How poignant that the first use of the word “type” in the New Testament refers to the print of the nails!
In the latter half of 1 Samuel 23, Saul is pursuing David from one hideout to another. “So David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them” (v 26). Surrounded! The psalmist writes: “The pangs of death surrounded me” (Ps 18:4); “The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me” (v 5); “Innumerable evils have surrounded me” (40:12). How fitting, then, for him to pen the Psalm of the Surrounded Savior: “Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.…They pierced My hands and My feet” (Ps 22:12, 16). Details are important in our study of Scripture, but standing back on occasion and seeing the panoramic view can also be helpful. Many significant Old Testament characters are both personal examples and spiritual types. Even if a man like David is used by the Spirit as an intended type of the Lord Jesus, we should never feel obligated to reconcile David’s sins and failures with that portrait. A man may be, at the same time, a bad example personally and a good type spiritually. Nonetheless, many details in David’s life are clear insights into Christ, the coming Son of David. He is the baby boy born in Bethlehem; the good shepherd rejected by his brothers; the king anointed long before his coronation; presented to his people as their savior at the place of the skull (holding up Goliath’s head as the declaration of victory); recognized by the common people but officially rejected; unjustly treated as a criminal, and lost for a while to the Gentiles. There is more to come, but for now this is sufficient to see the purposeful correspondence between David and his coming Lord.