By Allan Wilks
King David fought many battles with the Philistines. Though he was a fierce warrior, age eventually caught up to him. In one of his later battles, he wearied, and his nephew Abishai needed to aid him. This incident sufficiently alarmed his men so that they forbade him from the battlefield in the future, “lest you quench the lamp of Israel,” they said (2 Samuel 21:17).
What a beautiful way to express what David meant to his people. He himself gives further expression to this metaphor in 2 Samuel 23:2–7: David says that God had revealed to him that ruling justly and in the fear of God is like the light of dawn or the sun on a cloudless day.
The Israelites loved David. They could live securely because he fought back their enemies and then kept them at bay. They could enjoy freedom from the oppression of a corrupt justice system. Their king was generous, kind, and even artistic, filling their songbook with timeless psalms.
They even loved David despite his flaws. David murdered one of his mighty men to conceal his transgressions against that loyal follower’s wife and secure her for himself. He wrongly called for a census while knowing it showed a lack of trust in God’s faithfulness. He was arguably negligent of his children, who turned against him and each other. He married multiple women and possessed a hot temper.
But David was “a man after God’s own heart,” as Samuel dubbed him in 1 Samuel 13:14. He meditated on God’s law day and night, preferred to always be in His house, kept short accounts with Him, and remained loyal to Him to the end of his life (Psalm 1:2; Psalm 84:10; Psalm 51). For these things and the way they impacted his reign, David was considered the lamp of Israel.
After Saul’s failures at the beginning of Israel’s monarchy, the Lord raised up David and promised him that “your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:16) Indeed, the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, is a direct descendant of David, and His reign is eternal.
It is no coincidence, then, that David, as the “lamp of Israel,” foreshadows Christ. In John 1:5, John tells us of Christ, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” In John 8:12, Jesus declares, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”
As followers of Christ, we can have a similar experience as those who lived under David. Christ has conquered our enemy, Satan, and keeps him at bay. We can trust absolutely that He will deal with us justly and, one day, right all wrongs. He is generous and kind and interacts with us through our prayers. But, unlike David’s men with their king, we don’t need to protect Christ, for He is invincible. And, best of all, He is “yet without sin,” as Hebrews 4:15 says—again, unlike David.
Living in His kingdom of light, even in this flawed world, is like enjoying the sun on a cloudless day. How often do we feel the heaviness of the groaning creation as we look at the wars and anger and moral decay surrounding us? Yet we have been delivered from the domain of darkness, as Paul says in Colossians 1:13.
More than that, we are called to reflect His light. In Matthew 5:14, Jesus says we are the light of the world, and Paul says that our behavior ought to contrast with those around us so we shine as lights “in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.” (Philippians 2:15)
Redeemed and so happy in Jesus,
No language my rapture can tell;
I know that the light of His presence
With me doth continually dwell.1
Lord, grant that I may daily see the brightness of your light; that I may soak in the sunshine and victory of the life you offer; and that I, in turn, might reflect that light so others may find you. n
Allan Wilks, CMML vice president, technology
Originally published in Missions magazine, June 2023. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe.
