David Ben Jesse

by Paul Cypert
This is David son of Jessie who tends the flocks of his father, he lives in a place of solitude. David spends his day in prayer, worship, and as his spirit is filled with prophetic psalms, he journals, yet keeps a watchful eye for he is the shepherd and protector of his father’s flocks. He’s just a boy but hardened, having killed the lion and the bear that attempt to steal away what is his families.

One day David is sent by his father to bring supplies to his brothers. So, David journeys to the hill country of Israel and finds atop a hill the army of Israel camped, he has brought food to refresh and renew the strength of his brothers who company as soldiers with the army of Israel. Across the valley on another hilltop lay sprawled the vast army of Philistia. Upon his arrival, a six fingered, six toed giant, lumbers down into the valley and David hears the roar of the challenge, send out a man to fight me, a champion, lets end this right now, man to man, let’s see whose God reigns, but no man stepped up only a boy. A boy who instantly discerns the predicament of a fearful cohort of King, commanders and soldiers. From a heart that is filled by God’s faith come the words, “who is this uncircumcised Philistine that would defy the armies of Yahweh… I will go and take his head!

He is rebuked by his brothers then embraced by his king and the planning began, but the armor did not fit, and the sword provided unsure. So, David’s king sends him to confront the champion of Philistia, the giant, Goliath with the tool tied to his belt. A sling shot. As David walked to the valley there, he chose five smooth stones from the creek bed. He would only need one! Armies that had been languishing in temperate hill country climate suddenly arose for today there were two in the valley not one.

And the only sound heard after the complaint of the giant about fighting a boy was a thud that reverberated through the hills ever so muted but distinct as the giant kissed the earth that soaked up his blood. A roar sounded as the army of Israel rushed the opposing hill and now a great clamor was heard as Philistia gripped with fear fled from the onslaught of now fearless warriors of Israel. A victory won and the spoils of war taken, and God as He so often does with the sons and daughters of men, their fortune has been reversed. The fearless now fear and the weak say, “I am strong”.

Rest of the story? A King was born that day in the eyes of Israel but in the eyes of God for He was already a King!

The story of an unlikely King:
Historical scholars of Israel in the time when the Kings ruled along with bible scholars who believe, although not provable, that by implication of certain facts that David the eighth son of Jessie was a bastard and most likely the child of one of Jessie’s servants or a plot schemed up by Jessie’s wife.  

Why did Jessie only invite seven sons to Samuels king anointing-coronation ceremony (1 Samuel 16)? And of the seven none passed the prophets test.  After Samuel asked, ‘have you no more sons?’ Jessie answered well there is David but he’s away tending the flocks and Samuel said, “go get him I’ll wait”.  So, Jessie sent his servants after David to bring him back that day from the sheep pens, a lonely place away and out of sight of family and public to stand before the prophet. And before Samuel a young, vibrant, healthy David stood, and the horn filled with oil and Samuel anointed the head of David.

Perhaps you missed what David said about himself,
Psalm 51 Verse 5; Behold, I was brought forth in guilt, And in sin my mother conceived me.
It won’t be the last time an illegitimate chid sets a throne.

Another train of thought is that the youngest children were given the responsibility of tending the sheep. A responsibility given for the less influential of the family, something the older deemed as not all that important as compared to being part of the Temple scene of the community.  Well it seems that no loving parent would send a boy to defend the families flocks against beasts like lions and bears. But, perhaps a good place to send someone to rid yourself of your guilt. Point of fact David employed this same strategy successfully later in life after his affair with Bathsheba. Sending Uriah, her husband, a trusted mighty warrior of David, to the front lines of the battle. Where the arrows flew more profusely and true.

On the hilltop that day, even David’s oldest brother showed his contempt him for the brash proclamation concerning the Giant’s future. Just as likely as not the David, Son of Jessie may well have been, illegitimate.

But this is the part of the story that is most enlivened with God. It is and most often seen in the stories of His interaction with the sons and daughters of men. It is the reversal of fortune, a stone freed and taken flight by the force of a boys faith, a fearful nation now freed from its pathetic lack of insight into the powerful God, whom they claimed to worship.

So, David becomes the human agent by which God delivers Israel. When God acts and there are no exceptions to the rule, He always acts through the faith of a human being! No Exceptions!

THIS IS THE ONLY STONE YOU NEED!

Jason Huckabee

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