When he does wrong, I will chastise him with the rod of men and the affliction of mortals; but I will never withdraw My favor from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed to make room for you. Your house and your kingship shall ever be secure before you; your throne shall be established forever.
II Samuel 7:14-16
So much for God not showing partiality. God obviously wanted David more than Saul and one wonders if Saul was really set up to fail. Not that Saul did not have his own problems and in some ways was really not fit to be king. But how about the fact that God did not want Israel to have a king to begin with?
This part of the story of our faith is one of the most interesting and full of drama. Just a few chapters after this episode David proves to have his own issues with power and its misuse. Later he proves to have a few other “issues” also.
I always find it interesting that scriptures idolizes David but also shows us his weaknesses, frailties, sin. Maybe he is so beloved by the people and by readers of scripture since because he is so real. So much like the rest of us . . .
The God portrayed here is one that mirrors the people whose story if found here. They love David and so does God, they thought Saul a weak king and so does God. So the favoritism found is the favoritism of the people who are recording the story that we are able to read today.
Covenant making and keeping are the hallmarks of these stories. So God promises to be faithful to the house of David, correcting when needed, but not taking away that which God gave to begin with. The corrections turn out to be many yet time and time again God proves faithful to the promise.
The biblical story is our story. We too are people who have the opportunity to be holy and broken. Sometimes one after the other. We too make mistakes, misunderstand God’s voice, and look out for ourselves first. Hopefully we learn from our mistakes and are able to continue serving God in the world.
Is good to know that in spite of our frailties, God’s faithfulness remains . . .