When did the Lord say to David that he would shepherd the people of Israel and become their ruler, and what does this mean?
The precise words quoted by the elders do not appear anywhere earlier in Samuel and this is the first use of the shepherd imagery to describe David.1 The words themselves, however, reflect the general truth which had been previously revealed (see Numbers 27:17; 1 Samuel 9:16; 1 Samuel 13:14; 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 25:30; 2 Samuel 3:9, 2 Samuel 3:18; Psalm 78:71), that David would be king and that he was to be a king who cared for God’s people.2 The concept of David as shepherd also recounts his modest beginning (1 Samuel 16:11, 1 Samuel 16:19; 1 Samuel 17:34).3
2 In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the LORD said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’”