Week 5 Story: David

David 

As many of you may know, King David of Israel was once just a shepherd-boy who killed the giant Goliath with just a rock and a sling. But what happened next is not as well known. Once David had cut off the giant's head with his giant sword - David stood over Goliath and admired his armor. He took the pieces of armor off one by one weaving a long strand of cord among the armor so he could easily drag it back to his father's field.

For the next few days while he tended the sheep David studied the armor and drew pictures of it on his papyrus. Then he melted the metals down to start fresh. He tried his hand at creating armor for the first time. He failed miserably. But he did not give up. He melted it down and tried again, it was better this time but still not satisfactory to David. The third time was the charm. David had created a masterpiece! The armor fit the young shepherd-boy perfectly, the design was immaculate, and it was impenetrable.

Not long after this, King Saul of Israel came to David's father Jesse hoping that Jesse would allow his son to come to his palace and play the lyre for him (as Saul had been afflicted by an evil spirit). Immediately David left to live with Saul, his family, and his servants. David would play his lyre for Saul often, one day David came to play while wearing his armor. Saul was very impressed! Saul asked David if he would make armor for the king and his son Jonathan. David agreed to this as long as Saul would provide the materials. So Saul brought David to his armory and David set to work. He took measurements of Saul and Jonathan (this is when they first became friends), and soon the armor was complete. They loved their new armor! Soon word spread and David was commissioned by many great soldiers from nations far and wide to create their specialty armor. Saul allowed this as long as David paid him back for the material plus a small commission fee.

However, after a while David and Saul's relationship soured, eventually David would become King of Israel. He had not created his armor in a long while. But one night the angel Gabriel came to him and told him to stop living on the people's money (public treasury), but to earn his money through trade. Immediately David recalled his craftsmanship in the armory. He went to his armory to see if he still had what it takes. On the first try he built the best suit of armor he had ever created. He had his servants take it around for display to the soldiers of his nation and other nations (the friendly ones of course). Soon enough he was making plenty of money from the armor he created for him and his wives to live even more extravagantly than they had before.

(David and Goliath: Anton Robert Leinweber (1845-1921))

*Author's Note: In part of the original story, David is summoned by an angel to find new ways to support himself, instead of just spending money from the public treasury. Then the angel Gabriel is sent to help him learn how to create armor. I decided to change it to where he already knew how to create armor, and gave this ability an origin story using information I knew from 1 Samuel in the Bible. 

Bibliography. "David" from Folk-lore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish by J.E. Hanauer (1907). Web Source.