David in the Book of Mormon

This week in 1 Samuel we read about the rise of King David. Many of my thoughts today come from the Come Follow Me Insights from Book of Mormon Central.  King David is the most revered king in the history of Ancient Israel.  He is tied to prophecies about the coming Messiah who is supposed to be the Son of King David (Matt 22:42).  He is mentioned over 1,100 times in the Old Testament. Yet he is barely mentioned in the Book of Mormon, and when he is mentioned, it is a negative reference to him having many wives (e.g. Jacob 2:23-24) It almost seems like he fell out of grace in the eyes of the Nephites because of his late-life poor decisions. He certainly isn't idealized in the Book of Mormon like he is in the Bible.

Even though David isn't mentioned as a great king in the Book of Mormon, there are hints and references to his life in several stories.  Tyler Griffith wrote a paper that found many parallels between David's slaying of Goliath and Nephi's slaying of Laban.  Here are a few of the most obvious.  Both David and Nephi were the youngest brothers who had the courage to do God's will when their brothers didn't.  Both Goliath and Laban had threatened to kill their opponents.  Both men were beheaded with their own swords.  In both cases, those swords were retained by the victors and became a symbol of leadership. 

There is also echoes of David's experience with Goliath in the story of Ammon. When Ammon met Lamoni, he was given the chance to marry Lamoni's daughter but agreed to be his servant instead. Saul offered to let anyone who killed Goliath marry his daughter, but David considered himself as unworthy.  Ammon instead served as a shepherd, like David, and like David, killed the leader of the King's enemy with a sword. 

These may just be coincidences, but maybe not.  David's experience with Goliath lead to him being the leader of the people, and Nephi's experience with Laban did the same.  Ammon, too, became the leader of the Anti-Nephi-Lehites through his encounters with those who wanted to scatter the flocks.  So it seems that there was a recognized path to righteous glory, and the editor of the Book of Mormon wanted to show how Nephi and Ammon followed that path.

One more thought: I have blogged before about how the New Testament writers consciously evoke stories from the Old Testament to confirm Jesus' legitimacy.  This week I was struck by the many ways they try to show Jesus as the "Son of David."  David's biological son who became his heir was Solomon, who was born of someone else's wife. Jesus was born with a different biological father than the man his mother was married to, and his mother probably endured judgement from her neighbors because of it. The one that really whacked me over the head was that David's best friend was Jonathan, and Jesus forerunner was John.  John and Johnathan share more in common than the similarity of their first names.  Jonathan was the son of the king and rightful heir, but acknowledged David as the rightful king. John was son of a high priest, and jobs like that were passed down father to son, but he acknowledged Jesus as the true high priest. John was killed for staying true to his beliefs, and so was Johnathan. Jesus mourned John's death as David mourned Jonathan's.