LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
It is no wonder that Jesus is and was known as the Son of David or why David was privileged to be his ancestor in the lineage of the tribe of Judah, when we consider a couple of events in David’s life that provided glimpses of the character that would shine in the coming Messiah.
One of those events concerned the burning of Ziklag by the Amalekites where David and his men lost their families and all their possessions. When they came upon the scene of the attack it was too late to minimize the loss and David’s men were contemplating stoning him in their anguish. (1 Samuel 30) Before that could happen though David “strengthened himself” and sought the Lord who counseled him to pursue the Amalekites. Two hundred of his six hundred troops were unable to cross the brook Besor because of their exhaustion after marching some sixty miles. David and his remaining four hundred men were successful in recovering everything and everyone that had been captured! Returning they came upon the two hundred who had stayed with the supplies. Some of the “worthless” among the stronger troops suggested that the weaker two hundred were not worthy to share the plunder. David intervened saying, “My brethren, you shall not do so with what the Lord has given us,..” He insisted that all would share alike!
This is reminiscent of a later practice in ancient Rome when the victorious troops would return to Rome to celebrate in procession a key victory, as sweet-smelling incense was burned around the city. The troops would camp outside the city, giving the citizens of Rome time to come out to meet them and march into the city with them leading all the captives and the plunder , thereby sharing the glory. To the revelers the smell of the incense associated itself with the height of success, to the captives it bore the scent of doom!
There is a difference between victory and triumph, triumph is celebrating the victory, something we often forget to do. I once watched a pro baseball player pitch a magnificent game on the winning side, but for some reason afterward he didn’t even smile or pause to celebrate what he had just achieved. He didn’t seem to appreciate or enjoy his victory or the victory of his team. He didn’t savor the experience and now he is no longer having such experiences for time has marched on as it has a habit of doing. Jesus has won a mighty victory over sin and death at the cross and he wants to celebrate it with us! He wants us to triumph with Him! "When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him." (Colossians 3, v.15) May we not behave as that pitcher did and miss a wonderful opportunity, for great power is released in our celebration, power that can overwhelm the sin in our lives and around us.
Psalm 24 brings a powerful picture of Christ our victorious general being received triumphantly into heaven after defeating death and hell, and sin. “Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” (v 8)
Another telling incident from David’s life concerns his rabid critic Shimei, who harassed him as he was forced out of Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s revolt against him. This was a sad time for him as he even traversed some of the same territory literally and emotionally that Jesus traversed through the garden of Gethsemane. As Shemei ran along beside David cursing him, some in David’s company wanted to silence him violently by taking off his head, but David replied, “…let him alone and let him curse, for the Lord has ordered him.” (Shimei was from the rival house of Saul the king who had also received mercy at the hand of David, when Saul had made repeated, insane and jealous attempts to kill David, and yet David refused to avenge himself when he had opportunities to do so.) Three chapters later when the tables have turned and David and his company are returning, Shimei falls abject before David, who continues to have mercy upon him despite all his multitude of nasty insults! (Again in the triumphal procession which the apostle Paul references in his epistle in 2 Corinthians 2, v14, it has been claimed in one source that a brash critic ran along behind the general’ s chariot shouting scandal and vilifying the reputation of the general and his family, some of whom might have been riding with him in the chariot. The purpose of this practice was to keep the general humble, to prevent him from becoming puffed up over his acclaim and accomplishment so that he would continue to be useful to Rome in future military enterprises.)
So it is with us as we ride in “the chariot” beside our triumphant Savior as part of his family. (Colossians 3, v1; Rev.3, v21) He allows the accuser of the brethren to harass us while, at the same time, giving us authority to fend off his curses. In the process and in the procession of all this we are awed and humbled, learning humility we never could otherwise and asking ourselves how we could ever be so privileged as to sit at the right hand of the Triumphant One and share in His Triumph!