2 Samuel 5

Finally after so many years of struggle and trial, David was anointed king over all of Israel and Judah. All of the tribes were able to acknowledge that God had prepared David for this day in his amazing service under Saul. They believed the Word of the Lord that God had given so long ago when Samuel had anointed David saying, “This is he.” The people had come to understand what Saul, Jonathan, Abner, and so many others knew about David, “You shall be shepherd of my people Israel.”

The elders of the tribes, David, and the Lord God were there at this great moment as David was anointed as king before the Lord at Hebron. David was still a young men at thirty years of age, but he would reign for forty years.

David set about winning the stronghold of Jerusalem despite its good military position that had frustrated the people of the Lord in prior generations. Continuing in God's command of conquest over the peoples that had formerly been in the land of Canaan, David expressed the Lord's hatred of the Jebusites who had inhabited this territory that would become David's special city. The Lord was with David and gave him victory.

Hiram, king of Tyre to the north of Israel, made peace with David, but the Philistines sought to destroy him. Yet David evaded them, and then, at the Lord's direction, he went up to battle against the Philistines, and the Lord delivered them into his hand.

Once again David inquired of the Lord concerning a further military assault against this enemy nation, and again the Lord told David that He would give him and the armies of Israel victory. He revealed a plan for the defeat of the Philistines, and His servant followed the Lord's instructions and received the good result that God had promised.

These early victories of king David over the Jebusites and the Philistines stood in stark contrast to the fear and defeat that had marked the end of Saul's reign. God was certainly able to establish His people in the Promised Land. But would they be faithful to Him in the end?

The worst enemy of Israel turned out to be Israel.

Our biggest dangers are not the armies of flesh and blood that may be arrayed against us. God used David to defeat armies that had frustrated Saul. But God used Jesus to destroy more formidable foes.

In the New Testament we are assured that our struggle is not first and foremost against flesh and blood. We face angelic powers of great evil that seek our destruction. A most serious foe is the corruption of our own souls within us.

We need a leader that can defeat sin and death. This is what the Son of David, Jesus Christ, has done for us. He has secured for us the best Promised Land in that Jerusalem which is above. Even now, our anointed King is at the right hand of the father, showering us with a better gift than David received when he was anointed as the king over God's people.

We have been anointed not with oil made by human hands, but with the oil of gladness sent from heaven, the Holy Spirit Himself. This good Spirit is now at work within us, putting to death enemies like impatience and self-preoccupation that are unbecoming of those who follow the King who died on the cross for our sins.

Through the power of the righteousness and blood of the Son of God, not only have sin and death been overturned. The devil himself has been defeated, and the wrath of Almighty God has been turned away from the elect. Only Jesus could win for us an everlasting peace with God. There is no greater King over all of God's people than Jesus, the Son of David.