God's Servant, the People's King

2 Samuel 6:16-19 ESV

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. 17 And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts 19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

As we work through this series of messages concerning David bringing the Ark of God into the holy city of Jerusalem, I want us to consider the life of David in general and the different circumstances that he would find himself in.

And as we consider what we know about the life of David, one thing that should strike us about his character is that when he done wrong, he would always eventually repent of his wrongdoing.

And not only would he repent of his wrong, but in the course of his repentance, he would become increasingly humble.

You see, David was the king of Israel, the shepherd of God’s people, but God was David’s King, and therefore David’s greatest responsibility to humbly obey his King.

And so, when God would show David that he was out of line, David knew then more than ever before what the real pecking order was: and that was God, and then him. And so, what this means is that when David repented, he would humbly recognize Who the Boss really is, and thus he would act accordingly.

But though David was good about this, that’s not always the case for all people. For, while a saved person will humbly repent when God shows he or she their sins, an unsaved person does the exact opposite.

We see a great example of this in the Proverbs, where we read:

Proverbs 19:3 ESV

3 When a man's folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.

Haven’t you seen this before? Someone will do something, some kind of a consequence is attached to what they did, and rather than feeling sorrow for what they did, they become angry with God!

Or even more than that, when God has graciously caused someone to advance in godliness, there are times when someone else observes this and rather than feeling joy that the person has advanced in godliness, they become angry and jealous.

It is an absolute travesty that anyone would ever be angry at the fact that someone would advance in godliness and be brought closer to God. But unfortunately, it happens quite often.

We see a prime example of this inappropriate attitude found in our reading, right off the bat, in the very first verse, where we see:

2 Samuel 6:16 ESV

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart.

Here we are introduced to Michal for the first time in this series. Michal was one of David’s wives, but here in our reading, she is not described as David’s wife, but as the daughter of Saul.

Now, we’ll get to why she is described as the daughter of Saul rather than the wife of King David in just a moment, but first, let’s take a look at what Michal did here and why she did it.

As we know, this narrative is all about David bringing the Ark of God into the holy city of Jerusalem. This was a big deal because the Ark was the literal presence of God amongst His people.

And if we’ve been paying attention throughout the course of this series, we know that when David went to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, he initially did it the wrong way and suffered the judgment of God as a result.

Initially, David didn’t really see what the big deal was, but in time, he repented of what he had done, and then went back to the Ark, and did it the right way, God’s way.

Now, David is the king of Israel, but God is David’s King. David may be king, but that’s only because God placed him there. So, when David recognizes the proper pecking order, he went back to the Ark and submitted to God’s way of doing things, seeing that ultimately, God is the King of Israel and thus, King over him.

In fact, David recognized this fact to such an extent that he put aside his royal garments and put on the garment of a priest, an ephod, when he returned to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.

This showed that not only did David recognize his previous wrongdoing, but that he also was willing to show the people he led, but most of all, to show God, that he recognized God’s Kingship, first and foremost.

And when David done this, God extended grace to the king as He allowed him to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.

This was a time of celebration, but most of all, it was a time to worship! And David worshipped the Lord as he reverently danced before the Ark of God, thanking Him for His mercy and grace and worshipping Him for Who He is.

The people were overjoyed that the king identified himself as the servant of God. They knew that if the king served God well, he would then lead them well.

But not everyone was overjoyed…

In our reading it says that when Michal saw her husband, King David, coming into Jerusalem with the Ark of God, dancing and worshipping before the Lord in a priestly garment no less, she despised him.

She despised him… that is a pretty harsh statement. This was her husband, her king, and he was doing the right thing in humbly worshipping the God of Israel, and she should have loved her husband and king all the more due to the fact that he was joyfully worshipping the Lord and unifying the people of Israel in this worship. Yet she despised him for it…

Why? Why would she despise David for doing this? Now, there are several ways that people have tried to answer that question; probably the most popular answer is that she was jealous that David was out dancing like this in front of other women.

But in my humble opinion, I believe that the reason why Michal was so angry about this was because in her mind, David, the king, was behaving like a commoner, and certainly not the way that she felt a king should be behaving.

This is why I believe that in our reading, she is presented as the daughter of Saul rather than the wife of David. Her father was a king, she was proud to be a king’s daughter, and in her opinion, a king should never put aside his royal garment, put on priestly garb, and commune with the common people… even if it was to worship God.

In her mind, this was beneath a royal, and she was ashamed by the fact that the kingdom that her father once led was now being ruled by a man who would willingly identify with the people of God so much that he willingly associated with them, and worshipped with them.

She is identified as the daughter of Saul because she willingly identified herself with the rejected King Saul and scoffed at the divinely chosen King David.

But while Michal was stewing about how she thought a king ought to behave, David got busy worshipping his King, the God of Israel:

*2 Samuel 6:17 ESV

17 And they brought in the ark of the Lord and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

You see, here at this point, David recognizes that this is not about him, it’s not even about the people of Israel, rather, it’s all about God being worshipped and glorified.

The Ark of God being brought to Jerusalem would inevitably result in blessings for the people, but that’s not what it was about. Rather, it was all about worshipping God for Who He is and for the fact that this great God would ever choose to dwell amongst them.

David was just as grateful as anyone else who was there. Therefore, after the Kohathites had brought the Ark to its chosen place, David provided animals to be sacrificed to God in appreciation, adoration, and humble worship.

But that wasn’t all, David also desired to bless the people that God had put under his charge. We see this in the last verses of our reading, where it says:

*2 Samuel 6:18-19 ESV

18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts 19 and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one. Then all the people departed, each to his house.

As David offered a great sacrifice to God, the way that God commanded him to and thus was blessed by God for doing so, so now, David, the representative of the people of Israel, in turn blesses the people he represented.

What this signifies is that David, being blessed by God, in turn desires for the people he represents, the people of Israel, to also be blessed by God.

And because David has been blessed by God and in turn desires for his people to also be blessed by God, it signifies that he felt as though he was one with the people. And he didn’t just feel like he was one with the people, he acted like he was one with the people.

He worshipfully danced before God amongst the people, he blessed the people in the name of God, he even distributed gifts to the people.

He was the divinely appointed king, but he was also the people’s king.

But like I said earlier concerning Michal, the daughter of Saul and wife of David, not everyone was happy with the fact that David was repentant, being brought closer to God, and one with the people he led, and next week we will look at how David responded to the fact that his wife was unhappy about this.

But throughout this message, we’ve been talking about doing things God’s way. Just like it was for David, as a congregation, when we do things God’s way, we will indeed experience the blessings of God. But also, just like David, when we do things God’s way, we will experience hostility from others.

And just like David, sometimes that hostility will come from those who are the closest to us. Sometimes that hostility will even come from those who we believe to be our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I’m sure that the last thing that repentant, joyful David expected to find from his own wife was disdain for his service to God and to the kingdom he ruled over. And like I said, next week we are going to look at how David responded to his wife’s attitude towards him.

But I ask you, my friend, when you do things God’s way, and you begin to experience the blessings of God, and when you experience disdain and displeasure from those you wouldn’t expect it to come from, how are you going to respond?

Are you going to stop doing things God’s way because it makes other people mad? Or are you going to continue to do what is right? No matter what it may cost you?

It is a question that each one of us individually must ask ourselves.

Consider this as we pray…