This blog is two months late so I’m just going to dive right into it:
1 & 2 Samuel were written as one continuous book. The Hebrew language doesn’t have any vowels, so when the Scriptures were translated to Greek, the inclusion of vowels meant that Samuel could no longer fit on to one scroll – hence it being in two parts. . The same goes for 1 & 2 Kings and Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah. Basically, don’t be surprised when we give you one blog for what appears as two or more different books in your Bible – I’m doing this to keep in line with the original form that the Bible was written in.
Samuel tells the tale of the first two kings of Israel – Saul and David. People often make the overarching statement that Saul was a bad king and David was a good one. It’s easy for us to generalise but Saul and David, like all human beings, were complicated. Yes, Saul disobeyed God and had the kingdom taken away from him and given to another, but he also started off as a man of faith. And yes, David was a man after God’s own heart. But, in addition to his infamous murder, David was an irresponsible, indulgent father whose sin led to the downfall of the nation and civil war. Yikes.
In short, neither one of these kings was truly good. What we see in Samuel is a gap that needs to be filled which all kings after them will fail to do.
Enter Jesus.
Now I know I said that David wasn’t a truly good king, but I’m back to admit that he was the best Israel had – not just because the twelve tribes were finally united under him, or because he led them to military victory, but because he never strayed from God. Unlike Saul, when David sinned, he was quick to repent with a contrite heart. This devotion to Yahweh is what [earned] him the promise of an eternal royal dynasty. Jesus is the fulfillment of that messianic promise. That’s why He is often referred to as ‘Son of David’ in the New Testament.
“I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom…forever.”
‘Ben’ in Hebrew means ‘son of’, so we can rewrite Jesus’ title as ‘ben David.’
In Judaism, two distinct messianic portraits have been drawn out by rabbis: Messiah ben Joseph, and Messiah ben David. This resulted from the contrasting pictures of the coming saviour painted by the prophets of Israel; sometimes He was a meek, peaceful king, whilst at other times He was a mighty man of war coming to subdue the earth. The former was coined Messiah ben Joseph; the latter Messiah ben David, after the king who had victory songs sung about his conquests.
“As they danced, they sang:
’Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands.’”
Anyway, the consensus amongst Jewish rabbis is that these are two different Messiahs. From Jesus’ ministry and the prophecies of the New Testament, we know that there is actually only one Messiah, who is both peaceful king and man of war. In the prophecies of Isaiah and Zechariah we will explore how Jesus is Messiah ben Joseph, but for now let’s look at Him as Messiah ben David – the conquering king.
In Christianity we hear a lot of talk about how Jesus has conquered the grave, conquered death, conquered sin, and so on. That’s all very important, but it’s equally important we not lose focus of the physical victories He will win as well. The Bible tells us that Jesus is coming again, this time to wage physical war on everything and everyone who opposes Him.
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white rider called Faithful and True. With justice He judges and makes war.”
Reading Samuel ensures we have a balanced view of Jesus. He came first as the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, but His second coming will be in an entirely different manner. He will return as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, ready to take His place as King over the earth. Like David, Jesus will establish His kingdom in Jerusalem and unite the scattered tribes of Israel under Him.
“He will reign on David’s throne
and over His kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.”
Amen