Life Of David - Lesson 1

Setting The Stage - Part 1

In order to understand the life & times of David we need to back up a bit, and skim through the first several chapters of 1 Samuel.  The story of David starts coming in at Chapter 16, though he's hinted at in Chapter 13.

Before we begin skimming who can tell me reasons why we should study David?

• Not 1st king of Israel, but the 2nd; however, he is the 1st king that is of the line of Judah. (Genesis 49:10)
• He is in the Messianic Line. (Matthew 1:1, 5, 6) From these passages we learn that he is the great-grandson of Ruth & Boaz (ref: book of Ruth).
• Large portions of scripture are dedicated to his life.  In a book on David, Charles Swindoll says the following:

"Would it surprise you to learn that more has been written about David than about any other biblical character?  Abraham has some fourteen chapters dedicated to his life, and so does Joseph.  Jacob has eleven.  Elijah has ten.  But do you have any idea how many are dedicated to David?  Sixty-six, if my counting is correct, and that does not include some fifty-nine references to his life in the New Testament."

• (1 Samuel 13:14 & Acts 13:22) David is the only one in all of scripture to be called "a man after God's own heart".

What do you know about David (his occupation & temperament)?

• Faithful shepherd, even in the presence of lions & bears. (1 Samuel 17:34-35)
• Fearless warrior, as we'll discover through many passages.
• When already anointed as the next king of Israel apparently he never brought it up, he served King Saul faithfully (for as long as that was possible) & respected Saul's appointment as Israel's king.
• (1 Samuel 16:18) Musician, brave warrior, speaks well, fine-looking, godly.
• From the numerous Psalms attributed to him we know he was a poet.
• He is reflective, moody, courageous, passionate... and fallible!!
• From the passages we'll learn that he was such a great guy that Jonathan, Saul's son,  was more than willing to relinquish any claim to be Israel's next king.
• He liked female company... he had at least 8 wives, from which he had 19 sons & a daughter... and this doesn't count his concubines or the children from his concubines.  If you like reading genealogies you can find info on David & his kids in 1 Chronicles 3.
• He wholeheartedly loved God!!

As 1 Samuel begins we are still in the portion of Israel's history known as the time of the Judges.

When was this era ushered in?

• During the Exodus while the nation of Israel was being led out of Egypt by Moses.  Moses father-in-law Jethro suggested that Moses find qualified men to help him make judgements for all the disputes that were arising during this trying time.  Moses did so & that was the start of the Judges.  The Judges were involved for matters civil law, the Priests were involved for matters of God's law.

What form of government did Israel have at this time?

• It was a Theocracy, God led his Priests & Judges by the power of His Spirit.  Just as later there would be good & bad kings, there were good & bad Priests & Judges.  The books of 1 & 2 Samuel are named after the last of the great godly Judges, Samuel, and 1 Samuel starts with the unusual beginnings of this amazing man who was not just a Judge but also a powerful Prophet.

1 Samuel 1-2: The beginnings of Samuel

The story starts out with Elkanah & his two wives, one who had many children & one who had none - the one with none was Hannah.  Elkanah loved Hannah, treated her very well, and even gave her a double-portion whenever the family went to make sacrifices.  Unfortunately the other wife was cruel, she provoked Hannah because Hannah was barren & would bring her to tears.

What was the significance of being barren?

• Having children was viewed as being blessed by God, and in truth children are a blessing from God.  Not having children was a terrible stigma for a woman of Hannah's day, it didn't mean she wasn't loved by God, but it meant that in her culture in her day she was looked down upon.

Hannah was deeply troubled, and went weeping to God. (1 Samuel 1:10-11)

Hannah prayed, she made a vow to God that if He would give her a son she would dedicate the son to God's service for life.  She also said no razor would touch his head, what is the significance of this?

• Hannah was proclaiming that her son would be a Nazirite, a person specially devoted to the service of God.  Most Nazirites were for a limited amount of time, rather than for life.  Samson is an example of a Nazirite (I believe he was also one for life).

Eli the priest saw Hannah praying & thought she was drunk, when he realized she was not drunk but in anguish he speaks a blessing on her (1 Samuel 1:17).

The results: (1 Samuel 1:20), the name Samuel sounds like the Hebrew for "heard of God".

Hannah took care of Samuel until he was weaned, probably at about 3 years old. (1 Samuel 1:24-28; 2:11) Hannah did what she promised, she gave her son to the Lord by putting him in the service of Eli the priest, and though I'm certain this was hard she trusted God so completely that her prayer of dedication starts by saying "My heart rejoices in the Lord".  Later we see that Hannah never forgot Samuel (1 Samuel 2:18-19)

As soon as we read that the young boy Samuel is put under the care of Eli, we learn the true nature of Eli's sons (1 Samuel 2:12, 17), but Samuel is in good hands with Eli.

Hannah went on to have 3 more sons and 2 daughters, and Samuel is being raised "in the presence of the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:26).  Samuel isn't going to be a priest, he's not Eli's son, so a crisis is at hand in the priesthood (we'll reference this as Israel's Crisis #1).  And the second half of chapter 2 records God's prophecy against Eli's descendants (1 Samuel 2:33).

1 Samuel 3: God Himself calls Samuel

This simply must be read (1 Samuel 3:1-10), God Himself called out audibly to Samuel,  God was calling Samuel to be His Prophet.  Unfortunately the first Prophecy he's given is a one against Eli & his family.  Samuel loved Eli, and Eli was like a father to him, so giving the prophecy was hard... sometimes God asks hard things of us, but we can trust our lives in His hands.

What is the test of a true Prophet of God? 

• A true Prophet of God is 100% accurate!!  (1 Samuel 3:19-21)

1 Samuel 4: The Ark Captured & Eli's death

This chapter starts what we'll call Israel's Crisis #2, they're at war with the Philistines & they're loosing.  This is when they make a mistake (1 Samuel 4:3).

What was their mistake?

• Bringing the Ark of God into battle.

Why was this a mistake?

• They were behaving like pagans, acting like they could control God by brining His ark to battle.

What should they have done instead?

• They should have prayed or asked Eli to pray on their behalf.

(1 Samuel 4:11) the result of their actions is the capture of the Ark & the death of Eli's sons.

Eli gets the news (1 Samuel 4:16-18), from verse 18, when it says Eli "led" Israel that indicates he was a Judge.  Normally a Judge was appointed by a previous Judge, and possibly Samuel had been appointed by Eli to succeed him since later Samuel is acting as a Judge in Israel.

1 Samuel 5-6: The Philistines troubles with the Ark & return of the Ark to Israel

These 2 chapters provide a glimpse of God's sense of humor when dealing with those who don't trust Him as God... and clearly shows the foolish behavior of these people.  I'm going to encourage you to read these on your own, they just shouldn't be missed but aren't key to our understanding.  Suffice it to say God causes the Philistines trouble & they end up returning the Ark.

1 Samuel 7: Samuel helps Israel defeat the Philistines

After the Israelites spend many years mourning & seeking God Samuel gets involved.  He advises the people to rid themselves of their pagan gods & then intercedes with the Lord on Israel's behalf.  (1 Samuel 7:10, 13)

1 Samuel 8: Israel asks for a King

Now we get to Israel's Crisis #3 (1 Samuel 8:1-3), Samuel is getting older & his sons are bad guys... who's going to lead Israel now?  The Philistines are still a threat, the people want a strong leader (1 Samuel 8:4-5).

What mistake did the people make in asking for a king?

• Their mistake was two-fold: 
• They failed to trust God to provide them faithful leader.
• They wanted to have a government "just like all the other nations", effectively rejecting their current Theocracy (government with God as its head) for a Monarchy.

(1 Samuel 8:6-9), Samuel tells the people all that a King will demand of them ending with (1 Samuel 8:18)