“Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him.” 1 Samuel xvi. 18.
Such is the account given to Saul of David, in many respects the most favoured of the ancient Saints. David is to be accounted the most favoured, firstas being the principal type of Christ, next as being the author of great part of the book of Psalms, which have been used as the Church’s form of devotion ever since his time. Besides, he was a chief instrument of God’s providence, both in repressing idolatry and in preparing for the gospel; and he prophesied in an especial manner of that Saviour whom he prefigured and preceded. Moreover, he was the chosen king of Israel, a man after God’s own heart, and blessed, not only in himself, but in his seed after him. And, further, to the history of his life a greater share is given of the inspired pages than to that of any other of God’s favoured servants. Lastly, he displays in his personal character that very temper of mind in which his nation, or rather human nature itself, is especially deficient. Pride and unbelief disgrace the history of the chosen people; the deliberate love of this world, which was the sin of Balaam, and the presumptuous wilfulness which is exhibited in Saul. But David is conspicuous for an affectionate, a thankful, a loyal heart towards his God and defender, a zeal which was as fervent and as docile as Saul’s was sullen, and as keen-sighted and as pure as Balaam’s was selfish and double-minded. Such was the son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite; he stands midway between Abraham and his predicted seed, Judah and the Shiloh, receiving and transmitting the promises; a figure of the Christ, and an inspired prophet, living in the Church even to the end of time, in his office, his history, and his sacred writings.
Some remarks on his early life, and on his character, as therein displayed, may profitably engage our attention at the present time.
When Saul was finally rejected for not destroying the Amalekites, Samuel was bid go to Beth-lehem, and anoint, as future king of Israel, one of the sons of Jesse, who should be pointed out to him when he was come there. Samuel accordingly went thither and held a sacrifice; when, at his command, Jesse’s seven sons were brought by their father, one by one, before the prophet; but none of them proved to be the choice of Almighty God. David was the youngest and out of the way, and it seemed to Jesse as unlikely that God’s choice should fall upon him, as it appeared to Joseph’s brethren and to his father, that he and his mother and brethren should, as his dreams foretold, bow down before him. On Samuel’s inquiring, Jesse said, “There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.” On Samuel’s bidding, he was sent for. “Now he was ruddy,” the sacred historian proceeds, “and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” After Samuel had anointed him, “the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.” It is added, “But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul.”
David’s anointing was followed by no other immediate mark of God’s favour. He was tried by being sent back again, in spite of the promise, to the care of his sheep, till an unexpected occasion introduced him to Saul’s court. The withdrawing of the Spirit of the Lord from Saul was followed by frequent attacks from an evil spirit, as a judgment upon him. His mind was depressed, and a “trouble,” as it is called, came upon him, with symptoms very like those which we now refer to derangement. His servants thought that music, such, perhaps, as was used in the schools of the prophets, might soothe and restore him; and David was recommended by one of them for that purpose, in the words of the text: “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Beth-lehemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him.”
David came in the power of that sacred influence whom Saul had grieved and rejected. The Spirit which inspired his tongue guided his hand also, and his sacred songs became a medicine to Saul’s diseased mind. “When the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, … David took an harp, and played with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.” Thus he is first introduced to us in that character in which he still has praise in the Church, as “the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel.” [2 Sam. xxiii. 1.]
Saul “loved David greatly, and he became his armour-bearer;” but the first trial of his humility and patience was not over, while many other trials were in store. After a while he was a second time sent back to his sheep; and though there was war with the Philistines, and his three eldest brethren were in the army with Saul, and he had already essayed his strength in defending his father’s flocks from wild beasts, and was “a mighty valiant man,” yet he contentedly stayed at home as a private person, keeping his promise of greatness to himself, till his father bade him go to his brethren to take them a present from him, and report how they fared. An accident, as it appeared to the world, brought him forward. On his arrival at the army, he heard the challenge of the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath. I need not relate how he was divinely urged to engage the giant, how he killed him, and how he was, in consequence, again raised to Saul’s favour; who, with an infirmity not inconsistent with the deranged state of his mind, seems to have altogether forgotten him.