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We begin the books of 1 and 2 Samuel with a woman you may not remember named Hannah, who desperately wanted a child. Her husband Elkanah actually had 2 wives: Peninah and Hannah. In a rivalry between the two wives, Peninah made fun of the fact that she had a boy by Elkanah. In contrast, Hannah had not yet given him one.  

This needed to be resolved. Hannah desperately wanted it to be so. So badly, that she promised God that if she could have a boy she would dedicate him to God’s service. She found herself expecting. Once born, that boy was given over to Eli in God’s service and raised by the priest. 

Eventually, little Samuel becomes a priest himself. He goes to see a farmer who’s done well. But the farmer is not famous either. Nowhere near the richest guy we’ll see in the Old Testament. His name is Jesse. 

Now honestly, when you think of the most influential, the biggest figures in the Bible do Hanah, Eli, Samuel and Jesse come to mind first? No, probably not. But that’s where our story begins. For these are the formative figures who were such vital links in developing young David. 

David, the youngest son in a world that by far most valued the firstborn sons. Who was so small when he was first trotted out onto a field of battle that he couldn’t bear up under the weight of the armor and the sword. So unremarkable at the moment that the best thing the writer could note about him was that he was reddish in color and handsome. That David would go on to not only reign for a nearly unprecedented 40 years, but would manage to pull off the impossible. 

There is power and beauty in this book. Beginning with Hannah’s relatable pain and deep disappointment, we see characters we can understand. 

But David is who we focus on. How did he become the great, if flawed, king who united all of Israel? The greatest they remember to this day. Well, that started with something I hinted at last week as we heard from the book of Judges. 

I said that God would eventually give them the worst punishment perhaps imaginable. God would let the people have what they were asking for. What they were asking for was a king. The people were saying, “All the other nations have Kings. Let us have one of those, too.”

God said, “That’s not really how I built you. That’s not really who I built you to be. But if that’s what you want.”

Undaunted, the people said, “Well, we do know better than you know, and that is what we want. After all, I drop a couple of fives in the plate now and then. Or, I contribute to the Special Fund every year. So give me what I want!”

In return, God said the coldest and cruelest thing that is perhaps recorded in all the Bible. “Okay. Let ‘em have what they’re asking for.” Of course, they had been warned about earthly kings. They had been told that corruption, misuse of power and the like tend to happen in kingdoms. 

1 and 2 Samuel finishes out by telling us how two kings reigned. Saul fell out of favor with God quickly. David was anointed to be king-in-waiting. Saul could not live with that, and began to act erratically. He was eventually killed in battle. 

David’s greatest wish was to build a grand temple for God. But God had a more immediate assignment for David. God wanted David to first build a faithful and unified people. Battle after battle, all in a larger war that never seems to end, would ensue during David’s reign. 

Bathsheba came into David’s life, casting a new hue on how he would be viewed. Now, this flawed human was God’s choice. But he was humbled when the prophet Nathan confronted him about his own imperfections. Eventually, David’s own son Absalom would try to kill him in order to take over the kingdom. 

What becomes conspicuous about 1 and 2 Samuel is that no matter how murky things got in David’s life, the more unified the people seemed to become. David’s life grew tougher the older he got. Yet he became the king the people remembered and adored. A humbled David closes out 2 Samuel by appealing for God’s help in a plague. David has succeeded in the big picture, even if getting there was tough.

DR. CHARLES QUALLS is senior pastor at Franklin Baptist Church. Contact him at 757-562-5135.