Jesus the new David

Ezekiel 34:23-24 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.

Ezekiel 37:24-25 “My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all  have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children and their children's children shall dwell there for ever, and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

• One after God’s own heart: David wanted God at the centre of his kingdom by building the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Sam 13:14; 2 Sam 7:1-3); Jesus and God the Father are one (Jn 10:30)

• From Bethlehem: David's homeland (1 Sam 16:1); Jesus's birthplace (Mt 2:1)

• A good shepherd: David protected his sheep from lions and bears (1 Sam 17:34-35); Jesus laid down his life for his sheep (Jn 10:11-14)

• Performed exorcisms: David for Saul (1 Sam 16:23); Jesus (Mk 1:21-28, 5:1-20, 9:14-29)

• Persecuted by Jewish leaders: David by Saul (1 Sam 19); Jesus by the chief priests and scribes (Mk 14:1-2,53-65)

• Merciful: David spared Saul’s life twice (1 Sam 24 & 26); Jesus is full of mercy (Lk 23:34; Jam 3:17)

• Priestly king in the order of Melchizedek (Ps 110:4): David ate the priestly food of the Bread of the Presence (1 Sam 21:1-9), offered animal sacrfice outside of the santuary (2 Sam 6:13) and wore an ephod, a priestly garment (2 Sam 6:14); Jesus the eternal high priest (Heb 5:10, 7:24)

• A king battling enemies for his people: David against the Philistines (2 Sam 5:17-25), the Moabites, Hadadezer and the Syrians (2 Sam 8:1-8); Jesus against the devil (Mt 4:1-11) and through his death frees us from slavery to sin (1 Peter 4:1-2)

• Mediator of a covenant: an eternal kingdom of Israel from David's offspring (2 Sam 7:16); fulfilled by Jesus as the new and eternal covenant (Heb 9:15) for the kingdom of God i.e. the Church for all nations (Mt 16:18, 28:19; Eph 3:21; 1 Pet 2:9-10; Rev 1:6)

• A just king: David to all Israel (2 Sam 8:15); Jesus is a just and righteous king (Jer 33:15; Jn 5:30; 1 Cor 1:30)

• Inner circle of three men: David's mighty warriors Josheb-basshebeth, Eleazar and Shammah (2 Sam 23:8-11); Peter, James and John who witnessed the raising of Jairus's daughter from the dead (Mk 5:35-43) and the Transfiguration (Mt 17:12) and accompanied Jesus further in the garden of Gethsemane (Mk 14:32-35)