The Life and Times of

Conclusion

Why anoint David as king so long before he is appointed and crowned as king?

First, the Spirit, which comes upon Saul for his kingly service, can now be removed and placed upon David. It is in the Spirit that David will now grow and mature and minister to Saul, as God prepares him for service. How ironic, how unexpected, that David will serve the king to prepare him to serve as king. God’s ways are beyond our ability to predict.
Secondly, the anointing of David results in a test for all Israelites. David’s anointing, unlike Saul’s, is semi-public. His father and brothers, as well as the prominent men of the city who attend the sacrificial feast have to know that the new king who will replace Saul is being designated. As men realize that David is the next king, their response to him is indicative of their relation to the King of Israel and His kingdom. It also determines their place in David’s kingdom.
Let me illustrate with a man and his wife, Nabal and Abigail, described in 1 Samuel 25. David is fleeing from Saul, and he and his men are hiding out where Nabal’s flocks are kept. They have not molested any of Nabal’s shepherds or taken any of his flock. They have been an asset to Nabal, and now at sheering time, they politely ask Nabal for a gift. Nabal refuses, with these words:

10b “Who is David? And who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are each breaking away from his master. 11 “Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have slaughtered for my shearers, and give it to men whose origin I do not know? (1 Samuel 25:10b-11).

It is not that Nabal is unaware of who David is. He knows he is the son of Jesse, and he also knows that he is fleeing from his master, Saul. In other words, he knows that David is the designated king to replace Saul.

If there is any doubt of this, listen to the words of his wife, Abigail, spoken to David:

28 “Please forgive the transgression of your maidservant; for the LORD will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord is fighting the battles of the LORD, and evil shall not be found in you all your days. 29 “And should anyone rise up to pursue you and to seek your life, then the life of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God; but the lives of your enemies He will sling out as from the hollow of a sling. 30 “And it shall come about when the LORD shall do for my lord according to all the good that He has spoken concerning you, and shall appoint you ruler over Israel, 31 that this will not cause grief or a troubled heart to my lord, both by having shed blood without cause and by my lord having avenged himself. When the LORD shall deal well with my lord, then remember your maidservant” (1 Samuel 25:28-31).
Nabal knows exactly who David is, and he refuses to have anything to do with him. Is this because he might have negative repercussions from Saul (see chapters 21 and 22)? Abigail is a wise and godly woman. She knows who David is, and her response and appeal to David are based upon her submission to him as her coming king. David’s early designation as Israel’s future king thus becomes a test.
Turn to Jesus Christ

Remember the mentioning of the statue of David in Florence? The story is told that Michaelangelo found a block of crudely cut marble, discarded in a cathedral workshop. A clumsy sculptor had broken a sectoion out of one side. Thinking the stone ruined, he threw it away.

Michaelangelo took the stone and skillfully conformed the curve of the “ruined” sid eto the curve on the back of his subject. From a discarded stone, Michaelangelo created his masterpiece, David.
You may believe that your own life is marred and useless, but it is never too late to become a man or woman “after God’s own heart.”
When the author of 1 Samuel turns his attention from Saul to David, he calls us to consider a man who is a prototype of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, Saul is remarkably like Satan. Saul is given authority to rule under God, but instead, his rules and rule become more important to him than God’s rules and rule. And so he is set aside. David is the one designated to take his place, to rule righteously over the people of God. Satan, like Saul of old, has been rejected by God.
On the cross of Calvary, our Lord defeated Satan. But he still is free to oppose God, though his future containment and punishment is sure. In this interim period, Jesus Christ has been designated as God’s King. He has not only proclaimed the kingdom of God, He has procured it by His death, burial, and resurrection. All those who submit to Him as King will enter into His kingdom, and rule with him for all eternity. The question for you and I today is: “Whom will we serve?”
Who will reign over us? To whose kingdom will we submit? By nature, all men are born into Satan’s kingdom. It is only by the new birth, by trusting in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary and being immersed into Christ, that men are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of God. Have you changed kings, my friend?
Samuel is wrong about who God’s king will be. He expects that God’s king will be “tall, dark, and handsome,” so to speak. God makes it clear to Samuel that outward appearance is not the criteria for God’s choice of king (1 Samuel 16:7). David is good looking as it turns out, but this is not the basis for his election by God. By divine design, our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s eternal King, was not to be recognized by His appearance either:

1 Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Isaiah 53:1-3, NASB).
5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:5-8, NASB).
The Lord Jesus was not, as I understand these texts and others, a striking person, physically speaking. Men were not drawn to Him by His handsome features or by His deep, broadcast-quality voice. Men were drawn to Him as they recognized His heart for God, His being God. It was His submission and obedience to the Father which set Him apart, along with the fact that He perfectly fulfilled the prophecies concerning Messiah. He is the One God has appointed to rule, and when He returns, all men will bow the knee to Him and acknowledge Him as God’s King (see Philippians 2:9-11). The exhortation of Scripture is for us to receive Him as King and to become a part of His kingdom, or to await His wrath on us as His enemy (see Psalm 2:10-12).
9 Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin”? (Proverbs 20:9, NASB; see Romans 3:9-18).
9 “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9, NASB; see also Romans 3:9-18).
God does not save some men because He looks into their hearts and likes what He sees. God saves men who are wicked sinners in their hearts, and He has mercy upon them, placing their sins on His Son, Jesus Christ. Christ alone is sinless and thus able to die for the sins of others. There is only one person in all of human history whose heart was free from sin, and that person is Jesus Christ. God saves those who trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sins and for the gift of eternal life.
There is a great deal of talk about leadership these days, and I must say that the qualities and qualifications sought in contemporary leaders are not those which God sought in David. Evangelicals choose their leaders on nearly the same basis as secular society does. We look for men who have “resources” (money and influence) and “a good business head.” God sought a man who had a heart for Him. I believe that character is the first and foremost prerequisite for leadership. It may not be the only one, but it is foundational. Let us look for the kind of leadership that God chooses. Let us seek to be the kind of men and women whom God seeks for His service.
The power of music

(2 Chr 5:11-14) "The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. {12} All the Levites who were musicians--Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives--stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. {13} The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, {14} and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God."
(Psa 40:3) "He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD."
(Psa 119:54) "Your decrees are the theme of my song wherever I lodge."
(Psa 150) "Praise the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. {2} Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. {3} Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, {4} praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute, {5} praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. {6} Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD."
(Col 3:16) "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."

David: A Man After God’s Own Heart