Was David a Vigilante?

Continued from "Was Ehud a Vigilante?"

David, the shepherd king of Israel was forerunner to the Great Shepherd and King, Jesus. Before he ascended the throne, however, he spent years in the wilderness hiding from the jealous reigning king, Saul.

David did not spend his time in hiding idly. Neither, as some may suggest, did he engage in some form of partisan rebellion against the established order. He spent his time in the hinterlands demonstrating his kingly heart.

The Catechism for Children asks, "Why do you need a king?" The answer follows: "Because I am weak and helpless." It is the role of the king to protect the weak and helpless.

And that describes David's wilderness campaigns. For on the frontiers, there were raiders from among Israel's enemies that would swoop down to plunder Israelite settlements. But David, even when he lived among the Philistines, conducted raids against the raiders.

And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.

And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.
(1Sa 27:8-11)

Later, when he and his men caught and killed the Amalekite raiders of Ziklag, he did not keep the spoil to himself, but gave it to those who may have suffered from previous robberies.

And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;
(1Sa 30:26)

The testimony of Nabal's herdsmen concerning David and his men only corroborates this view.
They said,

But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
(1Sa 25:15-16)

Saul was a self-involved man who knew little of what it really means to be king. He could not or would not protect the weak and helpless. David stepped in as a fugitive and did more that Saul with all his resources to stand between his people and those who would do harm.

Does this make him a vigilante? Well, not as we normally define vigilante as someone who acts completely outside of established authority.

For one thing, he held a place of authority as a military leader in Saul's army. More important, though, is the fact that, although he had not yet been formally invested as king, Samuel had anointed him to that office. What he did, he did as heir to the throne.

I don't believe we can use David as a Biblical precedent for vigilante activity.

There are people today, however who function in a law-enforcement capacity, do so separately from the police, and even have the blessing of a minority of civil officials. I will talk about them in another post, and I hope to analyze what they do from a legal and Biblical perspective.