Why choose David?
Very little is written about David himself in the context of his anointing in 1st Samuel 16. Besides a brief description of his shepherd duties as well as his physical appearance in vs 12, we don’t learn much more about him until chapter 17, in the battle against Goliath. And yet, in this chapter, there are countless types of Christ that can be found in the character of David, a man forgotten and despised by his brethren, but in God’s eyes “beloved of the Lord,” in whom He was indeed well pleased.
We might ask ourselves, “Why did God choose David to be king of Israel, specifically?” First of all, the character of David and his life portrays a wonderful and quite remarkable representation of that of our Lord Jesus Christ. On another note, we can see many similarities between David and Joseph, Jesus being anti types of both. Therefore, it is fitting that David would later be promised a seed that would “proceed out of [his] bowels, and [God] would establish his kingdom… [God] would be his father, and he shall be [God’s] son” (2 Sam 7:12-13).
In addition to the necessary ties to Christ, it was by God’s will that David was in every way the opposite of Saul the son of Kish. He (David) was certainly not selected for “his countenance, or on the height of his stature” (1 Sam 16:7),1both of which were desirable traits present in the man Saul (9:2); and yet, in God’s eyes, he was in every account better than that man:
“And Samuel said unto him (Saul), the Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou” (1 Sam 15:28).
The Hebrew word for “better” is tôb, meaning in the most literal sense “good,” and occurs oftentimes alongside the Hebrew word for “bad,”2thus giving it the general meaning: “the opposite of bad.” Unlike Saul, we can see from this verse that David would be a king who would “love the good and hate the evil” (Amos 5:15). And this goes hand-in-hand with the next reason for David’s candidacy: he was a man after God’s own heart. Samuel reproves Saul for his disobedience to God’s commandment, after he failed to trust in God (Deut 20:1-4). Samuel’s words unto Saul were: “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people…” (1 Sam 13:14).
God requires this attitude of all His servants: to be one that loves Him, and seeks to walk in all His ways. As a leader of God’s people, Saul was not doing a very good job of setting such an example; and thus, David son of Jesse was selected: “a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will” (Acts 13:22). Brother Roberts writes, “We look at the picture (David’s anointing) and see nothing in it obviously divine. It was all apparently natural: yet the boyhood of David was a divinely superintended development — the laying of the foundation of that coming ‘man after God’s own heart,’ with whom the royal covenant of the kingdom was to be established forever” (Ways of Providence pg. 124). The time David spent in God’s Word during all his shepherd days certainly pleased Yahweh in choosing him to be king over His people Israel.
Yet the most important contrast between these two men, however, is found as “…and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward…but the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.” (1 Sam 16:13-14).
God had taken away his presence and providential blessing from Saul who, as the first king of Israel, had utterly failed to act as a shepherd over Israel, and more importantly had sinned in “rejecting the word of the LORD,” having no intention of repentance (1 Sam 13:13; 15:12, 23, 26). Clearly, God saw that this was not the case with his servant David, and His choice for a successor to Saul’s throne was indeed righteous and good. David was a man who sought after the word of Yahweh, not just in outward show, but with his whole heart; countless chapters and Psalms lay testament to this.
Brother L.G. Sargent writes in his book Teaching of the Master, “In beautiful contrast to Saul was the forefather of the Lord, whose faith was as true as a sheep’s in its shepherd, and who, in spite of one great sin, remained in his contrition ‘the man after God’s own heart.’ David is the most profoundly God-conscious man in the Old Testament” (pg. 15).
Even as a young shepherd boy, David’s dependence and complete trust in Yahweh can be seen in the Psalms:
“the LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want…yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me” (Psa 23:1,4).
The anointing
It is in fact at this point in his life, David as the young shepherd boy of Bethlehem, where our story takes place. While David was tending to his father’s sheep, Samuel the Seer made his way toward the small town of Bethlehem, a little more than 10 miles south of his residence in Ramah. With a horn of oil in hand and a heifer at his side, he might have appeared to any onlookers as an old man simply come to sacrifice to the LORD (1 Sam 16:2). However, when he showed himself to the elders of the town, they trembled with recognition: “comest thou peaceably?” They asked. Everyone in the land of Israel would have known who Samuel was (1 Sam 3:20; 25:1), and instantly would have recognized him wearing his famous mantle (1 Sam 15:27; 28:14). What dealings could this great man of God possibly have had with the humble town of Bethlehem?
“Peaceably,” was his response. “I am come to sacrifice unto the LORD: sanctify ourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” According to Bro. Whittaker, it’s possible that Samuel brought with him the ashes of a red heifer by which, over the period of a week (Numb 19:17-19), any who were ritually unclean might be purified. The sacrifice may have referred to a family feast, which Jesse and his sons were invited to, as seen in vs 5. Samuel would use another heifer to offer the sacrifice on behalf of them all, but before this would be done, Samuel desired that all the sons would be brought before him.
We remember the story: seven of Jesse’s eight sons were made to pass before Samuel, starting with Eliab the eldest; for each of them, God’s response was the same: “the LORD hath not chosen these.” The divine reason is given in as:
“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).
We know that our God is One who “tests the minds and hearts” (Psa 7:9); He knows exactly where our motives lie, even if our outside appearances would show otherwise. As previously seen in the example of Saul, a man of the people was not the same as a man of God, and it was indeed a man of God who would be chosen on that day.
After the seven sons of Jesse passed before Samuel, he was just as confused as they were. He turned to Jesse and asked, “are here all thy children?” We can imagine a stifled groan coming from the rest of the sons when their father responded: “there remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep” Samuel knew all along that God would not have sent him in vain, and Jesse’s words confirmed this to him. “Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.” All waited by the sacrifice for David to arrive before the prophet, some less eagerly than others (1 Sam 17:28).
Standing “in the midst of his brethren,” he would have come before Samuel in his simple shepherd clothing, obviously unaware of the momentous occasion at hand. In fact, amidst all who were gathered at the sacrifice or “feast,” Samuel was the only one who knew that he was about to anoint someone to be the king of Israel. Another suggestion made by Harry Whittaker is that, as far as Jesse and his sons knew, Samuel may have been selecting a new pupil for his college of “the sons of the prophets” (see 1 Sam 7:16-17). Whether or not the true purpose of Samuel’s visit was indicated to David at the time, we can be assured that he recognized the occasion to be something very important, and certainly related to God; this was all that he needed to know. He is described as: “Now he (David) was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to” (1 Sam 16:12).
Strange that the family had not yet begun to appreciate the superlative qualities of the youngest. Yet even at a glance there was something extraordinary about him — fine features, a fascinating pair of eyes, and glorious auburn hair. Good looks ran in the family (1 Sam 16:7, 2 Sam 15:25; 1 Kgs 3:6), but clearly David had come in for more than his share. (See Whittaker, Samuel, Saul, & David, pg. 73). His outward appearance was the least of God’s concern; in His wisdom, He knew that this son of Jesse had all the aspects of a king that He sought for in an appointed leader (Deut 17:20). And so, Samuel would have been overjoyed to finally hear the words spoken unto him by Yahweh: “and the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:12-13).
Surely God had provided himself a king to reign over His people Israel (1 Sam 16:1)! And surely this king would not depart from “all the words of this law and these statutes” as the former had done, but would “learn to fear Yahweh his God” (Deut 17:18-19). This much is evident in God’s response to the anointing of David: “and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:13). Although David did not know it yet, he was to be a man after God’s own heart; and furthermore he, like Abraham, would be father to a great promised Seed (Jesus the Christ)!
This was the first of four anointings for David: three by men, in Bethlehem, Hebron and Jerusalem, and one by God’s Spirit here at home at the very threshold of an almost unbelievably full life. Doubtless David became aware of the power which moved him from time to time, a power which issued forth in the psalms and revealed the very heart of the Lord’s anointed. David tells us how the Spirit moved him: “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue” (2 Sam 23:2). (The Man David, Harry Tennant, pg 22).
The Spirit of God
As mentioned earlier, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit upon David was a defining contrast between him and Saul. Taking a closer look at these words in 1 Sam 16:13, we see that the Spirit “came upon” David. The ESV translates it as “the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.” Young’s Literal transliterates it in this way: “prosper over David doth the Spirit of Yahweh from that day onward.” Going even further, the Hebrew word is tsâlach and is translated 52 out of 68 times as “made to prosper,” or “prosperous.” David was not given the power of the Spirit gifts like the apostles did, neither was he made to prophesy, as Saul did in 1 Sam 10:11; he didn’t need to! The Spirit of God made him to prosper from that day forward. The reason for us looking at this in such detail is because the conferral of the Holy Spirit upon David was such a defining moment in the commencement of his future reign; it not only signified God’s approval upon David, but it was what made him to prosper all his days of being king!
It is also important to realize that, whenever the Spirit of God came upon an individual, it was clear that that servant was divinely appointed to a particular task or occupation, by Yahweh. Such was true of the example of Bezaleel the craftsman of Judah. Bezaleel was “filled with the Spirit of God” in Exod 35:31 (note that the Hebrew word for “filled” is different from tsâlach), because he was divinely appointed to perform and lead all the work for the tabernacle (Exod 31:1-11; 35:30-35; 36:1; 37-38:22). The reason for God “rushing” His Spirit upon those whom He chose, was always to aid them in their service and obedience unto His commandments. Christ’s words to his disciples: “If a man love me, he will keep my words…and the word which he hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me… But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you” (John 14:23-26). The Spirit of God was given always to the furtherance of His plan and purpose in each of His servants, both great and small. Again, this is apparent in the example of Bezaleel, and this was certainly true of David. God did not convey upon him His Spirit simply because of his (David’s) righteousness or faith. The reason was because God had chosen him specifically, a man after His own heart, to lead His children Israel, just as Jesus the Christ will. This indeed was the ultimate blessing of prosperity for a future king, and David surely recognized this later in his life, if not then. Obviously, David was no exception to this; he could not have succeeded as king without God’s blessing, and that blessing was one of prosperity, given to him by the Spirit. We know that Saul too initially received this blessing, but lost it;3“But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him” (1 Sam 16:14).
We saw that each man’s attitude and spiritual countenance unto God was what truly set them apart. Saul forgot that “to obey is better than sacrifice;” David was a man after God’s heart. Only the latter was truly deserving of not only the blessing, but the occupation as well. Our thoughts should go to another man who was divinely appointed to the greatest task of all; who was anointed, or set apart in the waters of baptism; who received that blessing of prosperity by the Spirit of God, in the shape of a dove; and who was given the greatest divine approval of all: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt 17:15).
We need to realize that, God, as He did with David, has called each of us to be kings and priests in His Name, and that He is willing to place His Spirit upon us, to prosper in all our ways. He is willing to do so, so long as we put our trust in Him and His Word.
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, not standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Psa 1:1-2).
- David was certainly selected for his spiritual attributes, but it is also apparent from the text that certainly in his appearance, and probably in his height, he was nearly a match for Saul.
- Occurs in the phrase “good or bad” Gen 31:24; Lev 27:10; Numb 24:13; Deut. 1:39; 1 Kgs 3:9. The same Hebrew word is used of the creation, which was “good”.
- See also 2 Sam 7:15
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One