David

The second king of Israel, who succeeded Saul, and famous for his slaying of the giant Goliath (Carson & Cerrito, 2003). He is the first person recorded to have used music therapy in the treatment of madness (Gardner, 1995; Hills, 1901; Tischler, 2006; Tuke, 1892), playing his harp to soothe Saul’s madness: 

          And it came to pass, when the [evil] spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, and  

          played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him. 

          (1 Samuel 16:23, King James Bible).

Saul listening to David playing the harp by Erasmus Quellinus

Later David himself feigned madness in order to escape from Saul (1 Samuel 21:10-15, King James Bible), who had come to develop a paranoid fear of David (Comay, 1995; Conolly, 1850; Gardner, 1995; Krafft-Ebbing, 1903; Stone, 1997; Tuke, 1892):

          And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. And the 

          servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to 

          another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And 

          David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And he 

          changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the 

          doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, 

          ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Have I need of mad men, that ye 

          have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

References:

Carson, T., & Cerrito, J. (Eds.) (2003). New Catholic encyclopedia (2^nd edition). Farmington Hills, MI: The Gale Group Inc.

Comay, J. (1995). Who’s who in the Old Testament. London, England: Routledge.

Conolly, J. (1850). Familiar views of lunacy and lunatic life: with hints on the personal care and management of those who are afflicted with temporary or permanent derangement. London, England:  John W. Parker.

Gardner, P. (Ed.) (1995). The complete who’s who in the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

Hills, F.L. (1901). Psychiatry – ancient, medieval and modern. The Popular Science Monthly 59, 3, 31-48.

Krafft-Ebbing, R. von (1903). Textbook of insanity: based on clinical observations. Philadelphia, PA: F.A. Davis Company.

Stone, M.H. (1997). Healing the mind: A history of psychiatry from antiquity to the present. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc.

Tischler, N.M. (Ed.) (2006). All things in the Bible. Westport, CT : Greenwood Publishing Group Inc.

Tuke, D.H. (1892). A dictionary of psychological medicine. Philadelphia, PA: P. Blakiston Son & Co.