Lesson 13 - 2 Sam. 23:1-7 - DAVID'S LAST WORDS
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in 2 Sam. 21:1-14, we studied another example of divine discipline, a 3-year famine that had been imposed on Israel by God because of sins committed by Saul during a time before David became king. This incident was not in chronological order with the events of the preceding chapters because Chapters 21-24 of the 2 Samuel form an appendix that was added sometime later. David discovered that God had caused the famine because Saul's extermination of the Gibeonites broke the covenant that Joshua with those people 400 years earlier. After learning of this, David went to the Gibeonites and basically gave them 'carte blanc' with respect to how Israel should atone for this wrong. The Gibeonites didn't want money or eye-for-an-eye killings but specified that seven sons (or grandsons) of Saul be hung so that his family line would cease to exist; and David made an exception for Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. So, seven of Saul's sons and grandsons were hung and left hanging until the rains came. Afterward, David gathered the bones of Saul and Jonathan and along with the bones of the men hung, buried them together at the grave of Saul's father. The main truth of the lesson was that breaking covenants made to (or before) God can result in serious consequences. One of the most flagrant examples of this seen today is the number of Christians who marry under God's covenant and subsequently break that covenant and obtain a divorce when the marriage for whatever reasons fails to meet their expectations.
This will be our final lesson in 2 Samuel and we will begin a new quarter in the Book of Hebrews next week (see handout). Today's text, 2 Sam. 23:1-7, records David's last words before his death. A different (less poetic) version of these words-David's final instructions to his son, Solomon, are also recorded in 1 Kings 2:2-9. We might say that our lesson expresses a more idealized poetic version that may be summarized as 'David's wisdom in a nutshell."
Read 2 Sam. 23:1 - NOW THESE ARE THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID
1 Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel,
v. 1a: "Now these are the last words of David." -A person's last words carry special importance. The person has less reason than others to lie. Dying people often want to express an important truth or affection in their last words. In David's case, he wants his listeners to benefit from his hard-earned lessons in order to avoid his mistakes and copy his successes. We should also see this as a prophetic message spoken by God through David, who was "a man after God's own heart" (1 Sam. 13:14).
v. 1b: "David the son of Jesse declares," - Here, David affirms that he was just an ordinary person, born to a "Jesse," a common man of no great status. Yet, God chose David, the least of Jesse's sons, to become the greatest of Israel's kings.
v. 1c: "The man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel," - David acknowledges that he enjoyed great success as king as a gift from God. God chose him and gave him victory over Goliath and victory over his many enemies. By God's direct inspiration, David received the poetic and literary ability to compose and write 73 Psalms.
Read 2 Sam. 23:2-4 - THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD SPOKE BY ME
2 "The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. 3 "The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, 'He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God, 4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after the rain.
v. 2: "The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue." -David acknowledges that the words he speaks are not his own but words God gave him through inspiration of the Spirit,
v. 3a: "The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me," - The LORD GOD (YHWH) is the rock of Israel and Israel's salvation, who spoke to the nation through his servant, David.
v. 3b: "He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God," - The just ruler, who rules in the fear of God, will rule over men righteously and set a virtuous example to those over whom he rules.
v. 4: "Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after the rain." - The just ruler, who rules righteously, is noticeable by his good works, like the morning light at sunrise. His character shines like the sparkling dew on the grass and leaves in the morning sunshine after the rain.
Read 2 Sam. 24:5 - HE HAS MADE AN EVERLASTING COVENANT WITH ME
5 "Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow?
Note: Thus far, David has been expressing God's Word but, in this verse, adds his own remarks.
v. 5: This verse is phrased as a rhetorical question. As we learned in the last week's lesson regarding Joshua's covenant with the Gibeonites, a covenant is an agreement between two parties that specifies certain benefits and obligations on both sides, and woe to anyone who breaks it, in that instance a famine imposed on the land because of Saul's misdeeds. This isn't the first mention of an "everlasting covenant" in Scripture (Gen. 9:19; 12:1-3; 17:7, 13, and 19) but is the first to specify an everlasting kingdom between God and David, specifically in 2 Sam. 7:16, where God promised that "Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever." (see also, 2 Chron. 13:15, 21:7).
Read 2 Sam. 23:6-7 - THE UNGODLY ARE LIKE THORNS
6 "But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns, Because they cannot be taken in hand; 7 But the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, And they will be completely burned with fire in their place."
Note: These last two verses resume God's words as spoken through David.
v. 6: "But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns," - These verses illustrate the other side of the picture: If a godly ruler is like "the morning light when the sun rises" (v.4), godless or ungodly (Heb. beliyyaal [bel-e-yah'-al] rulers are like "thorns." The Hebrew word bel-e-yah'-al is used frequently in 1-2 Samuel (1 Sam. 2:12; 10:27, 25:17; 10:22; and 2 Sam. 16:7; 20:1) to describe people who are worthless, sinful evildoers. These bel-e-yah'-al people are like thorns, worst than "worthless." Thorns are not only are worthless based on their own merits, but they render whatever land they occupy worthless as well.
v. 6b: "Because they cannot be taken in hand;" - Have you ever tried to prune a rose bush or a holly tree with your bare hands? Ouch! If you try to handle thorny plants with bare hands you are almost guaranteed to come away bloody. To handle them, you need wear thick gloves and use sharp tools.
v. 7a: "But the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear," To handle bel-e-yah'-al (godless) people we must be similarly prepared, to be "armed" (metaphorically) "with iron and the shaft of a spear." We have seen the truth of these words in our own experience: that a person who gets too entangled with a godless person is likely to end up hurt. Heb. 4:12 tells us that "the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." And Eph. 6:13 tells us to "take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." So, when we are forced to deal with the godless, we arm ourselves with the Word of God as our sword and our shield.
v. 7b: "And they will be completely burned with fire in their place." - Speaking of the godless, The prophet Malachi later said, "For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze," says the LORD of hosts, "so that it will leave them neither root nor branch" (Mal 4:1-3); and even later, John the Baptist said, "His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" (Luke 3:17). Therefore, as long as God's Word abides in us, we are protected from the thorns.
APPLICATION-A Lesson in Leadership
1. A godly ruler (or leader) understands the fear of God. Today's lesson and indeed, the Books of 1 and 2 Samuel, teaches us that the kind of leader who rules justly is one who rules in the fear of God. A person who rules in the fear of God is one who strives to obey the Word of God and live his life according to the statutes (standards) of God as defined by His Word. The most dangerous temptation, as David himself discovered, is when a leader forgets that he or she rules under God's authority and, in effect, become a law unto themselves. This happened to David when he yielded to his temptation to commit adultery with Bathsheba and attempted to cover it up with the murder of her husband.
2. A godly ruler (or leader) understands the faithfulness of God. Although David had to suffer the harsh consequences of his sin-the death of three sons-he remained faithful to God's promise that his kingdom would last forever, which was completely fulfilled centuries later by the birth, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
3. Ungodly rulers (or leaders) deliberately fail to understand the judgment of God. These leaders are like thorns that hurt people rather than help them. They fail to acknowledge that they are accountable to God and subject to judgment. People of faith understand and believe a day is coming when God will gather up all the ungodly and burn them up with unquenchable fire.
