There are three things David was doing with unfailing regularity both during the vicissitudes of his vagabond life and later after he ascended to the throne : 1. enquiring with the Lord 2. writing psalms. 3. slaughtering enemies. Some might add a fourth, 4. marrying women!
Some one has counted 9 instances of David enquiring of the Lord though my impression is that the number is far higher; David made this a habit. As habits go, can you better that? At every turn he sought the Lord’s counsel. Every time he heard some disturbing news, he went to the Lord to seek his direction. Every battle he fought had the Lord’s imprimatur on it. Not only did the Lord give him yes or no answers, many a time he gave him strategy.
It is not always recorded how the answer came from God, though several times we read of direct responses from God. Was it audible, was it a quiet impression in David’s heart, we do not know. Let us for instance, take David’s situation when the Amalekites carried off everything and everybody left in his camp. We have already seen (Twenty sixth Page) how David strengthened himself in the Lord. What we read further in the narrative in 1 Samuel ch.30 is that ” David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech’s son, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” And Abiathar brought the ephod to David. So David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?”And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.” We don’t know how the answer came from the Lord but it did come, and David had no doubt about it. For the very next words in the Bible are “so David went”.
As for strategy, take this example found in 2 Samuel chapter 5. “Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim; so David inquired of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack them in front of the poplar trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army.” So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.
So it is clear that one way or another the Lord answered David. Herein is an invaluable lesson to us. How often do we enquire of the Lord about the problems we face in life, about the mountains that stand in the way of our progress, about the Amalekites who stand ready to clean us out and the Philistines, a constant source of worry? When we show respect unto the Lord in asking for his guidance in a particular matter, we can be certain that He will come through. The timing of His answer may not meet our schedule in all cases; this is where our faith is frequently tested. Can we wait believing that He is always “on time” as the song goes? Or do we like Saul, lose patience and take matters into our own hand only to be held culpable? (1 Sam. 13:13)
Another thing we will do well to bear in mind is that in all his wandering years, David had a platoon of about 600 men following him. Even so he never depended on them for matters small or big. He didn’t let them take decisions on his behalf. This point is illustrated most graphically when king Saul was situated absolutely vulnerable in a cave near En Gedi in a potty position. David’s men were sure that the Lord had so arranged the event for David to finish off his tormentor (1 Sam. 24:4). But David balked. He let go off a golden opportunity in the eyes of his men (and ours). He was also careful about committing his band to a course of action without the Lord’s express permission. He never took the people with him for granted. Vain and vagabond men they might have been but he didn’t treat them as expendable. He led from the front. He took responsibility.
Yes, David constantly depended on God. It is notable in this context that he attributes his accomplishments to God’s help and praises God for teaching him skills of warfare. Mark his interview with king Saul prior to his engagement with Goliath when he claims: ” The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Psalm 34 is not the only place where he talks about God being his personal trainer: “He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.”
Another aspect about David’s dependence on God that strikes me is that, he wasn’t the type to go ahead with a venture, volitionally and on his own steam and then ask God to bless the venture, as many of us are wont to do. We embark on a particular path that suits our whims and fancies and then bring God into the picture. David wasn’t like that. If God said “no go”, it was indeed “no go” with him.
Perhaps it is time to turn our attention to another side of this multi-faceted personality: writing poems. This is fascinating! Apparently this is something he started from his early years. Alone in the hills and dales with his sheep, he communicated with God frequently and he developed a practice of writing down what he had to say. And it appears this business wasn’t always from David’s point of view. God also figures in his musings as someone who answers, responds, guides, instructs, steers, trains, exhorts, directs. We have already made the point that God lent an attentive ear to what David had to say. Thanks to David’s faithful record of these exchanges, we have the book of Psalms, probably the most widely read section of the Bible. Of the total of 150 psalms the authorship of half the number is credited to David.
To me (the writer) the mechanics of David’s writing are also a thing of wonder. Here I am sitting in the comfort of my home, with a fan above and an air-conditioner at hand, typing away on my key board and the words miraculously appear on the monitor. Some times I make my job easier still by speaking into my I Pad and the text magically forms. But poor David? I know at least at one point he mentions a pen (Psalm 45:1). Paper? He was probably using Papyrus leaves imported from Egypt. Whatever this primitive stationery, David must have carried it everywhere he went – along with his harp, staff, sling, bow & arrows, sword, clothes and whatever else. And remember he was on the run from Saul for a decade or so and later in life, from his son Absalom. Quite a baggage, what?
As for subjects of these psalms, there is of course prayer, there is supplication, there is praise, petition, philosophy, philanthropy, confession, the Sovereignty of God, the creation of God, thanksgiving, adoration, intercession, the majesty of God, complaint,eternal life, self examination, the burden of sin, the measure of man’s days, God’s will, blessing, and notably prophecy. The forward to the Book of Psalms in the Open Bible states that David’s experience as shepherd, musician, warrior and king is reflected in these psalms. I don’t know how the man found time, but he was careful to note various events as they happened. CNN would love to have man like David in their team! There is a psalm (No.3) when he fled from Absalom his son, entitled Victory in the Face of Defeat. There is a psalm for dedication of his house and there is even a psalm to mark the time when he pretended madness before Abimelech and so on.
Ah…there have been many down the centuries who have emulated David – the likes of William Cowper, Fanny Crosby, Frances R. Havergal, John Newton, Ira D. Sankey, Isaac Watts,Charles Wesley ….- who wrote from pain, from perspiration, from despair, from dejection, from anguish, from agony, from gratitude, about grace, in intercession, about imponderables …….the list is long and their sentiments varied. To such we owe the Christian hymnody that gives us a vehicle to express our own feelings.
Yes, what can we learn from this practice of David’s? In looking for an answer, we might consider his Psalm 103:2 ” Praise the Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits”. The best way not to forget is to write them all down. It is not for nothing did God write the Ten Commandments with His own finger. Further, talking about teaching children His commandments, He says ” Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates”. Elsewhere there is an exhortation to write them on the “tablet of your heart”.
Closer home there was my own ancestor Vedanayagam Sastriar (quite simply my grandfather’s grandfather) – a Christian poet in the court of the Hindu Maharajah Serfoji II of Tanjore – who had a song for every occasion. A song if there was no food in the house, a song acclaiming the sole Lordship of Jesus after he refused the king’s request to sing in praise of a Hindu God, a song when his clothes got stolen at the dhoby’s during a visit to Jaffna and so on. This was some body who had great respect for David’s proficiency in this department and put himself down in comparison. He wrote with feeling:
தாவீதின் பாட்டுனக்கு உன்னத பாட்டு
வேத நாயகன் பாட்டது என்ன பாட்டு
(Glorious is David’s psalm for you, what is my song in comparison )
The prophecy part in David’s psalms is riveting. The Open Bible lists no fewer than 22 messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in the life of Jesus – starting from God’s declaration of Him as His Son, through His betrayal, crucifixion, resurrection and His eternal throne plus details connected with these events. For instance Jesus’s plaintive cry from the cross ” “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” comes verbatim from the 1st verse of Psalm 22 where it appears right out of the blue. Again the fact that the Roman soldiers did not break Jesus’s legs is the fulfillment of prophecy found in Psalm 34:20. So it turns out that David uttered some profound prophecies by the inspiration of the spirit of God, though it doesn’t seem he himself was aware of the fact that he was in deed prophesying. In fact some of these prophecies appear apropos of nothing.
If you’d asked David, “how are you doing?” about this time, the answer most likely would have been “I’m good”.
He was king over all the tribes of Israel. God was with him. He had plenty to occupy his mind and time – a fistful of wives, unnumbered concubines, a football field of children; a pretty decent life for that age! Furthermore, he had some excellent friends, a great army, a brave commander and wise counselors. And he had notched up victories here, there, and everywhere; he was settling down to enjoy some peace and quiet. Why, he’d built a palace for himself and other houses. The going was good. Surely he counted himself blessed.
And yet there was this longing in him. For the things of God. For the Ark of God and the glory it represented.
Cut to the present. How about us? Are we seeking the glory of God or are we just getting by for the most part, by the sheer grace of God, and are content with it. Oh, how easily and effortlessly we avail it i.e., the grace of God, time after time and never take the trouble to look beyond to glorifying God. Is the covenant relationship with our God close to our heart, or is it mostly forgotten, when the going is good?
It bothered David.
Being a blogger himself he wrote about it: Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.(Psalms 132:3-5). Yes, David reached out to something more – to the Ark of God.
Is there a place in your life for the Ark of God? Do you care for the things of God or are you leading a contented, self-centred life, typified by the quintessential Aussie attitude that says “I’m alright Jack”?
Getting on with our story, David went about the business of bringing the Ark back.
It is one thing to have the right desire but when we are dealing with the things of God, it is wise not to adopt a cavalier approach, for God is holy. David learnt this lesson the hard way. As he says himself, the first time around “we sought Him not after the due order” (1 Chr. 15:13).
There ought to be an order in matters pertaining to God. Otherwise the result will be confusion, with little edification (1 Cor. 14:33). “Let all things be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:40).
One of the first lessons that David learnt was to
Leave it to the Levites (1 Chr. 15:2).
They are the tribe chosen for God’s work. Don’t meddle in things for which you are not qualified or called – things that do not pertain to you!
His motives were right the first time too. He consulted with a man of God; he gathered the people and he undertook the task. But ultimately he had to abort the mission.
The big question is: Why?
Let us see if we can contrast the two attempts and note what else is it that David did differently the second time around that spelt the difference between success and failure.
He prepared.
Would it apply to our Sunday morning service? I once heard a Methodist pastor say that we should start the preparation for Sunday morning service right from Saturday evening, which indeed is the regulation for Sabbath. Inevitably, this will diminish our Saturday evening fever but we do need to ask ourselves how much importance we attach to the Sunday morning worship services (Heb. 10:25).
Are they merely Sunday morning rituals, meeting places to chart out the week’s programme, Christian clubs and coffee fellowships or are they something more?
Preparation takes time. Do we take time to get close to Him, by reading His word, dwelling on it and internalizing it? Yes, David prepared a place for the Ark of God (1 Chr. 15:1)
Then, he sanctified.
The first time also “David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets” (1 Chr. 13:8), and they did it the second time as well (1 Chr. 15:16).
What’s the difference?
There was a lot of song and dance the first time but no attention to sanctification. According to David himself “Because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us” (1 Chr. 15:13). How is our worship? Is there sufficient undergirding of prayer and sanctification or is it all a surface phenomenon not going deeper than our emotions?
Let’s move on.
After the king was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”
Initially Nathan said “Go ahead” but before long the word of the Lord came to him saying not David but his son will build the temple. God said He will make David’s name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth and that He will also give him rest from all his enemies. He further promised to David that ” Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Then King David went in and sat before the Lord (2 Sam. 7:18)…….
I don’t suppose David sat on his royal throne. Most likely he sat on the floor or as the picture shows he knelt before the Lord. Yes, he humbled himself. And said,
“Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant—and this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human!
Chapter 8 (of the same book) again speaks of David’s conquests- over the Philistines, over Moab, over Hadadezer the king of Zobah, over Aramea, over Edom. In this one short chapter there is a record of David having killed no fewer than 40,000 people! Apart from this he captured thousands of charioteers and foot soldiers. He also plundered (and additionally was gifted) much gold and silver which he dedicated to the service of God. The 14th verse captures it all. ” The Lord gave David victory wherever he went”.
Then we read of David showing kindness to Mephibosheth, his bosom pal Jonathan’s son.
And again in the next chapter there is the story of David subduing the Ammonites and the Arameans , finishing of another 40,000 soldiers and 700 charioteers. Together with his earlier conquests (1 Sam. 18:7), David probably was responsible for the death of well over 100,000 men! Certainly one of the greatest killers of all time.
So David pretty much reached the zenith of his reign as the king of kings of all the nations around Israel.
Then he fell!
David’s earliest marriage – to Michal – was politically motivated as Saul planned a “bond of blood” to keep David within the royal family and not to give occasion to his possible rise as a threat to his kingdom. This worked for a while. Subsequently when Saul was filled with hatred for David, and was hunting for him, Michal – who was childless – seems to have been given away to Paltiel. She was forcibly brought back by Abner after the death of Saul as David made her a pawn in his power struggle and asked Ishbosheth to give her back to him (1 Sam. 3:14-15). Other than Michal, David had taken altogether six wives (phew!) by the time he finished his reign of seven plus years in Hebron. Bathsheba comes into the picture most notoriously, after David moves to Jerusalem.
Cynthia Astle states ” Limited polygamy (one man married to more than one woman) was permitted during this era of Israel’s history. While the Bible names seven women as David’s spouses, it’s possible that he had more, as well as multiple concubines who may have borne him unaccounted-for children”. As we’ve already observed (Twenty Sixth Page) David had a roving eye and he was rarely thwarted in pursuing and possessing what his eyes desired. But he rather went overboard in the case of Bathshebah.
It is all too easy to be lulled into lethargy when you have an excellent commander as David had in Joab, and neglect to do your part in the play of life. So, as though remaining in Jerusalem wasn’t bad enough when he should have been at war, David treated himself to a siesta; and then he took a walk on the roof of the palace and looked around. Nothing wrong there so far except the sin of indolence. And then he spots this woman bathing and David’s eyes are riveted. Bathshebah was possibly semi-naked and (even Samuel or Nathan – the writer of the book, says) she was beautiful!
Okay. Having caught the view, David could have moved on. After all he was on a walk. One can imagine the devil getting into the act now. He whispers into David’d ears: “find out who she is”. Aha! A messenger is forthwith despatched and he returns with the word: ” She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” The devil likely added that she is now all alone, her husband having gone to battle and suggests softly that there is no better time to get her.
David is now all inflamed, the devil having aroused his libido to a high. He now sends messengers to get her. In this much rehearsed story, David sleeps with her after he ascertains that she was already married, in blatant adultery. There was no customary enquiry with God, whether he should or should not. He was now singing a different song:
What a friend we have in Satan
All our sins he does enjoy!
Now the kings those days had many privileges but apparently adultery was not one of them. So, when our man heard that Bathshebah was pregnant (James 1:15), he tried desperately to conceal his shameful act by ordering Uriah home. Uriah, the loyal idiot that he was, never went home to Bathshebah but spent his furlough in the king’s palace. Next step dictated by Satan: murder (John 10:10) with a view to burying the truth and whitewashing his conduct. Oh, the games people play! After instructing Joab to arrange the murder of Uriah the Hittite, David waxes philosophical (2 Sam. 11 :25) (yeah, the devil not only knows theology but is quite adept at Arts as well) when the death tidings arrive. When the messenger returns to Joab with David’s note of encouragement, Joab no doubt laughed up his sleeve. His uncle’s diabolic duplicity was all too plain for him. Of course nothing was hidden from the eyes of God, as David went on adding one sin to another in a miserable effort to mask his debauchery.
This is one area you don’t want to follow David’s example.
(David’s story to be continued)
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