I recently read The Making of a Man of God by Alan Redpath which is a series of homilies drawn from the life of David. Now to be fair, Redpath says in his introduction that the Bible doesn't flatter its heroes, and he does make frequent reference to the life of the much greater Son of David i.e. Jesus in the gospels. Each homily is preceded by extracts of accounts in 1 and 2 Samuel, but as I read these accounts I started to think more and more that David was not so much an example to be followed but in many ways an example to be avoided.
Fee and Stuart make a good point in their How to Read the Bible for all its Worth that the OT narratives are not intended to be moralising but as an account of God's dealings with his chosen people (which is still profitable for us).
A good example that shows the difference between David and Jesus is
As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” 1 Sam 18:7
An odd verse since it follows on from David killing Goliath and the Philistines fleeing. So at this point we only know that David had killed one person not tens of thousands, though that one person's demise led to many other Philistines dying as they fled the scene. Maybe we can take this as exaggeration by the women of Israel - the point of which is to start the theme of Saul's jealousy of David.
Contrast this with:
So when they came together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6-8
The disciples could well have added "as in King David's time". But it is clear that Jesus' idea of the kingdom is very different from that of his disciples. But surely the disciples' idea of the kingdom follows on naturally from the accounts in the OT - their view is reasonable in that context, but shows they, as yet, hadn't fully grasped the significance of Jesus' life and teachings.
There are other examples in David's life which are certainly not to be followed by Christians today but I'll leave those for later.
Fee and Stuart make a good point in their How to Read the Bible for all its Worth that the OT narratives are not intended to be moralising but as an account of God's dealings with his chosen people (which is still profitable for us).
A good example that shows the difference between David and Jesus is
As they danced, they sang: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” 1 Sam 18:7
An odd verse since it follows on from David killing Goliath and the Philistines fleeing. So at this point we only know that David had killed one person not tens of thousands, though that one person's demise led to many other Philistines dying as they fled the scene. Maybe we can take this as exaggeration by the women of Israel - the point of which is to start the theme of Saul's jealousy of David.
Contrast this with:
So when they came together, they asked Him, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:6-8
The disciples could well have added "as in King David's time". But it is clear that Jesus' idea of the kingdom is very different from that of his disciples. But surely the disciples' idea of the kingdom follows on naturally from the accounts in the OT - their view is reasonable in that context, but shows they, as yet, hadn't fully grasped the significance of Jesus' life and teachings.
There are other examples in David's life which are certainly not to be followed by Christians today but I'll leave those for later.