David was a warrior, a fierce fighter, Fighters fight fiercest when they're mad. When Saul didn’t really want to give David his daughter to marry as a reward for killing Goliath, he required a “bride price” from David of 100 Philistine foreskins. 1 Samuel 18:25 NLT - 25 he told them, “Tell David that all I want for the bride price is 100 Philistine foreskins! Vengeance on my enemies is all I really want.” But what Saul had in mind was that David would be killed in the fight. 1 Samuel 18:26-27 NLT - 26 David was delighted to accept the offer. Before the time limit expired, 27 he and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. Then David fulfilled the king's requirement by presenting all their foreskins to him. So Saul gave his daughter Michal to David to be his wife. During the time David had been anointed as the next king, but Saul was still king… David was still serving Saul but Saul tried to kill him So David and 30-40 other fighters (mighty men) went on the run 1 Samuel 24:1-10, 17, 20-22 NLT - 1 After Saul returned from fighting the Philistines, he was told that David had gone into the wilderness of En-gedi. 2 So Saul chose 3,000 elite troops from all Israel and went to search for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats. 3 At the place where the road passes some sheepfolds, Saul went into a cave to relieve himself. But as it happened, David and his men were hiding farther back in that very cave! 4 “Now's your opportunity!” David's men whispered to him. "Today the LORD is telling you, 'I will certainly put your enemy into your power, to do with as you wish.'" So David crept forward and cut off a piece of the hem of Saul's robe. 5 But then David's conscience began bothering him because he had cut Saul's robe. 6 “The LORD knows I shouldn't have done that to my lord the king,” he said to his men. "The LORD forbid that I should do this to my lord the king and attack the LORD's anointed one, for the LORD himself has chosen him." 7 So David restrained his men and did not let them kill Saul. After Saul had left the cave and gone on his way, 8 David came out and shouted after him, “My lord the king!” And when Saul looked around, David bowed low before him. 9 Then he shouted to Saul, "Why do you listen to the people who say I am trying to harm you? 10 This very day you can see with your own eyes it isn't true. For the LORD placed you at my mercy back there in the cave. Some of my men told me to kill you, but I spared you. For I said, 'I will never harm the king–he is the LORD's anointed one.'… 17 And SAUL said to David, “You are a better man than I am, for you have repaid me good for evil. ... 20 And now I realize that you are surely going to be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will flourish under your rule. 21 Now swear to me by the LORD that when that happens you will not kill my family and destroy my line of descendants!” 22 So David promised this to Saul with an oath. Then Saul went home, but David and his men went back to their stronghold. In typical Game of Thrones style, historically, it’s always been customary for a new king to execute any heirs to the previous royal lineage. Saul asked for David for an oath of unusual mercy. As we will see later, David had a different reason for making this oath But Saul didn’t relent. He kept hunting David to kill him. Almost the same thing happened again: David and Abishai had the chance to kill Saul as they snuck through his camp one night. 1 Samuel 26:8-9, 11 NLT - 8 “God has surely handed your enemy over to you this time!” Abishai whispered to David. "Let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I won't need to strike twice!" 9 “No!” David said. "Don't kill him. For who can remain innocent after attacking the LORD's anointed one? ... 11 The LORD forbid that I should kill the one he has anointed! But take his spear and that jug of water beside his head, and then let's get out of here!" Random Amalekite boasted to David of killing Saul as the battle was lost: 2 Samuel 1:9-10 NLT - 9 “Then he begged me, ‘Come over here and put me out of my misery, for I am in terrible pain and want to die.’ 10 "So I killed him,” the Amalekite told David, "for I knew he couldn't live. Then I took his crown and his armband, and I have brought them here to you, my lord." 2 Samuel 1:14-16 NLT - 14 “Why were you not afraid to kill the LORD's anointed one?” David asked. 15 Then David said to one of his men, "Kill him!" So the man thrust his sword into the Amalekite and killed him. 16 “You have condemned yourself,” David said, "for you yourself confessed that you killed the LORD's anointed one." The Murder of Ishbosheth in his house while he slept 2 Samuel 4:8-12 NLT - 8 When they arrived at Hebron, they presented Ishbosheth's head to David. “Look!” they exclaimed to the king. "Here is the head of Ishbosheth, the son of your enemy Saul who tried to kill you. Today the LORD has given my lord the king revenge on Saul and his entire family!" 9 But David said to Recab and Baanah, "The LORD, who saves me from all my enemies, is my witness. 10 Someone once told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he was bringing me good news. But I seized him and killed him at Ziklag. That's the reward I gave him for his news! 11 How much more should I reward evil men who have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed? Shouldn't I hold you responsible for his blood and rid the earth of you?" 12 So David ordered his young men to kill them, and they did. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies beside the pool in Hebron… David was a gangster and wouldn’t tolerate disrespect. You can read for yourself about Nabal’s refusal which almost cost the lives of everyone on his ranch until Abigail interceded. David the Godfather to Solomon when he became king. 1 Kings 2:5-9 NLT - 5 "And there is something else. You know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me when he murdered my two army commanders, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He pretended that it was an act of war, but it was done in a time of peace, staining his belt and sandals with innocent blood. 6 Do with him what you think best, but don't let him grow old and go to his grave in peace. 7 "Be kind to the sons of Barzillai of Gilead. Make them permanent guests at your table, for they took care of me when I fled from your brother Absalom. 8 “And remember Shimei son of Gera, the man from Bahurim in Benjamin. He cursed me with a terrible curse as I was fleeing to Mahanaim. When he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, I swore by the LORD that I would not kill him. 9 But that oath does not make him innocent. You are a wise man, and you will know how to arrange a bloody death for him.” For David, showing mercy was not his default setting He would go Old Testament on unsuspecting people Yet David had a surprising capacity for great mercy Each time he spared Saul’s life was an act of mercy ...not the warm and fuzzy kind, but David was capable of that… Mercy on Mephibosheth 2 Samuel 9:1-3, 6-9,11 NKJV - 1 Now David said, “Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” ... 3 Then the king said, "Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, to whom I may show the kindness of God?" And Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.” ... 6 Now when Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, had come to David, he fell on his face and prostrated himself. Then David said, "Mephibosheth?" And he answered, “Here is your servant!” 7 So David said to him, "Do not fear, for I will surely show you kindness for Jonathan your father's sake, and will restore to you all the land of Saul your grandfather; and you shall eat bread at my table continually." 8 Then he bowed himself, and said, “What is your servant, that you should look upon such a dead dog as I?” 9 And the king called to Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, "I have given to your master's son all that belonged to Saul and to all his house...11 Then Ziba said to the king, “According to all that my lord the king has commanded his servant, so will your servant do.” "As for Mephibosheth," said the king, “he shall eat at my table like one of the king's sons.” Mephibosheth received mercy not because of his relationship to Saul, but Saul’s son, Jonathan. He also received his full inheritance Jonathan did things that earned favor for anyone connected to him. David apparently knew an Old Testament God that wasn’t so Old Testament Psalm 25:6 NKJV - 6 Remember, O LORD, Your tender mercies and Your lovingkindnesses, For they are from of old. Psalm 69:16 NKJV - 16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies. Psalm 51:1 NKJV - 1 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions. I believe that it was David’s understanding of God’s mercy that made him a man after God’s own heart. God used another act of David’s disobedience to reveal a mystery of mercy. ** David commissioned a census of Israel – a census expressly opposes God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 22 Genesis 22:17 NLT - 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. David knew it was wrong to number Israel; he tried to excuse his actions 1 Chronicles 27:23 NLT - 23 When David took his census, he did not count those who were younger than twenty years of age, because the LORD had promised to make the Israelites as numerous as the stars in heaven. That’s like drinking diet Coke while you’re eating doughnuts. 2 Samuel 24:10-11 NLT - 10 But after he had taken the census, David's conscience began to bother him. And he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, LORD, for doing this foolish thing.” 11 The next morning the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, who was David's seer. This was the message: 1 Chronicles 21:10, 12-13 NLT - 10 “Go and say to David, 'This is what the LORD says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.'” ... 12 You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the LORD brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the LORD who sent me." 13 “I'm in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. "But let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands." 2 Samuel 24:15 NLT - 15 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. 1 Chronicles 21:15 NLT - 15 And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the LORD relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Why does it matter where he stopped?? 2 Chronicles 3:1 NLT - 1 So Solomon began to build the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David, his father. The Temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the site that David had selected. Genesis 22:2, 9-12, 17 NLT - 2 “Take your son, your only son–yes, Isaac, whom you love so much–and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.” ... 9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" “Yes,” Abraham replied. "Here I am!" 12 “Don't lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son." ... 17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. The place where God promised Abraham countless descendants, After God showed mercy to Abraham’s son Isaac, Where the Lord revealed His mercy to David and Jerusalem, Where David purchased it and sacrificed to the Lord, Where David’s son Solomon builds the Temple Which would contain the Ark of the Covenant and the mercy seat WHEN the Son of God, the anointed One was sacrificed, Mercy left the place where it was sitting, exploding through the Temple veil Mercy became accessible to the entire world, making it possible for us to become adopted sons and daughters of God, fulfilling the promise of countless descendants to Abraham, and revealing the Mystery of Mercy. Lamentations 3:22-23 JKV The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never run out! They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.