Who was the shepherd boy who was anointed king of Israel? David
Who was the king at that time? Saul
What does “anointed” mean? Set apart for a special role. Empowered — Holy Spirit comes on that person to give him the power to do the work God prepared for him.
With God’s anointing, David became very successful and popular. However, not everyone was happy with David. In fact, King Saul hated David.
King Saul:
Rejected: King Saul had been anointed by Samuel. But he disobeyed God, so God rejected him, and His spirit/anointing left Saul Saul was afraidof David, because the Lordwas withDavid but had departed from Saul.(vs 12).
(Under the Old Covenant, God’s Spirit would move from person to person; under New Covenant, God’s Spirit stays in us forever!)
Jealous and insecure: After David killed Goliath, David became a hero and had many more successes on the battlefield. The women of Israel would welcome him with dancing and singing: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.” This made Saul very jealous! (vs 7) When Saul saw how successful he was, he was afraid of him. (vs 15)
Tormented: After God’s Holy Spirit left Saul, Saul would be tormented by an evil spirit — only David’s playing of the lyre (harp) would make him feel better. But even then, the evil spirit made Saul throw a spear at David (not once … but twice!) and try to kill him.
Murderous: Besides throwing the spear, Saul also tried to think of other ways to get rid of David — he offered his daughter, Michal’s, to David as his wife in return for killing 100 Philistines — Saul’s plan was to have David fall by the hands of the Philistines. (vs 25)
Can you imagine what is it like to be David? Having the most powerful man in the land, the King of Israel, trying to destroy you at every turn?
But David was the anointed one — God was with him. God was bigger than the giant (Goliath). And God was bigger than Saul.
David:
Successful: Whatever mission Saul sent him on, David was so successful that Saul gave him a high rank in the army. (vs 5) In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. (vs 14)
Protected:Twice, Saul threw a spear at David. Twice, David escaped unharmed. Even when Saul sent David to kill 100 Philistines in order to marry his daughter, David managed to kill 200 Philistines in the time frame!
Loved: David was loved by:
the people of Israel and Judah (vs 16) because he was their hero
Jonathan, son of Saul
Michal, daughter of Saul
Despite all Saul’s evil intentions, he could not harm David. When Saul realized that the Lord was with David and that his daughter Michal loved David, Saul became still more afraid of him, and he remained his enemy the rest of his days. (vs 28-29)
David was God’s anointed. He was loved, protected and successful in all he did. David met with more success than the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name became well known. (vs 30).
Because of Jesus, we are also God’s anointed ones. So we don’t have to live like Saul — jealous, insecure, tormented etc. We can live like David — knowing that God loves us, He protects us and will grant us success in what we do.
Memory Verse: 1 Sam 18:14In everything David did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.
