David is chosen to be king because he possesses the qualities that Saul lacks: a passion for God. The Lord “sought out a man after his own heart” to be king, according to 1 Samuel 13:14, but Saul was not that person. When Samuel goes to anoint Israel’s new king, he thinks David’s older, more powerful brother will be chosen. However, Samuel is instructed by God not to focus on his physical strength: Because I rejected him, you should not judge by his appearance or height. For the Master sees not as man sees: The LORD looks at the heart, while a man looks at appearances” (16:7). David is set up to be used by God because of his love for God. The things that make us useful in God’s kingdom are not our impressive resumes. The main example we gain from David’s life is the significance of developing a heart for God regardless of anything else.

David’s loss of Goliath is one of the most clear instances of what the dread of God can achieve. David was unfazed by the nine-foot giant in front of him because he feared God more than Goliath. David had more faith in God’s promises than he did in Goliath. David had faith in the Lord because he had promised the Israelites that they would defeat the Philistines. God maintains that this equivalent sort of dread should be a piece of our lives. We will be able to obey and please God in powerful ways if we fear God more than anything else.

Of course, David is actually a representation of Jesus Christ, the Greater Champion. David won one brief battle and delivered a nation from the enemy. Jesus Christ crushed the foe — Satan, sin, and demise — and conveyed his kin forever. That brings us to the next thing David teaches us.

One illustration of the numerous hints and prophecies that refer to Jesus Christ throughout the Old Testament is David’s life. In his “last words” in 2 Samuel 23:1–7, David repeatedly makes reference to Jesus. In the opening verse, he refers to himself as “the anointed of the God of Jacob.” David was “blessed” on the grounds that Samuel blessed him with oil and in light of the fact that God blessed him with the Essence of God (1 Sam. 16:13). However, the Hebrew word for “anointed” is Messiah, while the Greek word is Christ. The Greater Christ is David’s target. The significance of Peter’s response to Jesus in Matthew 16:15-16 is as follows: “But who do you say I am?” he asked them. “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Simon Peter replied.

Jesus also fulfills what David refers to as “the everlasting covenant” in 2 Samuel. 23:5):

I will raise your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will raise your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom when your days are over and you lie down with your fathers. 13 I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever and he will build a house for my name. 2 Sam. 7:12–13 This is not a person. The greatest kings of Israel, Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah, all lived between 70 and 80 years. They all lacked an eternal kingdom. This is the King above all Kings, Jesus Christ, the Son of David, who will reign forever.