2 Samuel 23:1-5

2 Sam. 23:1-5. These last words of David seem to be wholly a prophecy of the Messiah; he begins as the prophets were wont to begin their mystical speeches about things to come. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue; the God of Israel, the Rock of Israel spake to me." He begins much after the manner that Balaam began his two last prophecies, Num. 24, wherein he prophesied of Israel's future happiness, and spake particularly of Christ. What is here rendered, " he that ruleth over men must be just, " might better be translated, " he that shall rule over men shall be just." The two first words are literally translated, the ruler over men, or the person ruling over men, reserved to time present, past, or to come, indifferently; must be, is supplied in our translation, the word just only is expressed in the original, and we may as well as better supply shall be just, than must be, for the verb is, or be, is more frequently understood in either of the tenses than must be, or ought to be. That he should rule in the fear of the Lord, is agreeable to the character of the Messiah given in Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 11:2 where he is prophesied of, as he is here, as the branch of the stock or house of David, and that prophecy is very parallel to this, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord." He is called He that is to rule over men, rather than He that is to rule over Israel, because when he comes, his kingdom should not be confined to that one people, but he should reign over all nations, and to the utmost ends of the earth; to him the gathering of the people should be, and men should be blessed in him; all nations should call him blessed.

It is the Messiah that is intended that shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, and as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Christ is both as the rain and the sun that causeth the grass to grow, and also as the grass itself that flourishes under the benign influence of those. The person of Christ as head of the church, is as the morning sun arising after a night of darkness, or as the clear sun breaking out of a thick cloud, showing in the tender grass Christ mystical; or Christ in his members is as the tender grass itself springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. This signifies both the glory and blessedness of his reign.

1. It signifies his prosperity and glory as a king; the springing and flourishing of grass is a simile elsewhere used to express glory and prosperity. Psalms 92:7. "Though the wicked do grow as the grass, and all the workers of iniquity do flourish," etc. So Job 5:25. "Thou shalt know that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth." So here the same is promised of the seed or offspring of David. Christ in his state of humiliation was a tender plant, and a root out of a dry ground, having no form nor comeliness; but when he rose from the earth God made him to spring as the grass out of the earth, and after his resurrection he was a glorious, and flourishing, and most fruitful branch, as is prophesied of the branch of the stock of David. Isaiah 4:2. "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely." Jeremiah 23:5. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper." And so in many other places wherein Christ is prophesied of, under the appellation of the branch, he seems to be spoken of as a flourishing Branch. David here in his last words comforts himself in the respect of the glorious prosperity of his offspring.

2. Hereby is signified the happiness of his kingdom, not only the glory of the King, but the happiness of those that enjoy the blessings of his reign, which is still the prosperity of Christ's mystical body. Psalms 72:6; Psalms 72:7. "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish.

Verse 5. "Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow." My house, that is, my offspring, my posterity, those of my family that are to succeed me in the throne. We often find the posterity of David called the house of David. Though my successors and offspring be not just, and do not rule in the fear of God (as David by the Spirit foresaw that they would not), though they are not as the light of the morning, and as the tender grass springing out of the earth, though he make it not to grow, i.e. my house, for that he was speaking of. It is the same in other words that was expressed in the first clause of the verse, though my house be not so with God; and there is special reference had to the last clause of the preceding verse, where it was foretold that the Messiah should be as the tender grass springing out of the earth. Though my house or offspring be not so, be not made to grow as the grass: the house or lineage of David seems to have been spoken of under the figure of the root or shoot of a plant, as a family or race is often so called in Scripture. Judges 5:14. "Out of Ephraim was there a root of them against Amalek." Isaiah 14:29. "Out of the serpent's root shall come forth a cockatrice," i.e. the serpent's race or offspring; and so verse 30. "I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay the remnant." Daniel 11:7. "Out of a branch of her root shall one stand up," i.e. out of her posterity; and so Hosea 9:16. "Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit; yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of the womb." The family or lineage of Jesse, or David, is particularly in the prophecies of the Messiah compared to the root or stem of a plant, as in the forementioned, Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 11:2. "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots."

And to these last words of David all the prophets seem to refer when they prophesy of Christ under the name of the Branch, for he is here prophesied of, not as the tender grass springing out of the earth: and the lineage of David seems to be spoken of under the figure of a root or stock; and when it is said, Though he make it not to grow, the word signifies to grow as a branch, it might have been translated, Though he make it not to branch forth: the word here used is of the same radix as the word used when Christ is prophesied of as the Branch; the [Hebrew] word that is translated branch and the [Hebrew] word that signifies to grow, is the verb here used. David here foresaw that God would not make his root or stock to grow in his successors that should reign in the kingdom of Judah, and therefore, with reference to this, the prophet Jeremiah foretelling of Christ, says, chap. Jeremiah 33:15. "In those days and at that time I will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land." His being called a righteous Branch, and his executing judgment and justice in the land, seems to be with reference to David's last words, where it is said, He shall be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord. So chap. Jeremiah 23:5. "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice on the earth."