These are the last words of David: "The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised on high, the one anointed by the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel: These are the last words of DavidThis phrase introduces a significant moment, marking the final recorded words of King David, a central figure in the history of Israel. The Hebrew word for "last" (אַחֲרוֹן, acharon) implies not just the end chronologically but also the culmination of his life’s experiences and wisdom. David's life, filled with triumphs and tribulations, is encapsulated in these final reflections, offering a legacy of faith and leadership. The oracle of David son of Jesse
The term "oracle" (נְאֻם, ne'um) suggests a divine utterance or prophecy, indicating that these words are inspired by God. David, identified as the "son of Jesse," roots him in his humble beginnings, reminding readers of his journey from shepherd to king. This phrase underscores the divine selection and purpose in David's life, emphasizing that his words carry weight and authority. The oracle of the man raised on high
Here, "raised on high" (הֻקַּם עַל, huqqam al) reflects God's elevation of David from obscurity to prominence. This elevation is not merely a social or political ascent but a spiritual one, highlighting God's sovereign choice and blessing. David's life exemplifies how God can lift the humble and use them for His purposes, serving as an inspiration for believers to trust in God's plans. The anointed of the God of Jacob
"Anointed" (מָשִׁיחַ, mashiach) refers to David's consecration as king, chosen by God to lead His people. The "God of Jacob" connects David to the patriarchs, reinforcing the continuity of God's covenantal promises. This phrase emphasizes the divine legitimacy of David's kingship and his role in the unfolding of God's redemptive history, pointing ultimately to the Messiah, Jesus Christ. The sweet psalmist of Israel
David is celebrated as the "sweet psalmist" (נָעִים זְמִרוֹת, na'im zemirot), acknowledging his profound contribution to the worship and spiritual life of Israel through the Psalms. His music and poetry have been a source of comfort, guidance, and worship for generations. This title reflects the beauty and depth of David's relationship with God, inspiring believers to express their faith creatively and passionately. Persons / Places / Events 1. DavidThe central figure in this verse, David is the second king of Israel, known for his deep relationship with God, his military conquests, and his role as a psalmist. He is described here in his final words, reflecting on his life and calling. 2. JesseDavid's father, from the tribe of Judah. Jesse's lineage is significant as it fulfills the prophecy of the Messiah coming from the line of David. 3. God of JacobThis title emphasizes the covenant relationship God had with the patriarchs of Israel, including Jacob, and highlights God's faithfulness to His promises. 4. IsraelThe nation over which David reigned as king. David's leadership and psalms have had a lasting impact on the spiritual and cultural identity of Israel. 5. The AnointedRefers to David's divine appointment as king. The Hebrew word "mashiach" (anointed) is significant as it points to the Messiah, foreshadowing Jesus Christ. Teaching Points The Legacy of FaithfulnessDavid's life, despite its imperfections, is marked by a deep commitment to God. Believers are encouraged to pursue a legacy of faithfulness, trusting in God's grace and guidance. The Role of AnointingJust as David was anointed for a specific purpose, Christians are called to recognize and fulfill their God-given roles and gifts within the body of Christ. The Power of WorshipAs the "sweet psalmist of Israel," David's life exemplifies the power of worship and music in drawing closer to God. Believers are encouraged to incorporate worship into their daily lives. God's Faithfulness to His PromisesThe reference to the "God of Jacob" reminds us of God's unwavering faithfulness. Christians can trust in God's promises, knowing He is faithful to fulfill them. Bible Study Questions 1. How does David's description as "the anointed of the God of Jacob" influence our understanding of his role in God's plan? 2. In what ways can we, like David, leave a legacy of faithfulness in our own lives? 3. How does the concept of anointing apply to modern-day believers, and what are some practical ways to live out our anointing? 4. What role does worship play in your personal relationship with God, and how can you incorporate it more fully into your daily routine? 5. How does understanding God's faithfulness to His promises in the life of David encourage you in your current circumstances? Connections to Other Scriptures 1 Samuel 16This chapter describes the anointing of David by Samuel, marking the beginning of his journey as God's chosen king. Psalm 23Often attributed to David, this psalm reflects his deep trust in God, paralleling his description as the "sweet psalmist of Israel." Acts 13:22In the New Testament, David is described as a man after God's own heart, highlighting his unique relationship with God. Matthew 1:1The genealogy of Jesus Christ begins with David, underscoring the messianic promise fulfilled through David's lineage. People Abialbon, Abiel, Abiezer, Abishai, Adino, Agee, Ahasbai, Ahiam, Ahithophel, Anathoth, Ariel, Asahel, Azmaveth, Baanah, Bani, Benaiah, Benjamin, Benjaminites, David, Dodai, Dodo, Eleazar, Elhanan, Eliahba, Eliam, Elika, Eliphelet, Gareb, Heldai, Heleb, Helez, Hezrai, Hezro, Hiddai, Igal, Ikkesh, Ira, Ithai, Ittai, Jacob, Jashen, Jehoiada, Jesse, Joab, Jonathan, Maharai, Mebunnai, Naharai, Nahari, Nathan, Paarai, Ribai, Shammah, Sharar, Sibbecai, Uriah, Zalmon, Zelek, ZeruiahPlaces Adullam, Anathoth, Bahurim, Beeroth, Bethlehem, Carmel, Gaash, Gath, Gibeah, Gilo, Harod, Jerusalem, Kabzeel, Lehi, Maacah, Moab, Netophah, Pirathon, Tekoa, Valley of Rephaim, ZobahTopics Affirmation, Anointed, David, Declares, Exalted, Holy, Israel's, Jacob, Jesse, Lifted, Loved, Oil, Oracle, Psalmist, Raised, Saying, Says, Singer, Songs, Sweet, SweetnessDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Samuel 23:1 5088 David, character
5422 musicians
7304 anointing 2 Samuel 23:1-2 3218 Holy Spirit, and praise
3236 Holy Spirit, and Scripture
3239 Holy Spirit, anointing
3272 Holy Spirit, in OT 2 Samuel 23:1-4 1421 oracles 2 Samuel 23:1-7 5087 David, reign of Library The Dying King's Last vision and Psalm
'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, 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. 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. 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 …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureA Libation to Jehovah
'And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! 16. And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. 17. And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this; is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Royal Jubilee
[Footnote: Preached on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.] '... He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 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.'--2 SAMUEL xxiii. 3, 4. One of the Psalms ascribed to David sounds like the resolves of a new monarch on his accession. In it the Psalmist draws the ideal of a king, and says such …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture David's Dying Song
We shall notice first, that the Psalmist had sorrow in his house--" Although my house be not so with God." Secondly, he had confidence in the covenant--" yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant." And thirdly, he had satisfaction in his heart, for he says--" this is all my salvation, and all my desire. I. The Psalmist says he had sorrow in his house--"Although my house be not so with God." What man is there of all our race, who, if he had to write his history, would not need to use a great …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855 Covenanting Sanctioned by the Divine Example.
God's procedure when imitable forms a peculiar argument for duty. That is made known for many reasons; among which must stand this,--that it may be observed and followed as an example. That, being perfect, is a safe and necessary pattern to follow. The law of God proclaims what he wills men as well as angels to do. The purposes of God show what he has resolved to have accomplished. The constitutions of his moral subjects intimate that he has provided that his will shall be voluntarily accomplished …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Christian's Book
Scripture references 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21; John 5:39; Romans 15:4; 2 Samuel 23:2; Luke 1:70; 24:32,45; John 2:22; 10:35; 19:36; Acts 1:16; Romans 1:1,2; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; James 2:8. WHAT IS THE BIBLE? What is the Bible? How shall we regard it? Where shall we place it? These and many questions like them at once come to the front when we begin to discuss the Bible as a book. It is only possible in this brief study, of a great subject, to indicate the line of some of the answers. …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian Thoughts Upon the Appearance of Christ the Sun of Righteousness, or the Beatifick vision.
SO long as we are in the Body, we are apt to be governed wholly by its senses, seldom or never minding any thing but what comes to us through one or other of them. Though we are all able to abstract our Thoughts when we please from matter, and fix them upon things that are purely spiritual; there are but few that ever do it. But few, even among those also that have such things revealed to them by God himself, and so have infinitely more and firmer ground to believe them, than any one, or all their …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life The Truth of God
The next attribute is God's truth. A God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is he.' Deut 32:4. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.' Psa 57:10. Plenteous in truth.' Psa 86:15. I. God is the truth. He is true in a physical sense; true in his being: he has a real subsistence, and gives a being to others. He is true in a moral sense; he is true sine errore, without errors; et sine fallacia, without deceit. God is prima veritas, the pattern and prototype …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Work of the Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles.
The work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets is an entirely distinctive work. He imparts to apostles and prophets an especial gift for an especial purpose. We read in 1 Cor. xii. 4, 8-11, 28, 29, R. V., "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.... For to one is given through the Spirit wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence, …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit How is Christ, as the Life, to be Applied by a Soul that Misseth God's Favour and Countenance.
The sixth case, that we shall speak a little to, is a deadness, occasioned by the Lord's hiding of himself, who is their life, and "the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9, and "whose loving-kindness is better than life," Ps. lxiii. 3, and "in whose favour is their life," Ps. xxx. 5. A case, which the frequent complaints of the saints manifest to be rife enough, concerning which we shall, 1. Shew some of the consequences of the Lord's hiding his face, whereby the soul's case will appear. 2. Shew the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life Thoughts Upon the Mystery of the Trinity.
THOUGH there be many in the World that seem to be Religious, there are but few that are so: One great Reason whereof is, because there are so many Mistakes about Religion, that it is an hard matter to hit upon the true Notion of it: And therefore desiring nothing in this World, so much as to be an Instrument in God's Hand to direct Men unto true Religion, my great Care must, and, by the Blessing of God, shall be to instil into them right Conceptions of him, that is the only Object of all Religious …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life The Covenant of Grace
Q-20: DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH 1N THE ESTATE OF SIN AND MISERY? A: No! He entered into a covenant of grace to deliver the elect out of that state, and to bring them into a state of grace by a Redeemer. 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' Isa 55:5. Man being by his fall plunged into a labyrinth of misery, and having no way left to recover himself, God was pleased to enter into a new covenant with him, and to restore him to life by a Redeemer. The great proposition I shall go …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Samuel 23:1 NIV2 Samuel 23:1 NLT2 Samuel 23:1 ESV2 Samuel 23:1 NASB2 Samuel 23:1 KJV
2 Samuel 23:1 Commentaries
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