King David has the most in-depth backstory of any ruler over Israel. No other person in Scripture is given more history and examination more than David. Both 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles details David’s life with a tiny carry over with 1 Kings. 1 Samuel introduces David halfway into the book and covers his life before he becomes king while 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles deal with David’s kingship.
We are introduced to David as a harp-playing shepherd boy in his teens. Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to anoint the king that God wanted as a model of what a good king should look like: a king who would be after and seek the heart of God. Jesse had little idea of what Samuel had planned but never bothered to invite David to the party because he was out with the sheep. This is a vital introduction to the life of David: that he would be a man who God would accept but that mankind would reject. David, or his character, would be rejected three times. The first was with Saul himself, not because people chose Saul over David, but they sought the physically impressive over the simple yet godly man. The second was Eliab, David’s eldest brother. David’s father Jesse and Samuel looked at Eliab as the candidate instead of David. The third time was David’s son Absalom who was beautiful in form but had a heart of evil. It was the rejection at this anointing that prepared David for the rejection that would come later in his life and helped to further teach him that God needed to be his source of affirmation, not mankind. As he was temporarily cast out of Jerusalem due to Absalom’s rebellion, he was rejected by numerous people including his closest advisor, Ahithophel. The rejection of David early in his life prepared him for rejection later in life.
After David’s anointing, he was sent back to the sheep, the lowest place in Israeli culture. David did so willingly and obediently. He could have played his anointing card and claimed entitlement rights. But he didn’t. He went back to the sheep. While he was with the sheep, David played the harp and sang, which caught the attention of a servant of Saul. Not knowing of the anointing already done, other than Samuel having already told Saul that his kingdom would be taken away from him and given to a better man, Saul brought David in and had him play to relieve the stress from a demonic spirit. But David would go back to the sheep after each session. This happened multiple times. Even when he went to face Goliath, David was sent as a delivery boy. He had no aspirations of grandeur. He never boasted about his ability to defeat Goliath and never dared to challenge Goliath directly. He instead asked what the prize would be, not because he wanted it per se, but he wondered if there was anyone who had the courage, even for a prize, to face him. This prepared David to never seek his own glory, which would be necessary when he would have the chance to kill Saul and spared him.
David’s time with the sheep would send him out for days looking for fields for the sheep to graze. This meant spending many long days and nights out in the weather. David learned the locations of all shelter spots, caves, lookout spots, and the layout of the land. He would have spent numerous nights in caves with his sheep. This would enable him to know where to go and how to hide from Saul and then escape from Absalom’s hands as well.
David’s time with the sheep forced him to encounter other enemies besides weather – he faced a lion and a bear. Considering how casual David seemed to be when citing those events to justify his ability to face Goliath, I do wonder if they weren’t the only ones he faced. He faced wolves, and to prepare for such enemies, he spent a lot of time practicing with his sling. This gave him confidence to go to battles with what God had trained him in, and it wasn’t the armor or weapons of the flesh. It was the spiritual weapons of praise and worship first and foremost. David would end up facing numerous enemies besides Goliath, and in all of them, he found his trust in the Lord.
David’s time with the harp was very instrumental to one of the most notable aspects of his life: a life of worship. David never aspired to be a king. He aspired to be a worshiper. Nothing drove him more than his time with God in praise and worship. Even as a little shepherd boy, one thing I can picture David enjoying the most while with the sheep is the open air and space to worship with no one interfering.
David did what Saul or even Samuel did not: return the Ark of the Covenant to where it belonged. Remember that when the Philistines captured it during Eli’s leadership, they sent it back and where the oxen stopped, that is where it was parked for over 40 years. Once David captured Jerusalem to make it his capital, he went to bring the Ark to Jerusalem. His zeal blinded him to follow God’s commands in how the Ark was to be transported, but he learned that lesson and then brought it in. David also had the vision to build a temple for the Lord. He longed for a concrete place to worship God. God would not let him do so because he had been a man of war (I personally think it is also because he had committed murder, not just been a warrior). Yet David set up all the plans, arranged for all the materials and jobs, and prepared Solomon to do the job.
David is famous for his friendship with Jonathan. Last week, I mentioned how Jonathan was old enough to be Saul’s general in his early days as king before Abner became the formal general. This is part of the reason why some think that Saul’s reign actually included Samuel’s judging. But many people think David and Jonathan, while best friends, were of similar age. In studying the background of the kings so far, I have good reason to think that Jonathan was actually much older. David was still a teenager or early 20s when he had to flee Saul. Jonathan had to be no younger than his 30s and more likely to his 40s. Jonathan was likely old enough to be David’s father, and yet they were best friends. I believe it was Jonathan who taught David the details of royal living.
When Saul died, Israel was in a state of turmoil. There was no leadership, no king, no physical person to continue leadership. Judah turned to David to be the leader of their tribe in Hebron for seven years, and then the rest of Israel chose to follow him for the next 33 years.
What is interesting about David is that there is no mention of any flaw in David in 1 Samuel. In his pre-king days, David has no recorded sin against him. Yet during 2 Samuel, once chapter 11 hits, it basically covers David’s sins and the implications and consequences of them. Where did that sin come from? Was it from enjoy the comforts of leadership? Was it power trips? Scripture does not say. I can say this: it does not matter how strong of a life you build in a walk with God, if you let it go lax for a moment, you are in severe danger of falling into sin. David does teach us that. He built his life in faith and worship and for one time, he chose not to go to battle, because he felt he was not needed. He took a battle off and saw Bathsheba and the rest is ignoble history.
Yet in David’s life, we see the preparation of a Godly man and Godly king. David is one of the best models we have for how God builds his people, and David became the gold standard for all of Israel’s leaders only to be topped by the true king, Jesus Christ. All the kings of David’s line were judged and compared to David, not by their leadership skills and their politics, but in their service to God, their morality, and whether they pursued God or not. David became the standard, and God prepared him from boyhood to be the great man of God, despite his flaws, that he is known to be. And it is in that environment in which the next king, Solomon, would be raised.
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