Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: II Samuel 4-7
II Samuel 5:3
So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord: and they anointed David king over Israel.
Much has happened since the day that Samuel, the prophet of God, anointed that ruddy lad named David as the next king of Israel. According to those who study such things, five years had passed. Five confusing and bloody years they were. From 1030 B.C. to 1025 B.C. David lived daily with the knowledge of God’s will for him. He was to be the king. Yet, Saul was king. Now, finally, after five long years Israel accepted David as the king. Frankly, this anointing was only a matter of ceremony, for all practical purposes David had been the de facto king for five years. Meaning he was not recognized as king by the nation, but he was the king of the nation for all practical purposes.
All the tribes of Israel confirmed such when they said: Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. II Samuel 5:2 Yes, David was king. But it took five years. How many would wait in the wings for five years? Imagine that you knew that you would be the next CEO of a great corporation. Yet, for five years you had to sit by, watching another try to be the CEO. In those five years you never spoke an ill word of the one holding the title. Never once did you plot to overthrow him or her, and you even withstood the counsel of others to do so. When the person did fail and lose that position, you honored them and did not tolerate those that would cast any dishonor in their direction.
David did! What a man! What faith! What a fine strength of character! Yes, he was a sinner, yes, he was impetuous at times, yes, he was brash. But he was a man after God’s own heart. So much so that 1,070 years later Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit would preach: And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will (Acts 13:22) What a testimony! David…a man after God’s own heart.
No wonder God promoted him. A thousand years later Luke, the writer of Acts recorded Paul as he used David’s life as an example to all and a forerunner of the Lord. Yes, David was quite a man. But at the time of Christ, David’s family was just a bare root. Long gone were the days of glory. When Isaiah said of Christ that He would be a “root out of a dry ground” (Isaiah 53:2) he was speaking of the family of David. Only a root existed in 5 B.C. when Christ was born. The family of David was dry ground, not productive, no promise, and no sustenance. Yet, Jesus Christ was his offspring through Mary, and by adoption though Joseph and that changed everything.
Today it seems the same. The house of David is only a root. The promise of the greater David, the Christ, to most appears to be dry ground. But it is not. The root is the foundation, and the dry ground will bring forth life. The stage is set, the players are being put into position, the script has been written, and all will come to pass. Just as Paul said those many years ago, so too can believers everywhere say today: Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Acts 27:25
Dr. William T. Howe