2 Samuel 5:1-5 – God’s King Is Our Flesh And Blood
The people declare when they come to make him king, that David was their bone and flesh. In other words, he wasn’t a foreigner. He may have belonged to a different tribe, but he was still part of Israel. In making that consideration, they were remembering Deuteronomy 17.15: ‘One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother’. So in choosing someone who was their bone and flesh, they were doing what God had commanded them to do. But in light of the coming of Jesus as God’s anointed king, I think we’re right to see more here.
We need a Saviour who is like us. A Saviour who wasn’t of our bone and flesh would be no use to us. He wouldn’t be able to save us – because he wouldn’t have been able to live or die in our place. He wouldn’t be able to comfort us. Hebrews 2 finishes: ‘Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of his people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted’. Then Hebrews chapter 4 ends: ‘For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin’. That’s your king, believer. He is flesh and blood – even now in heaven – and as a result you can be sure that he is a merciful high priest, who knows what it’s like to be tempted and who can sympathise with your weaknesses. In your struggle with sin this week, in your battle, perhaps, with discouragement, remember that if you could look up into heaven, you would see a king on the throne of the universe who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. So by faith, look up and see him there.
Questions
- What did the people say about David?
- Name some reasons we can take comfort in Christ being our flesh and blood?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that Christ is bone of our bone and all that it means.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.