David: God’s Chosen King
David: God’s Chosen King
Hello, and welcome to this special edition of In the Lighthouse: your safe harbor from the storm. I’m Daphne Collins, the Lighthouse Keeper, welcoming you back for another epic tale of “Heroes of the Old Testament.” In this episode, entitled "David: God’s Chosen King,” I will present to you a composite of three biblical heroes and their relation to the main Hero of the story, the Lord God. First, we will see the people’s choice for a king, Saul, and how that worked out for him. And then, we will contrast him with God’s choice for Israel’s king, David, and why God chose this hero. We will also discuss the man Samuel, who walked with God and represented the end of an era of biblical history, which first began with Moses at Sinai.
Theocratic rule was first established on the heights of Sinai with Moses as the first Judge, that is, (God’s representative) over Israel, and continued through the centuries with God Almighty as Israel’s undisputed Lord and King. The covenant between God and Israel at the feet of His Holy Mountain was made to establish that they, Israel, were set apart for His glory, to be a beacon for all the pagan nations of Canaan to witness. Under God’s authority, the people would enjoy His providential guidance and protection. They would submit to His sovereign will and the power of His might. Within this covenantal arrangement, God’s representative Judge would serve as His voice to the people – His intermediary who would oversee justice in the land. God’s rule as their sovereign King was widely understood and accepted by Israel. The Prophet Samuel, as God’s appointed Judge during his time in biblical history, was leader over the people and answerable only to God, as it had been since the beginning when Moses acted as their first Judge, and Joshua, following the death of Moses.
Fear of the Lord God, over time, became more transactional and less reverential in the hearts and minds of the people. Israel’s fear and worship of the Lord did not remain constant after the death of their leader, Joshua. The Book of Judges highlights the downward spiral of Israel’s apostasy. Although God’s appointed Judges did not always improve the spiritual conditions in the land, it wasn’t always their fault. When the people broke their covenant with God and turned their worship to the pagan gods of Canaan, they angered God to judgment. Yet, their repentance was not genuine enough to reform their behavior, which ultimately began the cycle of sin all over again. Following the death of Joshua, the scriptures explain the reason why the people fell easily into apostasy: a new generation rose and did not know the Lord or learn of His mighty works on behalf of Israel as their fathers did. Their hearts were easily attracted to the sinful pagan practices in Canaan. The Book of Judges ends with a lamentable conclusion. “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25).
Despite this denouncement, the Lord God, through His representative Judges, kept His covenantal promise with Israel. In Psalm 121:3-5, the psalmist reminds Israel exactly Who it is that watches over them and protects them. “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who watches over you will not slumber. Behold, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your protector; The Lord is your shade on your right hand.”
The Ark of the Covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence, sovereignty, and providential governance, was paramount to the people, as explained in 1 Samuel 4:3-4 when Israel, realizing their defeat in battle was due to the absence of the Ark, demanded its return from the hands of the Philistines.
“And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim.”
Samuel, as God’s Judge, performed the responsibilities of his office as did his predecessors. 1 Samuel 7:15-16 tells us that “Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places.” His two sons, however, were corrupt and did not follow God as their father, Samuel, did. They took bribes for gain and “perverted justice” within their district of Beersheba. Even in the best of families, there could be those who will reject righteousness and choose instead the path that leads to perdition.
The elders of Israel came to Samuel’s home in Ramah to demand retribution for his sons’ corrupt practices. Suspicious of Samuel’s impartial rendering of justice, rather than seeking God’s will through His appointed Judge, the elders, instead, demanded that Samuel anoint a king to rule over them so that Israel could look more like the nations around them in Canaan. They wanted a human king they could see instead of One whom they could not see and bow down to. Although he didn’t dispute their call to justice regarding his sons, Samuel was greatly affronted by their rejection of Yahweh as King, so much so that Samuel went to the Lord to protest this outrageous demand of the elders.
Okay, listener, if you’re familiar with that American expression, “this isn’t my first rodeo,” you know from experience that God will allow you to gather all the rope you can to get tied up for a very long time! Echoes of those words at the end of the Book of Judges spring once again to mind: “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” They recall the wisdom of Solomon, but do we heed those words? “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6). Instead, ever sovereign, God replied to Samuel, 'Obey the voice of the people in all they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). In addition to His response, God instructed Samuel to warn the elders that their selected king would succumb to moral failures and whims, and impose his justice as he sees fit. This warning, however, fell on deaf ears. It echoes back the words of God to Moses before they departed from the foot of the Holy Mountain, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 32:9).
The First and Second Books of Samuel were written as heroic tales to highlight the arcs of three notable biblical characters: God’s appointed Prophet and Judge, Samuel; the people’s choice for king, Saul, of the Tribe of Benjamin, who disobeyed God’s explicit instructions, and lost his kingship to God’s chosen king, David, of the Tribe of Judah. It is through this man, David, that God’s promise to Adam and Eve would be fulfilled according to the prophesies of Isaiah 11:1 “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit” and Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” Because of our third hero, the “righteous Branch,” Jesus Christ, of the Tribe of Judah, would be descended. “And of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33). In this episode, we will examine how quickly the great successes and righteous living of a hero can suddenly lose the favor of a Holy God when sin knocks and is answered. We will see the consequences of bad choices and forgiveness when a hero is truly repentant and confesses all his wrongdoing.
Okay, let’s get started!
Show Notes
Unless otherwise noted, all Scriptures referenced have been taken from the ESV Bible (www.biblehub.com )
All music themes and sound used in this story are taken from Envato Elements
Opening Theme: Heroes of the Old Testament
Theme 1: Duduk Trailer by StudioEtude
Theme 2: Heroic Cinematic Moment by Difourks
Theme 3: Amazing Beautiful Orchestra by BeatroofStudio
Theme 4: Final Victory by ScoreStudio
Theme 5: Last Hero by Glebator
Theme 6: Epic Montage by lucafrancini
Theme 7: Background Cinematic by BeatroofStudio
Theme 8: The Last Page by PremiumBeat
Theme 9: Sad Ambience Moment by Difourks
Theme 10: Tranquil Fantasy by OctahedronMusic
Theme 11: Ambient Wilds by SCOREWIZARDS
Theme 12: Majestic Epic Cinematic by BeatroofStudio
Theme 13: Pandemic by StereoNuts
Theme 14: Epic Horn Blast Trailer by OhmLab
Theme 15: Justice Will Prevail by PremiumBeat
Transcript of “David: God’s Chosen King” by Daphne Collins
Transcript of An Encouraging Message “God Knows” with Cherese Collins/written by Daphne Collins
