Bible Tuesday - David Part 1

Can we talk about David? 

God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’  

Acts 13:22

What was it about David that made him 'a man after God's own heart'?  Let's see if we can figure it out.  Be patient.  This may take a while.

Let's start at the beginning.  Here's what is going on when we first meet David.  Saul is the king of Israel.  But God is tired of all Saul's nonsense so He sends the prophet Samuel to annoint a new king.  (At some point, we should spend some time talking about Samuel.  Very interesting story.  Probably should have started with Samuel and then transitioned to David.  Note to self : Think before starting blog series.)  So Samuel does what God commands and heads to Bethlehem (yep the little town) to the house of Jesse.  Here's what happens:

Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” ⁵ And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him.” ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” ⁸ Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹ Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰ And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” ¹¹ Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.”

1 Samuel 16

Ya'll, the only kid left is a little shepherd.  I'm getting messianic goosebumps. 

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” ¹² And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” ¹³ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.

1 Samuel 16

So you would think that David would pack up and head to Jerusalem to start kinging.  But he doesn't.  In fact my best guess within a biblical framework is that David goes right back to being a shepherd.  Here is our first real glimpse of David's character.  He is about 12-15 years old at this time.  How many middle school boys do you know that would win the lottery and still wake up the next day to do their paper route?  David is the King of Israel.  He knows it.  His dad knows it.  All his brothers know it.  But something (and I can only assume it is 'the spirit of the Lord') makes him stay put.

A bunch of other stuff is gonna happen.  Hang with me