The Quran

يا داوودُ إِنّا جَعَلناكَ خَليفَةً فِي الأَرضِ فَاحكُم بَينَ النّاسِ بِالحَقِّ وَلا تَتَّبِعِ الهَوىٰ فَيُضِلَّكَ عَن سَبيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذينَ يَضِلّونَ عَن سَبيلِ اللَّهِ لَهُم عَذابٌ شَديدٌ بِما نَسوا يَومَ الحِسابِ

Ali Unal

“O David! We have appointed you as a vicegerent in the land (to rule according to Our commandments); so judge among people with the truth, and do not follow personal inclination, lest it leads you astray from the path of God. Surely, those who wander astray from God’s path – for them there is a severe punishment because they have forgotten the Day of Reckoning.¹

The gist of the trial under which God put David must be as follows:
All the Messengers were sent to convey God’s Message to people. However, each had a particular mission within this general mission according to the demands of the time and conditions, and was therefore equipped with a special capacity peculiar to him. For example, God appointed Prophet Abraham as a leader (imām), David as a vicegerent (khalīfah), and Solomon as a king (malik), upon them all be peace. However, before they were commissioned for such particular duties, each had to pass through a strenuous trial. God tested Prophet Abraham, upon him be peace, with severe commandments and terrible ordeals (such as being thrown into a fire, the destruction of the people of Lot, upon him be peace, who was his relative, and being ordered to sacrifice his son, Ishmael, upon him be peace); and after Abraham, upon him be peace, fulfilled all these tests thoroughly, He appointed him an imām (one who leads people in all matters). He put Prophet David, upon him be peace, to the test mentioned in verses 21–24 in this sūrah; and when David, upon him be peace, succeeded, He appointed him as a khalīfah (vicegerent: one who judges and governs according to God’s commandments). He also tried Prophet Solomon, upon him be peace, as will be mentioned in verse 34 in this sūrah; and when Solomon, upon him be peace, was successful, He made him a king invested with very great power. We should point out that imamate, caliphate (vicegerency), and kingdom are all particular missions within the comprehensive mission of Messengership. We can conclude from this fact that any trial through which a particular Messenger had to pass was particular to the mission for which he had been chosen. So, the trial to which God put the Prophet David, upon him be peace, concerned judging between people.
Whether the litigants who entered the presence of David, upon him be peace, by climbing the high walls of his royal chamber were angels who appeared in the form of human beings or not, what David, upon him be peace, thought he had been mistaken about must be his pronouncing a judgment before listening to both sides. When he listened to the one who complained about his brother (brother-in-religion or partner-in-business), either David, upon him be peace, felt in himself that this man must be truthful or some other sign convinced him that the man was speaking the truth, or perhaps his judgment was based on the compassion which David, upon him be peace, felt towards him; in any case, David, upon him be peace, pronounced the judgment before listening to the other side. Then he came to understand that God had tested him and he thought he had made a mistake. Since he was a Messenger, ever-turning to God in sincere devotion, he again turned to Him in contrition and asked for forgiveness. God forgave him, which meant that David, upon him be peace, had passed the test, and then He appointed David, upon him be peace, as a vicegerent.
Verse 20 states that God favored David, upon him be peace, with, in addition to other blessings, the power of speech to clarify all matters distinctly and convince his audience. It is very significant that the one making a complaint about his brother had said that the other had overpowered him in speech (verse 23). So, through this trial, God must have been warning David, upon him be peace, against powerful speech while judging between people. God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, draws our attention to this point: “I am a mortal man like you. You come to me to judge the matters between you. It is possible that some of you are more convincing than the others, and I judge in his favor according to what I hear. (So everyone should speak the truth). Because if I judge in someone’s favor as against the right of his brother, let him know that I have assigned for him a brand of Hell’s fire” (al-Bukharī, “Shahādah,” 27; Muslim, “’Aqdiyah,” 5).