There is a long and complicated story between the first and second anointments. However, to cut a long story short, it can be summarised to following events: (1) David was first brought to the court, when King Saul was suffering from an illness, ‘to soothe the king by playing on the harp’ (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04642b.htm). (2) David gained his fame as a warrior too when he volunteered to fight a single combat against a giant called Goliath and managed to slay him, as a part of Saul’s war against the Philistines. (3) His ‘victory over Goliath won for him the tender friendship of Jonathan, the son of Saul’ (ibid) and he was also offered to marry Saul’s daughters; Merob and Michol. (4) However, David’s ‘great popularity and the imprudent songs of the women excited the jealousy of the king’ (ibid) and eventually, this situation forced David to flee from the court. (5) While David was in the state of exile, the battle on Mount Gilboa took place, where Saul and his three sons including Jonathan were all slain by the Philistines.
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| David versus Goliath |
The death of Saul meant that there arose a vacancy in the throne of Israel. Although David was already anointed by Samuel the judge, as its significance was not recognised, it must have been natural for Abner, the late Saul’s highest military commander, to establish Ish-bosheth (Ishbosheth / Isboseth), the sole surviving son of Saul, as the successor of his father’s throne. In the mean time, ‘David, who was now thirty years old, went up to Hebron to claim the kingly power. The men of Juda accepted him as king, and he was again anointed, solemnly and publicly’ (ibid). Although it is described that David’s claim was done by ‘God’s command’ (ibid), it was only the tribe of Judah (Juda) that acknowledged David’s claim while other eleven tribes all remained faithful to the legitimacy of Ish-bosheth.
For reading the text in full: http://wrex2009.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/how-did-king-david-succeeded-the-throne/
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