But now your kingdom shall not continue: the LORD has sought him a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept that which the LORD commanded you.
All Commentaries on 1 Samuel 13:14 Go To 1 Samuel 13
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
You ask, “Why did the Lord, undoubtedly having foreknowledge of the future, say ‘I choose David according to my own heart,’ although this very man committed such serious sins?” As a matter of fact, if we understand this statement concerning David himself, who was king of Israel after Saul had been condemned and slain, it was especially because God has foreknowledge of the future that he foresaw in him such great holiness and such true repentance, that he numbered him among those of whom he himself said, “Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one to whom the Lord has not imputed sin.” Therefore, since God foreknew that he would sin and would wash his sins away by holy humility, why should he not say, “I have found David according to my own heart?” He was not going to impute sin to him who was doing so many good acts and living in such great holiness and by this same holiness offering the sacrifice of a contrite spirit for his sins. For all these reasons, it has very truthfully been said, “I have found David according to my heart.” For, although the fact that he sinned was not according to God’s heart, the fact that he atoned for his sins with a fitting penitence was according to God’s heart. Only this, then, in him was not according to God’s heart, which God did not impute [David’s sins] to him. So, when this has been removed, that is, has not been imputed, what remains but that it be very truthfully said, “I have found David according to my own heart”?
