1 & 2 Samuel: The Kingdom that Won't Let You Down
Reading: 2 Samuel 5:1-10
Preacher: Joshua Taylor
Sunday 4 July 2021
In March this year, the Economist published an article title “America’s new religious war: Religious fervour is migrating into politics.”
The point of the article was to highlight the way that people are bringing religious language and concepts to politics.
The underlying conviction on various sides of the political spectrum being that the “right politics can save us.”
We have seen it in the news over the last year – and not just in America.
Here in our own country, our prime minister has been turned into a heroic figure. To be fair, she has shown some excellent leadership. But the mythic proportions of some of the praise seems to move beyond political admiration and morph into the desire for a saviour.
This is nothing new, however.
The Romans pinned their hopes on Caesar, kings and emperors have been put on pedestals for centuries.
Countless leaders and kingdoms have made promises of a brighter future, but it seems that none of them can make it happen, right?
Every human kingdom and society has found establishing perfect happiness, security, peace, and prosperity impossible.
I don’t say this to undervalue or undermine human leaders and authorities. I am grateful for good government wherever we find it. Yet, the point is this – all of our leaders will let us down.
In today’s story from 2 Samuel, we delve into the realm of human kingdoms.
We enter a world of people fighting over resources and land, playing power games, and being divided over leadership.
And alongside all of this a story of God at work in history, establishing a plan to bring hope to a broken and hurting world.
We are currently working through a series in 1 & 2 Samuel, and today we find ourselves in 2 Samuel 5 where David is made king over the people.
In the opening chapters of 2 Samuel there has been a wrestle for power between the southern and northern kingdoms. David has been ruling as the king of Judah, yet in the north, in Israel one of Saul’s descendants Ish Bosheth has been made king.
There is lots of fighting, intrigue and murder in these opening chapters as various characters play a game of thrones.
In chapter 5 we read about the moment where the tribes of Israel get together with David at Hebron and call on him to be King.
Here is David’s moment – the turning point of the story where he assumes the throne.
We also here in chapter 5 about how David captures Jerusalem and establishes it as the city that will become the most famous and significant city in the land.
David has made it – he has overcome his enemies and he has succeeded in ascending to the throne.
The language that is used of David is very powerful. The people say to David “it was you who led out and brought in Israel.” David is seen as one who has delivered and saved Israel. He is cast as a saviour type figure.
Pretty impressive right!
But notice what the Lord says about David.
The Lord said “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.”
David is reminded that the people are God’s people and his role is to be a shepherd who tends and cares for them and leads them well in God’s name. This imagery is rich right throughout the Bible and is used to refer to leaders of God’s people.
He is also referred to as a prince here by God, not a king. Perhaps this was to remind David that he wasn’t to play the role as all the other kings of the nations. The issue right at the beginning of the story of Samuel was that the people had rejected God as their king. Perhaps there is a hint and reminder here in God’s words.
And so, with God’s words ringing in his ears, David is anointed as king over Israel.
He reigned successfully over the people for many years and was regarded as the greatest king of Israel.
Verse 10 puts it bluntly saying: “David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.”
The scriptures here want to make it clear and plain for us to see. David’s became greater and greater because the Lord was with him.
The most important factor in his leadership and in the flourishing of the kingdom of Israel under him was God’s presence.
What is highlighted for us in the story, just so we don’t miss it – is this:
God is the one who brings wholeness, and flourishing, and salvation to the people. God is the one who saves, and he uses David for His purposes and for His glory.
One commentator, Ralph Klein puts it well saying:
The short sentence “I am with you” is at the heart of the good news in the Bible. Moses thought up five excuses in Exodus 3-4 about why he should not be the leader in the Exodus. Then God said, “I will be with you” (Exodus 3:12), or “I will be with your mouth” when Moses had tried the lame excuse that he did not know how to talk (Exodus 4:12). Jeremiah had argued that he was only a teenager and therefore could not be a prophet. God countered, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1:8). In Matthew’s description of the significance of Jesus, he drew on the old word in Isaiah 7:14, “They shall name him Emmanuel, which means, ‘God is with us'” (cf. Matthew 1:23). And the last word of Jesus in that Gospel is: “And remember, I am with you to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).[1]
God with his people. God with us.
When we hear the stories of kings rising and falling in Samuel, we can see the narrative on one level – human politics. The best comes out on top, and in this case it is David.
But on a theological level, what is happening in the story is God is setting up a plan to rescue his people.
In the line of David, a King will come who will fulfill all of God’s promises to set the world right.
In Luke 1, when the angel visits Mary to tell her about the birth of Jesus, the angel says:
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
David was called a shepherd of God’s people, and Jesus will be called THE good shepherd – the one true King who will lead us into peace and wholeness, and flourishing.
Jesus and The Kingdom of God
When talking to the people about what he has come to do Jesus will speak of the “kingdom of God being at hand.” He will talk about the kingdom of God more than almost anything else – painting pictures of what the kingdom of God is and what it looks like by telling stories and parables.
Jesus in his sermon on the Mount gives us a glimpse of what this Kingdom looks like in practice – peacemaking, justice, right relationships, love, and forgiveness.
The kingdom of God describes the rule and reign of God and what life will be like when all is as it ought to be.
Jonathan Pennington, a Biblical scholar puts it this way:
“Holy Scripture understands human flourishing to be a function of God’s redemptive work in the world, the very core of his relation toward his creatures. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God is at work redeeming his broken, sinful and rebellious creatures…God reveals himself to be actively and graciously redeeming his people, saving them from oppression, forgiving their disobedience and dishonoring acts, and leading them into a time and place of his full presence. From beginning to end of Holy Scripture, God is a king who is establishing his perfect heavenly reign on the earth through his chosen people, now those who are in Christ. His kingdom is a time and place of righteousness; that is, the time and place where the world is set to right, both individually and corporately.”[2]
David’s kingdom at its best anticipates this kingdom inaugurated by Jesus. David’s kingdom, even in all its glory and height is a mere signpost to what God will do in the world through Jesus.
What we see in David’s story today is that human kingdoms rise and fall. In the midst of these ebbs and flows of human power and weakness, vanity and selfishness, God steps in and makes a plan to rescue us and set this world right.
No politics will save us.
There isn’t a single political leader, prime minister or president who can bring the peace and justice that his world needs.
In a polarised world in which we may be tempted to pin our hopes on our own politics, we are shaken up by the story of Scripture which tells us that God has intervened decisively in the coming of Jesus Christ who calls us to “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.”
Simply put, that means, turn away from all of those false hopes and idols which we hold on to in order to try and put the world right on our own and instead cling to Him. Trust in Him.
For he and he alone is truly good.
Amen.
[1] Ralph Klein: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-14-2/commentary-on-2-samuel-51-5-9-10-2
[2] Jonathan Pennington in https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/oct/6/human-flourishing-an-urgent-universal-timeless-goa/