Acts 13:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’

NIV: After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: 'I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'

NASB: After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’

CSB: After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him, 'I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will.'

NLT: But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’

KJV: And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

NKJV: And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’

Paul is giving the history of God's saving work in the history of Israel. Of all the "saviors" in Israel's history, King David is surpassed only by Moses. From the time that David was a boy and killed Goliath (1 Samuel 17) throughout his reign as king, he consistently saved the nation from their enemies.

There is understandable confusion about how David can be a "man after God's own heart" despite his infidelity with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah. These are serious sins and God dealt with them (2 Samuel 11:1—12:23). The moral aspect of David the man, while important, was not God's priority for the king of Israel. His priority was that the king would obey Him and honor Him as the head of the nation. In this, David excelled:

David never showed any indication that he was even tempted to worship an idol, despite allowing his wife to have a household idol (1 Samuel 19:13). David only ever worshiped God.
David valued and defended God's honor, even above his own. We see this in his reaction to Goliath (1 Samuel 17:45–47) and in his humility when his son Absalom usurped the throne (2 Samuel 15:24–26).
David took very seriously God's charge to Israel that if they obeyed and honored Him, they would have success in war, and if they dishonored Him, they would lose. David saw his battles as an extension of God's mandate to Joshua's generation to conquer the Promised Land. It wasn't until he was king that Jerusalem was taken from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:6–9).

Yes, David the man was imperfect. David the father was too lenient. But David the God-follower was sincere and steadfast. And David the king was the only king of a united Israel who honored God's covenant with His people. More to Paul's point, God used David to save His people.

There is also some question about the quote as it seems to be a mash-up of several Old Testament passages. This is apparently a quote from the Septuagint, but from Paul's memory, as the words are not exact.

Acts 13:16–41 gives the transcript of Paul's message in Pisidian Antioch. It is the only recording of Paul's many synagogue sermons. Paul's message can be broken into five parts, each identified with a call to heed Paul's words: 1. God's saving work in Israel's history and promise of a future Savior (Acts 13:16–25); 2. The Savior's story (Acts 13:26–31); 3. The prophecies of the Savior (Acts 13:32–37); 4. The nature of ''salvation'' (Acts 13:38–39); 5. A warning to accept the Savior (Acts 13:40–41). Some Jews and many Gentiles do accept the message, but the synagogue leaders drive Paul and Barnabas out of town (Acts 13:42–51).

Acts 13 transitions Luke's account (Acts 1:1) fully into a record of Paul's ministry to spread the news about Jesus. The Holy Spirit calls Paul and Barnabas for their first missionary journey. They teach about Jesus' offer of forgiveness of sins on the island of Cyprus and in the district of Pisidia in modern-day south-central Asia Minor. Along the way, they face opposition, desertion, and persecution: themes that will follow Paul throughout his life. But they also experience the joy of watching the people they'd least expect come to a saving faith in Jesus.

The first chapters of Acts, save for a quick account of Paul's conversion (Acts 9:1–31), cover the ministry of the apostles, particularly Peter. Those passages also detail the spread of the news about Jesus from His followers. That message goes to the Jews of Jerusalem (Acts 2—7) and Judea (Acts 8:26–40; 9:32–43), the Samaritans (Acts 8:4–25), and God-fearing Gentiles (Acts 10—11). Now, Paul's contribution to the ''end of the earth'' portion of Jesus' commission in Acts 1:8 begins, as he and Barnabas start their first missionary journey. Luke will record two more of Paul's journeys (Acts 15:36—18:22 and 18:23—20:38) before settling in on his return to Jerusalem, arrest, and sea voyage to Rome (Acts 21—28).

The summary of the book of Acts is provided in Jesus' words in Acts 1:8: ''But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.'' In Acts 2:1–13, the Christ-followers receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:14—7:60 describes the rapid growth of the church in Jerusalem. Chapters 8—12 find Jewish persecution inadvertently spreading the gospel throughout Judea and Samaria. And in chapters 13—28, Paul and his companions spread the good news throughout the Roman Empire.