The Youngest, Keeping the Sheep
God had rejected Saul from reigning over Israel, and Samuel was grieving. The LORD sent him to Bethlehem with a horn of oil: I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons (1 Samuel 16:1).
Jesse's sons passed before the prophet one by one. Eliab looked like a king, but God said, the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). Seven sons came, and God chose none of them. Are here all thy children? There was one more. There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep (1 Samuel 16:11).
“And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. 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. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.”1 SAMUEL 16:12–13 · KJV
The anointing came years before the crown. David killed Goliath, served in Saul's court, and became Saul's target. He spent years as a fugitive, yet twice he spared Saul's life because Saul was the LORD's anointed (1 Samuel 24:6). After Saul died, David reigned at Hebron, then over all Israel from Jerusalem, forty years in all (2 Samuel 5:3–4).
His life held great faith and great sin. He also took Bathsheba and arranged the death of her husband, Uriah. Nathan confronted him, and David confessed, I have sinned against the LORD (2 Samuel 12:13). Psalm 51 is his prayer of repentance. Typology never turns that sin into a picture of Christ; see What Is Typology? on allegory. The consequences followed him: his son Absalom rebelled, and David fled Jerusalem in tears.
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For Deeper Study
- David: A Man of Passion and DestinyAmazon Charles R. SwindollA warm, readable study of David's life (1997), honest about both his faith and his failures, from Swindoll's Great Lives series.
- David: Shepherd, Psalmist, KingAmazon F. B. MeyerOne of the classic Bible biographies by the English Baptist pastor, tracing God's grace through David's life.
- He Will Reign Forever: A Biblical Theology of the Kingdom of GodAmazon Michael J. VlachA full biblical theology (2017) from a premillennial view, arguing that Jesus sits now at the Father's right hand and will reign from David's throne on the earth.
- Things to Come: A Study in Biblical EschatologyAmazon J. Dwight PentecostA classic dispensational, premillennial study (1958), with a careful treatment of the Davidic covenant and the millennial reign.
- A Case for Amillennialism: Understanding the End TimesAmazon Kim RiddlebargerThe present-throne view stated by a Reformed advocate. Read it to understand the view answered in this study, not as an endorsement.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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What Is Typology?
God filled the Old Testament with pictures of His Son: real people, events, and institutions He designed to point forward to Jesus Christ, who fulfills and surpasses them all.
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