Lecture Eight: The Rise of David

David’s Rise to Kingship

David’s Anointing (16:1-13)

Takes place in Bethlehem of Judah (v. 1)

Note about appearance/height (v. 7)

God tells Samuel to not look at David's brothers who are tall and strong and handsome, because can see into their hearts.

David is the youngest of Jesse’s seven sons (v. 11)

David as shepherd (v. 11) – God’s greatest leaders are shepherds

David is called in from tending the sheep and God tells Samuel to anoint him as king.

“From that day forward…”

The LORD’s spirit comes upon David

Spirit departs from Saul

David at Saul’s Court (16:1–20:42)

Court musician (16:14-23)

When David would play his harp, the evil spirit would leave Saul

Battle against Goliath (17:55-58)

Saul does not engage the Philistines

There is a stalemate between the Philistines and the Israelites for forty days.

Jesse sends David to the battle field with some food for the soldiers.

When David sees Goliath mocking Israel's God, David does the will of God.

King Saul attempts to dress David in his own armor, but David takes it off because it is awkward.

David gathers five smooth stones from a brook and uses his sling to shoot a stone into Goliath's skull as Goliath is mocking him.

Goliath's armor is described as looking like scales, and the numbers associated with his armor and weapons are all connected to the number six, so the text is attempting to show through this imagery that Goliath is aligned with evil. Even his height is reported as "six cubits tall."

David cuts off Goliath's head and takes it to Jerusalem

He also leads the army in routing the Philistines.

David and Saul

According to puppets…

David as commander in Saul’s service (18:6-9; 12-15)

The people love David

Saul is jealous and hates David

Saul throws his spear at David and tries to kill him while he is playing his harp, but David escapes.

David and Saul’s family:

Saul's Son Jonathan (18:3-5; 19:1-7; 20:1-42)

Loved David

David and Jonathan make covenant

Jonathan gives throne to David

Jonathan saves David’s life during a festival. They use coded messages with bows and arrows, and David flees.

Saul wonders why David didn't show up to the festival, and when he finds out that Jonathan let him go, he throws his spear at Jonathan, calling him a “son of a b****”, or as more polite but less literal translations put it, "the son of a perverse and rebellious woman."

Saul's Daughter Michal (18:17-29; 19:8-17)

Loved David

David defeats the Philistines and marries Saul’s daughter as Saul's reward for bringing him back 200 Philistine foreskins... what a dowry.

Michal saves David’s life by making a dummy out of a “household god,” placing it in David's bed, and then lowering David out the back window, and telling Saul's soldiers at the front door that David was sick in bed.

Final Separation (19:18-24; 20:42)

Before David and Jonathan parted ways, David fled to Samuel.

Saul sent men to get them, but the spirit of God possessed them and all they could do was prophesy.

Saul sent two more detachments, but the same thing happened.

Finally, Saul himself went but he too became possessed by God’s spirit when he entered Samuel’s presence.

Saul stripped naked and lay on the ground prophesying all day and all night.

Once again the text points to this event as one of the reasons there is the saying in Israel: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

David in the Wilderness (1 Sam 21:1–2 Sam 1:27)

Takes refuge at Nob

Nob is near Gibeah, which is Saul’s home-base

Receives support of Ahimelech the priest (21:1-9)

David is given Goliath’s sword

Doeg tells Saul where David is, and Saul gets revenge on Ahimelech (21:6-19)

Doeg kills the priests after Saul’s servants refuse

Previously, Saul failed to kill every enemy, but has no trouble killing all but one of God’s priests at Nob

The priest Abiathar escapes death and joins David (21:20-23)

David seeks refuge among the Philistines at Gath (21:1-15)

He pretends to be insane to avoid being considered a threat

Escapes to cave of Adullam

David’s family visits him

Thugs and outcasts join his cause, a group of 400 men

Takes refuge in Moab (22:1-5)

David makes allies with the Moabites

The prophet Gad shows up and tells David to go back to Judah

David goes back and hides in the forest of Hereth

David saves Keilah (23:1-14)

David’s is successful in battle against the Philistines (vv. 1-5)

Yawheh protects David from Saul (vv. 6-14)

God tells David that Keilah will betray him to Saul, so David flees

David in the wilderness of Ziph (23:15-29)

Saul can’t find David, but Jonathan does

Jonathan and David renew their covenant together (vv. 15-18)

Jonathan says, “You will be king and my father knows this.”

David eludes Saul in the wilderness of Maon (vv. 19-29)

Saul is breathing down David’s neck

David is cornered, but suddenly a messenger arrives with news for Saul about a new Philistine invasion and Saul leaves immediately

One of the many waterfalls at En-Gedi.

David at En-Gedi (24:1-22)

En Gedi has many high cliffs and is full of caves in which David and his men hide

David spares Saul (vv. 1-7)

David hides in a cave when Saul and his men come to the area

Saul goes into the cave in which David happens to be hiding and takes a dump.

David's men want him to kill Saul while his pants are down, but David refuses.

David pleads his cause to Saul (vv. 8-15)

He tells Saul that he could have killed him just now but he refused because of his great respect for him.

Saul’s declaration and confession (vv. 16-22)

Saul says, “You are more righteous than I am.”

Saul says, “I know you will be king.”

David swears that he will not kill Saul’s family when he becomes king.

David in Maon and his encounter with Nabal (25:2-42)

This chapter opens by mentioning the death of Samuel.

David’s request (vv. 1-8) – he offers Nabal “protection”

Nabal’s response (vv. 9-11) – “Who is David? ...He’s just some guy breaking off from his master!”

“Nabal” means “fool.”

David and his men strap on their swords and go off to kill every person with Nabal who “pisses against the wall,” (the males) saying, “How dare ‘he piss’ on ‘our wall’ of protection.”

Abigail’s intercession (vv. 18-35)

Abigail intercepts David and his men and offers them gifts of food, apologizes for Nabal's foolishness, and pleads with David to not play God by seeking revenge.

David relents.

“God has prevented David from taking vengeance.” “God will establish David’s dynasty.”

“The LORD strikes Nabal dead.”

Nabal was having a drunken party this whole time.

In the morning, Abigail tells him what David almost did.

Nabal drops dead while he is “pissing out the wine” from the night before.

Abigail takes over Nabal’s wealth and marries David.

David in Jeshimon (26:1-25)

David refuses to kill Saul…again (vv. 8-12)

David and Joab sneak into Saul’s camp and steal some of his personal belongings, but David won’t let Joab kill Saul

David confronts Abner (vv. 13-16)

"Where were you, Abner? You're the king's bodyguard, but you were fast asleep when someone came to destroy your master!"

Saul’s confession (vv. 21-25)

“I have done wrong.” “I have been a fool.” (or nabal) “Blessed are you, my son, David. You will do many great things.”

David at Ziklag (27:1–28:2; 29:1–30:30)

David goes to Achish of the Philistines, hoping Saul will leave him alone.

David takes two wives with him, Abigail and Ahinoam.

David makes raids in the south (vv. 8-11)

David tricks Achish, saying he was actually raiding Judah (v. 12)

The Philistines move their army north against Saul

They don’t let David come with them

The Amalekites raid David’s family, and he takes revenge on them (30:1-25)

David gains favor with the clans/families of Judah by giving them the loot leftover from his revenge on the Amalekites. (30:26-30)

Later, these same people declare David king.

David Flees From Saul

Saul and the Witch of Endor (28:3-25)

Saul and his army gathered at Gilboa to face the Philistine invasion force.

Saul was “filled with terror.”

Saul inquired of Urim and Thummin and prophet but got no answer from God.

Saul asked his men where he could find a “medium.”

Saul and two of his men disguised themselves and at night went to Endor to consult the medium.

The medium suspected they were on a witch-hunt.

Saul swore by the LORD that he would not harm her.

Saul told her to call up the prophet Samuel.

“A ghostly figure came up out of the earth.”

When the woman saw Samuel, she shrieked and pointed at Saul and recognized him as king.

Saul told her to not be afraid.

Samuel is described as an old man with a robe, and says, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

Saul told him about the Philistines and how God wouldn't speak to him anymore, so he didn't know what to do.

Samuel’s message:

Refers to “the LORD” seven times

“Why do you consult me?”

“You have become the LORD’s enemy”

“The LORD has rejected you”

“Your kingdom will be given to David”

“Tomorrow you and your sons will join me in Sheol”

After Samuel’s spirit left, Saul and his men shared a covenant meal with the witch before leaving, further solidifying his alignment with evil.

The death of Saul (31:1-13)

Battle takes place at Mt. Gilboa (v. 1)

Saul’s sons are killed, including Jonathan (v. 2)

Later, we learn that Ish-bosheth was the only son who survived

Saul commits suicide (vv. 3-6)

He tells his servant-boy to stab him, but the boy is afraid

Saul falls on his own sword

The Philistines humiliate Saul (vv. 8-10)

They behead him and hang his body on a wall

Saul's cousins from Jabesh-Gilead recover Saul’s body (vv. 11-13)

The Amalekite report of Saul’s death (2 Sam 1:1-16)

The Amalekite hands Saul’s crown to David

Mourning over the death of Saul and Jonathan (vv. 11-13)

The elimination of the Amalekite (vv. 14-16)

The Amalekite takes credit for Saul’s death

David kills him and says, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand against the LORD’s anointed?”

Group Discussion: What happens to us when we die?

Why does Samuel’s ghost appear in the story?

Where do people go when they die? Heaven? Hell? Purgatory? Something else?

Can people return as ghosts?

Do mediums really have the power to talk to the dead?

What power does God have over the dead?

Why Death?

What place does death have in the world?

Why do we die?

Why do things break and fall apart and decay? Why is there destruction?

As Christians, we have been taught that because of sin, death entered into the world. And that because of the one sin of Adam and Eve, all humankind was cursed to sin and to suffer and to die. This is what we call the Fall of Man and Original Sin. Because of that original sin committed by our first parents in the Garden of Eden, all of humankind and all of creation is fallen. And this is why we experience pain and suffering and this is why we die.

We have also been taught that as humans, we have only existed on earth for a relatively short period of time. Scientific findings place the existence of Homo sapiens to go back for only about 200,000 years. During that time, humans increased in knowledge of themselves and of the world around them. At the same time, throughout those 200,000 years humans experienced death. Their bodies experienced sickness and decay and they died, just like every other plant and animal on the face of the earth.

So at what point do we say death entered into the human condition? Evidence would say that death existed long before humans were formed. Our pre-human ancestors lived and died much as we do now. And their ancestors did the same. The Neanderthal was a close cousin to Homo sapiens. Neanderthals were very much like humans. They wore clothing, they communicated verbally, they participated in art, and they had an awareness of the spiritual. These creatures were so human-like, and yet they were not fully human. Their genetic code was certainly different from Homo sapiens, and yet similar enough that both species seemed to experience life in much the same way. Neanderthals were certainly sentient beings, and yet they were not truly human.

What are we to do with this? Both humans and Neanderthals, as well as the several other more fully evolved species of primates I have not mentioned, experienced death. They mourned for their dead, they suffered from pain when they were injured, they experienced sickness and frustration. All of these things have been blamed on the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, all of these things have been blamed on Homo sapiens, and yet, all of these things existed before Homo sapiens were created. Humans and Neanderthals and the other similar species all had a common ancestor – one also considered a primate. This primate also experienced death, yet this ancestor did not experience death in the same way. This creature was incapable of seeing the world in the same ways in which his human and Neanderthal descendants could. His brain was not designed to comprehend these greater intricacies of the created order. He could not ponder death and pain in the same way his descendants would. He was truly an animal without sentience. And while he may have been able to recognize to a certain extent the tragedy of death and the sorrow all creatures experience when a loved one dies, he did not experience these things in a fully cognizant way. His life depended upon instinct and upon his sensory capabilities. He experienced life through his senses, and while he did think, his thought could only go so far before his baser instincts kicked in. This was what he was created to be.

And yet this study of the evolution of the genetic code of primates fails to answer the question of where death came from. We believe that death entered the world through the sin of people, and yet death obviously existed at the time of this primate ancestor, before humans existed. We cannot say that this ancestor is the cause of the suffering we experience in the world, for he was not capable of the sin which we believe brought death into the world. As Wesleyans, we often say we believe that sin is only truly a sin if it is committed willingly and if the person who commits the sin is aware of what they are doing and that what they are doing is wrong. Surely, humans and Neanderthals and the like were capable of this kind of sin, and surely this primate ancestor was not. He was not capable of sin, because he was not aware of the ability to sin. So if we are to blame death on sin, we cannot blame it on him because he did not sin, and if we are to blame death on the specific sin of humans, we also run into trouble because death existed before humans, before creatures were capable of sinning.

And yet we cannot, as some have, just throw out centuries of church theology and millennia of progress in understanding how we relate to God and how our sin separates us from God and how death interacts with sin – not to mention the restorative work of Christ, which of all things oddly tends to be the most ridiculed by secularists. But at the same time, we cannot simply deny the evidence that science has given us, as others have, and say that evolution is a lie and the earth is only 6,000 years old while completely ignoring the overwhelming genetic and archaeological evidence against such claims.

As Wesleyans, we are not Fundamentalists. We believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired word of God, but we do not mistake the word of God for the Word of God, which is Christ. We believe in the truth of the Bible, but we believe more so in the truth that is revealed in Christ. We do not believe that God simply dictated the words of Scripture to the people who wrote them down. We believe that those who wrote the Bible used their own minds and skills and incorporated their own thoughts and ideas into its pages while at the same time being influenced and led in a certain direction by the Sprit of God. This gives us room to say that perhaps some of things we read in the Bible reflect not so much the way God saw the world, but rather the way humans interacted with God within their own limited historical and cultural settings. If one were to take the Creation accounts in Genesis, for example, on a completely literal level, then one would have to conclude that the sky is actually a great glass dome overlooking the earth, behind which can be seen a great mass of blue water. Science has disproved this theory long ago, but this does not mean that the story is just a bunch of falsehoods and should not be trusted. On the contrary, this story paints a picture of the all-powerful God who created the heavens and the earth by his own will and love, and it shows how his image is stamped over all of his creation, and how people out of all of the creation were chosen to interact with God in a special way. All of these timeless truths are portrayed in a poetic way in Genesis, a way that the people of the time could easily remember. In addition to this, these truths are forever engraved upon an ancient near eastern understanding of the world, which believed in such things as the sky dome. These elements of the story do not detract from its intended message, even though some get overly distracted by them, rather they show how God has revealed himself in all generations, even to ancient near eastern people who did not fully understand the way the world operated on a grand scale, just as God continues to reveal himself today to us who do not fully understand the way the world operates on a grand scale.

And yet after all this time, we still do not have an answer as to exactly why death exists and how exactly the sin of humans is related to death. We believe that sin causes death, but what do we exactly mean when we say that? Death can have many different forms after all. Do we mean to say that all forms of death are a result of human sin? Do we believe that death came into existence because of sin? Or do we believe that the end result of sin is death? Does death truly exist in and of itself? Or is death merely the absence of life and all that truly does exist? Perhaps what we mean when we say that sin leads to death is that when we sin we die spiritually. Our sin cuts us off from the life-giving Spirit of God. So in a very real sense, our souls are being led to death when we sin. So maybe when we say that sin leads to death, what we are really saying is that our soul is dying when we sin.

However, this leads some other problems. While it is very true that our souls are dying when we sin, there is more to death than just a spiritual death. Some may argue that the spirit and soul of a person is all that matters, so a spiritual salvation from death is all that is required, but that ignores that fact that as humans we have been created to exist in both a spiritual and a physical sense. We are both physical and spiritual beings, and this cannot be ignored. The Gnostics believed that people were created from sinful matter, and the only way we could be free from sin was to die and live on as an eternal soul, but such an understanding denies the inherent goodness of God’s creation. We believe that God created everything good, and that this is not limited to some concept about an eternal soul. God made the physical as well as the spiritual, and he made both good. If we truly believe that, then what do we say when we say that sin only leads to spiritual death and not physical death? When we say that, we say that physical death is not truly bad. If only spiritual death is the result of sin, then that would mean that physical death must have come to be a reality by some other means. But do we really want to say this? Everything within us screams that when we lose a loved one, or when we are forced to see a loved one suffer physical pain or when we experience physical pain and suffering ourselves, that this is not the way things should be. If the creation was truly created good and our sin only leads to spiritual pain and death, then what is the deal with all of the physical suffering and death that we see? Where did all of that come from? And why do we resist it with all of our being? Something deep inside us tells us that it is all terribly wrong. And yet physical death and decay are a part of nature. Without physical death, the creation would not exist as it does. The created order is full of cycles and one of these cycles is the death of all things. As the creation continues to recreate and to replenish itself, it continues to discard the old and that which is no longer needed in order to make space for new creation. Is that all that physical death is? Is it just a natural part of the way the universe exists? Everything dies and decays after all – from people, to animals, to plants, to planets, to stars, to galaxies. And yet everything continues on regardless of death. People create more people before they eventually die. Plants make more plants. Even stars have a reproductive cycle. It would appear that everything in the universe was made with the purpose of eventually recreating itself in one way or another. Is physical death then, the way that nature makes room for new creations? Does physical death eliminate that which is less complete in order to replace it with something more complete? And what does such a belief say about us when we die? Are we to believe that the reason we die is to make room for better people, a more complete creation than we are, to come after us? Again, this type of thinking can also lead us into many additional problems.

While the evidence may lead us to believe that the natural way of the universe tends towards “survival of the fittest,” and while we cannot rule out such a claim, we must also recognize that such an understanding is limited when it comes to understanding death. We may be led to believe that physical death on its own is a good thing because it has helped lead to the creation which we see today and has driven the creation towards perfection. But does a natural physical death truly lead to a better creation, or just a different creation than what previously existed? Does death really make anything better? Or does it simply eliminate what nature perceives as lesser? One could argue that death not only eliminates the lesser and the imperfect, but it also eliminates that which is good. If we truly believe that the physical world was created good then why would anything in it need to be destroyed? And what are we to believe about ourselves? If God truly loves us, then why would he create us to die? While it might be easier for some to believe that death naturally occurs in creation in general, it is more difficult to claim that sentient beings such as humans, beings which we believe God loves personally and on an individual level, have been created to die and be replaced by other humans. Maybe that is how creation was meant to exist up to the point some branches of the primate family tree became sentient beings, but what about after this? Why does God let people die?

Perhaps the answer lies at the point in which the creation became sentient – the point at which the ancestors of homo sapiens and like-minded creatures were first given sentience. One could argue that a creature that cannot experience death on a cognizant level cannot ever have a problem with death. While a non-sentient animal can still experience death and pain on a sensory level, it does not ever have to wrestle with the meaning of life and death. However, we, as sentient beings, do. And this continues to beg the question, why do people experience physical death? It also causes one to wonder how deep physical death stings us, and not us only, but the rest of creation as well. We believe pain and anguish to be a bad thing on a cognizant level, but we also experience pain and anguish on an emotional and sensory level and it causes great unpleasantness to the point at which we recognize through our cognitive abilities that pain is a bad thing – not just because have the ability process that fact with our minds, but because our sensory bodies naturally feel that way when they are injured. This is true not just for us, but for the rest of the animal world. It is not just humans who dread pain and destruction. Animals also dread it on a very deep, though less cognizant, level.

So what does that lead us to conclude? It would seem then that while physical death is a natural part of the physical creation, it is also for some reason natural for the creation to fight against death. Why then is there this contradiction? One could perhaps say that without this resistance to death, the creation would summarily succumb to death. Without the natural tendency of the creation to resist death, death would be all that would remain and there would be no creation. If then, it is so important that the creation resist death so as never to fully succumb to it, why is death necessary at all? If God is the creator of the creation, then why did he allow a creation that includes death?

Perhaps the reason why death exists in the physical world is because God had in mind to create humans – people made in his image who would have the ability to think for themselves, fully sentient beings. Perhaps God recognized from the beginning that once sentient beings were created, they would immediately have the ability to distinguish between two different ways of thinking and living, two different paths if you will. A sentient being would be capable of recognizing the difference between good and evil, and would also be capable of choosing which path to follow. A sentient being would have the ability to perceive with the mind what the rest of creation could only perceive through sensory input abilities. It would be able to perceive with the mind that which other animals only recognized by instinct. A sentient being would have the ability to go against instinct to the point of making decisions that would affect the rest of creation on a grand scale. A sentient being would be able to recognize death and destruction with its mind, and more than that, would be able to choose whether or not to reject death and destruction, or to embrace it. A sentient being would also have the ability to recognize others of its own kind and love them and be able to ponder his or her responsibility towards protecting them as well as his or her responsibility to the rest of the creation, the choice to treasure or to abuse. It would seem then that these first sentient beings right on down the present state of sentient beings in us as humans chose to try both paths. From that point on down to the present time, they have always wanted both the good and the bad. They have wanted everything. They wanted power over good and evil, and the power to decide what was good and what was evil. In other words, these first sentient beings, whose sentience has continued on in Homo sapiens for the past 200,000 years, have wanted to play the part of God. We have wanted to be masters over good and evil. People over the millennia have chosen to both treasure and to abuse each other as well as the rest of creation. As a result, the entire creation has become what we might refer to as “fallen,” to the point that even other animals fear humans and have the ability to be influenced by humans for better or for worse. It would seem that animals in today’s world have developed in such a way as to become permanently subject to humankind in many different ways. The mental abilities of many animals can even mimic those of the humans who interact with them. Animals in turn can experience shame or happiness or fear or hatred at the sight of a human, depending upon their interaction with humans.

What does this have to do with the presence of physical death in the creation? It would seem that God allows physical death in the creation in order to destroy that which is not good. It would seem that God recognized that when he created sentient beings that they would have the ability to choose between good and evil, and that they would choose both good and evil. This attempt to replace God by being masters over both good and evil is what led to what we would call spiritual death among people, in which the human soul is cut off from the life-giving Spirit of God, from which it came. Because people would experience spiritual death would seem to be the reason why physical death was also allowed to continue. God will not allow spiritual death to reign over people forever. This is why people experience physical death – so that their spiritual death will not remain in the creation. What about those who desired good more than the bad? We believe that God is gracious and that he does not want any person to be destroyed. What he wants to destroy is sin, and the reason for that is because sin destroys us, we who are his good creation. Sin must be destroyed in us before it is allowed to destroy us itself. Because of our desire to be master over both good and evil, we have become a self-destructive creation. Paul in the book of Romans writes that all of creation has been subjected to frustration because of us. Our sin has changed the course of natural history. Paul also writes that it is through Christ, who was God in the flesh, fully God and fully human, who committed no sin, that the creation may be restored. It is through Christ that we have the ability to become “children of God.” It is through Christ that our bondage and tendency towards sin is broken, and it is through his death and resurrection that we are set free from sin and death. We are not only set free from spiritual death and separation from God, which is what we call “hell,” but we are also set free from physical death. Christ physically rose from dead, and because of this we will also be physically raised from the dead. When Christ ascended into heaven forty days after his bodily resurrection, he was entering into God’s space. God’s space is separated from this space that we occupy on earth, but it is not far away. Through Christ, we have access to God’s space. Eventually, God’s space will be united with our space, and when this happened we will see that everything that was truly good about this world will never be destroyed. God’s good creation is eternal, both the physical and the spiritual creation. The reason physical death exists now is to provide for the ability to rid the created world of sin and everything that causes despair and separation from God. The final goal is essentially to remove hell from the creation and into its own space separate from God forever. All that was truly evil in creation, all that continually chose to reject God in the creation, and chose to reform itself into the image of hell (or the image of the absence of God) will be separated from everything that is good in creation. All that has become hell will be removed, and since it is the Spirit of God that sustains life, one could argue that in the absence of God’s Spirit, there would be no life, and in hell, all of creation that refused to submit to God’s redemption would cease to exist.

In the absence of sin and the desire to sin, we would then see a new creation, one where nothing good from the old creation was destroyed, where we would be reunited with loved ones who had previously died, and a place where death itself would be destroyed and there would no longer be any spiritual death for God would always be there, and there would no longer be any need for people to experience physical death, because sin would always be absent.


____________________________________________________________

Sources:

C.S. Lewis. The Problem of Pain. HarperCollins Pub., 1940.

NOVA. Becoming Human: Unearthing Our Earliest Ancestors. WGBH Boston, 2009.

St. Augustine. City of God, Book XIV.