In 1 Sam. 16 to 1 Kings 2, David is depicted as repeatedly endangered and threatened. This study is the first examination of these texts as a whole. The centrality of the motif of David in danger is evidenced by the wide reception of this theme in the Early Modern era, as illustrated by Benito Arias Montano’s text on David, the ceiling frescos at Schloss Eggenberg near Graz, and drawings by Rembrandt, Rubens, and Boeckhorst.