LESSON 7
DAVID
AND THE KINGDOM OF GOD
When Jacob
blessed his sons, it was his fourth son, Judah, who received the promise of the
kingdom. We saw this in Lesson
1. The blessing itself is found in
Genesis 49:8-12
8
Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the
neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9
Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped
down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11
Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he
washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12
His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
The first
anointed King of Israel, however, was not from the tribe of Judah, but from the
tribe of Benjamin. In 1
Samuel chapter 8, the elders of Israel demand a king despite Samuel’s counsel
to do otherwise. 1 Samuel chapters
9-10 describe how Saul the Benjamite is chosen to be Israel’s first king. It is unclear why God chose Saul,
who would fail miserably as king, but ultimately Saul does fail and God does
reject him. It is then that God
chooses the man who will become the symbol of Israel’s kingdom, King
David.
David and Goliath
Even before
David becomes king of Israel, his life is a picture of the redemption that
comes through Jesus Christ. Consider
the story of David and Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. King Saul is chosen as king from among all of the peoples of
Israel in order to lead them in victory against their enemies, the
Philistines. However, instead of
leading them into brave victory, Saul and the rest of Israel cower in fear
before a single man, Goliath. This
giant of a man was indeed formidable, but God had promised Israel that he would
fight their battles for them.
There was no need for them to be afraid of Goliath. Despite his size, the God of Israel was
even bigger. Victory should be
assured. For forty days this
giant defied the armies of God, but no one stepped forward in faith to God to
battle him. Then along came David.
David was a
young man, not yet old enough to join the army. He had recently been anointed in secret by Samuel as the new
king of Israel, but it would be many years before that title would be his in
reality. David could not stand by
while this Philistine defied God and so he volunteered to go fight him. David was too small for Saul’s armor
and weaponry, so he went before Goliath with nothing but a sling and five small
stones. David understood that it
was God who fought his battles.
Consider his words in 1 Samuel 17:45-48
45
Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a
spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts,
the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
46
This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and
take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the
Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the
earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
47
And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear:
for the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands.
And that is precisely what David
did. With one stone, he brought
the giant down. He then cut off
the giant’s head with Goliath’s own sword and Israel saw a great victory that
day.
The story of
David and Goliath is one in which many Christians often misinterpret the application. Many Christians believe that they
should identify with David. They
think that with the help of God they can take on any enemy that comes before them. While there may be some truth to that,
such is not the picture we get from the story of David and Goliath. We are not David, striving against some
great enemy with the help of God.
Rather, we are the soldiers cowering on the sidelines waiting for
someone to fight our battles for us.
David is not
a picture of Christians fighting and winning great battles against greater
enemies. Rather, David is a picture of Jesus fighting the ultimate battle
against the ultimate enemy – Satan and Death. We are the soldiers, facing an enemy we could never
hope to defeat. We could never
take on Satan and we could never defeat death. In fact, no one could defeat Satan and Death except
God. Then along comes Jesus. He comes in appearance as a man – and
indeed is a man – but he is also God.
Just as David, with the power of God, was able to defeat Goliath; so
Jesus, because he was God, was able to defeat Satan and Death.
The story of
David and Goliath reminds us that we need a champion who can fight in our
place. Jesus is that
champion. The next time you are
faced with a great battle and a great enemy, do not think of yourself as David
– as one who can defeat the enemy.
Rather, call on the one who has already fought and defeated the enemy
for you. Call on your champion,
Jesus Christ.
The Davidic Covenant
As with his ancestors,
God made a covenant with David.
And like the covenant that God made with Abraham, God’s covenant with
David was unconditional. God’s covenant with David can be found in 2 Samuel
7:1-17, key portions of which are below:
12
And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will
set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will
establish his kingdom.
13
He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his
kingdom for ever.
14 I
will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
15
But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put
away before thee.
16 And thine
house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne
shall be established for ever.
Obviously, these words have both
physical, earthly meaning as well as eternal, spiritual meaning.
Being an
unconditional covenant, God did precisely as he promised and established David’s
kingdom. David was of the tribe of Judah and so David’s kingdom became a
fulfillment of the prophesy of Jacob.
Even when David’s son Solomon sinned, God did not tear the kingdom away
from him. He divided the kingdom,
tearing ten of the twelve tribes away from him, but the house of David in the
tribe of Judah never perished. Furthermore, until the people of Israel
completely turned away from God and were sent into exile, a descendant of David
was always on the throne of Judah, but the line of Judah continued on from
generation to generation.
It is
because of both the prophesies of Jacob and the covenant that God made with
David that the lineage of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1 is so important. The King of Israel must be not only
from the tribe of Judah, but also of the direct lineage of King David. Jesus meets that requirement.
God made an
unconditional promise to David to establish his kingdom forever, but because of
their disobedience, the kingdom of Judah failed. It is through Jesus, however, that God fulfils his promise
to David. God promises David
that one of his offspring would establish his kingdom, and that God himself
would be a father to that King, who would sit on the throne forever. Jesus is that offspring. Jesus is the Son of God.
Jesus’ first
coming was to be a suffering messiah, but he was no less a king then than he
will be when he returns again.
Even Pilot, who ordered his crucifixion, acknowledged (at least in part)
his kingship when he placed the title, King of the Jews, over his cross. Jesus, however, did not consider
his kingdom to be earthly at that time.
He told Pilot in John 18:36 that if his kingdom were of this earth that
his servants would not have allowed him to be delivered over to Pilot.
When Jesus
was resurrected from the dead, he established the permanence of his
kingdom. No longer would one king
die and another take his place.
King Jesus would be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and will sit
on the throne of David forever.
The Life of David
David was
Israel’s first great King.
Whenever the Kingdom of Judah is mentioned, it is almost always
associated with King David.
His life is iconic of everything that Israel represents. His life, though, in many ways was a
foreshadowing of the life of Christ.
Even though
David was considered a man after God’s own heart, it is impossible to draw
perfect parallels between the life of David and the life of Jesus. David was a man, born the 7th
son of Jessie, and in many ways failed miserably. Jesus was God come in the flesh, born of a virgin, and lived
a perfect life. Nevertheless,
there are some interesting aspects to David’s early life that distinctly mirror
the life of Jesus Christ.
David was
the youngest and lowliest son of a humble man. Because of his status in his family, he was a shepherd. In fact, he was a good shepherd. He courageously protected his flocks
against bear and lion. Later in
his life, he became not just a shepherd of sheep, but as king he was a shepherd
of the people of Israel. Jesus was
also a shepherd and referred to himself as the Good Shepherd. As pastors, we are also under-shepherd
of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ and bear a great responsibility to represent
him well.
When the prophet
Samuel came to the house of Jessie to anoint one of his son’s as King of
Israel, David was not even invited to the meeting. No one would have expected David to be king, not even
Samuel. God however, reminds
Samuel that “the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). This is oddly similar to what the
prophet Isaiah says about the Christ in Isaiah 53:2, “he hath no form nor
comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire
him.” Despite being anointed
as king, however, David did not immediately take possession of the throne as
king. Jesus likewise is the King
of King and Lord of Lords and the rightful King of Israel even now, and yet he
also did not immediately take the throne as king.
Like Jesus,
David quickly became very popular among the people, performing many acts of
valor in battle. The people even
began singing songs about David, saying “Saul has slain his thousands, and
David his ten thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7).
Jesus also became very popular among the people because of the many
signs and miracles he performed.
It is this popularity, however, that created problems for both David and
Jesus.
The Jewish
leadership quickly rejected Jesus because they were jealous of his popularity
with the people. Saul also quickly
rejected David because of his jealously over David’s popularity. Saul knew that God had rejected him and
was worried that David would overthrow him as king. The Pharisees were likewise concerned over their position of
authority.
As a result
David spent much time wandering in the wilderness, a foreshadowing of the time
that Jesus spent in the wilderness.
Saul sought to take David’s life many times, but David always escaped. No matter how many people counseled him
to kill Saul during his exile, he refused to shed the blood of God’s anointed
king. Eventually, in God’s timing, Saul was brought down and killed in battle, and
David’s obedience not to kill Saul was rewarded. He was able to return
victoriously from the wilderness and take his place as king. Jesus also returned victoriously from
the wilderness after being obedient and resisting the temptations of Satan.
David spent
many years as the most successful King of Israel, but his rule was certainly
not without problem. He may have
been a man after God’s own heart, but David was still human and not divine like
Christ. David committed terrible
sins including adultery and murder. As a result, David had great difficulty in
the later years of his rule.
Even this
difficulty, which was partially the result of his own sin, has striking similarities
to the life of Christ, drawing a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ. In his later years,
David’s own son Absalom rose up against him. He stirred up the people against David, and David’s own
servant, Ahithophel, betrayed David to Absalom (2 Samuel 15). Towards the end of Jesus’
ministry, the Pharisees began to stir the people against Jesus, and it was
Jesus’ own disciple, Judas, who betrayed him to the Jewish leaders. Because of this betrayal, David had to
flee Jerusalem. The picture of
David weeping as he ascends the Mount of Olives to leave Jerusalem (2 Samuel
15:30) is a striking mirror to the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, when Jesus
weeps as he descends the Mount of Olives into Jerusalem.
David’s
departure from Jerusalem marks of picture of the crucifixion and death of
Christ. Just as Shimei mocked and
cursed David, so Jesus was mocked and cursed. And as Absalom entered into Jerusalem and is declared King,
David’s reign as king “dies” and is essentially brought to an end, mirroring
the death of Christ on the cross. Ironically,
just as Judas went out and hanged himself after Christ was crucified, Ahithophel
also went out and hanged himself.
But just as
Christ’s death was only temporary, so was the death of David’s rule as King of
Israel. Jesus was only in the
grave three days. David was only
exiled from Jerusalem and his kingdom for three days. Absalom and the armies of Israel pursued David and his
servants and fought with them in the forest (2 Samuel 18). In a way that can only be counted as
miraculous, the servants of David defeated the armies of Israel (2 Samuel
18:7). So too is the miraculous manner
in which Jesus defeated Satan.
David actually prophesies about this divine, miraculous victory in Psalm
68:18, saying “Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive:
thou hast received gifts for men” – which Paul later quotes in Colossians 4:8 as
being a prophecy of Jesus’ victory over Satan (for other prophesies of David,
see the next section below).
There is
still yet one aspect of how David’s life mirrors the life of Christ that has
not yet come to fulfilment. In 2
Samuel 19, David returns to Jerusalem after Absalom’s death as king. Taking his seat in the city gate, the
people declared “Behold, the king doth sit in the gate.” However, not all of Israel followed him
at that time. Eventually David
defeats all of his enemies and unites all of Israel. All Israel then acknowledges him as king. Thus he died in peace. There are still many Jews today who do
not yet recognize Jesus as their king.
One day, however, Jesus will return to Jerusalem – not as the Suffering
Messiah, but the Conquering King. On
that day, all the enemies of God will be defeated, and as Paul says in Romans
11:26, so all Israel will be saved.
David’s Prophecies of Jesus
We do not
always consider David to be a prophet.
We think of him rather as warrior, as king, even as poet and
musician. But it is through his
poetry and music that David also prophesied of the coming messiah. We have
already seen one such prophecy in Psalm 68:18. There are others. His Psalms are full of scriptures that
point to Christ. Many of these are quoted by the
Apostles during the development of the early church in the book of Acts. A number of them are described here.
Psalm 2
1 Why
do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying,
7 I
will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day
have I begotten thee.
Psalm 2 was
a royal song that the New Testament church attributed to David. The people of Israel, however, sang it
as a song celebrating the kingdom of David. But just as David’s life is a foreshadowing of Christ, so
this Psalm is also a prophesy of Christ.
The early church in Acts
chapter 4 quoted verses 1-2, which hint at Christ’s rejection and mistreatment
by the Roman government. The church attributed them not only to
their persecution at that time, but also of Pilot’s persecution of Jesus
Christ. Likewise, Paul and
Barnabas quoted verse 7 in Acts 13, which speaks of Christ’s divine nature as
the Son of God.
Psalm 16
8 I
have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not
be moved.
9
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in
hope.
10
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy
One to see corruption.
11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy
right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
These words
of David were quoted by Peter on the Day of Pentecost and again by Paul in Acts
13. David wrote them concerning
himself, but they were also a prophesy of the Christ. David spoke them concerning his hope in eternal life, but
they prophesy the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 22
Because of
its length, Psalm 22 is not quoted here, but its entire text is a prophesy of
the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
In fact, its opening words, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
were quoted by Jesus Christ himself while he was on the cross (Matthew
27:46). The Apostle, Matthew,
records the events of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in a way that so
parallels Psalm 22 that it is almost scary.
When the
Roman soldiers pierced the hands and feet of Jesus, it was a direct fulfillment
of Psalm 22:16. When the Roman solders cast lots to divide Jesus’ garments in
Matthew 27:35, it is a direct fulfillment of Psalm 22:18. When the passers by in Matthew 27:39
deride Jesus and shake their heads, it is a direct fulfillment of Psalm
22:7. When the scoffers challenged
Jesus to save himself in Matthew 27:43, it was a direct fulfillment of Psalm
22:8. The description in
Psalm 22:14 is a perfect description of what Jesus would have experienced while
hanging on the cross, and when Jesus said “I thirst” in John 19:28, John called
it a fulfillment of scripture.
That scripture was Psalm 22:15.
But just as
last half of Psalm 22 is David’s cry to God not to forget him but to make right
all the wrong, God makes right the crucifixion by raising Jesus from the
dead. As such, Psalm 22:22 is
quoted in Hebrews 2:12 as the author of Hebrews reminds us of the victory of
Christ in establishing our salvation through his death.
Psalm 23
As
previously mentioned, David was a shepherd in much the same way that Jesus is
our Good Shepherd. However, David
himself recognized that God was the ultimate good shepherd, and he prophesied
of such in Psalm 23. The 23rd
Psalm may very well be one of the most well known Psalms in the Bible. It speaks of the Lord (Jesus Christ) as
our shepherd and tells of how he cares for us as his sheep.
Psalm 110
1 The
Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool.
4
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchizedek.
Psalm 110:1
is actually a verse that Jesus himself quotes to prove that he was the Messiah
(Matthew 22:41-46), and he did so in a way that completely confounded the
Pharisees. Jesus, the Christ, is
both David’s son and his Lord. How
can this be? Because he is also
the Son of God, and David prophesied as much 1000 years before Jesus was born.
Likewise, in
Psalm 110:4, David prophesies that the Christ will be a priest of the order of Melchizedek. Nowhere else in scripture is this
prophesied, but as we saw in the previous lesson, the writer of Hebrews picks
up on this in Hebrews 7 and explains not only how Jesus is this priest, but
what that means to us as believers.
Conclusion
There is
much about the life and kingship of David that is a direct foreshadowing of
Christ. At the very least, God’s
covenant with David points directly to the kingship of Christ as Son of David
and Son of God.
