David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness…Saul sought him every day, but the Lord did not give him into his hand. (1 Samuel 23:14, NRSVue)
I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like a little owl of the waste places. (Psalm 102:6m NRSVue)
The Hebrew Scriptures offer us a compelling, contradictory portrait of King David, one of the finest character studies in ancient sacred writings. We see him both as the daring shepherd boy who slays the giant Goliath and the conniving monarch who murders a loyal comrade in arms because he desires his wife. David wrote the most beautiful poetry in the Bible but was not allowed to build the temple in Jerusalem because God deemed his hands too stained with blood. Wilderness wandering played an important part in David's character formation. He took to the hills with a band of followers when the insanely jealous King Saul sought to kill him for becoming too popular in the public eye. It says a good deal about David that he had two opportunities to strike back at Saul during his days in the desert but would not raise his hand against God's annointed ruler. Swiss Artist Max Hunziker smooths out all of David's wrinkles and rough edges in this whimsically boyish cover portait of the Warrior Poet King for a 1966 illustrated edition of the Psalms (John Kohan)