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Sermons from Commons Church. Intellectually honest. Spiritually passionate. Jesus at the centre. Since 2014.
I think the divine wants to save us from all of the damage that we do to ourselves all of the time, but as a primary commitment, it seems to me that God will always be there to see the story through with us, beside us, no matter what we choose. Today though, we start a new series. And with this one, we will look back to where we left off in the spring in a series called The Last of Them, Because there we talked about the judges who led the Enchoate nation of Israel. And we worked our way through Ehud and Othniel, Shamgar and Deborah, Samson and Gideon all the way to Samuel, the last judge of Israel. And at the end of that series, we even met the first king of Israel, a man named Saul.
Jeremy Duncan:Today, though, we begin a new series that will take us right to the beginning of Lent as we start to prepare our hearts for Easter. But in this next few weeks, we are going to study the life of the second and the most famous king of Israel, King David. First though, let's pray and then we'll set the stage for the story of David. Gracious God, for all of the relationships in our life, for those with the depth and the intimacy that we need to keep us pointed in healthy directions, for those that need our investment and our attention before they wither and fade, For those that have hurt us intentionally, or perhaps through neglect, we ask for your grace, and your guidance, for your wisdom as we navigate our interactions, and our dependence on each other. Help us to be as forgiving of each other as we need for ourselves.
Jeremy Duncan:Help us to live at peace as far as it is up to us, and encourage us to take courageous steps toward each other in pursuit of the friendships that we so desperately need. And now as we turn our attention to ancient stories, to the Hebrew kings, to the glorious heights, to the tragic mistakes, would we be prepared to listen and to learn, to watch for the ways in which Jesus is present to us even here in these tales? In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen. Today is an introduction to David.
Jeremy Duncan:And we will cover the last judge, the first king, God's heart. And then, finally, we'll get the chance to meet David. But to begin, we need to go back and we need to pull up a little bit of our memory from the spring. Because getting to David means reckoning with not just the judges that precede him, but also the evolving concept of God that is forming within the Hebrew Scriptures at this point. In the book of Judges, we have to understand there is no coherent kingdom, or even really a nation of Israel.
Jeremy Duncan:There's something more like a loose confederacy of tribal communities that share certain goals, but are largely acting independently. Until that is, an external threat rises up to threaten the whole. And in those moments, throughout the book, the tribes gather around a judge who is essentially an ad hoc crisis leader, a warlord who will help them overcome these specific and particular threats and then fade back into the background. You see, very few of the judges ever seemed to act as civic leaders in community. Deborah would probably be the one exception who very much does seem to be leading in a formal sense in Israel, but most of the judges were more like wartime heroes.
Jeremy Duncan:And that seems to be part of the way that God is conceptualized during this part of the story. In the Exodus story with Moses, for example, a section we explored 2 years ago in season 9, God is very much a liberator. The Hebrew people are held in slavery in Egypt and God is the one who hears the cries of the oppressed, who stands against the powerful. In Moses' successor, Joshua, and in the book of Judges, the Hebrew people are now on their own in a hostile land, and so God is now seen as the one who protects, who raises up warriors to defend the borders and make sure none of our enemies encroach on our territory. This isn't, however, a sign that God has changed or that the divine agenda has evolved, as much as it's an acknowledgement that the ways we speak about God, even in scripture, are deeply contextual to what we are experiencing.
Jeremy Duncan:David Bentley Hart says that we must understand that there is no one single Yahweh in the Hebrew corpus. The various texts that the Saifgen Temple redactors collated into the Torah and the Tanakh emanate from various epochs in the development of Canaanite and Israelistic religions. And they reflect the spiritual sensibilities of very different moments in the evolution of what in time would become Judaism. Now, what he doesn't mean by this is that there are actually more than one God in the Old Testament. What he means is that there are many different ways of thinking about God throughout the Old Testament.
Jeremy Duncan:And Judaism as a religion is the product of all of that wrestling with all of those different conceptualizations, all of those images and stories and histories. Is the shaping of a way of life from all of it. That's why Judaism is such a dialogical religion. It's not just about debates between rabbis. It's a negotiation between all of these different stories.
Jeremy Duncan:And so, for Christians, what we believe as we come to those same stories is that in all of these stories, in all of that wrestling, and all of that struggle to understand the divine, all the work that was done for us in and through the Hebrew scriptures, then leads us all of it to the person of Jesus who finally and fully reveals God to us. That means that as Christians, as we come to these books, to the stories of the judges and the tales of Samuel, to the rise of the monarchy under King David, our intent is to understand properly the story that leads us to Jesus and to recognize how Jesus completes that story for us. However, our goal is not to remake Jesus in the model of an ancient warlord or even an ancient king. Jesus is the new David, but Jesus is also a new kind of David. And we can see that from verse 1 in the New Testament.
Jeremy Duncan:The book of Matthew opens this way. This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. And the writer then proceeds to list off 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 more from David to the exile in Babylon, and a final 14 from Babylon to Jesus' father, Joseph. And that's kind of an interesting coincidence. Right?
Jeremy Duncan:Three sets of 14 generations. How tidy. Except, it's not actually a coincidence. It's a commentary. You see, in ancient Hebrew, they don't have specific symbols for numbers.
Jeremy Duncan:They simply reused their letters for dual purposes. And so the first ten letters of the Hebrew alphabet represent the numbers 1 through 10. From there we go in tens to 100, and from there in 100 to 1,000. And then, just like Roman numerals, you put those letters together to create whatever number you need to represent. Well, the name David, spelled dalet vav dalet, in Hebrew that adds up to, drum roll please, 14.
Jeremy Duncan:See, Matthew is not claiming that there are exactly 14 sets of generations from Abraham to Jesus. He's saying, right from the start of his gospel, David, David, David, Jesus is the son of David. A new king and a new kind of king that will change everything now for everyone. In other words, these stories that we're about to look at here in this series, they don't define God for us. Jesus does that.
Jeremy Duncan:But these stories are the imaginative soil from which the early Christian understandings of Jesus began to emerge. And so, while it is vitally important that we not remake Jesus in the image of David, Jesus is not a warrior king bent on conquest, it is important that we understand that the Christian story roots itself here. However, with all of that as our prolegomena, we can now look back to last season because in the spring we left off with Samuel who, for all intents and purposes, seemed like a pretty good guy and who at least tried to do the right thing by God and His people, but who also, later in life, decides to appoint his 2 good for nothing sons over the people. And sadly, though not unsurprisingly, that means
Jeremy Duncan:he loses the trust of the people.
Jeremy Duncan:And he is rejected in favor of a King. People say, look, all the nations around us, they have a King. That sounds sexy. It looks exciting. We got to judge?
Jeremy Duncan:We want a King. And there's this really interesting moment in the story where God responds to these demands. God says to Sam, now, look, they can have this if they really want this, but before they go through with this, let them know something. A king will not be good for them. God actually delineates how terrible a king will be, saying, a king will use your son as soldiers and take the best land for himself.
Jeremy Duncan:A king will force you to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. He'll take your daughters to serve him. A king will demand a tenth of everything you have. Take your best from you until you are little more than slaves all over again, and yet the people say, yeah. Bring it on.
Jeremy Duncan:That's 1st Samuel chapter 8. And I think it's interesting to reflect on this moment. This moment that leads us to King David because God's comments here aren't directed just at Saul. Most of the things God says don't come to pass under his short reign. God seems to be speaking about the nature of kings.
Jeremy Duncan:And it's intriguing to think about a God who warns us against something, encourages us to turn away, and yet not only allows us to go down a dark path, but sometimes will even give us what we want in spite of ourselves. I think sometimes we are too quick to imagine God as only concerned with power and control, when the divine is apparently more interested in relationship even at the cost of disobedience. And don't get me wrong. I mean, I think the divine wants to save us from all of the damage that we do to ourselves all of the time, but as a primary commitment, it seems to me that God will always be there to see the story through with us, beside us, no matter what we choose. I actually take a lot of comfort in Israel's choosing of a king against God's warning because it seems to say to me at least that there is no path I could possibly choose that will separate me from God's gaze.
Jeremy Duncan:God is in it for the long haul with me. Now, the second thing I think is really interesting in this moment is to reflect here at the entrance to the era of the kings on the way that instability and insecurity, fear really, can lead us to want not to be led, but to be controlled. Remember, the era of the judges is not a coherent nation. It is leadership that is ad hoc. It's all crisis motivated.
Jeremy Duncan:And that has led to generations of instability. And so even when they finally do get a good judge in Samuel, even his judgment can't seem to see past his love for his own crooked sons. And all of that instability leads the people to say, like, just give us a king, someone to rule over us, to tell us what to do, to tell us what to think, where to go, what to work for, what we can keep for ourselves, and what we have to give to Him. Just give us that. And I'm not gonna get into politics, although I think there are obvious implications for our own political moment right now.
Jeremy Duncan:But I will get into community leadership here. I think there are huge implications for our spiritual lives as well. Because I think we often, all of us, reach a point where we just throw up our hands in confusion. I don't know what to think. And in those moments, sometimes we turn to someone to tell us what to think or what to believe, how to language or make sense of our faith for us.
Jeremy Duncan:And I don't think that's particularly healthy. In fact, I don't think that's the role of a pastor to be an autocrat. I'm not interested in doing that for you or for anyone else because I don't think I get
Jeremy Duncan:to tell you what to believe.
Jeremy Duncan:What I get to do, and I count it in incredible privileges, that I get to read and I get to research, I get to study and think, and I get to offer a considered perspective that can help to shape this community. But what the leader shouldn't do ever is think for you. And so when spiritual leadership begins to couch itself in those terms, to demand for itself what is not its, I think it's time to walk away from that. As God says, that kind of leadership, be it a king or otherwise, will eventually demand a tenth of you, take your best until there's nothing left for you. The model of Christ, the model of Christian community is fundamentally different than that.
Jeremy Duncan:It's predicated on the idea that you and I, all of us, we are in this together. And that the hand, the eye, and the foot, and the mouth, and nose, and the ear, none of us get to say to another, I don't need you. We are all part of something together. And so whenever power is demanded, the antidote is influence that is earned in love. That should be our guide, probably as far as we can possibly carry it into every part of our lives.
Jeremy Duncan:Except now we have a king, a king that God didn't want, but a king that the people demanded. And his name is Saul, and he is tall and handsome. He's all the worst things you could want in a leader. And to reinforce my last point, one of the things he does to claim for himself first is not just political power, but religious authority as well. Saul gets impatient waiting for Samuel, and he tries to take on the role of a priest and offers sacrifices to bribe God into helping him win a war.
Jeremy Duncan:And so, only 13 verses into Saul's reign we read, you've done a foolish thing. You've not kept the command the Lord your God gave you. If you had, you would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now, your kingdom will not endure because the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people. All because you have not kept the Lord's command.
Jeremy Duncan:And now, here on the verge of meeting David, about to get to his long awaited introduction, we do have one more thing to talk about first. Because Samuel says this, the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler over his people, and that man is David. We'll get to him today, I promise. But this phrase is an oft misunderstood and even more frequently misapplied title. See, what we're going to find is that David is a far more successful king than Saul.
Jeremy Duncan:And his lineage and line does continue past him, in some sense even eternally in the reign of Jesus, as Matthew points out. But that does not mean that David as king is somehow absolved of critical investigation. Far too often, I have heard any critique of David followed up with, yeah, but he was a man after God's heart. So who are you to judge him? What that misses is that this phrase isn't actually a description of David at all.
Jeremy Duncan:It's a title that's bestowed on David. And I'll quote Colin Toppelmayer here. He's an Old Testament scholar and a professor at Ambrose University here in the city. But he says, since folks seem hell bent on trotting out King David whenever a Christian acts monstrously, I'll take this opportunity to remind everyone that man after God's heart is a Hebrew phrase that refers to David's election as king. It is not related to his character or to God's approval of Him.
Jeremy Duncan:And, what he's talking about here is that in ancient Semitic cultures this was a royal idiom. For example, we have something called the East India House Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, the second. And it's an ancient Acadian clay tablet that names the new king. And it reads, I, his eldest son, the chosen of his own heart. Another example is another tablet called the Babylonian Chronicle.
Jeremy Duncan:It outlines the Babylonians replacing Jehoiakim with a king of their choosing after they conquer Israel in 598 BC. And it tells us that the Babylonian regent appointed there a king after his own heart. What this means is that when Samuel uses the phrase a man after his own heart, it isn't a description of David's character. It's a title that names David as the king in waiting. In other words, David has been chosen after God's wishes.
Jeremy Duncan:It's probably a better translation or because of God's desires. It's a statement about divine selection, not about personal character. Now, we can talk about why God chose David, and that's an interesting discussion. And we will certainly explore that in this series David is far from a perfect king, but he is a fascinating character. But this verse here is not about that.
Jeremy Duncan:It's not a get out of jail free card whenever David messes up, and it is absolutely not a way for Christian leaders to avoid accountability. That is bad theology and biblical illiteracy all rolled up into one toxic ball. However, we've now looked at the context from the era of the judges to the kings. We've seen the downfall of the last of them and the unceremonious reign of the first of the kings. We've seen that God has in mind a man to ascend to the throne.
Jeremy Duncan:Now, finally, we can introduce ourselves to David. So this is 1st Samuel, chapter 16. We're gonna pick up the story of David. The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.
Jeremy Duncan:I'm sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I've chosen one of his sons to be king. But Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears about it, he'll kill me. So the Lord suggested, 'Look, take a heifer with you and say, I'm here to sacrifice to the Lord.
Jeremy Duncan:Invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I'll show you what to do. You're to anoint for me the one that I indicate.' And this is kind of fun here. Even if it's not a lie, God does seem to be sanctioning, let's say, some light chicanery. I like the way that Walter Brueggemann says this. It may not be an outright lie, but Samuel does take an animal for the occasion.
Jeremy Duncan:This is clearly, though, a divinely authorized deception. And I think the point here is simply to show us that God is not just a passive observer in this story. God has a purpose and an agenda. God has actively invested in the unfolding of what transpires with and for David. God is for this man.
Jeremy Duncan:And so, Samuel does what the Lord suggests. Except when he arrives at Bethlehem, the elders of the town tremble. They ask, do you come in peace? Remember, Samuel has been a judge in Israel, and that is the highest authority that most people have ever known for all of their lives until King Saul came along. It's possible that word has leaked out here about a falling out between Saul and Samuel.
Jeremy Duncan:And so the townsfolk are nervous, like, is Samuel bringing royal violence to our doorstep here? But Samuel reassures them, I come in peace. I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. So, consecrate yourselves and come with me. Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice as well.
Jeremy Duncan:And here, we move into a bit
Jeremy Duncan:of a set piece.
Jeremy Duncan:We read this. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, surely, the Lord's anointed stands here. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not consider his appearance or his height, for I've rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Jeremy Duncan:Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, the Lord has not chosen this one either. Jesse then had Shema pass by, but Samuel said, nope. Not this one. In all Jesse, he had 7 of his sons parade before Samuel.
Jeremy Duncan:But Samuel said to him, the Lord has not chosen any of these, with a big shrug emoji. And obviously,
Jeremy Duncan:this
Jeremy Duncan:is a callback to the story of Saul. Right? If you remember, when he was named the 1st king in 1 Samuel 9, we were told about how tall and how handsome and how muscular he was. That's not because men like Saul and I are necessarily the villains of the story. It's a joke, by the way.
Jeremy Duncan:It's a very subtle one. It is a joke though nonetheless. Now, the point here is not that Eliab is rejected because he looks the part. In fact, Eliab's not even rejected at all, is he? It's our fixations that are.
Jeremy Duncan:You see, I think too often, and probably too intensely, we look for leaders whose lives we wish we lived. And at some level I understand that. Of course I do. Right? I don't want to follow the advice of a relationship guru who has an unhealthy marriage at home, or the financial advisor who's just riding a Bitcoin wave.
Jeremy Duncan:I want to see some demonstrated wisdom over time in their life. But often I think in the absence of the time that it takes to actually observe that, we default to more superficial indicators. Wealth, or fashion, or whether someone looks like they have the life we want to live, even if we have no real insight into who they are and how they live for real. And here God is reminding Samuel, reminding us perhaps, look. We tried that once.
Jeremy Duncan:We picked the tallest guy. I let you choose the path. It didn't lead where you thought it would. Perhaps we could try a different story this time. And I think even the language here is more generous.
Jeremy Duncan:There's there's more gentleness to it than we see at first. And the translators here have thrown in this liberal use of the title, the Lord, just because they're trying to clarify who's talking. But the text is far more personal than it seems. We read, the Lord does not look at the things people look at. It's actually in the first person though.
Jeremy Duncan:It's more like this, I don't look at the things you're searching for. You see with your eyes, I search to the center. And if I could work towards that, if we could work towards that in all kinds of different ways in our life, to take the time to actually search out what's at the core, I think we'd all be better off. Except at this point, Samuel's getting a little concerned. He turns back to Jesse.
Jeremy Duncan:He's like, are you sure all these are the sons you have? Well, they're still the youngest, Jesse answered, but he's tending the sheep. And Samuel replied, what are you waiting for? Go get the kid. So So Jesse sent for him, and they had him brought in, and he was glowing with health and had fine appearance with handsome features.
Jeremy Duncan:See, it's not so bad. But the Lord said to Samuel, rise and anoint him. This is the one. And that is our introduction to the great King David. Overlooked and forgotten, left with the sheep in the field and yet filled with remarkable potential.
Jeremy Duncan:Let's pray. Gracious God, for all the times that we have taken the shorter path and looked to what we could see on the surface, The wealth that we aspire to, the appearance that we want for ourselves, the lives we think we want to live without really seeing into the core of what's really there. God, in all of those moments where that has inevitably led us down dark paths to destructive moments, we ask for your healing and your return to help us to slow down, to be intentional about paying attention to each other, to risking the vulnerability to get to know each other so that we actually can see to
Jeremy Duncan:the heart of each other.
Jeremy Duncan:And in that, might we choose people to follow and to learn from, people to trust who have more than just an outward appearance, but a deep core of faithfulness, and grace, and peace, steady commitment in the same direction. The kind of lives that we actually want for ourselves. And as we trust each other, as we learn from each other, as we do the work of being community together, would all of that lead us slowly back to the path of Christ and all the steps that you lead us through this world to embrace your love? In the strong name of the risen Christ, we pray. Amen.
Jeremy Duncan:Hey. Jeremy here. And thanks for listening to our podcast. If you're intrigued by the work that we're doing here at commons, you can head to our website commons.church for more information. You can find us on all of the socials at commonschurch.
Jeremy Duncan:You can subscribe to our YouTube channel where we are posting content regularly for the community. You can also join our Discord server. Head to commons.church/discord for the invite, and there you will find the community having all kinds of conversations about how we can encourage each other to follow the way of Jesus. We would love to hear from you. Anyway, thanks for tuning in.
Jeremy Duncan:Have a great week. We'll talk to you soon.