David
was the great hero of the Jews; the greatest, in spite of great sins
and follies, that has ever been among them; in every point the king
after God's own heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself did not disdain
to be called especially the Son of David. David was the author, too,
of those wonderful psalms which are now in the mouths and the hearts
of Christian people all over the world; and will last, as I believe,
till the world's end, giving out fresh depths of meaning and
spiritual experience.
But to understand David's history, we must go back a little through
the lessons which have been read in church the last few Sundays. We
find in the eighth and in the twelfth chapters of this same book of
Samuel, that the Jews asked Samuel for a king--for a king like the
nations round them. Samuel consulted God, and by God's command chose
Saul to be their king; at the same time warning them that in asking
for a king they had committed a great and fearful sin, for "the Lord
their God was their king." And the Lord said unto Samuel, that in
asking for a king they had rejected God from reigning over them. Now
what was this sin which the Jews committed? for the mere having a
king cannot be wrong in itself; else God would not have anointed Saul
and David kings, and blessed David and Solomon; much less would He
have allowed the greater number of Christian nations to remain
governed by kings unto this day, if a king had been a wrong thing in
itself.
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