Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 23:1-7
What people say while they are dying is very significant. They don’t talk about the weather or the stock market or the game on television. They talk about eternal matters.
David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel,” wrote a song just before he died. The book of Psalms contains 73 Psalms bearing David’s name, but this song is found only in the book of 2 Samuel. The content of this song is highly instructive for us.
This poem does not contain the ruminations of an old king as he looks back on bygone days of glory and the excitement of “the good old days.” This song is an account of the majesty of the infinite God. David lauds what God had done in his life, namely to take David from the shepherd’s field and place him on the throne of Israel and inspire him to write sacred Scripture for the ages (2 Sam 23:1).
But outshining the glory of what God had done for David during his life is what God would do through David, long after he was gone. God would raise up a King who would rule in perfect righteousness and the fear of God (2 Sam 23:2-5). In contrast, the unrighteous, God will “thrust away like thorns” which are worthless (2 Sam 23:6,7).
How full are our hearts when we consider the majesty of God both in what He has done in our lives and, even more wondrous, in what He will do in the ages to come . . . because of Jesus Christ and His work on our behalf! Do we not declare, with David, that this King is the source of “all our salvation and all our desire” (2 Sam 23:5)? Let us meditate on our Lord until we can honestly say it.
