1 Kings 1 & 2
The Third Accession/Succession Narrative
Epilogue: The Consolidation Of An Empire
The Narrator Has Come Not To Praise David, But To Bury Him
or When Good Kings End Badly
Exiles, House Arrests and Assassinations
1 Kings 1
Indecision And Adonijah
âHis Father Had Never Crossed Him At Any Timeâ
We often refer to King David as "the Man after God's Own Heart." Is this really the case? Is this always and only the case? We know that God is looking for one; but has He found him? Can one really be found?
In 1 Sam. 13:14, we read: "For now your kingdom shall not endure. The LORD has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you." These are Samuel's words to Saul in the heat of the moment. There is no Divine precedent as yet in the text of Scripture. Samuel may be working without a net here â especially in view of the fact that no alternative has been suggested by God. Samuel has not yet been commissioned to anoint the least of Jesse's sons. Samuel the seer could be flying blind.
Three chapters and several major events and royal failures later, Samuel is sent to Bethlehem to anoint the next king. When he sees the oldest of Jesse's sons and says to himself, "Surely the LORD's anointed is before Him (1 Sam. 16:6). But verse seven says: ". . . the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." These are God's words to Samuel with respect, of course, to Jesse's oldest son, Eliab. However, much later when God says, "Arise, anoint him; for this is he" in v. 12, we know that "he" is the king; but we still do not know that this is "The Man After God's Own Heart." We are left to guess as much â and history will prove us right to question.