Chapter 2 of God’s Anointed – the Life of King David
David was, in many ways, an unlikely candidate for the founding king of an eternal dynasty. He was not the first born, nor did he come from a family of wealth or renown. His family had Moabite blood, which would have been a downer among some Israelites even though his great-grandmother Ruth was accepted into the congregation. David was considered unremarkable even inside his own family. David had to take an unlikely path to the throne. How does such a person become King? He had Biblical Promises, he had a heritage of Faith, and he had God’s Anointing.
David is one of the most frequently mentioned people in the Bible. On this list compiled by Howard Culbertson, David is the second most frequently mentioned person on the Bible, second only to Jesus Christ.
- Jesus — 1,281 times
- David — 971 times
- Moses — 803 times
- Jacob — 363 times
- Saul — 362 times
- Aaron — 342 times
- Abraham — 294 times (with 57 as “Abram”)
- Solomon — 272 times
- Joseph — 246 times
- Paul — 228 times
- Joshua — 219 times
- Peter — 193 times
- Jeremiah — 145 times
- Samuel — 142 times (listed as “Samuel” in verses)
- Isaac — 129 times
- Joab — 129 timeshttps://snuhome.org/~hculbert/wordsr.htm
The Case Against David.
Let us first examine what was arrayed against David. He was not the firstborn, nor did he come from a family of wealth or renown. David was considered unremarkable even inside his own family, and he had to take an unlikely path to the throne.
He was not the first born, nor did he come from a family of wealth or renown.
David’s thrice great-grandfather, Nahshon, was the tribal leader of Judah under Moses (Numbers 1:7). Like all ancestral lines, the greatness of the father is not distributed equally amongst the children. We see Bethlehem, grandson of Hur, son of Judah, who would found Bethlehem rather than David’s ancestor (1 Chr2:1-4). Later, an Ibsan of Bethlehem would judge Israel, another who was not David’s ancestor(Jdg 12:8-10). Boaz, his great-grandfather, was wealthy enough to have servants (Ruth 2:1-5). His grandson Jesse does not seem to have a lot of wealth, as he sent David his son alone on the fields to tend sheep rather than hired servants(1 Sam 16:11).
David was considered unremarkable even inside his own family.
David was the eighth son of Jesse. Several facts in the narrative show that David held a low position in the family. As a teenager David was sent alone into pasture where he had to defend the flock by himself against lions and bears(1 Sam 17:32-35). David was of such low esteem in the family that Jesse declines to bring him in when Samuel comes by to anoint a King from his sons. In Jesse’s mind, the idea that David could be King of Israel was unthinkable. David’s ruddy and fair complexion suggested that he would be an unlikely warrior (1 Sam `16). His brothers despised him(1 Sam 17:28-30).
David had to take an unlikely path to the throne.
His unlikely path began with the Lord. In 1 Sam 13:13-14, Saul is rebuked for offering an unauthorized sacrifice. Saul was rare among the Kings in that he was neither regarded as righteous nor wicked, but he sought to do God’s will on his own terms rather than following god’s commandments or following the Lord. In verse 14, we are instructed that ”…The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” The Lord “Commanded” – past tense here. God had, by this time, already revealed Himself to David his future. In 1 Sam 16, we later see David anointed king, in spite of being seen as the last. In 1 Sam 17:32-58, we see the story of David and Goliath, where David uses a sling to kill the Philistine champion. While he initially gained a platform with Saul, he eventually fled to the wilderness, became a mercenary for the Philistines, to becoming king.
David’s Weapons and Methods
How did David become King? He had Biblical Promises, a heritage of Faith, and God’s Anointing. These became his weapons – his methods to attain the Kingdom. The ordinariness of his origins should serve as encouragement for us.
He had Biblical Promises.
David was of the tribe of Judah. In Genesis, Jacob gave a blessing under the prophetic unction and spoke a blessing/prediction on Judah that would eliminate 90% of Israelites from an enduring throne. Jacob spoke royal authority over the tribe of Judah.
Genesis 49:10 NKJV The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
It was given to Judah to rule until Shiloh comes. The Hebrew comes from a word for peace, and is presented as a person to whom the people will obey. Shiloh is the Messiah. There is much to say about the Messiah, but the intersection with David is that he is the son of David who will be ruling on his throne. Judah does not begin ruling until the rise of the House of David, and his fortunes wax and wane and wax again with the House of David. While the text does not explicitly tell us what God told David when He commanded David to be commander over Israel, it is without doubt that God brought to his remembrance Gen 49:10 and revealed that this was a prophecy about him. While Gen 49:10 was ultimately about the Messiah Jesus, the short-term fulfillment was in David.
He had a Heritage of Faith.
David’s great-grandmother and twice great-grandmother were converts to the nation of Israel and the worship of the Lord. Rahab was David’s great-great-grandmother. She helped the spies because she feared the God of Israel and was spared(Joshua 2, 6). She married Salmon and gave birth to Boaz (Mat 1:5).
He had God’s Anointing
David had God’s anointing in his life, and not only in the positional sense of being set apart, but also in the sense of spiritual empowerment. The term anointed comes from the Hebrewמָשִׁיחַ | mâshı̂yach | maw-shee’-akh, which has מָשַׁח | mâshach | maw-shakhas its root. The rootמָשַׁח | mâshach | maw-shakh’, simply means to rub with oil. When it was used to formמָשִׁיחַ | mâshı̂yach | maw-shee’-akh, it was used to refer to consecrating a person for a sacred office by rubbing oil, which was analogous to the Holy Spirit coming into contact with the person in an active way. The term anointed refers to a twofold condition: Being set apart and receiving spiritual empowerment. The termmâshı̂yach would also be translated as “Messiah,” who is the ultimate Anointed One.
We see the story of David’s anointing in 1 Sam 16. David was unusual in the Mosaic Covenant in that He had a continual manifest presence of the Holy Spirit.
The almost uniform testimony of Scripture concerning everyone else is that the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the saints under the Mosaic Covenant was fleeting. He would come to empower the saints to do a work, whether it be prophecy, miracles, or military actions, and then retreat back to the background of the omnipresence of God. David was one of only two or three people in the Mosaic Covenant to have a steady-state anointing. Moses had this to a lesser extent, and we would see the fullness in the Messiah Himself – Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 16:13 NKJV Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers;and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel arose and went to Ramah.
Below are some texts that speak of this fleeting manifest presence.
Numbers 11:25 NKJV Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again.
Numbers 24:2 NKJV …and the Spirit of God came upon him….
Judges 3:10 NKJV The Spirit of the LORD came upon him…
Judges 6:34 NKJV But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon…
Judges 11:29 NKJV Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah,…
Judges 14:6 NKJV And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him…
Judges 14:19 NKJV Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him mightily…
Judges 15:14 NKJV When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands.
1 Samuel 10:10 NKJV When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them.
1 Samuel 11:6 NKJV Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused.
1 Samuel 19:20 NKJV Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.
1 Samuel 19:23 NKJV …Then the Spirit of God was upon him also…
1 Chronicles 12:18 NKJV Then the Spirit came upon Amasai…
2 Chronicles 15:1 NKJV Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah…
2 Chronicles 20:14 NKJV Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel…
2 Chronicles 24:20 NKJV Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah…
David demonstrated his anointing in four ways: He could trigger the manifest presence of God through worship, he could inquire of the Lord, he could present inspired words of God, and He could do military action under the anointing
He could trigger the manifest presence of God through worship. We see this early in 1 Sam 16. After David was anointed King, the Spirit of God departed from Saul, and Saul became targeted by demons that came in with God’s permission (Read 1 Kings 22:19-23 to see how this is possible.) David would play music under the anointing, and the demons would flee. Later David would establish a system of worship in the Temple that would unleash the anointing. I explain this in detail inChapter 12.
David could inquire of the Lord. As the man after God’s own heart, he frequently inquired of the Lord, both with a priest and without the priest, on numerous occasions
1 Samuel 23:2 NKJV Therefore David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.”
1 Samuel 23:4 NKJV Then David inquired of the LORD once again. And the LORD answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
1 Samuel 30:8 NKJV So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.”
2 Samuel 2:1 NKJV It happened after this that David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “Where shall I go up?” And He said, “To Hebron.”
2 Samuel 5:19 NKJV So David inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” And the LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.”
2 Samuel 5:23 NKJV Therefore David inquired of the LORD, and He said, “You shall not go up; circle around behind them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.
2 Samuel 11:3 NKJV So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
2 Samuel 16:23 NKJV Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
2 Samuel 21:1 NKJV Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”
1 Chronicles 14:10 NKJV And David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?” The LORD said to him, “Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.”
1 Chronicles 14:14 NKJV Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees.
David could present inspired words of God. Over half of the Psalms are his, and he is recognized by Peter the apostle as an Old Testament prophet
Acts 2:29-30 NKJV “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (2:30) Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,
David could do military action under the anointing. He testifies that God “He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.(2 Sam 22:35; Psalm 18:34)” In Psalms 144:1, David writes “Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle.” Training fingers for battle signifies martial arts precision.
2 Samuel 22:33-36 NKJV God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect. (22:34) He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. (22:35) He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. (22:36) “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great.