After God's Own Heart

The Gospel According to David

Mark J. Boda

• Publisher: P Publishing
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9780875526539
• eBook ISBN: 9781629955070
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Examines the life of David, showing how it relates to anointing, covenants, the temple, and sin. Ultimately demonstrates how David points to the Messiah to come.

CHAPTER ONE

DAVID AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

He stood out among the masses crowded near the Dung Gate at the south end of the Old City of Jerusalem, long blond hair and deep blue eyes, dressed in a long flowing white gown with a crown on his head and a harp in his arms. His routine was to play a few songs and then invite tourists on a guided visit of the temple mount and the Jewish quarter. This modern-day “King David” was relying on the Western image of this ancient king to try to make a living in a city filled with pilgrims. This image was one that I knew well, drawn from the Sunday school pictures and illustrated Bibles of my childhood.

At the same time at an archaeological dig in the northern part of Israel, at Tel Dan, in ancient times the northernmost city of the tribes of Israel, an astonishing find was announced to the media. Archaeologists had discovered a mid-ninth century BC stele, that is, a stone monument inscribed with letters. The letters comprised thirteen lines written in the Aramaic language, and near the center of the inscription was the phrase “house of David.” The text chronicled events strikingly similar to the massacre of Joram and Ahaziah in 2 Kings 9. The ancient letters identified Ahaziah as a king from the house or dynasty of David. The inscription created a sensation because it was the oldest archaeological evidence for the existence of a dynasty that originated in a figure named David.¹

These two events from modern-day Israel remind us at the outset of at least two images of David that exist in our world today. There is the contemporary image of David, one that has been forged through millennia of Jewish and Christian history, through ancient, medieval, and modern art, and is now painted in our collective mind’s eye. At the same time there is a historical image of David, one that has been reconstructed from archaeological evidence and ancient Near Eastern texts and sifted through the scientific perspective of modern scholars. These two images, contemporary and historical, rarely coincide.

There is, however, another image of David, one that sometimes overlaps with one or the other of these two images. It is the David of the canon, that is, the literary-theological image of David in the biblical texts. Certainly there are some elements of this image of David that have informed the contemporary image of David, even if many aspects of the latter reflect inappropriate modern impositions. Certainly the canonical David is connected to the historical David, even if it is clear that there was much more to the David of history than is now recorded in the Scriptures. The goal of this book, however, is to offer you a theological portrait of the David of the Bible, rooted in his historical context and relevant to our contemporary context, expressed as a theological witness to God and his redemptive purposes in our world.

There are some who would expect and appreciate a book defending the historical David against the onslaught of recent minimalist approaches according to which David is but a literary myth.² But, although a legitimate exercise, this will not be the focus of this book.³ There are others who are looking for ready-made sermons that provide quick and easy access to David for popular consumption. Although this book will show the way the canonical presentation of David can and does shape contemporary life, this will be based on a patient encounter with the biblical text which I hope will lay a foundation for a series of sermons or Bible studies.

DAVID AND NEW TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

Our journey through the Old Testament theological theme of David will begin in what for many is an unlikely place: the New Testament. By doing this we hope to provide a theological map to guide Christian readers to the scenic vistas of Old Testament theology.

There is little question that King David receives considerable attention in the pages of the New Testament. He is mentioned as a towering past figure in the great redemptive story of Israel (Matt. 1:6, 17; 12:3; 22:43, 45; Mark 2:25; 12:36–37; Acts 7:45; 13:22; Heb. 11:32). As such a past figure he is a source of authority, whether through revelation (Mark 12:36; Acts 1:16; 2:29–30; 4:25) or through example (Luke 6:3–5; Heb. 11:32). He also is identified clearly as the source of the royal line and messianic hope for Israel in the time of Jesus (Matt. 22:42; Mark 11:10; 12:35), a hope that Christ’s followers identified with Jesus who was called the son of David (Matt. 1:1, 20; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30–31; 21:9, 15; Mark 10:47–48; Luke 1:27). This preliminary evidence shows how important David was to the early Christian community. His words and example were key to the early Christian community, but in what ways were his words and example applied?

First of all, Christ is viewed as the son of David, the one who fulfilled the messianic hope, who reestablished the Davidic line. This fact is clear from the opening passage in the present form of the New Testament as Matthew 1 places the accent on Jesus’ Davidic roots as well as his birth in Bethlehem, the home village of David. Such an emphasis on Jesus’ Davidic roots can be seen in Romans 1:3 (“who as to his human flesh was born a descendent of David”) and Hebrews 1:5 (cf. 1:8–13). Hebrews 1:5 draws heavily on Psalm 2, a psalm which trumpets the ascension of the Davidic king to the throne, and 2 Samuel 7, a passage which expresses the covenantal agreement between Yahweh and the Davidic house. This initial connection, that is, between Jesus Christ and David is obvious to most, but is easy to take for granted. It is important to realize that our appropriation of the Davidic story is possible only through and because of Christ’s foundational link to David.

The second connection, however, is often overlooked by Christians. In 2 Corinthians 6:18, the apostle Paul clearly alludes to the same passage in 2 Samuel 7 that we have already seen is used elsewhere to forge a link between Jesus and David. However, in this instance there is a slight change. Whereas in 2 Samuel 7:14, the reference is “I will be his father, and he will be my son,” in 2 Corinthians 6:18 Paul modifies this to “I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters.” Here the apostle does two things. First, he makes the original Davidic covenantal promise plural (“sons”), indicating that he is speaking about a community. Second, he includes both male and female (“sons and daughters”), a significant declaration in an ancient patriarchal age. By doing this he is revealing that the Davidic covenant now rests upon the community of Christ as a whole, which now functions in the line of David as vice-regents of God on earth.

This is very important to our appropriation of the image and tradition of David in the Old Testament. As we encounter David in the Old Testament we need to see him as a type of the coming Messiah; the role he fills within Israel reveals the role that his messianic descendant would fulfill. On one level this is truly redemptive-historical, that is, David’s role can be fulfilled only by the Christ in a unique and singular way. However, the New Testament also suggests that in and through this Christ we as a community enter into the Davidic covenant and in some way also fulfill the function of David.

The reason I want to share this at the outset of the book is to provide you with the theological framework to appropriate the Davidic image and tradition in the Old Testament for your lives as Christians. As we encounter the various aspects of this tradition, you need to first consider how this anticipates and is fulfilled in Christ. But after doing this you are compelled by the New Testament witness to reflect on the way in which the various aspects can become a reality for us who share the name Christian: that is, Messiah-ones.

These two hermeneutical movements, one redemptive-historical and the other redemptive-ethical, are echoed in the apostle Paul’s encouragement to young Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:14–17 to embrace the Old Testament as normative Scripture for his Christian life and ministry. Old Testament texts are, according to Paul, “holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus,” that is, they function as witness to the grand story of redemption that culminates in and through Jesus Christ, the son of David. In addition, Paul continues, these same texts (“All Scripture”) which are “God-breathed” are “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that all God’s people may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (TNIV), that is, they function as witness to God’s grand ethic of redemption which is expressed in and through the body of Christ (the church) animated by the Spirit of Christ.

Notice how the redemptive story and ethic are drawn from “Scripture,” a translation of the Greek word graphē which refers to the written texts of the Old Testament canon. This is key to our present theological enterprise. It is not the history reconstructed from these texts (and other sources) nor is it depictions evident in contemporary expressions from which we take our lead in this study. Rather, it is the portrait of David preserved within the canonical witness that guides our theological reflection. This authoritative witness compels us to not merely reflect, but to respond in word and deed to the David of Scripture.

DAVID AND OLD TESTAMENT THEOLOGY

Now that we have laid a foundation for our appropriation of the image of David in light of the New Testament, there is a need also to consider a foundational interpretive issue in Old Testament theology. One of the key questions that dogs the presentation of David in the Old Testament is whether kingship as an institution was a divinely initiated or divinely permitted office for Israel.⁴ To this question we now turn.

Kingship after the Israelites’ Hearts

Although it is not the earliest mention of kingship in the Old Testament, 1 Samuel 8 is probably the first passage to which people turn when discussing the theme of kingship. This chapter presents a scene from late in the career of the great leader Samuel. When the people approached Samuel requesting a king to lead them, the old leader was deeply disturbed and so inquired of the Lord to discern his will. The answer from God was troubling: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you” (1 Sam. 8:7–8).

At first, it appears from Samuel’s concern and the Lord’s response that he did not regard kingship as a positive development for Israel. This suggests that when kingship became a legitimate office within Israel, it had more to do with God’s permissive will than with his intentional will (he permits it, but it was not his intention). However, a closer look at the Israelites’ request as well as God’s response brings this preliminary conclusion into question.

In their initial request to Samuel the people request a king “such as all the other nations have” (1 Sam. 8:5). This is expanded later in the scene as they cry: “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Sam. 8:19–20).

The circumstances of this request are described more fully in Samuel’s farewell speech in 1 Samuel 12:12 as Samuel reminds them: “But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was moving against you, you said to me, ‘No, we want a king to rule over us’—even though the LORD your God was your king.”

These statements by the people and prophet reveal the perception of kingship in the minds of the people. Human kingship was linked to war. Tired of their vulnerability among the nations, the people wanted to experience the military security that a human king with his standing army could bring. This helps clarify God’s warning to the people in 1 Samuel 8:10–18. God warns them that the kind of king they are requesting would take their children and resources in order to sustain his royal court and army.

A king in line with the wishes of the Israelites was a military leader who would offer them peace and security, and soon God would provide them with such a leader in Saul, son of Kish. He was a towering physical specimen: “an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites—a head taller than any of the others” (1 Sam. 9:2), well-suited to the military role expected by the Israelites.

God’s Kingship

God’s offense at the Israelites’ request for a military king can only be understood in light of the greatest salvation event in Israel’s history. In Exodus 12–14 the Lord delivers his people from Egypt by parting the waters of the sea and then defeats their enemy by returning the waters to their normal course. This momentous victory is celebrated in Exodus 15 in the ancient song of praise sung by Moses and the Israelites (Ex. 15:1–18).

The song begins by accentuating the battle prowess of the Lord God, exalting him as the “warrior” who “has hurled into the sea” Pharaoh and his men. The language is that of a military victory with reference to “horse,” “rider,” “chariots,” “army,” and “officers.” The ending of the song, however, identifies the implications of this great victory in war as the celebrants cry: “the LORD will reign for ever and ever.” This battle is a declaration to all peoples, whether Egypt whence they have come or Canaan to which they are going (Edom, Moab, Canaan, v. 15) that the Lord is King of kings, Lord of lords, and that there is none among the gods like Yahweh. The passage looks to the day when God will take up his residence in his divine palace, the temple in Jerusalem (15:13, 17) from where Yahweh will reign forever. Therefore, this great victory in battle is foundational to God’s claim of kingship.

God’s kingship over Israel as a nation was demonstrated through his defeat of Egypt and defense of Israel at the sea. In this event Israel did not have to raise a spear or sword; God was their warrior. This was to be a defining moment for Israel: God was their king because God was their warrior who would fight for them. Even when the Israelites were instructed to participate in war, God was careful to remind them that victory was accomplished only through reliance upon God their warrior. In Exodus 17:8–16 it is Moses’ reliance upon God on the hill above the battle scene that secures victory. The account in Exodus 17 makes it clear that Joshua must know the divine source of this victory; thus the Lord tells Moses: “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven” (17:14). This is an important truth for Joshua to know, since he would be the one who would lead Israel in the conquest of the Promised Land.

Therefore, in light of the fact that military protection was the key prerogative of kingship within Israel, one can understand why kingship and battle were linked in the minds of the Israelites and why their request was interpreted as a rejection of God’s kingship in the heavenly realms. Nevertheless, does this mean that kingship per se was unacceptable to God?

Expectation of Kingship

To answer this we need to look further afield. The biblical witness does not present kingship as a late-breaking emphasis in the twilight years of Samuel’s ministry. According to Genesis 17 the covenant ceremony between God and Abraham included the promise that “kings will come from you” (17:6). This promise is made more specific later in Genesis as Jacob blesses his sons, for ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Tribute to J. Alan Groves
• Preface
• 1. David and Biblical Theology
• 2. David, Abraham, and Ruth
• 3. David and Anointing
• 4. David and Covenant
• 5. David and Rule
• 6. David and Faith
• 7. David and Justice
• 8. David and Unity
• 9. David and Worship
• 10. David and Temple
• 11. David and Faithfulness
• 12. David and Sin
• 13. David and Messiah
• For Further Reading
• Notes
• Index of Scripture