The Gospel in 1-2 Samuel

The message of 1-2 Samuel is NOT "be like David" and "don't be like Saul."

God is David's ultimate concern. 1-2 Samuel are about Israel's first kings, Saul and David. Ultimately, they look to the great King, God himself. These are gospel-filled stories, unflinchingly honest about sin and society, but saturated with hope of salvation. The two key characters (apart from Samuel) are both royal sinners. But Saul and David are as different from one another as darkness is from light. For Saul, God does not appear to be a major concern, perhaps not a reality at all. For David, God is his ultimate concern, the ultimate reality, and carries ultimate weight. This is what it means to "honor" God. Therefore, "those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed" (1 Sam 2:30). Saul is destined to fall and David to rise.

Saul is bad and David is good? Stories convey their messages indirectly and are susceptible to misunderstanding. Thus, Saul is bad and David is good. A reverse approach sees Saul as not so bad and David as an adulterer and murderer. But a careful reading disallows both misinterpretations. Saul is not all bad, at least at first. He exhibits some "good faith" at the beginning. But because he lacks "true faith" in God this good faith erodes over time into self-centeredness and suicide. David is certainly not all good, and 1 and 2 Samuel make no attempt to hide his sins!

The kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of Christ. David's relationship with God is fundamentally sound. He knows God, prays to God, confesses to God, and finds strength in God. He knows himself to be a sinner, and he knows what it means to be saved by grace. Does he sense that God, in putting him on the throne, is about more than just establishing a limited, local kingdom? Surely he does, even if without full discernment. God's promise to Abraham (Gen 12:1-3)--which finds numerous echoes in the promise to David (2 Sam 7:4-17)--culminates with the prophecy that "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:3). David cannot foresee how this blessing will work out, but he seems aware that something grand and glorious is underway (2 Sam 7:18-29). Only to us, those privileged to live after the coming of the true King, the Lord's Anointed (Messiah) from David's line, is it given to understand that "the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah and he will reign for ever and ever" (Rev 11:15).