Towards the end of Jesus’ life, He prayed to His father saying: “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4). It is a fascinating verse and really got me thinking about whether that could be said about David. My initial reaction felt more negative. I think this is most likely because of some of David experiences in the second half of his life. It all seems to start going wrong for David, when he begins down the dangerous road that leads him into adultery, deceit and murder. But it doesn’t end there, because some of those same choices that he makes, are also lived out in the lives of his children. Rape, murder and a number of attempted coups dominate the latter chapters of 2 Samuel. David’s seeming unwillingness to get involved in the mess his children are making, ends up landing all of them in a right mess. David also finds himself severely disciplined by God when he attempts to take a census of Israel. These things all paint a fairly bleak picture and had left me feeling as if David finished poorly. His finish was surely not as strong as his beginning, however, as I have thought, read and prayed on this, I found myself shifting to a more positive position! Read on to see four reasons why…

1. God’s Criteria for a King (Deuteronomy 17:14-20):

Towards the end of the life of Moses, God anticipated that His people would one day ask: “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us” (Deuteronomy 17:14b). So God set some requirements for any King of Israel and it is very interesting to see how David measures up! First, God declares that they must appoint both an Israelite and His chosen nominee. There is no question that David, like Saul before him, was certainly God’s choice of anointed King. David was from Bethlehem and an Israelite.

Second, however, the King was not to accumulate large numbers of horses, wives or wealth. David was indeed careful not to accumulate horses, but this was not so true regarding the other categories. David had at least 8 named wives (Michel, Abigail, Bathsheba, Ahimoam, Maacah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah) and an unspecified number of non-named wives or mistresses (2 Samuel 5:13). Taking many wives was prohibited because they would lead the King’s heart astray. I think we can say with some confidence that David’s eye for the ladies was one of his greatest weaknesses. David also amassed much wealth during his life, but he does have good reasons for doing so. He is not so much interested in his own greatness, but with the glory of God. For example, David set aside a vast amount for the building of the temple which God determined was to be built not by him, but by his son.

Thirdly, and perhaps more positively the King was to go to great lengths in order to know the law of God. The purpose was to learn to learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees (v19). Only if a King does these things will he reign a long time over Israel. While we know that David made mistakes it is also clear that the trajectory of his life was about honouring God. He did take God’s Word seriously and there was never a moment recorded for us when David fails to come back to God in confession and repentance. David compares relatively well to the criteria God set down for Kings.

2. How the New Testament remembers David (Acts 13:22, 36):

David is mentioned by name nearly 1,000 times in the Bible. Over 50 of those occurrences appear in the New Testament. He is mentioned in passing in the great hall of faith recorded for us in Hebrews 11 and it is not hard to see that many of the things said in these verses probably were true for David especially. Indeed, David did conquer Kingdoms, administer justice, defeat lions, escape the sword, become powerful in battle and routed foreign armies:

³² And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, ³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. 

Hebrews 11:32-34

All of those mentioned in Hebrews 11 are far from perfect – each of them made mistakes, but despite their weaknesses God still used them. It feels a bit like the writer of Hebrews get a bit carried away with the characters from earlier in the Bible and then has to rush through the later characters – I am therefore confident that they had plenty more to say about David!

The other standout reference is what Paul says about David in his sermon at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13. Paul is recounting how God has worked through the history of God’s people. When he gets to David, he speaks of how God testified that He had found a man after his own heart (v22). Then as he contrasts David (who died and saw decay) with Jesus Christ who has been raised from the dead (v36a-37):

²² After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do” … ³⁶ ‘Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. ³⁷ But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

Acts 13:22, 36-37

Notice however what Paul says specifically about David – namely that he served God’s purpose in his own generation (v36). Its a pretty definitive statement and we’re left wondering in what sense he did that. Throughout David’s life we’ve seen how he was indeed God’s man – the man after His own heart, whom He had been searching for. He took the throne after the demise of King Saul and he shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skilful hands he led them (Psalm 78:72). David did relatively little to promote his own honour and purposes, but he was deeply driven to work to promote the purposes of the one he served.

3. Preparations for the temple (1 Chronicles 29:7-14):

A big way that David served God’s purposes was in making preparations for the house he so eagerly desired to build for God. God said that it shouldn’t be David who built this house, but Solomon. Nevertheless, David himself, planned it and provided lavishly from his own resources for its construction. This led Israel’s tribal, family, and military leaders also giving freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. As a result, both David, and the people, rejoice. David praises God saying:

¹⁰ David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, ‘Praise be to you, Lord, the God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. ¹¹ Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. ¹² Wealth and honour come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. ¹³ Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. ¹⁴ ‘But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

1 Chronicles 29:10-14

Notice that David attributes wealth, honour and strength as coming from God. Yes, they had given towards this great project, but in actual fact they had only given from what comes from God’s hand. David also prays that God would give his son Solomon “the wholehearted devotion to keep your commands, statutes and decrees and to do everything to build the palatial structure for which I have provided” (1 Chron 29:19). This was clearly a really big deal for David and he did everything he could to allow Solomon to hit the ground running in building it. That is exactly what happened and it became the focal point of Israel’s worship for many years to come!

4. David’s charge to Solomon (1 Kings 2:1-12, 3:14, 9:4-5):

Finally, we will touch on some of David’s final words to Solomon. This was essentially the charge that he gave him, and as we’ve seen throughout David’s life, it concerned Solomon’s devotion to God and His law:

² ‘I am about to go the way of all the earth,’ he said. ‘So be strong, act like a man, ³ and observe what the Lord your God requires: walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go ⁴ and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: “If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.”

1 Kings 2:2-4

David really doesn’t mince his words and calls on Solomon to be strong and act like a man. Some translations say prove yourself as a man suggesting perhaps that Solomon had some areas of weakness. In order to be strong, David tells him to do what the Lord requires of him. What does the Lord require? To walk in obedience to God and keep His law. Again, this comes with a promise of prosperity, and if he remains faithful, God’s enduring promise for him to have a successor on the throne of Israel. What is really interesting however, is that after David’s death God repeats theses promises and cites David as an example for him to follow:

¹⁴ And if you walk in obedience to me and keep my decrees and commands as David your father did, I will give you a long life.’

⁴ ‘As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, ⁵ I will establish your royal throne over Israel for ever, as I promised David your father when I said, “You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.”

1 Kings 3:14, 9:4-5

So, despite all David’s poor choices and failures, he still enjoys God’s seal of approval for a life well done. By implication what God is saying here is that David did walk before Him faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness. If Solomon wants to know what it looks like to live a godly life amidst all of the pressures that will come at him from every side, then he should look no further to his Father David. Hence, I think we can conclude that David did complete the work God had for him in his generation. Scripture affirms that he lived out the kind of faithful life of service that God eagerly desires of us. He did not get it all right and at times he got it all wrong. However, that is a huge encouragement to us as we too seek to live for God in our generation.

Cover Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash