Introduction

Who are we? We are human beings, created in the image of the Creator God, and His vice-regents on the earth. We are creatures in God’s creation. We are not gods, but God has made humanity to be in relationship with Him, our fellow humans, and His created world.

Why are we here? We are created to be fruitful in God’s world, to multiply, to order and rule the world in a way that imitates God’s creative and orderly creation of the world. We cannot do what God has done, but we can create culture and work in a way that imitates God’s loving care. Work, then, is part of what it means to be human as we relate to God, one another, and the world (Gen 1–2).

What has gone wrong? The Primary History tells us that our frustration, disappointment, and pain in life arise as a direct result of human sin. It tells us that human sin is the internal desires and external actions that lead us to live outside of God’s good order for His world. So we think we can live outside the lines of God’s care. We think we know better than Him, and therefore we live like it. Unfortunately, sin corrupts the primary relationships for which God creates humanity: relationship with God, relationship with our fellow human, and relationship with the world. As a result, our relationships and our work—indeed our very lives—are stained and twisted by sin, leading to rivalry, frustration, domination, and horrors (Gen 3).

What happened next? In the face of corrupting sin, God does not junk the world He made because God does not make junk! Rather, God goes on a rescue mission to bring back the broken world to Himself. This act of bringing what is lost and broken back to Himself is called “redemption.” God’s mission is to “redeem” the world back to Himself, and He does this in and through a specific family, the family of Israel. The father of the family, Abraham, is given special promises (Gen 12; 15; 17; and 22). These promises are that God will grant Abraham and his family a name, a land, and children (Gen 12:2-3). This family is later called the people of Israel (Gen 24–50), and through this family all the nations on the earth will experience God’s blessing (Gen 12:2-3). So Abraham’s family will be the channel through which God’s blessings will flow. But to be this channel of blessing, God’s people must put away sin and follow Him only (Exod 19:4-6). As they follow their God, all the nations on the earth will see the light of God and be drawn to Him (Exod 19:4-6; Deut 4). Israel, however, has a perennial problem with following God. Sometimes they do, but often they do not. This is true early on (Exodus–Numbers) in their relationship with Him but also deep into their story in the land He gives them (Deuteronomy–Kings). It is true when they have a leader like Moses (Exodus–Deuteronomy), and it is true when they have charismatic leaders to lead them after Moses (Joshua–Judges). It is true when they have kings who rule over them as well (Samuel–Kings). By the end of the book of Kings, God exiles His people from the land because of their sin. What will happen to God’s redemption of the world? How will God’s promises end up? What will happen now? The remainder of the Scriptures through the book of Revelation tell the rest of the story.

In the face of Israel’s sin, God remained faithful to His promises. In 1–2 Samuel, God promises salvation through the royal line of David, Israel’s anointed king. The book of Psalms and the prophet Isaiah in particular show that this Davidic King is the ruler of Israel and all nations, the Son of God, and the One through whom all the nations will be blessed. The prophecy of Isaiah shows that this Davidic King will renew Israel and restore creation but not through a victorious battle over enemy nations. Rather, the Davidic King will renew and restore all by suffering on behalf of the sins of others. In His suffering and death, the Davidic King will provide the solution to the sin problem (forgiveness of sins: Isa 53) and will be the key that unlocks the healing of creation (the kingdom of God: Isa 60–65).

The New Testament tells us that this Davidic King, the Son of God and the descendant of Abraham, is none other than the man Jesus the Messiah. He was born of a virgin, preached the coming of the kingdom of God, suffered unjustly under Jewish and Gentile (Roman) officials, and died a cruel death on a cross.

The miracle of all is that His suffering and death on a cross brought forgiveness of sins and the healing of creation. Jesus died, but He did not stay dead. God raised Him up from the grave on the third day after His crucifixion. His resurrection proves that Jesus is the suffering and saving Messiah pictured in Isaiah and the Psalms, and He is the fulfillment of all God promised to Abraham and David.

Moreover, in Jesus the problem of human sin finds its solution for those who believe in His work and live under His lordship and care. The New Testament also pictures the future rule of Jesus, the Davidic Messiah. As He puts death, sin, and corruption under His feet, Jesus makes all things new (Rev 21:5). Those who believe in Christ Jesus become princesses and princes in God’s world, utterly reconciled back to God as His daughters and sons (2 Cor 6:18, drawing on 2 Sam 7:14). The apostle Paul boldly affirms that those who have faith in Christ now are in the family of God, the family of David. The Church, then, in Christ becomes the agent through which Davidic blessings flow!

The book of Samuel introduces readers to King Jesus: He is from the family of David, God’s anointed and appointed ruler for Israel. Jesus is the fulfillment of the story of Israel and the fulfillment of the hope of the Davidic king. He is the true King of Israel and the Lord over all creation.

This point is revealed clearly in the opening lines of the New Testament. The Gospel of Matthew opens by stating, “The historical record of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1). Why is Jesus identified first as the Son of David rather than the Son of Abraham? Historically, of course, Abraham came first! The reason is that Matthew emphasizes the Davidic kingship of Jesus.

The closing lines of the Gospel of Matthew affirm this point and take it further. In Matthew 28, the Davidic King is recognized as the crucified and risen Savior, the King of all things. Jesus has suffered, died for sin on a cruel cross, was buried, rose again from the grave validating His royal and divine power, and appeared to many. God the Father grants all authority to Jesus. Possessing all authority over the whole of creation (“in heaven and on earth”), King Jesus commissions those who are in His family to go into the entire world and proclaim the good news: He has died for the forgiveness of sin. He has risen, defeating death and vindicating life. He is King of all things! So the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel reads,

Then Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matt 28:18-20)

The book of Samuel helps us see a key component in the way God achieves His project of redemption: from Israel, the royal line of David will be key in providing the King who will heal the brokenness of the entire world.

Samuel presents to its readers “Yahweh,” the covenant God of Israel (1 Sam 17:45; 2 Sam 6:2). The name Yahweh is the name God gives in Exodus 3:14-15, when Moses asks for it. Yahweh is the personal name for God, worthy to be praised and honored as the Holy One of Israel, who expects Israel to be holy as He is holy. As Moses and the Israelites sang of Yahweh in the “Song of the Sea” in Exodus 15:

Who is like You

among the gods, O Yahweh?

Who is like You,

glorious in holiness,

awesome in praise,

doing wonders? (Exod 15:11, authors’ translation)

Yahweh is high and mighty, holy beyond compare, awesome and worthy of praise, beautiful, and a miracle-working God! He is worthy of all honor and fidelity that is due Him. If God’s people do not follow Him, then they walk away at their peril. Yahweh is the giver of life to those who follow Him, yet He by no means clears the guilty but punishes iniquity and sin (see Exod 34:6-7). He is high and holy, the source of all love, faithfulness, and salvation. So Hannah sings in 1 Samuel 2:2:

There is no one holy like the Lord[Yahweh].

There is no one besides You!

And there is no rock like our God.

Further, Yahweh is King. As scholar David Firth rightly argues, the book of Samuel reminds us that any and all

human authority exists under Yahweh’s reign, a theme that comes to prominence under David’s closing songs (2 Sam 22:1–23:7). Apart from Yahweh, Israel’s kings have no authority. (1 & 2 Samuel, 43)

We are reminded of Jesus’ final words in the Great Commission, that God has granted Jesus all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt 28:18). Jesus’ authority as King was given by the Father, and He rules as one who lives to do the will of the One who sent Him. As Jesus says,

“I can do nothing on My own. I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 5:30)

As we see in Hannah’s song, although utterly holy and wholly other, Yahweh, the divine King, is the One who enters into a deep and abiding relationship with His people. He cares for them as a parent cares for a child. He strengthens the weak, lifts up the lowly, and hears the cries of the suffering! King Yahweh is the heavenly Father.

Yahweh desires to relate with His people. This is no grey-haired Zeus who stands far above, only watching the affairs of his people but never getting involved with them. Yahweh is no deist blind watchmaker. Rather, the God of Israel, Yahweh, is the One with whom Israel must deal, the One with whom Israel has the joy of relating. The name Yahweh occurs no fewer than 6,700 times in the Old Testament, by one scholar’s count, highlighting the importance of understanding God in the Old Testament as Yahweh, the holy Creator-God and intimate covenant Lord (Anderson, Contours of Old Testament Theology, 41).

Yahweh is revealed in the covenants He makes with His people. Covenants in the Old Testament are not contracts as we understand them today. If two parties enter into a business contract (such as a cellular phone contract), then both parties must abide by the contract. If one party breaches the terms of the contract, then the contract is null and void, and the business relationship is off.

However, covenants in the Old Testament are not like that, especially if we are speaking of divine covenants Yahweh establishes by His own prerogative. The Old Testament has six such divine covenants. Significantly, one of them appears in 2 Samuel 7. These covenants make up the backbone of the story line of Scripture.^[2]Six covenants appear in the Old Testament:

They will be My people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way so that for their good and for the good of their descendants after them, they will fear Me always. I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them. (Jer 32:38-40)

These covenants are not contracts. Because God initiates them in each case, God will see them through even if the covenant partner fails to obey the terms of the covenant. In short God’s covenant plan will not fail in the face of human sin. Rather, God will achieve His purposes. We know from the Old Testament that all the covenants will be fulfilled in the new covenant. We know that the time of the new covenant will mean an end to sin, and forgiveness will be complete. The new covenant, then, is the climax of all the covenants.

But Jeremiah never stipulates the mechanism by which this new covenant will come about, only that it will be accomplished at the initiative of Yahweh. Other prophetic texts (Isaiah and the Psalms, for example) do stipulate that the Davidic King, who is Messiah, will bear the sins of many and be raised victorious. They do not, however, clearly link this action of this Davidic Messiah to the new covenant. Because of this, connections between Isaiah’s Suffering Servant (Isa 53), the Psalms’ Davidic King (Pss 1–2), and the new covenant in Jeremiah sit rather loosely together.

What is loosely connected or dimly portrayed in the Old Testament, however, finds brilliant and radiant illumination in the ministry of God’s Son, Jesus. According to the New Testament writings, Jesus is the firstborn over all creation, the hope of salvation, the seed of Abraham, the faithful Mosaic teacher, the Davidic King, the true and faithful Israelite, the perfect priest, the teacher of all righteousness, the temple, the sacrificial lamb, the true prophet, the wise teacher, and the instigator of the new covenant. Jesus is the One who brings about the new covenant that is anticipated in the Old Testament texts. So the writer of Hebrews says,

Therefore, He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, because a death has taken place for the redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. . . .

But now He has appeared one time, at the end of the ages, for the removal of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And just as it is appointed for people to die once—and after this, judgment—so also the Messiah, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him. (Heb 9:15,26b-29)

Jesus brings about the forgiveness of sin and restoration of all things to which the new covenant testifies! His sacrifice for sin on the cross bears sin once for all, and His victorious resurrection provides the guarantee of new life for all who believe.

The book of Samuel reveals the significance of leadership among God’s people. Good leaders love the Lord wholeheartedly and lead God’s people to do the same. Good leaders draw God’s people to appropriate worship, which is a theme described more fully below.

However, leadership in Samuel often fits the description of the offices of leadership presented in Deuteronomy 16–18: judge, prophet, priest, and king.

Judge. There are two offices of “judge” in the Old Testament. The first is what we find in Deuteronomy 16:18–17:13—the role of an appointed official who operates without partiality or corruption to settle disputes among God’s people. This is one who gives “righteous judgments” to God’s people as he adjudicates. The second office of “judge” in the Old Testament comes in the book of Judges—a charismatic leader anointed and appointed by God to lead God’s people, to settle disputes (Deborah, for example, is described as a judge and prophet in Judg 4:4), and to deliver God’s people from oppressors. In the book of 1–2 Samuel, Eli (1 Sam 4:18) and Samuel (1 Sam 7:15) are judges in this latter sense of the word: leaders who settled disputes and led all God’s people.

Priest. The role and office of Levitical priest is found in Deuteronomy 18:1-8. The Levites were those who received sacrifices from God’s people and mediated between God and the people. They also had the role of teaching God’s people His law. Eli is a priest in 1 Samuel 1–2, where we find that Eli and his household are not mediating between God and Israel faithfully. The failure of priestly leadership is the reason God will raise up a “faithful priest” who will do all that is in God’s heart and mind. He will faithfully mediate between Yahweh and Israel. In the narrative we know that this priest is Samuel (1 Sam 2:18; cf. Exod 28:4), but ultimately Samuel and the Scriptures show that the priest is Jesus (Heb 8).

Prophet. The role and office of prophet remains significant in the book of 1–2 Samuel. Samuel is clearly a prophet (1 Sam 3:18-21), and David has prophets in his court (Nathan, 2 Sam 12; Gad, 2 Sam 22–24). What is a prophet? Biblical prophecy originates with God, who gives messages to a prophet. A prophet, then, is a spokesperson for God, who declares God’s ways and words to a particular people. In the Bible prophets can be both men and women, and we find this in the New Testament as well. Male prophets we know more often, perhaps, because they have books that bear their names: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Habakkuk, for example. But there is clear evidence of female prophets as well: Miriam (Exod 15:20-21), Deborah (Judg 4–5), Isaiah’s mother (Isa 8:3), and Huldah (2 Kgs 22:14), for example. Prophets could come from any portion of the society, whether in the royal house (Isaiah), in priestly families (Haggai, Zechariah, and perhaps Habakkuk), or from the farming community (Amos and Elisha). According to the teaching of Deuteronomy, prophets speak only what God gives them to speak, nothing more and nothing less (see Deut 13 and 18). With this in mind, it might be tempting to think God gave prophets spontaneous speeches to the people when they were under some form of trance or divine possession. However, that is not usually the way prophetic speech works. While prophets were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet 1:21 ESV), they used a traditional set of speech patterns to communicate God’s messages. This makes one think prophetic preaching is a learned form of communication, although the individual personalities and creative styles shine through as well.^[4]Eli, David, and Saul are not prophets, though Saul is a curious case where people wondered whether he was “among the prophets” (1 Sam 19:24).

King. Saul and David are anointed and appointed as king in the book of Samuel.

Saul:

1 Samuel 8:9-18; 9:18-22; 10

David:

1 Samuel 16:1-13; 2 Samuel 2; 5; 7

Neither Eli nor Samuel is called “king.” The appeal of God’s people at Ramah for Samuel to “appoint a king to judge us the same as all the other nations have” (1 Sam 8:5) is interpreted as an act of rebellion against God, their true King. So Samuel would not lead them at all beyond the role of a judge. It is extraordinarily telling that God predicted His people would ask for a king like all the other nations had.Deuteronomy 17:14 reveals that God knew the people would want a king like all the other nations. But God wanted a king after His own heart.

Kingship is not a bad thing, and the Scriptures anticipate kingship at a number of points throughout the first five books of the Old Testament. However, the appeal by God’s people for a king “the same as all the other nations have” exposes their wayward hearts. The law of the king in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 forbids

Effectively, the king’s power is balanced or kept in check by the Lord, His law, and the authority of the Levitical priests, who teach God’s law (Deut 17:18-20). The king, then, is to be the leader who loves the Lord and loves his neighbor, both his fellow Israelite and the foreigner. So long as the king loved God, followed His word, and led the people to do the same, the king would remain in power, and all would be well.

The leadership offices are important for 1–2 Samuel. They highlight the importance of Samuel, who was prophet, priest, judge, and almost king. And they highlight the importance of David, who was anointed and appointed by God and served Him as one who lived his life after God’s own heart (1 Sam 13:14; Acts 13:22). However, the book of Samuel reveals that neither Saul nor David lived up to the standard and failed ultimately in this regard.

But the failures of Israel’s leaders in 1–2 Samuel show how Israel still searches for the true leader, the true prophet, the true priest, and the true king! The New Testament confirms that this long-sought-after figure was none other than Jesus.

Jesus is the Judge. He is the One who adjudicates and leads His people. In the New Testament, Jesus is the One who arbitrates among many nations and casts out the wicked and vindicates the righteous. This is done in the last days, so it is apparent what is in black and white in the persons of Eli and Samuel comes to full color in the person of Jesus. In fact, Jesus will be the Judge who adjudicates all things (Acts 10:42; 17:31; 2 Cor 5:10). In Revelation 19:11, the notion of Jesus as the Judge who delivers from oppression takes hold as well: “Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness.”

Jesus is the Prophet. Over and over again characters in the Gospels characterize Jesus as a “prophet” (Matt 14:5; 16:14; 21:46; Mark 6:15; 8:28; Luke 7:16; 9:8,19; 24:19; John 4:19; 7:40; 9:17). Jesus self-identifies as a prophet while indicating that God’s prophets (such as He) will not receive honor in their hometowns (Luke 4:24). As a prophet, Jesus performed many of the miracles one finds performed by Old Testament prophets (esp. Elijah), such as raising the dead, multiplying food, and healing (Witherington, Jesus the Seer, 333; Brodie, The Crucial Bridge). He also spoke the word of the Lord, as one would expect from the true prophet of God. Jesus is filled with the Spirit of God to speak God’s word, particularly about the kingdom of God. In this latter act Jesus is the eschatological Prophet of the new covenant. His prophetic word then deals with God’s appointed time of judgment and salvation for the people of God, which would usher in God’s reign.

Jesus is the Priest. The writer of Hebrews teaches that Jesus is a greater priest than all who have gone before Him. But this is difficult because Jesus does not derive from a priestly family according to His genealogy (e.g., Matt 1:1-17). Jesus comes from a royal family (from the Davidic line and the tribe of Judah) but not a priestly family like the tribe of Levi. No matter. Hebrews tells us that Jesus was a priest in the order of an earlier priestly family, namely, that of Melchizedek (from Gen 14:18-20). Melchizedek’s priesthood is an eternal priesthood and, therefore, better than that of the Levites (cf. Ps 110:4). Jesus, then, is able to mediate eternally on behalf of those who come to Him to be reconciled to God.

Jesus is the King. Kingship remains central to His identity. The term messiah is a claim about Jesus’ divine anointing and appointing to do the work of salvation that would belong only to the Davidic king (Isa 53; 61). Jesus was killed as the “king of the Jews” (Matt 27:37), a mocking title the Romans gave Him, which actually spoke the truth they did not know or understand. Jesus the King preached the arrival of the kingdom of God, and the early church confirmed that Jesus was the true King (Acts 17). Jesus is the “Son of David” in the genealogy of Matthew 1, confirming that Jesus is the One through whom the promises of 2 Samuel 7 come to absolute fruition.

Worship frames the book of Samuel, as we see in the structure of the book, above (A and A´). The opening of Samuel begins with Hannah’s prayer and praise to God at the temple (1 Sam 1–2). The conclusion of the book of Samuel contains David’s praise and prayer (2 Sam 22:1–23:7) and focuses on David’s plan to build a temple for Yahweh where all peoples can worship Him (2 Sam 24:18-25). So we see that a focus on worship serves as bookends to the book of Samuel.

Many readers of the Old Testament may not know that the worship of God in Jerusalem, at the temple, was not always the norm in Israelite faith. The book of Samuel presents a movement from the worship of God at the tabernacle in Shiloh to the worship of God in Jerusalem, the new place of Davidic rule. Although David cannot build the temple, the narrative of Samuel reveals that his son (Solomon) can and will (see 1 Kgs 6–8).

First Samuel opens with a focus on worship at Shiloh, which was corrupt. This is not so because of Hannah—she is faithful! But it is so because of the lack of vision, discernment, and faithfulness of the priesthood at Shiloh. At the shrine in Shiloh, the high priest Eli and his sons (Hophni and Phinehas) minister before the Lord. But this family reveals itself to be faulty and wicked. The sins of the sons will be discussed in the commentary, but note the characterization of Eli in 1 Samuel 1–3:

As a result of the failure of the father and his sons, God will raise up a priest for His people, and this priest is Samuel: “Then I will raise up a faithful priest for Myself. He will do whatever is in My heart and mind” (1 Sam 2:35). Because of the problem with the priests and the need for a true priest, the opening chapters of the book expose the problem of true worship among God’s people, especially God’s leaders.

What does the book of Samuel teach about true worship? The secret to true worship is aligning inward devotion and outward obedience out of our love of God and His gospel. God does not demand only interior devotion in the heart; that is a common myth perpetuated by purveyors of empty piety who say, “God only cares about our hearts but not our lives!” No. God cares about a healthy and holy alignment of heart and life, inner and outer, soul and body. The book of Samuel shows that true piety and true worship are expressed in an alignment between heart and life.

For example, when Saul fails to do what God tells him to do in destroying everything in 1 Samuel 15, Saul responds by saying that what he kept he was going to give to the Lord in worship. However, his is not true piety or worship; it is a misalignment of devotion and obedience. Saul’s inner love for God should be marked by outward obedience to God’s commands. Instead he tries to appease God with a show of outward piety (offerings and sacrifices) without real devotion to God in his deepest self. This lack of alignment between the inner life and the outward expression exposes the problem of false worship. Samuel’s well-known words spoken to Saul ring in our ears:

Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as much as in obeying the Lord?

Look: to obey is better than sacrifice,

to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. (1 Sam 15:22)

We stated above that judgment and salvation form the two-step rhythm of Scripture. This point holds true in Samuel, and for a moment we want to focus on the first step in that rhythm: judgment. Divine judgment comes as punishment for sin.

This is too often a point missed not in Scripture but in modern culture. If we mention sin at all, it is usually someone else’s sin! With evocative and troubling detail, the narratives of Samuel present the pervasive problem of human sin. The narratives never offer the guilty party a rock to hide behind; they do not allow the characters in the story or the readers of the story to point the finger of blame toward someone else. The problem of sin lies at the doorstep of the one who has committed the affront to God or one’s fellow human. For example, when Saul blames someone else because of his sin, it reveals his own moral ineptitude and culpability rather than his innocence. When David attempts to hide behind his own righteousness and to conceal his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, God exposes him terribly.

In each of these cases and more, the narratives of Samuel demonstrate in a wonderfully human way the problem of sin. The faults of Saul or David (or Absalom or Eli!) may as well be the same faults we share. After all, who does not attempt to avoid blame when caught in sin? By giving the horrible truth about sin—its pervasiveness, its problems, and the horrors of human response to sin—the narratives hold up a mirror to the modern world.

These texts of terror are wonderfully productive in instructing readers on the subtleties of sin in human hearts, negative examples of sinners and those who cast blame, and diverse ways for readers to reflect on our own proclivity to rebel against God and harm our fellow man. But we should reflect carefully: God punishes human sin, and the searchlight of God’s holiness shines no matter the shadowy underside of human hearts or actions. And sin brings punishment.

The hope of the book of Samuel lies in the goodness of Israel’s God to provide life out of death and to provide justice on the earth. Hannah’s song affirms both theological points:

Life out of death:

The Lord brings death and gives life; He sends some to Sheol, and He raises others up. (1 Sam 2:6)

Justice on the earth:

Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered; He will thunder in the heavens against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. (1 Sam 2:10)

Hope for life and justice do not derive from any source other than Israel’s God. Yahweh, Israel’s God and King, is the wellspring of vitality and equity in the world. An entire book could be written on the source of hope in our world (Zimmerli, Man and His Hope; Drinkard and Dick, The God of Hope).

But in 1–2 Samuel, the specific shape for hope in God takes a rather human form, surprisingly: Israel’s God brings life and justice by way of His anointed and appointed king. Another way to say it is like this: God’s messiah is the divine agent of hope for the world.

The structure of the book of Samuel bears this out. As we look at the structure of the book (see p. 10), we see that the hinge of the book is found in “H–Saul’s Death (1 Sam 28:1–2 Sam 1:27).” This means the dynasty of Saul does not embody the ultimate divine anointing or appointing to “judge the ends of the earth” through God’s “power” (1 Sam 2:10). Rather, it will come through another anointed and appointed leader.

God’s anointed and appointed leader is the Davidic king. The word messiah comes from the Hebrew word that means “to anoint.” So to speak of God’s anointed leader is to speak of God’s Messiah. As the plot of 1–2 Samuel carries forward, David’s rise as the messiah and Saul’s fall become apparent. David enjoyed divine anointing, but Saul’s anointing left him. David was a man after God’s heart, but Saul was a man after his own heart. So Saul is not the king God would use to bring hope to the world, but the Davidic king is that hope.

The link between Israel’s God, life, justice, and the Davidic king appears in David’s final poems in 2 Samuel 22–23. In these poems God delivers the Davidic king from all terrors and perils and enemies (2 Sam 22:8-31). God empowers the Davidic king to quash those who oppose God’s plans and to provide justice in the earth (2 Sam 22:32-43). God empowers the Davidic king to reign over all nations with justice and equity, providing peace (2 Sam 22:44-49). David becomes God’s agent of justice and life for all peoples so that God says over the Davidic king,

“The one who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God, is like the morning light when the sun rises on a cloudless morning, the glisten of rain on sprouting grass.” (2 Sam 23:3-4)

God pronounces this affirmation over the Davidic king, His anointed and appointed agent of justice and peace. So David rhetorically says of God’s pronouncement over him, “Is it not true my house is with God? For He has established an everlasting covenant with me, ordered and secured in every detail” (2 Sam 23:5).

So we can ask of the book of Samuel:

Where is hope found?

And the answer comes:

Hope is found in Israel’s God!

But this answer raises the question:

How does God bring hope?

And the answer comes:

Through God’s Davidic Messiah!

David knows this truth. Hope is found in his royal dynastic line, anointed and appointed by God to give life and justice to Israel and the nations. So he concludes his song with these words:

Therefore I will praise You, Lord,

among the nations;

I will sing about Your name.

He is a tower of salvation for His king;

He shows loyalty to His anointed,

to David and his descendants forever. (2 Sam 22:50-51)

But by the end of 2 Samuel, we have seen David’s fall into sin (E´ in the structure, above, which is recorded in 2 Sam 10:1–12:31), and we know that David, too, is soon to die. So although the Davidic messiah is God’s agent of hope, life, and justice, we do not know when the true Messiah will come.

But because of the faithfulness of Yahweh, the true Messiah will come, and this fact is certain. Second Samuel 22–23 in particular reveals God’s plan with the Davidic Messiah: He will bring life, hope, and justice in the world. But at that point we do not know when He will come, only that He will come. Still, what a day that will be!