Life and Times of David
THE SONG & LAST WORDS
Life and Times of David
THE SONG & LAST WORDS
2 Samuel 22 – This chapter contains David’s magnificent song, and parallels Psalm 18. It is the utterance of inspiration, connected to our Lord’s triumph over death, through the mighty power of God (see Eph. 1:19). David presents praise to God for deliverance from the hand of his enemies, particularly the hand of Saul. Yet, while David is thankfully recounting the glorious actions of God on his behalf, the language used by inspiration leads us from David’s conflicts to that terrible conflict that raged at the death of Jesus, when, in fierce array, the powers of darkness came out against God. What a tremendous scene. Never before, and never since, was such a battle fought or such a victory gained – Heaven on one side, and hell on the other.
Who can recount the resulting consequences? On the one hand, the glory of God and His Christ; the salvation of the Church; on the other hand, Satan’s lordship and dominance of creation’s wide domain from the lordship of Satan; the thralldom of corruption. Therefore, the struggle of the great enemy of God and man at the cross and at the grave of Christ was fierce; the efforts of Satan’s strong men to prevent his armor from being taken, and his house from being spoiled, were all in vain; Jesus triumphed. “When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; the sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me; in my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and He did hear my voice out of His temple, and my cry did enter into His ears.”
Here was apparent weakness, but real power. The vanquished one became the victor. “Jesus was crucified in weakness, but He liveth by the power of God.” Having shed His blood as the victim for sin, He left Himself in the hands of the Father, who, by the eternal Spirit raised Him from the dead. He resisted not, but suffered Himself to be trampled on, thus crushing the enemy’s power. Satan, by man’s agency, nailed Jesus to the cross, laid Him in the grave, and sealed the tomb. But, Christ came up out of the horrible pit, and out of the miry clay, “having spoiled principalities and powers.” Our Lord and Savior went down into the very heart of the enemy's dominion, making a show of Satan openly.
From verses 8-20, we have the interference of Jehovah on the part of His righteous servant, set forth in language sublime and powerful beyond expression. The imagery used by the inspired Psalmist is of the most solemn and impressive character, “The earth shook and trembled; the fountains of heaven moved and shook, because He was wroth . . . He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub and did fly; and He was seen upon the wings of the wind. And He made darkness pavilions round about Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies . . . The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. And He sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them. And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. He sent from above, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.”
What language. Where shall we find anything to equal it? The wrath of the Omnipotent, the thunder of His power, the convulsion of creation’s entire framework, the artillery of Heaven – all these ideas, so glowingly set forward here, outstrip all human imagination. The grave of Christ was the center around which the battle raged in all its fierceness, for there lay the Prince of life. Satan did his utmost; he brought all the power of hell to bear – all “the power of darkness.” But, he could not hold his captive, because all the claims of justice had been met. The Lord Jesus triumphed over Satan, death, and hell, in strict conformity with the claims of righteousness; this is the sinner’s joy and peace. It avails nothing to be told that the almighty, all powerfully God had vanquished Satan – a creature of His own creation. But to be told that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, as man’s representative, as the sinner’s substitute, as the Church’s surety, gained the victory, this, when believed, gives the soul ineffable peace. This is just what the Gospel tells us – this is the message it conveys to the sinner’s ear. The apostle tells us that “He [Christ] was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.” Resurrection was necessary as the divine proof of His accomplished work; that He took our sins on Himself, and went down into the grave under the weight of them. The Holy Spirit, in the Gospel, presents Jesus Christ as risen, ascended, and seated at God’s right hand in the heavens, thus dispelling every doubt from the believer’s heart – every fear, every hesitation. “The Lord is risen indeed”; and His precious blood is new and living wine.
The great argument of the apostle in 1 Corinthians 15 is based on this subject. The forgiveness of sins is proved by the resurrection of Christ. “If Christ be not raised, ye are yet in your sins.” On the other hand, if Christ be raised, you are not in your sins. Hence resurrection and forgiveness stand or fall together. Recognize Christ risen, and you recognize sin forgiven. “But now,” says the triumphant reasoner, “is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.” This settles everything. The moment you take your eye off a risen Christ, you lose the full, deep, divine, peace-giving sense of the forgiveness of sins. The richest fund of experience – the widest range of intelligence will not produce confidence – only Jesus Christ resurrected.
From verses 21-25, we have the ground of Jehovah’s interference on behalf of His servant. These verses prove that in this entire song there is a greater than David. David could not say, “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath He recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me; and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also upright before Him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity. Therefore the Lord hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in His eyesight.”
How different this language is from that of Psalm 51. There it is, “Have mercy upon me, according to Thy loving kindness; according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies.” This was suitable language for a fallen sinner, like David. He dare not speak of his righteousness, which was as filthy rags. As to his recompense, based on what he was, he felt that the lake of fire was all that he could justly claim.
Hence, therefore, the language of our chapter is the language of Christ, who alone could speak of His righteousness, His uprightness, and the cleanness of His hands – the wondrous grace that shines in redemption. The righteous One took the place of the guilty. “He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we night be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Here is the sinner’s resting-place. Here we behold the spotless victim nailed to the accursed tree, for him; here we behold a full redemption flowing from the perfect work of the Lamb of God. What peace this gives to the sin- burdened heart – deep, ineffable, divine peace.
David’s song closes with an allusion to future glories, imparting an edifying character of completeness. “Strangers shall submit themselves unto me.” “I will give thanks unto Thee among the heathen,” etc. Thus are we conducted along a wondrous path, commencing at the cross, ending in the kingdom. The One who lay in the grave sits on the throne; the hand that was pierced with the nail wields the scepter; and the brow that was dishonored with a crown of thorns is now wreathed with a diadem of glory. The top- stone was laid on the superstructure when redeeming love was erected – when the crucified Jesus of Nazareth ascended to the throne of David, to rule over the house of Jacob. Through the faith of Christ the glories of redemption were celebrated in Heaven and on earth because the Redeemer was exalted and the redeemed rendered perfectly and eternally happy.
In David’s last words, as in the history of other servants of God, we see how they all found in God a sure refuge. It was this way with David, who, throughout his whole career learned that divine grace alone could meet his need. Whether we look at his “song,” or his “last words,” the great prominent subject is one and the same – the sufficiency of divine grace.
However, David’s last words derive energy from the knowledge of God’s requirements, in reference to the character of a ruler. “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.” This is God’s standard. Nothing less will do; and where among the ranks of human rulers shall we find any to come up to His standards? We could check out the entire catalogue of those who have occupied thrones in this world, and find not one who could answer to the great characteristics set forth in the above comprehensive verse. He “must be just,” and “rule in the fear of God.”
Psalm 82 furnishes us with God’s challenge to all those in places of authority. “God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; He judgeth among the gods.” What does He find? Justice and the fear of His name? No; far from it. “How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?” Such is man. “They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are out of course.” What, then, is the resource in view of such a humiliating state of things? “Arise, O God, judge the earth; for Thou shalt inherit all nations.” The Lord Jesus is presented here as the only one competent to fill the throne according to God’s standard, and Psalm 72 gives us a lovely sketch of His government.
“He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment.” “He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.” “He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth.” “And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springeth out of the earth by clear shining after rain.”
All this is truly refreshing and soul-reviving. The heart rejoices to turn away from dark and dreary scenes through which we are passing – to contemplate a morning without clouds. The “morning without a cloud” is not now. How could it be? How could a fallen race, a groaning world, enjoy a cloudless sky? Impossible, until the atoning efficacy of the Cross has been applied to all, and the whole creation has entered into its full repose beneath the shadow of Immanuel’s wings. His second coming! a bright and happy prospect.
It has been stated, that no human office-bearer ever came up to the divine standard, as set forth in David’s last words. David himself felt this. “My house is not so with God.” This was his humble, soul-subduing sense of what he was. We have already seen how fully, how deeply, how unaffectedly, he entered into the vast distance between what he was personally and the divine requirement, when he exclaimed, “I was born in sin”; “Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” His experience was the same when he looked at himself officially. “My house is not so with God.” Both as a man and a king, David was not what he should be. That’s why grace was so precious to his heart. He looked into the mirror of God’s perfect law, and saw his own deformity; he then turned around and looked at God’s “covenant, ordered in all things and sure,” and he rested with unquestioning simplicity.
Though David’s house was not ordered in all things, God’s covenant was. Therefore, David could say, “This is all my salvation, and all my desire.” He had learned not to look at himself or his house, but straight to God, and His everlasting covenant of grace. Just as David’s apprehension of his own personal and official nothingness was deep and real, would his sense of what grace had done for him was deep and real, too. The view of what God was had both humbled and lifted him up. It was his joy, as he traveled to the end of all human things, to find his resting-place in the blessed covenant of his God, in which his salvation and all his desires were embodied and eternally secured.
How blessed it is to find our all in God. Not merely as One who makes up deficits, but our all – superseding everyone and everything. God must be set above all, not merely in reference to forgiveness of our sins, but also in reference to every necessity. “I am God, and there is none else. LOOK UNTO ME.” Many of us, who trust God for salvation, still fail in the minute details of life; yet God is glorified in being made the depositary of all our cares, and the bearer of all our burdens. There is nothing too small to be brought to Him, when we enter into the sense of our nothingness.
But, there is another element in 2 Samuel 23; an element that is introduced rather abruptly – the record of David’s mighty men. Though earlier alluded to, it is interesting to notice it again in connection with God’s covenant.
Two things cheered and comforted David’s heart: the faithfulness of God, and the devotedness of his servants. In looking at the close of Paul’s life, we find that he had the same springs of comfort and encouragement. In 2 Timothy, he glances at the condition of things around him; he sees the “great house,” which assuredly was “not so with God” as He required it; he sees everyone in Asia turned away from him; he sees Hymeneus and Philetus teaching false doctrine, overturning the faith of some; he sees Alexander the coppersmith doing much mischief; he sees many with itching ears, heaping to themselves teachers, turning away from God’s truth to fables; he sees perilous times setting in with fearful rapidity: in a word, he sees the whole fabric, humanly speaking, going to pieces.
But, like David, Paul rested in the assurance that “the foundation of God standeth sure,” and he was also cheered by the individual devotedness of some who, like mighty men, through the grace of God were standing faithful amid the wreck. He remembered the faith of Timothy, the love of Onesiphorus; and, he was cheered by the fact that in darkest times there would be a company of faithful ones who would call on the Lord out of a pure heart. These latter he exhorts Timothy to follow, having purged himself from the dishonorable vessels of the great house.
Thus it was with David. He could count his worthies, and record their deeds. Though his own house was not what it ought to be, and though “the sons of Belial” were around him, yet he spoke of an Adino, a Dodo, and a Shammah, men who had hazarded their lives for him, who had signalized their names by deeds of prowess against the uncircumcised.
Our God will never be without a witness; He will always have a people devoted to His cause in the world. If we did not know and believe this, especially at a time like the present, our hearts might sink within us. In just a few years, we have seen a mighty change in the sphere of world action. Things are not as they once were, even among Christians, and in truth we can say, “Our house is not so with God.” Many Christians are disappointed; hoping for much, realizing little. Too often, we have found ourselves to be like others, thinking we are somewhat, but grievously erring. May the Lord grant that we learn the eternal lesson that we are but dust in His presence; so, that instead of proudly lifting up our heads, we will walk in the abiding sense of our own emptiness. The Lord’s address to Laodicea must be remembered –pondering it is spiritually profitable. “Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold, tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see.”
If past experience leads us to cling more simply to Jesus, we will have reason to bless the Lord for everything. It is a special mercy to be delivered from the false ground of confidence. If we are seeking to build up a system, it is well to be delivered from its influence and to adhere simply to the Word and Spirit of God, which are the appointed companions of the Church’s path through the wilderness.
Thank God, there are many who are proving their affection for the person of Christ, holding in high estimation the Gospel of Christ. This is a great mercy. The enemy, though he has done and will continue to do much mischief, does not have it all his own way. There are those who are ready to spend their strength and energy in defense of the Gospel. May the Lord add to their number – may He also add to the vigor of their testimony; and, finally, may He make us increasingly thankful for His grace; having set before us, in His Word, the true position and path of His servants, and those principles that alone can sustain us in the midst of strife and confusion.
David wanted to do much in his day, and he was sincere in that thought; but he had to learn that the will of God for him was to “serve his generation.” We, too, must learn this lesson – a humble mind, a devoted heart, a tender conscience, an honest purpose, are far more precious in the sight of God than mere outward services, however showy and attractive. “To obey is better than sacrifice; and to harken than the fat of rams.” These are salutary words for a time like ours – a time when divine principle is so loosely held.
Pray the Lord keeps us faithful to the end, so that like those who have gone before us, we may fall asleep in Jesus; and if caught up to meet Him in the air, we “may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” Meanwhile, let us rejoice in the apostle’s word to Timothy, “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His;” and, “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
