David's Last Words

​2Sa 23:1  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, 
2Sa 23:2  The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. 
2Sa 23:3  The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 
2Sa 23:4  And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. 
2Sa 23:5  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. 
2Sa 23:6  But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands: 
2Sa 23:7  But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place. 

In David we have: (1) an example and (2) a warning.

I. The characteristic of David was loyalty to the Lord his God, loyalty to the King of kings. Loyalty is love evinced towards a superior, love which induces us to do all that in us lies, as circumstances from time to time admit, in small things or in great, to promote the glory of Him whose servants and subjects we are, and to advance the interests of His kingdom.

We are to show our loyalty:
(1) by from time to time renewing our vow as subjects and soldiers of the great Captain of our salvation; (2) by seeking to enkindle in our souls, through prayer for the renovating influences of the Holy Ghost, love towards Him who first loved us;
​(3) by looking out for opportunities of service.

The many mantles of David-and paradoxes:
(1) A shepherd but, also giant killer
(2) A psalmist, but also a warrior
(3) A fugitive running from Saul-trying to kill him, but also King

II. The history of David is also a warning. However excitable the feelings of devotion may be, that man is not in a state of grace whose conduct is not conformable to the moral requirements of the Gospel. David fell; and if David had not repented, he would have perished everlastingly. Those whose hearts are fervent in adoration have need to take warning from David and watch as well as pray.
​Recommended: Psalm 51

​"The sweet psalmist of Israel." — 2Sa_23:1

​Among all the saints whose lives are recorded in Holy Writ, David possesses an experience of the most striking, varied, and instructive character. In his history we meet with trials and temptations not to be discovered, as a whole, in other saints of ancient times, and hence he is all the more suggestive a type of our Lord. David knew the trials of all ranks and conditions of men. Kings have their troubles, and David wore a crown: the peasant has his cares, and David handled a shepherd's crook: the wanderer has many hardships, and David abode in the caves of Engedi: the captain has his difficulties, and David found the sons of Zeruiah too hard for him. The psalmist was also tried in his friends, his counsellor Ahithophel forsook him, "He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me." His worst foes were they of his own household: his children were his greatest affliction. The temptations of poverty and wealth, of honour and reproach, of health and weakness, all tried their power upon him. He had temptations from without to disturb his peace, and from within to mar his joy. David no sooner escaped from one trial than he fell into another; no sooner emerged from one season of despondency and alarm, than he was again brought into the lowest depths, and all God's waves and billows rolled over him. It is probably from this cause that David's psalms are so universally the delight of experienced Christians. Whatever our frame of mind, whether ecstasy or depression, David has exactly described our emotions. He was an able master of the human heart, because he had been tutored in the best of all schools-the school of heart-felt, personal experience. As we are instructed in the same school, as we grow matured in grace and in years, we increasingly appreciate David's psalms, and find them to be "green pastures." My soul, let David's experience cheer and counsel thee this day. Charles H. Spurgeon

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