The following is a brief summary of a thought said over by R' Frand in his shiur this evening. I have attempted to reproduce this vort to the best of my ability. Any perceived inconsistency is the result of my efforts to transcribe the shiur and should not be attributed to R' Frand.
There is a famous medrash linking Adam HaRishon and Dovid HaMelech. The medrash states that Adam was shown all the generations until the end of time. During this view he saw the neshama of Dovid and that he was destined to live only three hours on this earth. Adam then said to Hashem - this special person - why is he to live such a short time? Hashem responded to Adam - this is my plan. Adam then asked Hashem how long Adam was supposed to live and Hashem responded -1000 years. Adam then asked (and Hashem agreed) that Adam could give 70 years of his life to David.
Rabbi Frand asked the question - why did Adam only give life to Dovid? Surely there must have been other people who Dovid saw who were destined to live short lives, despite their greatness. Why didn't Adam give (for example) thirty years to someone else?
Rabbi Frand answered the question by citing the Arizal who explained that Dovid was the gilgul (reincarnation) of Adam. Hashem had originally told Adam that if he ate from the etz ha'daas he would die the same day. However, after Adam ate from the fruit, Hashem relented and allowed Adam to live, albeit with punishments we still carry to this day.
Adam looked at Dovid and saw that Hashem was going to inflict Adam's punishment on Dovid because Dovid was Adam's gilgul. As Adam did not die the day he ate from the tree, Dovid, who was Adam's gilgul, was going to receive the punishment as he would die the day he was born. Having done teshuva for his act and feeling guilty that Hashem was going to punish Dovid for his sin, Adam asked Hashem to intervene and allow him to give 70 of the years of his life to Dovid so that Dovid would not die the day he was born.
Rabbi Frand said over one other thought at the end of the shiur in relation to his recent trip to Panama City. He said that since his childhood he was always fascinated by the Panama Canal and this gave him an opportunity to observe it in person. Rabbi Frand then explained in layman's terms how the canal works. First a ship enters from one ocean and travels into a lock. As the lock fills with water, the ship is raised until it can be passed to the next lock where it will rise or drop based on the water which fills the man made lake.
Rabbi Frand commented that the ships passing through the canal were massive in size, including one that held 5000 containers. The price for the canal passage - $200,000.
Rabbi Frand drew from this experience a greater appreciation for Torah. If water can cause a massive ship carrying 5000 containers to raise based solely on the power of water to create buoyancy, how great is the power of Torah which water is compared to.
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