2 Samuel 23

David's death would be recorded in the second chapter of the next book of the Bible. The ending chapters of 2 Samuel prepared us for that moment. In the previous chapter we were brought to see David's reliance upon God in the prime of his life. Here in 2 Samuel 23 the Lord included some final words of David, “the sweet psalmist of Israel.”

David was the anointed of God, the king of Israel. God spoke through David by His Holy Spirit about the glory of a king who ruled justly. To have a king who rules in the fear of God is a bright sunrise that comes upon a happy land. We have such a King over the kingdom of heaven in Jesus Christ, the Son of David.

God made an everlasting covenant with David that David's house would stand. At the time of David's own death, when he could not keep himself alive, David knew that God's promise to him was secure. This promise of God was David's help and his desire as he took his last breath. It was a promise that would be fulfilled in the final Anointed One, the Christ.

This promise would not stand or fall by the power of man. David's trust on his deathbed was not in what man could do for him. Nonetheless, the Almighty used strong men in David's life to accomplish His will for the king and for the nation. An account of David's life would be incomplete without an awareness of those men who stood beside him.

At the end of this chapter God preserved the names of the leading mighty men. The Lord had given them victory in the service of David. Three had risked their lives to give a cup of Bethlehem's water to the king. David had poured it out before the Lord as a drink offering.

David's valiant men were part of an era that has long passed away from the face of the earth. They accomplished great feats for David and for David's God, but they could not keep their own lives from death.

But now a more glorious warrior, the greatest Son of David, has appeared. He has conquered even death for us with His own death. Now He lives forever on the heights of heaven. He sends forth a river of heavenly life, the Holy Spirit, upon His church throughout the world. He is the Captain of our salvation.

Because of this great Son of God, all the promises of God are forever secure. In the words of the great singer of Israel recorded for us in Psalm 4:8, “In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”

We rest in peace because of Jesus. We live because He lives.