2 Samuel 23:1-7

The fruitful lessons of David's last words.

The facts are:

1 . There is a statement that these are the last words of David, who is spoken of in a fourfold respect.

2 . It is affirmed that the utterance which follows is expressly by the Spirit of God.

3 . The true ruler is described as one who is just and one fearing God; and the effects of his government are compared to the light of a bright morning, and the tender grass after rain.

4 . David affirms that his house is specially characterized as one with which God has made a sure and everlasting covenant, and that, consequently, the whole salvation he cares for and desires will be advanced and realized.

5 . He refers to worthless men having no sympathy with the desires of his heart and the purposes of his house—as being like thorns fit only to be ultimately burned. A larger space is given in the Bible to the life of David than to any other except that of his great Antitype; and herein do we see the beautiful harmony of the sacred book as an organic whole, for just as in the New Testament there is great prominence given to the death of Christ and its relation to sin, corresponding to the prominence in the Old Testament of the sacrifices which foreshadowed it, so the position of the eternal King in Zion in the one book is in the same relative proportion to that of the temporal king who so conspicuously shadowed forth his reign in the other. The great interest thus attaching to the life of David renders his last words of unusual importance. We shall best bring out their teaching by noting in succession the very fruitful topics suggested by this section.

I. THE INFLUENCE or DYING WORDS OF GOOD MEN . We feel that there is a value in these last words of David, not simply by what an examination of their strict sense may yield, but because they are his last words. All last words are weighty in comparison with others; for they close the record, or end the intercourse, or give, as in dying words, the matured expression of one's long experience. The last words of Jacob, of Moses, of Paul, and above all of Christ, are very rich in instruction by virtue of being last. The last words of children, parents, friends who sleep in Jesus, are most precious; they are treasured forever. There are special reasons for attaching weight to them.

1 . They are reflective, and touched by the influence of the eternal world. Men are earnest, sincere, uttering only what a review of the past and a prospect of the future will warrant.

2 . The mind is usually calm. The passions of life are gone, the strife of tongues is no more heard, the spirit is open to the still, small voice.

3 . Worldly influences are in abeyance. The pomps and fashions of this world are reduced to their proper position. There is scope for things eternal to get their legitimate hold on the thoughts, and so to form aright the conceptions of duty.

4 . The action of the Holy Spirit is more direct and strong. The great hindrances to his blessed fellowship are reduced to a minimum, and hence a truer estimate is formed of life, its purpose and perils; of Christ, his love and power.

5 . The affections are most pure and tender. The heart goes out freely toward the Saviour and toward men. Silver and gold and the perishable things of active life are now as dross, and words flow forth steeped in love and tender concern for others, and delight in God's great salvation. Dying saints preach powerful sermons. Their memory is blessed. Their words are rich in all that is good and helpful.

II. THE HONOUR AND RESPONSIBILITY OF RICH MENTAL ENDOWMENTS . David was the man raised up on high, the anointed of God, the sweet psalmist of Israel. These words necessarily imply the coexistence in time of varied mental endowments—wisdom and discretion for ruling, lofty conceptions of the theocracy and the far reaching character of God's dealings with Israel, and all the qualities requisite for the sweetest poetry. He was certainly most honoured of men in that age, and hence his responsibility was very great. The references to the ideal ruler ( 2 Samuel 23:3 ) indicate how conscious he was of solemn obligations. The fact is, every gift of God bestowed on man is honour put on him, and in its nature it is a talent for use, that the world may be the better for its existence. The possession of great and varied gifts—of thought, emotion, willpower, and of aptitude to do the right thing at the right time—is a wonderful boon. The men of ten talents may well ponder their responsibilities to God and man. What blessing or woe comes to the world according to the direction in which great gifts are used!

III. THE INFLUENCE OF SACRED SONG ON THE RELIGIOUS LIFE . The incidental reference to the "sweet psalmist" throws a sudden and unexpected light on the immense influence exerted by David on the spiritual thought and feeling of his own and subsequent ages. He had touched the deepest feelings of the people, and by his psalms done, perhaps, more to conserve their faith and hope than by all his acts of formal legislation and words of distinct exhortation. His influence will never cease. The saints of all ages are cheered and comforted by his sweet words of song; and they find relief in using, language which so aptly expresses the holiest and purest feelings and thoughts of their life. He blessed Israel with a wise and just rule, and the entire world by the most enduring influence of sacred song. The place of sacred song in the Church is most important. It elevates thought, nourishes the more fine and tender sentiments, strengthens the most secret and radical elements of the religious life by giving form and occasion for their exercise, enriches the memory with strains that spring up in hours of weakness and sorrow, and stores the minds of young and old with a treasury of precious Christian truth. He who writes a good hymn blesses the generations to come.

IV. THE UNKNOWN WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT . When David said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me," he seemed to speak of what was a familiar truth. He was no stranger to such Divine help, as our Lord's testimony to the Psalms indicates (cf. Psalms 51:11 ). Yet if we confine our attention to the bare historic record of his life, we find scarcely any distinct reference to his consciousness of the direct aid of the Holy Spirit. For aught we can see in distinct words, there was none. His holy influence has no full record. Thus the most important spiritual element in David's spiritual life was to onlookers unknown. There are two aspects of this fact in our Christian life.

1 . We do not know the great extent to which we are indebted to the Holy Spirit for our perseverance, our highest thoughts, our purest feelings, and general growth in excellence.

2 . The non-Christian world does not know the great work which the Holy Spirit achieves in Christian lives. "The world knoweth him not" ( John 14:17 ). It becomes us to remember what we owe to him, and how incessant his action, though men live as though he were not. Religion is at a low ebb whenever the work of the Holy Spirit is forgotten.

V. THE MODEL RULER . In his closing days David remembered that he had been raised on high to be a ruler over Israel; and doubtless, in reviewing the past, he was humbled in observing the instances in which he had failed to be as a man after God's own heart. But in the assurance of forgiveness he could now reflect on the ideal which had ever stood before him, and for the instruction of others he indicates his hope of the ideal being approximately realized in his immediate successor, and his faith that in the coming Christ it would be perfectly realized. The two elements of the ideal ruler are justice and the fear of God. These qualities being in full exercise, all things will be done for the good of man and the glory of God. Human obligations—morality on the human side—must be combined with religious feeling—supreme regard in everything to the Divine will. The effect of such ruling on saints is

VI. THE ORDERED COVENANT . Through Samuel and Nathan ( 1 Samuel 15:28 ; 2 Samuel 7:12-17 ), God had declared his promise to David, and David on his part had solemnly recognized the goodness of God, and virtually pledged himself to fulfil his side of the sacred engagement ( 2 Samuel 7:24-29 ). Throughout his singular life, amidst all his frailties, he had found God gracious and merciful. Though manifold dangers had arisen which seemed at one time to frustrate the promise and hand over his kingdom to anarchy and his family to disgrace, Divine wisdom had so ordered all things that now, at the close of life, the throne is firm and succession is sure and promising. His mind evidently ponders a threefold covenant:

1 . Personal. This God was his God, and he could say, "I am thine" ( Psalms 119:94 ; cf. Psalms 61:5 ).

2 . Official. He had been chosen to be king, and God had guaranteed to him all needful help and blessing.

3 . Messianic,. The private and official covenant was to him a type of that wider and more blessed covenant of grace which is exemplified in the working out of the redemptive purpose in Christ ( Psalms 2:1-12 ; cf. Isaiah 53:10-12 ). In respect to each of these the characteristics "everlasting," "ordered in all things," and "sure," were most precious to David's heart. The covenant made with us in Christ is thus most blessed. It is a covenant of pure mercy, originated by God, designed to elevate us to highest dignity, sustained in its development by all the resources of the Eternal; and as to duration, from everlasting to everlasting ( Matthew 25:34 ; John 17:23 ; Ephesians 1:4 ; 1 Peter 1:20 ; Revelation 17:8 ; cf. John 3:16 ); as to execution, ordered in all things, everything pertaining to its development and issue being so foreseen and provided for that nothing is left to chance or the exigencies of the hour ( Luke 24:26 , Luke 24:27 ; Acts 2:23-28 ; Galatians 4:4 ; Ephesians 1:10 ; 2 Peter 3:9 ; cf. Genesis 22:14 ; Romans 11:33 ; Philippians 4:19 ); as to stability, "sure," resting on the unchangeable faithfulness of the all-wise and all-powerful God ( Psalms 89:1 ; Isaiah 25:1 ; 1 Thessalonians 5:24 ; 2 Thessalonians 3:3 ; cf. Acts 2:30 ; Hebrews 6:17 ).

VII. GOD 'S FAITHFULNESS MAN 'S CONSOLATION . Who can tell the consolation brought to David by the fact that the covenant of God was so "sure"? Reflection on his own frailty and on the dangers of life could not but awaken shame and dread; but this sure, well ordered, enduring covenant, no Words suffice to set forth its preciousness! In this we have a common experience with David. Our hearts are sad and pained by our own shortcomings; we see perils to our salvation on every side; the resolutions we frame for the future partake of our infirmity; the struggle to attain to the likeness of Christ seems to be interminable; and the possibility of so changing our discordant and shattered nature as to present it blameless before his face, seems to us very slight. But the bruised and crushed spirit finds healing and rest in this—that God is true, and has resolved, to save us. Blessed knowledge! Instead of inducing indifference or carelessness, it supplements the comfort it brings by a calm and steady flow of energy toward the holy goal, and develops gratitude in form of more entire consecration. In health, in sickness, amidst earthly strifes and fears, and when the chilly hand of death lays hold of us, we rest in him who cannot die, and who has said, "Because I live, ye shall live also." Truly we have "abundant consolation."

VIII. JOY IN THE REVEALED PURPOSE OF GOD . To see God's blessed covenant unfold towards realization of the Divine purpose was all David's salvation and desire. His heart was bound up with it. His joys and his sorrows were more deeply interwoven with the spiritual kingdom than with personal ease or regal splendour. Our Saviour sets forth the same more illustriously in his life. It was his meat and drink to do his Father's will. To see the blessings of the covenant spread to all mankind was the absorbing passion of his heart. For this he endured the cross and despised the shame. The prospect of the issue of his death gave him satisfaction in the hour of death ( Psalms 53:1-6 :10). The secret of his life was oneness with the Father's will. The Apostle Paul exhibits, in his measure, the same delight in God's purpose. It is a mark of high Christian feeling that we pass from our own personal interest in redemption to delight in the merciful purpose being realized in others. This is the spring of enterprise, the purifier of the heart from spiritual selfishness, the sure mark of having the mind that was in Christ.

IX. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A WICKED LIFE . David, in verses 5, 6, contrasts the men of Belial with those who rejoice in and work along the lines of God's covenant. Their power often terrifies the good, causes much mischief, and seems for a while to tend to their permanent prosperity. But their power is barren of good result, noxious in its influence, and destined to be cut short. Here we have the truth exemplified in the case of all who are alien to the gracious purpose of God as revealed in his covenant of mercy. The life of the wicked is:

1 . Barren as thorns. Whatever promise of good there may be at one time, it never passes from the bare thorn condition to that of fruitfulness. In highest moral and simplest religious fruitfulness their lives are worth nothing.

2 . It is noxious as thorns. A wicked life pierces and wounds those who come under its influence; it tends not to healing and comfort, but to pain and distress.

3 . It is fleeting in power, as thorns destined to be crushed by a mightier force and consumed. The wicked may be in great power, but the day will come when it will be said of him, "He is not" ( Psalms 37:35 , Psalms 37:36 ). These contrasts of the righteous and the wicked should strengthen the hearts of those who endure persecution and trial.