David Anointed King

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This is Day 22 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.

David grew into a great warrior and his fame spread across all of Israel. This made Saul extremely jealous of David as the people believed David was a better warrior than he was. An evil spirit possessed Saul and he sought to murder David. Saul's son Jonathan warned David that his father wanted to kill him and David fled with men loyal to him.

Saul and his army chased after David and twice David had an opportunity to kill Saul but allowed to him to live because God had anointed Saul king. David believed that no man had the right to kill the Lord's anointed. But the Philistines were not so charitable.

The Philistines invaded Israel and destroyed Saul's forces. Saul's own sons, including Jonathan, were killed in the battle. Saul, feared that he too would be killed by the Philistines and asked a young man who was passing by to kill him instead. "Don't let me be killed by the uncircumcised!" the king said. The young man did as Saul asked and killed him. He then took Saul's clothes and crown to David, hoping David would reward him. But David had him executed for killing the Lord's anointed.

Following Saul's death there was a power vacuum and civil war broke out in Israel as the House of Saul fought against the House of David for control of the country. Saul's son Ishobosheth became king of Israel, but men slipped into his house while he was sleeping and murdered him. They chopped off his head and took it to David, again hoping for a reward. But David rewarded them the same way he rewarded the man who killed Saul. He had them executed for murdering the Lord's anointed and their bodies hung in the streets.

Wanting to end the bloodshed between their own people, all of the tribes of Israel came to David and asked him to be king over them. Then they anointed him and he made his capital in Jerusalem in Judah. David took the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem and sought to build a temple for God declaring it was not right that David, a mere man, should have a palace while the Lord lives in a tent.

But the Lord spoke to David through the prophet Nathan (for Samuel had died) and told David that he would not build God's temple because though David was a man after God's own heart, he was also a man of war. God said David's son would build the temple as he would be a man of peace. And the Lord promised that David's house would reign forever and that David's son would sit on the throne of the kingdom for all eternity. This future anointed king from the House of David that would reign forever became known as the Messiah in Hebrew or Christ in Greek. Both words mean "the anointed one," and the Jewish people looked forward to the day when He would rule all of the world.

Next: Sin, Punishment, and Forgiveness

R.C. VanLandingham is a Catholic homeschool dad just trying to make it through this life and into the next! He has written a Christian children's fantasy series about a boy named Peter Puckett!