05. DAVID
DAVID
"He chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: from following the suckling-ewes, He brought him to feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance. And he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and led them by the skillfulness of his hands."
Just as He prepared many other godly leaders among His earthly people, Israel, so God in His infinite wisdom and love trained David in quiet obscurity as a shepherd. The youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, David was not deemed important enough to call to the sacrifice when the prophet Samuel came to Bethlehem. The first time he is mentioned, his father said of him, "Behold, he is feeding the sheep" (1Sa 16:11). When Jesse sent him to take food to his older brothers in the army, "David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took his charge and went, as Jesse had commanded him" (1Sa 17:20). And how touchingly he describes a shepherd’s care in Psa 23:1-6! In heart David was a shepherd throughout his entire life. When he saw the angel smiting among the people after he had ordered that they be numbered, he said, "It is I that have sinned...but these sheep, what have they done? Let Thy hand, I pray Thee, be on me" (2Sa 24:17). Our blessed Lord told those who came to arrest Him, "If therefore ye seek Me, let these [His disciples] go away" (John 18:8). Indeed He was, as He stated in John 10:11, the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for the sheep.
After the fall of Saul and his house, Israel unanimously came to David, recognizing him as their shepherd. "Even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel "; they told him, "and Jehovah thy God said to thee, Thou shalt feed My people Israel , and thou shalt be prince over My people Israel " (1Ch 11:2). Such was the man after God’s heart!
"David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for Jehovah must be exceeding great in fame and in beauty in all lands: I will therefore make preparation for it. And David prepared abundantly before his death."
1Ch 22:5 In Psa 132:1-18 we learn that even while still a shepherd boy at Ephratah (Bethlehem-Judah) David had wanted to prepare "a place for Jehovah, habitations for the Mighty One of Jacob." His lifelong ambition was to build a gorgeous temple worthy of God to house the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence with His people. Before David’s day the ark had been captured by the Philistines and had afterwards been kept in homes, rather than in the tabernacle. When David was ready to build, God did not permit him to go ahead with this cherished project, for he had been a man of war and had shed much blood. God appreciated, however, that this had been his heart’s ambition. He promised to build David a house (looking on to Christ) and promised to give him a son, Solomon, a man of peace who should build the temple. God prized the love of David, this man after God’s heart, for His worship.
Rather than giving vent to disappointment over being thwarted in his ambition, David did all that he could do to prepare for the temple’s construction. The Spirit of God gave David, the man of God, the temple’s pattern and detailed directions for the personnel and worship there. David laid up immense stores of gold, silver, and other materials that would be used in the construction. And beginning from Solomon’s youth, David took time to train this son, teaching him the importance of acquiring wisdom, and acquainting him with God’s purpose for his life. How essential that Christian parents today teach and emphasize to their children God’s will and purposes for their lives!
"David said...Abide with me, fear not; for he that seeks my life seeks thy life; for with me thou art in safe keeping."
"The Spirit came upon Amasai...and he said, Thine are we, David, and with thee, thou son of Jesse: Peace, peace be to thee! And peace be to thy helpers! For thy God helps thee. And David received them, and made them chiefs of bands."
1Ch 12:18 For years David was the object of a relentless manhunt. He had killed Goliath, the Philistine giant, his victory had been sung by the Israelite women, he had behaved himself wisely, and God had caused him to prosper. He had acquired the friendship of Prince Jonathan, Saul’s son, but through all this he had also incurred the insane, deadly jealousy of King Saul who repeatedly tried to kill him. Our Lord Jesus too was hated without a cause. Not only Abiathar the priest, whose family and relationship had been killed at Saul’s command, but many in Israel who were suffering at this time-in distress, in debt, and of embittered spirit-found refuge with David. They gathered around him and he became a captain over them (1Sa 22:2). With him as their leader this motley crew became David’s mighty men. Their number grew to 400, then to 600, and eventually to a host of many thousands. Their loyalty to David united them together.
We see this loyalty beautifully expressed by Amasai. His words apply to us as Christians, too. First we must come to Christ. Once His, we should also be with Him. Amasai and his companions had come out, had separated themselves to David. David had asked whether they came peaceably to him to help him. To wish peace to David likewise involved peace to his helpers. Thus when we take our place with the Lord in His rejection, we must be willing too to work together with others already following and serving Him.