2 Samuel 23:1-7 - Grace and glory

The opening verse of this song says that it contains David’s last words. But we know that these were not the last words of David. For 1 Kings 2:1-9 tell us that in his dying moment he gave clear instructions to Solomon on what he wanted him to do when he was gone. So how could 2 Samuel 23:1-7 be the last words of David? These verses were probably the last prophetic words that David had spoken concerning the future, which were inspired by God.

 David began by talking about himself and his humble beginning. He was the son of Jesse, the shepherd boy whom God had taken, from looking after sheep to shepherd His people. He saw himself as the anointed of God. David was also a Psalmist who had written some seventy over psalms. Each of David’s psalm was written under divine influence. Here in verse 2 he particularly asserted that “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.” In other words, what he had spoken was God’s words.

The words were prophetic in that they alluded to Jesus Christ the Messiah. He foretold of the Messianic King who would rule men in righteousness and would rule with the fear of the Lord. He spoke of the coming of the Messiah as the coming of “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 rain”. The Messiah would bring salvation, deliverance, a new and refreshed era of growth, and ultimate stability. As God had promised him so David confidently declared that the Messiah would come through his line. The last two verses of this song show the contrast to worthless men who would be sent into judgment. Like thorns, they would be removed and fed to the judgment of fire.

Our lessons from these verses can be summed up in two words: grace and glory. David was raised from a humble status by the grace of God. He was only a shepherd boy, but the difference was when God chose him and made something beautiful out of his life. All these happen through the gracious act of God. Like him, we once were lost but God’s grace found us. The status we have in God now and the person we will potentially become, happen when we depend on His grace. None of us has anything to commend ourselves to Him. It has always been His grace, a grace that looked beyond our faults and saw our needs. And because of the grace showered on us, like David, we can now anticipate a glorious future – a life walking in the fullness of His plan. Praise the Lord!