Upright Heart

1 Kings 3:6
Solomon answered, "You have shown great kindness to your servant, my father David, because he was faithful to you and righteous and upright in heart. You have continued this great kindness to him and have given him a son to sit on his throne this very day.

This chapter says "Solomon showed his love for the LORD by walking according to the statutes of his father David, except that he offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places."
That in itself makes me curious. Why? Whose influence was stronger than David's, that he worshipped on the high places?
It would seem that God didn't disqualify Solomon for this. After the explanation, a specific time is mentioned, when he went to the most important high place, at Gibeon, and sacrificed 1000 burnt offerings. While he was still there, God spoke to him.
"Ask for whatever you want me to give you."
I almost said it was an offer, but maybe it was a test. I won't go to Solomon's request, because that has a heart in it too. But he began with a praise, you might say, for God's kindness. He connects God's kindness with David's goodness: his faithfulness, his righteousness, his upright heart.
I don't recall seeing an upright heart before. I think this is a new one. When I search for both words, I only got this one verse. Here's what I found for a definition of upright: Adhering strictly to moral principles; righteous.
Upright has several physical definitions as well, having to do with verticality.
It is interesting that the word means both. Pastor Allen says righteous means right relationship with God, thus the vertical.
The heart in right relationship with God, the heart with a vertical reaching to God.

Guilty Heart

1 Kings 2:44
The king also said to Shimei, "You know in your heart all the wrong you did to my father David. Now the LORD will repay you for your wrongdoing.

This comes at the end of the chapter that began with David's last words to Solomon. The narrative moves right through Solomon's carrying out his requests, executing first Adonijah, then Joab, and finally Shimei, though he got a reprieve of 3 years.
In theory, he could have stayed alive if he had kept the terms of his house arrest, but, maybe going a little stir-crazy, he jumped on his donkey one day and headed for Gath after some runaway slaves. Now surely he had another slave he could have sent after the escapees. But he took a donkey ride, and probation was over.
His crime was cursing the king as David walked his trail of tears out of Jerusalem. When the king returned, he declined to take his revenge. But evidently he never quit thinking about it, and he made it his last request.
Did Solomon find that duty more difficult than eliminating his over-ambitious older brother and the likewise over-reaching General Joab? Shimei was a fool at worst, no threat to the throne. Maybe that's why Solomon gave him a chance. When he blew it, the king could avenge his father's dignity with a clear conscience.
First he reminded Shimei of his crime. He suggested that the wrong he'd done lived deep in his memories, an ever-present reminder of guilt.
And then he gave the order to Benaiah.

Faithful Heart

1 Kings 2:4
and that the LORD may keep his promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'

In this chapter David dies. First, he spoke to Solomon, giving him first good counsel, and then a revenge list. This verse follows up the counsel with God's promise to David.
It's more of a covenant, or a conditional promise. The conditions are easy enough to read through, and even to think, Too bad, Israel! You could have had it all!
But think about the conditions.
Watch how you live.
Interesting. A sort of call to be observant, to be conscious of your actions and their implications, not sleep-walking.
Walk faithfully before God with all your heart and soul.
Walk means live. Live faithfully. Before God. He's watching, too, watching well below the level of actions and even conscious thoughts.
With all your heart and soul.
Well, there it is. Because God is watching, my faithful walk must come from my heart, must be my one passion.

Losing Heart

2 Samuel 22:46
They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds.

This comes in a section that seems to collect various bits about David. The chapter is a song David wrote when he was delivered from Saul and other enemies, and parts of it are in a contemporary song: I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and so shall I be saved from my enemies . . .
This heart is courage, energy, spirit. He is talking about how he rules even over non-Israelis: People I did not know are subject to me, and foreigners come cringing to me; as soon as they hear me, they obey me.
David was given this kingship, and he was only a shadow of the King to come. The True King, as well, will rule over all, not just the tribe of Judah, or even the 12 tribes. The foreigners are those who do not believe in King Jesus, but when they hear, they will be unable to ignore him. Talk about losing heart.
God, let me live so that when I hear the King, I will not lose heart.

Hearts of Judah

2 Samuel 19:14
He won over the hearts of all the men of Judah as though they were one man. They sent word to the king, "Return, you and all your men."

The battle was over. It ended rather quickly with the strategic death of Absalom, even as David's death would have ended it. Immediately afterward, David was too consumed with grief to take his victory, but the ever-watchful Joab ordered him out of mourning and back to his position. No time for the king to grieve. The demands of the kingdom are too great.
Apparently he won the hearts of Judah simply by asking them to bring him back. Judah was his tribe, his brothers. They must have been eager to have back their king. If he wanted it, if he was ready to be king again, they were more than ready.
God, help me to keep my eye on the job you have given me, and let me not be distracted by emotion.

Javelins to the Heart

2 Samuel 18:14
Joab said, "I'm not going to wait like this for you." So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom's heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree.

Once more, heart is the hollow, muscular organ in the thorax which maintains the circulation of the blood through the blood vessels.
Absalom's pretty hair caught in the tree as he tried to ride under it, and the merciless Joab killed him for a traitor in spite of the king's explicit instructions. Interesting that David, on the run from his own son, still had a father's heart. Joab had no patience for this, looking out for David's best interests. Three javelins. The picture is gruesome. Then his armor-bearers finished off the rebel prince, though you might think the javelins would have been fatal.

Lion Heart

2 Samuel 17:10
Then even the bravest soldier, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt with fear, for all Israel knows that your father is a fighter and that those with him are brave.

Ahithophel advised Absalom to make a quick and ruthless attack on his father before David got too far. The plan might well have worked. So Hushai, who had been planted to help David, suggested an alternate plan to buy time for the king.
First he played on David's reputation as a warrior, portraying the results if the hasty attack went badly. Here heart is courage, spirit, energy, and the image is similar to the melting hearts of other verses. However, it is the soldier himself who will melt before David's counterattack, though he have the courage of a lion.
Hushai is dealing skillfully in word pictures here. Melting soldiers, lion hearts...
Next he plays to Absalom's ego, picturing the world's largest army, led by Absalom, utterly destroying David and everyone with him. How much more appealing than a quick and dirty assassination mission!
Absalom went for it.

Hearts of Israel

2 Samuel 15:13
A messenger came and told David, "The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom."

It's not the sort of message anyone wants to hear.
This heart is, I think, the seat of the affections, passions, and emotions, as distinguished from the intellect and will; hence, tenderness, sympathy, affection. Their innermost selves were not bound up with Absalom, but their passions and emotions. Absalom was relatively young and notoriously good-looking. He'd flattered as many as he could and appealed to their self-interest. He made them feel jazzed and excited, hopeful that something good would happen.
God, help me to guard my heart, keeping my affections only for those that are entitled to it, and mostly for you at that.

Stolen Hearts

2 Samuel 15:6
Absalom behaved in this way toward all the Israelites who came to the king asking for justice, and so he stole the hearts of the men of Israel.

It wasn't revenge enough for Absalom to kill Amnon. His next project was to take the kingdom from his father.
Unfortunately for him, he hadn't stopped to consider that God had given the kingdom to David and would have the last word on whether or not he kept it.
Maybe he was too caught up in his own beauty and charisma. David couldn't help loving him, and neither could the men of Israel, when Absalom turned on the charm there at the city gate.
This story has too many sad parts. On one hand you have an aging king after God's own heart, and on the other a young prince who is after the hearts of the people, for his own agenda.
I like that contrast . . . another possible illustration of what it meant that David was "after God's own heart."
Whose heart am I after? And why?