1
This sermon isn’t part of a sermon series, but it is tied to Lent. I want us to look at a
particular major character in the Old Testament. You might have guessed from the scripture
readings, but this person is King David. I want provide a different perspective for how we
consider the character of David and how that relates to us. This passage we read from 1 Samuel
is the first time we explicitly hear mention of David in the Old Testament, but he doesn’t go
away much after this. The narrative of his days as king takes up the rest of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel,
and finally ends in 1 Kings. David is constantly referred to, however, throughout the rest of the
history of Israel. Later kings are compared to David, a large portion of the psalms, including the
one we read, are attributed to him, prophesies are made about the descendants of David, and
finally the Son of God himself is born into this line. David is an important figure in Scripture,
and he is often held up as an example of a faithful follower of God.
Unfortunately for his legacy, David is also remembered for his sins. The best known
example is the story of David and Bathsheba. In case you don’t remember, David saw
Bathsheba bathing one day and was attracted to her. He arranged for her to come to him, even
though he knew she was married. This sin that David committed here is often named as
adultery, since they were both married. In recent decades there’s been a new reading and naming
to this passage that has gained a lot of prominence in biblical scholarship. Bathsheba was the
wife of a soldier. The king summoned her, and she went. There is a good possibility that what
occurred was not a mutually consenting but sinful affair. More likely than not, Bathsheba was
not in a position in which she could have refused any direction the king, and her husband’s
ultimate commander, gave her. This is not a story of adultery; this is a story of rape. After this,
in case you’ve forgotten, Bathsheba becomes pregnant, and David arranges the death of her
2
husband. While David did not himself kill Uriah, I think it is reasonable to say that he murdered
him.
From this one narrative alone, this man of God is shown to actually be a rapist and a
murderer. Elsewhere, he directly violated a command of God to not perform a census. He also
was certainly not going to win a prize for parenting when you consider that his children killed
people and each other, sexually assaulted each other, and led rebellions against David himself.
These sins are problematic because in many ways, David was a great king. He was a great
military leader. David did show great love both for God and others. As I said, many of the
psalms are attributed to him. The one we read today is supposed to be a lament and apology for
his sin with Bathsheba. While it does not excuse his actions, these words are sincere, and his
apology is heartfelt. The story of David’s friendship with Jonathan is one of the most moving
tales in the Bible. God makes extraordinary plans for David and promises to David. These
promises are possibly the grandest promises to any one person in the Bible, with the exception of
Abraham.
Perhaps most puzzling, a few chapters before today’s passage, Samuel tells Saul that he
will be replaced as Israel’s king and will be replaced by someone after God’s own heart. What?!
David is after God’s own heart?! Why?! That doesn’t seem to make sense in light of all that
David did, he might not be absolutely terrible, but he doesn’t seem all that great either. Why
would Samuel say that? What makes David a man after God’s own heart? For how David was
chosen to be king, I want to look more closely at the passage for today from 1 Samuel.
Samuel is sent to Jesse because God tells Samuel that God has provided for himself a
king from the sons of Jesse. After some conniving to avoid arousing the suspicions of Saul,
Samuel looks at Jesse’s first son and thinks that he looks pretty good. He thinks that this must be
3
the guy. But God tells him it isn’t. God reminds Samuel that God doesn’t see as humans see
because God looks at a person’s heart. Since we know where this narrative goes, this is another
part where we have to stop for a second. If God sees a person’s heart, why did God choose
David? David is going to mess up and sin. A lot. What is special about David?! Samuel
continues to look at all of Jesse’s sons but the youngest and none of them are the chosen one.
Were none of them good enough? Were these older sons worse than David? Finally, Samuel
sees David. This is the one. Samuel anoints him, and the spirit of the Lord came upon him
mightily from that day forward. That seems a happy ending, but we know what’s coming later.
The spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he still did all the bad stuff that he did? What is so
special about David?!
It’s also interesting to note here that David is the youngest son out of eight. In this
society, the oldest son should inherit everything and the younger children shouldn’t get anything.
But we see, over and over in the Old Testament, that God chooses the younger son. The first
place we see this is with Cain and Abel. Cain is the older son, but God favors Abel’s offering.
Isaac is the younger son of Abraham. Even though he was born of a concubine, Ishmael was
Abraham’s true firstborn, but he’s sent away. Jacob gains prominence over Esau, even though
he was born second. Jacob’s two youngest sons are from his favored wife, and they are favored
by him. One of these sons, Joseph, goes on to gain great power in Egypt. These are just the
examples from the book of Genesis.
It doesn’t make sense to us for God to choose David. It doesn’t make sense for God to
choose the youngest son. By right, Saul should have stayed king of Israel, and Saul’s eldest son
should have been king after him. If one of Jesse’s sons had to be chosen to be king over and
against the right of the current king, it’s the oldest son that should be favored, but neither of
4
those things are what God does. Like countless other places in the Bible, God raises up someone
who shouldn’t be raised up. David has no right to the throne of Israel. He is not related to the
king. He has not yet taken control through a mighty battle or victory. He doesn’t even seem like
that great of a person. But God chose him. God’s spirit was upon David from the day of his
anointing until the day of his death. What was God thinking? What did David do to deserve this
kind of favor? If God is going to break all the rules for David, there has to be a reason why,
right? There needs to be something special about David that God saw, even if we can’t, right?
As followers of God, we want to know what that was. What is it that David did or thought or
said that God liked so much? What can we learn from David so that we can get just a fraction of
this much favor from God?
When we look at this text, I think the answer to these questions is in there. God provided
for himself a king out of Jesse’s sons. One of these young men was God’s provision to God’s
own self for a king to rule over God’s chosen people. What was it that was so special about
David? The answer to that is almost so simple that it’s hard to accept. David was chosen.
That’s what’s so special about David. Why was the spirit of God poured out on David from that
day forward? Because God chose to do it. God provided himself a king by choosing David and
pouring his spirit out on him from that day forward. God didn’t just choose David that one time.
God chose David every day, over and over, even though David didn’t always do the right thing.
David was not chosen because he was going to be a good king; David was able to be a good king
because he was chosen.
He was chosen even though he was nothing special. He was not the king when he was
chosen. He was not the king’s firstborn son. He was not royalty. He was the great-grandson of
Ruth, who was a Moabite. This foreign group was detested and excluded from Israelite society.
5
His lineage was nothing to be proud of. Even within his own family, he was not even the
firstborn son of his own father. He was the youngest son. He was nothing special to society, but
he was something special to God. God chose him despite his status. God chose him despite his
sinfulness. David was after God’s own heart because God offered his own heart to David for no
other reason than that God decided to. Because of this, David and his line became prominent in
Israel. Even once the monarchy ended, and there was the exile, and everyone came back from
the exile, those who were descended from David still knew they were descended from the great
king. They still hung on to that. It meant something.
It was into this favored line that Jesus was born. Despite the royal lineage, Jesus was not
born into royalty. Jesus was born in the humblest of circumstances, but everyone knew that
Jesus’s earthly father was descended from the great king David. God’s own son came out of the
line of this special, chosen man. From this youngest son was born the King of Kings. That
makes a nice little parallel, doesn’t it? David was Israel’s great king for a while, but then the
greater king came along in Jesus Christ and now he rules as an infinitely and unimaginably better
and more powerful king than King David, right? I can draw you this nice little line from the
chosen man of David to Jesus, who is himself God, and we can leave it at that, right? I could
give you some more illustrations and examples, and there would be a nice message in this
sermon about waiting for Jesus, the King of Kings. That fits nicely into Lent. There’s a problem
with that though. That isn’t quite what the Bible leads us to think. That isn’t quite how God
works. God favors the younger son, even though he doesn’t deserve it either by right or virtue.
There’s another way to put this: God doesn’t favor the eldest son. Our parallel just fell
apart. God doesn’t favor the current king. God doesn’t favor the eldest son in the royal line.
God doesn’t favor those who might seem better because of their position in society. God doesn’t
6
favor those who might seem better because they are more righteous. This passage in 1 Samuel,
along with many other passages throughout the Old Testament, show us over and over that God
doesn’t favor the person who it seems like he “should”. That’s not how God works. God isn’t
interested in following the rules and favoring who he’s “supposed” to. We can’t faithfully read
the Bible and come away with that idea.
We had started talking a little bit about Jesus. Jesus is God’s only begotten son. In the
gospel passage we read today, Jesus was baptized and the Spirit of God came upon him. God
proclaimed that Jesus was his beloved son. We also know that in our baptisms we become
grafted into this holy family. We also become the children of God. We’re not the same as Jesus,
mind you, but we become God’s children, too. We obviously can never be as exalted as Jesus
because Jesus is God’s only begotten son. Once we become the adopted children, Jesus is still
the eldest son. Jesus is still God’s firstborn. Jesus has the place of status in this eternal family
because he is the only true son of God. He was God’s child before we were imagined. We are
so far beneath this King of Kings that we feel uncomfortable calling him “brother”.
There’s a problem with this though, isn’t there? The last paragraph I just spoke about
Jesus doesn’t fit in with the rest of my sermon. The last paragraph I just spoke doesn’t fit in with
what we read in the rest of the Bible. It doesn’t fit in with today’s passage from 1 Samuel. God
favors the youngest son. God doesn’t favor the eldest son. God does not choose people based
on birth order. God does not choose people based on righteousness. The gospel isn’t a story
about how God reverses that precedent. God doesn’t start choosing the eldest and sinless son
after all. God doesn’t choose the royal line. God doesn’t choose the person who deserves it.
Time and again in the Old Testament, we see God pass over the person he “should” favor. Even
that’s not quite what we see in the New Testament though, is it?
7
We’re God’s younger children. God, like so many times previously, has chosen to favor
the younger children, but God doesn’t just pass over the oldest son, does he? In the New
Testament, in the gospel, we see something even more radical. We see the death of the firstborn.
God’s firstborn child isn’t favored all that much, is he? God’s firstborn child isn’t born into the
distinguished line to rule over Israel as the new, perpetual king. God’s firstborn child, his only
true and begotten child, dies on a cross. God’s firstborn son suffers an unimaginably horrific
death. In the gospel, we see the death of the firstborn because God favors the younger child time
and again. This time the pattern has continued, but it’s even more radical. God has chosen to
favor us even though we’re the younger children and the sinful children.
Why were we chosen? What was it that was so special about us? The answer to that
question is almost so simple that it’s hard to accept. We were chosen. That by itself is what’s so
special about us. Why is the spirit of God poured out on us over and over again? Because God
chooses to do it. God provided himself children by choosing us and pouring his spirit out on us
over and over again. God didn’t just choose to favor us that one time when he sent his son to die
on a cross when it should have been us suffering and dying for our sins. God chooses us every
day, over and over, even though we don’t always do the right thing. We are not chosen because
we are going to be good children, but sometimes we are able to be good children of God because
we are chosen. That makes us special. That makes us important.
In this passage in 1 Samuel, we see something important. We see God choosing someone
who isn’t from an important line or lineage. We see God choosing the younger child. We see
God choosing someone who will be sinful and do things that are wrong and hurtful to David
himself, other people in his life and family, and God’s own self. David didn’t do or say or think
anything particular that made God choose him. We see that God chooses David despite his
8
sinfulness because God doesn’t see as mortals see. God sees us through the lens of his love. This
is where our parallel is. David doesn’t parallel Jesus. David is a parallel to us. We are chosen
just like David is chosen. We are people after God’s own heart. We, in some sense, aren’t
special. We are sinful, and we do things that displease God. We do things that hurt ourselves
and those around us. But God doesn’t see as mortals see. God sees us as he saw David. God
loves us. God chooses us and makes us special. God gives life to the younger child.