"For David says of Him, 'I saw the Lord always in my presence; for He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 'Therefore My heart was glad and My tongue exulted; moreover My flesh also will live in hope; because You will not abandon My soul to Hades, nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 'You have made known to Me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with your presence.'"
"Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on His throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh suffer decay."
"This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for your feet."' Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ—this Jesus whom you crucified." (Act 2:25-36)
Moreover, the Holy Spirit foretold through the prophet Micah, seven hundred years before Christ, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem, the town of David. He said:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.” (Mic 5:2, NIV)
This effectively narrowed down the birthplace of Messiah to one specific town, and the Jews knew this, which is one reason many of them did not believe in Christ, because they knew he was from Nazareth in Galilee. According to John's gospel:
"Others said, 'He is the Messiah.' Still others asked, 'How can the Messiah come from Galilee? Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?' Thus the people were divided because of Jesus." (Jn 7:41-43, NIV).
What those people didn't realize was that although Jesus was raised in Nazareth, He was actually born in Bethlehem of Judea, in precise fulfillment of prophecy (Mt 2:1; Lk 2:4-7). He was born in the same town as David, and His mother Mary was a direct descendant of David, as was Mary's husband Joseph, who was supposed to be the father of Jesus (Mt 1:1-17; Lk 3:23-38).
In addition to being a type of Christ, David was a type of those believers and ministers who are men and women after God's own heart. For more on that, see my article David -- A Man After God's Own Heart.
Side by Side Comparison
Let's look at the striking similarities between David and Christ in the following chart:
| David | Christ |
| A king (1 Sa 16) | The King of kings (Re 19:16) |
| A shepherd (1 Sa 16:11; 17:34; 2 Sa 7:8) | The Good Shepherd (Ps 23; Jn 10:11) |
| Born in Bethlehem (1 Sa 17:12) | Born in Bethlehem (Mt 2:1; Lk 2:4-7; Mic 5:2) |
| When Absalom rebelled, David went up the Mount of Olives weeping as he went into exile (2 Sam 15:30) | On the night that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, He went up onto the Mount of Olives. His soul was deeply grieved to the point of death, and being in agony He was praying very fervently with loud cries and tears (Mt 26:38; Lk 22:44; He 5:7) |
| A mighty man of valor, a warrior (1 Sa 16:18) | A mighty man of valor, a warrior (Is 9:6) |
| Conquered Goliath the giant (1 Sam 17:50-51) | Conquered the devil, triumphing over him through the cross (Col 2:15) |
| He was the anointed of the God of Jacob (1 Sa 16:11; 2 Sa 23:1) | He is the Anointed One, the Messiah (Mt 16:16, 20; 26:63-64) |
| He was David son of Jesse (1 Sa 17:12) | The son of David (Mat 1:1, 20; 9:27; 12:23; 15:22; 20:30, 31; 21:9, 15; 22:42; Mar 10:47-48; 12:35; Luk 3:31; 18:38-39; Re 22:16) |
| David's son was to build a house for God (2 Sa 7:13) | He is restoring the fallen tent of David, building His Church (Mt 16:18; Ac 15:16) |
| Merciful to his enemies (2 Sa 16:5-11) | Merciful to his enemies (Lk 23:34) |
| God swore to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants after him on His throne and to establish His kingdom (2 Sa 7:12) | When He entered Jerusalem, riding on a donkey, they hailed Him as King, shouting, "Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David." (Mk 11:10). |
| The Lord spoke through Isaiah the prophet about the One on whose shoulder He would set the key of the house of David (Is 22:22) | He holds the key of David (Re 3:7) |
| David was persecuted by his enemies | Jesus was persecuted by His enemies |
| David prophesied of the Lord telling the Lord to sit at His right hand (Ps 110:1) | He has been exalted to the right hand of God as both Lord and Christ (Mk 16:19; Ac 2:33) |
Closing Words
In our study of David as a type of Christ, we have seen the parallels between their lives in so many ways. Among other things, they were both kings, shepherds, born in Bethlehem, anointed ones, warriors, mighty men, and conquerors of giants. Both were persecuted and both were merciful to their enemies. Many of the Psalms are Messianic, meaning that they look forward to the coming of Christ, such as Psalms 2, 22, 69, 72, 89, 100, 110, etc. There are perhaps more connections between David and Christ than any other character in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Studying types of Christ like this can help us grow in our love and knowledge of the Lord. I trust this has helped to accomplish that very goal in your life as you have read this article. I hope you will come back again later to enjoy more articles on the types in the Bible.
Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB, copyright Lockman Foundation, used by permission. Other Scriptures where noted taken from the Holy Bible NIV, copyright Zondervan, used by permission. Image may be subject to copyright, used per Fair Use Act for commentary and educational purposes only.
Author's note: Also see Moses as a Type of Christ, David's Mighty Men as Types of Christ, David -- A Man After God's Own Heart, Boaz as a Type of Christ, The Sufferings of the Prophets as a Type, Adam as a Type of Christ, Isaac as a Type of Christ, Noah's Ark a Type of Christ, The Temple as a Type of Christ, The Passover Lamb as a Type of Christ, The Typology of the Tabernacle, The Typology of the Jewish Feasts, Daniel as a Type of Christ, and Hagar and Sarah as Types. You can access the Main Directory for Biblical Typology, or my complete blog directory at "Writing for the Master." Now I'd like to ask a very important question.
Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.
Hi Len. An interesting post and well set out. I have also been fascinated with the typology of David and Christ, particularly struck on the description of David as ' a man after God's heart' . I do wonder that a lot of the commentators, in seeking to use this as a pretext tend to pick out the best bits of David to emphasise his righteousness. Scripture, though, does not need this kind of justification. So, yes, he followed God, but not like Christ, since he was both a sexual predator and a murderer. Likewise, he forgave some of His enemies, yet was unbelievably cruel to others (2 Sam 12:31, 1 Sam 27:9). I think that, like Christ, he forgave his enemies for the sake of an enduring house ( 1 Sam 25:28) and on the basis of covenant promise (2 Sam 9:1). Jesus, likewise forgives his enemies for the sake of the covenant, has come with favour, but will come again with judgement.
ReplyDeleteI see the reason David was a man after God's heart was because he was a man of God's own choosing, not the peoples' ( as was Saul). Going beyond some mystical kind of parallel ( and many comment that perhaps typology per se is not that helpful) David's was in some way conformed by God into Christ-likeness. The shepherd who was anointed king but had to wait 15 years before coming into his full kingdom, only after suffering persecution. The man who was in one sense to build a house for God (given the plans) but who left the building as a legacy to his son ( as Jesus left church building to his disciples) All of those other parallels fit into this idea.