David’s Religious Contribution

GOLDEN TEXT: “Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.” —Psalm 100:2

ALL those who truly know God serve him “with gladness,” and they delight to enter into his presence with songs of praise upon their lips. How beautifully David gives expression to the sentiments of his heart along this line. Besides his service as a king of Israel, in which capacity he sat upon the throne of the Lord, David was one of the greatest of God’s “holy prophets.”

While ordinarily we speak of David as “the Psalmist,” yet the Bible calls him a prophet. Peter thus referred to him in his Pentecostal sermon. (Acts 2:29,30) Only once does the Bible refer to him as a psalmist, and this is in II Samuel 23:1, where he is called the “sweet psalmist of Israel.” It was as a prophet and psalmist that David made his religious contribution to enrich the devotional life of the nation. Even more than this, his work as a prophet and psalmist has been mightily used by God in helping to outline the divine plan and to encourage spiritual Israel of this age to greater faithfulness. For example, what a great loss we would sustain if we had to give up the Twenty-third Psalm!

II SAMUEL 7:18, 19, 25-29

DAVID, dwelling in the new, and for his day, the magnificent palace which had been built by Phoenician craftsmen, was one day seized with a sense of shame at the thought that the ark of God was still so much more poorly lodged than himself. To him the ark represented God in the midst of Israel. It meant, symbolically speaking, that Israel’s God was dwelling in a tent while the king was enjoying the luxury of a palace.

So David gave thought to the building of a house for the Lord. He spoke to the Prophet Nathan about it, who agreed that this was exactly what should be done. It seemed so obvious a thing to do that the faithful Nathan gave his consent to the project before he consulted the Lord. However, the Lord’s will is not always that which is the most obvious.

The “word of the Lord” came to Nathan that night instructing him to inform David that he was not to build him a house. Yet the Lord was not displeased with David’s desire in the matter, and it was on this occasion that this man after God’s own heart was given a definite promise of a “house” even more important—the ruling house of the Lord as it was established in David, which would be continued in his family through successive generations.

It was in his great appreciation of this wonderful promise that David poured out his heart to God in the language of our lesson. David made an interesting comparison between the house he proposed to build for the Lord, and the “house” which God in turn promised to establish in his family. His proposal was a “small thing,” observed the king. As for God’s promise, that was something of far greater importance and magnitude, for “thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come.”

Then David raised an important question, “Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?” or the “law of man,” as the margin states. David sensed that there was probably more involved in God’s promise than merely a natural, hereditary succession of rulers, which would be of the manner, or law, of men. This was included, but as David seemingly surmised, the divine promise was much more far-reaching than this, for it led up to and envisioned the coming of the Messiah of Israel and the establishment of his kingdom in the earth.

David recognized this as being much more than he was worthy to receive, that it was in reality a wonderful expression of God’s mercy toward him. Indeed, in verse 15, the Lord mentions his mercy in connection with the promise. It is no doubt this great promise, and others which correspond with it, that the Scriptures refer to as “the sure mercies of David.”—Ps. 89:28; Isa. 55:3

David was correct in his feeling that this “covenant” which the Lord made with him implied more than a natural succession of earthly rulers. The Apostle Paul refers to the “sure mercies of David” in connection with the resurrection of Jesus. David did not realize that God’s promise was so “sure” that the dead would be raised in order to fulfill it.—Acts 13:34

Nor did he realize—at least, not more than vaguely—that God’s mercy toward him and toward all mankind would be so bountifully manifested through the provision of the Redeemer to suffer and die for the people. Had David fully grasped this larger meaning of God’s promise, he would have found it even more difficult to give expression to his unbounded appreciation of the Lord’s goodness.

II SAMUEL 23:1-4

HERE again David is expressing his appreciation of God’s great mercy toward him. God had anointed him to be king of Israel. He explains that an ideal king would be one that would always rule in justice and in the fear of the Lord. Continuing his description of a proper king, David said, “He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”

In verse 5 David admits that his “house” was not in keeping with the description he had given. Then, concerning God he added, “Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure.” What great mercy David saw in this, and especially since God had made his covenant so “sure.”

We can all rejoice in these “sure mercies of David” for in the covenant God made with him there is the hope of the “great salvation” for us, the footstep followers of the Master,” and the “common salvation” of restitution for the whole world of mankind.

QUESTIONS

In what office did David serve in connection with his religious contributions to God’s people?

What were the circumstances under which God made a special covenant with David with respect to his kingdom?

What are the “sure mercies of David”?

Why did David recognize the precious promises of God to him as being such a wonderful expression of divine mercy?

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