Of all the stories in scripture, it is David who has always held the greatest fascination with me. I once spent a term with the Bereans telling them the story of David in soap opera style. There’s so much to share.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of all the characters I would hazard a guess that David has the most complete story to tell. Abraham is the forefather and all the patriarchs have longer lives to tell, but we see only spasmodic moments from them, all contained in 38 chapters in Genesis. David has 3 whole books dedicated to his life, the two books of Samuel and the main share of 1 Chronicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside of our Lord of course, David is probably the most illustrious story told. As if being prominent in the genealogy of our Lord isn’t sufficient, to the Jews he is a national hero. Their flag and emblem is the star of David and their greatest city dubbed the City of David. Outside of Scripture and the Jewish race he is still world known. Surely every child of every race knows of David and Goliath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once while holidaying in Florence I stared up at the De Angelos statue dedicated to David and pronounced it the greatest artistic sight I had ever seen (I haven’t been fortunate enough to see the two great statues dedicated to Christ close-up).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even our Lord is often titled the Son of David.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking more closely at his life story it is interesting to note the structure of the second book of Samuel. Its first 20 chapters are a life history from the death of Saul onwards. The first ten tell of Davids upward ascent to his most illustrious pinnacle. Chapter 11 tells of the rapid decline through his sin with Bethsheba. We see how this reflects on his life, his testimony and his life with God, but it ends at chapter 20 with him restored more or less to the position he held in chapter 10 – only he is in sadness, uncertainty and chastened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then there are the final 4 chapters. These read like an appendix to Davids life. The content seem random. No chronology, no obvious theme to follow. Just random. They show David in\u00a0 good and bad light. His strengths and his weaknesses are shown. His last words are recorded in chapter 23, well before his death is recorded in 1 Kings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now these are the last words of David…<\/p>1 Samuel 23 v 1<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
In chapter 22 we have recorded his Song of Joy to God, thanking him for his deliverance. This is also recorded in Psalm 18, a messianic Psalm which causes us to focus on the Lord. But in Samuel it caused me to reflect on David. If this was recorded in history it would have ended chapter 10. But why is it recorded here and in such a random way? Well all around it we see Davids very human story – central to which is his relationship to God. Being recorded here it reminds us that despite his strengths and his failures Davids greatest feat was his relationship to God. At times he neglected God, even at one point he seemed to forget God. But his heart never left God and as we know Gods heart will never forget David. And of course Gods heart will never forget us. Our life story will never be the stuff of scripture or recorded in history. But we are equally as loved by God. So treasured he gave his only Son so we might be his. When we are having our low moments, its worth reflecting on this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Of all the stories in scripture, it is David who has always held the greatest fascination with me. I once spent a term with the…<\/p>\n