Peace & Blessings Beloved,
TGBTG for allowing us to see another day. I pray all is well with you and yours, and that your week has been fruitful & blessed thus far.
In the seventeenth post of our new Humble Servant Blog Series, Stories of the Bible, we're going to review God's Covenant w/ David, which can be found in the book of 2 Samuel, as chronicled in chapter 7.
Saul was the first king of Israel. He was tall and handsome just like the people wanted. Saul was a good king for the first few years he ruled over Israel, but then he became a wicked man who did not obey God. So God chose a different man who was to be king.
The man the LORD chose to be the next king was a young Israelite named David. He prepared David to one day become the king of Israel, after Saul. David was a shepherd from the town of Bethlehem. As a dedicated shepherd David killed both a lion and a bear who sought to attack his father's sheep. He was a humble and righteous man, who trusted and obeyed God. It was because of his trust in God that David fought against a giant named Goliath.
Goliath was a good soldier, who was extremely strong and ~10' tall. God tasked David with killing this giant, and He helped David do it, saving Israel. After defeating Goliath David won many other battles over Israel's enemies. This would lead to David being a great soldier, leading Israel's army in many battles.
The Israelites loved and praised David, to the point that king Saul became jealous of him. This jealousy drove Saul to desire to kill David. Once David became aware he ran away into the wilderness to hide from Saul and his soldiers. One day when Saul and his soldiers were looking for David Saul went into a cave, which happened to be the cave David was hiding in, and did not see him. David went up close behind Saul and cut off a piece of his clothing.
Later, after Saul left the cave David shouted to him to look at the cloth he was holding. In this way Saul knew that David refused to kill him to become king, which was honorable. Sometime after, Saul died in battle and David became king of Israel. He was a good king, and the people loved him.
God blessed David and made him successful. As he fought many battles the LORD helped him defeat Israel's enemies. This led to David conquering the city of Jerusalem, and making it his capital city, the city where he lived and ruled.
David was king for 40 years. During this time Israel became powerful and wealthy, and David wanted to build a temple where all the Israelites could worship God and offer Him sacrifices. For about 400 years the people had been worshipping God and offering sacrifices to Him at the Tent of Meeting that Moses had made, but there was a prophet named Nathan that the LORD had sent to tell David, you have fought in many wars so you will not build this temple for me. Your son will build it but still will I greatly bless you. One of your descendants will rule as king over My people forever.
The only descendant of David who could rule forever was Yeshua Hamashiach. Yeshua was God's chosen One, who would save the people of the world from their sin. When David heard Nathan's message he thanked and praised the LORD. God was honoring and giving him many blessings. David did not know when God would do these things, but he continued to rule his people justly for many years. He obeyed the LORD very much and God blessed him.
However, this is not the end of the story, as David would sin against God horribly towards the end of his life. One day, as he looked out from his palace, David saw a beautiful woman bathing. He did not know her but found out that her name was Bathsheba. Instead of looking away David sent someone to bring her back to him. He slept with this woman and sent her back home. A short time afterwards Bathsheba sent message back to David that she was pregnant. Her husband was a man named Uriah. Uriah was one of David's best soldiers, and was away fighting in a war during this time. David called Uriah back from the battle and told him to go be with his wife. Uriah refused to go home while the rest of the soldiers were still in battle, so David sent Uriah back to the battle and told the general to place him where enemy was the strongest so he would be killed.
This is exactly what happened, as Uriah was killed in battle. After his death David married Bathsheba, followed by the birth of their child. This angered the LORD, and He sent Nathan back to David to tell him how evil his sin was. David repented of his sin and God forgave him. Upon repenting, David lived the remainder of his life in obedience to God, even in difficult times. This didn't stop the LORD from killing his baby son as punishment. God also punished David by causing his own family to war with him. David lost much power during this time of judgment, but the LORD was still faithful to him, and fulfilled His promise to David.
He and Bathsheba had another another child, who they named Solomon.
I pray you receive this with the love intended, and apply it to wisdom.
May the joy of the Lord continue to be your strength.
Love you much.
Stay Safe, Stay Healthy, Stay Blessed!
-Humble Servant
P.S- If you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, I implore you to take the time to do so right now. Use John 3:16 & Romans 10:9-10 as a foundation for making your confession of faith. And use Ephesians 2:1-10 to provide proper context for your salvation.