We just finished part 36 of our sermon series Samuel: King of Kings. Needless to say, we are well into our study of the 1 & 2 Samuel. Over the past several months, we’ve covered a lot of ground from Samuel’s birth to the barren yet faithful Hannah, to his calling by God to the role of prophet, priest, and judge, and inevitably to his death.
Then we encountered a discontent, rebellious people who demanded they be allowed to be just like their pagan neighbors. So, God gave them a king that by all appearances perfectly fit the people’s criteria of a king. But Saul the Benjamanite rejected God’s word, and consequently, God rejected him as king.
But God anointed another man to take Saul’s place. David. And that’s when things got very ugly. Saul threw javelins at David’s head, chased him around mountains and into caves, and slaughtered a family of priests and an entire city in his attempts to murder God’s anointed.
That all ended when Saul died on Mount Gilboa at the close of 1 Samuel. There’s no sigh of relief or celebration peace with the opening of book 2. In fact, there will be several more years of bloodshed before David is finally coronated king of Israel.
Maybe you remember hearing that 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel were originally a single book. Insignificant as that might sound, this detail is an important one and is worth more than a couple hundred points on Jeopardy. When the two volumes are treated as one, we are more likely to discover the main theme running through all 55 chapters.
You see, it’s not about the priests, prophets, and kings or giants, witches, or traitors. No doubt these are fascinating characters that are part of an even more fascinating story. Many of them even play important roles in the development of Israel’s transition to a monarchy, a particularly precarious time in the nation’s history. But none of them are the main attraction.
You might be surprised to hear that it’s not even primarily about David, although he is arguably the central character. We have a tendency to hold him in high esteem. Many of us consider him a hero and stalwart champion of the faith (Hebrews 11:32-34). He was a man after God’s own heart and God’s anointed king through whom God established his eternal kingdom. But as commentary Ralph Davis reminds us, “Again and again as we read 2 Samuel we have to shake ourselves and say, ‘This is not about David; it is not even about covenant kings; it is about a covenant God who makes covenant promises to a covenant king through whom he will preserve his covenant people.’ That must be our perspective.”
He’s right. 1 & 2 Samuel, and every book of the Bible is centered on God himself. Scripture is God’s gracious self-disclosure of himself to us. And God has revealed himself most clearly in his Son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-4). Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises that God made to Adam (Genesis 3:15), Abraham (Genesis 15), and King David (2 Samuel 7). He is the rightful descendant to David’s throne. And he reigns over all in righteousness and justice, whose kingdom will never end (Hebrews 1:8-9). All other kings (or idols) that we depend on are deficient. Jesus Christ is the King we all long for and need because only he has solved the problem of the sin that plagues our hearts, bodies, and world. And he graciously rescues all who trust in his sufficient work on Calvary’s cross.
That’s the good news embedded in 1 & 2 Samuel and all of Scripture.
As we continue to study, remember that Jesus Christ the King of Kings is the hero of the story. He is the only King worthy of our worship because of his glorious work and unparalleled worth.