The Story - Shepherd and King

Does the word "foreshadowing" seem like a word to you anymore? Because there's just so much of it here that there's no way we can catch it all. 

Saul's kingship is bringing the nation of Israel to a moral low. They're plagued by war with the surrounding Philistines, and it seems like their troubles will never end. 

Enter: David. 

David is a farm boy from small-town Israel (he's born in Bethlehem, a city that, surprise, is hugely important later), a shepherd, who doesn't look like he'd know how to handle any real combat. He's always been the youngest of his family, the underdog. As a shepherd, he's had to defend his flock from the dangers that surround them; lions, bears, and wolves, he's had to learn to fight. 

One day, the prophet Samuel comes to the house of David's father and anoints
him as the next king of Israel. It's unheard of, picking the youngest son for such a high honor. But Samuel does it, and David's family wonders.

Later, the Israelites are at war again. All of David's brothers go and join the fight to gain prowess for themselves; David doesn't, and stays behind with his father. When he's sent to deliver them a care package from home, however, he sees the state of the camp, and is shocked. The Philistines are blaspheming the Lord God, and accusing him of weakness—their champion, a giant named Goliath, is challenging the Israelites to send out their strongest man against him, so that they can prove who's really stronger. 

David is angered by this boast. He's a man after God's own heart, and doesn't want to just sit by and let the Philistines get away with all of this. So he goes to King Saul and volunteers to challenge Goliath.
Saul doesn't believe he can. But, impressed by his bravery, he allows him to go against hte Philistine giant with nothing but a sling and five stones. 

David walks out onto the field. The soldiers hush. Then, Goliath begins to laugh—laughing that the foolish king of Israel believes that this youth, this teenager, could stop his own might and prowess. 

David ignores the laughter. His God is on his side. Puting a stone into his sling, he swings it. Once, twice, a third time. Soon, it's whizzing through the air, and he releases it. It flies towards the laughing Philistine giant—and it hits. 

Goliath falls, the mockery and laughter gone from his eyes. He's dead. The Philistines, stunned, gather their morale and attack the Israelites, breaking the terms of the agreement, but it doesn't matter; nothing can defeat Israel now. The battle is won, and David is a war hero. 

From then on, it seems that David can do no wrong. He's employed by King Saul to play music for him and calm the demons in his mind, and soon he becomes one of Saul's generals. Not only that, but he becomes good friends with Saul's firstborn son and heir, Jonathan. Everything is going well for him. 

And then Saul tries to kill him out of jealousy, and David's forced to flee.

For the next few years, David lives in the wilderness, avoiding Saul's armies and clinging to the promise that God had made to him, that he'd one day be king. He remains faithful to the commandments that God has set, even in his exile; and, during this time, he writes many poems that are now contained in the book of Psalms to bless readers for thousands of years after. He waits, and waits, and waits. 

And eventually, Saul dies. 

Saul and his son Jonathan are both killed in a battle, and, though David grieves for the loss of the rightful king of Israel and his dear friend Jonathan, he takes the throne. The kingdom prospers under his rule, and the Golden Age of Israel is ushered in. Not only does he bring stability and power to the nation, but he manages to return the Ark of the Covenant back to its dwelling place in the Tabernacle—symbolically restoring the Lord's glory to his chosen people. And he lives as before the face of God. 

For the most part. 

David is a sinner, too. And he lusts after a married womam named Bathsheba, whose husband, Uriah the Hittite, is in David's service as an army officer. 

David can't control himself. And when he learns that Bathsheba is pregnant, he manipulates the circumstances to get Uriah killed, so that he can take Bathsheba as a wife.

This is the breaking point. From this point onwards, Israel is fractured; though it won't split until under the rule of David's son Solomon, this is the root. 

God punishes David for his sin by taking Bathsheba's child from him. The infant is stillborn. David repents, but the damage is done: God has promised that the sword will never depart from his house. 

David continues to rule, but faces numerous hardships. Wars from without, conflict and rebellion from within. His own son Absalom rises up against him, and David's general kills Absalom despite David's orders to the contrary. Grief and sorrow reign in David's life, even as David reigns over God's chosen people. 

But David's hope remains in the Lord. "My help comes from the Lord," he writes in Psalm 121, "who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber." 

Despite his sin, David is a man after God's own heart, and he seeks to glorify his Maker, who glorified him from a simple shepherd into a king.

 

David's role in the Old Testament is to point to a later king, who happens to be his 28-greats-grandchild. Born in Bethlehem, David's hometown, this king wouldn't look like a king. He'd speak of himself like a shepherd would, talking about his flock. He'd sing praises to the Lord always, and trust in God's holy power better than any man to ever live. And he'd love the nation of Israel, though they wouldn't love him back. 

David would be a preview of Jesus, the perfect shepherd and king. And that shepherd would defeat all manner of lions and bears and predators in order to keep his flock safe.