it were for singers. On the other three sides, three-story buildings were attached to the temple, in which rooms were arranged. Near the temple building there was a courtyard of priests, surrounded by a low stone wall. In this courtyard were placed: a copper altar of burnt offering, a copper sea on twelve copper oxen, ten copper lavers and a royal place in the form of an ambo. Near the courtyard of the priests, somewhat below it, stretched the Great Courtyard for the people, surrounded by a strong wall. This courtyard, stretching 500 steps in length and width, had a marble colonnade that went around it. Buildings for priests were built in it, and later galleries where prophets preached the word of God to the people, and cells where students gathered around teachers.

When the construction of the temple was completed, Solomon gathered the elders of Israel and the people and, with singing and music, brought the ark of the Lord, the tabernacle and the sacred things from the tabernacle of David to the temple. When the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies under the wings of the cherubim, the glory of the Lord in the form of a cloud overshadowed and filled the temple. Then Solomon fell to his knees in his royal place, raised his hands to heaven and said a prayer to God, in which he asked the Lord to fulfill the requests of not only the Israelis who would pray to him in the temple or turning to the temple, but also the foreigners who would pray at the temple. When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven onto the prepared sacrifices. The people fell to the ground and glorified God. After this many sacrifices were made. He answered Solomon's prayer by appearing to him at night in a dream; The Lord told Solomon that He had heard his prayer, and promised to establish his kingdom if he fulfilled the commandments of God. “If,” said God, “you depart from Me, then I will destroy you from the face of the earth, and I will reject this temple” (Chronicles 2-7).

The glory of Solomon's reign: wealth, power, wisdom, the glory of Solomon and the prosperity of the people under him

Having created the temple of the Lord, Solomon built himself several magnificent palaces. Particularly magnificent was the palace, called the house of the Lebanese tree, in which various rarities were collected and, among other things, 500 golden shields, in which all the utensils and all the vessels were made of pure gold, because silver in the days of Solomon was considered nothing. In Solomon's judgment chamber there was an ivory throne overlaid with gold. Solomon received his wealth mainly from maritime trade, for which he established a merchant fleet in Ezion-Geber, on the Red Sea.

To protect his kingdom from enemies, Solomon built several fortified cities, in which he kept many horsemen, horses and military chariots (Solomon ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates to Egypt).

But most of all, Solomon became famous for his wisdom: he spoke three thousand parables and composed one thousand and five songs, he knew plants from cedar to hyssop and all animals. People from the most distant lands came to listen to the wisdom of Solomon and brought him gifts. So, the queen of the Saveans (of Sheba) came to him with rich gifts, tested his wisdom, examined all the remarkable things in his place and said: “I did not believe what they told me about you. Now I confess that they didn’t tell me half of what I found.”

Under the wise rule of Solomon, the Israelites lived calmly, each under his own vineyard and under his own fig tree, eating, drinking and having fun (Chronicles 8:9).

Solomon's weaknesses, God's judgment over him and his repentance

Among Solomon's wives were foreign idolaters. To please them, Solomon built temples for idols, and in his old age he even began to participate in idolatry with his wives. For this, the Lord announced to him that most of his kingdom would be taken away from his family and given to another. And indeed, even during his lifetime, people began to appear who disturbed the peace of his kingdom.

Ader, a descendant of the kings of Idumea, who was hiding in Egypt, returned to Idumea and established himself in it. Razon, the former military commander of Adraazar, king of Suva, then the leader of a gang of robbers, took possession of Damascus Syria.

Solomon's most dangerous enemy was a certain Jeroboam the Ephraimite. He was a worker along with other Ephraimites in the construction of the walls of Jerusalem. As a man capable of business, Solomon made him an overseer of works. The Ephraimites were dissatisfied with these works. One day Jeroboam met the prophet Ahijah, an Ephraimite, in the field. Ahijah tore his new clothes into 12 pieces, gave him ten pieces of it and said: “Thus says the Lord: I will take the kingdom out of the hands of the son of Solomon; I will give you 10 tribes, and I will leave him one tribe, for David’s sake. If you keep my commandments like David, then I will be with you and will strengthen your house like the house of David.” So Solomon wanted to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt.

At the end of his life, Solomon turned to God in repentance. The book of Ecclesiastes, written by him, remains a monument to his repentance, in which he teaches that all temporary blessings are vanity, that the true good of man is in the study and fulfillment of the law of God. Solomon reigned for 40 years ().

Division of the Kingdom of Hebrews into two kingdoms: Judah and Israel (4529 from the creation of the world, 980 BC)

After Solomon's death, the Israelites gathered in Shechem and called Solomon's son, Rehoboam, there to reign as king. Jeroboam also came there and, presenting himself with the people before Rehoboam, said: “Your father has placed a heavy yoke on us; make it easy for us, and we will serve you.” Rehoboam despised the advice of the elders who served under his father, and who advised him to please the people, satisfy their request and speak kindly to them, but he listened to his young advisers and sternly answered the people: “The father has placed a heavy yoke on you, I will do this yoke again.” heavier; he punished you with whips, I will punish you with scorpions (scourges with needles).” The people were offended by this answer, and the ten tribes chose Jeroboam the Ephraimite as their king. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin recognized Rehoboam as their king. Thus, the Jewish people were divided into two kingdoms: Judah and Israel (Chronicles 10, 11:1-4).

The callers of the dead were deceivers, ventriloquists who imitated the voice of the dead and spoke for them. When the sorceress undertook to bring Samuel out, she did not even think that she would bring him out, but wanted to deceive Saul, as she deceived other superstitious people. But by the will of God, Samuel (.) actually appeared, and the woman, who did not expect this, was horrified

The Israelis burned the bodies of the dead only in extreme cases, when they wanted to protect them from desecration, or when there were a lot of them during a war or pestilence, and when an infection could occur from them

Perhaps when Saul fell on his sword, the armor prevented him from killing himself, and the Amalekite actually killed him; but maybe the Amalekite lied, thinking to curry favor with David

From this it is clear that the first king of the people of God was already crowned with a crown. Bracelets were worn not only by women, but also by noble rich men

David lived in the safe places of En Gaddi. When Saul returned from the Philistines, he was informed, saying: “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En-gaddi.” And Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men in the mountains where the chamois live.

And he came to a sheep pen by the roadside; There was a cave there, and Saul went there to need; David and his men were sitting in the depths of the cave.

And his men said to David:

This is the day about which the Lord spoke to you: “Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hands, and you will do with him what you please.”

David stood up and quietly cut off the edge of Saul's outer garment. But after this it pained David’s heart that he cut off the edge of Saul’s robe. And he said to his people:

May the Lord not allow me to do this to my master, the Lord’s anointed, to lay my hand on him, for he is the Lord’s anointed.

And David restrained his people with these words and did not allow them to rebel against Saul. And Saul got up and went out of the cave onto the road.

Then David also stood up and came out of the cave, and shouted after Saul, saying:

My lord, king!

Saul looked back, and David fell face down on the ground and bowed to him. And David said to Saul:

Why do you listen to the speeches of people who say: “Behold, David is plotting evil against you”? Behold, today your eyes see that the Lord has today delivered you into my hands in the cave; and they told me to kill you; but I spared you and said: “I will not lift up my hand against my master, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” My father! look at the hem of your garment in my hand; I cut off the hem of your garment, but did not kill you: find out and make sure that there is no evil or deceit in my hand, and I have not sinned against you; and you are looking for my soul to take it away. May the Lord judge between me and you, and may the Lord take revenge on you for me; but my hand will not be on you, as the ancient parable says: “From the wicked comes lawlessness.” And my hand will not be on you. Who did the king of Israel go up against? Who are you chasing? Behind a dead dog, behind one flea. Let the Lord be the judge and judge between me and you. He will examine, sort out my case, and save me from your hand.

When David had finished speaking these words to Saul, Saul said:

You are more right than me, for you repaid me with good, and I repaid you with evil; You showed this today by treating me mercifully when the Lord delivered me into your hands, you did not kill me. Who, having found his enemy, would send him on his way? The Lord will reward you with goodness for what you did to me today. And now I know that you will surely reign, and the kingdom of Israel will be firmly in your hand. So, swear to me by the Lord that you will not uproot my descendants after me and destroy my name in my father’s house.

And David swore to Saul. And Saul went to his house, and David and his men went up to the fortified place.

When Samuel grew old, he made his sons Joel and Abij judges over Israel. But the people were dissatisfied with them because they were selfish and “judged wrongly.” Therefore all the elders of Israel gathered together at Ramah and said to Samuel: “Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; Therefore, set a king over us, so that he may judge us like other nations.”

“And Samuel did not like this word when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee; for they did not reject you, but they rejected Me, so that I should not reign over them; As they did from the day that I brought them out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so will they do to you; Listen therefore to their voices; just present to them and declare to them the rights of the king who will reign over them.

And Samuel recounted all the words of the Lord to the people asking him for a king,” warned that a person could abuse royal power, “and then,” Samuel added, “you will rebel against your king, whom you have chosen for yourself; and the Lord will not answer you.”

“But the people did not agree to obey the voice of Samuel, and said: No, let the king be over us, and we will be like other nations: our king will judge us, and go before us, and fight our wars. And Samuel listened to all the words of the people, and repeated them in the hearing of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, Hear their voice, and make them a king.”

Then Samuel dismissed all those gathered to their homes and began to consider their demand.

At that time there lived a noble man named Kis, from the tribe of Benjamin. “He had a son, his name was Saul, young and handsome; and there was none of the Israelites more beautiful than he; from his shoulders he was higher than all the people. And the donkeys of Kish Saul’s father were lost, and Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of your servants with you, and get up and go and look for the donkeys.”

Saul searched for the donkeys for a long time and did not find them. Having reached Ramah, where Samuel lived, Saul wished to turn to him, since he knew about his insight. When Saul and his servant came into the city, they met Samuel coming out “on the high places.” Meanwhile, the day before Saul came, the Lord said to Samuel: “Tomorrow at this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you anoint him as a ruler over My people Israel, and he will save My people from the hand of the Philistines; for I have looked upon My people, since their cry has reached Me.” Now when Samuel met Saul, “the Lord said to him, “This is the man about whom I told you; he will govern my people.”

To Saul’s question about the seer, Samuel replied: “I am a seer; go ahead of me to the heights; and you will dine with me today, and I will send you away in the morning, and I will tell you everything that is in your heart; but don’t worry about the donkeys; they were found. And who has all the coveted things in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?”

Saul objected to him in bewilderment: “Am I not the son of Benjamin, one of the least tribes of Israel? And is not my tribe the smallest among all the tribes of the tribe of Benjamin? Why are you telling me this?”

“And Samuel took Saul and his servant, and brought them into the room, and gave them the first place among those who were invited, who were about thirty men.” The next day, seeing Saul off, Samuel took him aside along the road and revealed to him what he had heard about him from the Lord.

“Then Samuel took a jar of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said, “Behold, the Lord has anointed you to be the ruler of His inheritance in Israel, and you will reign over the people of the Lord and save them from the hand of their enemies who are around them.”

And Samuel gave him a sign of truth, in addition to the prediction that the donkeys would be found (which was immediately fulfilled), he also said to him: behold, you will come “to the hill of God, where the guard detachment of the Philistines is; and when you enter the city there, you will meet a host of prophets descending from on high, and before them is a psalter and a tympanum, and a pipe and a harp, and they prophesy; and the Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will prophesy with them and become a different man. When these signs come to you, then do whatever your hand finds, for God is with you. As soon as Saul turned to leave Samuel, God gave him a different heart, and all those signs came true on the same day.”

At home, Saul spoke about the fulfillment of the words of the prophet (about donkeys), “but he did not reveal what Samuel had told him about the kingdom.”

Samuel gathered all the people to the city of Mizpah to publicly announce the dedication of Saul to the kingdom. At the same time, he reminded the Jews that the king over them was chosen according to their own desire, although this was ingratitude towards God.

“Now stand before the Lord by your tribes and by your kindreds,” Samuel addressed the people. “And he commanded all the tribes of Israel to approach, and the tribe of Benjamin was pointed out. And he ordered the tribe of Benjamin to approach according to its tribes, and the tribe of Matri was indicated; and they brought the tribe of Matri by husband, and Saul the son of Kish was named; and they looked for him and did not find him. And they asked the Lord again: Will he come here again?

Having learned that he was hiding in the baggage train, “they ran and took him from there, and he stood among the people and was from his shoulders higher than all the people. And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see whom the Lord has chosen? there is no one like him in all the people. Then all the people exclaimed and said: Long live the king! And Samuel told the people the rights of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it before the Lord. And he sent all the people away, every one to his own house.”

“Saul also went to his house to Gibeah; and the brave men, whose hearts had been touched by God, went with him. And the worthless people said: should he save us? And they despised him and did not bring him gifts; but he didn’t seem to notice it.”

A month later Nahash the Ammonite came and besieged Jabez-gilead. Ambassadors from there came to Gibeah Saul and told the people this news. A cry arose and the people began to cry.

“And behold, Saul came from the field behind the oxen and said, “What has become of the people that they are crying?” And they told him the words of the inhabitants of Jabez who came to ask for protection from Nahash, who decided to bring dishonor on all Israel by gouging out the right eye of every inhabitant at the cost of an alliance with him.

And the Spirit of God came upon Saul, when he heard these words, and his anger was greatly kindled; and he took a pair of oxen and cut them into pieces, and sent messengers to all the borders of Israel, declaring that this would be done to the oxen of anyone who did not follow Saul and Samuel. And the fear of the Lord came upon the people, and they all came out, as one man. Saul examined them at Bezek, and the children of Israel were found three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand. And they said to the envoys who had come, “Tell the people of Jabez-gilead this way: tomorrow help will come to you when the sun warms up.”

The next day Saul divided the people into three companies, and they entered into the midst of the camp during the morning watch and smote the Ammonites before the heat of the day; those who remained were scattered, so that no two of them remained together.”

Celebrating a glorious victory, the people began to talk about putting to death those who had previously said: “Shall Saul reign over us?” But Saul calmed the unrest among the people, saying: “This day no one should be killed, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel.”

Samuel called the people: “Let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. And all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal, and there they offered peace offerings before the Lord. And Saul and all Israel rejoiced greatly there.”

Samuel reminded the people of his impeccability as a judge, reminded them of all the good deeds of God, that they served the Baals and Astartes and now themselves wished to have a king over them.

“Now, here is the king whom you have chosen, whom you have demanded,” said Samuel, “behold, the Lord has set a king over you. If you fear the Lord and serve Him, and you and your king walk after the Lord your God, then the hand of the Lord will not be against you. Now stand and see the great work that the Lord will do before your eyes; Is this not the harvest of wheat? But I will cry to the Lord, and He will send thunder and rain, and you will know and see how great the sin you have committed in the eyes of the Lord, asking for a king.”

“Then Samuel cried to the Lord, and the Lord sent thunder and rain that day; and all the people came into great fear from the Lord and from Samuel. And all the people said to Samuel, Pray for thy servants before the LORD thy God, lest we die; for to all our sins we added another sin when we asked for a king.

And Samuel answered the people: Do not be afraid, this sin has been committed by you, but do not depart only from the Lord and serve the Lord with all your heart and do not turn after insignificant gods, which will not bring benefit and will not deliver; for they are nothing.

The Lord will not abandon His people for the sake of His great name, for the Lord was pleased to choose you as His people; and I also will not allow myself to sin before the Lord to stop praying for you, and I will guide you on the good and straight path; only fear the Lord and serve Him truly, with all your heart, for you have seen what great things He has done to you; if you do evil, then both you and your king will perish.”

(1 Kings 8, 4-10, 18, 19-22; 9, 2-3, 16-22;

10, 1, 5-7, 9, 16, 19-27; 11, 4-8, 11-15; 12, 13-14, 16-25)

In the second year of his reign, Saul, having dismissed the people to their homes, left with him three thousand people, of whom two thousand were with Saul in Michmash, and a thousand with his son Jonathan in Gibeah Benjamin, where the Philistine guard detachment was stationed.

Jonathan was indignant at the oppression from the Philistines, who did not allow blacksmiths to be had in the land of Israel for fear that the Jews would not make swords and spears for themselves. Therefore, he attacked the security detachment and defeated it. Then “the Philistines were gathered together to fight against Israel: thirty thousand chariots and six thousand cavalry, and a multitude of people like the sand on the seashore; and they came and encamped at Michmash, on the east side of Beth-aven.”

Some of the Israelites gathered to Saul in Gilgal, while others, seeing the danger, fled in fear and “took refuge in caves and in gorges, and between rocks, and in towers, and in ditches.” Saul was in Gilgal waiting for Samuel. The Prophet appointed a period of seven days for the burnt offering. Meanwhile, the people, who were in fear, began to scatter from Gilgal, but Samuel still did not come. Then Saul decided to make the “burnt offering” himself, but he had barely finished it when Samuel arrived.

When Saul came out to greet him, Samuel said to him, “What have you done?” Saul answered him: “You did not come, the people began to scatter, then I thought: now the Philistines will come against me in Gilgal, but I have not yet asked the Lord, and therefore I decided to bring a burnt offering.”

“And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done wrong, because you have not fulfilled the commandment of the Lord your God, which was given to you, for now the Lord would have established your reign over Israel forever; but now your reign cannot stand; The Lord will find Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord will command him to be the leader of His people, since you have not fulfilled what the Lord commanded you.

And Samuel arose and went from Gilgal to Gibeah Benjamin. Saul with his son Jonathan and the people who were with them sat down in Gibeah of Benjamin and (wept); The Philistines were encamped at Michmash.

And all the Israelites had to go to the Philistines to sharpen their plowshares, and their spades, and their axes, and their picks. Therefore, during the war (Michmas) there was neither a sword nor a spear in the possession of all the people who were with Saul and Jonathan, but they were only found in the possession of Saul and Jonathan his son.”

At this alarming time, the brave Jonathan decided to approach the Philistine detachment. “But I didn’t tell my father about it.” He ordered the squire: “Go, let’s go over to the detachment of these uncircumcised; Perhaps the Lord will help us, for it is not difficult for the Lord to save through many or few.”

“And Jonathan said, Behold, we will go over to these men and stand in their sight, but we will not go up to them; and if they say there, “Come up to us,” then we will go up, for the Lord has given them into our hands; and this will be a sign for us.”

When they approached the Philistine detachment, the Philistines shouted: “Behold, the Jews are coming out of the ravines in which they hid. Come up to us and we will tell you something. Then Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Follow me, for the Lord has delivered them into the hands of Israel.” And Jonathan began to rise up, clinging with his hands and feet, and his armor-bearer after him. And the Philistines fell before Jonathan, and the armor-bearer finished them off after him. And from this first defeat, inflicted by Jonathan and his armor-bearer, about twenty people fell, in half a field cultivated by a pair of oxen a day.”

This bold move terrified the enemy camp, and “the advanced detachments and those who devastated the land did not want to fight. And Saul's guards saw that the crowd was scattering and running to and fro. And Saul said to Ahijah the priest, Bring the ark of God, for the ark of God was with the children of Israel at that time. Saul was still speaking to the priest, when the confusion in the Philistine camp increased more and more. Then the Jews who were with the Philistines yesterday and the day before and who went everywhere with them in the camp, and all the Israelites who were hiding in Mount Ephraim, hearing that the Philistines had fled, also joined their own in battle. And the Lord saved Israel that day.”

In the heat of pursuit of the enemy, “Saul very recklessly cursed the people, saying: Cursed is he who eats bread until the evening, until I take vengeance on my enemies. And no one tasted the food.” Not knowing about this prohibition from his father, Jonathan, tired of the battle, strengthened his strength with wild honey found along the way. The people, who had slain the Philistines all that day from Michmash to Ailon, were very weary. Despite his general fatigue, Saul wanted to pursue his enemies at night. “And Saul asked God, Shall I go after the Philistines? Will you deliver it into the hands of Israel? But He did not answer him that day.”

And Saul was perplexed, thinking: is there any sin today? “For the Lord lives, who saved Israel,” he reasoned, “and if Jonathan my son is sinned, then he too will certainly die.”

It was decided to draw lots to find out the culprit. The lot fell on Jonathan.

“Tell me what you did?” - Saul asked his son. “I tasted a little honey with the end of the stick that was in my hand; and behold, I must die,” answered the courageous and noble Jonathan, and Saul confirmed that his son must die today.

“But the people said to Saul: Shall Jonathan die, who has brought such great salvation to Israel? Let this not happen! As the Lord lives, no hair of his head will fall to the ground, for he has acted with God today. And he freed Jonathan’s people, and he did not die.”

The victory over the Philistines established Saul's reign over Israel. With equal success he repelled the attacks of the Moabites, Ammonites and other surrounding peoples. In times of peace, he led a modest life, and his house consisted only of family members: Ahinoam, his wife, three sons and two daughters. The son of his uncle Nir, Abner, was the commander of the army.

One day Samuel, inspired from above, came to announce that Saul was to go and defeat Amalek. “Do not take anything from them,” Samuel forbade, “but destroy and consign to destruction everything that he has; and do not give him mercy, but put to death from man to wife, from child to suckling, from ox to sheep, from camel to donkey.”

“And Saul gathered the people. And Saul smote Amalek, and captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and destroyed all the people with the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the oxen and the fattened lambs, and everything that was good, and did not want to destroy it.

And they informed Samuel that Saul went to Carmel and there built a monument for himself, (but from there he returned the chariot) and went down to Gilgal.”

Having learned about this, Samuel was saddened and indignant, came again to Saul and, hearing the bleating of sheep and the lowing of oxen, he realized that this was booty captured from the enemy and surviving despite his prohibition.

Yes, they were brought from Amalek, Saul confirmed, “because the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God; We destroyed the rest."

“And Samuel answered, Are burnt offerings and sacrifices as acceptable to the Lord as to obey the voice of the Lord? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to obey than the fat of rams; because you rejected the word of the Lord, and He rejected you so that you would not be king (over Israel).

And Samuel turned to leave. But Saul grabbed the hem of his garment and tore it.

Then Samuel said, “Now the Lord has torn away the kingdom of Israel from you and given it to your neighbor, who is better than you.”

And Saul said, I have sinned, but honor me this day before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, and I will worship the Lord thy God. And Samuel returned for Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.”

But Saul’s disobedience and his boldness to appropriate sacred spiritual power exceeded the measure of Samuel’s tolerance.

Having commanded that Agag, the captive king of Amalekite, be brought to him, he said to him: “As your sword deprived your wives of children, so let your mother be deprived of a son among wives”; and put Agag to death in Gilgal. He himself returned to Ramah, and Saul returned to Gibeah Saul.

“And Samuel saw Saul no more until the day of his death; But Samuel grieved over Saul, because the Lord repented that Saul had made him king over Israel.”

(1 Kings 13, 5, 6, 10-15, 16, 20-22;

14, 6-16, 18-24, 27, 37, 39, 43, 45; 15, 3, 4, 7, 12, 15, 22-23, 27-28, 30, 33, 35)

“And the Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve for Saul, whom I have rejected, lest he should be king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided a king for Myself among his sons.

And Samuel said, How shall I go? Saul will hear and kill me. The Lord said: Take in your hand a heifer from the herd and say: I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; and invite Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice; I will show you what you should do, and you will anoint for Me the one I tell you about.

And Samuel did as the Lord told him.

When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city came out to meet him with trepidation and said: Is your coming peaceful?

And he answered: Peaceful, I came to sacrifice to the Lord; Sanctify yourself and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.”

When Jesse brought his seven sons to Samuel, Samuel said to him: The Lord has not chosen any of these, but are all your children here?

There is an even smaller one; “He is tending sheep,” answered Jesse.

“Come and get him,” said Samuel, “for we will not sit down to dinner until he comes here.”

"And he sent Jesse and they brought him. He was blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for it is he.

And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him among his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon David from that day forward; Samuel stood up and went to Ramah. But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.”

Seeing him in confusion and mental distress, Saul’s servants said to him: “Let our lord command his servants to look for a man skilled in playing the harp, and when an evil spirit from God comes upon you, he will play with his hand and calm you down.” .

Then they pointed out to the king David, the son of Jesse, “a brave and warlike man, wise in speech and conspicuous in appearance,” and with whom the Lord was with.

And Saul sent to Jesse for his son. “And David came to Saul and served before him, and he liked him very much and became his armor bearer. And when the spirit from God came upon Saul, David took the harp and played, and Saul felt more joyful and better, and the evil spirit departed from him.”

Thus, David, whose anointing by Samuel was not yet known to anyone, had already embarked on the path of honor by approaching the king.

A new circumstance drew everyone's attention to him.

The Philistines at this time launched a new attack on the Jews and camped between Succoth and Azek. Saul and the Israelites sat on the mountain on the other side, and between them there was a valley.

“And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a single combatant named Goliath, from Gath,” a giant in stature and clad from head to toe in copper armor. He mocked the Israelis and shouted to them: “Why did you go out to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a person from yourself and let him come to me; if he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves; if I defeat him and kill him, then you will be our slaves and serve us.”

“And Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, and they were greatly afraid and terrified.”

David, while Saul went to war, was at home with his father, while his three older brothers were in the army. It so happened that his father sent him to visit the camp about his brothers when Goliath came out, and David also heard his words.

And he said to the people standing with him: “What will they do to the one who kills this Philistine and removes the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should so revile the army of the living God?”

“If someone had killed him, the king would have given him great wealth, and would have given him his daughter in marriage, and would have made his father’s house free in Israel,” the Israelis said.

David, inspired by his zeal to defend the name of Israel and excited by the insolence of Goliath, volunteered to engage in single combat with him, despite the resistance of his brothers.

When they told Saul the words of David, the king called him and said to him: “You cannot go against this Philistine to fight him, for you are still a youth, but he has been a warrior from his youth.” “Your servant tended his father’s sheep,” David objected to the king, “and when a lion or a bear came and carried away a sheep from the herd, I chased after him and attacked him and took him from his mouth; and if he rushed at me, then I took him by the hair and struck and killed him; Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear, and the same thing will happen to this Philistine as to them, because he thus defies the army of the living God. The Lord, who delivered me from the lion and the bear, will also deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

“Then Saul said to David, Go, and may the Lord be with you.”

Saul dressed David in his own armor, but it constrained him. “And David took all this off himself. And he took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones from the stream, and put them in the shepherd's bag; and with a bag and a sling in his hand he came out against the Philistine.”

“Why are you coming at me with a stick and stones? Am I a dog? - he turned to young David with contempt. “Come to me, and I will give your body to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.”

“You come against me with sword and shield,” David answered Goliath, “but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied; Now the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will kill you, and take off your head, and I will give your corpse and the corpses of the army of the Philistines to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth, and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel. and this entire crowd will know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear, for this is the Lord’s war, and He will deliver you into our hands.”

And it came true according to faith, armed with nothing but faith: David struck the giant with a stone thrown from a sling, and with Goliath’s own sword, not having his own, cut off his head.

Seeing this, the Philistines fled, and complete victory remained with the Israelites, who pursued the enemies to Gath and Ekron.

Saul saw David's triumph and asked Abner: whose son is this young man? “May your soul live, O king; “I don’t know,” answered Abner.

“When David was returning after defeating the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul, and the head of the Philistine was in his hand. And Saul asked him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “The son of your servant Jesse is from Bethlehem.”

Jonathan, the son of Saul, was present, and his soul clung to the soul of David, and he loved him as his own soul. He became close to him all the more because Saul left David in his house from that day on.

“And Jonathan took off his robe, and gave it to David, and also his other garments, and his sword, and his bow, and his girdle. And David acted wisely wherever Saul sent him, and Saul made him commander over the military men; and this pleased the people and Saul's servants.

When they walked, upon David's return from the victory over the Philistine, women from all the cities of Israel came out to meet King Saul, singing and dancing, with solemn tympans and cymbals. And the women who were playing exclaimed, saying: Saul has conquered thousands, and David has conquered tens of thousands!

And Saul was greatly upset, and this word was unpleasant to him, and he said: They gave David tens of thousands, and me thousands; all he lacks is a kingdom. And from that day forward Saul looked suspiciously at David.”

Soon, during one of his fits of extreme irritation, Saul, listening to music, instead of the usual calm, succumbed to an angry feeling against David and threw his spear at him, “thinking: I will nail David to the wall; but David turned away from him twice.”

Envy took possession of Saul's heart more and more, and he plotted to destroy David, because he saw the love and respect of the people for him. But, he thought, “let not my hand be upon him, but the hand of the Philistines.” And he sent David to war against these still powerful enemies in the hope that David would be killed. If he succeeded in the war, the king promised him to marry his eldest daughter Merova to him.

“Who am I, and what is my life and my father’s family in Israel, that I should be the king’s son-in-law?” - David was humbly perplexed at this proposal from the king.

Meanwhile, Saul did not fulfill his promise to give Merov in marriage to the brave conqueror of the Philistines and gave her in marriage to Adriel from Mehol. But having learned that his youngest daughter, Michal, fell in love with David, he planned to make her a snare for him.

“Through your youngest daughter you will become related to me,” he promised David again. Meanwhile, probably wanting to catch him in his ambition, he ordered his close associates to secretly convey to him: “Behold, the king favors you, and all his servants love you; So be the king’s son-in-law.” But humility is elusive to deceit; With sincere simplicity, David answered the king’s servants: “Does it seem easy to you to be the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor and insignificant person.” When these words of David were conveyed to Saul, he, continuing “to have in his thoughts to destroy David by the hands of the Philistines,” said: “So tell David: the king does not want a vein (usual ransom) for the bride, but wants him to kill a hundred Philistines, in revenge on the king's enemies. And Saul’s servants told David these words, and David was pleased to become the king’s son-in-law.” And before the time appointed for killing one hundred Philistines was completed, David, with the help of his people, had already killed two hundred.

“And Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. And Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David and all Israel loved him, and that Michal the daughter of Saul loved David. And Saul began to fear David even more, and became his enemy for life.”

Finally, Saul began to directly tell his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Jonathan loved David very much and made every effort to save him and calm his father’s insane irritation. He reminded his father of all the virtues and merits of David, and this time Saul listened to the voice of his son and swore: “As the Lord lives, David will not die.”

But a man who indulges in passions that blind him does not remember his vows for long. Soon the new defeat that David inflicted on the Philistines again aroused envy in the heart of Saul, and in a fit of anger he threw a spear at David at the same time as he tried to calm the king’s indignant heart with music. But the spear pierced the wall, flying past David, who had escaped the blow, and hastened to take refuge in his house. “Saul sent servants to David’s house to guard him and kill him until the morning. And Michal his wife said to David, “If you do not save your soul this night, you will be killed tomorrow.” And Michal let David down from the window, and he went and ran away and was saved. And he came to Samuel in Ramah and told him everything that Saul had done to him. And he went with Samuel, and they stopped at Nawath (Ramah).”

Having learned about this, “Saul himself went to Ramah, and at that time the Spirit of God came upon him, and he went and prophesied until he came to Nawath in Ramah.” And, obeying the spiritual mood of the host of prophecies, “he also took off his clothes, and prophesied before Samuel, and all that day and all that night he lay naked; therefore they say: is Saul also a prophet?”

This softened mood of the spirit of his pursuer was favorable for David, and he “fled from Nawath in Ramah and came and said to Jonathan: What have I done, what is my iniquity, how have I sinned against your father, that he seeks my life?”

“And Jonathan said to him: No, you will not die; it will not happen. The Lord God of Israel lives! I will ask my father about this time tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow; and if he is planning to do you harm, I will reveal this in your ears, and let you go, and then go in peace: and may the Lord be with you, as he was with my father!

But you, too, if I am still alive, show me the mercy of the Lord. And if I die, then do not take your mercy away from my house forever, even when the Lord destroys all of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.

Thus Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David and said: May the Lord punish David's enemies! And again Jonathan swore to David his love for him, for he loved him as his own soul.”

Since in the following days sacred festivals were to be celebrated in the house of Saul, it was decided between friends that David would hide in the surrounding area at that time, while Jonathan would be at home to monitor the impression that his absence would make and warn him in a timely manner in this way: “At the place where you were hiding before, at the Azel stone,” Jonathan agreed, “I will fire three arrows, as if shooting at a target; then I will send a boy, saying: go find the arrows; and if I say to the youth: behold, the arrows are behind you, take them, then come to me, for peace be with you, and as the Lord lives, nothing will happen to you; If I say this to the youth: behold, there are arrows ahead of you, then you go away, for the Lord lets you go; and to what we have spoken, you and I, the Lord is witness between me and you forever.”

And David disappeared into the field, and Jonathan returned home. Noticing on the second day that David’s place at the table “remained empty,” Saul asked why he did not come to dinner either yesterday or today?

“David asked me to go to Bethlehem, since there is a related sacrifice in his city,” Jonathan answered his father.

“Then Saul was very angry with Jonathan and said to him, “You wicked and disobedient son!” Don’t I know that you made friends with the son of Jesse to your own shame and to your mother’s shame? For as long as the son of Jesse dwells on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will stand; now go and bring him to me, for he is doomed to death.”

“What did he do? Why are you killing him? - Jonathan objected to his father.

In response to these words, Saul threw a spear at his son to kill him. And Jonathan realized that his father had decided to kill David, and, in grief and great anger for the insult inflicted on his friend, he got up from the table and did not have dinner that day. The next morning, taking the boy with him, he went out into the field at the time that he had appointed for David, and said to the boy: “Run, look for the arrows that I shoot.”

“And the boy ran to where Jonathan was shooting the arrows, and Jonathan shouted after him, “Look, the arrow is ahead of you.” Run quickly, don't stop. And the youth collected the arrows and came to his master. He didn't know anything, only Jonathan and David knew what was going on. And Jonathan gave his weapon to the lad and said to him: Go, take it to the city.

The youth went, and David rose from the south side and fell with his face to the ground and bowed three times; and they kissed each other, and they both wept together, but David wept more.

And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace; and what we both swore in the name of the Lord, saying: The Lord be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, then let it be forever.”

And so they said goodbye. David, having lost hope of disarming the king’s anger, decided to leave the borders of his land.

(1 Kings 16, 1-5, 10-14, 16, 18, 21; 17, 4, 8-9, 11, 26, 25, 33-37, 45-47, 55, 57, 58; 18, 1, 4-9, 11, 17-18, 21-23, 25-26, 28-29; 19, 6, 11-12, 18-19, 22-24; 20, 1-2, 9, 12- 17, 20-23, 27-28, 30-32, 36-42)

In the land of Benjamin, in the city of Gibeah, there lived a noble man named Kis. Among the children he had, Saul especially stood out, a young man of exceptional beauty and enormous stature - head and shoulders taller than all the Israelites. The Kis family was engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. They were known among the people as good Israelites who were not reconciled to the foreign yoke and remained faithful to Jehovah God.

One day, Keys's donkeys disappeared. He told Saul to take a servant and go in search. Saul and his servant searched for the donkeys for three days, visited many places, but could not find the missing animals anywhere. Having reached the city of Ramah, Saul invited the servant to return home, since the family might consider them missing and would worry about them. But the servant advised Saul, before returning home, to go to Ramah to the prophet Samuel and ask him about the donkeys. Saul agreed with the sound advice, and they headed into the city. They met Samuel in the city center.

The day before Saul came to Ramah, the Lord said to Samuel: “Tomorrow at this time I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you anoint him as a ruler over My people Israel, and he will save My people from the hand of the Philistines.” When Samuel saw Saul approaching him, the Lord said to him: “ This is the man I told you about; he will rule my people" (). Seeing the tall and handsome Saul, Samuel realized that before him was a man worthy of the royal throne. He invited him to a festive dinner and asked him not to worry, since the missing donkeys had already been found. During lunch, Samuel seated his dear guest in the place of honor and treated him to the best dishes. Then he went with Saul to the roof of his house, and there they talked until late. And early in the morning Samuel woke up Saul and led him out of the city. The servant went further along the road to Gibeah, and Samuel, left alone with Saul, took a vessel of oil, poured it on Saul’s head and said: “Behold, the Lord anoints you to be the ruler of His inheritance [in Israel, and you will reign over the people of the Lord. ..]" (). The young man was shocked and could not believe that this was the will of God. He believed only when, on the way back home, exactly everything that Samuel predicted happened to him: near Rachel’s tomb, he met two people who said that the donkeys had been found and his father was looking forward to his return. Then, at the Tabor oak grove, he met three pilgrims who were heading to Rama for a sacrifice, and they gave him two loaves of bread; The most important, however, was the third meeting. Saul saw a host of prophets descending from the mountain. To the sound of harps, pipes and harps, they sang and prophesied. Saul felt the Spirit of the Lord come upon him, and he began to prophesy along with the other prophets. Many people who knew Saul were perplexed and asked each other: “ What happened to son Kisov? is Saul also among the prophets??» ().

The rite of Saul's anointing was performed in deep secrecy. Saul did not even tell his loved ones what happened to him in Rama. However, it was necessary for the Israelites to approve the election of Saul as king. For this purpose, Samuel called the people to Mizpah. The king was chosen by lot, and the lot fell on Saul, who had long been anointed king by Samuel. Saul was so embarrassed by his election as king that he disappeared into the baggage train, among the carts and pack animals. They found him and brought him to Samuel. Admiring the courageous appearance of the chosen king, Samuel said to the people: “Do you see whom the Lord has chosen? there is no one like him in all the people. Then the people exclaimed and said: Long live the king!” ().

After this, Samuel outlined and wrote down in the book the rights and duties of the king and dismissed everyone to their homes. Saul, at the head of his loyal people, went to his home, Gibeah. But not all the Israelites were happy with Saul's election. Some even said with contempt: “Should he save us?” (). But Saul, an intelligent and reserved man, pretended not to notice this, and was only waiting for an opportunity to prove to all the Israelites that they were not mistaken in him. Soon such an opportunity presented itself to him.

Saul defeats the Ammonites

Immediately after his election to the kingdom, Saul could not rule openly and exercise full power, for in Gibeah, as in many other Israeli cities, there were Philistine security detachments. Saul had neither a palace nor servants - he was still engaged in agriculture. At this time, the Ammonites again began their aggressive actions against the Israelites.

East of the Jordan River, in the mountains of Gilead, was the Israeli city of Jabez. Naash, the king of the Ammonites, pulled up huge forces to the city and was preparing for a decisive assault. The inhabitants of Jabez entered into negotiations with Nahash, but he replied that he agreed to conclude a peace treaty with them only on the condition that the Ammonites gouge out the right eye of every inhabitant of the city. The elders of Jabez asked for seven days of truce to consider this condition. Taking advantage of the short-term truce, they sent envoys to Saul to ask for help. Saul, having listened to the ambassadors, became enraged, cut into pieces two oxen with which he plowed the land, and sent them among the tribes of Israel, declaring “that this will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel” (). In response to the king's call, a large militia gathered at the appointed place. Early in the morning, the Israelites suddenly attacked the Ammonite camp and massacred them. Only a few of the Ammonites escaped.

Saul's victory made him a national hero. Now those Israelis who did not want to see Saul on the royal throne recognized him as worthy to bear the high title of king. After the victory, Samuel again convened a meeting in Gilgal, where all the people confirmed the election of Saul as king. Here Samuel, in a solemn ceremony, resigned the title of judge, transferring all his rights to the newly elected king. At the same time, he commanded both the king and all the people not to deviate from the true religion and to zealously preserve the faith of their fathers. Having transferred temporal power to Saul, Samuel continued to be the spiritual leader of all Israel.

Saul's first disobedience

Having defeated the Ammonites, Saul began to prepare for war with Israel’s most formidable enemy, the Philistines. First of all, he set out to form a permanent and strong army. From the bravest people he formed a three-thousand-strong guard. He placed a thousand soldiers under the command of his courageous and brave son Jonathan, and kept two thousand with himself. The brave Jonathan and his soldiers defeated the Philistine guard detachment in Gibeah at night and liberated his hometown from the enemy. The joyful news of this event spread like lightning throughout Israel and became the impetus for a nationwide uprising against its enemies.

Taking advantage of the general enthusiasm, Saul called the Israelites to Gilgal and there organized a rebel army from them. The Philistines, realizing the seriousness of the situation, concentrated their troops at Michmash. It was a brilliantly armed army, consisting not only of infantry detachments, but also of many war chariots. Saul's army was very poorly armed; only Saul and Jonathan had iron swords and spears. It is not surprising, therefore, that the appearance of a large Philistine army caused panic among the Israelites. People left their homes and hid in the mountains, and some crossed the Jordan, seeking refuge in the country of Gad and Gilead. Saul was at that time in Gilgal, waiting for Samuel, who should come at the appointed time and offer a sacrifice to God before the battle. The appointed day arrived, but Samuel still did not come. The army, infected with general panic, melted away every day, and in the end only six hundred of the most devoted warriors remained with the king. The situation was desperate. Any minute there could be a clash with the enemy, and Saul did not want to enter into battle without common prayer and sacrifice. Then the king himself decided to make a sacrifice to God, although he had no right to do so. But as soon as he completed the ritual of sacrifice, Samuel came. Saul respectfully came out to meet him, but heard from the prophet a terrible sentence that for violating the will of God the Lord would deprive him of the title of king and instead find him “ for yourself a husband after your own heart" (). Samuel left the Israelite camp, and Saul began to prepare for battle. With a small number of soldiers, Saul managed to put a large Philistine detachment to flight. Saul's son Jonathan especially distinguished himself in this battle. But this major victory did not decide the outcome of the war with the Philistines. The Philistines still dominated Israel.

Saul's second disobedience

Saul understood that sooner or later a decisive clash with the Philistines would occur, and he carefully prepared for it. To this end, he strengthened the capital of his kingdom, the city of Gibeah. But Saul directed all his energy to forming a regular army, enrolling the bravest and most courageous in it. Saul appointed his cousin Abner as commander of the army. In order to strengthen his kingdom, he successfully waged wars in the east with the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites. But especially in the southeast, Israel was worried about the Amalekites. These nomadic robber tribes who lived on the Sinai Peninsula were constant enemies of Israel from ancient times. And finally, the hour of reckoning approached for the Amalekites. Samuel, at the command of God, came to Gibeah to Saul and said to him: “Now go and defeat Amalek... and destroy everything that he has; [do not take anything from them, but destroy and consign everything that he has]..." (). Saul quickly gathered an army and marched against the Amalekites. The campaign was successful. The Amalekites were severely punished. Saul's soldiers killed everyone, not even sparing women and children. However, this time Saul showed self-will and did not fully fulfill the command of the Lord. He felt sorry for destroying the richest spoils of war - sheep, oxen and other valuable property of the Amalekites. In addition, he saved the life of the king of the Amalekites, Agag, by taking him captive. Having learned about such an unauthorized act of the king, Samuel suddenly appeared in Saul’s camp when he was celebrating his victory, and announced to him the will of God: “ Because you rejected the word of the Lord, and He rejected you so that you would not be king [over Israel]" (). Saul could not help but take into account the enormous authority of the prophet and humbly began to ask him for forgiveness. Fearing that news of their conflict would cause unrest among the people, Saul begged Samuel to remain in the camp for the sacrifice. But the angry prophet turned to leave. Seeing this, Saul wanted to forcefully detain Samuel and accidentally tore off the edge of his robe. Then Samuel said: “ Now the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you and given it to your neighbor, who is better than you...." (). Samuel nevertheless remained for a while in the camp, but only in order to fully carry out God’s judgment on the Amalekites. He ordered King Agag to be brought to the altar and cut it with his own hands in front of the people. Soon after this, Samuel went to his home in Ramah and did not meet with Saul again until his death.

Although the first king of Israel was chosen by God, he was not obedient to the will of God in everything, for which the Lord deprived him of special grace.

David's anointing as king

Samuel painfully endured the break with Saul and grieved for him for a long time. One day the Lord appeared to him and said: “ How long will you grieve over Saul, whom I have rejected from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for among his sons I have provided for Myself a king." ().

In order not to incur the wrath of Saul, who from that time began to vigilantly monitor the actions of Samuel, the prophet decided to secretly anoint a new candidate for the kingdom. To this end, he took a sacrificial animal and went to Bethlehem for the sacrifice. The elders of the city knew about the rift between him and Saul, therefore, fearing Saul’s wrath, they did not greet Samuel very cordially and directly asked about the purpose of his arrival. But Samuel managed to convince them that he had arrived solely for religious purposes, and invited them all to make a sacrifice with him. Jesse, a resident of Bethlehem, and his entire family were also invited to participate in the sacrifice. When the sacrifice was made, Samuel expressed to Jesse his desire to become better acquainted with his sons. Jesse, one by one, starting with the eldest, began to bring his seven sons to Samuel, but the Lord did not choose any of them as king. Then Samuel asked Jesse if all his sons had come with him, and when he heard from him that there was another son, the youngest, who was tending the sheep, he ordered him to be called immediately. Soon, Jesse’s youngest son, David, also appeared to Samuel. Samuel liked the young man. » He was blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face" (). His richly gifted soul burned with love for God. Possessing poetic ability, David already in his youth composed wondrous psalms in which he glorified the Creator of the Universe. He poured out his sublime religious feelings in skillful playing of the harp, which was an inseparable companion in his shepherd's life.

While admiring David, Samuel heard the voice of God commanding him: “ Arise, anoint him, for it is he" (). Obeying the voice of God, Samuel took the horn of oil and, in the presence of his brothers, anointed David as king. The ceremony took place in the family circle, and no one in Bethlehem had any idea that the future king of Israel was in the city. From the time Samuel anointed David as king, the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and began to rest on David, and Saul began to be troubled by an evil spirit. Tormented by an evil spirit, the king became gloomy and suspicious, he often suffered from attacks of unbearable melancholy. In order to somehow calm the restless spirit of the king rejected by God, those close to him advised Saul to find a skilled musician and listen to good music during attacks. Soon a talented musician was found who played the harp beautifully. He turned out to be a modest shepherd boy from Bethlehem named David. This is how two Israeli kings met for the first time: one rejected, the other blessed by God. Saul fell in love with young David and even made him his armor bearer. David's wondrous playing of the harp, accompanied by inspired songs, calmed Saul's soul and restored him to health; but then the war between the Israelites and the Philistines began again. Saul urgently began to gather an army, and David returned to his homeland in Bethlehem and continued to herd sheep.

Heroic feat of David

The Philistines, having crossed the border of Israel, camped near the city of Succoth. Saul moved towards the Philistines, blocking their path to his state. Both armies positioned themselves in combat readiness on two hills opposite each other. Neither side dared to be the first to engage in battle; then a warrior of heroic build named Goliath came out of the Philistine camp into the valley separating both camps. Clad in heavy armor, armed with a huge sword and a long spear, he approached the Israeli troops and shouted: “Why did you come out to fight? Am I not a Philistine, and you the servants of Saul? Choose a person from yourself and let him come to me; if he can fight me and kill me, then we will be your slaves; if I defeat him and kill him, then you will be our slaves...” (). Of course, among Saul’s soldiers there was not a single brave man who would dare to fight this giant. Finding that no one wanted to fight him, Goliath shouted all sorts of insults at the Israelites. This continued for forty days. Saul was powerless to do anything. He promised a big reward, tax exemption and the hand of his eldest daughter to the daredevil who accepted Goliath's challenge. But the giant inspired such horror in everyone that there were no brave souls.

Among the Israelite soldiers were the three eldest sons of Jesse. One day Jesse called David, gave him food and sent him to the Israeli camp to visit his brothers. David arrived at the gathering place just as Goliath was mocking the cowardice of the Israelites and insulting their God. Outraged by his impudence, David was inflamed with love for God and decided to punish the uncircumcised Philistine. David told his brothers and nearby soldiers about his intention to fight Goliath. The brothers, experienced warriors, ridiculed him, and when he continued to stand his ground, they became seriously angry and ordered him to immediately return home to his sheep. The rumor about the brave shepherd boy spread among the soldiers and reached the king. Saul called David into his tent and said to him in a fatherly manner: “You cannot go against this Philistine; to fight him, for you are still a youth, but he has been a warrior from his youth.” But David stood his ground. Seeing such determination of the brave young man, Saul agreed and said to him: “ Go, and may the Lord be with you" (). The king put his armor and helmet on him, girded him with his sword and ordered him to walk around the tent to see if David could move in heavy armor. But David felt awkward in them and declared that he preferred to fight in his usual shepherd's clothes. Then Saul allowed him to do as he wanted. Taking his shepherd's crook, sling and bag, David went to the valley where Goliath was at that time. On the way, he stopped at a stream, chose five smooth stones and put them in his bag. With this armor and with the hope of God's help, he boldly went to meet Goliath. When Goliath saw young David, with a staff in his hands, he could not help laughing and shouted to him contemptuously: “Why are you coming at me with a stick [and stones]? Am I a dog? (). But then he probably decided that the Israelis were making a mockery of him by sending a teenager to him. Swearing and cursing David with his gods, he threatened to throw the body of the daredevil to birds of prey and beasts. In response to the stream of insults, David said to his opponent: “ You come against me with sword and spear and shield, but I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, which you have defied; Now the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will kill you... and all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel... and that the Lord saves not by sword and spear" (). A tense silence reigned on both hills. The Philistines waited impatiently for their invincible giant to deal a mortal blow to the enemy, and the Israelites watched with a feeling of regret the brave young man who, with such naive self-confidence, walked towards inevitable death. Goliath, holding a spear in his hands, was preparing to strike. Confident of his superiority, he did not even follow the movements of his opponent. Meanwhile, David quickly took a stone out of his bag, put it into the sling, quickly ran towards the hero and threw the stone from the sling with all his might. The stone, whistling through the air, pierced Goliath's forehead, and he fell helplessly to the ground. David instantly rushed to the stunned giant, grabbed his huge sword and cut off his head with one blow. The unexpected defeat caused unimaginable panic in the Philistine camp. The Israelites, taking advantage of the enemy's confusion, attacked them with such fury that the entire Philistine army fled. The Israelites pursued the Philistines to their cities of Gath and Ekron. After the battle, David presented Saul with Goliath's head as a trophy, and hung the giant's weapon in his tent. But David’s main trophy in this combat was military glory and popularity among the Israeli people.

The glory of David and the jealousy of Saul

As a reward for his valiant deed, Saul entrusted David with command of a detachment of soldiers. Saul's son and heir to the throne Jonathan, from the very first meeting, “loved David as his own soul” (). As a token of gratitude, he gave him his cloak, tunic, bow, sword and belt. David, despite his young age, coped well with the responsibilities of a military leader. The rumor about the feat of young David quickly spread throughout Israel. When the army returned from the battlefield, women, old and young, came out of the cities and enthusiastically greeted the victors. They danced and sang songs to the accompaniment of musical instruments. And among these songs, Saul’s suspicious ear heard a refrain that was offensive to him: “ Saul defeated thousands, and David defeated tens of thousands.! A gloomy suspicion sank into the king’s soul towards the young hero, and he said with resentment to those around him: “They gave David tens of thousands, and they gave me thousands; all he lacks is a kingdom" (). Tormented by jealousy and envy, Saul lost peace and began to rage again. To calm the king's spirit, they called David. The young man entered the king and began to touchingly play the harp. But this time the music did not help Saul. Anger against David burned in his soul. Suddenly he grabbed a spear and threw it at David. The young man dodged at the last moment and the spear pierced the wall. Seeing that the Lord was protecting David, Saul from that time began to fear him and decided to get rid of him by any means. For this purpose, he appointed him to command troops of a thousand people and sent him to war with the Philistines. But this time the young military leader went from victory to victory, winning more and more glory and love of the people.

At the same time, Saul's jealousy grew. The king did not yet dare to openly oppose David, but secretly drew up a plan of action. One day he promised David that he would give him his eldest daughter as a wife if he doubled his courage in the fight against the Philistines. The king hoped that his rival would die at the hands of his enemies. When the time came to marry David’s eldest daughter, Saul gave her to another, and gave David his youngest daughter Michal. The girl was very happy about this, since she had long fallen in love with the young hero.

Saul's open persecution of David

When David became Saul's son-in-law, the king began to fear him even more “and became his enemy for life” (). Now he moved from secret actions to open persecution of his son-in-law. One day, Saul ordered his servants to kill David, but Jonathan warned his friend in time and helped him hide, and he himself went to intercede for him. After much persuasion, Saul relented and allowed David to return. However, the reconciliation did not last long. David gained more and more victories over the Philistines, which aroused fear and envy in Saul. In a moment of anger, he threw a spear at his opponent a second time and missed again. This time David realized that he needed to save himself before it was too late, and as soon as it got dark, he ran away from the royal palace to his home. Having learned about this, Saul sent assassins to him. But Michal saved her husband at the last moment. She helped him down from the window, and laid the statue in his bed, dressing it in David's clothes and wrapping it tightly in a blanket. When the soldiers of the royal guard entered, she showed them to the bed and said that David was seriously ill and could not get up. Then Saul ordered David to be brought to him along with the bed and the sick man killed before his eyes. The deception was discovered, and Michal was brought to his father. She narrowly escaped punishment by saying that David had threatened to kill her if she did not help him escape.

Meanwhile, David safely left the city of Gibeah and went to Ramah, seeking protection from Samuel. Having learned about this, Saul sent his servants to Ramah three times to seize David, but this failed, since David was under the protection of Samuel and his disciples - the prophets. Secretly, through Jonathan, David learned that there could be no more reconciliation with the king. As a faithful friend, Jonathan asked David to take care of the safety of his life. It was unsafe to stay in Ramah for a long time, so David decided to retire to his homeland in the tribe of Judah. Having tenderly said goodbye to his beloved friend, David secretly began to make his way to the south of the country to his tribe. On the way, he went to Nob to visit the high priest Ahimelech and, with his permission, took the sword of Goliath hanging in the temple. At home, many received David with joy. Brave people flocked to him in the mountains where he was hiding. dissatisfied with Saul's policies. From these people devoted to him, David created a disciplined detachment of soldiers of six hundred people.

Having learned where the fugitive was, the angry king, at the head of a three-thousand-strong detachment of selected warriors, moved to Judea to catch David. Along the way, Saul entered Nob and put to death the high priest and all the priests for allegedly protecting the king’s sworn enemy, David. Only the son of Ahimelech, the priest Abiathar, managed to escape death. He fled from the burning city under cover of darkness, came to David and became his closest assistant. David realized that no mercy could be expected from the angry Saul. Therefore, he sent his parents across the Jordan and left them under the protection of the Moabite king, while he himself returned to the land of Judah and hid in mountainous, desert places, where it was easy to hide from pursuit.

One day, during the pursuit, Saul entered a cave to relieve himself. By chance, David and his friends hid in the depths of this cave. David could easily kill Saul, but he did not want to stain himself with the blood of God's anointed. He just quietly crept up and cut off the edge of Saul's cloak. Then, when the king and his detachment moved on further, David climbed to the top of the rock and shouted to him: “My lord, king!.. Behold, today your eyes see that the Lord has delivered you into my hands today in the cave; and they told me to kill you; but I spared you and said: “I will not lift my hand against my master, for he is the Lord’s anointed.” My father! look at the hem of your garment in my hand; I cut off the hem of your garment, but did not kill you...” (). Saul was touched by his son-in-law's generous act. He cried, called David his son, predicted that he would be king in Israel, and after this incident he even stopped persecuting David for some time. However, driven by an evil spirit, he again rushed in pursuit of his rival.

Hiding from pursuit, David this time showed his noble generosity towards the evil and unjust king. One night, David and his armor bearer snuck into the king's camp and entered the tent in which Saul and his captain Abner were sleeping. The armor bearer wanted to kill the king, but David did not allow him to raise his hand against God’s anointed. He only took the king’s spear and a vessel of water from the tent and returned safely to the soldiers who were waiting for him. At dawn, David again climbed to the top of the inaccessible rock and from there loudly denounced Abner for poorly guarding his king, and Saul for acting unfairly towards his son-in-law. Then he ordered someone to be sent for the royal spear and the Vessel. Saul, embarrassed by the incident and touched by David's generosity, abandoned the pursuit and returned to Gibeah.

Death of Samuel and Saul

David understood that the king would not rest until he captured him alive or dead. He had no choice but to leave the borders of Israel and hide where Saul’s power did not extend. And David decided to take an offensive and humiliating step: he offered his services to Achish, king of the Philistine city of Gath. The former enemy willingly accepted him into service. It was beneficial for Achish that Israel should be weakened by internal strife. Now he could contribute to these feuds by supporting David against Saul. The king of Gath ordered David to raid the Israeli lands, but David did not even think of offending his fellow tribesmen. Instead, in secret from the Philistines, he devastated the lands of the Amalekites, the eternal enemies of Israel, and gave the spoils to Achish. Seeing David's zeal, Achish was glad to have such a talented military leader.

Meanwhile, the city of Rama plunged into deep mourning, as the great prophet, teacher and former judge, Samuel, died. In the person of Samuel, the people of Israel lost their spiritual leader, and Saul, thus, got rid of another formidable enemy. The death of an authoritative man who had enormous influence on the people freed Saul’s hands, and he decided to deal with all the supporters of Samuel, and with them all kinds of fortune-tellers and magicians. After the beating, an atmosphere of terror and horror reigned in the country. At this unfavorable time for the young Israeli state, dark clouds were approaching its blue sky. A powerful army of united Philistine princes invaded its borders. Hundreds of war chariots and thousands of iron-clad warriors camped in the Valley of Ezreel. Saul stationed his army on the slopes of Mount Gilboa, from where he could see the entire valley. The sight of the huge Philistine camp aroused in him horror and resignation before the inevitability of fate. The king with deep prayer turned to the Lord for help, “ but the Lord did not answer him either in a dream, or through the Urim, or through the prophets" (). Then he asked his entourage if there was any soothsayer nearby who could predict the future. The astonished servants replied that he had ordered all the soothsayers to be killed. But then it turned out that not far from the camp there lives an old sorceress who summons the souls of the dead and learns the future from them. At night, having changed his clothes, accompanied by two armor bearers, Saul came to the house of the sorceress and asked her to summon the spirit of Samuel. The sorceress agreed and began fortune telling. Suddenly she screamed in horror. “[Tell me] what do you see?” – the king asked her. - “I see, as it were, a god emerging from the earth.” Saul asked her again, “What does he look like?” The woman replied: “An elderly man comes out of the ground, dressed in long clothes” (). Then Saul realized that it was the spirit of Samuel and bowed down to the ground. The king asked the prophet for advice on what to do in this difficult hour, for the formidable Philistines declared war on Israel, and the Lord retreated from him and did not reveal His will to him. To the king’s request, Samuel replied: “Why are you asking me, when the Lord has departed from you?.. The Lord will take the kingdom from your hands and give it to your neighbor, David... Tomorrow you and your sons you will with me, and the Lord will deliver the camp of Israel into the hands of the Philistines” (). The terrible news shocked Saul so much that he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.

The next day the battle broke out. The Israelis were completely defeated; the surviving warriors fled. Saul's three sons, including the brave Jonathan, died along with thousands of others. Saul, wounded, managed to escape from the battlefield, but the Philistines followed on his heels. Seeing that it was impossible to escape, Saul called his armor bearer and asked him to kill him. The young man, however, did not dare to raise his hand against God’s anointed, and then Saul committed suicide by throwing himself on his sword. The faithful servant followed his example.

Having defeated the Israeli army, the Philistines captured the Ezreel Valley and thus occupied an advantageous strategic position for the conquest of all of Canaan. The state that Saul had created with such difficulty ceased to exist. The period of Saul's reign lasted thirty years - from 1040 to 1010.

Reign of David (1010–970)

David did not take part in this battle and was deeply saddened to hear about the death of Saul, Jonathan and many of the valiant sons of Israel. The death of Saul saddened David, since his death simultaneously meant the decline of the first united Israeli state. The death of Jonathan was a great personal grief for David. He lost his only truly true friend, devoted and selfless. David expressed his grief in a lamentable song: “I grieve for you, my brother Jonathan; you were very dear to me; your love was for me higher than a woman’s love!” ().

After the death of the Israeli king, the elders of the tribe of Judah called David to Hebron and elected him king of Judah. At the same time, beyond the Jordan, the surviving military leader Abner, with the support of the ten northern tribes, proclaimed Saul's fourth son, Ishbosheth, king. Hostilities began between the armies of David and Ishbosheth. “And there was a long strife between the house of Saul and the house of David. David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul weakened more and more” ().

The civil war lasted seven years. When Ishbosheth and Abner were killed as a result of revenge and betrayal, David remained the only serious contender for the Israeli throne. Representatives of the northern tribes, frightened by the growing power of the Philistines, gathered in Hebron and proclaimed David king over all Israel. Thus, after seven years of reigning in Hebron, David became king of the entire Israeli state. Over the next thirty years of his reign, he conquers the Philistines and creates the most powerful state in the entire history of the Jewish people.

Jerusalem - the capital of the kingdom of David

The Philistines, having learned that their vassal had become king of Israel, decided to catch him and punish him as a rebel. A powerful Philistine army entered the Rephaim Valley, west of Jerusalem, thus cutting off the south from the north. David found himself in a very difficult situation. His army, although replenished with warriors from the northern tribes, could not withstand the war chariots of the Philistines. Therefore, he decided not to repeat Saul’s mistake and, avoiding open battles, limit himself to guerrilla warfare. Here he had a wealth of experience accumulated during his wanderings. With God's help, David not only stopped the enemy's further advance deeper into the country, but also put his army to flight, pursuing the Philistines all the way to the city of Gath. From that time on, the Philistines were never able to regain their former power, and over time they even had to recognize the hegemony of Israel. The united kingdom of David did not have its own capital. Hebron was located too far to the south to meet all the requirements of a capital city. Taking these circumstances into account, David turned his attention to Jerusalem. This city, located on Mount Zion, belonged to the Jebusites for four hundred years and was an impregnable fortress. Therefore, conquering Jerusalem was not easy. But David, with the help of the talented commander Joab, managed to take the impregnable fortress. He made the hill with the fortress in the southern part of the city the capital of Israel and called it “the city of David.” He immediately launched a large construction project to fortify the city and decided to build himself a palace. To this end, David entered into trade relations with King Hiram of Tire, who sent him Lebanese cedar wood for construction, as well as architects and artisans. With their help, a building was built that was not inferior to the palaces of the most powerful kings of neighboring states. Following the example of the pagan kings, David created a large harem for himself at the palace, since harems were at that time a measure of royal greatness. From his wives and concubines, David had many sons and daughters, who filled every corner of the palace with laughter and quarrels. But, taking care of the strengthening and decoration of his capital, David did not forget that the main calling of Israel was to bring the light of true religion among the pagan world. David saw the power of Israel in strengthening the religious life of the people. Therefore, he paid special attention to the growth and prosperity of the religious life of his state, which under Saul fell into great decline. David decided to make his capital Jerusalem the religious center of Israel. For this purpose, he decided to move to Jerusalem the main shrine of the people - the Ark of the Covenant, which since the time of Samuel had been in the small town of Kariath-Jearim. David went for the Ark along with his courtiers and an army of thirty thousand. The ark on a chariot drawn by oxen was accompanied by priests and a crowd of thousands of people, who expressed their joy by singing, dancing and playing various musical instruments. But on the way, the unexpected happened: one Israeli, named Uzzah, touched the Ark and immediately fell to the ground dead. This shocked David so much that he ordered the procession to be stopped immediately and the Ark to be left in the custody of an Israeli named Abeddar. Only three months later did he decide to carry the Ark to the capital in an even more solemn atmosphere. In front of a large crowd of people, the priests reverently lifted the sparkling gold Ark of the Covenant onto their shoulders and solemnly headed to Jerusalem, where a new Tabernacle had already been built. The procession was accompanied by solemn singing, playing musical instruments and the jubilation of a crowd of thousands of people. A rejoicing King David walked ahead. He was dressed in the snow-white long robe of a priest. A royal diadem sparkled on his head, and in his hand he held his harp and played it. Every six steps he made a sacrifice to God. Captivated by a feeling of religious delight, “David galloped with all his might before the Lord” (), pouring out his delight in wondrous psalms. The Ark was solemnly installed in the new Tabernacle in Zion. When the Ark was brought into the Holy of Holies, abundant sacrifices were also made in the new temple.

Despite his happy life, David was constantly worried that he lived in a luxurious palace made of cedar wood, and the Ark of God was in a tent. He wanted to build a temple to Jehovah that would surpass the royal palace in its splendor. He expressed his thought to the prophet Nathan. The Prophet warmly approved this idea, but that same night he received a revelation from God, who forbade David to build a temple, since he had fought all his life and shed a lot of blood. David humbly submitted to the will of God and abandoned his intention to decorate his capital with a magnificent temple. Such a temple was later built by his successor, Solomon.

Expansion and strengthening of the kingdom of the Jews

Having united all the Israeli tribes and conquered the Philistines, David began to expand the borders of his state. First of all, he subjugated the Moabites and Edomites. Then, against his will, a war broke out with his friendly tribe of the Ammonites. The war was difficult and dangerous, for the Ammonites called on five Aramean kings for help. Nevertheless, the decisive battle ended in complete victory for the Israelis. Thus, a significant part of Syria also came under David’s rule. From now on, a powerful Israeli detachment was stationed in Damascus, and the royal governor was stationed there. Thanks to his conquests, David created a major power, the borders of which extended from Egypt to the Euphrates itself. The Philistines, defeated by David, gradually lost their political independence. Israel finally triumphed over its enemies and entered the only great power period in its history. Under King David, the Lord’s prediction to Abraham that his descendants would inherit the earth was fulfilled. from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (). While expanding the borders of his state, David did not forget to deal with its internal structure. The basis of the power of the state was the army, and first of all the king devoted his attention to it. But in the field of weapons he did not introduce any innovations. The army still consisted of infantry armed with spears, slings and swords. For some reason, David did not take into service the formidable weapon of the Philistines, war chariots. The core of the army was the “brave band” - six hundred of David's companions from the time of his wanderings. David gave them various privileges, endowed them with conquered lands, and appointed them to high positions. This army elite was supplemented by two large detachments of mercenaries. In case of war, all men capable of bearing arms were conscripted into the militia. The command of the army was in the hands of Joab. Three main military commanders and thirty lower ranks were directly subordinate to him. Together they formed the main military council, subordinate to the king himself.

In civil administration, David also carried out some reforms. The state was headed by a council of elders and a chancellor. The largest officials were two royal treasurers, district tax collectors, clerks and seven chief managers, who were in charge of the king's fields, vineyards, orchards, and large and small livestock. The king paid great attention to legal proceedings. As a result of these reforms, order reigned in the country and prosperity grew. David enriched his treasury and the temple treasury with enormous spoils of war in gold, silver and copper. He did not kill the prisoners, but turned them into slaves, forcing them to work for the benefit of Israel.

But the king was especially concerned about the church and liturgical life of Israel. After the construction of the new Tabernacle and the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant there, for greater splendor of serving the Lord and its stronger impact on the religious feeling of the people, David introduced singing and music. Specially appointed Levites played and sang in the temple not only on holidays, but also during daily sacrifices. The Levites sang sacred songs or psalms that David himself composed. In total he wrote about eighty psalms. In them, the psalmist expressed his fiery faith and love for God, hope for salvation, and his repentance for his sins. His psalms are filled with prophecies about the coming Savior of the world. The king spoke about his sufferings in such a way that his words were fulfilled in Christ:

"I am... reproached by people and despised by the people. Everyone who sees me mocks me, saying with their lips, nodding their heads: “He trusted in the Lord; let him deliver him, let him save him, if he pleases him.” My strength has dried up... my tongue has clung to my throat... my hands and feet have been pierced... they are dividing my garments among themselves and casting lots for clothing" (). During David's reign, twenty-four thousand priests and Levites served at the temple. David divided them all into twenty-four orders, each of which performed its duties at the Tabernacle for a week. At the head of the clergy under David there were two high priests:

Zadok, who was nominated by Saul after the massacre of the priests at Nob, and Abiathar, who escaped from the hand of Saul and became David’s faithful assistant.

David's Moral Fall

David's constant successes and glory weakened his humble trust in God, aroused feelings of arrogance and autocracy in his soul, and led the king to moral decline. This happened during the war between Israel and the Ammonites. The Israeli army led by Joab was besieging the city of Rabbah. The king was in Jerusalem at that time. One day he climbed onto the roof of his magnificent palace and saw a very beautiful woman bathing in the neighboring courtyard. David was inflamed with passion for her and sent to find out who she was. The servants reported that this was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, a Hittite, one of the king’s bravest warriors. Uriah was with Joab on a campaign against the Ammonites, and David, taking advantage of his husband’s absence, seduced his wife. After some time, it turned out that Bathsheba was expecting a child. Then the king decided to get rid of his offended husband in a vile way. He summoned Uriah to report on the progress of the war, and then gave him the opportunity to rest and spend a few days with his young wife. But Uriah, as a valiant warrior, did not want to amuse himself with his wife at a time when his comrades were dying on the battlefield. Then David sent a soldier back to Joab and gave him a sealed letter, in which, among other things, he wrote: “Place Uriah where will the most powerful battle, and retreat from him so that he will be struck and die” (). Joab obediently carried out this shameful order, and poor Uriah, abandoned by everyone on the battlefield, died alone at the walls of Rabbah. David took Bathsheba, who was sincerely grieving over the death of her husband, into his harem, and she soon bore him a son.

But the king’s heinous crime did not escape the justice of the all-seeing God. To convict David of his crime and call him to repentance, the Lord sends the prophet Nathan to him. The king met the prophet with all honors and prepared to listen to the instructive speeches of God's messenger. Then Nathan, in a sad voice, told David a parable about the unjust rich man: “In one city there were two men, one rich and the other poor; The rich man had a lot of small and large livestock, but the poor man had nothing except one lamb, which he bought small and fed, and she grew up with him along with his children... and was like a daughter to him; and a stranger came to a rich man, and he was sorry to take from his sheep or oxen to prepare [dinner] for the stranger,... but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who came to him.” David exclaimed indignantly that the rich man deserved to die. In response to this indignation, the prophet, looking into the eyes of the king, said: “You are the man... [who did this].” And then he added that since “by this deed you have given the enemies of the Lord a reason to blaspheme Him, the son born to you will die” (). A few days later the child died. David understood the vileness of his act and sincerely repented. He poured out his feeling of repentance in a fiery penitential psalm: “ God have mercy on me..." (). Bathsheba remained David’s beloved wife even after the death of her firstborn. A year later she again bore him a son. This was Solomon, the future king of Israel.

Absalom's rebellion

It must be said that from that sad event when David illegally married Bathsheba, the calm days of his reign ended for him, and various disasters began to visit him. Before David had time to recover from the death of his first-born from Bathsheba, a disgusting incident occurred in the palace. Amnon, the firstborn son of David, was inflamed with love for the beautiful Tamar, the sister of his half-brother Absalom, and dishonored her by committing violence against her. Absalom defended his disgraced sister and killed Amnon, and he himself fled to the king of Geshur. Three years later, David forgave his fratricidal son and allowed him to live in Jerusalem. Returning to his homeland, Absalom secretly began to prepare a rebellion against his father. Absalom was already thirty years old, and he was impatient to take the royal throne. Pursuing your goals; he did everything to discredit his father and ingratiate himself with the crowd. Gradually he weaved a network of his intrigues throughout the country. Through secret envoys, he rebelled among the northern tribes, who promised him armed support in the event of an uprising. These tribes could not forgive David for overthrowing the dynasty of Saul. They also did not like him because he came from the tribe of Judah, with whom they had a long-standing enmity.

Having prepared an uprising, Absalom asked his father for permission to travel to Hebron, ostensibly in order to offer a sacrifice of gratitude to God for returning from exile to Jerusalem. Without guessing anything, David agreed, and Absalom went to Hebron, accompanied by two hundred of his followers. In Hebron, he called out all the participants in the conspiracy and soon gathered a large army, which included warriors from almost all the northern tribes. The rebels proclaimed Absalom king and marched on Jerusalem. David learned of the rebellion at the very last moment and hastily left the capital on foot, taking with him the Ark of the Covenant. He was accompanied by a guard of his old comrades, numbering six hundred people, and two detachments of Philistine mercenaries, devoted to him body and soul. Having crossed the Jordan, David gathered a large army there and prepared for battle. Absalom, having captured Jerusalem, led his army against David. The battle took place in the Forest of Ephraim and ended with the complete defeat of the rebels and the death of Absalom. Upon learning of the death of his son, David was greatly saddened and bitterly mourned this tragedy.

Accession of Solomon and death of David (970)

After the suppression of the rebellion, David again took the royal throne and ruled Israel until his death. In the last years of his life, David became very decrepit, and no one doubted that the days of his life were numbered. In the palace, a struggle for the throne began between his sons. Adonijah and Solomon were serious contenders. Adonijah, the son of Haggithah, was a handsome and arrogant youth. With the support of such influential figures as Joab and the high priest Abiathar, he had no doubt of victory and rode around Jerusalem in the royal chariot with a palace guard of fifty people. Solomon was less popular, but he was supported by influential figures led by the high priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan. As the son of David's most beloved wife, Bathsheba, Solomon was his father's favorite and had a great opportunity to take the royal throne. But Adonijah decided to pave his way to the throne at all costs. He arranged a large feast for his supporters, at which he probably wanted to proclaim himself king. It was attended by Joab, Abiathar, all the king's sons except Solomon, and many other prominent influential persons. The prophet Nathan found out about this and ordered Bathsheba to urgently inform David that Adonijah arbitrarily intends to proclaim himself king. Bathsheba, entering the sick king, said: “My lord king! You swore to your handmaid by the Lord your God: “Your son Solomon will reign after me, and he will sit on my throne.” And now, behold, Adonijah reigned, and you, my lord king, do not know About" (). At this time, the prophet Nathan came to the king and confirmed the words of Bathsheba. Then the king said to his servants: “Take with you the servants of your lord and put Solomon my son on my mule and bring him to Gion. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there as king over Israel, and blow the trumpet and shout: “Long live King Solomon!” (). David's order was carried out, and Solomon, in royal robes, accompanied by his many supporters and a jubilant crowd of people, solemnly returned to the palace and sat down on the royal throne. Having learned about this, the participants in the feast hastily dispersed, and Adonijah ran to the Tabernacle and grabbed the copper horns of the altar of burnt offering. Solomon pardoned Adonijah on the condition that he would not oppose the king. But Adonijah did not keep his word, and Solomon ordered him to be put to death. Joab was killed along with Adonijah. Solomon did not put the high priest Abiathar to death, but only deprived him of the right to serve. Before his death, David called his son to him. and commanded him: “... Be of good courage and keep the covenant of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes and His commandments... as it is written in the Law of Moses..." (). He also commanded Solomon to build a magnificent temple for the Lord. David died in the seventieth year of his life, after forty years of reign, leaving his son as an inheritance a large state, the borders of which extended from Damascus to Egypt and from the Mediterranean Sea to the Syrian Desert. As a legacy to all the peoples of the earth, the divinely inspired prophet David left his wondrous psalms, breathing with unshakable faith and fiery love for God. The Psalter is a divinely inspired poetic chronicle of the spiritual life of the great psalmist. She amazes everyone with her amazing truth. And just as the psalms are great for their depth of religious feeling, so great was the life of David, although it was not without moral failures.

Solomon - Wise Judge and Ruler

At the time of his accession to the throne, Solomon was only twenty years old, but he turned out to be an energetic and wise ruler. He wished to begin his reign with a prayer of gratitude to God. For this purpose, he went to Gibeon, where the Tabernacle of Moses was located at that time, and there he offered a thousand burnt offerings. The Lord appeared to him in a dream at night and said:

"Ask for what to give you". Solomon answered the Lord:

"Grant... to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and discern what is good and what is evil." The Lord said to Solomon: “ Because you asked for this and did not ask for a long life, did not ask for wealth... but asked for intelligence... behold, I give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there was no one like you before you or after you no one like you will rise…» ().

After this epiphany, Solomon joyfully returned to Jerusalem, made a generous sacrifice at the Ark of the Covenant and arranged a feast for all the inhabitants of the city. Then he sat down in the judge's seat and began to sort out controversial issues. At this time two women came to him. Their case was very complex and unusual. One of the women, crying, told the king the following: “This woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth in her presence in this house; On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth... and the woman’s son died at night, for she slept with him; and she arose at night and took my son from me while I, your handmaid, was sleeping, and laid him to her breast, and she laid her dead son to my breast; In the morning I got up to feed my son, and behold, he was dead; and when I looked at him in the morning, it was not my son whom I gave birth to.”

The accused denied everything, both women screamed and cursed. After listening to the women, Solomon ordered to bring a sword. When this was done, he said: “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” Then the accusing woman exclaimed in horror: “Oh, my lord! give her this child alive and do not kill him.” The other one calmly said: “Let it be neither for me nor for you, chop it up” (). Solomon saw who the mother of the living child was and ordered him to be given to the first woman. The king's wisdom amazed everyone present.

Having inherited a strong and rich state from his father, Solomon directed his policy towards strengthening peace with neighboring peoples and the prosperity of his country. To strengthen the southern borders of Israel and strengthen the political power of the country, the young king married the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh, receiving the Philistine city of Gezer as a dowry. Solomon did not break off friendly ties with the rich king of Tire, Hiram, which were still established under Saul. The neighboring peoples in the west and east, conquered under David, no longer posed a great threat to Solomon. Now, for the first time since time immemorial, the Jewish people could live in peace and engage in peaceful work without hindrance. “And Judah and Israel lived peacefully, each under his own vineyard and under his own fig tree, from Dan to Bathsheba, all the days of Solomon,” writes the divinely inspired chronicler ().

Wisely conducting foreign policy, Solomon did not forget about the internal affairs of his state. Having removed his ill-wishers and enemies from the road, he appointed his supporters and friends to all senior administrative posts. In order to weaken the northern tribes and strengthen his power, Solomon divided the country into twelve administrative districts, the boundaries of which only partially coincided with the territory of the individual tribes. At the head of each of them he placed regional commanders. The districts took turns, each for a month of the year, supplying food to the royal court and army.

The army, now commanded by the military leader Vanya, was also undergoing a deep reorganization. As you know, under David the army consisted only of infantry. Overcoming the Israelites' deep-rooted prejudice against cavalry, Solomon organized a powerful cavalry corps of fourteen thousand war chariots. He also modernized the army convoys, introducing carts and horse teams. To maintain war horses, Solomon ordered the construction of stables in a number of Israeli cities. The largest stables were in Megiddo, where a large detachment of cavalry was stationed.

But with special diligence, the young king took care of the prosperity of the religious life of his people and, above all, the construction of the Jerusalem Temple of the True God. Remembering his father’s last will, in the fourth year of his reign he decided to begin construction that was grandiose for that time.

Construction of the Jerusalem Temple

Along with royal power, Solomon inherited from David a rich spiritual inheritance - deep faith and devotion to God. " And Solomon loved the Lord, walking according to the statute of David his father..." (). This strong faith and fiery love for God helped Solomon to carry out the grandiose construction of the temple to the God of Israel. First of all, it was necessary to stock up on building materials. At one time, David prepared large reserves of building material for the future temple, but they were not enough, and Solomon turned to Hiram, king of Tire, asking for help. Soon an agreement was concluded between them and Phenicia began to supply Israel with cedar and cypress wood. The tree from the Lebanese mountains was transported by raft by sea to Jaffa, and from there Israeli porters dragged it to Jerusalem. Thirty thousand people were employed in this work.

For the delivery of building materials, Solomon undertook to pay the Phoenicians annually with large quantities of bread, wine and olive oil. In turn, King Hiram sent the best craftsmen to Jerusalem, led by the remarkable artist and craftsman Hiram, a master of casting and processing of gold, silver and bronze. At the same time, a hundred and fifty thousand strong army was created in Israel at a construction site. Eighty thousand worked as stonemasons in the Trans-Jordanian mountains, and seventy thousand carried hewn stones to the construction site in Jerusalem. Three thousand three hundred overseers supervised their work.

David also chose the place to build the temple. The king planned to build a temple on Mount Ophel; According to legend, this was Mount Moriah, on which Abraham sacrificed Isaac. The top of the hill was cut off and leveled. To expand the resulting area, it was surrounded by a vertical wall of hewn stone blocks held together with tin. The construction of the temple lasted more than seven years, the temple itself was small: only thirty-one meters long, ten and a half wide and fifteen high. Three buildings with rooms for clergy and services adjoined its three walls - the back and two side ones. The walls of the temple were built from huge hewn stones. On the outside they were lined with white marble, and on the inside with cedar boards, on which images of cherubs, palm trees, and blooming flowers were carved. All this was covered in gold.

In general, the plan of the temple, with the exception of some details, was in every way similar to the plan of the Tabernacle of Moses. Inside, the temple was divided into three parts: the Holy of Holies, the Sanctuary and the Narthex. The Holy of Holies was a small room without windows, where the Ark of the Covenant was located in mysterious darkness. Next to the Ark, on both sides with outstretched wings stood two five-meter figures of cherubs, carved from olive wood and overlaid with gold. The Ark of the Covenant contained two stone tablets of Moses. The Holy of Holies was separated from the Sanctuary by a wall of cypress wood, decorated with various images and overlaid with gold. The doors to the Holy of Holies were always open, but the entrance was covered by a curtain of precious material, richly embroidered with cherubs, flowers and palm trees. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and even then only once a year.

In the Sanctuary, in front of the curtain, there was an altar for burning incense (incense). On the right side of the Sanctuary were placed five tables of offering and five golden lampstands, one in front of each table. On the left side there were the same number of tables and lamps. On the eastern side the temple was adjacent to the Porch. On both sides of the entrance to the Narthex stood twelve-meter copper columns with magnificent carved crowns - mystical symbols of strength and greatness. On the steps leading to the Narthex, singers and musicians were located during the service.

Adjacent to the temple was a small or inner courtyard, which was separated from the large or outer courtyard by a low stone wall. In the middle of the courtyard stood the altar of burnt offering, on which an eternal fire burned. Nearby was the “copper sea” - a huge copper bowl filled with water for washing the clergy. This huge cup, cast by Hiram in the mountains of Transjordan, rested on twelve copper oxen; three of them looked to the north, three to the west, three to the south and three to the east. To wash the sacrificial animals, ten lavers were made, which stood along the edges of the courtyard. Here, in the courtyard, there was an elevated place for the king. Next came the outer courtyard, where the people prayed.

Upon completion of the temple, a great celebration took place on the occasion of the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to the temple. During the celebration, crowds of people filled the outer courtyard, and in the inner courtyard at that time the ceremony of consecrating the temple and installing the Ark took place. The elders of the Israelite tribes, courtiers, and priests in white linen vestments, led by the high priest Zadok, gathered around the altar. On the steps leading to the temple, musicians and singers took their places. Solomon, wearing a purple, richly embroidered cloak and a golden royal crown, sat on the throne. Five hundred warriors of the king's personal guard lined up behind them with shields made of pure gold. The celebration began with such a large sacrifice that the number of victims for the burnt offering could not be counted. Trumpets thundered amid the smoke and the smell of burning meat, and the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant on their shoulders. As the Ark was carried along the steps of the temple, the singers in the choir, to the accompaniment of harps and cymbals, sang the twenty-third psalm of David. The singing continued until the Ark of the Covenant was installed in the Holy of Holies. When the priests left the Sanctuary, the glory of the Lord appeared and “ the cloud filled the house of the Lord" (). Solomon stood up from the throne and, raising his hands to heaven, said a fervent prayer, asking Jehovah not to deprive Israel of His mercy. The whole country celebrated this event for fourteen days, and there was not a person in Israel who did not participate in the celebration and did not sacrifice at least one ox or sheep. The Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said that if the children of Israel kept His commandments, He would grant peace and prosperity to his country. But " if... you and your sons depart from Me, - said the warning voice of God, - ... then I will destroy Israel from off the face of the land that I have given them, and the temple that I have dedicated to my name I will cast away from before me, and Israel will be a byword and a laughing stock among all nations.» ().

The Wealth of Solomon and His Moral Fall

Solomon did not limit himself to just building the temple. Soon he built a luxurious palace made of Lebanese cedar for himself and his many wives. To protect borders and main trade routes, Solomon fortified cities and built new fortresses. Solomon covered significant expenses for weapons, construction and luxury goods from income that came in an endless stream from a variety of sources. Solomon also turned out to be an excellent trader and maintained lively trade relations with neighboring states. In Cilicia he bought horses and sold them to Mesopotamia and Egypt. From Egypt, in turn, he brought excellent war chariots, selling them to other countries. In addition, Solomon was successfully engaged in maritime trade. The fame of Solomon's wisdom and the splendor of his court spread throughout the world. Many came to listen to the wisdom of the Israeli king and to look at the luxury of his palace. Among them was the Queen of Sheba.

Towards the end of his reign, Solomon, blinded by luxury, began to forget the True God and often deviated into idolatry. Following the example of the pagan kings, Solomon constantly expanded his harem. In his huge harem there were seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. There were women of different races and religions: Egyptians, Moabites, Sidonians, etc. The aging king was very easily influenced by his wives and concubines. They " inclined his heart to other gods" (). Pagan wives persuaded him to introduce the cult of their gods into Jerusalem, and Solomon willingly performed sacrifices in their honor even in the courtyard of the Jerusalem Temple. In addition, in the vicinity of Jerusalem, he built separate temples to Astarte, Baal, Moloch and the Moabite deity Khamis.

Then the Lord through the prophet said to Solomon: “ Because this is how you do it, and you have not kept My covenant... I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant." (). From that time on, the days of Solomon's life passed in constant worry and anxiety. One after another, the kingdoms conquered by David departed from Israel, and popular unrest began within the country. Burdened with unbearable taxes, which were used to support the royal court, drowning in exorbitant luxury, the northern tribes harbored hatred for the descendant of David and were looking for a suitable opportunity to openly declare their independence. A legend has been preserved that the formidable events of the last years of his reign had a strong influence on Solomon and caused in him sincere repentance for his crimes before God and people. The book “Ecclesiastes” was a monument to Solomon’s repentance, in which he condemns all his vain attempts to arrange earthly well-being against the will of the Lord God.

Solomon died after forty years of reign and was buried in Jerusalem. The book “The Proverbs of Solomon” is a monument to the king’s wisdom.

Division of the Kingdom of Israel into Judah and Israel (930)

The reign of the three great kings of the people of Israel was the time of their greatest prosperity, both politically and spiritually. After this blessed time in the history of Israel comes a sad and inglorious period of political division and spiritual decline. This dark period in the history of Israel began in 930, immediately after the death of Solomon, under his son Rehoboam.

The royal family of David enjoyed enormous authority in Judea, and Solomon's son, Rehoboam, unhinderedly took the throne of Jerusalem. However, the young king had to go to Shechem to obtain the consent of the northern tribes to his reign. It seemed that everything would turn out well for Rehoboam there too. The North was ready to continue to submit to the Jewish dynasty, but at the same time demanded the abolition of the unaffordable taxes imposed by Solomon. Representatives of all tribes gathered in Shechem to elect a king. At the head of the elders of the ten northern tribes was Jeroboam, who during the reign of Solomon rebelled, but then, after defeat, was forced to flee to Egypt. Representatives of the northern tribes turned to the king with the following request: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but you lighten us.” Rehoboam, neglecting the advice of the elders, said on the advice of the young people: “My father put a heavy yoke on you, but I will increase your yoke; my father punished you with whips, but I will punish you with scorpions” (), i.e. whips studded with metal needles.

Outraged by Rehoboam's impudent response, the Israelites refused to recognize the new king. Cries were heard among the people: “What part do we have in David? We have no share in the son of Jesse; to your tents, O Israel! now know your home, David! And Israel dispersed to their tents (). Thus ended the meeting of representatives of all tribes in Shechem sadly.

The result of Rehoboam's unreasonable policy was immediate. The ten northern tribes broke away from Judah and proclaimed Jeroboam their king. Only the tribe of Benjamin joined Judah. So the power of David and Solomon fell apart into two weak kingdoms at war with each other: Israel and Judah. The son of Solomon never wanted to come to terms with this situation in his country. He gathered a huge army and intended to move it north to suppress the rebels. But the fratricidal war was prevented by the prophet Samei. By the command of God, he forced the king to abandon his crazy idea. And although the king refused a direct invasion of Israel, from that time on the hostility between the two kingdoms never ceased, but on the contrary, at times turned into a real war.

Brief overview of the history of the kingdom of Israel (930–722 BC)

Although the Jews were divided into two kingdoms, there was still much in common between the northern and southern tribes: they spoke the same language, believed in one God - Jehovah, kept the same law and had one temple in Jerusalem. Therefore, it could be assumed that the Jewish people were divided for a short time and that a happy time would soon come when they would once again extend the fraternal hands of friendship to each other. But Jeroboam, the first king of Israel, did not think so. Seeing how his subjects went to the Jerusalem Temple for sacrifices on religious holidays, he began to fear that the Israelis would again want to unite with the tribe of Judah, as in the glorious times of David. To prevent this danger, Jeroboam decided to establish his center of religious life in Israel and thus separate himself from Judea not only politically, but also religiously. For this purpose, he built temples in the cities of Bethel and Dan and, following the example of Aaron, cast two golden calves for these temples. Addressing his subjects, he said: “You do not need to go to Jerusalem; these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (). It is clear that this policy of Jeroboam led to an open religious schism, which further divided the homogeneous Jewish people into two warring kingdoms. The religion that Jeroboam instilled in Israel was pure heresy and idolatry, having nothing in common with the religion of the Jerusalem temple. Therefore, Jeroboam’s apostasy was met with sharp condemnation from the faithful Jews. The prophet Ahijah, who with his authority contributed to the election of Jeroboam to the throne of Israel, sharply denounced the king for idolatry and predicted to him that for this he and his entire family would be exterminated: “ Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ... and they will sweep the house of Jeroboam clean, as one sweeps away rubbish." (). The prophet's prediction soon came true.

Jeroboam's successors continued to "walk in his ways" and spread idolatry among the people of Israel. Of all the kings of Israel, Ahab was the most wicked. Under the influence of his wife Jezebel, the daughter of the Sidonian king, he zealously spread idolatry in Israel. Under him, the cult of Baal became the state religion. Jezebel, a zealous admirer of the Phoenician god Melkorf, built a temple for him in the capital of Israel - Samaria. Hating the religion of Israel, she persecuted and killed all zealous servants of the True God.

After Ahab, there were no significant changes in the religious life of Israel. The Lord, through the prophets, called the Israelites to repentance, but the kings and people remained deaf to the prophetic calls. Then the Lord deprived the Israelites of His help and delivered them into the hands of their enemies. The Assyrian kings Shalmaneser and then Sargon II in 721 devastated the kingdom of Israel, destroyed Samaria, and took the ten tribes of Israel into captivity in Assyria, where they were assimilated and ceased to exist as the Jewish people. The Assyrian kings resettled pagans from Arabia and Babylon to the deserted Israeli territory. Mixed with the remnants of the Israelites, these tribes formed a people who, after the capital Samaria, came to be called the Samaritans or Samaritans. They did not speak a purely Jewish language, although they accepted the Jewish religion, they did not abandon their former pagan beliefs. For this, the Jews despised the Samaritans and avoided communicating with them in every possible way.

So, the ten tribes of Israel did not fulfill their messianic purpose, broke their promise to God at Sinai, and disappeared from the historical arena. The Kingdom of Israel lasted from 930 to 721 and had nineteen kings.

Brief overview of the history of the Kingdom of Judah (930–586 BC)

After the division of the Jewish state, the kingdom of Judah, which included only the tribes of Benjamin and Judah, although small in number, had a great advantage over the kingdom of Israel. On the territory of Judea was Jerusalem, the center of the political and religious life of the Jewish people. Therefore, it is not surprising that many Israelis, especially the Levites, dissatisfied with the policies of Jeroboam, moved to Judea to be closer to the shrine of Israel - the Jerusalem Temple.

The first king of Judah, Rehoboam, after a failed attempt to subjugate the northern tribes by force, began to take care of strengthening the borders of his state. But Rehoboam did not “stand in the law of the Lord” for long. In the fourth year of his reign, under the influence of his mother, the Ammonite Naamah, he became an idolater and led his subjects into idolatry. All over the country, on the hills and under sacred trees, the Jews began to worship foreign gods. The Lord soon punished the kingdom of Judah for its apostasy from true religion and moral decay. Pharaoh Shusakim, convinced that both Jewish kingdoms were weakened by constant conflicts, attacked Palestine and devastated Judea and part of Israel. He left only when Rehoboam paid a huge ransom, giving him the greatest treasures of the Jerusalem temple and the royal palace. The splendor and brilliance of Solomon's buildings faded twenty years after their creation: where gold sparkled, bare walls remained.

After Rehoboam, his son Abijah reigned, who reigned for only three years. In religious matters he followed in the footsteps of his father and did not fight idolatry. Abijah was succeeded on the throne of Judah by his son Asa, who reigned for forty-one years. Unlike his predecessors, Asa was an ardent champion of the true faith and an implacable enemy of idolatry. First of all, he removed from power his grandmother Maacah, the wife of Rehoboam, who had propagated the cult of Astarte and Priapus. She placed a tree stump in the Jerusalem Temple, symbolizing Ashtoreth. Asa ordered to burn this stump in the Kidron Valley. He also removed all the idols from the hills and groves and drove out the foreigners who worshiped false gods from the country.

Asa's work to eradicate idolatry in the country was continued by his son Jehoshaphat. For this purpose, he sent priests and Levites throughout Judea, who taught the people to honor the True God and avoid false gods. Jehoshaphat even himself undertook a tour of his kingdom and personally encouraged his subjects to shun idolatry. The Lord blessed the reign of Jehoshaphat, and he did much good for the Jewish people.

One of the wicked kings of Judah was Ahaz. He zealously revered the false gods Baal and Moloch and diligently built temples in their honor both in Jerusalem itself and in its environs. During his reign, the Syrians, Philistines and Israelites made continuous raids on the kingdom of Judah, devastating it. A military alliance was even created between Syria and Israel, who decided to destroy the kingdom of Judah. Ahaz was in a difficult situation, but the prophet Isaiah appeared to him and said that the kingdom of Judah would not be destroyed, since the Savior of the world would be born from the house of David from the Virgin: “ Behold, the Virgin will be with child and give birth to a Son, and they will call His name Immanuel" (). But Ahaz turned for help not to God, but to the king of Assyria, and thereby brought disaster not only to his opponents, but also to his kingdom. Tiglath-pileser III destroyed Damascus in a lightning campaign and then invaded Israel. The country was devastated, and its inhabitants were taken captive; only the well-fortified capital, Samaria, was not captured by the Assyrians. It fell in the year seven hundred and twenty-one under the last Israeli king Hosea. Judea lost its independence and was forced to pay tribute to the Assyrians.

After the death of Ahaz, his son Hezekiah took the throne of Judah. During his reign, Samaria fell. This made a stunning impression in Judea. The prophet Isaiah, who lived at this time, called on the inhabitants of Judah to repent and abandon false gods so that they would not suffer the same fate that befell Israel. Under the influence of the prophet Isaiah, Hezekiah launched great efforts to revive the true religion. He fought against all manifestations of idolatry, destroyed temples, smashed idols and cut down the trees that the people worshiped on the hills. But first of all, he resumed worship in the Jerusalem Temple. Under his father, the temple was desolate, no services were performed, and the temple gates were closed. By order of Hezekiah, the temple was opened and consecrated. Under Hezekiah, after a long break, Easter was celebrated with special solemnity. Not only Jews, but also Israelis came to Jerusalem for the holiday.

But the peaceful life of Judea was soon disrupted. Hezekiah refused to pay tribute to the king of Assyria and entered into a military alliance with Egypt against Assyria. Phenicia and Babylon also joined this union. The Allies placed their main hopes on Egypt. The prophet Isaiah advised Hezekiah not to enter into this alliance, but it was too late to retreat. Soon the flames of rebellion flared up among the vassal states of Assyria. The Assyrian king Sennacherib instantly captured Babylon, crushing the uprising in Phenicia, and then defeated the Egyptian army rushing to the aid of the allies. The formidable punisher approached the walls of Jerusalem and besieged it. Hezekiah was in despair, but the prophet Isaiah reassured him and predicted that the Assyrian army would not capture Jerusalem, since the city was under the protection of the Lord Himself. The prophet's prediction came true: “ And it happened that night: the angel of the Lord went and smote one hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. And they got up in the morning, and behold, all the bodies were dead" (). After this, Sennacherib ended the siege of the city and returned to Nineveh. Jerusalem remained free. Hezekiah reigned for several more years and managed to raise Judah from ruins.

The pious king died in 687, and in 612 the capital of the Assyrian kingdom, Nineveh, fell. On the ruins of Assyria, the Chaldean king Nabopolassar founded the Chaldean (or Neo-Babylonian) kingdom. After the death of Nabopolassar, the Babylonian throne was taken by his son Nebuchadnezzar II (reigned from 605 to 562 BC).

The Egyptian pharaoh, wanting to weaken the growing power of the Babylonian kingdom, began military operations against Nebuchadnezzar. Incited by Pharaoh, King Jehoiakim of Judah refused to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar and took the side of Egypt. Then Nebuchadnezzar arrived in Judea with a lightning march, captured Jerusalem and drove many Jews captive along with their king. Joachim's son Jehoiachin ascended the throne. Since he continued his father’s anti-Babylonian policy, Nebuchadnezzar again arrived in the country with a huge army and began the siege of Jerusalem. Jehoiachin, probably wanting to save Jerusalem from destruction, left the city and voluntarily surrendered to the enemy along with his entire family and courtiers. To appease the winner, he presented him with all the jewelry and vessels made of precious metals that were in the palace and temple. But this time Nebuchadnezzar was relentless. Together with the royal family, he drove seven thousand prominent Israeli men to Babylon. Among them was the prophet Hezekiah. In place of Jeconiah, Nebuchadnezzar appointed his uncle Mattaniah king of Judah, renaming him Zedekiah.

Zedekiah was a short-sighted politician. Very soon he fell under the influence of a pro-Egyptian group, and the country again embarked on the dangerous path of struggle against Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah, who lived at this time, often addressed the rulers and people and in fiery speeches urged them not to tease the “Babylonian colossus.” He also warned that one should not particularly count on the help of Egypt, but must first of all repent and turn to the Heavenly Patron of the Jewish people for help. But the Jews were deaf to the preaching of God's chosen one, they even put him in prison and severely beat him.

Nebuchadnezzar kept a keen eye on political events in the Middle East and finally decided it was time to act. He invaded Judea, defeated the Egyptian troops rushing to the aid of Jerusalem, and then began to lay siege to the Jewish capital. This siege lasted eight months. Famine and epidemics were raging in the city. The corpses of people who did not have time to bury were lying on the streets. It got to the point that mothers ate the bodies of their children who died from exhaustion or illness. In 586 BC. The Chaldeans launched an assault, made a hole in the wall and burst into the city. Enraged Babylonian warriors killed, robbed, and set fire to houses. Soon Jerusalem was reduced to a heap of ruins. All that remained of the temple and the royal palace were charred fragments of walls and broken columns. The city ceased to exist.

King Zedekiah with his family and a group of courtiers secretly left Jerusalem and fled towards the Jordan. A detachment sent in pursuit caught him near Jericho. Nebuchadnezzar ordered the king's sons to be killed, and Zedekiah himself had his eyes gouged out and he was sent bound in chains to Babylon. Then the victors began, according to Mesopotamian custom, to expel the inhabitants from Jewish cities and villages. Tens of thousands of prisoners were lined up in columns, tied with long ropes and driven to a distant foreign country. From this time on, a new period began in the history of the Jewish people - the period of Babylonian captivity.

The Jewish prophets perceived him as the ancestor of the future Messiah. In King David is mentioned as the ancestor of Jesus.

Family of King David

Wives of King David.

King David had many wives. Through marriage, David strengthened his relationships with various political and national groups. It is very likely that he had 8 wives:

• Michal, second daughter of King Saul;
• Bathsheba, originally the wife of one of David's commanders6
• Ahinoama;
• Abigail the Carmelite, formerly the wife of Nabal;
• Maachi, daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur;
• Aggifa;
• Avital;
• Egla.

Children of King David.

Genealogy of King David

Reign of King David

God is angry when Saul, the king of Israel, does not do His will, and therefore he sends the prophet Samuel to anoint young David, the youngest son of Jesse of Bethlehem, as king. This is how the Lord showed His intention.

...He was blond, with beautiful eyes and a pleasant face. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for it is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him among his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon David from that day and after...

After this incident, nothing changed in David’s life; he still tended cattle and played the lyre for his flocks.

The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. Saul's courtiers recommend that he find a talented musician so that he can calm Saul with his music. So David, who played the lyre beautifully, becomes a court musician and plays music to calm the king, who is occasionally bothered by an evil spirit.

P.P. Rubens David and Goliath. 1616

Saul appoints David as commander of the army. All Israel loves David, but his popularity causes Saul to fear and hate him. He plans to kill David, but Saul's son Jonathan warns David about his father's evil plans and David manages to escape. First he flees to Nob, where he is helped by the priest Ahimelech, then he flees to the Philistine city of Gath, intending to seek refuge with King Achish. After some time, David realizes that he is again in danger and hides in the cave of Adollam with his family.

David planned to seek refuge with the king of Moab, but the prophet Gad conveys to him God's command to go to the forest of Hereth, and then to Keilah, where David takes part in a further battle with the Philistines. Saul plans to conquer Keilah and capture David, so David leaves the city to protect its inhabitants. David takes refuge in the mountains and then in the Negev desert.

The locals tell Saul where David is hiding. Saul enters the cave where David and his men were hiding. David realizes that he has the opportunity to kill Saul, but he does not do it. Instead, he secretly cuts off a corner of Saul's clothing and, when Saul left the cave, David bowed to Saul and showed a piece of cut clothing, thereby letting Saul understand that he had no claims to the Kingdom and was not going to fight with Saul. Thus the two made peace and Saul accepted David as his successor. Theologian Donald Spence-Jones believes that "one of the most beautiful features of David's multifaceted nature was his devotion to Saul and the house of Saul."

David leaves the cave to bow to Saul

David had the opportunity to kill King Saul later, but he also did not take advantage of it. This case is described in. David found Saul sleeping, but did not listen to the advice of Abishai and did not hit the sleeping Saul with a spear and did not allow Abishai to do this.

After the death of Saul and his son, the elders of Israel came to Hebron to David, who was considered God's anointed. Soon David conquers Jerusalem and makes it his capital. He carries the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, intending to build a temple here, but the prophet Nathan (Nathan) forbids him, prophesying that the Temple must be built one of David's sons. Throughout his life, David prepared everything needed to build the Temple in order to make the task easier for his son.

Nathan also prophesies that God has made a Covenant with the house of David:

your throne will stand forever

David regularly won victories over the Philistines. The Moabites, Edomites, Amalekites and Ammonites paid him tribute. Almost all the wars that David waged were initially defensive in nature: David primarily defended his Kingdom. However, these wars ended with the creation of David's empire, which stretched on both sides of the Jordan River, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea.

David divided the country into twelve districts, each with its own civil, military, and religious institutions. He also established Jerusalem as the secular and religious center of the two Kingdoms. People from other districts began to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem every year for the holidays.

David and Bathsheba.

Marc Chagall. David and Bathsheba, 1956

David seduces Bathsheba, the wife of his military commander, and wishes for the death of her husband. In response, Nathan prophesies the punishment that will fall on David.

... by this act you gave a reason to the enemies of God to blaspheme Him, the son born to you will die...

David's son Absalom rebels against his father. David suppresses the rebellion, but orders the soldiers who pursued Absalom into the forest of Ephraim to spare his son's life. Absalom clings to the trees with his long hair and falls victim to Joab's three arrows. David mourns the death of his beloved son for a long time.

David's sinful relationship with Bathsheba is also considered the cause of many sad events in the family of King David. For example, the rape of his daughter Tomar by his eldest son Amnon, as well as the murder of Amnon at the hands of his brother Absalom.

Old age and death of King David.

In his old age, David was bedridden. He constantly felt cold and could not warm up. He bequeathed his throne to Solomon, son of Bathsheba. Adonijah, David's eldest son, declared himself king. However, in response to this, David publicly anointed Solomon as king. Fearing retribution, Adonijah fled to the altar in Jerusalem, but Solomon had mercy on him. David died at the age of 70 after 40 years of reign. On his deathbed, David instructs Solomon to walk in the ways of God and take revenge on his enemies.

King David was buried on Mount Zion. According to the New Testament, it was at this place that the Last Supper took place.

King David in history and archeology

The question of whether King David is a real historical figure is still relevant today. Until recently there was no evidence of the historicity of David. However, some recently discovered archaeological artifacts suggest that David is probably a real historical figure.

Tel Dan Stele (a stone covered with inscriptions), erected in Damascus in the late 9th - early 8th century BC. e. to commemorate the ruler's victory over enemy kings, contains the phrase bytdwd, which most scholars translate as “house of David.” It is likely that this is a reference to the dynasty of the Kingdom of Judah.

Mesha Stele

The Mesha Stele from Moab, dating from around the same period, also contains the name David in two places. In addition to the two stelae, the name of David also appears on a bas-relief in Egypt. All other evidence about the life and reign of David comes from biblical literature. At the same time, many biblical scholars believe that the biblical narrative about a unified Israeli monarchy is just ideological propaganda created in the 6th century BC. e. and that the figure of David is not historical.

Archaeological evidence suggests that in the 10th century BC (David's time), Judea was sparsely populated and Jerusalem was a small village. The next century saw the rise of the Kingdom of Judah. Judea gradually grew from a place inhabited by various tribes into a small state. These facts do not confirm, but also do not refute the possibility of the existence of King David as a real historical person.

Some scholars believe in the historicity of David, but not in his status. For example, Baruch Halpern believes that David was a lifelong vassal of Achish, the Philistine king. Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman describe David as the charismatic leader of a band of bandits who captured Jerusalem and made it their capital. Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman reject the idea that David ruled over two kingdoms. They suggest that he was a small leader of the Southern Kingdom (Judah). At the same time, they emphasize that in the time of David, Judea was a polytheistic state, and the biblical stories about David were created according to legends much later and are an attempt to portray the past as golden age of monotheistic monarchy only to confirm their contemporary interests.

Stephen Mackenzie, author of a biography of King David, believes that David actually came from a wealthy family and was an "ambitious and ruthless" tyrant who killed his opponents, including his own sons, on his way to power.

Psalmist David

David is considered the author of all or most of the psalms in the Psalter. According to another version, he only edited the Psalter. Many psalms deal with specific events in David's life (eg Psalms 3, 7, 18, 34, 51, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 60, 63, and 142).

Figure of David in Christianity

The concept of the Messiah is central to Christianity. The first earthly king to rule by divine appointment (“anointed one”) was the Davidic king. The story of David is the background to the concept of Messiahship in early Christianity. So David, as a leader and king, was a mediator between God and the people. The early Church believed that David's life foreshadowed the life of Christ: they were born in the same place, David was a shepherd, which points to Christ.

Memory of David.

In the Roman Catholic Church and Lutheran Church, David's memory is celebrated on December 29. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Day of the Holy Righteous Prophet and King David is celebrated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before the great feast of the Nativity of Christ). David is also commemorated on the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ, along with Joseph and Jacob, the Lord's brother.

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