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1 Samuel 16—2 Samuel 1
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Scripture Reading: 1 Sam. 16; 1 Sam. 17
First Samuel 16 begins the history concerning David as one prepared by God as a man according to the heart of God. Chapters sixteen and seventeen show us how David was chosen, trained, anointed, tested, and approved by God.
Chapter fifteen ends with a miserable situation. God had abandoned Saul, rejecting him from being king over Israel. Then in the first verse of chapter sixteen, God sent Samuel to contact a young boy, who was perhaps only about fifteen years old. This shows that while Saul was abusing the God-given kingship, God knew the whole situation and was doing something marvelous to prepare the right person. God went secretly to David, the great grandson of Boaz and Ruth (Ruth 4:21-22).
God gave Saul the kingship for the purpose of building up His own kingdom. Saul should have been God's acting king, reigning over the people for God. Yet he behaved as a king absolutely for himself. He usurped and even abused the gifts given to him by God — the kingdom, the people, and the kingship — in order to build up his own monarchy. But while Saul was openly abusing, God was secretly preparing. Eventually, God's preparation was completed in David, the youngest of Jesse's sons. David was the eighth son, and in the Bible the number eight signifies resurrection. In the scriptural sense, David was one in resurrection; hence, he was the one whom God could use.
David was prepared by God to be a man according to the heart of God. Otherwise he could not have been such a man. In a very real sense, he was created by God to be such a man. However, he still needed to pass through the process of being chosen, trained, anointed, tested, and approved. To be chosen is wonderful, but to be trained by God is to go through suffering. To be anointed also is very good, but after being anointed we must be tested. Second Samuel 5:4 tells us that David was thirty years old when he began to reign. After David, a boy of about fifteen, was anointed by Samuel, he was tested for about fifteen years. In particular, he was bothered and troubled by Saul. Eventually, David passed the test and was approved by God.
David was chosen by God (1 Sam. 16:1-10). "Jehovah said to Samuel, How long will you mourn for Saul, though 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 for Myself a king from among his sons" (v. 1). Jesse had seven of his sons pass by Samuel, but Jehovah had not chosen them. David's family seemed not to care for him, but God was determined to use him, for He had chosen him. David was God's unique choice among the children of Israel.
David was trained by God in humility through his circumstances. God purposely caused him to be born as the youngest one, the last one, to make him humble. Furthermore, David was assigned to go to the field to take care of the sheep. None of his seven brothers would do that; they all wanted a better job.
First Samuel 16:12-23 relates how David was anointed.
Because David was God's choice, Samuel, God's acting representative, came purposely to anoint him with oil (v. 13a).
Samuel's anointing David with oil was confirmed by the Spirit of Jehovah rushing upon him from that day (v. 13b). This rushing of the Spirit was related not to life for salvation but to power for outward activities.
In verses 14 through 23 we see that the anointing of David was confirmed also from the negative side.
Verse 14 says that the Spirit of Jehovah departed from Saul and that an evil spirit from Jehovah terrorized him. That was a further confirmation that God had chosen someone other than him. From that time onward Saul no longer had any peace, and he became jealous of David. The more he saw the good points of David, the more he realized that the kingdom would not go to his son Jonathan but to David. Therefore, Saul tried to kill David a number of times. On the one hand, Saul was terrorized by an evil spirit. On the other hand, he was troubled by his realization concerning David. Saul realized that the kingdom would not be a monarchy passed on to Jonathan but instead would go to David.
When Saul's servants saw that an evil spirit from God was terrorizing him, they suggested that they seek out a man who was skilled in playing the lyre and who could play it when the evil spirit was upon Saul. Saul agreed, and David was brought to Saul to serve as his attendant. David played the lyre to refresh Saul at home (v. 23), and he also became Saul's armor bearer (v. 21c). Saul loved him greatly.
Under God's sovereignty, David was selected to become an attendant of Saul. God put these two together to live and work together very closely. Eventually, however, the closer they became, the more Saul hated David. Saul and David became a test to each other. Simply by being put together, these two were fully tested. Saul was exposed as a person who was opposite to God's will, and David was manifested to be a man according to God's heart. This was God's sovereignty.
For David to be tested in his relationship with Saul meant that David was continually put on the cross. This may also be our experience in the church life and in our married life. The saints in the church life, especially the elders, may become a test, a cross, to us. Likewise, in married life our spouse will be a cross to us. Since there should be neither divorce nor separation, the only way for us in our married life is to go to the cross and remain there, allowing the cross to terminate our flesh and our particular kind of ambition.
In chapter seventeen David was tested and approved in trusting God and defeating Goliath.
The armies of the Philistines and the men of Israel were assembled in array and were ready to engage in a war against one another (vv. 1-3). This was a test to both Saul and David.
A champion by the name of Goliath came forth from the camp of the Philistines to defy the armies of Israel (vv. 4-11, 16). Goliath was six cubits and a span tall.
Goliath was arrogant in his valor, in his kind of strength and power (vv. 8-10). In his arrogance he said, "I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Give me a man, and let us fight together" (v. 10).
When Saul and all Israel heard Goliath's words, they were dismayed and greatly afraid (v. 11).
Goliath's defying lasted forty days, morning and evening (v. 16).
Verses 12 through 54 give us a detailed account of David's defeating of Goliath.
In verses 12 through 15 we have a word regarding David's status and occupation. His three older brothers went after Saul to the battle. David, the youngest of the eight sons of Jesse, was an attendant of Saul and a shepherd of his father's sheep.
David was sent by his father to strengthen his brothers with food and to greet them and to get some news about them (vv. 17-22).
David heard Goliath's defiance and found out that Saul would make the man who killed the defier rich and give him his daughter and make the house of his father free from tax and duty (vv. 23-27). David considered that Goliath was defying the armies of the living God (v. 26b). He also considered that to kill such a defier was to turn away the reproach from Israel (v. 26a).
Verses 28 through 30 tell us about the anger and the despising word of David's oldest brother, who mocked him, saying that he should have remained to take care of those few sheep in the wilderness. He condemned David by accusing him of having pride and evil in his heart. David responded by indicating that there was a cause for his coming there (v. 29). David realized that the cause was that he had been sent there by God to defeat the defier.
David gained the agreement of Saul for him to fight against Goliath (vv. 31-39). At first, Saul discouraged David from fighting with Goliath, saying that David was but a youth and that Goliath had been a man of war since his youth (v. 33). However, David had the assurance that Jehovah would deliver him from the hand of Goliath. David's assurance was based upon his experience of Jehovah delivering him from the paw of the lion and of the bear in his shepherding of his father's sheep. Because his experience as a shepherd had trained him to trust in the Lord, David could say to Saul, "Jehovah, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine" (v. 37a). When Saul heard this, he said to David, "Go, and may Jehovah be with you" (v. 37b). Then Saul put his armor on him, but David tried it and took it off (vv. 38-39).
David went forth to fight against Goliath (vv. 40-48). He took his staff, chose five smooth stones from the brook, and held his sling in his hand (v. 40). Goliath scorned him for being but a youth and considered that his coming to him was as one with staves coming to chase away a dog. Goliath then cursed David by his gods and said that he would give David's flesh to the birds of heaven and to the beasts of the field (vv. 41-44). David said to Goliath, "You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of Jehovah of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. On this day Jehovah will deliver you up into my hand; and I will strike you and remove your head from you. And I will give the corpses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of heaven and to the animals of the earth on this day. And all the earth will know that there is a God in Israel; and all this congregation will know that it is not by sword or spear that Jehovah saves, for the battle is Jehovah's and He will deliver you into our hand" (vv. 45-47).
David killed Goliath and defeated the Philistines (vv. 49-54). He killed Goliath by slinging a stone into Goliath's forehead and beheading Goliath with his own sword (vv. 49-51a). The Philistines fled, and the men of Israel and Judah pursued them to slay them and plunder their camps (vv. 51b-53). David took the head of Goliath and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Goliath's armor in his tent (v. 54).
David's victory over Goliath and the Philistines was a strong confirmation to God's choosing and anointing of him.
Saul found out that David, who held Goliath's head in his hand, was the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite (vv. 55-58).
What happened to David in chapters sixteen and seventeen was altogether under God's sovereignty. We all need to realize that because we are pursuing Christ today, every aspect of our environment is absolutely under God's sovereign hand. Eventually, those who defy the church life will be defeated. Therefore, we should trust in the Lord, have confidence in Him, and be at peace.
