The Fall of King David

I finished Chapter 26 of the Old Testament Student Manual, Genesis to 2 Samuel. I have 2 more chapters to go before I finish the manual. I've learned a lot reading the Old Testament by studying the OTSM.

I've always thought of King David as a failure. Yet, here is a thought-provoking question raised in the first part of chapter 26:

Do we emphasize the David who killed Goliath, or the David who killed Uriah? Should we view him as the servant who refused to lift his hand against the Lord’s anointed, or as the Lord’s anointed who lifted his hand against a faithful and loyal servant? Was his life a tragedy, or a triumph? 

It made me think of "great men of history."

Ask anybody: “Who are the great men in human history?” Likely you will hear names such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, or perhaps even Ronald Reagan. What do these men have in common? What made them great? They were successful because they were powerful, and with this power they changed the course of history by their heroic actions, or by ruling countries or even whole continents.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/the-great-men-of-history-322731.html#ixzz0yolQdZu3
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So, if looked at in this way, yes, King David was successful.

For the first time, under his direction the chosen people controlled the whole land promised to Abraham’s seed nearly a thousand years earlier. Israel had not achieved such heights before, nor did they ever again.

But, he caused the murder of Uriah & so therefore committed an unpardonable sin, he did not reach the celestial kingdom. He did not "endure to the end."