We pronounce the name as "David" but the Hebrew pronunciation is "Dah-veed" and it is spelled with the two Hebrew consonants Dahlet and Veht arranged in the form "D-V-D." It is Strong's number 1732, "daw-veed"; and it means loving or the beloved one. Its root is from Strong's number 1730, "dowd"; and it means to love, or by implication a love-token, a lover or friend.

Let's look at the qualifications of David to be king over Israel. Was he the son of a great line of kings? Was he educated at the great institutions of higher learning? Had he been groomed by his family for a life of legislative service?

Our first exposure to David in scripture is recorded in 1 Samuel 16:10. This is the instance of Samuel visiting (at God's instruction) the town of Bethlehem and the family of Jesse to anoint the new king of Israel to replace Saul.

(1 Sam 16:10-13 NASB) Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen these." {11} And Samuel said to Jesse, "Are these all the children?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is tending the sheep." Then Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." {12} So he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he." {13} Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah.

We can see that David did not come from a great line of kings and queens. He was not educated at the greatest institutions of higher learning. He was not groomed by his family for a life of legislative service. He was a shepherd, and a teenager, at that. He did not have any great experience or education in governmental affairs, nor was he planning for such a career. The first step in David's kingly pursuits comes in the very next verse when he is first called into service for the current King Saul.

(1 Sam 16:14-23 NASB) Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him. {15} Saul's servants then said to him, "Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. {16} "Let our lord now command your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful player on the harp; and it shall come about when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well." {17} So Saul said to his servants, "Provide for me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me." {18} Then one of the young men answered and said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and the LORD is with him." {19} So Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, "Send me your son David who is with the flock." {20} And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a jug of wine and a young goat, and sent them to Saul by David his son. {21} Then David came to Saul and attended him, and Saul loved him greatly; and he became his armor bearer. {22} And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, "Let David now stand before me; for he has found favor in my sight." {23} So it came about whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

So, we see that while David had spent all those hours in the field tending his father's flocks of sheep, he had developed skills at playing the lyre, or harp. Furthermore, those skills were recognized by others as we saw in the statement of one of Saul's servants who said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician."

The next incident involving David is in the next verse, beginning in 1 Samuel 17:1. This account tells of Israel's threats from the Philistines and their chief warrior, Goliath of Gath.

(1 Sam 17:1-54 NASB) Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle; and they were gathered at Socoh which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. {2} And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and camped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array to encounter the Philistines. {3} And the Philistines stood on the mountain on one side while Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with the valley between them. {4} Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. {5} And he had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze. {6} He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. {7} And the shaft of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield-carrier also walked before him. {8} And he stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, and said to them, "Why do you come out to draw up in battle array? Am I not the Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves and let him come down to me. {9} "If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants and serve us." {10} Again the Philistine said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together." {11} When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. {12} Now David was the son of the Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse, and he had eight sons. And Jesse was old in the days of Saul, advanced in years among men. {13} And the three older sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the first-born, and the second to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. {14} And David was the youngest. Now the three oldest followed Saul, {15} but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father's flock at Bethlehem. {16} And the Philistine came forward morning and evening for forty days, and took his stand. {17} Then Jesse said to David his son, "Take now for your brothers an ephah of this roasted grain and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to your brothers. {18} "Bring also these ten cuts of cheese to the commander of their thousand, and look into the welfare of your brothers, and bring back news of them. {19} "For Saul and they and all the men of Israel are in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines." {20} So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper and took the supplies and went as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the circle of the camp while the army was going out in battle array shouting the war cry. {21} And Israel and the Philistines drew up in battle array, army against army. {22} Then David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper, and ran to the battle line and entered in order to greet his brothers. {23} As he was talking with them, behold, the champion, the Philistine from Gath named Goliath, was coming up from the army of the Philistines, and he spoke these same words; and David heard them. {24} When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid. {25} And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who is coming up? Surely he is coming up to defy Israel. And it will be that the king will enrich the man who kills him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel." {26} Then David spoke to the men who were standing by him, saying, "What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should taunt the armies of the living God?" {27} And the people answered him in accord with this word, saying, "Thus it will be done for the man who kills him." {28} Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab's anger burned against David and he said, "Why have you come down? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your insolence and the wickedness of your heart; for you have come down in order to see the battle." {29} But David said, "What have I done now? Was it not just a question?" {30} Then he turned away from him to another and said the same thing; and the people answered the same thing as before. {31} When the words which David spoke were heard, they told them to Saul, and he sent for him. {32} And David said to Saul, "Let no man's heart fail on account of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." {33} Then Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth." {34} But David said to Saul, "Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, {35} I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. {36} "Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God." {37} And David said, "The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and may the LORD be with you." {38} Then Saul clothed David with his garments and put a bronze helmet on his head, and he clothed him with armor. {39} And David girded his sword over his armor and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. So David said to Saul, "I cannot go with these, for I have not tested them." And David took them off. {40} And he took his stick in his hand and chose for himself five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the shepherd's bag which he had, even in his pouch, and his sling was in his hand; and he approached the Philistine. {41} Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. {42} When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance. {43} And the Philistine said to David, "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?" And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. {44} The Philistine also said to David, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field." {45} Then David said to the Philistine, "You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. {46} "This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, {47} and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD'S and He will give you into our hands." {48} Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. {49} And David put his hand into his bag and took from it a stone and slung it, and struck the Philistine on his forehead. And the stone sank into his forehead, so that he fell on his face to the ground. {50} Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and he struck the Philistine and killed him; but there was no sword in David's hand. {51} Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. {52} And the men of Israel and Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley, and to the gates of Ekron. And the slain Philistines lay along the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath and Ekron. {53} And the sons of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines and plundered their camps. {54} Then David took the Philistine's head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.

What were David's qualifications to be a man of battle? By his own admission, we see that David had no formal training for war. David cited as his only previous experience the defense of his father's sheep in the field. Look at verses 34 and 35 again. "But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant was tending his father's sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him.’"

We'll continue in the next chapter where David is soon pressed into daily service to the king.

King Saul's favorable nature toward David soon dramatically changed, due to jealousy as we see in verse six.

(1 Sam 18:6-16 NASB) And it happened as they were coming, when David returned from killing the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy and with musical instruments. {7} And the women sang as they played, and said, "Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands." {8} Then Saul became very angry, for this saying displeased him; and he said, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, but to me they have ascribed thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?" {9} And Saul looked at David with suspicion from that day on. {10} Now it came about on the next day that an evil spirit from God came mightily upon Saul, and he raved in the midst of the house, while David was playing the harp with his hand, as usual; and a spear was in Saul's hand. {11} And Saul hurled the spear for he thought, "I will pin David to the wall." But David escaped from his presence twice. {12} Now Saul was afraid of David, for the LORD was with him but had departed from Saul. {13} Therefore Saul removed him from his presence, and appointed him as his commander of a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people. {14} And David was prospering in all his ways for the LORD was with him. {15} When Saul saw that he was prospering greatly, he dreaded him. {16} But all Israel and Judah loved David, and he went out and came in before them.

King Saul's main objective then became to destroy David, since he realized David could soon replace him on the throne. We’ll continue in verse twenty.

(1 Sam 22:1-4 NASB) So David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father's household heard of it, they went down there to him. {2} And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered to him; and he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him. {3} And David went from there to Mizpah of Moab; and he said to the king of Moab, "Please let my father and my mother come and stay with you until I know what God will do for me." {4} Then he left them with the king of Moab; and they stayed with him all the time that David was in the stronghold.