_THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID._
2 SAMUEL xxiii. 1-7. (_See Revised Version and margin._)
Of these "the last words of David," we need not understand that they
were the last words he ever spoke, but his last song or psalm, his
latest vision, and therefore the subject that was most in his mind
in the last period of his life. The Psalm recorded in the preceding
chapter was an earlier song, and its main drift was of the past. Of
this latest Psalm the main drift is of the future. The colours of
this vision are brighter than those of any other. Aged though the
seer was, there is a glory in this his latest vision unsurpassed in
any that went before. The setting sun spreads a lustre around as he
sinks under the horizon unequalled by any he diffused even when he
rode in the height of the heavens.
The song falls into four parts. First, there is an elaborate
introduction, descriptive of the singer and the inspiration which
gave birth to his song; secondly, the main subject of the prophecy,
a Ruler among men, of wonderful brightness and glory; thirdly, a
reference to the Psalmist's own house and the covenant God had made
with him; and finally, in the way of contrast to the preceding, a
prediction of the doom of the ungodly.
I. In the introduction, we cannot but be struck with the formality
and solemnity of the affirmation respecting the singer and the
inspiration under which he sang.
"David, the son of Jesse, saith,
And the man who was raised on high saith,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
And His word was upon my tongue;
The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spake to me" (R.V.).
The first four clauses represent David as the speaker; the second
four represent God's Spirit as inspiring his words. The introduction
to Balaam's prophecies is the only passage where we find a similar
structure, nor is this the only point of resemblance between the two
songs.
"Balaam, the son of Beor, saith,
And the man whose eye was closed saith;
He saith which heareth the words of God,
And knoweth the knowledge of the Most High;
Which seeth the vision of the Almighty,
Falling down, and having his eyes open"
(Num. xxiv. 15, 16, R.V.).
In both prophecies, the word translated "saith" is peculiar. While
occurring between two and three hundred times in the formula "Thus
saith the Lord," it is used by a human speaker only in these two
places and in Prov. xxx. 1. Both Balaam and David begin by giving
their own name and that of their father, thereby indicating their
native insignificance, and disclaiming any right to speak on subjects
so lofty through any wisdom or insight of their own. Immediately
after, they claim to speak the words of God. All the grounds on which
David should be listened to fall under this head. Was he not "raised
up on high"? Was he not the anointed of the God of Jacob? Was he not
the sweet Psalmist of Israel? Having been raised up on high, David
had established the kingdom of Israel on a firm and lasting basis,
he had destroyed all its enemies, and he had established a comely
order and prosperity throughout all its borders; as the sweet singer
of Israel, or, as it has been otherwise rendered, "the lovely one in
Israel's songs of praise"--that is, the man who had been specially
gifted to compose songs of praise in honour of Israel's God--it was
fitting that he should be made the organ of this very remarkable
and glorious communication. It is interesting to observe how David
must have been attracted by Balaam's vision. The dark wall of the
Moabite mountains was a familiar object to him, and must often have
recalled the strange but unworthy prophet who spoke of the Star that
was to shine so gloriously, and the Sceptre that was to have such
a wonderful rule. Often during his life we may believe that David
devoutly desired to know something more of that mysterious Star and
Sceptre; and now that desire is fulfilled; the Star is as the light
of the morning star; the Sceptre is that of a blessed ruler, "one
that ruleth over men righteously, that ruleth in the fear of God."
The second part of the introduction stamps the prophecy with a
fourfold mark of inspiration. 1. "The Spirit of the Lord spake by
me." For "the prophecy came not of old time by the will of man; but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2. "His
word was in my tongue." For in high visions like this, of which no
wisdom of man can create even a shadow, it is not enough that the
Spirit should merely guide the writer; this is one of the utterances
where verbal inspiration must have been enjoyed. 3. "The God of
Israel said," He who entered into covenant with Israel, and promised
him great and peculiar mercies. 4. "The Rock of Israel spake to me,"
the faithful One, whose words are stable as a rock, and who provides
for Israel a foundation-stone, elect and precious, immovable as the
everlasting hills.
So remarkable an introduction must be followed by no ordinary
prophecy. If the prophecy should bear on nothing more remarkable than
some earthly successor of David, all this preliminary glorification
would be singularly out of place. It would be like a great procession
of heralds and flourishing of trumpets in an earthly kingdom to
announce some event of the most ordinary kind, the repeal of a tax or
the appointment of an officer.
II. We come then to the great subject of the prophecy--a Ruler over
men. The rendering of the Authorized Version is somewhat lame and
obscure, "He that ruleth over men must be just," there being nothing
whatever in the original corresponding to "must be." The Revised
Version is at once more literal and more expressive:--
"One that ruleth over men righteously,
Ruling in the fear of God,
He shall be as the light of the morning."
It is a vision of a remarkable Ruler, not a Ruler over the kingdom of
Israel merely, but a Ruler "over men." The Ruler seen is One whose
government knows no earthly limits, but prevails wherever there are
men. Solomon could not be the ruler seen, for, wide though his empire
was, he was king of Israel only, not king of men. It was but a speck
of the habitable globe, but a morsel of that part of it that was
inhabited even then, over which Solomon reigned. If the term "One
that ruleth over men" could have been appropriated by any monarch,
it would have been Ahasuerus, with his hundred and twenty-seven
provinces, or Alexander the Great, or some other universal monarch,
that would have had the right to claim it. But every such application
is out of the question. The "Ruler over men" of this vision must have
been identified by David with Him "in whom all the nations of the
earth were to be blessed."
It is worthy of very special remark that the first characteristic
of this Ruler is "righteousness." There is no grander or more
majestic word in the language of men. Not even love or mercy can
be preferred to righteousness. And this is no casual expression,
happening in David's vision, for it is common to the whole class of
prophecies that predict the Messiah. "Behold, a King shall reign in
righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment." "There shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and the spirit of the
fear of the Lord ... shall rest on Him, ... and righteousness shall
be the girdle of His loins." There is no lack in the New Testament
of passages to magnify the love and mercy of the Lord Jesus, yet
it is made very plain that righteousness was the foundation of
all His work. "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness,"
were the words with which He removed the objections of John to His
baptism, and they were words that described the business of His
whole life: to fulfil all righteousness _for_ His people and _in_
His people--for them, to satisfy the demands of the righteous law
and bear the righteous penalty of transgression; in them to infuse
His own righteous spirit and mould them into the likeness of His
righteous example, to sum up the whole law of righteousness in the
law of love, and by His grace instil that law into their hearts. Such
essentially was the work of Christ. No man can say of the religious
life that Christ expounded that it was a life of loose, feverish
emotion or sentimental spirituality that left the Decalogue far out
of view. Nothing could have been further from the mind of Him that
said, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom
of heaven." Nothing could have been more unlike the spirit of Him who
was not content with maintaining the letter of the Decalogue, but
with His "again, I say unto you," drove its precepts so much further
as into the very joints and marrow of men's souls.
It is the grand characteristic of Christ's salvation in theory that
it is through righteousness; it is not less its effect in practice to
promote righteousness. To any who would dream, under colour of free
grace, of breaking down the law of righteousness, the words of "the
Holy One and the Just" stand out as an eternal rebuke, "Think not
that I am come to destroy the law and the prophets; I am not come to
destroy, but to fulfil."
And as Christ's work was founded on righteousness, so it was
constantly done "in the fear of God,"--with the highest possible
regard for His will, and reverence for His law. "Wist ye not that I
must be about My Father's business?" is the first word we hear from
Christ's lips; and among the last is, "Not My will, but Thine, be
done." No motto could have been more appropriate for His whole life
than this: "I delight to do Thy will, O My God."
Having shown the character of the Ruler, the vision next pictures the
effects of His rule:--
"He shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth,
A morning without clouds,
When the tender grass springeth out of the earth
Through clear shining after rain."
But why introduce the future "shall be" in the translation when it is
not in the original? May we not conceive the Psalmist reading off a
vision--a scene unfolding itself in all its beauty before his mind's
eye? A beautiful influence seems to come over the earth as the Divine
Ruler makes His appearance, like the rising of the sun on a cloudless
morning, like the appearance of the grass when the sun shines out
clearly after rain. No imagery could be more delightful, or more
fitly applied to Christ. The image of the morning sun presents
Christ in His gladdening influences, bringing pardon to the guilty,
health to the diseased, hope to the despairing; He is indeed like
the morning sun, lighting up the sky with splendour and the earth
with beauty, giving brightness to the languid eye, and colour to the
faded cheek, and health and hope to the sorrowing heart. The chief
idea under the other emblem, the grass shining clearly after rain, is
that of renewed beauty and growth. The heavy rain batters the grass,
as heavy trials batter the soul, but when the morning sun shines out
clearly, the grass recovers, it sparkles with a fresher lustre, and
grows with intenser activity. So when Christ shines on the heart
after trial, a new beauty and a new growth and prosperity come to
it. When this Sun of righteousness shines forth thus, in the case
of individuals the understanding becomes more clear, the conscience
more vigorous, the will more firm, the habits more holy, the temper
more serene, the affections more pure, the desires more heavenly.
In communities, conversions are multiplied, and souls advanced
steadily in holy beauties; intelligence spreads, love triumphs over
selfishness, and the spirit of Christ modifies the spirit of strife
and the spirit of mammon. It is with the happiest skill that Solomon,
appropriating part of his father's imagery, draws the picture of the
bride, with the radiance of the bridegroom falling on her: "Who is
she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the
sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"
III. Next comes David's allusion to his own house. In our
translation, and in the text of the Revised Version, this comes in to
indicate a sad contrast between the bright vision just described and
the Psalmist's own family. It indicates that his house or family did
not correspond to the picture of the prophecy, and would not realize
the emblems of the rising sun and the growing grass; but as God had
made with himself an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure, that satisfied him; it was all his salvation and all his
desire, although his house was not to grow.
But in the margin of the Revised Version we have another translation,
which reverses all this:--
"For is not my house so with God?
For He hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things and sure:
For all my salvation and all my desire,
Will He not make it to grow?"
Corresponding as this does with the translation of many scholars
(_e.g._, Boothroyd, Hengstenberg, Fairbairn), it must be regarded as
admissible on the strength of outward evidence. And if so, certainly
it is very strongly recommended by internal evidence. For what
reason could David have for introducing his family at all after the
glorious vision if only to say that they were excluded from it?
And can it be thought that David, whose nature was so intensely
sympathetic, would be so pleased because he was personally provided
for, though not his family? And still further, why should he go on
in the next verses (6, 7) to describe the doom of the ungodly by way
of contrast to what precedes if the doom of ungodly persons is the
matter already introduced in the fifth verse? The passage becomes
highly involved and unnatural in the light of the older translation.
The key to the passage will be found, if we mistake not, in the
expression "my house." We are liable to think of this as the domestic
circle, whereas it ought to be thought of as the reigning dynasty.
What is denoted by the house of Hapsburg, the house of Hanover,
the house of Savoy, is quite different from the personal family of
any of the kings. So when David speaks of his house, he means his
dynasty. In this sense his "house" had been made the subject of the
most gracious promise. "Moreover, the Lord telleth thee that He will
make thee an house.... And thine house and thy kingdom shall be made
sure for ever before thee.... Then David said, ... What is my house,
that Thou hast brought me thus far?... Thou hast spoken also of Thy
servant's house for a great while to come." The king felt profoundly
on that occasion that his house was even more prominently the subject
of Divine promise than himself. What roused his gratitude to its
utmost height was the gracious provision for his house. Surely the
covenant referred to in the passage now before us, "ordered in all
things and sure," was this very covenant announced to him by the
prophet Nathan, the covenant that made this provision for his house.
It is impossible to think of him recalling this covenant and yet
saying, "Verily my house is not so with God" (R.V.).
But take the marginal reading--"Is not my house so with God?" Is not
my dynasty embraced in the scope of this promise? Hath He not made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure? And
will He not make this promise, which is all my salvation and all
my desire, to grow, to fructify? It is infinitely more natural to
represent David on this joyous occasion congratulating himself on the
promise of long continuance and prosperity made to his dynasty, than
dwelling on the unhappy condition of the members of his family circle.
And the facts of the future correspond to this explanation. Was not
the government of David's house or dynasty in the main righteous,
at least for many a reign, conducted in the fear of God, and
followed by great prosperity and blessing? David himself, Solomon,
Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah--what other nation had ever so
many Christlike kings? What a contrast was presented to this in
the main by the apostate kingdom of the ten tribes, idolatrous,
God-dishonouring, throughout! And as to the growth or continued
vitality of his house, its "clear shining after rain," had not
God promised that He would bless it, and that it would continue
for ever before Him? He knew that, spiritually dormant at times,
his house would survive, till a living root came from the stem of
Jesse, till the Prince of life should be born from it, and once
that plant of renown was raised up, there was no fear but the house
would be preserved for ever. From this point it would start on a
new career of glory; nay, this was the very Ruler of whom he had
been prophesying, at once David's Son and David's Lord; this was the
root and the offspring of David, the bright and the morning star.
Conducted to this stage in the future experience of his house, he
needed no further assurance, he cherished no further desire. The
covenant that rested on Him and that promised Him was ordered in all
things and sure. The glorious prospect exhausted his every wish.
"This is all my salvation and all my desire."
IV. The last part of the prophecy, in the way of contrast to the
leading vision, is a prediction of the doom of the ungodly. The
revised translation is much the clearer:--
"But the ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust
away,
For they cannot be taken with the hand,
But the man that toucheth them
Must be armed with iron and the staff and spear,
And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place."
While some would fain think of Christ's sceptre as one of mercy only,
the uniform representation of the Bible is different. In this, as in
most predictions of Christ's kingly office, there is an instructive
combination of mercy and judgment. In the bosom of one of Isaiah's
sweetest predictions, he introduces the Messiah as anointed by the
Spirit of God to proclaim "the day of vengeance of our God." In a
subsequent vision, Messiah appears marching triumphantly "with dyed
garments from Bozrah, after treading the people in His anger and
trampling them in His fury." Malachi proclaimed Him "the Sun of
righteousness, with healing under His wings," while His day was to burn
as an oven and consume the proud and the wicked like stubble. John the
Baptist saw Him "with His fan in His hand, throughly purging His floor,
gathering the wheat into His garner, while the chaff should be burnt
with unquenchable fire." In His own words, "the Son of man shall gather
out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquity,
and cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." And in the Apocalypse, when the King of kings and
the Lord of lords is to be married to His bride, He appears "clothed
with a garment dipped in blood, and out of His mouth goeth a sharp
sword, that He should smite the nations, and He treadeth the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God."
Nor could it be otherwise. The union of mercy and judgment is the
inevitable result of the righteousness which is the foundation of His
government. Sin is the abominable thing which He hates. To separate
men from sin is the grand purpose of His government. For this end, He
draws His people into union with Himself, thereby for ever removing
their guilt, and providing for the ultimate removal of all sin from
their hearts and the complete assimilation of their natures to His
holy nature. Blessed are they who enter into this relation; but alas
for those who, for all that He has done, prefer their sins to Him!
"The ungodly shall be all of them as thorns to be thrust away."
Oh, let us not be satisfied with admiring beautiful images of Christ!
Let us not deem it enough to think with pleasure of Him as the light
of the morning, a morning without clouds, brightening the earth, and
making it sparkle with the lustre of the sunshine on the grass after
rain! Let us not satisfy ourselves with knowing that Jesus Christ
came to earth on a beneficent mission, and with thinking that surely
we shall one day share in the blessed effects of His work! Nothing
of that kind can avail us if we are not personally united to Christ.
We must come as sinners individually to Him, cast ourselves on His
free, unmerited grace, and deliberately accept His righteousness as
our clothing. Then, but only then, shall we be able to sing: "I will
greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for
He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."