The Coronation of Faith (a study from 2 Samuel 5:1-5)

In 2 Samuel 5:1-5, David is anointed King over all Israel.

During the first four chapters, David was King over the southern portion of Israel called Judah while Ishbosheth (one of Saul’s sons) was King over the rest of Israel. In chapter four, Ishbosheth and the captain of his army (Abner) are killed and we enter chapter five as “all of Israel” comes to David with the sole purpose to make him King. But this event, while extremely important in the life of David, was not merely the anointing of a King, but more so, the coronation of faith.

But this event, while extremely important in the life of David, was not merely the anointing of a King, but more so, the coronation of faith.

A Life of Faith

Hebrews 11 gives an incredible picture of faith:

Hebrews 11:1, 32: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. … And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.

A friend of mine defines faith as looking past the veil of the natural, seeing the spiritual, and living accordingly. Faith is a confidence in God and His ability. Faith is living with expectancy. Faith is living as a little child: accepting, believing, and expecting.

A good example is waiting at a bus stop. If you have faith that the bus will arrive, it doesn’t matter if the bus happens to be a little late, you know without a doubt that the bus will arrive and you wait patiently with expectation and peace. But, if you don’t have faith the bus will arrive, and it is two minutes past time, you question, experience fear or concern, and start thinking of alternate ways to get where you need to go.

Faith accepts, believes, and expects—it is living according to that which you know to be true. The same idea applies to the spiritual. Leonard Ravenhill once eloquently wrote:

God honors not wisdom nor personality, but faith. Faith honors God. And God honors faith. God goes wherever faith puts Him. Faith links our impotence to His omnipotence. Doubt delays and often destroys faith. Faith destroys doubt. (Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries, 73)

In today’s culture, many Christian leaders and well-known authors suggest that real faith is mixed with doubt. But you cannot have both. Either your life will be governed by faith, or it will be governed and ruled by doubt. David’s life up to this point is consumed with living in faith.

This concept of faith expressed in how you live (without doubt or wavering) is pictured in the crowning of David king over all of Israel.

David’s Life as a Picture of Faith

Again Hebrews 11, the chapter of faith, declares:

Hebrews 11:1, 32: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. … And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of David and Samuel and the prophets.

From verses 2-31, the author of Hebrews gives a stunning recap of individuals throughout the Old Testament whose lives contained the “substance” of faith. He arrives at verse 32 and states “time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, DAVID, Samuel, and the prophets.”

Why is David listed amongst the “faith-full”?

David is introduced in 1 Samuel 16:11-13. A young shepherd boy who is overlooked when the prophet Samuel comes to anoint the new king. Once David is brought in before the prophet, God says to Samuel, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” Samuel approches David with the horn of oil and anoints him. The passage concludes by saying, “and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.”

It is interesting that David’s family immediately sends him back to tend the sheep (see 1 Samuel 16:19)—as if the anointing must have been a joke by an old prophet who didn’t know what he was doing.

Yet it is during this “return to the sheep” time that David begins to be formed and shaped for his future kingship.

In ancient Palestine, sheep were not fenced in or left to fend for themselves; sheep were (and are) dependent upon their shepherd for protection, grazing, watering, shelter, and tending to injuries. Shepherds were the provider, guide, protector, and constant companion of their sheep. They were the figures of authority and leadership to their flock.

In many ways, God used sheep to teach young David what it means to “shepherd” a nation. We find this to be true in 1 Samuel 17:32-37 as David approaches Saul to declare that he would fight Goliath while the rest of the armies of Israel cowered within their encampment. He looks King Saul in the face and boldly states:

“Your servant kept his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and stuck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defiled the armies of the living God.” Moreover David said, “The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Do you see the progression that God takes David through?

God allows David to return to the sheep and teaches him how to shepherd a nation by tending first to the sheep—caring, protecting, providing authority and leadership. Bears and lions approach to take a lamb and David chases after it, killing bears and lions with nothing more than a sling, a rock, and his bare hands.

Through the process, David learns what it means to live a life of faith. He knows God anointed him to be king and therefore sees every experience in life as an opportunity for God to prove and test him in the anointing. Bears and lions are no longer an issue in the power and strength of Almighty God.

God proved David with beasts of the land and then proves him with a beast of a man—a giant named Goliath.

Because of his faith in God with the lion and bear, David sees the giant as nothing more than another way for God to showcase His faithfulness, splendor, and majesty.

God continues to prove and test David’s faith to the point where David is able to proclaim: “I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, who have set themselves against me all around” (Psalm 3:6). Could David had said such a grand statement of faith had not been tested and proven earlier in his life with lions and giants and bears, oh my!?

The Coronation of Faith

In our passage of 2 Samuel 5:1-5, David is thirty years old and is finally declared King over all of Israel.

When Samuel anointed David as a teenager, it was done in hostile territory—for there already was a king in Israel (Saul). Such an act would have been treason! Yet, while David had complete faith that God would make him King, he did not see the reality until he was thirty.

The coronation of David, in many ways, was a coronation of faith. It was the climactic moment where the faith of David was realized. The kingly anointing years earlier has come to reality. The true and rightful king has taken his seat upon the throne.

The Coronation of Your Faith

David’s life is a Christophany—a picture (though imperfect) pointing toward and revealing Jesus Christ.

If you look at culture today, Jesus (the True and Rightful King) is living in hostile territory. He is anointed King of kings and Lord of lords, yet most of culture lives under the authority of another king (sin and darkness).

Paul writes in Romans 6:12, “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” We are not to operate under the kingly rule and authority of sin. There is a better King who deserves our lives.

Jesus is the True and Rightful King in hostile territory today. He is to have full authority and power, yet the world refuses to recognize Him as the sovereign.

Think about your life:

• Is Jesus the Anointed King over all of “Israel” in your life?
• Are you willing for Him to do with your life as He wishes in order to bring about His reign and rule here on earth in this generation?
• Are you allowing Him to be your True Shepherd?
• What areas of your life does God desire to train and prove you with lions and bear so He can bring you against giants or ten thousands of people or problems?

Giants in our lives are not issues if we have been trained with lions and bears (smaller giants) and we have full faith in the power and strength of our almighty God! Every insurmountable or impossible situation becomes possible and triumphant because we have a God who delights to reveal Himself, His glory and His grandeur in impossible situations!

So how is your faith?

Could it be written about in Hebrews as an example for others or could your faith be expressed in Hebrews 11:33-40?

Hebrews 11:33-40: … who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. Still others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented– of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.

May it be so in all our lives!