David is anointed King
In a small country village in Sicily, there were two brothers, Luigi and Guiseppe renown members of the local Mafia.
They were mean, bad and very rich.
No one had a good word to say about them.
Indeed, everyone seemed to have a story about how they had either been cheated or maligned by the brothers.
One day, one of the brothers, Guiseppe died.
The surviving brother, Luigi - with a rare touch of conscience - felt that something nice should be said about his brother at the funeral.
So he went to the local priest and said:
“I know that folk in the village hate us, and they dont know the half of what we have been up to.
However, I want you to say something nice about Guiseppe at his funeral.
I want you to say that Guiseppe was a saint when you preach.
If you will agree to do that, Ill show my gratitude by giving one hundred thousand Euros towards the repair of the church.
And with that Luigi held out a cheque for one hundred thousand Euros.
“If you dont,” Luigi continued ”you’ll be in big trouble with me and yoiu know what that will mean.”
The priest thought about it for a minute, agreed and took Luigi’s cheque for one
hundred thousand Euros.
A week later, the whole village turned out for the funeral curious to hear what the priest would say.
After the opening hymns had been sung and the readings had been read, the priest climbed up into the pulpit and delivered his sermon.
Eyeing the brother, sitting in the front row, the priest said how evil the pair of them had been.
He went on to say how Guiseppe had cheated, not only in business but on his wife, how he had lied and how had had no concern for anyone but himself.
In fact he went on to say what a downright scoundrel Guiseppe had been.
After ten minutes of preaching in this vein, the priest, being the man of integrity, ended his sermon by simply saying
"But compared to his brother, Luigi - Guiseppe was a saint.
I want to look at the anointing of King David from our OT reading and ask the question
Why was Saul rejected and David chosen?
Because – if you know the history of the two Israelite kings you might be tempted to say:
“But compared to David, King Saul was a saint”
After all, David wasn’t your archetypal saint was he?
In 2 Sam 11 and 12, we read of one of the most notorious acts of treachery in the Old Testament.
King David’s adultery with Uriah the Hittite’s wife, Bathsheba - followed by the shameful murder of her husband.
What makes this event so despicable is that Uriah wasn’t just any old soldier.
He was one of David’s special SAS force - known as the Thirty Chiefs - who had been with David from the days of Adullum’s Cave (2 Sam 23: 39).
In other words Uriah was a trusty companion of David’s.
A friend even. And David had him killed!
I haven’t come across anyone who could break so many of the 10 commandments at one sitting!
As far as I can make out David managed to break at least 4 of the 10 commandments
You shall not murder (No. 6)
You shall not commit adultery (No. 7)
You shall not steal (No. 8)
You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife (No. 10) (Ex 20:1-17)
But just before you think that David was a special sinner, I’d like to park a verse with you that St. Paul said about King David:
(God) testified concerning (David): ’I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ (Acts 13:22)
A murderer, an adulterer, a thief - a man after God’s own heart?
So how do we marry up all these paradoxes?
So why did St. Paul call David a man after God’s own heart?
I think you will find the key in 2 Samuel 12, where Nathan the prophet confronts David over his sin.
Nathan tells David the story of a man who had one single little sheep that he loves very much.
One day, one of the rich local landowners had a friend come to visit.
Instead of taking a lamb from his own flock, the rich landowner stole the poor man’s only pet lamb killed it and put it on the table for his friend.
David is so incensed at the injustice of it all – and you see David’s real heart coming through – that he said that the man who did this must die!!
And in probably the most moving scene of the Old Testament - Nathan looks David in the eye and says: “Thou art the man!” (2 Sam 12:7).
You could cut the air.
What does David do? Does he fly off the handle and execute Nathan, as many a despotic King might.
No – read 2 Sam 12:13
Then David confessed to Nathan: “I have sinned against the Lord” (2 Sam 12:13)
And THAT, ladies and gentlemen is the key to Paul’s statement that “David was a man after God’s own heart.”
David stopped covering up and threw himself on God’s mercy.
Now there is a similar incident in Saul’s life where he sins against God.
In I Samuel 15, the prophet Samuel said to Saul,
2 This is what the LORD Almighty says: ’I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.
3 Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’ "
Saul attacks the Amalekites and gets a resounding victory and slaughters everyone – except the Agag King of the Amalekites and all the sheep and cattle.
Samuel the prophet comes to the battlefield the next day and Saul tells him eagerly how his has carried out the Lord’s instructions
14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?"
15 Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest."
16 "Stop!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night."
"Tell me," Saul replied.
17 Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ’Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’
19 Why did you not obey the LORD ? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the LORD ?"
20 "But I did obey the LORD," Saul said. "I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king.
21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
Saul passed the buck for his own sin. How often do we hear that – it wasn’t my fault.
22 But Samuel replied: "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king."
30 Saul replied, "I have sinned. But please honour me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God." 31 So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
The difference between Saul and David was that David’s repentance was genuine, Saul paid lip service to it – and wanted to cover it up in front of the people.
David went public with his repentance over the Bathseba affair – Psalm 51
Let me read you some parts of the Psalm, because it reveals David’s heart.
It is entitled: Psalm 51 For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
David writes
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God area broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
David was a man after God’s own heart – despite his sin - because he was a man who genuinely repented – and recognized his sin
Saul, while paying lip service to repenting – in his heart did not.
That is why David was called a man after God’s heart and Saul wasn’t
That is why David was chosen but Saul rejected.
Let me leave you with some poignant words of the apostle John. St John in his first letter says this:
If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and his word has no place in our hearts. (1 Jn 1:8-10)
Forgiving is as important to a Christian as receiving forgiveness and I would like to close with a prayer found a Ravensbruck concentration camp on a piece of wrapping paper near the body of a dead child, a prayer possibly written by the mother of that child.
O Lord remember not only the men and women of good will but also those of ill will. But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us; remember the fruits we bought, thanks to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart which has grown out of all this. And when they come to judgment, let all the fruits that we have borne be their forgiveness (Prayer - Richard Foster p.240)
