When I began studying David, one question that intrigued me was what it meant that he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22). When I asked people what they thought this phrase meant, I heard differing opinions. Some were even bothered by the fact that such a sinful person was described this way. So what does it mean?
Two main answers emerge. The phrase could primarily say something about God, meaning David is selected according to God’s heart and choice. The second option views this statement as primarily revealing something about David’s heart that seeks after God or reflects God. Both are good options. Let me list the support for each and then share how I read it.
Option 1: The Man of God’s Choosing
A key aspect of interpreting Scripture is reading it in context (cultural context, literary context, and historical context). David’s rise, and the use of this famous phrase, take place in the context of Saul’s reign and failures.
Before Saul, Israel was ruled by judges rather than kings. It wasn’t until 1 Samuel 8 that Israel demanded an earthly king like everyone else. After Samuel warned them against it, they protested: “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Sam. 8:19-20; cf. 8:5). Israel acted under their (wrong) assumption that they were missing out or that God was withholding something good from them by having God as their king rather than a man as king.
Israel moved from this false belief about what God wasn’t doing to the lie that a human king would be an upgrade. Their faulty theology led to their failure to trust God and their trust in an earthly as their idol.[1] The throne of a human heart only has room for one person. Either God will sit there or some other idol (god) takes His place, but there isn’t room for two.
This led to Saul, a man recognized for his physical features rather than his spiritual virtues. “There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people” (1 Sam. 9:2; 10:23). Israel wants a powerful, impressive king. Saul is a tall and towering figure among the undersized Hebrews. He was a bit like Gandalf among the hobbits, or like a kid playing youth basketball who hit his growth spurt well before everyone else.
This context helps us understand how Saul was a king reflecting the desires of the people. “And now behold the king whom you have chosen, for whom you have asked; behold, the Lord has set a king over you” (1 Sam. 12:13). Israel chose Saul, both in the kind of king demanded and in the sense that they chose him over God as king. Even though God chose Saul as Israel’s king (1 Sam. 10:24), it reflected that Saul was the king the people desired based on their priorities (1 Sam. 12:13).
Despite his military successes, Saul failed to lead Israel well. He proved to be a fearful, foolish, and sinful king (1 Sam. 13-15). Because Saul rejected God’s commands, God rejected Saul as king (1 Sam. 15:23, 26). 1 Samuel contrasts Saul and David in many ways (see “10 Contrasts Between Saul and David”). But Saul didn’t seek God first, trust God in temptation, or obey God. He feared people more than he feared God. The people’s king, with their priorities and prerogatives, ultimately failed them.
That’s why God told Saul the kingdom would be given to another. God’s chosen king would be better, or more fit for ruling than Saul (15:28). Samuel relayed God’s message:
“You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.” (1 Sam. 16:13-14)
This new prince was the man of God’s own choosing. Israel got who what they wanted the first time around and it blew up in their face. This time God would pick a king who would lead them well. This new king would not be defined by his external stature but his internal character, not his height but his heart (16:7).
When you read about David being “a man after God’s own heart” in the context of Saul’s story of failed kingship, it makes sense why many think this phrase tells us more about God (and His choice) than about David (and his passion or godliness). John Woodhouse writes,
“The expression ‘a man after [God’s] own heart’ has entered Christian jargon, usually as a statement about the qualities of the person. In 1 Samuel 13:13, however, the expression is literally, ‘The Lord has sought for himself a man according to his own heart.…’ This is about the place this man had in God’s heart rather than about the place God had in the man’s heart. It was a way of saying that God had chosen this man according to his own will and purpose…
Here the point to be emphasized is that repeatedly the people had been presented with Saul as the king the people had asked for and had chosen for themselves (see 1 Samuel 8:10, 18; 10:19; 12:13). Things were about to change. The Lord had chosen a king for himself, a king on whom he had set his heart. While it is true that Saul had been described as ‘him whom the Lord has chosen’ (1 Samuel 10:24) and ‘his anointed’ (1 Samuel 12:3, 5), this was always in the context of the people’s demands. The striking new thing is that the Lord would choose a king ‘for himself,’ ‘according to his own heart.’ These things were never said of Saul.”[2]
Before sending Samuel to David’s home, God also told Samuel, “I have provided for myself a king” (1 Sam. 16:1). God didn’t just say He selected a king, but He describes it as providing for Himself a king. God said something similar when he told Samuel, “And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you” (16:3; italics mine). This strikes a very different chord from when God obliged Israel by telling Samuel, “Make them a king” (1 Sam. 8:22).
It’s possible that David’s own words also nudge us in this direction. Years later, when God entered a covenant with King David, he reflected on what God has done for him. “For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant” (2 Samuel 7:21). God had chosen David as king and was now choosing David’s house or lineage for all future kings (especially the coming king who would reign forever). Tim Chester explains:
‘According to your will’ is literally ‘after your own heart’—the same expression used in 1 Samuel 13:14. David has been exalted because of what was in God’s heart—his sovereign, gracious will. “Saul” means “asked for”. He is the king the people asked for. He is the people’s choice. And his reign ends in failure. David will be God’s choice. And from his dynasty will come the new Adam, the snake-crusher.[3]
This section emphasizes Saul was the man who reflected the choice and priorities of the people (1 Sam. 12:13) but David reflected God’s priorities and choice. Saul was a man after Israel’s heart but David was a man after God’s heart. He was God’s chosen man for the throne.
Option 2: The Heart of David
The second option views this phrase as emphasizing something about David’s heart. His heart sought after God, trusted God, obeyed God, or reflected God.
Samuel told Saul, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you” (1 Sam. 15:28). Robert Bergen explains that “better than you” here means, “one more careful than Saul to keep the Lord’s commands, was being given to the kingdom of Israel.”[4] If God appointed a new person to take Saul’s place because he failed to keep God’s commands, it implies that this new king will be a more God-centered, obedient, and trusting king. David was far from perfect, but 1-2 Samuel shows that he did (imperfectly) seek God, trust God, and follow God. The psalmist later described David’s shepherding of Israel as being done with an “upright heart” (Ps. 78:72). This is what makes David fit for the office as king under the true King.
More evidence for this view comes from our opening story. When God told Samuel not to look at the outside of a person, God had both Eliab and Saul in mind. What distinguished them were external qualities, such as height and stature. David’s defining qualities aren’t on the outside but are on the inside. God tells Samuel, “For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). God appointed David, not because he was an intimidating or impressive sight, but because of his internal character, faith, and obedience. God approved of David, not because he was tall but because he trusted in God.
The first full story featuring David was his fight against Goliath (1 Samuel 17). David trusted God enough to fight by faith in God’s power when others hid in fear, and he did so because his heart’s passion was God’s glory and fame. Right away, the author of 1-2 Samuel highlighted the faith, virtue, and heart of David that made him a man after God’s own heart.
David would fall and fail at times, but he returned back to God in humility, brokenness, and repentance. His sin even made him grasp onto the grace of God and made him more grateful to and dependent on God. That’s the kind of imperfect king who can reflect the graciousness and goodness of the perfect King. Kevin DeYoung writes, “David was a great man because he was willing to overlook others’ sin but unwilling to overlook his own… David was a man after God’s own heart because he hated sin but loved to forgive it. What better example of God could there be?”[5]
Both/And
I think both ways of interpreting this phrase have strong support because they’re both likely in play. We can’t always take the middle option, and some ideas are mutually exclusive, but I don’t know why that would be the case in this instance. This time, you can have your cake and eat it too (and who doesn’t love cake?).
It’s true that 1 Samuel makes the case David was God’s sovereignly appointed king. David was a man after God’s heart because he was the man of God’s own choosing to lead Israel. But it’s also apparent that 1 Samuel contrasted David’s faith and character to Saul’s foolishness and sin. Saul rebelled against God and was rejected by God, whereas David as chosen by God and ruled under God. David sought after God, trusted God, and reflected God in many ways.
Neither understanding of what it means that David is the man after God’s own heart should be ignored or minimized. Richard Phillips explains:
“This statement can—and perhaps should—be taken two ways. On the one hand, it can mean that God desired a king whose heart was wholeheartedly committed to him in faith. Saul’s disobedience revealed a problem regarding his heart, which was not wholly dedicated to God. That is why he thought an ‘almost obedience’ would be enough for the Lord. The expression ‘after [God’s] own heart’ can also mean that God desires a king of his own choosing. Saul was the king ‘like all the nations’ (8:5), chosen by the unbelieving people. God desired a king of his own choosing, a king whose heart would express true devotion to the Lord through his faith and obedience.”[6]
God chose and appointed David as His king (in contrast to Saul being their choice), but He did so in part because David’s heart made him fit to be the king Israel needed.
David better reflected God’s will because He was appointed by God’s will. Because God mattered most to David, what matters to God ended up mattering to David as well. It’s because David loved, worshipped, submitted to, trusted in, and knew God that he could reflect the priorities and character of God.
NOTES
[1] There’s a lot of tragic irony present. Samuel tells them they might think this king will give greater freedom and blessing, but these kings will turn them into slaves (1 Sam. 8:17). They believe a human king is a step forward in progress, but Samuel describes their life under a king as a step backwards, almost like a return to the same enslaving circumstances in Egypt (1 Sam. 8:11-18). Samuel warns them that today they’re crying out to God for a king, but it won’t be long until they’ll cry out to God because of their kings (1 Sam. 8:18). The irony also appears later in 1 Samuel in Saul’s own weakness. He’s much more like the kings of the nations than Israel imagines, which is why he’s driven by fear and pride rather than the fear of God. All idols enslave, disappoint, and fail to deliver on their empty promises.
[2] John Woodhouse, 1 Samuel: Looking for a Leader, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2008), 235–236. Bold mine.
[3] Tim Chester, 1 Samuel for You, ed. Carl Laferton, God’s Word for You (The Good Book Company, 2014), 91.
[4] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 174.
[5] Kevin DeYoung, “What Made David Great,” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/what-made-david-great/, 1/18/11.
[6] Richard D. Phillips, 1 Samuel, ed. Philip Graham Ryken and Richard D. Phillips, Duguid Iain M., 1st ed., Reformed Expository Commentary (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2012), 200–201.
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