Living with Mystery2) David - the king who became presumptuous
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(Ref: 1 Samuel 16 – 1 Kings 2; 1 Chronicles 11 - 29)
King David was one of the most gifted men of his age. His gifts might have been lost to Israel for he began only as a shepherd for his father and was unlikely to have had much chance to shine. But even as a humble shepherd he performed feats of bravery whilst protecting his flock. He also used the skills obtained as a shepherd in wielding a sling to defeat Goliath of Gath in that famous encounter: such was his spirit of faith in God. Presumably also during the long periods involved sitting and watching over the sheep, he refined his skills as a musician which brought him to the attention of King Saul.
inspiration
It would seem reasonable to attribute some of his faith and courage to the anointing he had received from Samuel. Following Saul’s disobedience, Samuel was sent by the Lord to the family of Jesse to anoint one of his sons. In that amusing encounter, Jesse fails to line up all eight of his sons when requested by Samuel; Jesse assumed that David was too young. However, when Samuel sensed that there was another son, David was sent for and the Lord confirmed that this young man was his choice for Israel’s future king:
So, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:13)
David experienced this powerful encounter with the Spirit. He learned that God’s blessing would be with him as he allowed himself to be open to the inspirational power of the Spirit in all he did. In his lifetime, under the inspiration of this power, he wrote so many of the Psalms which we enjoy. Significantly, some of them are especially prophetic such as Psalms 22 and 110.
warrior
Our experience of David is chiefly through the Psalms. Yet we should not discount that he was primarily a military leader. There are so many incidents in his life which demonstrate this ability. His success in defeating the Philistines was a factor in Saul’s jealousy of him and his frequent designs to kill him or have him killed. Yet even in those situations, David maintained his purity of spirit, recognising that if God gives an anointing, then it should be respected.
On a couple of occasions David could have killed Saul and put an end to his murderous scheming. The fact that he did not embellishes our understanding of him as a man of obedient faith:
Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
Afterwards, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, ‘The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.’ (1 Samuel 24:4-6)
But he was also wise enough not to trust Saul, a man from whom the Spirit had departed. David had to fend for himself along with many followers until God finally brought judgment on Saul for his apostacy.
Judah
With the anointed king dead, Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth sought to reign in his place. This man had never been anointed for kingship. Those who recognised that the anointing of the Lord was on David invited him to become king:
Then the men of Judah came to Hebron, and there they anointed David king over the tribe of Judah. (2 Samuel 2:4)
This was not the full purpose of God happening yet. Nevertheless, as a fruit of his faith and trust in God, David was content to wait another seven years for that fulfilment to occur:
The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. (2 Samuel 3:1)
After some time, Ish-Bosheth was treacherously murdered and the kingdom finally became united:
All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, ‘We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, “You shall shepherd my people Israel, and you shall become their ruler.”’ When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years. (2 Samuel 5:1-4)
These were particularly special years in David’s reign when his kingdom was established and the Philistines pushed back.
presence
As David had now made Jerusalem his capital, he decided to bring there the Ark of God, fashioned during the wilderness wanderings by Moses. It was in this incident that he came to realise that he had to give due respect to God. It should have been a lesson that he could not become presumptuous. Even though he had been given the Spirit’s anointing, prophetic words about his future, and an evident blessing on all he did, that he must still take care in his obedience:
David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, tambourines, rattles and cymbals. When they came to the threshing-floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God. Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah. David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, ‘How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?’ (2 Samuel 6:5-9)
David was angry that the Ark was not shown due respect in the way it was carried. However, was he also angry with his own decision to move the Ark in such a risky way? After three months the Ark was moved in a way that respected the instructions in the Books of the Law (1 Chronicles 15).
David expressed a wish to build a Temple in which the Ark could permanently rest. But God forbade him from doing that and promised that his son would do it. David expressed humble thanks for all of God’s promises. In his prayer he reflected on the privilege of being chosen from humble beginnings:
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:
‘Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant – and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human! ‘What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord. For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant. (2 Samuel 7:18-21)
despised
Following more significant victories for David’s army in which he consolidates his power and the security of the kingdom, everything goes wrong. It’s as though he suddenly forgot everything he had learned in a moment of madness. For whatever reason, we do not know, he decided not to lead his army out that Spring. Was this indolence? Was it a desire for comfort? Was his faith waning? Whatever the cause, in these moments the kingdom took a lurch for the worst:
In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem. One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman washing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (2 Samuel 11:1-4)
What follows is well known. David sought to cover up his sin but found in Uriah a man of solid principle who did not behave in the weak way in which David had. Consequently, he hatched a plan to ensure that Uriah was killed in battle. Bathsheba, now a widow, became his wife and he expected his corruption would go unnoticed. But did he really think God would ignore such injustice:
Then Nathan said to David, ‘You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.” (2 Samuel 12:7-10)
When one feeds on David’s psalms, the accounts of his faith and courage, his respect for all that is considered holy, it still seems impossible that he could stoop so low as he did in the matter of his adultery and complicity in murder. And it was not just Uriah who suffered. Everything went wrong for David from then on. His own son instigated a coup. Thousands were killed in the events which followed. The glorious, united kingdom had become an inglorious disunited land. Although his reign continued, the blessing had faded.
liability
David’s judgment never seemed quite the same after this. He subsequently made a colossal mistake in deciding to number the fighting men of the land:
Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.’ So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, ‘Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enrol the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.’ But Joab replied to the king, ‘May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?’ The king’s word, however, overruled Joab (2 Samuel 24:1-4)
Even Joab found this distasteful and deliberately left men out of the total. The consequence was a plague which killed thousands. David was becoming a liability.
In his final days, yet another coup was plotted, and it was only following the intervention of others in the royal court that it was prevented. David was persuaded to anoint Solomon as the new ruler of the kingdom:
The king then took an oath: ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, I will surely carry out this very day what I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel: Solomon your son shall be king after me, and he will sit on my throne in my place.’ (1 Kings 1:29-30)
And that essentially was his final act:
Then David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. He had reigned for forty years over Israel – seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem. So Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.
(1 Kings 2:10-12)
legacy
It is difficult to criticise King David. It’s not that he should not escape censure, and of course his sins were especially shocking; but at his best he was a model of faith and courage. His gifts have given all of us such a spiritual legacy. His family were part of the Messianic descent. Even Jesus was titled through him as the Son of David. Those who compiled the accounts in Chronicles also seemed to feel the same way. They omit his adultery and the rebellions of his sons. They do, however, mention his sin in numbering Israel attributing it as a temptation from Satan against God’s people (1 Chronicles 21:1).
Yet we must learn the lessons of his failings. Being presumptuous is to act beyond grace. In the beginning, David was so aware of how much he depended on God for everything. Yet in the end he forgot his humble beginnings. The exalted position and extensive gifts which had had been granted, he took for granted. He was so surrounded by blessings that he allowed himself to be ambushed, assuming that they would simply continue whatever he did. His life is a sobering reminder of the warning from Paul:
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (1 Corinthians 10:12)
If someone as gifted and spiritual as David can fall so far and so hard, it could happen to any one of us. Leaders especially should, every day, take stock, confess their sins, humble their hearts and receive more grace from God:
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrew 4:16)