King David








King David
Betsy McKenzie

Myth-maker, he traded on the story:
Plucked from among his father’s sheep,
The youngest of Jesse’s sons.
After Samuel, led by the Lord,
Passed over all the older, stronger sons,
At last, Jesse called David from the fields
To be anointed King of Israel.
But there are also the other stories,
Stories of his touching friendship
With the son of King Saul.
Jonathan and David,
Inseparable.
When Saul went mad,
It was David who was crowned,
Not Jonathan.

Nation-builder, he danced before the Lord.
In his youth, he led armies,
In the name of God.
Slew Goliath with a slingshot.
Defeated the enemies of Israel.
Consolidated territory,
Unified a country.
And built the idea of a nation
Under the Lord of Israel.
Would the Lord have a temple?
No! He would stay in tents,
A God of campaigning armies.

A poet, musician,
Writer and singer of psalms.
Servant of the Lord,
Even when the prophet
Chided him for murder and adultery.
Restless,
A leader of men,
Mythic, bigger than life.
Even his tragedies are bigger:
“Absalom, my Absalom!”
No other Biblical man but Abraham,
Or Jacob,
Perhaps,
Can compare.
No wonder God loved him so.
He has a weakness for big rascals!

March 26, 2006

I decorated this poem with an image of Rembrandt's painting of young David with Jonathan, held at the Hermitage Museum in Russia. The image is at http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/rembrandt/1640/david.jpg