THE SON OF JESSE
Leadership has become such a crucial issue in our world today that billions of dollars are spent each year by associations, governments, corporate or church-based organizations to run seminars and trainings in leadership. A Welsh University I just learnt offers M.Sc. and Ph.D. now in leadership. Without a leader, however bright an idea or vision maybe, it will not fly. Men and materials must always have been harnessed by a visionary leader wherever great purposes have been achieved. Antiquity is full of exemplary demonstrations of strategic leadership at every point when the history of the world has experienced great advancements in different fields of human endeavour.
The incomparable speed and the warfaring genius of Alexander the Great who founded the largest territorial empire of all times that spread from Italy to India has remained the standard in military leadership till now. The financial wizardry of John D. Rockefeller has not been equaled in 150 years. The analytical excellence and brilliance of Albert Einstein has remained for over a century the reference point for all scientific inquiry of the modern age. The political suaveness and the electrifying eloquence of John Kennedy and Bill Clinton and the grace to win elections while facing daunting hurdles have not ceased to amaze the world long after their time in office. Leadership is indeed crucial to move this world and any endeavour forward.
However, when it comes to the spiritual realm, apart from Jesus, hardly does anyone measure up to the sterling leadership qualities of David the son of Jesse. I have chosen to turn our attention to David the son of Jesse because we cannot accuse him of any divine origin or essence. David was a mere man in whose life such great and sublime leadership qualities merged to take Israel the nearest to God’s dream for that nation. From the time he lived about 1150 B.C. till now and for all eternity, David became God’s reference point of godly leadership and the ultimate example of spiritual success. Under him Israel extended territorially from the river of Egypt all the way to River Euphrates swallowing Lebanon, Syria and Riblah in the north. Israel subdued all her enemies. The Israeli economy was so sound, David himself and the people of Israel gave donations of over $10 billion to provide all the materials needed to construct one of the seven wonders of the ancient world which was the temple built by Solomon his son. Spiritually Israel reached the highest point of godliness and devotion to Jehovah under his tenure.
David did not succeed because he was the tallest man in Israel – Saul beat him in that area. Not because he was the holiest man – he made serious mistakes. He was not the strongest Israelite – Adino the Eznite was mightier than him. He slew 800 men alone at one time. David did not succeed because of his knowledge of God’s word. God had priests and prophets who instructed David. He succeeded because of his heart. His heart was in the right place and his head was correct. David succeeded because of the following qualities.
HIS SPIRITUAL POVERTY
I believe the greatest grace of all is the help from God which makes a man to see himself exactly as God sees him. The grace to see one’s spiritual nakedness and therefore to depend constantly on the goodness of God is certainly the greatest factor in David’s success. “Behold I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me,” he said “ … I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me.” This was uttered on the occasion when he was rebuked by Prophet Nathan concerning his adultery and murder. Saul’s reaction when he was rebuked by Samuel was completely opposite of this. “The sacrifices of God are a broken Spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Anyone who hides his sins will never obtain the favor of God. David knew that the person who confesses and forsakes his sins will be mightily helped of God. No other king of Judah or Israel provoked God as Manasseh did. Sixteen deadly abominations he alone committed including putting an idol in God’s holy temple and burning his children to Molech the abomination of the Moabites but when he humbled himself, God forgave him and brought him back from prison to the position of leadership again as King of Judah. David’s sin merited death but because he saw himself as God saw him, he still went on to do great things for God after he fell. The Pharisee who in prayer compared himself to a fellowman and gave himself pass marks went back to his home a greater sinner than he came. Borrow a leaf from David if you would be a great leader of men. Humble yourself under the almighty hand of God and He will lift you up in due season.
HIS CALL
In 1 Sam. 13:14, the prophet said to Saul “But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought Him a man after his own heart and the Lord has commanded him to be captain over his people because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.” David, a 16 year-old boy was that man after God’s own heart whom he had chosen to be the king of Israel. He did not know the specifics yet but it had been communicated to his heart, he was to be king in Israel.
Jesse did not think David was qualified to be brought before Prophet Samuel like his other sons to be anointed king. But God made his choice. The jealousy of Saul endangered David’s life for years but God had made his call already. It looked formidable and impossible to dream of becoming king while Saul was still on the throne but God made his choice already and David was anointed king.
David took his call with all seriousness. At 17 he would defy every doubt and fear to take on the human tank called Goliath to deliver Israel from oppression when the reigning king had cowered in shame and faithlessness for forty days. In old age David would take on Ishbibenob, Goliath’s brother (another giant) and was nearly killed in battle – 2 Sam. 21 – because he took his call seriously. Paul said, “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel.” He therefore became all things to all men that he might by all means win some. The sufferings and deprivations Paul endured were monumental and he took them on because he would not be disobedient to the heavenly vision he received. He became the kind of leader who could say, “Pattern your life after me even as I pattern mine after Christ.”
You need to take your calling in Christ with the same commitment and an all-consuming zeal. You are a leader
HIS FAITH
How could a boy of about 16 pursue a lion and tear it and deprive it of its prey? How could a teenager take on a bear and rescue a lamb from its jaws? How could a ruddy youth take on that juggernaut called Goliath and slay him with a stone in a sling? There was much about the life of David about this time of his life that the Church has taken little notice of. Ponder the above questions and find out whoever did what David did at such a tender age. How could a shepherd boy who was not old enough to join Saul’s army accomplish such exploits? There was certainly a knowledge of God and relationship that produced the strength to do exploits. It was a truly amazing and confounding thing for a teenager like David to kill a lion, a bear and a war-machine like Goliath as he did. The explanation of his prowess definitely lay in a relationship of trust that developed between him and God long before these encounters.
When Ziklag was attacked and plundered by the marauding Amalekites and David and his 600 men lost all their families and possessions, he was in great distress as his men were about to turn on him and came close to stoning him. David encouraged himself in the Lord, sought his help and the situation was reversed in less than 24 hours. Truly “They that do know their God shall be strong and shall do exploits.” David sought the Lord every time he went to war and received help. He never lost a war all his days.
David trusted God implicitly. Therefore God also committed to him without wavering. He never leaned on his own understanding but in all his ways he acknowledged God and God in turn directed him into one success after another.
The victory that overcomes the world is our faith. Joshua greatly benefited by it when he engaged in what may be termed a senseless exercise of marching around Jericho once a day for six days and seven times on the 7th day. He would certainly have been justified if he rejected God’s directives and dismissed them as militarily absurd and lacking in any strategic adroitness. Marching around a city and shouting is not the conventional way to bring down the walls of a city but because God said to do it and Joshua obeyed him, the walls came down flat and a great victory was won. The sick man at the pool of Bethesda could have been within his fundamental rights if he had asked Jesus to carry his jokes to other bedridden invalids. But he obeyed the crazy command to rise and take his bed and go home and he did just that. The servants at the wedding at Cana of Galilee would have acted within their legal rights if they told Jesus to take his pranks to another wedding. But they ‘foolishly’ obeyed him and the rest is history.
David’s obedience and the blessings he reaped by faith saved Israel. A leader in the body of Christ must have an unwavering faith in God or he would fall flat on his face. Faith is the key!
HIS PURSUIT OF GOD
David’s interest in God was more than the pursuit of blessings and political success. It is a mystery to me how David’s intimacy with God developed so early in his life because the Bible is silent on how David qualified to be called a man after God’s own heart at the age of 16. We can only surmise that his father Jesse must have brought him up strictly in the tradition of the Torah and inculcated in him such godly virtues. That may be true but my query is how his seven other sons missed God with such an exceptional spiritual upbringing.
Whatever the circumstances of his childhood which appear to me to exclude the love of a father, David developed such intimacy with God throughout his life that his expression of their relationship is unparalleled in the Bible. He said “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?” In another place he said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” He also said, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.” “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is … my soul followeth hard after thee; thy right hand upholdeth me.” David said again, “How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God … for a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a door keeper in the house of God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
I lack words to characterize David’s hunger and thirst for God. But God said, “If you seek me, you will find me when you do so with all your heart.” David was such a seeker after God. He said in Ps. 119:164, “Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.” Now that’s seeking God! There is no way a man will seek God on this magnitude and great miracles will not occur in his life. Apart from Jesus, this is an area David surpassed all men and left us an inimitable example.
HIS DOCTRINE
David started his only book in the Bible by saying “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” He also said, “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: (David was a converted sinner) the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned; and in keeping of them there is great reward.” Ps. 19
This short write-up is too limited to discuss the extent of David’s doctrine and what he taught and believed. However, we know that the word of God was the lamp unto his feet and the light unto his path. David certainly took to heart the injunction of the Lord to Joshua that the Book of the Law should not depart out of his mouth and that he must meditate on it day and night and observe to do what it says. He would then make his way prosperous and have good success. That David was a successful and a prosperous leader is a given.
You, too, if you believe in the Lord your God, you shall be established. If you believe His prophets, you shall prosper.
HIS INTEGRITY
David would not cut corners or help God to achieve his goal of becoming king. Twice God delivered Saul unto his hands, but David would not touch the Lord’s anointed. When a man brought Saul’s crown to David and reported that he killed Saul expecting a reward, David had him executed. Even though Abner led the family of Saul to fight David for many years, David accepted Abner’s offer of returning the rest of the tribes to his kingdom and greatly mourned him when he was murdered by Joab. In the same way David executed Rechab and Baanah who assassinated Ishbosheth Saul’s son expecting a reward from David.
When David was told a story that a certain rich man took an only sheep of a poor man which was like a daughter to him and dressed it for a visitor, he sentenced the man to death before he realized he was the man in question.
Three times David was called an angel by other men because of the uprightness of his character. David knew that God never forsook the righteous nor allowed their seed to beg for bread.
HIS SKILL
Neither time nor space would allow me an extensive discourse of David’s military skill or administrative abilities. But suffice it to say, he never lost a battle in his life because he was diligent to seek God for his military campaigns. I Chron. 28:1 says, “And David assembled all the princes of Israel, the princes of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that ministered to the king by course and the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, and stewards over all the substance and possession of the king and of his sons and with the officers and with the mighty men, and with all the valiant men.” Chapter 11 of this book lists David’s mighty men, chapter 15 lists his religious leaders, chapter 23 shows the organization of labour in the temple for 24,000 workers, 6000 officers and judges, 4000 porters and four thousand musicians.
David’s administrative genius and his military prowess brought Israel to the highest level of its political success ever.
CONCLUSION
David was an all-round success as a leader of men. He succeeded because he always saw himself as God saw him. That attracted God to him. God then called him to the service of his nation and David took his commission with all seriousness and risked his life to save Israel. David also trusted God implicitly and nothing pleases God more than that. David not only had an exploit-producing faith in God but he loved God so greatly his heart and his flesh fainted for desire. He pursued hard after God and walked in His injunctions all the days of his life. David’s character or integrity combined with his rare administrative and military brilliance to produce such an excellent leader of men so that his reign became the reference point to judge all other kings for all time.
If you will follow the footsteps of David who indeed exhibited the character of Jesus , this generation will not only hear you, it will be impacted by you. You are indeed the light of the world and the salt of the earth.
-ISAAC OKPANACHI