1Samuel chapters 16-18
by Malcolm Radcliffe, N. Ireland
There is only one person in the Bible with the name David. There are many Josephs, many Johns and many Marys, but there is only one David. That makes him a very special, unique person.
It is very noticeable that the Spirit of God gives David a very important place in the Word of God. No fewer than sixty-two chapters in the Old Testament are taken up with his story: far more than even the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Then there are the many Psalms that he wrote, and he is well called “the sweet psalmist of Israel” 2Sam.23.1. In the New Testament, his is the first name and also the last, except for our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Who is the first named, Matt.1.1, and the last, Rev.22.21: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” Matt.1.1; “I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star” Rev.22.16.
It is not surprising that David has such a prominent place in the Bible, and that his name is unique, for he presents to us the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ. We can observe David in a number of ways:
- The Son of the father
- The Shepherd looking after the sheep
- The Saviour going into the valley
- The Standard-bearer in the cave
- The Sovereign on the throne
In all of these we see foreshadowed David’s greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God has ever had in mind a fourfold view of Christ. This is illustrated right at the beginning of our Bible, where we read that “a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads” Gen.2.10. It was one river, but its fulness was seen as it parted into the four heads. At the beginning of the New Testament, God presents a lovely fourfold picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
In 1Samuel chapters 16 to 18, where the Scriptural record of the life of David begins, God presents a fourfold picture of him, which beautifully prefigures the fourfold presentation of Christ by the writers of the four Gospels:
- The King – Matthew’s Gospel
- The Servant – Mark’s Gospel
- The Saviour – Luke’s Gospel
- The Son – John’s Gospel
THE KING – MATTHEW’S GOSPEL
Apart from the references to David at the end of the Book of Ruth, which state that Obed was the grandfather of David, Ruth 4.17,22, the record of David in Scripture begins in 1Samuel chapter 16, where the first picture we have of him is that of king: “the Lord said unto Samuel, ‘… I have provided Me a king’” 1Sam.16.1. It is as the King Whom God has provided that Matthew presents Christ in his Gospel.
We are reminded of a question, asked many years earlier, by Isaac to Abraham, as they ascended Mount Moriah together: “Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham’s response was, “My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering” Gen.22.7,8. Abraham’s words are profound: God must provide Himself. None other than God could satisfy God, and He did do, in providing His Son as the Lamb Who would be sacrificed.
So, in Genesis chapter 22, we read of God providing a lamb, and in 1Samuel chapter 16 we read of Him providing a king. That is how the New Testament begins, in the first verse of Matthew’s Gospel: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” Matt.1.1. “Son of David” portrays Him as the true King, and “son of Abraham” as the true Isaac, the true Lamb. In the Old Testament it took two persons (Isaac and David) to bring this truth to us, but here in Matt.1.1, we find it in one blessed Person.
The opening chapter of Matthew’s Gospel shows that the One he writes about has the right to rule: His genealogy has been preserved. He has the right to sit on the throne of David. In chapter 1 we have the genealogy of the King, while in chapter 2 we have gifts suited for a king: “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” Matt.2.11.
Matthew’s Gospel is characterised by lengthy discourses: ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ in chapters 5 to 7, ‘The Parables of the Kingdom’ in chapter 13, etc. This demonstrates what Solomon wrote: “Where the word of a king is, there is power” Eccl.8.4. So, over Matthew’s Gospel, we could write, ‘The Sovereign and His Sermons’.
In 1Sam.16.1, due to the failure of Israel’s first king, Saul, the Lord said, “I have rejected him from reigning over Israel”. In his failure the first king is just like the first man, Adam. But God ever had in mind the coming in of the Second Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom David (the man whom God had in mind as the second king of Israel) is a picture. “Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven” 1Cor.15.46,47.
The question now arises: where can this king be found? Samuel would find the king in Bethlehem: “the Lord said unto Samuel, ‘… fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided Me a king among his sons’” 1Sam.16.1. What is the first question in the New Testament? “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him’” Matt.2.1,2. The learned men of Jerusalem knew the answer from Mic.5.2: “In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, ‘And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule My people Israel’” Matt.2.5,6. It was in the same city as that in which David had been found.
So it was to Bethlehem that Samuel went to find the king. Seven sons of Jesse came before him, but none could rise to the requirements of the throne, so Samuel asked Jesse, “Are here all thy children?” Jesse replied, “There remaineth yet the youngest [or ‘the least’], and behold, he keepeth the sheep” 1Sam.16.6-11. That is a lovely thing! One of the first things we read of Israel’s first king, Saul, is that he had lost asses, 1Sam.9.3. He did not keep safe that which was entrusted to him. How like the first man, Adam, who lost what God had entrusted to him! In contrast, David “keepeth the sheep”; he kept what was entrusted to him, like the Second Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who could say, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand” Jn.10.27,28; “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” Jn.17.12. What was true of His disciples is true of us: we are eternally secure in Him:
- What from Christ the soul can sever,
- Bound by everlasting bands?
- Once in Him, in Him for ever,
- Thus the eternal covenant stands.
- None shall pluck thee
- From the Strength of Israel’s hands.
(John Kent)Well could Samuel say, “Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither” 1Sam.16.11. The word translated “sit down” means ‘sit round in a circle’. It would have been an empty formality to do so, if the rightful king was not in the midst. The bride in the Song of Solomon says, “While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof” S of S.1.12. The reading in the Newberry margin for “at his table” is “in his circle”. Oh for the presence of Christ in the midst of His own, and for the reality of it in our hearts!
Thus David was brought in, into the midst, given the central place. It was a privilege for Samuel to anoint David, but he did not do so as he had anointed Saul, with a vial of oil, 1Sam.10.1. A vial was a brittle item, easily broken, very ‘short-lived’. In contrast, David was anointed with a horn of oil, a horn being strong and not readily broken, 1Sam.16.13. Thus, even the items used to contain the anointing oil illustrate the difference in character between Saul and David. This in turn symbolises the difference between the first man, Adam, who could and did fail, and our Lord Jesus Christ, for Whom failure was and is impossible.
How good it is to see that David was “anointed … in the midst of his brethren” 1Sam.16.13. This makes us think of Christ, to Whom it is said, “God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows” Heb.1.9, quoting Ps.45.7. In 1Samuel chapter 16, David is not reigning yet, but he is anointed to rule. So it is for the Lord Jesus Christ: He is still to reign, but He is the anointed One.
THE SERVANT – MARK’S GOSPEL
The next picture we get of David is in 1Sam.17.32-36, where three times he speaks of himself as a “servant”:
- “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine” v.32;
- “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock” v.34;
- “Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God” v.36.
The one who was anointed to rule was prepared to take the place of a servant. It is as the Servant that we see the Saviour presented in Mark’s Gospel. Over that Gospel we could write the words of Isa.42.1: “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delighteth; I have put My spirit upon Him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” And so in Mark’s Gospel we see ‘The Servant and His Service’. In it we frequently read the words “immediately”, “straightway” and “anon”, all of which depict the activity of the busy Servant of Jehovah.
David was sent by his father: “And Jesse said unto David his son, ‘Take now … and run … and carry … and look how thy brethren fare’” 1Sam.17.17,18. David willingly responded: “And David rose up early in the morning … and went … as Jesse had commanded him; and he came …” v.20. What a beautiful picture of the willingness of the Servant Who came from heaven to earth to do His Father’s will!
We see that David came at the right time. For forty days Goliath, in his pride, had been sending out the challenge: “Give me a man, that we may fight together” vv.10,16. But there was no man; no one could rise to the occasion, until David came. Not for forty days, but for forty centuries, the devil held the hearts of men in his grip. None could meet his challenge, until Jesus Christ came, not a day too soon and not a day too late, but at the right time, as Paul writes: “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son” Gal.4.4.
It is delightful to see David coming with his hands filled with blessing: “And Jesse said unto David his son, ‘Take now for thy brethren an ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp to thy brethren; and carry these ten cheeses unto the captain of their thousand, and look how thy brethren fare, and take their pledge’” 1Sam.17.17,18. He moved out with blessing for his brethren, yet he was met with ridicule, expressed by his eldest brother, Eliab, in the form of two questions, v.28. Eliab’s first question was, “Why camest thou down hither?” We might well ask the same question of our blessed Saviour, not in a spirit of scorn like Eliab, but in wonder and worship. It should never cease to be a marvel to our hearts that God’s only begotten Son would leave the heights of glory and come into this world, to give His life for us.
- Down from the glory the Saviour came,
- Down to the cross and the death of shame;
- Gazing in wonder I there exclaim –
- Jesus died for me.
- (Author unknown)
Eliab’s second question was also full of contempt: “With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?” That is not how David, the man with the shepherd heart, described the flock: “Thy servant kept his father’s sheep” v.34. Eliab had no appreciation of the sheep: to him they were just a “few sheep”, but to David they were his father’s sheep, and for them he risked his life, vv.34,35. Many assemblies of the Lord’s people are small. Let us never look on them as ‘just a few sheep’, but see them as the Lord sees them: the Father’s sheep. That adds a dignity and a value to them.
Eliab had his own explanation for David’s coming: “thou art come down that thou mightest see the battle” v.28. He ought to have been ashamed to be talking about a battle, for there was no battle until David came. For Eliab and all the men of Israel, Goliath was too big to fight, but to David he was too big to miss!
David’s treatment at the hands of his brother reminds us of the Lord Jesus, Who, years later, “came unto His own, and His own received Him not” Jn.1.11; and David’s gentle response to Eliab, v.29, pictures the One “who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously” 1Pet.2.23.
THE SAVIOUR – LUKE’S GOSPEL
The third picture of David in these chapters is as saviour, which brings us to Luke’s Gospel, in which Christ is presented as Saviour: The angel declared to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” Lk.2.11. In Luke we see ‘The Saviour and His Sympathy’.
Luke, “the beloved physician” Col.4.14, had the privilege of writing of Christ as the perfect Man. A perfect Man will be a dependent Man. Of the four Gospel writers, it is only Luke who gives details of the Lord’s birth in Bethlehem, writes of the manger and uses the word “babe”, which depicts dependence on an earthly mother, Lk.2.12,16. There is no one more dependent than a babe. We think of the language of Psalm 22: “But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb: Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother’s breasts” Ps.22.9.
Throughout his Gospel, Luke also emphasises the prayer life of Christ. He is the praying Man, ever dependent upon His God. What a testimony He had, that even His enemies, as they passed by the cross, could say, “He trusted in God” Matt.27.43.
Saul tried to get David to wear his armour, 1Sam.17.38. Was that in order to make others think that it was he who was going to face the giant? Although we read that when he became king, “from his shoulders and upward [Saul] was higher than any of the people” 1Sam.10.23, David did not say that Saul’s armour was too big for him. This would suggest that, although David was “but a youth” 1Sam.17.33,42, he was nevertheless a manly specimen.
Goliath had three things: a sword, a spear and a shield, v.45. How different was David: he had a staff, a scrip and a sling, v.40.
When one takes a staff in his hand he is leaning on something outside of himself. In carrying the staff into the valley, David illustrated that he was doing so resting on the God he had proven. Jacob learned that lesson: “as he passed over Penuel” and “he halted upon his thigh”, he was being taught his need of the staff, Gen.32.31. Hence, “by faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff” Heb.11.21. God had him, at the end of his days, where He would have loved to have had him earlier in life. In coming out of bondage in Egypt, the nation of Israel learned the need of the staff: “And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand” Ex.12.11. They were to move out in dependence upon God. It is a lesson that we too need to learn.
The scrip (the shepherd’s bag, in which David placed the five smooth stones) is like the Word of God. Just as the shepherd’s bag contains the food for the shepherd, and all that is required for the care of the sheep, so God’s Word contains all that is necessary for our spiritual well-being. Paul wrote, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” 2Tim.3.16,17.
The five stones were made smooth by the running water of the brook, 1Sam.17.40. When we read of running water in the Scriptures, it is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit of God and the Word of God are often found closely linked together, right from Genesis chapter 1.
David took the five stones, put them into his scrip and went down into the valley, to face Goliath of Gath. The Son of God had a greater foe than Goliath to face: the devil, Satan himself, of whom Goliath was a picture. He met Satan in the forty days in the wilderness, and He defeated him using the Word of God: to each attack He responded, “It is written …” Each time He was quoting from the writings of one man, Moses. We notice that of the five smooth stones, David put one into his sling, and it was enough to defeat the enemy. So, Moses wrote five Books, but the Lord quoted from only one of them, for His three responses to Satan were all from the Book of Deuteronomy:
- “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” Lk.4.4, quoted from Deut.8.3;
- “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve” Lk.4.8, quoted from Deut.6.13; 10.20;
- “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God” Lk.4.12, quoted from Deut.6.16.
Just as one stone was sufficient to silence Goliath, so one Book of Moses was enough to silence the tempting of the evil one.
From the Lord’s example we learn the important lesson of how vital it is for us to read the Word of God, and to have suitable material from it with which to respond when the wiles of the devil come to us.
Yet an even greater victory than the one in the wilderness is foreshadowed in 1Samuel chapter 17. An even greater ‘valley’ comes into view, Golgotha, where the greatest battle was ever fought, and the greatest victory ever won. It is lovely to see David not only using the stone, but running and standing upon Goliath, taking out the giant’s own sword, and cutting off his enemy’s head with it, v.51. If in 1Samuel chapter 16 we can see the truth of Hebrews chapter 1 (in His anointing), in chapter 17 we see the truth of Hebrews chapter 2, where, speaking of the Lord Jesus, the writer says “that through death He might destroy [or ‘disannul’] him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” Heb.2.14,15. He defeated the enemy ‘with his own sword’: death.
David did not take off Goliath’s hands or his feet, but his head. This reminds us of the very first word of prophecy in our Bible, where God says that the Seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head, Gen.3.15. David brought Goliath’s head to Jerusalem, 1Sam.17.54, and it was at Jerusalem, in the place called Golgotha, “the place of a skull” Jn.19.17, that the Lord Jesus Christ defeated Satan.
THE SON – JOHN’S GOSPEL
As David came out of the valley with the trophy of his victory in his hand, the question on everyone’s mind was, ‘Whose son is he?’ That was what Saul asked Abner: “Whose son is this youth?” They wanted to know the answer, and so Abner brought him to Saul, who asked him, “Whose son art thou, young man?” 1Sam.17.55-58. So, the sonship question arises. As far as our Victor is concerned, there is a Gospel that was written to answer that question: John in his Gospel tells us of ‘The Son and His Supremacy’. At the start of his Gospel we read, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” Jn.1.18. He is the unique Son of God. Towards the close of his Gospel, John gives the reason for writing the Gospel: “but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name” Jn.20.31.
In 1Samuel chapter 17, we see David winning the battle, but when we come into chapter 18, he is winning the heart of Jonathan, vv.1-4. That is also how we see the Saviour in the Gospel of John. Not only is He presented as the Son, but as the Soul-winner. In that Gospel there are many hearts that He wins. There are five won to Christ in chapter 1; Nicodemus is won in chapter 3; the woman at the well and the men of Samaria in chapter 4, and so on. I trust that our heart has been won to the Man Who went into a deeper valley, and Who defeated a greater enemy, than David did.
- Lord Jesus, I love Thee, I know Thou art mine,
- My rock and my fortress, my Surety Divine;
- My gracious Redeemer, my song shall be now,
- ’Tis Thou who art worthy, Lord Jesus, ’tis Thou.
- I love Thee because Thou hast first lovèd me,
- And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
- I love Thee for wearing the thorns on Thy brow;
- ’Tis Thou who art worthy, Lord Jesus, ’tis Thou.
- I would love Thee in life, I would love Thee in death,
- And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath,
- And sing, should the death-dew lie cold on my brow,
- ’Tis Thou who art worthy, Lord Jesus, ’tis Thou.
- And when the bright morn of Thy glory shall come,
- And the children ascend to the Father’s glad home,
- I’ll shout, with Thy likeness impressed on my brow,
- ’Tis Thou who art worthy, Lord Jesus, ’tis Thou.
- (William R. Featherston)
As Jonathan saw David come up out of the valley he appreciated that David was not only the saviour of the nation that day, but that he did it all for him personally, and so Jonathan “loved him as his own soul” 1Sam.18.1.
However, love can only be expressed by what it gives. So, in v.4 we read of what Jonathan gave David. He gave him his robe. That was the princely robe that pointed Jonathan out as the future heir, but he relinquished every right to the throne and laid it at the feet of the man who had won his heart. He also gave David his garments, his own personal possessions. He gave him his sword. In 1Sam.13.22 we read that there were only two swords in the land, and Jonathan had one of them, but he gave it to David. He gave David his bow and his girdle. He stripped himself of all. In 1Sam.31.8,9 it is recorded that when Saul died the Philistines stripped him, but there is no word of them stripping Jonathan. He had already done that himself.
In this, Jonathan is the Old Testament precursor of Saul of Tarsus. One glimpse of the victorious Christ on the Damascus Road and Saul’s heart was won. We read the result in his words in Phil.3.7-9: “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”
- Were the whole realm of nature mine,
- That were an offering far too small;
- Love so amazing, so Divine,
- Demands my heart, my life, my all!
- (Isaac Watts)