The following article is adapted from a post by our friend Landon Hines. Last year, I (Nick Padovani) had seen this post the morning I’d prepared a message about these exact ideas. It was wild because I had never come across this particular interpretation of King David and the mighty men before, and the morning I was about to share it publicly, Landon had posted nearly the same exact revelation.

There are many mysteries hidden in the life of David, and this is one of the sweetest… Enjoy.

“Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.”

‭‭2 Samuel‬ ‭3:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

If we look at this story through a New Covenant lens, Jesus Christ is our greater son of David. He is the King of this world, just like David was the anointed king of Israel.

Although David was anointed as the true king of the nation, another king named Saul was still sitting on the throne. This king was constantly pursuing David and his followers. Through this time, David was out in caves and in the wilderness, not fighting back, but trusting God to fight for them. In this case, Saul is a picture  of the devil, or as Jesus called him in John 12, the “ruler of this world” who was about to be cast out.

This is where the above scripture from 2 Samuel becomes gloriously encouraging. You see, when you come to Jesus, your greater son of David, you will grow stronger and stronger while the world grows weaker and weaker. Indeed, the entire kingdom of darkness is losing ground all the time, even when it doesn’t seem that way and the church goes through wilderness seasons of great persecution. 

It was probably hard for those who stayed with David during this time out in the wilderness. Yet they were called his mighty men! That’s you and I today, friend! We have come to the Lord and He takes us from debt, distress, and discouragement to being His mighty and courageous ones!

And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him.

1 Samuel 22:2

Later on, at the end of David’s life in 2 Samuel 23, we are given the full names and the specific exploits of these amazing warriors who served the king. They were honored with an eternal memorial in the Word of God. But that honor was only a shadow, a little taste of the real honor that will come to those who have served the true anointed King of heaven and earth.

We are those who join the Lord in the “cave” and follow Him even when a thousand enemies seem to be surrounding us. Yes, things are hard now and from inside this cave it seems as though there will never be another bright day. But look up at your King, look and see the confidence on His face, look and see the compassion He has toward the world who hates Him. Look and see Jesus the great conquerer, mighty to save you! 

His Kingdom will soon fully come and you will be esteemed in the Lord Jesus because you came to Him now, because you served him even when there were those who followed the false “god (king) of this world.” You will receive eternal honor in Jesus’s Kingdom for the exploits you engaged in today. Those exploits will actually be commemorated and remembered!

So don’t lose heart, for your King is near. There’s great reward for us in Christ Jesus, namely closeness with Him, the King of kings!

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

From St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland. The stained glass depicts different scenes of David’s army from 2 Samuel.