Wesley Louie

Epigraph

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his
soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive blessings.

-Psalms 24:4-5a
Holy Bible (King James Version)
King David

The author of this epigraph is King David of the bible who was chosen by God to
fulfill the position of the king of Israel. In his early days David was a lowly
Sheppard tending to his sheep as one of the youngest sons of Jesse to make
ends in their household meet. However, he was chosen by God to replace their
present king of Israel who fell out of Gods favour and became a corrupt king.
The prophet Samuel was given the task by God to find and anoint David as the
true king of Israel. Coincidently, at that time David was also the harp player and
chief musician of King Saul, the corrupt king. The Lords spirit left King Saul and
when he found out that David was destined to take over his position on the
throne, he attempted many times to murder David. In the end all of his attempts
failed and he fell to a crushing defeat.
King David is perhaps best known for his amazing victory while battling
the great giant Goliath with just a sling shot and rock in hand. Throughout the
course of his life he also performed other amazing feats. However, being a sinful
man David was not perfect and experienced many sinful thoughts and desires
as a normal man. One such desire was Davids lusting yearn for a woman who
was previously married. As a result, David purposefully had her husband killed
and took her as one of his wives. All in all, King David experienced much
throughout his life and wrote the psalms as a reflection of his life praising God for
all he was blessed with and providing future generations with words of wisdom.
This epigraph quote is derived from the psalms and is one of Davids views
of how a man should live his life. He explains that if a man lives his life with a pure
heart and avoids unclean thoughts in addition to not performing dirty works
such as stealing or swearing by something they cannot keep, God will provide
you with blessings. David wrote this passage toward the end of his life while
reflecting on how he lived. He realized his sin of taking a wife for himself who was
already married by killing off her husband and consequently God did not bless
his marriage. His son that resulted from this sinful marriage was a cripple and had
mental challenges. David wrote this verse to teach future generations to not
commit the same sin that he fell into and if they lead an honest life, they would
receive blessings from God.