Posts made in March, 2020


Much can be written regarding the greatness of David’s faithful service to God and his promised eternal legacy, which will ultimately be fulfilled at Jesus Christ’s second coming when He will rule on David’s throne.  However, the focus of this article, is of an entirely different aspect of King David’s greatness; the great sins he committed against God.  Even though David was considered “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14, Ps. 89:20, Acts 13:22), God’s chosen king of Israel (1 Sam. 16:12, 1 Chr. 17:7), “the apple of God’s eye” (Ps. 17:8), and the recipient of God’s “unconditional [Davidic] covenant” (2 Sam. 7:12-16); he committed numerous sins against God.  Moreover, some of those sins permanently affected the lives of many people, as will be shown.  In fact, numerous lives were needlessly lost because of David’s foolishness and sin, yet God deemed him a man with “integrity of heart and of uprightness” (1 Kin. 9:4).   Furthermore, God is omniscient and foreknows all things (1 John 3:20) and obviously knew that David would fall into serious transgressions, yet He still chose David to be king of Israel: “I took you [David] from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be ruler over My people Israel.” (2 Sam. 7:8b).  In fact, despite David’s iniquities God made an everlasting covenant with him: “…When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.  He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Sam. 7:12-13-brackets added).     Considering this glorious promise God had made to David, we will examine some of his sins.   The relatively young David had just learned from his dear friend Jonathan, that King Saul (Jonathan’s father), was seeking to kill him (1 Sam. 20).  So, David, fearing for his life, fled.  It would begin a time in David’s life when he lived in constant fear of King Saul.  In fact, virtually the rest of the book of 1 Samuel (chapters 20-26), depicts David frantically evading Saul.  At the onset of his flight, David came to the city of Nob where he met the priest Ahimelech. (1 Sam. 21:1).  Being paranoid and afraid that Ahimelech would tell King Saul of his whereabouts, David proceeded to lie to the man of God.  Instead of trusting that God would deliver him from evil [as David penned in many of his Psalms] and truthfully explain to Ahimelech his plight concerning King Saul, David chose to deceive the...

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The greatness of king David is clearly seen in the Bible immediately upon making his debut in 1 Sam. 16:12.  No other human name in Scripture is mentioned more times than “David”, (1,080 times).  Amazingly, even the Lord and Savior “Jesus” [Christ] is a distant second at (911 times), following in third place is “Moses” (833 times), and just for the record “Abraham/Abram” only (273 times).  Furthermore, the name of David is referenced fifty-five times in the New Testament, which commenced over a thousand years after he reigned as king of Israel (1011 to 971 B.C.).  As a young lad God had chosen David and put His Spirit upon him: “So he [Jesse] sent and brought him [David] in. Now he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance.  And the LORD said, ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is he.’   Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward…” (1 Sam. 16:12a, 13a).  Most Christians know the story of “David and Goliath” and thoroughly appreciate the victory achieved by David despite being a significant underdog.  He was only a youth and a fledgling to the ravages of battle, yet he slew the nearly ten-foot tall and formidable Philistine warrior, armed only with a sling and a small stone. (1 Sam. 17:40-51).  One divinely placed stone hurled from David’s sling smashed into Goliath’s forehead, incapacitating him and abruptly ending the battle–thus began David’s legacy of greatness.   However, David was not acting on his own, it was God who delivered Goliath into his hands.  In fact, God was responsible every time David emerged triumphant in battle– for He was always with him: “And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.” (1 Chr. 17:8). Scripture tells us that David was considered “a man after God’s own heart”: “And after He had removed him [Saul as king of Israel], He raised up David to be their [Israel’s] king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’” (Acts 13:22).  A designation God gave to no other prior servant of His.  Furthermore, as the chosen nation of Israel is considered “the apple of God’s eye” (Zech. 2:8), so to, was David chosen to be king of Israel and “the apple of God’s eye” (1...

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