Tending sheep, he killed a lion; delivering victuals, he fought a giant; serving God, he found greatness.
We’re about to say goodbye to David, at least in this historical account. “Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the period that he reigned…was forty years…So he died in a good old age, full of days and riches and honor” (1 Chron 29:26-28). What have we learned about this remarkable man after God’s heart? The youngest in Jesse’s family, his training was as a shepherd on the Judean hills. He learned the art of war there too, fighting not men but wild beasts. There also he must have honed his skills in playing the harp and singing songs he composed to the praise of God. Taken from the sheepfold, he became “the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Sam 23:1). In fact, he not only played instruments, but actually invented some (Amos 6:5)! Having compiled many of our favorite hymns, he also made arrangements for choirs and instrumental music associated with the temple. As a warrior, he proved his mettle first in the Valley of Elah against Goliath, then welding together a commando force of 400 from those “in distress,…in debt, and…discontented” (1 Sam 22:2). Eventually he drove back Israel’s enemies, not only beyond Jordan, but all the way to the Euphrates! His skills at kingdom administration and diplomacy are legend. And though he failed epically on occasion, his penitential psalms reveal that, in such times of distress, he fled to God, not from Him. He is known best for his humility, reverence, mercy, trust, and devotion to the Lord, and in pointing us across the years to his Root and Offspring, Great David’s Greater Son, who will yet reign upon his throne, in a realm not as far as the river, but “from the river to the ends of the earth” (Ps 72:8).