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Jesus Christ

Does Jesus Christ Fulfill the Promises Made to David?

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In 2 Samuel 7, verses 11-14, God speaks to the prophet Nathan about King David:

The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son.

The New Testament writers certainly believed that these promises to David applied to Jesus. But why?

First, The NT writers recognized Jesus as a physical descendant of David (see Matt 1:1; Acts 13:22–23; Rom 1:3; 2 Tim 2:8; Rev 22:16). Second, God did indeed “raise up” Jesus when He resurrected Him from the dead. Third, Jesus claimed He would build a temple (see Matt 26:61; 27:40; Mark 14:58; 15:29; John 2:19–22). Fourth, Jesus claimed to possess an eternal throne and an imperishable kingdom (see Matt 19:28–29; Luke 22:29–30; John 18:36).

Fifth, Jesus’s disciples understood Him to be the literal Son of God. Robert Bergen, in 1, 2 Samuel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary), writes,

Jesus is unambiguously understood in the New Testament to be the Son of God (Mark 1:1; John 20:31; Acts 9:20; Heb 1:5), an understanding fostered by Jesus’ own self-claims (cf. Matt 27:43; Luke 22:70). In taking this verse literally and applying it to Jesus, the New Testament connected it with Jesus’ virgin birth (cf. Luke 1:32).

Taken together, it is easy to see how the New Testament writers believed Jesus to be the fulfillment of the promises made to David in 2 Samuel 7. Jesus certainly thought of Himself as David’s successor and provided evidence that He was in a number of ways.

Bible Interpretation, Sunday School

Commentary on 2 Samuel 7 (The Davidic Covenant)

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Some time after David has placed the ark in Jerusalem, a palace has been built for him, and he has a period of rest from his enemies, he decides that he should build a temple to house the ark (God’s home on earth). David communicates his plans to Nathan, the prophet, and Nathan affirms his plans. However, that night Nathan hears from God about His plans for David, and they are not at all what Nathan expects!

The verses that follow contain some of the most important words in the entire Old Testament because they capture God’s promises to David. These promises are often referred to as the Davidic Covenant. The New Testament writers believed that the promises made to David in 2 Samuel 7 were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In order to understand who Jesus thought He was and who His disciples thought he was, it is imperative to understand the Davidic Covenant.

In verses 5-7, God reminds Nathan that He has never requested that a permanent structure be built to house the ark. God has been content to travel with His people, Israel, wherever they have gone.

In verses 8-9, God reminds Nathan that it was God who took David from being a simple shepherd to ruler over Israel. It is God who has given David all of his military victories. The second half of verse 9 begins the Davidic Covenant, the promises God makes to David and his descendants.

First, God promises that He will make David’s “name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth.” Second, God promises that He will give Israel the land He promised them, and give them peace from their enemies.

Third, God will build a house for David, not the other way around. What follows are the key verses of the Davidic Covenant:

“When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with the rod of men, with floggings inflicted by men.  But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”

These promises to David apply both to his son, Solomon, who would build the temple to house the ark, but also to all of David’s descendants. The greatest of David’s descendants would, of course, be Jesus Christ. Let’s look at each of the promises in order.

First, David’s house would not end with his death. God promises to “raise up” David’s offspring to succeed him. In fact, we learn that it is David’s son who will build a house for God. This promise is fulfilled in one sense when David’s son, Solomon, builds the temple between 966 and 959 BC. But in another sense, this promise must apply to another of David’s descendants, because Solomon’s throne is not established forever.

Second, the future descendants of David who rule Israel will be God’s sons. As the father of David’s descendants, He will manifest His love in two ways. First, He will discipline them when they sin by allowing their enemies to inflict harm on them. Second, even though they sin, His love will never be taken away from them. He will always love the descendants of David, regardless of their behavior.

Third, David’s house would endure forever. Time will not change God’s plans to establish the house of David.

How do these promises to David apply to Jesus Christ? According to Robert Bergen in 1, 2 Samuel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary),

The divine declarations proclaimed here through the prophet Nathan are foundational for seven major New Testament teachings about Jesus: that he is (1) the son of David (cf. Matt 1:1; Acts 13:22–23; Rom 1:3; 2 Tim 2:8; Rev 22:16, etc.); (2) one who would rise from the dead (cf. Acts 2:30; 13:23); (3) the builder of the house for God (cf. John 2:19–22; Heb 3:3–4, etc.); (4) the possessor of a throne (cf. Heb 1:8; Rev 3:21, etc.); (5) the possessor of an eternal kingdom (cf. 1 Cor 15:24–25; Eph 5:5; Heb 1:8; 2 Pet 1:11, etc.); (6) the son of God (cf. Mark 1:1; John 20:31; Acts 9:20; Heb 4:14; Rev 2:18, etc.); and (7) the product of an immaculate conception, since he had God as his father (cf. Luke 1:32–35).

In verses 18-29, we read David’s response. He goes into the tent containing the ark and sits down and prays to God. David praises God from verses 18-24 and he petitions God from verses 25-29.

During his praise, David marvels over the fact that God has blessed him thus far, and then is further amazed that God has made this promise to establish his throne forever. David knows that God’s promises to David are a means to accomplish God’s will both for Israel and for all mankind. Remember that God’s original covenant with Abraham, upon which the Davidic Covenant is built, promised to bless the entire world through the descendants of Abraham.

David continues by proclaiming that God is one of a kind, that there is no other god except for Him. Likewise, the people of Israel are one of a kind because God chose them as the nation He would redeem. Their redemption demonstrated to all the people of the earth who God is.

In David’s petition to God, David boldly requests that God keep these promises He has made. David asks that God truly establish his house forever.  Dale Ralph Davis, in 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity (Focus on the Bible Commentaries), notes that David provides an example for us:

Here then is still the major task for prayer today: to take God’s promises and pray he will bring them to pass. We must, of course, be certain any promise is a promise that rightly applies to us. Certainly David’s promise does. For this is the promise we ask God to fulfill every time we pray that God’s name will be held sacred throughout the earth (see v. 26; cf. Ezek. 36:20–23), when we ask for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth. The final King of David’s dynasty has come, yet his kingship must yet be fully, publicly, and universally displayed. But since the promises are reliable (v. 28a: ‘And now, Lord Yahweh, you are the One who is God, and your words will prove true’) the petition is sure to be granted.

We are to pray that God will bring His promises to pass and we can be sure that our prayers will be granted.

Bible Interpretation, Difficult Bible Passages

Did Saul Kill All of the Amalekites?

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In 1 Samuel 15:3, Samuel commands Saul, “Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.” As we read the rest of the chapter, Saul tells Samuel, after the battle, “I have carried out the LORD’s instructions” and “I completely destroyed the Amalekites.”

Samuel’s only disagreement with Saul is that Saul kept some of the livestock for himself, a clear violation of God’s command. Saul was not to have financial gain from this battle, which was intended to be an execution of divine justice against an exceedingly vicious group of people.  Samuel seems to agree that Saul totally destroyed everyone, “men and women, children and infants,” just as God commanded. But how should we understand this command to “put to death men and women, children and infants,” coupled with Saul’s claim that he did indeed kill every Amalekite?

Did Saul literally wipe out every living Amalekite or is this command hyperbolic in nature, referring to a decisive military victory? We know that other ancient near eastern cultures used the same kinds of descriptions of military victories, such as “totally destroying” the enemy, or killing “every man, woman, and child.” But these are figures of speech which literally mean “we won a decisive military victory against our enemy.” What about in this case?

The easiest way to decide whether Saul literally killed every living Amalekite is to see whether the Amalekites are ever mentioned in the biblical record again. When we do that, we see that the Amalekites lived on!

In 1 Sam 27:8, we see that David fights Amalekites, so at least some of them are alive and well. Paul Copan and Matt Flannagan write in Did God Really Command Genocide?: Coming to Terms with the Justice of God:

This text affirms not only that the Amalekites still existed, but the reference to Egypt and Shur states that they existed in the very same area where Saul ‘utterly destroyed’ every single one of them (15: 8, 20). What’s more, David took sheep and cattle as plunder. Clearly, in terms of what the narrative says, the Amalekites were not all destroyed— nor were all the animals finally destroyed in Gilgal in chapter 15. Instead, many people and livestock from the region had survived Saul’s attack.

In 1 Sam 30, the Amalekites show up again! This time they attack the Israelite settlement of Ziklag, burn it to the ground, and carry off everyone as prisoners. Copan and Flannagan write:

So even though Saul ‘utterly destroyed’ the Amalekites (15: 8, 20), the text makes clear that many Amalekites remained so that David would not only— once again!— fight against them so that ‘not a man of them escaped,’ but after this battle, four hundred Amalekites fled on camels (30: 17 NASB).

Amalekites continue to be mentioned in the Bible:

Even beyond this, the Amalekites continue to remain, and we come across another Amalekite in 2 Samuel 1: 8, a passage where one of them takes credit for killing Saul— presumably a tall task if Saul had ‘utterly destroyed all the people’ of Amalek. And in 1 Chronicles 4: 43, the nation of Amalek is still around during the reign of Hezekiah. And then in the book of Esther, we encounter a descendant of the Amalekite king, Agag— Haman ‘the Agagite’ (8: 3), also called ‘the son of Hammedatha the Agagite’ (3: 1)— who was determined to wipe out the Jewish people. Amalekites were around well after both Saul and David.

It seems clear that Saul did not totally destroy all of the Amalekites, men, women, and children. Yet Samuel, and presumably God, were satisfied that Saul obeyed God’s commands, except for keeping alive livestock and the king of Amalek. Therefore, it seems that we should take Saul’s claim that he “completely destroyed the Amalekites” as a hyperbolic statement that would literally mean, “I won the decisive military victory that God commanded me to win.”

Bible Interpretation, Books of the Bible, Sunday School

Commentary on 1 Samuel 15-16 (God Rejects Saul and Anoints David)

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Between chapters 8 and 15 in 1 Samuel, Israel has received the king she requested in the person of Saul. From the beginning, we know that Saul was not a man “after God’s heart” and although Saul has some military successes against Israel’s enemies, especially the Philistines, his disobedience of God’s commands would eventually cause him to lose his kingship.

Chapter 15 is where this finally occurs. Samuel, the prophet who speaks for God, commands Saul to launch a military campaign against the Amalekites, the long-time enemy of Israel who attacked Israel as she left the slavery of Egypt (see Exodus 17). God had previously promised that the Amalekites would be punished for their wicked actions against Israel. We know that the Amalekites attacked Israel when she was weary from the trek out of Egypt. But even worse, they came up behind the Israelites and massacred the weakest members of Israel who were bringing up the rear of the Israelite caravan. Amalekite aggression against Israel continued for hundreds of years, right up to the present day.

Given that the attack on the Amalekites was to execute divine judgment, Saul was instructed to kill everyone in the battle and to kill all of the livestock. The Israelites were not to get any financial gain from this attack as they were merely the instruments of God’s justice.

Unfortunately Saul disobeys God in two ways: he keeps Agag, the king of Amalek, alive, and he keeps the best livestock from Amalek alive. God grieves over Saul’s blatant disobedience and He instructs Samuel to confront Saul. When Samuel asks Saul why the best livestock were kept alive, Saul blames the soldiers and then adds that the livestock will be used to sacrifice to God, hoping this will get him off the hook.

Samuel then utters profound words to Saul in verse 22:

“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”

Even if Saul was planning on sacrificing the livestock, which is debatable since it appears to be an excuse, God wants obedience first. Sacrifice without obedience is pointless. A person who follows the rituals of worship, but flagrantly disobeys God’s other commands, does not please God. The consequence of Saul’s sin is that God rejects him as king. Saul begs for Samuel to change his mind, but God has made His decision.

In a sad epilogue, Samuel must kill King Agag himself, since Saul failed to do so. Afterwards, he returns to his home, never to see Saul again. From that day on, God’s prophet will never again counsel Saul, as God has turned His back on Saul’s reign over Israel.

Chapter 16 opens with God telling Samuel to stop grieving Saul, as He is ready to select a new king. The king will be a son of Jesse of Bethlehem. In order to prevent Saul from realizing what is going on, Samuel takes a cow with him and tells the elders of Bethlehem that he is there to perform a sacrifice. Samuel also invites Jesse and seven of his sons to the sacrifice.

Before the sacrifice occurs, Samuel has each of Jesse’s sons stand before him to see which one God will anoint as the new king of Israel. Each of Jesse’s seven sons parade in front of Samuel, but God doesn’t choose any of them.

Samuel is surprised that God doesn’t select the oldest son of Jesse, Eliab, because he is both tall and handsome, and seemingly perfect for the role of king. God responds to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

This verse is the very heart of 1 and 2 Samuel and one of the most instructive verses in the entire Bible. Robert Bergen, in 1, 2 Samuel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (The New American Commentary), writes, “The Lord alone has the capacity to observe and judge a person’s ‘heart’ (Hb. lēb), that is, one’s thoughts, emotions, and intents. On God’s scales these matters outweigh all other aspects of a human life.”

After having dismissed seven of Jesse’s sons, Samuel asks if he has another son, and Jesse informs him that he does, but that he is the youngest and is tending sheep. They send for him and God tells Samuel that this boy, the youngest of eight sons, is to be anointed the new king of Israel. The boy’s name is David. In verse 13, we learn that the Spirit of the Lord immediately came upon David “in power.”

Verses 14-23 end the chapter with the story of how David comes to be an armor-bearer for King Saul, the very king he would some day replace. God has sent an angel of judgment to Saul because of his disobedience, and this angel torments Saul. Saul’s servants suggest to him that finding someone who can play the harp when Saul is tormented will make him feel better.

Saul agrees and the servants recommend David. One servant describes what he knows of David, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. He is a brave man and a warrior. He speaks well and is a fine-looking man. And the LORD is with him.” Thus David is brought into the royal household and becomes a trusted member of King Saul’s entourage.

Why was this young shepherd-boy chosen by God to be king some day? He wasn’t as tall or as good-looking as his older brothers. We know that God’s choices do not always line up with man’s choices, because God sees the heart and we do not. Think about David’s descendant, Jesus of Nazareth. He was an unlikely candidate as well. Dale Ralph Davis, in 1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart (Focus on the Bible Commentaries) writes:

Perhaps at no time did the living God disclose a more flabbergasting choice than in the case of David’s greater Descendant. The vote was in. The folks at home said, “He’s just one of us” (Mark 6:3). Others complained, “He has too much fun” (Matt. 11:18–19), and still others objected, “He’s not from the right place” (John 7:41–42). But the clincher for many was: “Messiahs don’t suffer” (Matt. 27:42–43). And what clout did this opinion pack? None. “The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner” (Ps. 118:22; see 1 Pet. 2:4). What should we deduce from that? We should realize Yahweh made his choice (Ps. 118:23a), and we should relish it (Ps. 118:23b). There is a delight we should have over Yahweh’s unusual, unguessable ways. It honors him when we revel in his surprises.

Bible Interpretation

Why Did Israel Still Want a King after Samuel’s Warning?

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In 1 Samuel 8, the prophet Samuel warns the elders of Israel that they will be miserable under the rule of a human king who is like the kings of “all the other nations.” Instead of listening to Samuel, they demand a king anyway. Why would they do this when Samuel, a man they trusted and a man who spoke to God, educated them about the facts of life under a monarchy?

My seminary professor used to tell me that you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Facts alone often do not change a person’s choices or behavior. Dale Ralph Davis, in 1 Samuel: Looking on the Heart (Focus on the Bible Commentaries), puts it this way:

Israel’s muleheadedness should instruct us. It teaches us, for example, that knowledge or information or truth does not in itself change or empower. (Our society has not learned this. Watch television news clips that discuss some contemporary social or moral problem. Interviewers ask an expert what needs to be done. Usually the answer is that we must get or use funds to educate people about the harmful effects of the current villain. It is the education fallacy, and the fallacy assumes that if people only know that something will destroy them they will leave it alone. It never reckons with intrinsic stupidity.) Education may clarify; it cannot transform.

Human persons are composed of intellect, emotions, and will. You have to win over all three to get a person to change his behavior.  I can tell you what the consequences of committing a certain sin are, and I can have all my facts documented, but if you are emotionally bought into that sin, and if you desire that sin with all your heart, then my facts will simply bounce off you.

Davis concludes,

Israel then hears God’s wisdom but does not submit to it; God gives her instruction but she is not teachable. Which should lead God’s current people to cry out for a soft heart, for a teachable spirit, for preservation from the arrogance of our own stupidity. ‘The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice’ (Prov. 12:15, RSV).

Bible Interpretation, Books of the Bible, Sunday School

Commentary on 1 Samuel 7-8 (Israel Asks for a King)

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First and 2 Samuel were originally a single work that was separated into two books centuries after composition. These books continue the historical narrative where Judges and Ruth end. Since the books of 1 and 2 Samuel cover a period in Israel’s history of about 150 years (1120 to 970 BC), it seems that several sources were used to put together the books in their final form. Scholars aren’t sure when 1 and 2 Samuel were finally composed, but a date between 800 and 700 BC seems likely.

The events in 1 and 2 Samuel center around three main figures—Samuel, Saul, and David. First Samuel opens with the narrative of Samuel’s birth, an event which occurred about 1120 BC, and 2 Samuel concludes with David on his deathbed, which is dated at 971 BC.

Robert Bergen writes in the Apologetics Study Bible,

The books of Samuel are especially valuable for Christians because they lay the foundation for the all-important doctrine of the Messiah, the ultimate descendant of David who would sit on an everlasting throne ruling over God’s people and bring deliverance and justice. The promises God made to David in 2 Samuel 7 created hopes and expectations that the NT writers understood to have been fulfilled by Jesus.

The book of 1 Samuel starts with the birth of Samuel, the greatest judge and prophet since Moses and Joshua lived. During the first six chapters of the book, while Samuel is growing up, Israel suffers defeat at the hands of the Philistines, and even loses the Ark of the Covenant to them.

God punishes the Philistines by bringing plagues against them until they finally return the ark to the Israelites 7 months later. The Israelites keep the ark at a place called Kiriath Jearim, a settlement 10 miles northwest of Jerusalem, since the place the ark had been kept during previous centuries, Shiloh, had been destroyed by the Philistines. The ark would reside there for 20 years before Samuel’s public ministry would begin in chapter 7, verse 2.

In verses 2-6, we learn that after 20 years of mourning and repentance (roughly 1084 BC), the Israelites have reached a point where they are truly seeking God. We can only surmise that those 20 years of “repentance” were not genuine in the eyes of God. The Israelites were likely calling out to God for rescue from the Philistines, while at the same time still worshiping the false gods of Canaan.

But, after 20 years, Samuel senses that Israel is ready to sincerely turn back to God and he instructs them to stop worshiping the gods of Canaan and only worship the one true God. They agree to do so, and to memorialize this new commitment to God, Samuel calls for an assembly at a place called Mizpah. At Mizpah Israel gathers to admit their sin before God and ask for his forgiveness. Samuel also becomes the official leader of Israel at this time.

In verses 7-11, the Philistines decide to attack the Israelites during their assembly at Mizpah. The people of Israel ask Samuel to cry out to God for protection, and God answers his prayers with loud thunderclaps which frighten the Philistines and cause them to turn around and flee. Israel chases after the Philistines and wins a significant military victory.

Samuel commemorates their victory with a stone monument, and the Philistines do not attack Israel again during the rule of Samuel (approximately 30 years).

Chapter 8 resumes the narrative some 30 years later when Samuel has become an old man. Samuel has appointed his two sons to be judges, but they are both corrupt and not servants of God, like their father. The leaders of Israel come to Samuel and demand that he appoint a king “such as all the other nations have.”

Samuel, knowing this request from the elders of Israel is misguided, prays to God about it. God reveals to Samuel that Israel is rejecting God’s leadership over them, not Samuel’s. Nevertheless, he commands Samuel to accede to their demand for a king, but he wants Samuel to first warn them what will happen when their new king takes charge.

In verses 10-18, Samuel describes to Israel exactly how a monarchy will work. The king will take the people’s sons to build up his military, he will take their daughters to serve him and the officials in his government, he will take their choicest land, their servants, and their livestock to give to his officials, and he will demand a tithe of 10% from everyone to build his treasury. They will effectively become slaves to the king.

After hearing Samuel’s warning, the leaders of Israel respond, “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”

God grants their wish and promises them a human king. How sad for Israel. It is God who promised throughout the Torah (Pentateuch) to fight their battles for them, to drive out the Canaanites, to defeat their enemies. And that is exactly what God did for Israel when the people were worshiping and obeying Him. Recall the victories under Moses and Joshua. Recall the defeat of the Philistines under Samuel. In every battle, God was leading the army of Israel to victory, not a human king.

The fundamental problem with Israel is that they want to be “like all the other nations” instead of the holy nation that God had called them to be.

Was it wrong for Israel to ever ask for a king? No, because Deuteronomy 17 makes provision for a human king to rule over Israel. But, Deuteronomy 17 also commands Israel to only accept a king who God chooses. This king will be different from the kings of all the other nations, as he will be completely dedicated to serving God. He will not multiply his wealth, he will not multiply his wives, he will not build a bloated military, and he will study God’s word every day of his life. But Israel did not care about finding a king who loved God. They wanted to rush the process and find someone ahead of God’s timing.

Israel will have to suffer through a king not of God’s choosing to get to a king of God’s choosing. This king of God’s choosing would then become the ancestor of the King of kings, Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus will embody all the attributes that a king should have, ruling with perfect justice and mercy. All believers await the day when his reign begins!