Why David?

Psalm 89:20-29

Our psalm reading for this week takes a look at King David, and then also David’s descendant, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.  This psalm was written by Ethan the Ezrahite some time after the death of King David, and speaks about the covenant promise God made with David, that the Messiah would come from his line.

As we look at the life of David, we might wonder why God would choose him to be the ancestor of the Lord Jesus.  Yes, David was a great soldier and military leader, having killed Goliath, the powerful enemy of the Israelites, and winning many victories against the Philistines, and other powerful enemy nations.  But after David became king, he went and had an affair with a married woman. Then when he found out she was pregnant, David went and ordered her husband, who was in his army, to be sent to the front lines, and abandoned there to be slain by the enemy.  Basically David ordered his murder so he could marry his wife (II Samuel 11).  David did genuinely confess, repent and show honest sorrow for his sin, and God did forgive him.  Why, though would God honor David to be the ancestor line for the chosen Messiah?  God had removed Saul from being king because he had offered sacrifices himself rather than wait for the Prophet Samuel (I Samuel 13:5-14), and also refused to execute Agag, an enemy king, and had spared the best of the flocks for sacrifice when God had ordered everything destroyed after a battle (I Samuel 15).  To our human perspective, that doesn’t seem to be quite as bad as what David had done.  Yet God rejected Saul, but did not reject David.

The key can be found in I Samuel 13:14, where God says that He sought for Himself a man after His own heart, who was David the son of Jesse.  What does it mean to be a man (or woman) after God’s own heart?  Throughout the life of David, he showed that whatever was important to God was important to him. What was dear to God was also dear to David.  It makes for a good marriage if spouses like and enjoy the same things.  If one enjoys camping across the country, it’s good if the other enjoys that, too.  Or if they both enjoy the same type of music, or both have an interest in animals or an interest in sports.  God saw that David’s heart was in tune with His. What God loved, David loved. What God hated, David also hated.

This didn’t mean that David never sinned.  As we saw in his relation with Bathsheba, David did sin, and big time.  When King Saul disobeyed God, he only made excuses and tried to justify himself. He got angry with Samuel, and he got angry with God like a petulant child.  That was not the case with David. He knew he had sinned and grieved his ways.  He confessed and repented (Psalm 51).

Because of this strong and good heart attitude, God chose David to be the ancestor of Jesus.  He chose him, the youngest and basically overlooked son of Jesse to be anointed as king (vs. 20).   God’s hand was upon him throughout his reign (vs. 21-23).  Because David was a man after God’s heart, God made His covenant with him, and promised that the Messiah would come from his line.  The remainder of our passage (vs. 24-29) speak both of King David and also refers to the Lord Jesus, the descendant of David and the Messiah.

The birth of the Messiah wouldn’t come for another approximate 1,000 years after David, but God was true to His promise.  As both Matthew chapter 1 and Luke chapter 3 show, Jesus was descended from David.  We also see that even though we may stumble and fall into sin, perhaps even something quite wrong, God can still use us as long as our heart is true to Him.  Let’s strive to be like David and hold dear and love what God loves, hating what He hates.  Let it be said that you, like David, are a person after God’s own heart.