2.5 The Davidic Covenant

The Davidic Covenant was a continuation of the Mosaic Covenant, except for the addition of the kings of Israel.

1 Samuel 8:4-7 indicates how Israel rejected God as king and wanted to have a man as a king to lead them into battle:

4 1 Samuel 8:4-7

4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel to Ramah.

5 They said to him, "Behold, you are old, and your sons don't walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."

6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to judge us." Samuel prayed to Yahweh.

7 Yahweh said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they tell you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as the king over them.

It is difficult to understand how significant this change in governance would be. Moses, Joshua, and many judges served in leadership, like kings. Their success always involved prophetic dialogue with God. The prophet's role was to be God's eyes, ears, and mouthpiece. Such was Samuel. He was also the last judge before the reign of kings began. God sympathized with Samuel by saying they did not reject him but God as king.

In 1 Samuel 8:8-9, God disclosed how He had seen Israel wandering away from Him committing idolatry, just as Samuel had experienced with Israel. He told Samuel to protest, but to listen to them:

2 1 Samuel 8:8-9

8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, in that they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so they also do to you.

9 Now therefore listen to their voice. However you shall protest solemnly to them, and shall show them the way of the king who will reign over them."

The Davidic Covenant included the rules that God made with Israel concerning the addition of kings as described in 1 Samuel 8:10-18:

9 1 Samuel 8:10-18

10 Samuel told all Yahweh's words to the people who asked him for a king.

11 He said, "This will be the way of the king who shall reign over you: he will take your sons, and appoint them as his servants, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and they will run before his chariots.

12 He will appoint them to him for captains of thousands, and captains of fifties; and he will assign some to plow his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and the instruments of his chariots.

13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, to be cooks, and to be bakers.

14 He will take your fields, your vineyards, and your olive groves, even their best, and give them to his servants.

15 He will take one tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give it to his officers, and to his servants.

16 He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and assign them to his own work.

17 He will take one tenth of your flocks; and you will be his servants.

18 You will cry out in that day because of your king whom you will have chosen for yourselves; and Yahweh will not answer you in that day."

With additional representation comes taxation, and if it ever gets excessive, God said in verse 18, "Do not come crying to me!" (My paraphrase.) 1 Samuel 8:19-22, tells us how Israel responded:

4 1 Samuel 8:19-22

19 But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; and they said, "No; but we will have a king over us,

20 that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."

21 Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of Yahweh.

22 Yahweh said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice, and make them a king."

Sometimes I wonder if God also accepted the lineage of kings because he foresaw Jesus eventually coming as God's rightful king. God told Abraham that kings would come forth from Him in Genesis 17:6:

1 Genesis 17:6

6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you. Kings will come out of you.

The history of how God made Saul the first king was filled with excitement and awe, but Saul needed to learn to listen to God speaking through the prophetic voice. As a result, Saul took it upon himself to offer a sacrifice when he was supposed to wait for Samuel as described in 1 Samuel 13:8-14. Furthermore, God rejected Saul for not heeding the prophetic voice:

7 1 Samuel 13:8-14

8 He stayed seven days, according to the time set by Samuel; but Samuel didn't come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.

9 Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering to me here, and the peace offerings." He offered the burnt offering.

10 It came to pass that as soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might greet him.

11 Samuel said, "What have you done?" Saul said, "Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn't come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash;

12 therefore I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and I haven't entreated the favor of Yahweh.' I forced myself therefore, and offered the burnt offering."

13 Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of Yahweh your God, which he commanded you; for now Yahweh would have established your kingdom on Israel forever.

14 But now your kingdom will not continue.  Yahweh has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has appointed him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept that which Yahweh commanded you."

On another occasion, Saul disobeyed God's command to destroy the Amalekites and their flocks, but Saul kept some for burnt offerings. It was the last straw as described in 1 Samuel 15:22-25:

4 1 Samuel 13:22-25

22 Samuel said, "Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh's voice? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.

23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected Yahweh's word, he has also rejected you from being king."

24 Saul said to Samuel, "I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of Yahweh, and your words, because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship Yahweh."

At first, Samuel refused to go with Saul, but then he gave in. This would prove to be a grave mistake on Samuel's part because Saul was unwilling to relinquish the office of king. Saul needed Samuel to accompany him. He reasoned that if people saw Samuel walking with him, God still accepted him as king. Saul was practicing self-promotion.

God sent Samuel to find a new king of God's choosing clandestinely. David was the youngest of eight brothers and shepherded the sheep when Samuel visited the house. No one expected that the youngest would be chosen, but as God said to Samuel while considering one of the older sons in 1 Samuel 16:7:

1 1 Samuel 16:7

7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, "Don't look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don't see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart."

When David came in, God affirmed him in 1 Samuel 16:12-14:

3 1 Samuel 16:12-14

12 "Yahweh said, "Arise! Anoint him, for this is he."

13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the middle of his brothers. Then Yahweh's Spirit came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.

14 Now Yahweh's Spirit departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him.

David had a tall mountain to climb. He knew that God anointed him to be king and wherever he went, he prospered in battle, but Saul's jealousy resulted in a civil war. The book of Psalms includes many writings of David about the emotional duress he faced while still trusting in God. Yet for Saul's unkind actions, David never acted with self-promotion. Twice he had the opportunity to put Saul to death but refused to kill the Lord's anointed.

God's covenant with David was made when He told David that his throne would be established forever. Here is the word of the Lord delivered to David by Nathan the prophet in 1 Samuel 7:8-16:

9 1 Samuel 7:8-16

8 Now therefore tell my servant David this, 'Yahweh of Armies says, "I took you from the sheep pen, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel.

9 I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. I will make you a great name, like the name of the great ones who are in the earth.

10 I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place, and be moved no more. The children of wickedness will not afflict them any more, as at the first,

11 and as from the day that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. I will cause you to rest from all your enemies. Moreover Yahweh tells you that Yahweh will make you a house.

12 When your days are fulfilled, and you sleep with your fathers, I will set up your offspring after you, who will proceed out of your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;

15 but my loving kindness will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you.

16 Your house and your kingdom will be made sure forever before you. Your throne will be established forever."'

While this prophecy is about raising Solomon to be king after David, establishing God's forever kingdom in the New Covenant would come through Jesus the Messiah, also called the Son of David.

The lineage of the kings ruling over Israel persisted until the Babylonians took Israel into captivity. Just as God had indicated to Samuel, Israel's decline of faithfulness to God would continue. Reading the history of the kings and the writings of all the Old Testament prophets, God repeatedly and compassionately warned Israel to turn from the path of destruction.

Still, God never lost his love for Israel, but He did not reward them for their unfaithfulness. Instead, He judged them because their wickedness exceeded that of the Canaanites they were called to dispossess.