How was David a man after God’s own heart? Great question. Let’s talk about it.
“The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over His people” (1 Samuel 13:14).
Which God?
Years back, I was at a creation vs. evolution debate, and a man asked me which god I believed in because he believed there were many valid gods. He knew I was a Christian but wanted to know how I identified ‘God.’
What Does God Mean?
It was a good question. I told him I identify the true God as the Father of my Lord Jesus Christ. He immediately asked how I could believe in a God who claimed that King David, a man who committed murder, adultery, and many other sins, was “a man after God’s own heart.” I can’t remember my response, but what did God mean when He said that?
What Doesn’t God Mean?
It can’t refer to David’s moral character because God is holy. He can’t sin or approve of sin. And David was a sinner before God, just as we are.
Now David was Israel’s second king. Saul was the first. Before Israel had a human king, God was the nation’s King. In the years before Saul became king, Israel was humanly ruled by a series of judges. In a recurring cycle, as described in the Bible book of Judges, the people would sin, then fall victim to their enemies, then cry out to God, who would then raise a judge to deliver them, only to have the people fall back into sin again.
The People’s Choice
Samuel was God’s judge and prophet at this time, so the people formally asked him for a human king. They demanded, “Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations” (1 Samuel 8:5).
The People’s Error
However, God had raised Israel to be different from the other nations worshipping false gods. Their desire for a king showed they rejected their chosen status as God’s people. And Samuel noticed their error:
“But the thing was evil in the eyes of Samuel because they said, “Give us a king to govern us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in relation to all that they say to you. For it is not you they have rejected, but Me they have rejected from reigning over them.
God Relented
God relented, not willingly, but under protest. He knew the kings would burden the people with hardships. Samuel warned them against demanding a king, but they insisted:
“So that we also will be like all the nations! And so that our king will govern us, and will go out before us, and will fight our battles. And after Samuel heard all the words of the people, he spoke them in the hearing of the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice, and make for them a king” (1 Samuel 8:20-22).
The people would get a king ‘after their own heart.’ That is, this king would be the people’s choice.
The People’s Criteria
“He (Saul’s father) had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man, and there was not a better looking man among the children of Israel. From his shoulders and up he was taller than any of the people” (1 Samuel 9:2).
“Then Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen? Truly there is none like him among all the people” (1 Samuel 10:24).
The Lord knew what type of king would impress the people. So, He deferred and, as a loving father teaching His children a lesson, allowed them to have someone who qualified by their standards. He also knew the folly that would come to them from the king, who was their choice.
God Rejected Saul
King Saul’s reign began well, but he soon habitually disobeyed the Lord’s commands. The king in Israel was always second in command. He ruled as God’s servant. Saul’s defiance led to God ending Saul’s reign:
“Then came the word of the Lord to Samuel, saying, “I regret that I have set up Saul to be king because he has turned back from following Me, and he has not carried out My words” (1 Samuel 15:10).
God’s Criteria
This time, the next king would be God’s choice, and according to different criteria:
“The Lord sees not as man sees. For man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).
The Right Tribe
Saul wasn’t even from the right tribe. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. God had predicted, almost one-thousand years before through Jacob, that the future Messiah, the eternal King of Israel and the world, would come from the tribe of Judah:
“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Messiah) comes; and to him will be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).
God’s Choice
King David was from the right tribe, the tribe of Judah. Because God honors His word and cannot lie, the only approved kings—and the only eternal King Messiah—had to be from the tribe of Judah and descended from King David.
Jesus Rejected
Jesus is from the tribe of Judah, a descendant of King David and the future eternal King Messiah. Yet when Jesus came to earth in His First Advent and offered Israel the Kingdom, they rejected it:
“I (Jesus) have come in My Father’s name, but you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name (Antichrist), you will receive him. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:43-44).
Jesus’ Eternal Reign
Jesus has ascended to heaven and sits at God’s right hand. He has the authority of the Father to begin His eternal reign whenever He pleases. All He must do is ask the Father for His inheritance:
The Lord hath said unto me (Jesus), Thou art my Son…. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psalm 2:7-8).
“When He (God) had removed him (King Saul), He raised up David to be their king, of whom He testified, saying, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will fulfill My entire will” (Acts 13:22).
So, How was David A Man After God’s Own Heart?
When God says David was ‘a man after My own heart,’ He didn’t mean He identified with David’s character or morality. David was a sinner–like all of us. God means David was His choice, His chosen vessel to advance His redemptive plan. David contrasts with Saul, who was the people’s choice.
David will fulfill God’s ‘entire will’ because God’s Son Jesus was born in David’s line. And God promised that one of David’s descendants would rule forever:
“Your (King David’s) house and dominion will endure before Me (God) forever, and your throne will be established by the Lord forever” (2 Samuel 7:16).
