In his book From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution, Peter Leithart shows that David, the author of so many Psalms and the musician who trained choirs, instituted a musical and liturgical revolution of how the people of Israel worshipped. The liturgical revolution in turn was designed to change fundamental aspects of Israelite culture. What motivated David to do such a thing? What were his aims, specifically, his pastoral aims; as Israel’s shepherd, how was he trying to lead the people?

The best place to begin, I think, is with the law of the king in Deuteronomy 17:14–20 in which Moses set down the basic principles and vision for kingship in ancient Israel. Stated simply, the law begins in verse 14 specifically granting Israel the right to have kings like the nations around them. But the verses that follow indicate clearly that “like the nations around them” does not mean kings who rule in the manner of the pagan kings around them. Israel’s king is to be profoundly different. To begin with, the king must be chosen by Yahweh, a man approved of and appointed by the God of Israel, making it clear that the king must be a faithful follower of Yahweh. Second, the king must be of the seed of Abraham. Though the reason is not specified in Deuteronomy, this has to do with the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise to Abraham that kings would be born to him (Gen 17:6, 16; 35:11).

Then, three specific prohibitions follow: 1) do not multiply horses; 2) do not multiply wives; 3) do not multiply silver and gold (Deut 17:16–17). Solomon famously violated all three of these commands (gold, 1 Ki 10:14–25; horses, 10:26–29; wives, 11:1–13).

The most important command for the king is the one that came last, a single command in three parts with a threefold purpose added (Deut 17:18–19; cf. Josh 1:8)

1. When the king sits on his throne, he must write a copy of the book of Deuteronomy with his own hand, seated before Levitical priests who will watch over his work to insure its accuracy, which seems to be the implication of the words “in the presence of the Levitical priests”;
2. He shall keep the Torah with him;
3. He shall read in it daily

The purpose of the command is also threefold (17:19–20):

1. That he may learn to fear Yahweh;
2. That his heart may not be lifted up;
3. That he may not turn aside from the command.

All of this has as its aim the blessing of the king according to the promise of the fifth command (cf. Deut 5:16; 17:20).

Now, we must remember that the nation Israel really only had three kings: Saul (40 years, from 1094 BC), David (40 years, from 1054 BC), and Solomon (40 years, from 1014 BC). After Solomon, the kingdom was divided (974 BC) into the idolatrous North and the sometimes faithful and sometimes (and finally) idolatrous South.

The first three kings, therefore, are especially important. Did the first king, Saul, take seriously the important command for the king to write a copy of the law in the presence of priests? Almost certainly not. Did the third king, Solomon? In his younger years, he probably did. How else could he have written the book of Proverbs and taught the many other proverbs that are not preserved for us? Or how else could he have written the Song of Songs or the book of Ecclesiastes? It seems clear that Solomon was faithful through many years of his rule. Thus, the book of Kings says that when he was old, his wives turned his heart away from Yahweh (1 Ki 11:4). However, he had married these foreign wives over a period of years. It seems that his apostasy must have been gradual. We do not know when the process of violating the commands for the king began, but Solomon rebelled against the commands specifically addressed to him, buying horses and chariots from Egypt and accumulating vast sums of silver and gold and marrying foreign wives. All three of these sins must have taken years to build up to the breaking point. I also assume that Solomon repented in the end and that the book of Ecclesiastes might be something like his last words.

By contrast, David was the only king of whom we can be confident that he not only surely made his own copy of the law in the presence of priests, but also kept the Torah with him and read in it daily (except perhaps in the months after his sin with Bathsheba until he repented at the rebuke from Nathan).

Among many other things, what David apparently picked up through his reading of Torah was the emphasis found in the first command. Deuteronomy 6–26 is an exposition of the Ten Words, in order, with the greatest emphasis on the first command (6–11) and the fifth command, through a refrain that emphasizes the two promises of the fifth command, as I have pointed out in my book, Hear My Son: An Examination of the Fatherhood of Yahweh in Deuteronomy. As David wrote the Torah with his own hand and read in the Torah, he would have undoubtedly seen the importance of the first and great command to love God with all one’s heart, mind, and strength. He would also have definitely recognized that the command to love God was to be realized by having the words of God in the heart, teaching them diligently to children and talking of them all day in every situation (6:5–7).

Though this command parallels the command for the king, it is not a command for each Israelite to write out his own copy of the Torah, which might have been practically impossible given the levels of literacy and other practical problems. But since the Torah was often read aloud, Israelites would have been able to memorize large portions of the Torah. Synagogues, which were initially established by the law in Leviticus 23:3, would have, or should have, been places to learn the Torah so that it could be in the hearts of the people.¹

David, I suggest, would have recognized the parallel between the king being required to have the Torah with him and the people of Israel having the Torah in their hearts, teaching them and talking of them all the day. The king was to be an example to a nation that would be every bit as devoted to the Torah as the king himself.

The pastoral question for a king who regards himself as the shepherd of the people is clear: how can he help the people learn the Torah and hold it in their hearts? David’s answer was to write songs that teach the people Yahweh’s word. Incorporate those songs into the daily liturgy, into the festivals of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles, as well as the weekly worship of the synagogues throughout the land. Teach the people to sing God’s Word so that it will be in their hearts and in their mouths so that the Torah can be central to everyday life as well as to the worship on the Sabbath in the synagogue and the Tabernacle worship, especially on the festival days when large numbers of Israelites could sing together with the Levitical choirs.

David’s songs taught the Torah in the liturgical context of thanksgiving and praise with the pastoral aim of guiding the people to fear Yahweh so that they would not turn to the right or left but keep His Torah so that they and their children could inherit the blessings of the covenant from generation to generation. David took the law of the king and found a way to apply it to the people of Israel so that they could be blessed from generation to generation. That, I believe, was the pastoral aim of David’s liturgical revolution.

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NOTES

1. Leviticus does not command the establishment of synagogues in each town, but it assumes that there would be local places of assembly throughout all Israel. The word “dwellings” may refer either to an individual house or to a town, but the fact that Leviticus is speaking of a convocation implies that multiple families would gather in a single location to celebrate the Sabbath. Also, the weekly local Sabbath gathering is listed as the first of the feasts of Yahweh, which were all holy convocations (Lev 23:2–3). Local synagogues, therefore, are presupposed. ↩︎