David The Great: Deconstructing the Man After God's Own Heart

by Mark Rutland

Overview

KING DAVID was a complicated, conflicted man of flesh. But too often he is viewed as an Americanized shepherd boy on a Sunday school
felt board or a New Testament saint alongside the Virgin Mary. Not only does this neglect one of the Bible's most complex stories of sin and
redemption; it also bypasses the gritty life lessons inherent in the amazing true story of David. 
Mark Rutland shreds the felt-board character, breaks down the sculpted marble statue, and unearths the real David of the Bible. Both noble
and wretched, neither a saint nor a monster, at times victorious and other times a failure, David was through it all a man after God's own heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781629995274
Publisher:	Charisma Media
Publication date:	05/01/2018
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	758 KB

About the Author

Mark Rutland, PhD, is a New York Times best selling author and columnist for Ministry Today magazine. He is president of Global Servants and the National Institute of Christian Leadership, having served previously as the pastor of a mega-church and president of two universities. Rutland and his wife, Alison, have been married and in ministry together for more than fifty years. They have three children and nine grandchildren. Through their ministry Global Servants the Rutlands established House of Grace home for tribal girls in Chiang Rai, Thailand to protect little girls from sex trafficking. Since 1986 House of Grace has been "saving little girls for big destinies." Its work in West Africa, largely in remote villages, has built churches and village hygiene services in five countries. For speaking appointments Rutland is represented by Premiere Speakers Bureau.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

A STRANGE BOY TO SAY THE LEAST

Based on 1 Samuel 16

When David first appeared in the story that was to become his, he was a shepherd boy. His life was far from those of the romanticized shepherds of modern stories.

In David's day, the shepherd in the family was the runt, the youngest, and often the most despised by his elders, who was made a shepherd because he was not capable of much else.

David had seven older brothers, grown men who were strong warriors. They endured their younger brother — barely. Jesse's seven older sons thought David was strange, to say the least, and a bragging little liar, to say the worst.

From his earliest days, David's life had a touch of the miraculous. Consider the fact that David was a master musician at a prodigious age. Prodigies are often hated by their less-talented elders. Then there were his accounts of supernatural victories in the wilderness. Imagine an evening meal in David's family home: He has returned with his sheep, cleaned up, and joined his older, larger brothers at the kitchen table. Challenged by their mother to be nicer to David, they fire off questions between bites.

"What did you do today, little brother?" one asks before immediately turning to his mother to make sure she noticed his "effort."

Guileless as the child he is, David answers without hesitation. "Today I killed a lion."

Imagine the ridicule, the mockery he must have endured. Perhaps Eliab, the eldest, led the verbal assault. "Killed a lion, did you? Wow! That must have been dangerous business. It's a miracle you weren't killed."

"Yes," agrees the naïve child. "It was a miracle. A great miracle."

"How did you kill the ferocious beast?"

David, oblivious to the sarcasm, answers, "I punched him."

Imagine the laughter. Gales of laughter.

David begins to realize he is being mocked, but he presses on. "Yes, he ran at the sheep, and I hit him with my fist."

"And he died? Just like that? Wow!"

By now, everyone is up to speed on the conversation. The brothers are laughing together, and Jesse and his wife are smiling awkwardly and shaking their heads.

"Yes, he died. Just like the bear."

"Oh, a bear too. A lion and a bear. What a warrior. What a mighty slayer of beasts is this sweet singer of songs."

After what feels like an eternity to David, his father, Jesse, raises his hand, and the laughter ceases. "OK, David. Are you saying you killed a lion?"

"And a bear," Abinadab adds. "Don't forget the bear, Father."

"And a bear?" Jesse asks. "A lion and a bear?"

"Yes," David responds quietly.

Jesse looks into the innocent eyes of his youngest and says, "The next time you kill a lion or a bear, why don't you cut off its head? Bring that head home and show it to your brothers. To all of us. No one calls anyone in this family a liar, and we're not calling you a liar, son, but next time, bring the head."

The Prophet Arrives

One day, the prophet Samuel arrived in town. This was a big deal, especially in a village like Bethlehem. No paparazzi follow him, but Samuel was the most famous religious leader of his day. Samuel walking into Bethlehem would be something like a rock star today suddenly appearing in a small town or Billy Graham showing up at a country church.

Since anointing Saul as the first king of Israel, Samuel had nearly retired and taken a back seat in the kingdom. His return to the scene, his arrival in Bethlehem, was something of a scary moment. There was serious apprehension. What did this mean? The Scriptures even say that the elders of the town were afraid upon seeing Samuel, and they hadn't even learned the reason he was there (1 Sam. 16:4). They would have been shocked to learn that the reason for Samuel's appearance was treason — anointing a new king when a perfectly healthy king sat on the throne.

Samuel doesn't waste any time upon entering Bethlehem. Samuel was hardly a folksy chap on his sunniest day. He is there on serious business. He tells the elders of the town, "Gather at Jesse's house for a sacrifice to the Lord."

"Jesse's house? What for?" Some of them might have been wondering if he had come to rebuke Jesse's youngest for blasphemy. Had the boy's bizarre stories of miracles offended the great prophet?

"I'm going there to anoint a new king," Samuel answers. The elders are shocked — probably horrified.

"Look, uh ... listen, we don't want to argue with a prophet. Please don't strike us dead or anything, OK? We're with you, alright? But, well, we do have just one tiny, maybe important, maybe not, question: What about Saul?"

Without hesitation, Samuel responds bluntly, "What about him? I have nothing to do with Saul anymore. The next king is in Jesse's house."

That said, everyone gathers at Jesse's house. The torches are lit, the elders are assembled, there's a fearful mysteriousness in the room. Samuel goes straight to Jesse's oldest, strongest son, Eliab. He is a perfect specimen of a man. "He looks kingly," Samuel thinks to himself. "He's not Saul exactly, but he's impressive enough." Samuel holds out the oil, ready to anoint Eliab, when he feels a spiritual check.

"This isn't the one."

He looks to the next biggest one, Abinadab. Again, "This isn't the one." The same story with Shimea and all the other brothers present. "This isn't the one ... This isn't the one ... This isn't the one ..."

After going through all seven brothers, Samuel's next words to Jesse prompt one of the funniest exchanges in the Bible: "Are you sure these are all your sons?"

"Am I sure these are all my sons?" Jesse asks in disgust.

"What are you accusing me of? What's wrong with my boys here? What do you mean, are these all my sons?"

"Well, are they?"

Silence.

"Are they? I count seven sons. Is this right, Jesse?"

Jesse becomes quiet and looks away before answering. "There, well, there is another ... out in the fields somewhere. The youngest. He is ... well ... What can I say?"

Samuel responds, "Let's see what God sees in him. Go find him now. We will not sit down or eat one bite until he is here."

When David eventually arrives and sees everyone staring at him, he must have been thinking to himself, "What did I do now?" Quietly he asks them, "Do you want to hear a song?"

He has absolutely no idea what's happening, but as the youngest he's used to being left out of the loop. Samuel walks over to this skinny child, smelling like sheep, with knees like a camel, a sunburned nose, tousled hair, and a banjo slung over his shoulder.

Perhaps Samuel himself argued with God. "Oh, Lord, no. Not this one, surely not this one."

Samuel listens for the only opinion that matters. The words come. "This is the one." Immediately, Samuel tilts the horn, pours oil on David, and anoints him as the next king of Israel.

His brothers' reactions must have been priceless. Surely not aloud, not so Samuel could hear it, but they must have chafed. All their anger and envy must have made that mysterious evening a bitter pill to swallow.

Then there were Bethlehem's village elders. They must have been afraid. They were present at this treasonous ceremony. If Saul found out about this, they knew he would kill them all and perhaps burn Bethlehem to the ground.

David has no more idea than the others of what has happened to him. Nobody explained anything to him. He just came in out of the field, and an old man poured oil on his head. He looked to his dad with an uncertain look on his face.

"You only have yourself to blame, son," Jesse says to him. "If you want to kill lions and bears with your bare hands, this is what happens."

LESSON FROM OLD DR. MARK

There will be moments in your life when God does something that resonates deeply with you. They ping on your sonar screen, and you just know that something big is going to happen. Then years go by, and nothing happens. The lost years don't erase God's mark on you though. The announcement was still made. The time has simply not yet come.

The Next Step: Wait

Perhaps even stranger than this scene with an old man pouring oil over a boy is that when it's over ... it's just over. Samuel goes back to his lonely prophet's retreat, and David returns to his sheep. Everything goes back to normal. Or so it seems.

Yet nothing is ever normal again. God has made His mark on David, and David's story was just beginning. However, it's important to remember that David's story was not the only story being written. Saul's story was not yet finished. Just because David was anointed didn't mean it was time for him to take the next step. Rather, it was time for the next step, but that next step was simply to wait.

God withdrew His anointing from Saul, who, in turn, fell into a demonic nightmare world. He was filled with rage and was guilt-ridden. The Bible puts it like this, a puzzling verse for many: "An evil spirit from the Lord troubled him" (1 Sam. 16:14, KJV).

Saul's troubled soul and his tortured mind were of his own making. God simply let Saul live with the torments he carved out for himself.

Soon, Saul was having horrible nightmares and not sleeping well at all. A kind-hearted minion in his camp says to the king, "Hey, I heard about a kid over in Bethlehem who can play and sing better than anyone in Israel. Why don't I go get this kid, and we'll see if he can sing you to sleep?"

Saul is willing to try anything at this point, so he summons David to his camp. Now what could David have been thinking at this point? Not too long before, the most famous spiritual leader in Israel poured oil over his head and said that David was God's choice to be the next king. Now the current king is sending for him? Did Saul know?

What's going to happen to David?

When young David arrives in the king's tent, Saul is tossing and turning and moaning behind a veil. All the oil lamps have been turned down, save for one flickering light. And the captain of the guard simply says to David, "Sit over there, and play and sing for the king. See if you can get him to sleep."

Here's young David, away from home and probably frightened. Secretly he knows he is supposed to be the next king, but he's told to play and sing for the current sleepless and tormented old king. It's a very odd and frightening moment in the young boy's life. Yet odd circumstances are nothing new for David.

David plays, and at last the king sleeps. In time, David is sent back to Bethlehem. Saul and his army head out for battle, and nothing else happens for David. It's over. He simply goes back to shepherding.

And that's exactly where God wanted him right then.

Leadership Focus: Promotion comes from the Lord.

Young people today spend way too much time trying to force their way into opportunities. In fact, nobody is really immune to this. Whether we're fresh out of college or twenty years into a profession, when we see even the hint of an opportunity, our initial instinct may be to push the door open ourselves.

We dare not promote ourselves to our next job. We cannot force others to see what only we can see, or think we see, in ourselves and kick-start our destiny into a higher gear. Promotion doesn't come from us or even from others. Promotion comes from the Lord, and the Lord only.

You are where you are right now because where you are is where God wants to use you right now. Maybe you've been told you're going to be the next king. Are you king now? David wasn't. David did his job there, right where he was. He was a shepherd, and he did it well. He was gifted in music, and he used it well. When he was given an opportunity to sing and play for — of all people — his demon-possessed predecessor, he did it well.

Wait on the Lord for your next opportunity. When that opportunity comes, don't get caught in the snare of assigning too much significance to it. After David sang Saul to sleep, he didn't snoop around and start planning a hostile takeover. He didn't say to himself, "God has finally brought me to my destiny. It's time to start my kingdom!" He did what he was brought there to do and then went home to his sheep.

David had an opportunity to serve the king, and he did it well. That is all God wanted from him at the time. His moment to become the ruling king had not yet arrived.

Follow David's lead. Learn to wait on the Lord. Trust in His timing. Let God guide you to Saul's camp. Let God work on Saul. Let God work on you. Let God work on Samuel. Eventually, all these lines intersect at just the right moment. At God's moment.

God is in control of your life, and He is working at different places and at different times to get you where you need to be at just the right time.

Wait on the Lord. Let God promote you in His own way and in His own time. Arriving at the right place is good, of course. Arriving there at the right time is even better.

CHAPTER 2

THE SHADOW KING

Based on 1 Samuel 17

On a battlefield in the valley of Elah, a teenage David stood before the entire Israeli army — seasoned veterans twice his age, carrying swords and shields with the bloodstains of war upon them — and shouted and called them out. "Is there not a cause? Are you going to allow this behemoth to insult our God like this? Do you not believe that God will give you victory over this blasphemous brute?"

Though still an adolescent, with less experience in battle than the donkeys carrying the army's tents, young David was courageous and mature in faith. Long before he became a king, prior to living as a refugee and outlaw, David could recognize who were his real enemies and who were not, who needed to be put in their place and who were to still be respected, who he needed to take out of the picture and who needed to be left in God's hands.

Every leader is going to acquire enemies. It's part of the package that comes with a title. A king of Israel has many enemies. A wise leader recognizes that some apparent enemies are not true enemies, and some who seem to be friends are lethal.

Being placed on a path toward kingship at such a young age gave David ample opportunity to learn about enemies. Perhaps David's greatest leadership gift in his youth was in knowing which enemies were his to deal with and which were to be dealt with by the living God.

Loyalty to the King

Scripture gives no clear indication that Saul and David met face-to-face during those evenings in the tent when David sang to the restless king. That may seem strange, but we would be ill-advised to assume that Saul and David built some kind of father-and-son relationship. Perhaps it happened, but more likely it didn't. Saul was, after all, a king and David a visiting minstrel.

The king's tent was not a pup tent like that of a Boy Scout. Rather, Saul's tent would've been quite large, perhaps with a veil hanging down that separated his sleeping area from the rest of the tent. When David was brought in with his lyre, Saul was probably already in bed, tossing and turning, perhaps struggling with his demons. The king's pitiable groaning must have unnerved a sheltered boy from a rural village.

David was likely told to sit across the room on pillows laid out for him and to sing a few songs until the king drifted into a peaceful night's sleep. Then David was excused to go back to the baggage tent where he slept. That went on for an undetermined amount of time before Saul felt he was better and ready to go on a military campaign. Thus, the two kings' paths diverged once again.

We do not know if the two kings ever met face-to-face during that time. We do know that David, the young shadow king, did not begin a mutiny during these long nights when King Saul was perhaps at his most vulnerable. David did not spread the rumor around camp that Saul had lost his anointing from God. He did not let on that he, a boy who killed lions and bears with his hands, had been told by the prophet Samuel himself that he was to be the next king.

Instead, David was loyal to Saul. He honored him. He pitied him and sought to comfort him as much as he could with his God-given musical abilities. At this early point in their story, David did not know all the reasons God had taken Saul's anointing away or what Saul had done to bring upon himself such demonic torture. That was between God and Saul. Knowing he was God's chosen next king, David remained loyal to King Saul, an unworthy man.

(Continues…)

---

Excerpted from "David the Great"
by .
Copyright © 2018 Mark Rutland.
Excerpted by permission of Charisma House Book Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

---

Table of Contents

A Letter to the Reader, xi,
Introduction, 1,
Prologue, 7,
Part I — Morning, 13,
Chapter 1 A Strange Boy to Say the Least, 15,
Chapter 2 The Shadow King, 25,
Chapter 3 The New Hebrew Idol, 37,
Chapter 4 From Hero to Madman, 49,
Chapter 5 From Madman to Mercenary, 59,
Chapter 6 Learning From Idiots, 71,
Part II — Afternoon, 81,
Chapter 7 Wives, Lives, and Collateral Damage, 83,
Chapter 8 Israel's Three-Pronged Leader, 89,
Chapter 9 The Kryptonite of a Wunderkind, 103,
Chapter 10 The Girl With the Curl1, 15,
Chapter 11 You Are the Man, 125,
Rutland-David Great_TRindd, 9,
Part III — Evening, 139,
Chapter 12 Pain, Politics, and Polygamy, 141,
Chapter 13 A Young Man's Game, 155,
Chapter 14 A Mountaintop Gallows, 165,
Chapter 15 The Hall of Fame, 179,
Chapter 16 Strange Bedfellows, 189,
Chapter 17 A Dangerous, Dying Lion, 201,
Epilogue, 211,
Notes, 221,

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“I highly recommend this eye-opening study on the life and leadership of King David.”
—Jentezen Franklin
Senior Pastor, Free Chapel
New York Times Best-Selling Author

In our troubled generation we need a fresh understanding of King David. We do not need so much the bedtime story
David. We need David raw, David complex, David a man of his times. Even more, we need David the fully human man of
God. Dr. Mark Rutland gives us this and more in his invaluable study of the great king.
—Stephen Mansfield, PhD
New York Times Best-Selling Author