What does Acts 13:22 mean?
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).
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.