We now start an 8-part series focused on King David's relationship with God, split into two parts. The first 4-part set hones in on the "Attitudes of God" towards David, while the second 4-part set looks at the "Attitudes of David" towards God.
2 Samuel 23:1 declares the purpose of God for King David:
“Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel:”
David recognized that his appointment to kingship was divine, and poetically he described that, both as to the man upon whom the choice of God rested and the ultimate issue of the choice.
He did not sing of the anointed of the “God of Israel”, but of the anointed of the “God of Jacob”, for God chose David to be king in spite of all of his shortcomings, just like God chose Jacob in spite of all of his shortcomings.
In this, there is a suggestion of David’s consciousness of his own unworthiness.
David became not the “sweet psalmist of Jacob”, but rather the “sweet psalmist of Israel”, because "sweet" songs cannot proceed out of shortcomings alone, but rather out of one's efforts and success in overcoming these shortcomings.
As a result, just as God elevated Jacob and changed his name to Israel, we also read of David as "the man raised up on high" – the "sweet psalmist" and divinely-appointed king over Israel.
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