04.1.6.1 Kings Preceding Division Of Kingdom - David
Chapter 6i - KINGS PRECEDING THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM
David
David, whom God selected to be king and sent Samuel to anoint, was the son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. God said to Samuel:
How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have selected a king for Myself among his sons. —1 Samuel 16:1 (NASB)
Israel’s first king had been the people’s choice, and the people’s choice always fails. God had allowed Israel to choose their king to show the nation that their best choice could never meet their need. The genealogy of Saul suggests pride, self-will, excellence of nature, weakness, and deceitfulness (1 Samuel 9:1-2). During the period of the Judges, Israel’s rejection of God as their invisible King reached its climax in Samuel’s day when they asked for a king like all the nations (1 Samuel 8:5; 1 Samuel 8:19-20). The man of Israel’s choice soon became a failure, and God told Samuel that He had rejected Saul’s reign over the people. However, God sought a king after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14; 1 Samuel 16:1).
He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds: From following the ewes great with young he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. —Psalms 78:70-71
Saul’s success was also his failure (1 Samuel 15:11-23). How could Saul succeed and fail at the same time? He conquered Agag but disobeyed God by failing to destroy the Amalekites. Hence, the glory of his victory was lost in the darkness of his defeat. One may conquer some of earth’s greatest kings, but his life is a failure if he disobeys the King of all kings. Therefore, Saul’s sin of disobedience must be condemned rather than his victory praised. There are three lessons to be learned in Saul’s disobedience:
(1) Saul took King Agag alive but did not destroy him. Someone might reason himself into saying that imprisonment for life is a worse punishment than death. But no one has the right to alter God’s command.
(2) Saul shifted the responsibility to the people: “But the people took of the spoil...to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal” (1 Samuel 15:21). Saul made the people his means of escape, but he tried to make it light on them by saying they spared the sheep for sacrifice. Now that was being truly thoughtful of the people!
(3) Saul offered a religious excuse for his sin of disobedience by suggesting that using the sheep for sacrifice would be better than slaying them in war. Although God said to slay them, Saul’s reasoning was that it does not matter how they are slain. Disobedience is not condoned by partial obedience. Samuel rebuked him for his disobedience:
Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft [divination], and stubbornness [insubordination] is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. —1 Samuel 15:22-23
Saul’s confession did not come until the evidence of his sin was revealed. He was frightened into a religious feeling (1 Samuel 15:24). Furthermore, in his confession, he placed the blame on the people because he feared them: “...I have sinned: yet honour me now, I pray thee, before the elders of my people, and before Israel...” (1 Samuel 15:30). He was more concerned about standing well in the sight of the people than before the Lord. In contrast, Christians confess their sins because they desire to stand well in the sight of the Lord.
David was chosen long before Samuel was sent for him (Psalms 78:70). Those chosen by God are immovable because they are connected to the foundation of God’s purpose. David was the eighth son of Jesse to pass in review before Samuel when he was sent to anoint God’s choice of a king. The unseen God is the all-seeing One who moved Samuel to recognize the son of Jesse who was to be the king of Israel. (See 1 Samuel 16:6-13.) God’s choices are different from man’s choices because God looks not upon man’s physical stature (2 Samuel 14:25), social rank (1 Corinthians 1:26-31), or material wealth (1 Samuel 16:11). David appeared before Samuel: And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward....
—1 Samuel 16:12-13 The “sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1) denotes David’s character, the basis of which was that he was raised on high:
He [God] raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor....
—1 Samuel 2:8 (NASB)
Seventy-three of the 150 Psalms were written by David, and they were set to music for the tabernacle and temple worship. Therefore, they reveal the attitude of the soul in God’s presence while thoroughly considering past history, present experience, and prophetic hope. The Spirit of the Lord speaking through David involved the triune God—the Spirit of the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Rock of Israel (2 Samuel 23:2-3). The God of Israel is the Author of the eternal covenant, and the Rock of Israel shall fulfill the obligations of the covenant. Jesus Christ is represented as the Person by whom God created all things (1 Corinthians 8:6), and as the Divine Being who accompanied the Israelites in the wilderness as their deliverer. Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 10:4, “that Rock was Christ,” proves Christ’s preexistence. In the Old Testament, Christ appeared as “the angel of the LORD” (Exodus 3:2), “the angel of his presence” (Is. 63:9), and “the messenger [angel] of the covenant” (Malachi 3:1). Hence, it is easy to understand the relation that Paul made between the Rock of the Old Testament and the Christ of the New Testament.
David’s hope was for a “morning without clouds” (2 Samuel 23:4), which is a messianic prophecy. The basis of his hope was “the everlasting covenant” which was ordered and sure. David’s statements “Although my house be not so with God” and “yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant” of 2 Samuel 23:5 must be contrasted, because the faithfulness of God is presented in contrast to the failures of King David. In any honest biography of the best of men, one will find a “but” or an “although.” Hence, the only thing that gives permanent hope is God’s unconditional covenant and His faithfulness in fulfilling it.
King David rejoiced in God’s covenant—2 Samuel 23:5—for the following reasons:
(1) It was Divine in origin—“God...made with me an everlasting covenant.”
(2) It was a personal covenant—“God...made with me....”
(3) It was everlasting—“...an everlasting covenant.”
(4) It was ordered—“ordered in all things.”
(5) It was sure—“and secured” (NASB).
(6) It was the satisfaction of his heart—“this is all my salvation.”
(7) It was all his desire—“and all my desire.” The promises of God are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20). The unfaithfulness of David’s house included his own personal failures. When Christians near the end of their lives in time, their hearts are set upon what they were in sin, what they are in Christ, and how miserably they have failed God as believers. Hence, they lament their failures and grieve over the way they have prostituted their blessings and privileges. However, like David, they do not spend all their last moments lamenting and grieving over their failures. As David became absorbed with God’s covenant that was ordered and secured, informed Christians become occupied with God’s eternal, unilateral covenant of grace that is the foundation of all the covenants of time. The prophetical kingdom is represented by the following poetic expression in 2 Samuel 23:3-4 (NASB):
He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear [reverence] of God, Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.
Paul said, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand...” (Romans 13:12). The night is the time and power of darkness (Luke 22:53); therefore, it is the time of warfare, trial, struggle, absence of the Bridegroom, man’s judgment, mixture of tares and wheat, tribulation, sorrow, and death. Conversely, the morning is the time of no clouds, complete deliverance, eternal glory, and the righteous rule of Christ in the eternal kingdom. The evening of the world is dark and depressing, but Christ Jesus shall be the light of the morning. The purity of the morning follows the purifying judgment of God. A willing people shall bow before the righteous rule of Christ in the day of His power and glory. Therefore, in the beauty of holiness from the womb of the morning, Christ shall have the dew of His youth; thus, everything under His quickening power shall flourish in His kingdom. (See Psalms 110:1-7.)
Critics have seized on David’s sin with Bathsheba and his having Uriah killed to ridicule David as a great Bible hero. They ask what kind of God could find anything in David to praise. God Himself acknowledged this criticism against Himself and His people when He inspired Daniel to say these words:
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name. —Daniel 9:18-19 A stain appeared to be on the name of God for four hundred years. God forgave sinners in Old Testament times because His Son was on the way to Calvary. He would soon justify Himself in the sight of all His critics. God will by no means clear the guilty (Romans 3:24-26).
God’s commendation of David proves that David, like Rahab the harlot, did not wallow in sin; but his pleasure with Bathsheba displeased the Lord:
...David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. —1 Kings 15:5 And when the mourning [Bathsheba’s mourning over Uriah’s death] was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD. —2 Samuel 11:27 As threatening as David’s hypocrisy and self-deceit were, he was honest within himself all the self-deceiving time. One might ask how David could go for a year without forgiveness of his sin. It would be inconceivable if we did not look at David through some of our own experiences and confess that the same detestable sin principle that was in David is in each of us.
There was a lapse of time between David’s sin and his being rebuked. God did not awaken David to a sense of his wickedness by raising up enemies to lay waste his country, but He sent to him one of His faithful ministers. The King did not fly into a rage when Nathan faithfully performed his duty. David was so horrified when convicted by the parable that he said, “I have sinned against the LORD” (2 Samuel 12:13). After David’s confession, Nathan said: The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. —2 Samuel 12:13-14 A principle in the moral government of God that must not be overlooked is that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). God said the following words to David through Nathan:
Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes, and give them to your companion, and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight. Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun. —2 Samuel 12:9-12 (NASB)
God’s promise that He would raise up evil against David and his own house was fulfilled in
(1) the death of his first son by Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:14; 2 Samuel 12:19),
(2) Amnon raping his half-sister Tamar (2 Samuel 13:14),
(3) Absalom having Amnon assassinated (2 Samuel 13:28-29),
(4) Absalom being slain by Joab (2 Samuel 18:14), and
(5) Adonijah falling by the sword at the command of Solomon (1 Kings 2:24-25).
Another recorded sin in David’s life was his ordering a third census in Israel. Although God ordered two numberings of the children of Israel (Numbers 1:2; Numbers 26:2), David sinned by ordering the third census (2 Samuel 24:1-2; 2 Samuel 24:10; 1 Chronicles 21:1). The first census was in order to determine Israel’s military strength and to facilitate orderly progress. Since only Israelites were to fight Israel’s battles, the mixed multitude was eliminated because they could not prove their pedigree. The numbering was not a mere numbering of the Israelites, but it was to be a declaration of their pedigree by acknowledging the covenant, their redemption, and their identification with the tent of meeting. These three things stand or fall together in the case of national Israel, and they also contain a principle that applies to Christians in the dispensation of grace. The numbering in the second census had in view Israel’s entrance into Canaan and the division of the land (Numbers 26:52-54). Israel was to have an interest not only in position but also in her inheritance. This principle also applies to Christians today. Our use of grace and not grace itself is the difference between Christians. David’s command to have Israel and Judah numbered was not from God. He ordered Joab to number the people “that I may know the number of the people” (2 Samuel 24:2). Subsequent to the census, David said:
...I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have acted very foolishly. —2 Samuel 24:10 (NASB).
Scripture does not specifically state what the sin was that David committed; therefore, the answer must be found in the context and circumstances of David’s life:
(1) David was not commanded to take a census.
(2) Satan provoked (moved) David to number Israel (1 Chronicles 21:1).
(3) The numbering of Israel was out of the pride of his heart—"that I may know the number of the people."
David was given a choice of the method of punishment he would receive for his sin:
(1) seven years of famine,
(2) fleeing his pursuers for three months, or
(3) three days of pestilence in his land (2 Samuel 24:11-13). After hearing the choices from the prophet of God, David returned to a proper sense of submission to the sovereign God. Recognizing his sin and foolishness, he was willing to fall into the hands of the merciful God, knowing that in governmental forgiveness he must be punished for his sin. At the close of David’s life, he was made to have a keen sense of his own personal sin, failure, and neglect of duty. The last words of King David present a difficulty to some, but what appears to be a problem between 1 Kings 2:1-11 and 2 Samuel 23:1-5 is not a problem when one sees that 2 Samuel 23:1-5 is David’s expression of faith and hope in his dying moments. Such is the testimony of every properly instructed dying believer. What David said in his last address extended beyond himself; therefore, his words should be considered as both a charge and a prophecy. Let us look first at David’s charge to his son, Solomon, and then at his dying testimony. The King was about to take his last step out of time into eternity. Hence, he acknowledged that the glory of his reign as king over Israel was nearing completion: “I go the way of all the earth” (1 Kings 2:2). Although his sun was sinking slowly in the west, he had an interest in the future of Israel; therefore, his last words to Solomon are the words of a patriot to a young soldier:
I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; And keep the charge of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself: That the LORD may continue his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. —1 Kings 2:2-4
David’s admonition to Solomon to “shew thyself a man” reminds one of Paul’s admonition to Timothy, his child in the faith, to become strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2:1). One of the difficulties of Solomon’s position was his youth. Therefore, David exhorted him to be a “man” with reference to his responsibilities as king over the people.
Solomon was introduced to the throne; the book of the law was placed in his hands; and David gave him the charge of the Lord his God to walk in His ways. The charge consisted of keeping the following things:
(1) God’s statutes—the positive statutes of the law,
(2) His commandments—the moral precepts,
(3) His judgments—the laws belonging to civil government, and
(4) His testimonies—the laws directing the commemoration of certain events. This charge was also a reminder of God’s covenant to motivate Solomon’s faithfulness. Hence, the charge extended further than father to son; it was also from a king to his successor.
King David’s words about Joab and Shimei of 1 Kings 2:5-9 have caused a lot of controversy among “scholars.” Some have said they would like to pass by the words of David to Solomon if they could. They have difficulty harmonizing this with David’s forgiveness of Joab and Shimei. Some who consider themselves more loving and forgiving than the man after God’s own heart would never stoop to utter such language. Thus, they are Pharisees who know neither their hearts nor the justice of God. Being too weak to carry out the law, David pronounced sentence on the criminals and charged his successor to carry out its penalty. This was not vengeance but justice. (See Numbers 35:31-33; Deuteronomy 19:13.)
Distinction must be made between David as the man after God’s own heart
(1 Samuel 13:14) and David as the king. Although David was used by God to give many of the Psalms, scoffers have questioned how he could be a man after God’s own heart in the face of his heinous sins. But David’s life as a whole must be considered. Furthermore, David’s repentance and his inner life as revealed in the Psalms should be taken into account. Inspired Scripture gives the answer to the reason for David’s being a man after God’s heart: And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will. —Acts 13:22
Hence, one who fulfills all of God’s desires is a person after His heart. Man’s custom is to fix his eyes on either a virtuous act or a heinous sin without knowing if either is upright or vicious. This can be illustrated on one hand by Noah’s drunkenness and Moses’ murder of an Egyptian, and on the other hand, by Balaam’s truthfulness and Judas’ repentance. Therefore, a life, not an act, should be taken into account. David, as the man, used Joab as his accomplice in the murder of Uriah (2 Samuel 11:14-15); and he said concerning Shimei who cursed him:
...What have I to do with you, O sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the LORD has told him, Curse David, then who shall say, Why have you done so? —2 Samuel 16:10 (NASB)
David knew that duty was his, and the events of providence were God’s. Therefore, he looked beyond second causes to God who works all things after the counsel of His own will.
Scripture is not clear as to exactly what Joab had done that caused David as king in his charge to Solomon to say, “So act according to your wisdom and do not let his gray hair go down to Sheol in peace” (1 Kings 2:6 NASB). The following things have been suggested:
(1) It was Joab’s strong language concerning David’s excessive mourning over the death of Absalom (2 Samuel 19:1-8).
(2) It was Joab’s treason in turning to Adonijah who feared Solomon (1 Kings 1:41-53). Whatever Joab had done, David was speaking as king in charging his successor, and punishment was justified from the standpoint of public duty, not from private vengeance. Furthermore, recognizing that the kingdom was in peril, David made reference to Shimei whom he met at Jordan and to whom he had sworn, “...I will not put thee to death with the sword” (1 Kings 2:8). (See 2 Samuel 19:16-23.) David’s last charge to Solomon is given:
Now therefore, do not let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man; and you will know what you ought to do to him, and you will bring his gray hair down to Sheol with blood. —1 Kings 2:9 (NASB)
According to 1 Kings 2:36-46, Shimei added iniquity to iniquity; thus proving David correct in what he did. Sin may appear to have been confessed by one saying, as Shimei did at Jordan, “I have sinned” (2 Samuel 19:20). Instead of a true confession, the so-called confessor was only waiting for an opportunity to strike again with greater force. Following the death of Shimei, the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon. As a type of Christ, David as a man and as the king should be distinguished. Jesus Christ as the perfect Man, who was attested by God by miracles, wonders, and signs (Acts 2:22), must be distinguished from Jesus Christ as Mediator and King.
Jesus Christ, the perfect Man, gave us an example by speaking to His Father on behalf of those who were putting Him to death:
...Father forgive [aphes, aorist active imperative of aphiemi, which means cancel, remit, pardon, forgive, or tolerate] them; for they know [oidasin, perfect active indicative of oida, which means know, understand, or perceive] not what they do [poiousin, present active indicative of poieo, which means do, cause, perform, or accomplish]. —Luke 23:34
Father, forgive them, for they have not known what they are doing. —(Translation)
Although this was Christ’s first cry from the cross, it was not His intercession for the transgressors prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 53:12).
FIRST—Christ’s praying in His perfect manhood was subject to the law; therefore, He forgave wrongs done to Him and prayed for His enemies, thus leaving us an example. He asked the Father to forgive those who crucified Him in ignorance; He was not asking forgiveness for all who participated in His death. Peter explained to the Jews the miracle of the lame man who received full health by telling them he had known that they acted on the basis of ignorance when they murdered the Author of life (Acts 3:14-17). Paul went beyond the Jews’ guilt of murdering Jesus Christ when he told the Corinthians he was proclaiming God’s wisdom in a mystery which had been hidden but was predestined before the ages to the glory of the elect. Furthermore, he said the rulers of this age have not understood; for had they understood, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). Therefore, in view of Christ’s knowing what was in man (John 2:23-25), He could not have interceded for those who died in their sins. The ignorance of those who murdered Jesus Christ was not their ignorance that they murdered but their ignorance concerning the Author of life whom they murdered. Hence, the subsequent salvation of some of them signifies that the Son of God asked the Father to tolerate the ignorant concerning this heinous crime for the sake of the elect among them who would be saved. Although some who crucified Christ in ignorance were later saved, He did not say that they all might believe, because that would have been indefinite.
SECOND—Christ’s praying in His office as Mediator is on behalf of the elect. There is nothing indefinite about that which is effectual, and nothing can be ineffectual about Christ’s intercessory work. Many believe Christ’s first saying from the cross was a general intercession for all men that they might believe. If that were true, Christ’s intercession would be unsuccessful because all men are not believers. If Christ prayed for the forgiveness of all men, one of two absurdities will follow: (1) Either the Father does not always hear Christ, which contradicts John 11:42, or (2) all men shall be forgiven, which is also contradictory to Scripture (Matthew 7:13-14; Matthew 13:38-43; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; etc.).
In David’s dying moments, he expressed his faith and hope of the future in terms of poetic skill. Here is an example of how the Holy Spirit took the God-given ability of the “sweet psalmist of Israel” and gave him God’s message, which the Psalmist expressed. Some think “the light of the morning” of 2 Samuel 23:4 refers to the first advent of Christ as depicted by Matthew: The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, And to those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a light dawned. From that time Jesus began to preach and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven [the heavens] is at hand [has approached]. —Matthew 4:16-17 (NASB)
Jesus Christ said nothing to mislead the Jews from the truth that He was their Messiah. Furthermore, He did not leave them wondering about His mission to the Gentiles. (See Isaiah 42:6-7; Isaiah 60:1, Isaiah 60:3; Luke 2:32; Romans 2:19; Romans 11:11-25). David’s statement, He “Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain” (2 Samuel 23:4), goes beyond the description of Christ’s first advent. The events that are associated with “a morning without clouds” are of such nature that they can be realized only after Christ’s second advent. A comparison of David’s charge in his last days to Solomon, his successor (1 Kings 2:1-11), with his last words (2 Samuel 23:1-5) presents no problem. His last words were his dying testimony of faith and hope. His testimony looked beyond himself; therefore, his words are to be viewed both historically and prophetically.
Historically, David’s last words, 2 Samuel 23:1-5, emphasize the following things: (1) David was the “son of Jesse” by nature (2 Samuel 23:1).
(2) By grace he became “the man who was raised up on high” (2 Samuel 23:1).
(3) “The Spirit of the LORD” spoke by him (2 Samuel 23:2).
(4) His view of the Godhead was “The Spirit of the LORD,” “The God of Israel,” and “the Rock of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:2-3).
(5) His hope in the future was “a morning without clouds” (2 Samuel 23:4).
(6) His confession in view of stepping out of time into eternity was “Although my house be not so with God” (2 Samuel 23:5).
(7) The foundation of David’s hope was “He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured” (2 Samuel 23:5 NASB).
Prophetically, David’s last words stress the following things:
(1) “The Rock of Israel...who rules over men righteously,”
(2) “Who rules in the fear [reverence] of God,”
(3) “Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,”
(4) “A morning without clouds,”
(5) “When the tender grass springs out of the earth,”
(6) “Through sunshine after rain” (2 Samuel 23:3-4 NASB).