Family Ties: David the Warrior and King

By Matt Watson

In this series, we will explore Jesus’ family tree, looking at some key figures and their lives as told in Scripture. We believe the church is in part a family, and so we look to Christ’s family to help us see our own sin better, but also to know and worship Jesus even more.

There are few figures in the Old Testament more well known than King David, and of the genealogies of Jesus recorded in Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, David is the highlight apart from Abraham and Adam. David is such an excellent picture of the imperfection of man, especially since this man had the prestigious and glorious position of being labeled a friend of God and a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14). Both an example, and a cautionary tale, David’s life shows us how God is merciful to his servants in granting them forgiveness and gracious in granting them success. Here we briefly look at David as a warrior and a king, and how his life points us to Jesus.

David the Warrior

From an early age, David was a fighter. A loyal and dutiful son, he was responsible enough to independently shepherd his father’s flocks in the wilderness, and even fend off apex predators from killing them. He tells King Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him” (1 Sam 17:34-35). 

It is no wonder then that when the Philistines picked a fight with Israel and put forth the giant Goliath as their challenger, all of Israel quaked with fear except for David. He was used to pursuing and killing his enemies. He didn’t even wear the king’s armor or use his weapons. Instead, he took five river stones and used a leather sling to square off against the Achilles of the Philistines.

He was jeered at and mocked, but he would not be moved. Standing before the well-equipped Goliath in full battle armor, David gives a God-trusting, defiant challenge, saying, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand” (1 Sam 17:45-47).

And then he threw a rock at Goliath’s face and killed him. 

Many of us have been taught to view ourselves as David in this story, at best with Goliath being a stand-in for our sin, and at worst for anything that would hinder our potential for our best life now. That is utter nonsense. In this story we are cowardly Israel, shaking in fear at danger, needing to be delivered. Meanwhile, David’s example points forward to our King Jesus, who went to war with sin and death itself and was victorious at the cross and the empty tomb.

David the Warlord and King

Upon David’s victory over the Philistines, his fame made King Saul jealous (1 Sam 18:6-9), and in a fit of extreme insecurity, Saul tried to kill David with a spear (verse 10) before he eventually drove David out of the country. Yet David refused to harm Saul because he was anointed by God to be king at that time. He honored the authority of the king, despite how evil Saul was acting, because his kingship came from the Lord. He never chucked spears back at Saul, even when he had the opportunity to kill him (1 Sam 24). 

Instead, David became a mighty warlord, defeating enemies of Israel and making alliances with the nation’s neighbors (1 Sam 21-30). He remained faithful to the call of leading his people and protecting them, consistent with rescuing them from danger by aggressively pursuing his enemies. He was not then named the king, and he was a wanted man by King Saul, yet he acted as a king should act. He was “king-ing” even without the title. Later, when Saul and Jonathan were killed in a war, David was crowned king of Judah, and then after a small insurgency by Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, he was crowned king of Israel, uniting the kingdoms (2 Sam 1-5). 

As David honored God by being courageous, trusting, and one who even loved his enemies,  Jesus likewise teaches us to be courageous in fighting sin, trusting in the character of God, and yes, even to love our enemies (Matt 5:43-48). The Holy Spirit through Peter says of Jesus, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet 2:21-23). 

Goliath was not too big for God, and neither are any of our sins. Jesus defeats them all at the cross. Likewise, family drama, our history of hurts, PTSD, divorces, crimes committed against us, and deaths in the family may assault us, but Christ is bigger. Jesus is the truer and ultimate David, he is victorious over all his enemies, and we share in that victory with him (1 Cor 15). Let us rejoice in our King and stand firm with him in faith.