Back to index

David te shepherd

1 Samuel 16:11

Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest,[a] but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

Full bible text

1 Samuel 17 verses 33 to 37:
33 ‘And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.” 34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you!”

2 Samuel 7 verse 8: ‘Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel’.

Psalm 23 verse 4: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,
for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’

Ezekiel 34 verse 23 to 25: ‘And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken. I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods’.

John 10 verse 11: ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep’.

About this painting

Like Moses, David is a shepherd for a time, in preparation for leadership over the people of Israel.
The way in which David fulfills the shepherd-ship is clear from what he tells Saul about it in 1 Samuel 17 verses 33 to 37; he risks his life for his sheep, and with God's help he defeats lion and bear.
In this way he is a pre-image of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who lays down His life for His sheep. John 10 verse 11.

David plays the harp (kinnor) and sings. 1 Samuel 16 verse 18.
The book of Psalms contains 72 psalms that he wrote.
An appropriate example is Psalm 23, which has as its theme: “The LORD is my Shepherd.”
Trusting the Shepherd is not naive or easy. It is about knowing and following the LORD personally, even in concrete danger of death.

Several psalms express gratitude for deliverance from danger, suffering and distress.
In Psalm 22 verse 22 David prays: 'deliver me from the lion's mouth'.
Psalm 22 is also a messianic psalm, in which the suffering of Christ is prophesied.

The prophet Ezekiel announces that a Shepherd from the line of David will arise to shepherd the people. (Ezekiel 34 verse 23). The metaphor of God as Shepherd of the individual and that of David as Shepherd of the people come together in Jesus, who is both God and man. John 10 verse 14. He, Christ, is the Good Shepherd, who keeps the souls of believers. 1 Peter 2 verse 25.

1 Peter 5 verse 8:
‘Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour’.

Hebrews 13 verse 20 to 21:
‘Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, 21 equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen’.

Ask a question about this painting

{{ errors.first("field_7") }}
{{ errors.first("field_8") }}
{{ errors.first("field_9") }}
{{ errors.first("privacy") }}
Download the image for free