Why do we want another David? He was a failure
When some Christians defend a certain politician who shall not be named, they’ll often say something like, “King David was a sinner, too!”
Their point, apparently, is that David’s legacy of greatness as a king was more significant than his sin, and therefore we shouldn’t give much weight to said politician’s wickedness but just focus on his policies and how good he would be for the church and the country. After all, despite his sin, David was Israel’s greatest king, right?
The problem with this line of thought is that David’s sins had disastrous consequences not just for him, but for his nation. As great as David was (compared to his many wicked successors), his own legacy is ultimately that of Israel’s in the Old Testament —failure.
See also:
Bathsheba and Absalom
After David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband killed, the prophet Nathan pronounced God’s punishment on David — or rather, the house of David. The child they conceived died, and more pertinently to this topic, the Lord told David through Nathan: “Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife” (2 Samuel 12:10).
Of course, when it’s the house of the king, it impacts many more people than just him and his family.
This began to be fulfilled in the very next chapter, when Absalom had his half-brother Amnon murdered for raping their sister Tamar — all children of David. Absalom fled Jerusalem for three years, and while David allowed him to return, he would not see him for two more years.
That estrangement sowed the seeds of rebellion in Absalom, and he eventually raised an army and declared himself king. This led to civil war in Israel: “So the people went out into the field of battle against Israel. And the battle was in the woods of Ephraim. The people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day” (2 Samuel 18:6-7).
Twenty thousand Israelites — and another son, Absalom — died as a consequence of David’s personal sin.
And he wasn’t done. It got worse.
The census
In 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, King David ordered a census of his kingdom, “that I may know the number of the people.”
David seemed to be trusting in the size of his army. 1 Chronicles 21:7 says, “And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.”
Discussions of this incident are often about who it was that incited David to do this (God or satan?), or why it was so wrong. I won’t dive into those issues, but David came to realize his transgression and that he was responsible for it: “I have sinned greatly in what I have done.” Even Joab, a murderer and traitor, knew it was wrong — “the king’s word was abominable to Joab” (1 Chronicles 21:6).
Like his adultery with Bathsheba, the result of David’s sin went far beyond his own house. God’s judgment on Israel for the measuring of its size was to reduce its size — “So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell” (1 Chronicles 21:14).
(Keep in mind that God had given Israel instructions for a census in Exodus 30:11-16, “that there may be no plague among them when you number them,” verse 12 says. Presumably, those instructions weren’t followed.)
Seventy-thousand men. Add that to God’s wrath over his adultery, and the body count of David’s pride and lust was at least 90,000 of his countrymen. The nation suffered greatly for it.
And the strife in David’s house lasted beyond him and got worse. His son Adonijah tried to claim the throne that was rightly Solomon’s, and King Solomon had his brother executed. Solomon fell away from the Lord, and within two generations, Israel and Judah were divided, and both were eventually conquered. The kingdom David built ended in ruins.
Tell me again why bringing up David’s sin should make anyone look better?
The Son of David
David’s ultimate legacy is not his own kingdom, but the everlasting kingdom God promised to him, which would be fulfilled by his Descendant, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the greater David. He is our David. Therefore, we don’t need any man to assume David’s mantle.
And even if we did, anyone who would dare invoke David to downplay his wickedness can’t claim that name without also sharing the deep, trembling, heart-rending repentance David showed after his sins. Let that man say, as David did after the census, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” Let that man recite Psalms 32, 38 and 51.
The best thing we can say about David himself is not that he reigned over a powerful kingdom, which was destroyed, but that he was a man after God’s own heart, who lives eternally. David knew the magnitude of his sin, hated it, and rejoiced in God’s abundant mercy toward him. Only a man like that has any shred of a claim to David’s name.
