The Significance of Calling Jesus the Messiah, "David"

If you want to undertake a Bible study that is sure to make your head spin, try to understand how the New Testament uses, interprets, and applies the Old Testament. On occasion, you will find a 1-to-1 promise and fulfillment. Micah 5:2 predicts that the Messiah will come out of Bethlehem. A straightforward fulfillment is found in the first two chapters of Matthew. But other times, it is not so easy. Speaking of Matthew's Gospel, Matthew finds the flight of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to Egypt and their later return to Israel as fulfilling Hosea 11:1, even though we do not find a specific prophecy there (Matthew 2:13-15).

To make matters even more confusing, the Lord Jesus Himself seems to speak as if many of the Old Testament allusions he makes are self-evident and self-explanatory;

He said to them, "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (Luke 24:25-27 NIV). 

He said to them, "Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, "This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44-47 NIV)

"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?" (John 3:10 NIV)

"You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me..." (John 5:39 NIV)

So you see my problem. It is not always easy to figure out just how and where the OT (and especially the Psalms) so specifically predicts the events of the Gospel we preach. And yet Jesus himself speaks like it is obvious! You can see for example how the Lord rebukes the disciples on the road to Emmaus, calling them "slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken".

For the longest time this was somewhat of a mystery to me. But then I began to see something that gave me a clue. I started to find references in the Old Testament referring to this figure whom the Prophets refer to simply as "David". Now I am very familiar with David son of Jesse; the shepherd boy who slew Goliath, won many military victories, fled from Saul, penned Psalms, became Israel's second King, sinned with Uriah's wife, made plans to build a temple for God, etc... I knew of him. And yet these were not nostalgic looks back at the past; these were prophecies of the future. And somehow it seemed (and still seems) obvious to me that these words were not referring to the literal David, but rather to the Messiah who comes from David's line:

"In that day," declares the LORD Almighty, "I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them. Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them."  (Jeremiah 30:8-9 NIV)

"I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd. I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I the LORD have spoken."  (Ezekiel 34:23-24 NIV)

"My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever."  (Ezekiel 37:24-25 NIV)

"For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days."   (Hosea 3:4-5 NIV)

So what is so significant about referring to the Messiah as "David"? How does this help me to understand how the NT quotes and applies the OT? The answer to that question is that the Prophets of the Old Testament understood the Messiah to not only be David's descendant and thus David's heir (see 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17; Isaiah 9:6-7), but they see him as David par excellence. The OT is giving us a clue that the Messiah would recapitulate and fulfill many of the elements of David's life. This explains why the NT writers apply many of the Psalms of David to Jesus.

So in what ways does Jesus the Messiah "recapitulate" David? How does David prefigure the Messiah? Space prevents a full examination, so I will only give a few examples. I will show how in the life of David, particularly in the Psalms, the OT predicts the suffering and exaltation of the Messiah.

Firstly, let us consider the betrayal of the Messiah. All of us are familiar with the treachery of Judas Iscariot; how he sold out to the Jewish leadership for 30 pieces of silver and later hanged himself out of sorrow. But did you know that this was already prefigured in the life of David? During the rebellion of Absalom, David's close adviser Ahithophel switched sides and backed Absalom (2 Samuel 15:12). Upon hearing this, David sent a spy into Absalom's circle called Hushai deliberately to counteract the influence and advice of Ahithophel (2 Samuel 15:32-37). David's ploy worked and Ahithophel's good advice was rejected by Absalom in favor of Hushai's subterfuge. And this is where it gets interesting:

When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his house in order and then hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father's tomb. (2 Samuel 17:23 NIV) 

Ahithophel obviously surmised that Absalom's revolt was doomed to fail and that David would hold him accountable. So Ahithophel ended his own life. David alludes to Ahithophel's treason in Psalm 41:9, Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me (see also Psalm 55:12-14; John 13:18). Based on this, it becomes easier to see how the Messiah (as the new David) also would have to endure the betrayal of a close friend who would later commit suicide by hanging himself. It also becomes apparent why the Eleven Apostles understood that Judas' Apostolic office needed a replacement (Psalm 69:25; 109:8; Acts 1:15-26).

Secondly, Seeing Jesus as the new and greater David also explains how the Psalms (and through them the Prophets) prefigured the Messiah's death. Concerning the Messiah's death, David said to God, "...you lay me in the dust of death" (Psalm 22:15 NIV) and "...though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..." (Psalm 23:4 NKJV). These words of David become the words of the Messiah, showing that the Psalms understood that the Messiah would die. 

Lastly, the Davidic One, the Messiah must rise from the dead. David (and through him, the Messiah) says to God just shortly after being laid into the dust of death, "Save me from the lion's mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered me". (Psalm 22:21 NKJV). He also writes, "Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. You make known to me the path of life..." (Psalm 16:9-11a NIV; see also Acts 2:25-32), and this, "He asked you for life, and you gave it to him - length of days, for ever and ever (Psalm 21:4 NIV).

There is so much more that could be unpacked here concerning how Messiah Jesus is the greater "David". But hopefully the small sample I have provided suffices to show that this is the case and that we can confidently read the Old Testament as Christian scripture.