DAVID'S THREE KINGLY ANOINTINGS
DAVID’S THREE KINGLY ANOINTINGS
Sunday, October 1, 2023
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
David, chosen by the Lord was anointed three times to be king of Israel.
(1 Sam. 16:1; 12). Each anointing came at a very high cost of trials, testing, threat of life, threat to family, great battles both spiritual and physical.
1. 1 Sam. 16:13: Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him (as King over Israel) in the midst of his brethren; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward (1 Sam 16:1).
With this first anointing, he killed a bear, a lion, and a giant (while Saul was still ruling).
2. 11 Sam 2:4: The men of Judah came; and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah… This second anointing, Judah made him King of Judah.
3. 11 Sam. 5:3: All the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and King David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord and they anointed David king over Israel. With this third anointing, all of Israel crowned him King at Hebron. David ruled all things. This took place when he was 30 (the number of maturities, authority, full stature, the throne) --- compare Joseph and Jesus. This was oil upon the beard (of a full-grown man – Eph. 4:13; Psa. 122; Num. 4:30) ---full maturity.
These anointings worked in and energized many areas of his life and ministry:
1. Musician (he wrote 73 of the Psalms)
2. A just man 11 Sam. 8:15: David ruled over all Israel; and executed judgment and justice unto all his people.
3. A wise man 1 Sam. 18:14; 30: David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.
4. A meek man. 11 Sam. 16:11: David reasoned that if the Lord had told this Benjamite to curse him, who should say, “Why do you do it?” He also reasoned that if God had allowed his own son to seek his life as part of the chastening for his sin, then how much more would he allow a Benjamite of a rival faction to do what he was doing. If God allowed it, the man should be let alone (meekness).
5. A merciful man 11 Sam. 9:6 19:23: …David said, Mephibosheth, and he answered, behold thy servant! David said unto him; “Fear not; for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father’s sake. I will restore to you all the land of Saul, your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually.”
6. A Prophet and the “Sweet Psalmist of Israel.” 11 Sam 23: 1-7: These are the last words of David. The son of Jesse said, “and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, “He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”
Saul was the people’s king and a king after the people’s heart and their choice. The rejection of the king after the people’s heart by the Lord was followed by the choice of the king after God’s heart.
Our story begins in 1 Samuel 15. David was shepherding the sheep. David’s occupation as a shepherd set forth the relation of Christ to God’s elect and foreshadowed Christ’s redemptive work.
The Lord had stripped Saul of his anointing to be King. The prophet Samuel had separated from Saul in great grief.
16:1: The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.
God provided himself a King. Samuel feared that Saul would kill him, so at God’s command Samuel took a heifer with him. “Take a heifer with you, and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD” (Vs. 2). 16:10: Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. Samuel said, “the LORD has not chosen these.” Do you have another son? … There yet remained the youngest. Samuel said “Send and bring him. For we will not sit down until he comes here,” David is described as having a beautiful countenance (from the heart to the face), and goodly to look upon. The LORD said, “ARISE, anoint him for this is he.” Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren,; and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.
The Spirit of God had departed from Saul and an evil spirit (sent by God) began to torment him (16: 15). David was summoned because his anointing was already recognized.
16:18: …one of the servants said, Behold I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, and is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the LORD is with him.
This reveals five characteristics of his first anointing: valiant, prudent (knowing of speech), man of war, comely, anointed. David was being groomed for the throne in the King’s court under the providential care of the Lord.
Saul sent for David. When he stood before Saul, Saul loved him greatly; and he became his armor-bearer (vs. 21).
David, the sweet psalmist of Israel had authority over the evil spirit thus refreshing the harassed and tormented king “and the evil spirit departed from him (Vs. 23).
The character of David’s person and ministry cannot be covered in one sermon. His name signified “the Beloved.” His being an inhabitant of Bethlehem (Jn. 7:42); was ordained to point to that place where the Darling of God’s heart (Jesus) was to be born. His beautiful countenance spoke of Him who is “fairer than the children of men.”
The next great turning point in David’s life was his victory over Goliath. This symbolizes the triumph of Christ over the great enemy (Satan) of God’s people. David’s sling and stone teach that God’s victories are not achieved by man’s methods and equipment. In the first anointing, David slew the lion, the bear and the uncircumcised Philistine.
1 Sa. 17:50b-51: …there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath and slew him, and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
There were six great epochs in David’s life:
1. The Shepherd at Bethlehem (lst anointing).
2. The Courtier at Gibeah (Saul’s court).
3. The outlaw in the wilderness.
4. The warrior/general.
5. The King of Judah at Hebron (2nd anointing).
6. The King of Israel at Jerusalem (3rd. anointing).
With each anointing, we can expect a new identity. The Lord spoke to me when I was teaching this on 8/14/2018. He said Eastgate Church’s identity had become synonymous with Little White Church. He removed us to give us another anointing and a new identity or epoch in the life of the ministry.
At each level of anointing, there must be death to the carnal soul.
David’s calling and anointing were simultaneous. However, there was a journey of preparation before he was established as King of Israel. The journey is the story of his testings, failures, triumphs, troubles, and testimonies.
On the journey was the principle of the covenant of David and Jonathan (1 Sam. 18:1-30).
18:1: ...the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
This was a noble, but soulish friendship silhouetted against the dark background of Saul’s demonic jealousy and his treachery toward David regarding his daughter Merab and his other daughter Michal. The latter, however, became David’s wife, despite the trap Saul set for David in arranging the marriage. Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David.
1 Sam 18:12: Saul was afraid of David, because the Lord was with him, and had departed from Saul…David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and the Lord was with him.
Jonathan had watched God’s anointed minister despite the slander of his brothers and the insurmountable odds of the giant. Jonathan stripped himself (unmasked) in humility. He stepped down so that David could rule. Let us relinquish to Jesus our “robe” (right to be king), our filthy garments of our own righteousness, our weapons, and even the girdle of our natural strength.
1 Sam 18:4: Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. David went out wherever Saul sent him and behaved himself wisely. Saul set him over the men of war, and he was accepted in the sight of all the people and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.
In 1 Sam. 19, Saul tried to get Jonathan to kill David. The deranged king, despite his oath to Jonathan, was overwhelmed with his mania and tried to pin David to the wall with his javelin. Michal, by a ruse, saved David’s life. David fled to Samuel. The grace of God dealt with Saul, but his disobedience was his ruin. Saul declares open war on David.
Under Samuel prophetic mantle, we can assume the anointing of the prophet became stronger in David’s life.
1 Sam. 18: 18-24 – David fled for refuge to Samuel and his school of the prophets in Ramah (heights – heavenly places). Saul sent messengers to take David. They saw “the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as president over them.” The aura of the Spirit of God came upon the messengers, and they prophesied as did the second and third delegations. Saul himself went and the anointing came upon him…
David opened his soul for three areas of vulnerability.
1. He married Michal, the daughter of the old order.
2. He turned to Jonathan for a soulish deliverance.
3. He forsook Samuel, the prophetic ministry.
20:1: David fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
20: 24-29: – David hid in the field. At the new moon feast, Saul sat on his seat, Abner sat by Saul’s side, but David’s place was empty. Jonathan reinforced David’s lie. Jonathan now has a crisis and turning point. He entered David’s sufferings as he felt the wrath of Saul.
20: 30-32: Saul’s anger was aroused against Jonathan, and he said to him, “you son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not now that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established nor your kingdom. Therefore, send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die. Jonathan answered Saul his father, “why should he be killed? Wat has he done?
In chapter 20:41b – …Jonathan and David wept one with another until David exceeded. This means David overcame his grief and decided that he must go on, say goodbye to Jonathan and went to Nob. Following the Lord will cause us to leave many things behind and separate us from our loved ones, but the LORD will restore.
1 Sam. 21: Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech, the priest. Nob is (north of Jerusalem). Ahimelech was High Priest. Hungry and unarmed, David arrived on the Sabbath and asked for food. David and his men ate the Shew-bread…. He liked to Ahimelech.
Again, a lapse in David’s faith was seen. This great Philistine fighter feigned insanity among the Philistines.
David was now openly an outlaw and an outcast to many of his former friends and brethren.
We can compare this to President Donald J. Trump as his life is threatened. He has been arraigned, indicted, and multiple threats to put him in jail.
All in all, David was a grand character. He did some things that were very wrong, but he was a most remarkable man. God can use anyone he chooses. Their mistakes and failure is not a deterrent to God’s choice for greatness. David was, heart and soul, devoted to God and the ways of God. In a world of idolatry, and in a nation that was continually falling away into idolatry, David stood like a rock for God.
After Saul and Jonathan’s death, David went up to Hebron with his family and his men.
2 Sa. 2:4: The men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
There was a revolt against David by Abner, Saul’s general to perpetuate Saul’s dynasty. 2 Sa. 3:1: There was long war between the house of Saul and the house of Daivd, but David waxed stronger and stronger, and house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
This conflict took place between the second and third anointings of David.
All Israel came to Hebron to turn the Kingdom over to David. David was thirty years old at the time of his third anointing. He reigned over Judah for 7 years and 6 months. He reigned over all Israel for 33 years, for a total of 40 years.
David was not only an individual, but also an institution. He was not only a sovereign, but also a symbol. His place in the historical unfolding of the redemptive purposes of God can hardly be exaggerated. David fell lower than some men, but he also rose higher. His lapses should be to us a perpetual warning, and his virtues a perpetual inspiration.
David is, in a real sense, the embodiment of all Israel’s ideals; he compassed the gamut of all her varied life and institutions. He is a personification of the nation itself: shepherd, soldier, king, priest, prophet, musician, poet, diplomat, administrator, hero, and saint; “a man after God’s own heart;” albeit a sinner, sadly sinning, but greatly repenting. In David, Israel reached the zenith of the Kingdom ideal and so he is a type of the Messiah, great David’s Greater Son.
In every circumstance of life, he went directly to the Lord in prayer, thanksgiving, and praise. His greatest accomplishments were the bringing back the Ark of the Covenant; the Tabernacle of David; the establishing of Jerusalem and Zion; and the writing of the Psalms.
The Tabernacle of David was given to David by revelation and was a single tent with a single piece of furniture, the Ark of the Covenant. In Zion, King David ruled over the people of the Lord. The government of God was revealed in the Kingdom of David. David led the nation in order of worship and ministry in his Tabernacle. David’s capture of Zion followed his coronation.
Jesus Christ is the “Shepherd-King”; our “Great Shepherd” and “Chief Shepherd”. Jesus is the royal seed who was appointed “heir of all things”. According to the Davidic Covenant of 1 Chron. 17:4-14: “…I will raise up a seed after you, which shall be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be My Son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before you: but I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forevermore.”
This great covenant of kingship, based on a father-son relationship, establishes the Lord Jesus Christ as the ultimate Ruler of the earth.
Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, root and the off spring of David, and the bright and morning star. The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed over all enemies. The Messiah has been given all executive authority in Heaven and in earth. He has inherited the throne of David, and of His Kingdom there shall be no end. King Jesus has been anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. He fulfilled the type of David’s three-fold anointing as exalted son, as king over Judah and as head over all things. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church, 10115 West Hidden Lakes Lane, Richmond, TX
Scripture from K.J.V. – I entered the labors of Principles of Present Truth on 1 and 11 Samuel. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered their labor. Sermon by Pastor Sissom 8/10/2014.