A TYPE OF CHRIST
Opening Prayer
Lord, open our eyes to the deeper types and shadows in Your Word.
Read 1 CHRONICLES 11:1–9
David Becomes King Over Israel
11 All Israel came together to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, even while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’”
3 When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, he made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel, as the Lord had promised through Samuel.
David Conquers Jerusalem
4 David and all the Israelites marched to Jerusalem (that is, Jebus). The Jebusites who lived there 5 said to David, “You will not get in here.” Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.
6 David had said, “Whoever leads the attack on the Jebusites will become commander-in-chief.” Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, and so he received the command.
7 David then took up residence in the fortress, and so it was called the City of David. 8 He built up the city around it, from the terraces to the surrounding wall, while Joab restored the rest of the city. 9 And David became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him.
New International Version (NIV)
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Reflect
The focus now switches to David and his descendants. Nothing is said about the short rule of Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth. Nor is any mention made of David’s seven-year reign over Judah in Hebron—an example of the Chronicler’s omission of events which the books of Samuel and Kings relate in detail. These omissions explain why the ancient Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (written for Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora) titled this book “Things Left Out” (Paralipomenon)!
David is presented as God’s chosen successor to a throne vacated by the unworthy Saul. David is elsewhere described as “a man after [the Lord’s] own heart” (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22), and his accession is described in terms that speak to Christians of their beloved King, David’s divine descendant. All Israel gathers around David as their “own flesh and blood” (1). King Jesus is not ashamed to call those he has redeemed his “brothers and sisters”! The Israelites recognize David as the one whose leadership delivered them from enemy hands, even during Saul’s reign (2). Who is the one who rescues me from this body that is subject to death? Romans 7:25 gives the answer: “Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” The people acknowledge David as Israel’s shepherd and ruler (2); David’s royal line will produce a successor who calls himself “the good shepherd.” David makes a covenant with the elders of Israel at Hebron (3); David’s descendant mediates a superior covenant, sealed by his own blood. David is Israel’s anointed king (3); Acts 10:38 tells us “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.” No wonder a well-known hymn about Jesus ends each verse with “Hallelujah! What a Savior!”
Apply
Look up and quietly meditate upon the words of Philip P. Bliss’s great hymn “Man of Sorrows.”
Closing prayer
Lord, as David inhabited Jerusalem, we look forward to inhabiting the New Jerusalem.
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