Two Human Kings and One Divine Spirit
1 Samuel 16:13-23
Turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 16. Last Sunday morning we saw where David had been anointed by Samual as the next king, a man, which the Bible says was a man after God’s own heart. Important for us to be reminded again that this statement says much more about God than it does about David. The man, David, was God’s choice, not because of the quality of the man, but because of the Lord’s sovereign purpose for David. This is consistent with the Lord’s choosing all throughout the Bible. Think of when the Lord chose the people of Israel themselves, He goes out of His way to downplay anything in them that determined His choice.
“ Yahweh did not set His affection on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because Yahweh loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your fathers, Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”
Deut 7:7-8 (LSB)
And if you are in our church read, you would have read this week where God promised to go with them into the Promised Land, though they were a stiff-necked people. We do not usually think this way. Imagine a groom standing before his bride at the wedding ceremony and saying, I didn’t choose you because you were any great shakes, in fact, you can be quite stiff-necked. But I have chosen to set my love upon you, in spite of you. That may not go over so well. And so, we must always come to the Bible with God as the focal point and not man. As we have been learning that the Bible is clear that there was a man chosen by the heart of the people, King Saul; and now there is a man chosen by the heart of God, King David. And the emphasis was that Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin.
Yet David was God’s sovereign choice as he was from the tribe of Judah, God’s chosen tribe, and he was born in the town of Bethlehem, God’s chosen birthplace. And a verse we made short reference to last Sunday, 2 Samuel 7:21, where David was crying out to God as he was so humbled by the Lord’s choice of him, which caused him to use such words as, who am I Lord? And David refers to himself as a slave and (vs 21) he says, for the sake of Your word, and according to Your heart.
See, David, knew why he was being chosen. It was not because of any greatness in David. But he found himself to be in the centre of God’s Word and God’s will, for he came from God’s predetermined tribe and was born in the place of God’s choice. Which would come the ultimate King, from the line of Judah, born in the town of Bethlehem, and from the line of David, Jesus Christ. And I would submit that if we do not come to this understanding in our own salvation, that it was completely by the grace of God and the choosing of God, then we will never fully grasp the change and transformation that God is making in us.
The result in our story this morning is now we have a reigning king, Saul, who has been rejected by God. And we have the real king, David, who has now been anointed but this is only known by his family and by Samuel. We also know from the end of last Sunday (vs 13) that David had the Spirit of God come upon him mightily from that day forward. And if we had not read this story before, we would be wondering, how is God going to work all this out?
“Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon David from that day forward. And Samuel arose and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh terrorized him. Saul’s servants then said to him, ‘Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you. Let our lord now speak to your servants who are before you. Let them seek a man who is a skillful musician on the harp; and it shall be that when the evil spirit from God is on you, he shall play the harp with his hand, and you will be well.’ So Saul said to his servants, ‘Provide for me now a man who can play well and bring him to me.’ Then one of the young men answered and said, ‘Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one who is understanding in speech, and man of fine form; and Yahweh is with him.’ So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, ‘Send me your son David who is with the flock.’ And Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread and a wineskin of wine and a young goat and sent them to Saul by David his son. Then David came to Saul and stood before him; and Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. So Saul sent to Jesse, saying, ‘Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.’ Thus it happened that whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.”
1 Sam 16:13-23 (LSB)
So, we have this power struggle going on between Saul and David. And though he has been told by Samuel that he has been rejected for someone else that is better than he is, he would be unaware that this was David. And then you have David, who knows he has been anointed as king, yet displays absolutely no betrayal of Saul, in fact, he treats Saul royally for a long time and really allows the Lord to take Saul out and does not do this himself. So, the stage is set for the unfolding of the story. We read (vs 13) that David is filled with the Spirit of Yahweh and (vs 14) that the Spirit of Yahweh has departed from Saul. And what we have here in the middle of 1 Samuel 16 is sort of a façade, where Saul is the king, but he is not really the king, and David as the faithful servant to Saul, though he is really the king.
For we as humans are not always aware of the real truth, are we? As we might turn on the news tomorrow morning and see that the markets have dropped, the threats of war are growing, there is a pending earthquake in the world, and prices are going to rise. Or we are somewhat calmed because world tensions are lowering, the economy seems to be recovering, and the sun is shining over Lake Huron and in Arkona, Ontario. But we do not know as there is so much more to all this than just what might happen tomorrow or next week or next year, as we look at life’s uncertainties often from a human perspective. John Woodhouse wrote:
“The confusion and uncertainty, however, is even deeper that this. For if God is really there, and if he is the Creator of all things and the Lord of all history, then any understanding of this world, or any part of this world or any event that occurs anywhere, that does not take into account God’s power and purpose is bound to be at least inadequate, and more probably mistaken.”
John Woodhouse, Looking for a Leader 291
See, what the Lord is doing and watching is not always what we are seeing. God know exactly the situation in the U. S., He knows about our federal election. He knows about the wars, the economy. He is fully aware of the moral issues. I think of when Moses told the Lord about the heartache of the people of Israel in Egypt when they were in slavery. And likely to Moses’ surprise God said, yes, Moses, I have heard the cries on My people. Here God has chosen a king, who will come from the tribe and location and family from which God ultimately will save the world from sin. And yet in the here and now, Saul is still king, and Israel is about to be shaken by a coming giant, Goliath in the next chapter, for which Israel will have no answer for. So, what are we seeing as we read this story? What are the people of Israel seeing as they live out this story? Saul is king and David is a good musician. Could we say that humanly we are a little bit limited?
So, the narrator tries to help us out a little bit here by letting us know that the Spirit of God had left Saul and has come upon David. We wouldn’t know this by any of their actions thus far, for Saul hasn’t completely fallen off the rails and David hasn’t done anything spectacular. In other words, the truth revealed in God’s Word has not played itself out yet in the events, yet the truth still remains, doesn’t it? Teaching us that truth is not always dictated by what we see. Truth is sometimes like when the Red Sea was divided, and Israel walked through. But most of our lives feel more like the time just before the waters are divided or before David kills Goliath. For circumstances would have said that the Egyptian army was going to destroy Israel at the Red Sea, and that Goliath and his army would make mincemeat out of God’s people. I suppose we could say that what we see is not always what is the truth.
So, apart from the actions thus far or at least what we have been given, here is the truth that we know: that the Spirit of Yahweh has left Saul and has entered David. And this is a deep topic in itself, for we know the Spirit of God does not make a person perfect or sinless. I mean the Spirit of God came upon Samson, who does not have the greatest of resumes. But I believe we could say that the Spirit of Yahweh comes upon people at certain times through which God uses them for His purposes. We have even read thus far in our study of Saul when the Spirit of God came upon him, and he did a great work and destroyed many of Israel’s enemies. Yet this is the opposite of a man working in himself to find some strength within him to do something great in life. For God in His Word, is always careful to receive full credit for His works, which He chooses to do through us by His Spirit. And this is why we sometimes cringe when God uses someone like Samson who does not appear all that spiritual, as we want the man used by God to be the focus, but the focus should always be on God and His strength and His Spirit.
And what we read about with David specifically, at least thus far in the Bible, is that the Spirit came upon him (vs 13) from that day forward. So, this is a different work that God is about to do in the man whom He has chosen. And again, we do not see a physical difference in David at this point, teaching us that we do not always know at times when God chooses to work within someone. It may make us think of our own children, that God may be calling them unbeknownst to us, that should inspire us to be in prayer for them that God might choose to use them in a unique way. So, in our story, and after Samuel anoints David, (vs 13) he leaves for Ramah.
“Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh terrorized him.”
1 Sam 16:14 (LSB)
Hard to know what time has passed between verses 13 and 14. Some have even suggested that the events of this second half of chapter 16 are after the showdown between David and Goliath, as Jewish writing at times follows a topical order rather than a strict chronological order. And so, this information may be strategically placed here to emphasize the changing of the guard and the work of God in two individuals. And just considering this contrast between the Lord coming upon David and the Lord departing from Saul, should give us a real desire for the Lord to use us, that we might be vessels fit for the Master’s use. I think of you young people here this morning, what a great thing it would be that you might pray that the Lord might use you. There are so many things that will want to distract you, things, material stuff, sin, entertainment, time wasters. But to determine that the Lord might use you, that would be a great thing, wouldn’t it? David must have realized the power within him as the Spirit of God came upon him when he cried out to the Lord years later.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from Your presence
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”
Ps 51:10-11 (LSB)
And it is difficult to understand all that is going on in Saul. Many theologians have asked the question, was Saul a man of faith? In other words, has Saul been forgiven and is Saul in heaven today? There is the verse in 1 Samuel 10:9 when Samuel first anointed Saul. It says that God changed his heart. However, his life certainly gives no assurance of salvation, in other words, there is little fruit to indicate that Saul truly loved the Lord. In the great faith chapter in Hebrews 11, both Samuel and David are mentioned, but not Saul, though there are other kings that seemed to be faithful to the Lord who also are not mentioned. I guess we need to resign to the fact that only the Lord knows the heart of Saul, and therefore, the matter of Saul’s salvation is between the Lord and Saul.
It is also interesting that there is no neutrality here with Saul and David, that when the Spirit of God left Saul, it filled David, and then there is an evil spirit within Saul. And without being overdramatic here, there is truth that we too are either progressing in our Christian walk or going backwards. The older couple who Anne and I first worked with when we led youth ministry, whose three of their children were older than our guys, but a great blessing to them spiritually. They used to always say that young people will be interested in something, either in things that will draw them closer to the Lord or things that will draw them away, in other words, there is not a lot of neutral ground. And I would say that likely applies to us as adults as well. The choices we make, our desires, our priorities are more often than not, going to strengthen our relationship with Christ or dampen it, as we are not all that good at just “holding our own” spiritually, are we? And whatever this evil spirit was that came from Yahweh that terrorized Saul is hard to know exactly what happened to him, though we do see that it was noticed by his servants.
“Saul’s servants then said to him, ‘Behold now, an evil spirit from God is terrorizing you.’”
1 Sam 16:15 (LSB)
Interesting that the servants of Saul thought that good music would make him feel better, so, they suggest a harp player who could play in Saul’s presence. Woodhouse notices that phrase (vs 17) when Saul says, “provide for me now a man.” how similar it is to the words (vs 1) where God says (ESV) I have provided “for Myself a king.” Both refer to the same guy! David. And one of the servants comes up with a brilliant thought.
“Then one of the young men answered and said, ‘Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one who is understanding in speech, and man of fine form; and Yahweh is with him.’”
1 Sam 16:18 (LSB)
Now there must be much going on between the lines here. For earlier in the chapter, it would seem that no one was going to choose David ahead of his brothers, even his own father did not promote David. And now, sometime between the time when Samuel anointed him, and now when the Spirit of Yahweh was upon him, he is described in the king’s court as a mighty man of valour, a warrior, understanding in speech, a man of fine form, and Yahweh is with him. That is quite the resume! I though if you were applying for a job and put that on your resume, I am courageous, a fighter, I understand much, I am a great communicator, I am good looking and am in top physical condition, and the Lord is with me, I am sure you would at least get an interview! And this description of David is just one of the few reasons why some have suggested that this ladder part of chapter 16 follows David’s encounter with Goliath.
It would seem from the story that no one in Saul’s camp would have known about David being promised the kingship, certainly, Saul himself did not know. As what we have here is the providential work of God, as the next king is brought right into the presence of Saul, and he is there to calm the king and to play music for the king, and he ends up being as described in 2 Samuel 23:1 as the “sweetest psalmist in Israel.” As most of the psalms recorded for us in the Bible were written by David. Yet Saul did know something:
“So Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, ‘Send me your son David who is with the flock.’”
1 Sam 16:19 (LSB)
He at least seems to know who David is and he knows that David is a shepherd. And if this section actually occurs after the story of David and Goliath, it will explain how Saul knew all this. So, into the court of King Saul walks David, at Saul’s request comes David, the one who now has the Spirit of God. The one Samuel had said earlier was “better than Saul.”
“Then David came to Saul and stood before him; and Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer.”
1 Sam 16:21 (LSB)
It is too bad we could not read these stories without knowing the outcome. For if we were watching this for the first time, we would so much enjoy this relationship and we would probably be wondering how is David going to solve Saul’s problems? In other words, maybe this will end like the story of Joseph and Pharaoh, where Joseph would become Pharaoh’s right hand man. Have you ever had a situation where you first met someone and the relationship between you was so good, that your impression of each other made you smile and laugh. And it seemed like this person would be a great blessing to you for a long time. But then after a while, there was some strain in the relationship. I have heard that can happen with pastors.
When I was at the pastor’s conference last year at Alistair Begg’s church, where he has announced he will be retiring this fall after being at Parkside for 42 years. He was asked about if there was any time along the way where he thought he might leave Parkside. And he said “yes” at year seven. He said, I just felt that I was not ministering as well as I could at the church and felt there was a bit of a deadness to the ministry and a lack of connectedness with the people. He said that one of the problems was that he was not all that organized. So, the elders had him take a course on church administration. And he said after the course, his teacher told him that he would likely never be that organized. So, he shared this with his elders, and so they took over most of his administration duties and told him to focus more on preaching and teaching, which of course, he did, and the rest is history.
But sometimes, it does not always work out that well. As sometimes we might start out well with someone, only to find that it goes south after a while. Now I am not sure how you folks feel about me after almost four years. As I am sure there may be some things that are easy for you to get sick of with me. But I am willing to put up with you if you are willing to put up with me! But I would say this, there is not an ounce of dissatisfaction here at Elim for Anne and me. We have strong elders, strong deacons, and we have strong ladies here, a great congregation, an it is a blessing. Is there a desire in me for each of you to keep growing in your faith? Well, I hope so, as that is always going to be part of the driving force that motivates me. That we, both you and me, would strive to become more and more like Christ. And again:
“Then David came to Saul and stood before him; and Saul loved him greatly.”
1 Sam 16:21a (LSB)
This would be a great kind of relationship for all of us to have as believers. Both a spirit of ministry and a spirit of love.
“So Saul sent to Jesse, saying, ‘Let David now stand before me, for he has found favor in my sight.’”
1 Sam 16:22 (LSB)
Interesting that there is nothing in David that would change this relationship, for the deterioration of this bond between them was completely due to Saul’s weaknesses. This is also one of those storylines that is so hard for us to understand the sovereignty of God. Here David has been promised the kingship by God, so it is a done deal. Yet here David will be completely loyal to Saul. And therefore, Saul has nothing to fear from David, but everything to fear from God, as God will use Saul’s own weaknesses, not David’s aggression, to strip the kingdom from him. Sometimes the downfalls in our owns lives are often caused by our own weaknesses, though we may be fearing someone else or something else.
“Thus it happened that whenever the evil spirit from God came to Saul, David would take the harp and play it with his hand; and Saul would be refreshed and be well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.”
1 Sam 16:23 (LSB)
Interesting here that the man who had the Spirit of God in him was able to minister to the one who had the evil spirit. And so, David quietly ministers to Saul as the Lord further prepares David to be king. No one would really be aware of all this as men only see as men see, but God sees much deeper into the heart and our Lord is the One who is orchestrating all the events. This morning, we have stated some lessons discreetly as we have gone along. And so, I just want to quickly repeat them to you to help make them clearer, and I have placed them in your notes so that you might talk about them as a family.
- We must come to the place of understanding that our salvation is completely by the grace of God and the choosing of God, or we will never fully grasp the change and transformation that God is making in us.
- When the Spirit of God comes upon a person, it is not that he finds strength in himself to do something great for God, for God is always careful to receive full glory for His work, and therefore, His work is done through and by His Spirit within that person.
- The choices we make, our desires, our priorities, are either going to strengthen our relationship with Christ or dampen it, as we are never neutral spiritually.
- Sometimes the downfalls in our owns lives are often caused by our own weaknesses, though we may blame someone or fear something.
As we turn the page next week, we will come to the story of David and Goliath. True, David will be brave, and we shall rightly applaud his courage against Goliath. But people pale in the light of what the Lord is doing. For the Bible is not about David. The Bible is about the revelation of Jesus Christ, as the need for Christ becomes apparent right from the very beginning when Adam and Eve sin in Garden. And God promises that someday He will bring One who will crush the head of the serpent, the One who, in the end, will make all things right. And the prophet Isaiah came years after David and years before Christ. But listen to what he writes about this coming Christ:
“Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse,
And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.
The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The spirit of counsel and might,
The spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.
And He will delight in the fear of Yahweh,
And He will not judge by what His eyes see,
Nor render a decision by what His ears hear;
But with righteousness He will judge the poor,
And decide with uprightness for the afflicted of the earth;
And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He will put the wicked to death.”
Isa 11:1-4 (LSB)
See, only when we understand that David was chosen by God to become one of the forerunners of Christ do we really understand why he was a man after God’s own heart, as he was from the tribe of Judah and the town of Bethlehem, and would be the man that the Lord would use, despite his sinfulness and shortcomings, to become the line from which would come the Lion of Judah. I wish to close with these words from John Woodhouse as he writes about the Christ from Bethlehem.
“God’s purposes for this man from Bethlehem remain hidden from all who see only ‘as man sees.’ The truth is that this man has become the Lord and Christ. He will judge the whole world. He will save those who belong to him. The Spirit of the Lord came upon him for this purpose. [And] only when we realize that do we see the world, its history, and our lives in a true perspective.”
John Woodhouse, Looking for a Leader 298-99
See, if we get too excited about the man David, we begin to believe that Christianity is a religion where we strive for salvation, and that it includes within you and I some kind of giant killing. But next week we sill see that Christianity is about the Giant Killer, Jesus Christ. As being saved is not some great feat by you and me. But being saved was a great feat by God, who offers life and salvation for all those who will simply believe for faith. Let’s pray. Lord, we come before You humbly this morning, acknowledging our weaknesses and Your strength. Acknowledging our shortsighted humanness and Your eternal perspective. Lord, would You make us a people who seek that which is eternal and meaningful and glorifying to You. May we take our eyes off of self and off of those things that would hinder our love and passion for Christ. And I pray for anyone here this morning who is trying to earn their salvation. May we understand that it is only by Your grace and forgiveness that we are saved. We thank You for Your King, Jesus. Who came and died for sin and who now lives with You, and who will someday come and reign as King on earth, conquering His enemies and providing for His own. And all God’s people said, amen.