Week 6
7/13/2025
Summer 2025
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Central Passage: 1 Samuel 24; 2 Samuel 7...David spares Saul and becomes king under covenant with God
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Check out the Middle School Sunday School Resources page for other books of the Bible resources. Note: the 1 Samuel-2 Kings handout will be available eventually.
Contents
These remaining chapters in Judges demonstrate applied wisdom to seemingly morally ambiguous situations. The ambiguity may come from the question of whether Saul was still God’s anointed king since God had already declared that he has taken the kingdom from Saul and given it to another, removed His Spirit from Saul, and anointed David. Yet, David still claims that Saul is the Lord’s anointed until Saul’s death. Furthermore, David’s men in 1 Samuel 24:4 seem confident that God had delivered Saul to David to dispose of, according to a promise God had made. So, why would David not act upon this accordingly?
First, though God had taken the throne away from Saul and anointed David, Saul remains the anointed king. Saul is effectively no longer God’s chosen king, but he remains the man whom God had anointed over Israel. David refuses to partake in the future tradition of the northern tribes of Israel during which political assassinations and conspiracies would run rampant (cf. Hos 7:5-7). Although God would not choose the kings of future Israel in those days, political instability would, at the very least, be a natural result. In Saul’s case, David’s action against Saul would have been treasonous against the king He had originally picked to lead Israel, regardless of whether his days were winding down after the Spirit’s departure. For this reason, David even sees the small gesture of cutting the corner of Saul’s robe as symbolically removing a piece of Saul’s kingship, which causes him to become stricken with grief (1 Sam 24:4-5).
Second, did God deliver Saul into David’s hand to kill him? Were David’s men right in 1 Samuel 24:4? The men’s claim that God had promised to do this cannot be found in the story so far. Do not use an argument from silence to conclude that such a promise to David had never been made. Instead, examine the surrounding context and parallel/relevant passages to determine what God had really promised. It’s more likely that God promised to cut off David’s enemies for him, not deliver them to David to do himself. When God makes His covenant with David (2 Sam 7:8-17; 1 Chron 17:7-15),[1] He declares that He had been the one to cut off David’s enemies for him. Furthermore, Psalms 57 and 142 are ascribed to David when he hid in the cave from Saul. Psalm 57:3, 6 and Psalm 142:6-7 demonstrate David’s inspired belief that he will be inactive in the fate of his oppressor. Saul will fall into a trap of death that he has created (as is the fate of all folly and sin), and God will ultimately be the deliverer without David’s assistance. In these Psalms, David even sounds imprecatory at times, handing the task of judgment and vengeance over to God, rather than David seeking to carry out justice himself. Recognizing his powerlessness, he lets God be the judge.
David’s men, maybe even having sung these Psalms in rudimentary form with David, misunderstand what God’s justice against Saul would look like. Thus, they assume that God’s providence had delivered Saul to David to do with as he pleased, potentially blaspheming by claiming God said something that He did not. Sin tends to twist the word of God very craftily and subtly in this way, just as Eve mistakenly twisted God’s word by adding “neither shall you touch [the tree]” when being tempted by the serpent in the Garden (Gen 3:2-3; cf. Gen 2:16-17). Being well-equipped with the precise word of God protects His people from these crafty ethical dilemmas (cf. Psalm 119:11).[2]
The next account when David spares Saul seems to make the perspective of David’s men clear: they assume Saul’s vulnerability was a sign from God to take Saul’s life, more so than hearing direct revelation from God on the matter (1 Sam 26:8). But David refuses, knowing that killing Saul would have been treasonous and blasphemous against God. Though David had been anointed, his time had not yet come. He also affirms that God will execute justice on His own timing, in His own way (1 Sam 26:10). David discerns that ease and ability to kill Saul was not permission to do so. David embodies the God-fearing wisdom of Proverbs 24:17-18 before Solomon wrote it (cf. Prov 17:5). Just as God anointed Saul, God would take the kingdom from him and give it to David, the newly anointed king, but this would not occur by David’s hand. However, this is only the beginning of God’s unconditional promises to David, in which God is the primary actor. God then makes a covenant with David.
There are six biblical covenants. The covenants are with Adam (an implied covenant), Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and finally the New Covenant inaugurated by Jesus’ sacrifice. The covenants are important to understand because they are the narrative spine to the story of the Bible. As we progress along the covenants, the focus narrows from all of creation, to post-flood creation, to a specific people group (Israel), to Israel living in the Promised Land, to a royal family of kings through David, and finally to one king from the line of David (Jesus). As these covenants narrow in their focus, God’s plan of redemption becomes clearer. Though the future New Covenant was promised in the Old Testament, the last covenant established during the Old Testament is this covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17.
God begins, typical for a covenant, with a historical prologue, reminding David of His past faithful dealings (2 Sam 7:8-9a). The glaring omission from this covenant is the stipulations and curses—there are none! Instead, the covenant consists of promise and blessing.[3] Though God establishes a covenant with David, this covenant echoes the blessings and promises of the covenant with Abraham: God will make David’s name great; He will plant His people in their land to dwell undisturbed; He will give rest from enemies; and establish David’s house forever. And God’s past faithfulness to David gives him good reason to trust God’s future promises.
God also establishes the Davidic king as His son. The previous sons of God were Adam (a failed, exiled son), Israel (a stiff-necked son in need of a king), and now David and his offspring.[4] Now, rather than an entire nation being responsible for godly living, the king becomes the federal head over all Israel/Judah. God would look at the king’s righteousness as he functions as God’s representative son on earth before the watching world. Thus, the king would be a king of Torah as Deuteronomy 17:14-20 prescribes.[5] All of Israel will receive either the blessings or curses of the covenant based on the king’s spiritual leadership. This is why Jesus, the proper king, fulfilled the covenant with Moses, inaugurating a new covenant by His blood.
Last, this covenant applies to all of David’s future kingly offspring. Messiahs (meaning “anointed one,” i.e. the kings over Israel/Judah through the line of David) would be descended from him, but ultimately it applies to Jesus. Prophecy and covenants often have near fulfillments and far fulfillments. For example, the Old Testament prophets frequently promise a return from exile that would exceed the Exodus in displaying God’s power, but this is only partially fulfilled when the exiles return from Babylon under Cyrus’ decree. But the greater, far fulfillment of a return from exile will occur when Jesus returns to call His people out of our exile in a land ruled by sin and death and into His presence. The same near-far fulfillment principle applies to this covenant with David. These promises apply to Solomon and all future Davidic kings in Judah in the near sense. Thus, when reading the post-exilic prophets (Haggai, Sechariah, and Malachi), the authors tease the still effective promises of this covenant with David (cf. Haggai 2:20-23; 1 Chron 3, esp. 1 Chron 3:19-24), giving their readers anticipation and hope that God has preserved David’s lineage and thus, His promise to establish the Messiah’s future kingdom forever.
At a surface level, imprecatory Psalms, like Psalm 109, may disturb a lot of Christians today. However, these Psalms embody the wisdom David displays in 1 Samuel 24 and 26, reminding us of God’s love for blessing and avenging His people. God grants the psalmists the freedom to express their outrage when an oppressor appears to be unafflicted by His wickedness. Where is the pit of death that the wicked oppressor has been digging for himself to fall into? This is the source of distress. But wisdom waits for the Lord to execute His justice. David waited for God to execute His justice, even caring for Saul’s/Jonathon’s offspring (2 Sam 9:1-13). Saul lacked all wisdom to wait for the Lord. He did not wait for Samuel to make the sacrifices, choosing to make an unauthorized sacrifice himself. He did not wait for the Lord’s blessing when he decided to spare the king of the Amalekites and take their livestock as spoil. He embodied the folly of self-reliance, a vice that our culture is increasingly cultivating. Instead, David would be a Torah king, who receives, with contentment, the lot which God will provide him, diligently following the wisdom of his commandments. Though David is often seen as the ideal king in the Old Testament, his fallenness points forward to the real ideal King Jesus, who is Torah and wisdom Himself.
Croteau, David A. and Gary E. Yates. Urban Legends of the Old Testament: 40 Common Misconceptions. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2019.
Youngblood, Ronald F. and Richard D. Patterson. 1 Samuel ~ 2 Kings. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. General Editors: Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.
[1] The 1 Chronicles 17 account of the covenant with David omits the part that reads, “When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men” (2 Sam 7:14). This is not the chronicler (whom many believe to be Ezra) burying an important piece of the covenant. Instead, as the chronicler writes from post-exile Jerusalem, looking back on Israel’s history favorably, he tends to focus on the faithfulness of David’s lineage, rather than the scandal. The purpose of doing so is to encourage post-exile Jerusalem, whose new wall was crude and hastily built and whose second temple was discouragingly inferior to the grandeur of the first temple. Feeling hopeless during this time and still under Persian rule, the chronicler writes to encourage the post-exile Jews to faithfulness and remembrance of how God had blessed His godly Davidic kings. He also builds anticipation, reminding Israel that God is not finished with the house of David. The Messiah, who would have an unending rule, had yet to come. Thus, as the chronicler reflects on the covenant, he does not focus on the need for discipline because the everlasting Davidic Messiah was on the horizon, and the time of messiahs who require the rod of discipline was passing away.
[2] We have been seeing a lot of Scripture twisting today with people using the Bible to justify our country’s support for the modern nation of Israel. For a good biblical response to this (without raising questions of politics), see Gavin Ortlund’s response to Ted Cruz.
[3] It might seem like 2 Samuel 7:14 could be taken as a curse, but it is not. Covenant curses, like the curses in Deuteronomy 28, are far more severe, even causing a total break in the covenant and its blessings from the ruler to his subject. However, in 2 Samuel 7:14, this is merely a promise to discipline like a loving father, not a curse of exile. Furthermore, God’s steadfast love (covenantal love) will never depart from David’s offspring.
[4] Biblically, the title of God’s son was only applied to all of Israel as a nation (Ex 4:22) or to the Davidic king. No other individual could claim to be God’s son in the Old Testament. Thus, Jesus’ claim that God is His Father in John 5:17 is, at the very least, a claim that He is a messiah from David. However, the Jews understood this to be blasphemy, despite the biblical backdrop to this sonship language. During the exile and post-exile days, the Jews learned their lesson against idolatry. Thus, they tended to widen the gap between humans and God. Thus, by the first century AD, no one referred to God as a father out of fear of further exile due to idolatry. This is why the Jews understood Jesus to be claiming that He was equal to God. Jesus likely understood that they would interpret this accordingly when He made the claim. Furthermore, Jesus’ perfect sonship extended the right to all believers to become children of God (John 1:12-13).
[5] Torah means much more than just “law” as our English Bibles often translate. A better translation is probably instruction, but even this is lacking in some sense. Torah is God’s instruction for wise living that begins with the fear fo the Lord (cf. Prov 1:7) and involves listening to the fullness of His instruction. Obedience to Torah is a heart posture that affirms God’s ways and knowledge are above ours, so we should listen to His instruction for a life of wisdom and flourishing in the creation that He created and governs with perfect wisdom. Torah promotes godly humility.
