Chapter 3
The Great Victory of David and the Greater Victory of Jesus
We set out to look at the story of David and Goliath in light of the grand story of the Bible in order to find a life–transforming gospel application. When the account of David and Goliath is considered on its own, it may seem as though it is recorded to inspire us to face any difficulties in life with God’s help. But this would set God in the place of Best Supporting Actor in our struggles; he would be a helper, the main burden still on our shoulders. However, when we look at this story in light of the grand biblical story, we see that there is a much better connection that leads to a far more powerful application—with God as the main actor in the drama of our salvation.
Scripture helps us understand why life is often so difficult. Genesis 3 teaches us that when sin—rebelling against our creator–God—was introduced into the world, the innocence of the Garden of Eden was lost. But hope for God’s good creation was never lost. Even before God introduced consequences for sin, he made a promise. In Genesis 3:15, he promised that a descendant of Adam and Eve would one day crush the head of the serpent. In other words, this verse hints at a coming redemption, and, as more clarity is added through the Bible’s storyline, we are led to expect that a person will be born who will win the ultimate victory over the brokenness caused by sin. In the grand story of the Bible, the Old Testament is a record of promises made by God towards this wonderful climax. We also know that the New Testament is a record of God’s promises kept, through the birth, life, and victory of the promised Savior, Jesus Christ.
Before we explore what Jesus accomplished, and how he accomplished it, let’s consider a few more Old Testament details that led up to his victory.
We have noted the prophecy of a descendant of Judah would come and rule (Genesis 49:10), and that this ruler would be part of God’s plan to rescue his people. The story of 1 Samuel began about 1,000 years after this promise was made. For 1,000 years, God had been making promises and showing grace to his people. But for 1,000 years, this promise had not yet been fulfilled. Then, at the beginning of 1 Samuel, in Hannah’s song of praise, she prophesied that the LORD would “give strength to his anointed king” (1 Samuel 2:10). While Samuel would grow to become a great man of God as a priest (to mediate between a holy God and sinful people) and a prophet (to reveal God’s truth to those who would listen), he was not a king. Reading 1 Samuel through the lens of 1 Samuel 2:10’s promise of a king makes it clear that Samuel was not the real hero of the story.
Israel’s first anointed king, Saul, was a disappointment. He was not chosen because of his spiritual stature, but because he was tall and strong. He was clearly not the hoped–for deliverer. He rebelled against the LORD and later cowered at the sight of Goliath. After the LORD made it clear that Saul was not the king promised in 1 Samuel 2:10, we met David. And in 1 Samuel 16, the LORD led Samuel to anoint David as king, even though he was young and small. The Hebrew word for “anoint” is important for us to understand: it is the word from which we get our English word “messiah.” This word refers to someone who is set apart by the LORD for his special service. In the Old Testament, prophets were anointed (1 Kings 19:16), priests were anointed (Exodus 28:41), and kings were anointed (1 Samuel 16:13), all for special service to the LORD. In light of the larger biblical story, we could say that David was anointed to be the king promised in Genesis 49:10 and 1 Samuel 2:10. Which leads us to ask: could this king be the ultimate Savior, who would definitively reverse the effects of sin (Genesis 3:15)? Or, would he be the first in a line of descendants who would lead to the ultimate Savior? Either way, King David was an everyday, average person, but the LORD set him apart for his special purpose, a purpose that would impact countless numbers of people.
Yet as we read about David, we notice that there are many ways that he is just like us. He needed to learn to trust the LORD, he would later sin grievously, suffer under the guilt and consequences of that sin and need to repent (2 Samuel 12:10–12; Psalm 51). His abuses of kingly power (the taking of Bathsheba and murder of Uriah) indicate that although a repentant and forgiven David may still be used by God, he is not likely to be the ultimate deliverer who had been promised by God.
Though just like us, God used David in a special way in the plan of redemption—he was a leader of God’s people used by the LORD to fulfill promises that had been made 1,000 years (or more!) earlier. This should not be surprising to us—although a country’s leader is a person just like its citizens, more than anyone else, the actions of the leader impact the citizens. So it was with David and more, because he was a part of God’s plan to rescue a people from sin and all of its consequences.
As we come to the story of David and Goliath with this larger context in view, our perspective on this story is transformed entirely. David was anointed as king (1 Samuel 16) before he defeated Goliath (1 Samuel 17). That means that when we meet David, we don’t merely encounter a person like us, who learns to face a giant with God’s help; we meet a man whom God had anointed as a long–awaited king, who faced the giant with God’s help, and who won a victory that set his people free.
Let’s consider how this story connects to Jesus and the good news.
As we read the story of David and Goliath in light of the grand story of the Bible, we discover that the life of God’s messiah–king who won the great victory for God’s people, reminds us most of Jesus. In fact, the triumphs of David’s life were a mini–fulfillment of God’s promises that leads us to expect the greater, the ultimate Messiah–King, Jesus, who was born in the lineage of David (see Matthew 1:1–17).
While David was a man God chose and anointed as king, Jesus was the son of God, who would be the ultimate anointed (Messiah) prophet, priest, and king. As prophet, Jesus would speak God’s words, as priest, he would mediate between God and sinful people, and, as king, he would be the head over God’s people. Although David was a great ruler, he would also commit grievous sin; Jesus would be the perfect Savior, who would be tempted but would never sin (Hebrews 4:15). While David won a great victory that led to physical deliverance from a great enemy, Jesus would die on the cross as the king (Matthew 27:11, 29, 37) who took on and defeated our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). In his death God would decisively reveal, for all time, his love for us (Romans 5:8). As King Jesus died, he defeated sin and all of its consequences, so that all who would turn from their sin and trust him would be reconciled to God.
Praise God that David points us beyond himself to Jesus—David’s reign as anointed king and his great victory over the enemy who sought to obliterate God’s people—all point to the ultimate royal deliverer. Jesus’s victory would liberate a people from an eternity under the power of sin and all of its consequences.
Questions for Reflection
1. Write a list of ways that David is and is not just like us.
2. Keeping in mind that the story of David and Goliath was not written primarily to inspire us to be just like David, but to point us to the ultimate victory of Jesus, how do you think the victory we have in Jesus applies to the nitty–gritty details of our everyday lives?
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