David 1

David Johnson

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King David: The one whom God see’s

Friday night, Session 1

Over the next couple of days, we are going to be getting into the life of King David…

He has been a fascinating character to me and, if you read the Bible, one of the things that you begin to realize is his name is everywhere. You begin to think that you really cant understand the Bible without understanding David.…He’s in the Psalms, he’s written about in the prophets, He’s in the genealogy of Jesus…He wrote many of the Psalms & songs of the Bible….He is a key player in the whole Bible…

I think the reason why I am so enamored with David is because he’s Israel’s greatest king and yet, he has lots of flaws…He’s humble…He reacts impulsively…when you read other ancient literature all you read about their kings was how great they were…Literally they had no flaws…But with David we get this sense about what its like to lead yourself in a way that honors God…while still having some pretty massive flaws.

So we will be in the book of 1 Samuel today

This book is like a finely woven tapestry…EVERYTHING is connected to EVERYTHING

So the first 15 chapters is setup to get to chapters 16 and 17…and then almost everything that happens after chapter 17 references chapter 17…

This book is really setup to ask this question of what does good leadership look like? What does a good king look like? How should we live?

I am going to summarize 15 chapters in one word.

See

See is the word…

The story opens up with this Judge of Israel, this priest, Eli. He is old, his sons are wicked and do not walk in his ways…And there is this boy Samuel, with a birth narrative.. His mother dedicated him to the Lord while he was in the womb and he would become the next judge or prophet of Israel.

So while Samuel was still a child this happened:

1 Samuel 3:11

And the Lord said to Samuel: “See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears about it tingle.

So the Lord Speaks to this boy Samuel, Samuel who becomes the person who hears from God and directs the first half of 1 Samuel… and says, “See something new is going to happen! And you get to be a part of it…

But at the time when Samuel was just a child there was an older leader in Israel who hadn’t heard from God, who was not a good leader and at one point when a war broke out this happened

1 Samuel 4:15

14 Eli heard the outcry and asked, “What is the meaning of this uproar?”

The man hurried over to Eli, who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes had failed so that he could not see.

So God is going to do something new that Samuel is encouraged to see, but this is the second note in the story that Eli could not see, he was blind, both spiritually and physically

So I will tell you in the bible when you begin to notice key words repeating, you are supposed to go, hey…this is a clue that the author wants us to look at everything around it in a deeper way

So keep going in the story

The ark of the covenant is captured…there is war and unrest in Israel

and then the people ask Samuel for a king, and that is a whole other can of worms that we just cant get into now…

So God allows them to a king

And we are introduced to Saul, the son of Kish

Here are the first things we are told about him

1 Samuel 9:2

2 Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.

So what are we told about him?

He is handsome, and the tallest…Things that as humans we see right?

Now it so important because in the Bible, you almost never have an idea what the biblical character looks like…

We are almost never told details of physical appearance…

So why is the Bible telling us this? Because it’s both crucial to the narrative and it is really symbolic…

This word handsome is in the Hebrew mind is like saying..>he is very seeable…he is good to look at

So the story goes on. Saul’s father loses some donkey’s and Saul is going to look for them

So Saul & his servant say…Hey lets go into this town and inquire of the “seer” I wonder what he will see…

And there is this little interesting note in chapter 9

1 Samuel 9:9

9 (Formerly in Israel, if someone went to inquire of God, they would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.)

This is an odd phrase, especially in Hebrew.

1 Samuel 9:17

17 When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him, “This is the man I spoke to you about; he will govern my people.”

Did you catch that? When the seer saw Saul…

He’s like…This is the guy

1 Samuel 10:23-24

23 They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. 24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”

Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

So do you get what is happening here…While we think something deeply spiritual is happening you are beginning to get a picture that Samuel chooses handsome tall people to be king.

That even though Samuel is the “Seer” all he sees is this guy who the only thing unique about him is that he is the tallest man in Israel. He sees that Saul is a giant…Which is not at all insignificant to where this story is going to end up today!

Now because Saul is really just tall and handsome and has no idea how to be king…He screws up a lot and God tells Samuel…That God has rejected him as king

1 Samuel 16:1

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

I know you don't see it here but this phrase “I have chosen” in the original Hebrew uses the word is Ra’ah which is the word…You guessed it…SEE…Its actually the same word used for “Seer” back in chapter 9

So if you were reading this in Hebrew you would get that there is a comparison happening…Samuel…I’m rejecting the person who you saw…let me show you who I see

See everything is coming to a climax here:

God says the leadership is blind…The people are blind because they want a king…

The one who is supposed to be the seer,

The one who is supposed to see’s what God sees, really just sees what everyone else sees…

A tall handsome man that looks like he can be a leader…Oh yeah….He looks like a king…lets put him in charge

But really they guy doesn't have the first clue…

It’s all working to this moment where God says, I SEE A KING!

It keeps going to this moment, that most of us probably know well:

Samuel is in front of Jesse’s sons and here is what he sees

1 Samuel 16:6-7

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”

So you get it yet? Samuel is still looking through these fallible human eyes! And look how the Lord rebukes him!

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance (in Hebrew: His see-ability or what is seen)or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Do not consider his appearance or his height!

The Lord is like, Samuel; you’re doing it again! You’re just looking at appearance and height! That’s what got us here last time!

God is like, Samuel! The conclusions you draw by merely sight are just wrong…you can’t see what I can see!!!

And we know how the story ends

Samuel asks if anyone is left…And they say…Yes the youngest

And that word by the was, youngest, if you were to track its usage across the Bible…this is how its used… small, insignificant, unimportant

Jesse also says he’s the keeper of the sheep and guess what that is back in Hebrew?

He is the one who keeps his eyes on the sheep…he sees them!

So now we go into the entire narrative where there are two anointed kings and you’re supposed to keep all of this in your mind.

One king is the tallest most handsome king that everyone looks at and says.. Yup that's what a king looks like…

And the other person is David, the one whom God sees as king

And the rest of this story of David and Saul will play on their differences…It will be the story of the one that people look to as king, vs David. The One whom God sees as king

Now if you get this you’ll get everything else!

So now we get into the story of David & Goliath…

Now we say, David & Goliath but what we should really say is Saul, David & Goliath

Here is how the story begins:

They are all gathered for war and

1 Samuel 17:4-11

4 A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. (About 9.5 feet) 5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels [b];6 on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.7 His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

8 Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.” 10 Then the Philistine said, “This day I defy the armies of Israel! Give me a man and let us fight each other.” 11 On hearing the Philistine’s words, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and terrified.

Now Goliath was over 9 feet tall, He carried a spear that weighed fifteen pounds…He came out and challenged Israel week after week…and so in Champion fighting you look to your best guy…

You have got this giant coming after you…So who do you think it is natural to look to?

Your tallest guy…The one who was a head taller than everyone else…

Goliath is the tallest guy in the philistine army

Saul is the tallest guy in Israel…They should have been doing battle!

But he wont go our and face him because he is afraid and terrified…

Saul in this story is missing…He is who the whole nation put their trust in…he’s their tallest guy! He’s their king…

His credibility slipped away with each day he didn't respond…So with each day the army of Israel became more dismayed and terrified

So this stalemate between the Philistine army and between Israel really highlighted a couple of things.

1. God never wanted Israel to have a king. He wanted them to look to him for their hope and their dependence…But instead they looked to people

Because God knew that wherever you place your trust, you put your hope…

2. This story of David and Goliath reveals what God sees in David…and as we look in this series, David was the greatest king of Israel…

Not because he was perfect…Because he fails many times…

But because he loves the Law…See David never confused his position as king with The King…

See David And Goliath is just as much about David & Saul….as it is about Goliath…

Saul took total control as the king and acted like the king of the world

Whereas David knew that God was always the king and that he would always be the King.

In fact many times when David would break the law he would grieve…See the usual things kings did was change the law so that they wouldn't break it, but David allowed himself to be broken by it.

David was never confused by the identity of Israel’s true king…In all of his success he was never confused

See for many of us this is where we fall…

Success confuses the best of us…A little bit of success and we are sitting on the throne of our lives…

A little bit of relationship success

A little bit of work success

Hobby success or financial success

We sit on the throne of our lives and we put our hope in the one we depend on the most

David, the king of Israel never made that mistake

Now back to the story…

Remember where we left off Israel was terrified and dismayed

And for 40 days there was this giant coming out twice a day taunting everyone…The bible records that men ran in fear…By the way 40 days is symbolic of Israel’s failure…for 40 days they failed to respond because they failed to pick the correct person

But David’s response was one of reveal the hope in whom he depended on

See when he heard this he was offended:

1 Samuel 17:26

26 David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

Do you see how David reframes this situation for everyone? They do not see it this way…All they saw was this blood thirsty 9.5 ft giant who wants to kill everyone and David is saying, who is this Disgrace..? He is just super offended…He is saying…We are the army of the living God… this guy doesn't stand a chance against us…

Why? Because David has his hope settled…

And word gets around to Saul and Saul wants to meet this big talking kid

And here is what happens

1 Samuel 17:32-33

32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

Saul is like, let me tell you what I see…You’re a kid! You’re a shepherd kid!

You have no experience..>Go away…

But David tells them…I’ve killed a lion and a bear

And then he tells the king this

1 Samuel 17:36

36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

David is saying…Look I’m good but I am not that good…The Lord Rescued me…and he will do it again…

David had extraordinary clarity…An enemy of Israel is an enemy of God’s…

Somehow he would come up with this governing principle for his life

The man of woman whose hope is in the lord does not need to fear

David would later document many songs that he wrote and one of these is the posture in which all of God’s people need to think of

Psalm 25:1 In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.

Psalm 25:5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

And then David goes out…15 years old…goes to fight on the line…can you imagine the laughter

1 Samuel 17:45-47

45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 This day the Lord will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. 47 All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

And David Killed him

David simply did what King Saul failed to do

David

Sees clearly

Acts confidently

Walks humbly

See people like this recognize that they can’t control outcomes because there are too many variables that are outside my control…

So they lean the weight of their life on the one who has everything in his hands!

They pray this

In you, Lord my God, I put my trust.

This is what God sees in David! Remember we started this with the idea that all of 1 Samuel was walking towards this comparison of two kings

Samuel saw with his human eyes, this man who was tall and handsome…

God sees a confident humble person who does not confuse his position as king, with THE KING

What Does God see when he looks at you?

vs the false narratives for your life

Does he see someone whose hope is in him

Maybe you’re here today with a misplaced hope…Literally you are over confidant in your own abilities.