Young David - 1 Samuel 16:14-23
Prayer:
Lord as we look into your word open our hearts to love you more deeply, to be a people after your heart as David was a man after your heart. Help us to grow to know you better, to handle your word with confidence, and to care for others with the strength & tenderness of a Shepherd. Amen!
Last week we were introduced to David as a young man, likely a teenager, in the first part 1 Samuel 16. David was the youngest son that his dad Jesse hadn't bothered to bring in from the sheep pens to the sacrifice, even though all of Jesse's sons had been invited. Samuel, under God's direction, was using this time of celebration as a means to discover the man God had chosen for his next King of Israel. Samuel discovered that the one chosen by God was missing, and he had him brought in to join in the celebration. God indicated David was His choice, and Samuel anointed him with oil in front of his father & brothers. How much David & his family knew about the anointing we're not told in the passage, but according to Josephus (an ancient historian), Jewish custom held that Samuel leaned down and whispered in the ear of David that he would be Israel's next king. Now we continue David's story, but first...
Quickly Form Groups and answer these Questions:
1. From your knowledge, what are the duties of a shepherd & how might those duties have been used by God to train David to be a King?
2. Have you ever had a "Divine Appointment", a time when you knew with certainty that God prepared you & then placed you in space & time to be His hands & feet for another? Share this experience with the group.
David is a Shepherd, a dirty job, a solitary job, a job that requires hard physical labor, and a job that to be done well requires courage, compassion, and dedication. A Shepherd needs to know his flock as individuals, know their particular needs / quirks / strengths / weaknesses. A Shepherd can call individual members of the flock with unique names / whistles / calls -- and the sheep recognized the voice of their Shepherd. A Shepherd has to lead the sheep to pasture, to water, to shelter -- they can't find their own way, they don't know how. A Shepherd tends their wounds, carries them if sick / injured / weak, and delivers the lambs. A Shepherd is alert, always on watch because sheep tend to wander off, and on the watch for predators. A Shepherd puts his life on the line to protect his flock from predators, or to rescue sheep snatched by predators. Sheep aren't terribly active or exciting, so a Shepherd has to be able to entertain himself. Obviously not just anyone is cut out to be a Shepherd, but David was, and this was the first part of God's training to prepare him to become Israel's king.
God had another stage of training in mind for David as well, training that would provide him with first-hand knowledge of the duties / responsibilities / benefits / troubles involved with Shepherding God's people. God was setting up a divine appointment for David, he was going to bring David into Saul's inner circle, God was going to see His will done in and through David, David was going to become very valuable to Saul - almost indispensable, and God was going to use Saul to train David.
1 Samuel 16 v14: Remember that when Saul had first been called by God to be King, God confirmed the call by a serious of odd events, and at that point God's Spirit was "assigned" to stick with Saul. But now... after Saul has failed to be obedient to God, God is removing His Spirit & sending an evil spirit to torment Saul.
Two important things to point out from this verse:
First: We must remember, evil spirits are still under God's control and may only operate as God allows... there are times when they must do God's will even if they don't want to - but I'm guessing this evil spirit was more than happy to torment the leader of God's people.
Second: This is before Pentecost, before the church age in which the Holy Spirit is given as a Permanent Seal. Don't be confused, during Old Testament times the Holy Spirit would be given for a specific time & purpose, there are only two pre-Pentecost individuals in which scripture indicates that the Holy Spirit stays - David & John the Baptist. I want to make this clear because I don't want you to be concerned that the Holy Spirit might leave you, if you are a believer today the Holy Spirit is your Permanent Companion - you don't need to be concerned that He will ever leave you.
v15-16: Apparently the activity of the evil spirit was evident to both Saul & those around him, we don't know how it manifested but it was recognized. In those days, as today, music was seen as a means to affect the emotions - in this case to sooth the disturbed king. One thing that struck me about this, this human king - a man of high standing in human eyes - is made a subject to an evil spirit - a being with the lowest standing in God's eyes. God is making it clear - He has no respect for human position, and He has had enough of Saul & his disobedience.
v17-18: Saul approves of the idea of bringing in a musician & who gets recommended but our young future king David. David at this point is already known as a musician, a warrior, and a well spoken & handsome young man. David has not yet joined Saul as one of his warriors (at least not as recorded in scripture) but somehow his skill is already known.
How might his skills as a warrior have been known? Some possibilities:
- Local problems with bandits who came against his flock or his family or his town.
- Small local wars/skirmishes where his skills would have been displayed.
- Local contests with others in his community.
v19-20: Saul sends for David, unwittingly bringing his replacement into the throne room. But where is the future king when he is called? He's back with the sheep, he's doing the job he's been given until God calls him into His service. We should look to this as an example, when we are serving God - in whatever capacity we are serving, we should continue to serve faithfully - even if we expect God may have bigger plans in mind for us. What's interesting is that David keeps going back to his sheep... when he wasn't on assignment with Saul he was back to his sheep. This is not a lazy guy, this is not a guy seeking the limelight, this is a guy whose heart is focused on service - whatever form that service takes.
Jesse sends David along with gifts for the King, why do you think he sent the gifts?
- Perhaps he thought that the gifts were a means of winning Saul's favor.
- Perhaps he didn't dare send David without a gift that would indicate that they were respectful of the Saul's reign.
- Perhaps its just what was expected of anyone that is summoned to the throne.
v21-22: David impresses Saul, Saul likes him, and makes him one of his armor-bearers, and Saul makes a request from Jesse that David remain with him in his service. We need to understand that these 2 verses & the one that follows are probably another one of those portions of scripture that is a summary - this didn't happen all at once... in fact in Chapter 17 we'll see that David is back home, and serving his father faithfully... but in time David will be a person that Saul finds indispensable.
v23: The evil spirit repeatedly came & left Saul, and its clear that the evil spirit would leave after David would come in & play his harp. This is beyond the mere effect of music alone, it appears that the Spirit of God was at work through David's music to suppress the evil spirit & drive it away. The Hebrew word indicating that Saul experienced relief is "ravach", which means "to be wide, to be spacious, to give space so as to bring relief" - we might say "to breath freely" or "room to breath".
Psalm 23 is a familiar Psalm, written by David, and its called the Shepherd's Psalm (Psalm means Song or Hymn). It is possible that this was one of the songs that David sang for Saul to sooth him. Psalm 23
We don't know why but for some reason singing is tightly tied to worship of God.
There is a passage about singing in Job where God is speaking about what was happening during the creation. Job 38:4-7
We also know that there is & will be singing in heaven. Revelation 5:6-14
We are also encouraged to lift our voices, even if they aren't beautiful, in praise to God. We find encouragement to sing in the "Joyful Noise" Psalm, not credited to David. Psalm 98
The following is a quote from a devotional on David written by Beth Moore:
"We find that David had the tenderness and sensitivity of an artist. He was a musician and a songwriter. David did not simply have talent. Talent alone could not have soothed the torment of Saul. David plucked the strings of his harp with tenderness and sensitivity. He chose melodies that ministered to the aching soul. You may rightly imagine that many of your favorite psalms were first sung by the young voice of David, wavering and cracking somewhere between boyhood and manhood to the accompaniment of a well-worn and deeply loved harp. Yet we are also told he was a warrior, brave and strong. The fingers that gently plucked the strings of a harp could also wind fiercely around a sling or a sword.... I deeply desire to be a woman of tenderness and strength because my dearest role model possessed both."
From the context of her book its clear that Jesus is the ideal role model, though David is also a good role model. In my life I was blessed with a role model that demonstrated these two traits in good balance - my Dad - he's with the Lord now but his influence continues & I hope someday to demonstrate these traits as well as he did.
Quickly Form Groups Again, and answer the following questions:
3. Would you describe yourself as more strong than tender or more tender than strong?
4. What are the dangers of getting out of balance (strength vs tenderness) in either direction?
5. Who do you have that can be a real-life role model for you of these traits?
Closing Prayer: Teach us Lord to be more like you, to demonstrate both tenderness & strength, to be your hands and feet to a world in need. Amen!
No comments:
Post a Comment