Well, let me tell you about this fella, Chamberlain David. I don’t know much about fancy books or history, but I heard some stories, ya know? Like the ones my grandma used to tell me when I was just a little tyke.
So, this David, he weren’t no city slicker, that’s for sure. Born way back when, in some place called Bethlehem. Bethlehem, mind you, not some big fancy city like you got now. Just a small town, probably dusty and full of sheep, just like my ol’ village. They say he was the youngest of seven boys. Seven! Can you imagine? That’s a whole lot of mouths to feed, I tell ya. My own ma had ten of us, and believe me, it was a ruckus all the time.
Now, they say David was a shepherd. You know, looking after sheep and all that. Probably spent his days out in the fields, under the hot sun, just like my cousin Billy Bob used to do before he went off to…well, never you mind. Point is, David knew hard work. He weren’t afraid of gettin’ his hands dirty. And that’s somethin’, ain’t it? These days, you got all these youngsters with their fancy phones and their soft hands. They wouldn’t last a day out in the fields.
But David, he was different. He was tough. And he was brave, or so they say. There’s this story about him fightin’ some giant fella named Goliath. Goliath, now that was a big fella. Huge! Like one of them tractors they use on the farms now, only meaner. And everyone was scared of him. Scared stiff, like a rabbit in front of a fox.
- They say Goliath was a Philistine. Don’t rightly know what that is, but it sounds like trouble.
- And the Israelites, they were gettin’ ready for a fight. But they were shakin’ in their boots, I tell ya.
But not David. He wasn’t scared. He went out there, just a young fella, with nothin’ but a slingshot and some stones. And he took down that giant. Can you believe it? A slingshot and stones! Makes you think, don’t it? Sometimes, it’s not the biggest fella or the strongest fella who wins. It’s the one with the most guts.
And then, after all that, David became a king. A king! Can you imagine that? From shepherd boy to king. That’s like goin’ from milkin’ cows to ownin’ the whole darn farm. He unified somethin’ called Israel. Unified, that means he brought ’em all together, like herding a scattered flock of sheep into one pen. And he made some place called Jerusalem his capital. Jerusalem, sounds fancy, don’t it? Probably had more houses than my whole village.
They say he lived a long time ago, around 1000 BCE. That’s a lot of years, I reckon. More years than I can count, that’s for sure. And he was a warrior, too. Fought in lots of battles, I guess. But he was also a psalmist. Now, I ain’t sure what that means, but I heard tell he wrote songs. Songs about God and life and all that. Maybe like them gospel songs they sing at the church down the road, only older, I reckon.
So, that’s what I know about Chamberlain David. He was a shepherd, a warrior, a king, and a song writer. A real go-getter, that fella. And he lived a long, long time ago. Makes you wonder, don’t it? About all the folks who came before us, and all the things they did. Makes you feel small, but also kinda proud, ya know? Proud to be part of this whole big story, even if you’re just a small part, like me.
Makes me think of my grandpa, he was a strong man too, worked in the fields all his life, always humming some tune. Just like David maybe. Simple folks, doing what they gotta do.
Tags: [David, Bethlehem, Goliath, King, Israel, Jerusalem, Shepherd, Warrior, Psalmist, Old Testament]
