The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me; His word was on my tongue. The Spirit of the LORDThis phrase refers to the divine presence and power of God actively working through individuals. In Hebrew, "Ruach Yahweh" signifies not just a breath or wind, but the very essence and life-giving force of God. Throughout the Old Testament, the Spirit of the LORD is seen empowering leaders, prophets, and kings, such as Samson ( Judges 14:6) and Saul ( 1 Samuel 10:10). In this context, it underscores the divine inspiration behind David's words, affirming that his psalms and proclamations are not merely human wisdom but are divinely guided. spoke through me
The Hebrew root for "spoke" is "dabar," which means to declare or command. This indicates a direct communication from God, emphasizing that David is a vessel for God's message. The phrase "through me" highlights the role of the prophet as an intermediary, a conduit for divine revelation. This is consistent with the biblical understanding of prophecy, where the human speaker is moved by the Spirit to convey God's truth, as seen in the lives of prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah. His word
"Word" in Hebrew is "dabar," which can mean a matter, thing, or speech. It signifies not just spoken words but the power and authority behind them. In the biblical context, God's word is creative and authoritative, as seen in Genesis 1, where God speaks creation into existence. Here, it underscores the weight and significance of the message delivered by David, aligning it with the divine will and purpose. was on my tongue
The imagery of the tongue as the instrument of speech is powerful, suggesting readiness and immediacy in delivering God's message. In Hebrew culture, the tongue is often associated with wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 15:2). This phrase indicates that David's utterances are not premeditated human thoughts but are directly inspired by God, ready to be spoken as divine truth. It reflects the biblical theme of God equipping His chosen servants with the words they need, as seen in Moses' assurance in Exodus 4:12. Persons / Places / Events 1. DavidThe speaker of this verse, King David, is reflecting on his life and the divine inspiration he received. He is recognized as a man after God's own heart and the second king of Israel. 2. The Spirit of the LORDRefers to the Holy Spirit, who is the divine presence and power of God that inspires and guides His people. In this context, the Spirit is the source of David's prophetic words. 3. IsraelThe nation over which David reigned as king. David's leadership and his relationship with God had a profound impact on the history and spiritual life of Israel. 4. Prophetic UtteranceThis event involves David speaking under divine inspiration, indicating that his words are not merely his own but are given by God. 5. The Word of GodThe focus of this verse is on the divine origin of the words spoken by David, emphasizing the authority and truth of God's message delivered through him. Teaching Points The Role of the Holy Spirit in InspirationThe Holy Spirit is the source of divine inspiration, guiding believers to speak and act according to God's will. Just as David was inspired, we too can seek the Spirit's guidance in our lives. The Authority of God's WordDavid's acknowledgment of God's word on his tongue underscores the authority and truth of Scripture. We should approach the Bible with reverence, recognizing it as God's authoritative message to us. The Importance of Prophetic VoicesGod uses individuals to convey His messages. We should be attentive to those whom God has called to speak His truth, ensuring their words align with Scripture. Personal Reflection and ObedienceLike David, we should reflect on how God has spoken to us and be obedient to His guidance. This involves regular prayer, study of Scripture, and openness to the Spirit's leading. Living a Life of InfluenceDavid's life and words had a lasting impact on Israel. We are called to live in a way that influences others positively, pointing them to God through our words and actions. Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding the role of the Holy Spirit in David's life influence your view of Scripture today? 2. In what ways can you seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your daily decisions and actions? 3. How can you ensure that the words you speak align with the truth and authority of God's Word? 4. Reflect on a time when you felt God speaking to you. How did you respond, and what was the outcome? 5. How can you be a prophetic voice in your community, sharing God's truth and love with those around you? Connections to Other Scriptures 2 Timothy 3:16This verse highlights the divine inspiration of all Scripture, similar to how David acknowledges the Spirit's role in his words. Acts 2:29-31Peter refers to David as a prophet, affirming the divine inspiration of his words and their fulfillment in Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2This passage speaks of God speaking through the prophets in the past and now through His Son, Jesus Christ, showing the continuity of divine revelation. 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 Spake, Speaks, Spirit, Spoke, Spoken, Tongue, VoiceDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Samuel 23:2 3015 Holy Spirit, divinity
3025 Holy Spirit, personality
3110 Holy Spirit, titles of
3281 Holy Spirit, inspiration
5193 tongue 2 Samuel 23:1-2 3218 Holy Spirit, and praise 2 Samuel 23:1-4 1421 oracles 2 Samuel 23:1-7 5087 David, reign of 2 Samuel 23:2-3 1170 God, unity of
1511 Trinity, relationships in 2 Samuel 23:2-4 4354 rock 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 23:2 NIV2 Samuel 23:2 NLT2 Samuel 23:2 ESV2 Samuel 23:2 NASB2 Samuel 23:2 KJV
2 Samuel 23:2 Commentaries
Bible Hub |
