Bible Commentaries
1 Samuel 16

Verses 11-23

David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

1. David the shepherd lad. When Samuel came to Jesse, all of his sons were brought before him, excepting David. The eldest, Eliab, was of the Saul type, but God refused him, saying, "The Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart."

When David came, he was called from the sheepcotes, where he watched over his father's sheep. "He was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to." God said, "Arise, anoint him: for this is he."

2. David filled with the Spirit. From that time forth the Spirit of the Lord rested on David. The Lord found David. I wonder if God is still looking for men in whom He may confide, and to whom He may commit His work. The people chose Saul, the Lord chose David. Saul served the people, David served the Lord. He is announced as, "David My servant." How often does God select the very one whom men entirely overlook!

From that day, when Samuel anointed David as king, his whole outlook on life changed. From thence he was to be the "chosen of the Lord." From that day forward, he was to be anointed of the Spirit.

We delight to see the simple, ruddy-cheeked lad, of unsullied character and simple life, called of God into service a service that looked beyond David's own times, and anticipated the "throne of David" established on the Millennial earth.

3. Called to a palace. God moved in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. Saul, in his delirium of doubts and fears, called for a musician to play before him. David was recommended to Saul. And so it was that a note was addressed to Jesse requesting that David might be sent to play before him. From the sheepcote into the splendor of the palace, the youthful David came.

It is amazing to us to see the simple dignity, and the marked wisdom that David displayed in the presence of Saul. Not a word was spoken to King Saul by David as to his appointed successorship to the kingdom. Not an act of David's ever cast a suspicion upon the haughty Saul, that he was housing the one who was destined to reign in his stead.

Saul loved David, and made him his armor-bearer. With every opportunity David always sought to prove a blessing, and never a hurt to his master. God give us men of the David mold!

I. DAVID AND THE PHILISTINE (1 Samuel 17:45 )

1. Intervening history. David, as Saul's armor-bearer, must have learned much of the science of warfare. Even before that, as a shepherd lad, David had known much of the deliverance of God, as God had, time and again, helped him in rescuing the sheep from wild beasts, and marauding enemies. All of this prepared David for the great test of faith and prowess which now confronted him.

2. A threefold picture. First, there is the picture of the haughty Goliath. He came day by day to defy the armies of the Living God. He not only boasted his power, but he called upon any man of Israel to match him in a life and death combat.

Second, there is the picture of the stalwart Saul. The man who stood head and shoulder above any man in Israel. The man who was chosen leader of the people. The man, clad in armor with shield, and helmet, and sword. The man who more than once had stirred Israel to confidence by his daring assaults upon the enemy. Where is Saul? he is crouching in fear before the challenge of the giant Philistine.

Third, there is David. The shepherd lad, just come from the sheep. David stood amazed at the fear of Israel. He stood ashamed that no man dared to take up the cudgel against Goliath and for his God. He marveled that no man was willing, even, if need be, at the cost of life itself, to meet the blaspheming Goliath. Therefore David, himself, went forth, clothed in shepherd's attire, with but his sling and five smooth pebbles for the fray.

3. A victorious contest. Forth to the fight went the lad borne on with an undaunted faith. He went with a passion for the truth. He went to do, to dare, and if need be to die. He went, to hold up high the Name of his God. He cried to the Philistine "I come to thee in the Name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied."

It was not David's skill with the sling that lay the mighty Goliath in death at his feet; David's faith was the source of his victory.

II. DAVID AND JONATHAN (1 Samuel 20:41-42 )

1. A man who lived and loved another. Jonathan became David's go-between. When Saul gave orders that David should be slain, Jonathan immediately besought Saul in David's behalf. He pled with Saul, until Saul saw his sin; and, for the time, was willing to restore David to favor with the throne.

Jonathan became David's informant. He told David of the wrath of his father, and thus delivered David, again and again, from Saul. The scene of the arrow shooting, and the subsequent meeting of David and Jonathan is most tender. There David entered into a tryst with Jonathan.

2. A vow which was remembered, after Jonathan's death. One of the greatest verses in the Bible is the one which reads, "Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul, that I may shew him kindness for Jonathan's sake?"

There was found one, a son of Jonathan, by the name of Mephibosheth. David sent to Lodebar, the place of no pasture, and fetched Mephibosheth. As Mephibosheth stood before David, David said, "Fear not: for I will surely shew thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually."

In all of this David was a marvelous type of God in His dealings toward us, for Christ's sake. Has not the Lord searched us out from the place of no pasture, and brought us unto Himself? Has He not shown unto us kindness for Christ's sake? Has He not called us to feast with Him continually at His table all the days of our life? Surely we feel like saying what Mephibosheth said, "What is thy servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am?"

III. SOME INNER VISIONS OF DAVID'S GREATNESS (1 Samuel 26:13-15 )

1. Saul's continual seeking of David's life. Can you imagine Saul the God-rejected king sitting upon his throne, while David, the Divinely anointed king, was running for his life? Yes, so it was.

The reality of this sad condition will once more be enacted when antichrist closes his covenant with the Jews, and exalts himself as king; while the rightful Heir to David's throne, our adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is still rejected and an alien from the earth.

2. Certain men who went with David in his isolation. As David fled from Saul, there were certain men who joined him in the wilds. The hearts of these men became knit unto David. It was not, however, until after David was enthroned as king, that the men who had gone with him in his isolation and degradation, became comrades with him in his glory.

Is it not also true that those who go with Christ outside the camp, and suffer the shame and reproach of His Name, shall also pass with Him into the glory of His reign?

3. David's calm and quietness in the hour of his travail. David knew that he was Israel's destined king. The memorable day of his anointing by Samuel was ever with him. David, however, would not slay Saul even when the life of the king lay in his power. He always patiently abided God's time. Here is a marvelous lesson for us. The husbandman hath long patience, waiting for the early and the latter rain. Let us also have patience, for the Coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Under no condition dare we press the claim of our heirship, until the time of our reigning with Christ has come.

IV. DAVID CROWNED AS KING (2 Samuel 2:4 )

1. David's sincere sorrow over the death of Saul and Jonathan. When the news of the battle and Saul's suicide had come to David, he did not gloat over the death of Saul, as the stepping-stone to his own coronation. David rather cried.

It was, however, for Jonathan that David chiefly mourned. He said, "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women." In all of this we see the true spirit of David. He could love Saul who had sought his life. This was Divine. Our Lord cried from the Cross, "Father, forgive them." Our God still has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.

2. David's anointing as king over Judah. At last the day of God's blessing had come. The long waited hour of promise had arrived. For seven years and six months David was king in Hebron over the House of Judah. The youth who once watched his father's sheep had now reached his prime, being thirty years of age.

Owing to David's kindness toward the slain Saul, he quickly won the hearts of the people, and his reign over Hebron grew into his reign over all Israel. In the days of David, therefore, all the twelve tribes were brought into unison under one king. The throne was transferred from Hebron to Jerusalem, and there Israel entered into a time of conquest in battle, and development at home, that crowned the life of David with glory.

Jerusalem became the joy of the Lord, and the center of the whole earth. We are struck with the words, "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper that love thee." Even the city that comes down from God out of Heaven bears the name of the "New Jerusalem."

V. DAVID'S SIN AND REPENTANCE (2 Samuel 12:9 )

It is too bad that a life so beautiful in its character, and so sublime in its faith, should have been marred with sin.

1. David's sin, an eddy in the stream of a faithful life. It is human to minify virtues, and to magnify sins. We overstate the wrong, and understate the good. We are sorry that David sinned. We are sorry that he did away with Uriah, and married his wife. However, we thank God for David's sincere repentance.

2. The visit of Nathan the Prophet. Nathan the Prophet came to David and told him the parable of the "Ewe Lamb." How a man who was rich, and possessed many flocks and herds, slew and dressed a poor man's lamb for his guests, and spared his own. David was angry when Nathan told him this story, and said, "The man * * shall surely die." Then Nathan said, "Thou art the man."

David caught the point of the parable, and it went like a dagger to his heart. God loved David, and yet He did not permit David to sin unrebuked. For two long years David grieved, and sorrowed over his sin.

3. The Psalm of repentance. Psalm fifty-one is the prayer which David offered as he pled for pardon from his sin, and sought the face of his God. It will be well to read this Psalm, to ponder its message, and to weigh its tears. Remember, however, that God heard the prayer of David, and David was able to lie down in peace and sleep.

VI. SORROW UPON SORROW (2 Samuel 15:23 )

1. Absalom and his perfidy. In all Israel there was none to be so much praised as Absalom. From his head to his feet he was perfect in beauty. He also possessed a winsome way with the people. He knew how to bow himself before his father and win his favor. He knew how to sit in the gate, and steal the hearts of Israel away from the father whom he feigned to love.

2. Absalom's insurrection. Under promise of going to pay a vow unto the Lord in Hebron, Absalom gathered the people of Israel together, had the trumpets sounded, and proclaimed himself as king. Thus he purposed to usurp the kingdom of his father. A messenger told David that the hearts of the men of Israel were after Absalom. Then king David arose, with all his household, and with all the people who rallied to him, and they fled.

3. Over the brook Kidron. All the country wept with a loud voice as David and the people passed over the brook Kidron, toward the way of the wilderness. It was over this same brook that Christ went with the burden of the world's sin upon His heart.

Having crossed the brook, David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and he wept as he went up. It was up from this same mount that our Lord, rejected of men, ascended to His Father.

4. The battle. The battle was joined between the armies of David, under Joab, and the armies of Absalom under Abner, David, himself, did not go to the battle. Under the blessings of God, the hosts of Absalom fled, and Absalom, himself, was caught by his hair in the thick boughs of a great oak. There Absalom was slain.

5. David's piteous wail. When the news of David's victorious army and of Absalom's death reached King David, he was much moved; and he went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. As he went up, he said, "O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son."

VII. DAVID'S PSALM OF GUIDANCE (Psalms 23:1-6 )

It would be a fault to write upon the life of David, without bringing in this matchless Shepherd Psalm. David was not only the sweet harpist, but he also was the writer, under the Spirit of God, of many marvelous hymns of praise.

1. The occasion of the writing of Psalm twenty-three. This Psalm might have been written at any period of David's life. Personally, however, we love to think of David as writing this Psalm in the more mature days of his king-ship. The aged delight in reflecting upon the period of their youth, so David, grown old, remembered the early days of his shepherding, and, as he thought of his own life with its varied experiences, he cried, "The Lord is my Shepherd."

2. The universal application of this Psalm. There is something about Psalm twenty-three that fits every life. The little child loves to lisp it at his mother's knee. The young man, or young woman in the buoyancy of hope, with life's conflicts coming upon them, delight in saying, "The Lord is my Shepherd." The man in the prime of his life, facing difficulties and distresses, rejoices as he reads, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies." The aged and infirm are happy, as they review a long and fitful life, to say, "Surely goodness and mercy [have followed] me all the days of my life."

AN ILLUSTRATION

BEATEN SPICES

"' Spices are most fragrant when burnt and bruised, so have saving graces their chiefest fragrancy in hard times. The pillar that conducted the Israelites appeared as a cloud by day, but as fire by night. The excellency of faith is beclouded till it be put upon a thorough trial.' Herein lies one of the benefits of affliction, it fetches out latent sweetness and light. Certain herbs yield no smell till they are trodden on, and certain characters do not reveal their excellence till they are tried. The developing power of tribulation is very great: faith, patience, resignation, endurance, and steadfastness are by far the best seen when put to the test by adversity, pain, and temptation. God has created nothing in vain in the new creation any more than in the old, hence one of the sweet necessities of trial is to bring forth and use those precious graces which else had been unemployed. God is not glorified by unused graces, for these lie hidden and bring Him no honor; may we not, therefore, rejoice in tribulation, because it fetches out our secret powers, and enables us to give glory to the Lord whom we love? Yes, blessed be the pestle which bruises us, and the mortar in which we lie to be beaten into fragrance. Blessed be the burning coals which liberate our sweet odors and raise them up to Heaven like pillars of smoke. Can we not say this? Then it is time we could, and perhaps our present affliction has been sent for that very end, that we may learn the way of complete consecration, and be made perfect through suffering."