2 Samuel 23:1

CONTENTS

This chapter contains some of the last words of David, and as such cannot but be very interesting. To these words of David is added a list of David's worthies, his mighty men.

2 Samuel 23:1

(1) В¶ Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

In remarking those last words of David I would beg the Reader to observe the titles by which David is spoken of in this verse. First, looking back to his humble and obscure birth, be takes the name of the son of Jesse. JESUS is uniformly spoken of as a root out of a dry ground, and though LORD of all, yet becoming the servant of all. Secondly; David is called the man who was raised up on high. The manhood of the LORD JESUS is exalted to the most sovereign and supreme honors. All power is given to him in heaven and in earth. Thirdly, David is said to be the anointed of the GOD of Jacob. CHRIST also was anointed to his commission, and did not take the office unappointed or uncalled. Lastly, David is called the sweet Psalmist of Israel. But why are the Psalms of David sweet, but because they sing of the redemption of JESUS. Oh! dearest JESUS, how delightful is it to trace thy shadows in all things, and thy salvation as the sum and substance of everything. By the last words of David, I understand not the very last words he ever spake, because frequently after this he spake to the people, and those about him. But by the last words I apprehend is meant the last important words which he spake by the Spirit of prophecy. David was a prophet, and an eminent one. So Peter described him, Acts 2:29. And as the patriarchs, when dying, were blessed with a more than ordinary out-pouring of the SPIRIT, to deliver things concerning the church; so David seems to have been eminently under divine teaching when he spake these words. See Genesis 49:1; Deuteronomy 33:1