6.3 David And Saul
6-3-1 David As A Type Of Christ
We have shown elsewhere that David was a clear type of the Lord Jesus
(1). This is what makes the book of
Psalms so exciting; for no other Bible character do we have such
an intimate expression of his innermost mind. And because David
typified Christ, we have here an exquisite insight into the mind
of Christ, into the thought processes of the Son of God
. Now this alone should fill us with a sense of wonder. But this
morning we want to consider specifically the relationship of David
to Saul. It becomes apparent that in the typology, David and his
men represent Christ and us, and Saul and his men represent the
persecutors of the Lord Jesus in the first century. Consider the
evidence for David as a type of Christ from this table:
Saul vs. David (1
Samuel) |
The Jews / Judas vs. Christ |
| Saul's jealousy was on account
of David's victories, especially over Goliath, which represented
Christ's conquest of sin (2)
(18:7,8; 19:8,9), and his subsequent popularity with the
people. Saul watched David's spirituality, observing the
close fellowship David had with God (18:15,28) |
The Jews were jealous of the evident
moral perfection of the Lord Jesus, and his popularity with
the people which he seemed to effortlessly achieve. Joseph's
brothers had a similar motivation to Saul. David as a type
of Christ comes out clearly here. |
| Saul drove David away from his
presence and that of Yahweh, to become a fugitive and vagabond;
Saul would not accept any sacrifice from David (1 Sam. 26:19).
This has so many connections with the driving out of Cain
in Gen. 4:14. In other words, Saul was saying that David
was not spiritually fit to be in the land and must therefore
be destroyed. |
The Jews maintained that Christ
was a sinner and therefore merited their persecution. |
| 19:20,21 |
Jn. 7:46 |
| 19:10 |
Christ slipping away from Jews
bent on killing him, Jn. 8:59; 7:19 |
| 20:1 |
" Ye seek to kill me...which
of you convinceth me of sin?" (Jn. 8:37,40,46) |
| " I have sinned" (19:5) |
The very words of Judas (Mt.27:4).
Again, we see clearly David as a type of Christ |
| 19:5 Saul wanted to slay innocent
blood |
Mt.27:4 |
| 20:2 |
Jn.7:20 |
| 22:23 |
David's men = the uncertain
disciples; Jn.14:1; 15:4, 20 |
| David couldn't live in the Jerusalem
area, near the temple, as he wished, because of the persecution
(Ps. 84:3,10) |
Christ didn't stay in Judea because
the Jews sought to kill him (Jn.7:1) |
| God did not deliver David into
Saul's hand (23:14) |
Jn. 10:39 |
| Saul: " Where is he?"
at the feast (20:27) |
Jn. 7:11 |
| David cried out in appeal to Saul |
Jn. 7:28 |
| Saul's seeking to kill David ran
into problems because of David's popularity with the people
|
Jn. 7:30,31; 10:39-41- David as
a type of Christ |
| Saul also persecuted the people
of Israel at the time, resulting in some of them going forth
to be with David (22:2) |
David's men represent the followers
of the Lord Jesus (cp. Heb. 13:13). David's motley crew
were bitter men, " them that are set on fire...whose
teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword"
(Ps. 57:4). So rough were they that David says that having
to live with them almost destroyed him spiritually (1 Sam.
26:19). This typology would explain why the body of Christ
seems full of bitter men and women with hard words- who
eventually will be the rulers in Messiah's Kingdom, after
the pattern of David's men. |
| Saul's spies aimed to deliver
David into Saul's hands (23:20) |
Lk. 20:20 |
| It can be taken as read that Saul
expected the Israelites to inform him of where David was;
he was to be seen as public enemy no.1 |
Jn. 11:57 |
| Saul had a network of spies watching
David (18:20,24; 19:11,19; 23:7,13,25; 24:1; 27:4) |
Mk. 3:2; Lk. 6:7; 14:1; 20:20 |
| Saul " sought" David,
implying a great level of mental effort (19:10; 23;14,15,25;
24:2; 25:26,29; 26:2,20; 27:1,4; 2 Sam. 4:8) |
The Jews sought to kill Christ
(Mt. 21:46; Mk. 11:18; 12:12; 14:1,11,55; Lk. 19:47; 20:19;
22:2,6; Jn.5:16,18; 7:1,11,25,30; 8:37,40; 10:39; 11:8,56;
18:4,7,8) |
| David bore a charmed life from
Saul's persecution; humanly, he should surely have perished
(23:26,27; 27:1) |
Jn. 7:30 |
To the Hebrew thinker, there is an unmistakeable similarity between
the Hebrew words Shaul and Sheol (grave); it is a matter of pointing.
In the same way as Judas personified the Jewish system and the flesh
behind it (hence they are both called the devil), Saul too personified
what was evil; he was the great enemy, the satan, of David, as the
Jews and the flesh were the great satan for Christ. In this we see
David as a type of Christ.
David’s
bringing the ark to the place which he had prepared (1 Chron. 15:12)
is the basis of the Lord’s words in Jn. 14:1-3. Clearly the Lord saw
David as Himself, and us as the ark. The ‘bringing up’ or ‘lifting
up’ of the ark (1 Chron. 15:12,22 RVmg.) to a perpetual dwelling
place has evident reference to the resurrection. And when the ark
was finally brought or lifted up to Zion, David / Jesus dealt bread
and wine to the people (1 Chron. 16:3). One practical encouragement
from this typology is that the memorial feast is a celebration that
in fact we, the ark, have in prospect already been brought or lifted
up into the eternal place prepared for us in the Kingdom.
Notes
(1) The extent to which David
was a type of Christ is shown in Ps. 89:20-27. This is concerning
" David my servant" , but evidently this passage describes
the future glory of Messiah, David's son. " The stone which
the builders refused is become the head stone" (Ps. 118:22)
is clearly quoted in the New testament with reference to Christ's
exaltation. But in the context, these words are part of a personal
prayer of praise from David for God's healing of him.
(2) See David
and Goliath .
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