Read 1 Samuel 16
I am racking my old creaking brains to find a parallel situation from my own experience or from history for David's experience as recorded in the book of First Samuel. At one time I could have thought of several historical contexts which would have been similar to David's or maybe not because, to use an overused word, David's situation was unique. He had been an unknown young lad - probably a teenager, the youngest in a family of seven boys. His only responsibility was to look after the sheep and his father did not think him important enough to be included in the home when Samuel, God's prophet and priest paid an unexpected visit to the household. And yet, David is chosen to be the next king. So we might assume that Saul has died or has been deposed or sent to exile. Well, not exactly. In fact, Samuel is concerned that Saul will discover that God has chosen another king as his replacement. And this new king is not from Saul's family even though Saul had a son named Jonathan who would seem to have had many of the qualities and qualifications to be a good king.
And there is an anointing ceremony held in the house of Jesse, David's home. The event was witnessed by David's brothers who probably did not welcome the advancement of their youngest brother to such a prestigious and prominent role. Eliab, the oldest son, considered David to be a nonentity- even a nuisance.
The Bible records that David was anointed three times. Firstly, he was anointed by Samuel at Bethlehem at the same time as the events described in the last Day Share when God guided Samuel to choose David (and not any of his seven brothers) as the next king of Israel. [1 Samuel 16:13] Much later after the death of King Saul, he was anointed by the men of Judah when they came to Hebron and they anointed David as king of the house of Judah. [2 Samuel 2:4] David belonged to the tribe of Judah so he was only king of his own clan. Then he was anointed for a third time again at Hebron when all the elders of Israel chose to anoint him as king. [2 Samuel 5:3] So this is when he became king of the whole nation of Israel - all 12 tribes.
I want to look at two things in today's study
1. What is meant by anointing? What does this mean?
2. The time span involved in these three anointings. What time elapsed between the first anointing and the second and third anointings.
Firstly, what is meant by anointing? Anointing the body or head with oil (most likely olive oil) was apparently a common practice among the Jews in Old Testament times. Here are three references to this practice [Deuteronomy 28:40; Ruth 3:3 and Micah 6:15) It was almost certainly practised by other nations in the lands around Israel. However, there was a rite or religious ceremony associated with the appointment of the three main offices in the kingdom of Israel. Prophets were anointed with oil - for example, Elisha was anointed as prophet as the successor to Elijah (1 Kings 19:16). Prophets were referred to as the anointed ones or messiahs (1 Chronicles 16:22 and Psalm 105:15). Priests were also anointed before they took up this important role - at first, all priests were anointed (Exodus 40:15; Numbers 3:3) but later on this ceremony was only for the high priest (Exodus 29:29; Leviticus 16:32) Kings were anointed too - God had given instructions to Samuel to go and anoint Saul to make him king of Israel (1 Samuel 9:16) and this event is described in the next chapter when Saul, was anointed was anointed as the first king of Israel.
Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. [1 Samuel 10:1 ESV]
Notice that Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it over Saul's head and this was a sign that he was a king - the word 'prince' or leader is used in this verse. This ceremony was very important and it marked this man Saul out as God's chosen king. There is no mention of a coronation as happens in the United Kingdom. At one stage in the long struggle between David and Saul, there was an occasion when David had an ideal opportunity to kill Saul and he did not take it because Saul was God's anointed. (1 Samuel 24)
So Samuel anointed David in front of all his big brothers. This was a fairly private affair, however, as it would appear that there was only Samuel and the members of David's own family present to witness the event.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. [1 Samuel 16:13 ESV]
This does not mean that David immediately becomes king, however. This leads us to the second part of our study today. David was anointed three times - but there was a significant gap between these three anointing ceremonies. The first time David was only a young lad when he was anointed by Samuel and Saul was still king. Saul was not prepared to hand over the throne to this young lad. Many years would pass and David would not become king until Saul had died. We are not told what age David was when he was first anointed by Samuel. I am going to suggest that he was still a teenager. He was not considered old enough to go to fight the Philistines when he killed Goliath and this anointing took place before the big battle. We know what age he was when he was anointed the second time - thirty years old. [See 2 Samuel 5:4 - 5] So this makes it clear that perhaps as many as 15 years elapsed before David ascended the throne and then he was only king of part of the kingdom - he was king of Judah. He had to wait another 7 years before he was king of all Israel.
That is a long time to wait. But this was all part of God's plan for David. God had chosen his king but he had to prepare him for the responsibility of ruling over His own people. David had to be transformed from a naïve shepherd boy to a king. He had to learn many important lesson in the school of God. He had to learn through many trials as well as triumphs.
How did David's brothers react to all of this? This significant rite of David's anointing was witnessed by his older brothers. They must have wondered when David, their young brother, would take the throne. The conversation between Eliab and David prior to the defeat of Goliath gives a hint that there is ongoing tension in the family. The delay in the fulfilment of the promise contained in the anointing provided fuel for the fire of their resentment. This young upstart of a brother had the brazen cheek to turn up at the battlefield and ask awkward questions about the weakness of Saul's army against the Philistine. I am not sure how they would react when David killed the giant who had paralysed the whole army with fear. But this victory did not immediately result in David ascending the throne of Israel. Saul would continue to hold on to the throne and would become more and more jealous of David - especially when he became more popular with the people than Saul. We will spend several Day Shares looking at David's experiences as he waited for God's time.
Sometimes God teaches us a lesson in patiently waiting for his time to act. We often want God to follow our timescale and we wonder why he is taking so long to fulfil his promises to us. Many generations have waited for the second coming of the Lord. When I was a boy, I used to hear about godly couples who started the day with the thought that they called 'Perhaps Today.' They were eagerly anticipating the coming of the Lord Jesus and they expected it that day. They went home to be with their Lord many years ago and we are still awaiting the coming of the Lord. Are we still as eager for His return as these couples were so many years ago when life was so much simpler and they had fewer material possessions?
Perhaps you have been waiting for God to act in your life. Saul found it challenging to wait 7 days for Samuel. Maybe, you have waited much, much longer for God to answer your prayers. Janie and I have prayed the same prayer for years but still God has not answered. Do we stop praying? Do we begin to doubt God? Or do we wait God's time? Paul had an unidentified' problem' of some kind which he referred to as his thorn in the flesh. He prayed three times for God to deal with this concern but God told him to trust in him and his prayer was apparently unanswered or, at least, the 'thorn in the flesh' was never removed.
[7] So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. [8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. [9] But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. [2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV]
So David was kept waiting for many years to become king, even though he had been anointed while still in his teens. God was teaching him a lesson in patience. Maybe we all need to learn this same lesson.
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