A Heart after God’s

Today, people around the world, Christian or otherwise, celebrate the birth of Jesus, but for the first Christmas ever, a select few were invited to join in the celebration — shepherds and kings.

Have you ever wondered why this curious company of witnesses is found at the scene of the nativity? The simple answer is the one that will first spring to your mind — Jesus was to be lord over all… kings, shepherds and all in between.

But there is more to the scene than meets the eye.

The people of Israel had been long awaiting their Messiah — a saviour anointed by God who would set them free from slavery and oppression. The prophets had described this messiah as a descendant of King David — the giant-slaying king with a heart after God’s own. And so, the Israelites waited for a warrior king from the line of David who would defeat the Romans, save his people and institute a kingdom so powerful that it would never end. In Jesus the prophesies held true — but not in the way that the Israelites had imagined.

Jesus would come to save his people from oppression — yet the oppressor was not Rome, but Sin. His kingdom would never end, yes — but it was not of this world to begin with; it was the kingdom of heaven.

And finally, while Jesus was a descendant of David, it was not the line of David the king that Jesus came from, but David the shepherd.

Shepherds Over Kings

The Old Testament is replete with metaphors of kings as shepherds, and so it is easy to believe that God would prefer a shepherd-like king who would look after his people. But the truth is that God never wanted a king over his people. Moses was a prince, but God waited till he had grown into a shepherd, before he chose him to lead his people out of Egypt.

It was a shepherd’s staff that God placed in the hands of Moses, not a sceptre.

After generations of Israelite leaders, however, God finally set Saul as the first king over Israel — but this was only at the insistence of the people themselves.

Until the appointment of Saul as king, Israel was led by a series of tribal leaders called judges — the last of whom was Samuel. While Samuel judged wisely and fairly, his sons were corrupt and the Israelites feared that they would fall back into oppression once Samuel had passed on. Instead of trusting in the future that God had planned for them, they demanded that Samuel install a king. “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.”, said the Lord to Samuel and told him to warn them about the ways of the king who would reign over them. But when the people refused to listen to the warning, God allowed for Saul to be chosen as their king.

And as long as Saul behaved as a shepherd, although he was king, he had victory.

In the early days of his reign, Saul went out to the field with the oxen, and allowed the spirit of God to lead him, “mustering [the people] as one” — much as a shepherd does with the sheep. But his reign soon came to an unfortunate end when, instead of leading his people to God, he allowed them to lead him away from God. Saul became an insecure king, seen sitting even indoors with spear in hand, and pitting his own servants against the priest-servants of God.

But God, who had earlier warned the people about Saul through Samuel, now warns Saul — “Your kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” [1 Samuel:13–14] The “man after [God’s] own heart” was David.

Much has been said and written about the character of David; the things that made him a man after God’s own heart speculated upon and his virtues of faith and courage, integrity and humility trotted out as reason for this favoured epithet.

But the quality that truly earned David his anointing was his shepherd heart.

When asked by Saul to rethink his decision to fight Goliath since David was only a boy, and the latter a seasoned warrior, David tells the king, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father, and whenever a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I went after it and struck it down, rescuing the lamb from its mouth, and if it turned against me, I would catch it by the jaw, strike it down, and kill it. Your servant has killed both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” David said, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.” [1 Samuel 17:34–37]

David was given to risking his own life for the sake of those in his charge — a shepherd to seek out the lost lamb even from the mouth of the lion. Instead of putting on the king’s own armour that was offered him, David brought his shepherd’s tools to the fight against Goliath, knowing that it was the Lord who saved him from lions and bears and it was he who would save him from Goliath. He says to Goliath, “You come to me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts…so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not save by sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hand.” [1 Samuel 17:45–47] Here was a good and brave shepherd who knew God and cared for his people; who wanted for them to know God too.

As long as David is true to his shepherd nature, the spirit of God rests on him. It is when he forgets the shepherd aspect of his kingship that he falls into adultery and murder — in sending his army to the battlefield while he lazes on the terrace, David is more king than shepherd. Mercifully, it is the old shepherd heart that saves him — the prophet Nathan appeals to the king with a moral question that stirs his protective shepherd’s nature and causes him to see the error of his ways, repenting to the Lord.

The Divine Shepherd

It is David, both shepherd and king, who writes:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley
I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me. [Psalm 23]

Years later, Jesus would speak words that give us all comfort. From the line of the shepherd David came another good shepherd who knew God and cared for his people; who wanted for them to know God too.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.” [John 10:11–15]

Jesus was the Divine Shepherd; a king who came not to be served, but to serve.

And this is what he asks of us too, just as Jesus asked Peter to feed his sheep, and tend his lambs. Who have you been given responsibility over? A spouse, children, parents, employees, trainees, friends, godchildren, nieces and nephews, students, patients, a community, a congregation…

Let this Christmas remind you of the Shepherd King born in our midst — model your heart after his, and ask God to make you a shepherd to these people too, leading them to a knowledge of God and his love by the things you say and do.

Wishing you a warm and wonderful Christmas and a joyous new year!