Anointed Fugitive Series

Last week we started a new series looking at David in the Old Testament.

I made two very simple points. First, David is a huge figure in the Bible. There is loads about him in the Old Testament. That alone means that David must be really important. But even more significant is the way the New Testament regards him. Jesus is referred to as ‘Son of David’ at the beginning of the New Testament and at the end and all the way through. There is a connection between David and Jesus.

That connection between David and Jesus gives us a clue as to WHY David is so important. As the second king of Israel, David transformed Israel as a nation. He was an extraordinary warrior. He was an amazing poet. Humanly speaking, those things make David important. But the BIG reason why David is so important is the connection between David and Jesus. David is a ‘type’ for Jesus. He modelled what Jesus would be like. What makes this even more significant and exciting is that there are aspects of Jesus which we have so far only glimpsed. 2,000 years ago, Jesus entered our world in the role of suffering servant. He IS king, but so far, he hasn’t taken up his rule. In David, however, we see someone with the heart of God ruling over God’s people. I believe that in David, we can see something of what Jesus WILL be like when he comes again and takes up his kingship.

That was where we reached last week.

This week, we’re going to start to look at David’s story. I’ve got a couple of books about David. One of them is a set of 12 Bible studies. There are 60 or more chapters in the Bible about David so the person who put this set of studies had to make a choice about which bits to look at. His first study is about Samuel anointing David king. That’s 1 Samuel 16. His second study is about David defeating Goliath. That’s 1 Samuel 17. His third study is about David’s friendship with Jonathan. That’s 1 Samuel 20. The studies skip 1 Samuel 18 and 19. But those are exactly the chapters I’m going to focus on today.

Let me give some context. God tells the prophet Samuel to go to Jesse’s house and anoint one of Jesse’s sons as king. Samuel goes and asks Jesse to call his sons. Jesse somehow omits to call David. Samuel doesn’t sense God directing him towards any of the sons he’s seen so far. He asks Jesse if he has any more. Jesse says, ‘Oh, yes. There’s David. He’s looking after the sheep.’ David comes and God tells Samuel, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.’ After Samuel anoints David we read, ‘And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.’ What an amazing experience for David!

Later, but in the same chapter, we find that David has gone to work for Saul. And it says, ‘And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armour bearer’ [1 Samuel 16:21].

In the next chapter, David faces off against Goliath – and defeats him! David, a teenager, defeats the Philistine champion! What an achievement! Saul puts David in charge of the men of war.

David must have felt on top of the world.

But suddenly, everything changes.

David comes home from a campaign. The women come out, singing, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.’ Then it says, ‘And Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed thousands, and what more can he have but the kingdom?”’ [1 Samuel 18:7-8]. Saul is envious of David and sees him as a threat.

The following chapters detail successive stages of David fleeing from Saul. In 1 Samuel 18, Saul twice hurls a spear at David. For quite a few chapters, every time Saul is mentioned, he seems to have a spear in his hand!

In the next chapter Saul tries again to spear David. David flees and goes home. Later that night, his wife Michal warns him, and he flees from his house. Later, Jonathan asks his father, Saul, about David. He finds out that Saul definitely intends to kill David. David flees once again. This time, he goes to Philistine territory. The Philistines see him as a threat, and he pretends to be insane. Now, he flees to the wilderness, to ‘The Cave of Adullam.’

David goes from hero to zero.

He has gone from being on top of the world to being in the pits. He’s in a cave! And it all happened so fast.

What’s going on? David was God’s anointed! And now, he’s a fugitive! How can the person God chose be a fugitive? It doesn’t make sense!