Life of David: Praise and Legacy

Text: 2 Samuel 22:1-23:39

Theme: At the end of his life David utters his last words. A person who rules over others in righteousness is like the light of the morning sunrise.

Date: 10/24/2021 File name: King_David_17 ID Number: OT10-22

Over the centuries, famous Christians have often been remembered for the last words they spoke. Examples include ...

Robert Murray McCheyne. He is remembered as one of Scotland’s greatest preachers who died at the early age of twenty-nine of typhoid. His last words were actually a quote from 1 Corinthians 15:58: ‘Be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

John Owen, the most famous of all the English Puritans, on his deathbed said, “I am going to him whom my soul loveth, or rather who has loved me with an everlasting love, which is the soul ground of all my consolation.”

On April 9, 1945, Lutheran pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer is hanged at Flossenburg, only days before the American liberation of the POW camp. The last words of the brilliant and courageous 39-year-old opponent of Nazism were “This is the end — for me, the beginning of life.”

D. L. Moody, famous 19th century evangelist who was the “Billy Graham” of his era, said shortly before he died, “Earth recedes, Heaven opens before me! If this is death, it is sweet. There is no valley here. God is calling me, and I must go.”

King David’s last words are found here in 1 Samuel 23:1-7. [Read]

We’ve come to the closing years of King David’s life and the author of 2 Samuel is going to provide us an epilogue of a number of events that occurred at different times in David’s reign. They are not in chronological order, but they serve as a conclusion to the entire narrative of 1st and 2nd Samuel. I’m not going to offer any commentary on these events, but I do want to mention them so that you’re aware of them. I encourage you to read of them at your own leisure.

Justice for the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1-14)

Battles against Philistine Giants (2 Samuel 21:15-22).

David’s song of thanksgiving to God (2 Samuel 22:1-51)

David’s disobedience in taking a census of Israel, God’s judgment for doing so, and David’s repentance and worship (2 Samuel 24:1-25)

As we come to 1 Samuel 23, we have the last words of Israel’s greatest and most influential king. He’s a man from humble beginnings, whom God singles out as His instrument to accomplish His will for His people, Israel. His final words declare both the secret of a king’s success and the effect of a successful leader of God’s people.

I. A SUMMARY OF DAVID’S LIFE

1. David’s life can be divided into five periods

A. EARLY LIFE

1. these are the preparatory years of David’s life — the years when God will begin to form David’s life through events and the people he meets

2. he was born into an obscure family in the town of Bethlehem, in the Hebrew tribe of Judah

a. he was the great-grand-son of Ruth and Boaz, and the youngest of eight sons of Jesse

b. his family chore was to tend the family’s sheep herd

1) during this time he become skilled in the use of the sling and the harp

3. the shepherd years were interrupted suddenly when the Prophet Samuel shows up in Bethlehem and anoints David as future king of Israel in the presence of his family

B. LIFE IN THE PALACE

1. Saul, because of his disobedience to God, is rejected by God who then sends an angel of judgement to torment Saul’s mind and spirit

a. music is the only thing that seems to calm him when the angel troubles his spirit and thus David is employed to play and sing for the king

2. all is well until David kills the giant Goliath, and the women of Israel begin singing songs of David’s Philistine body-count as greater than Saul’s

a. their relationship quickly sours after Saul attempts to “pin David to the wall” with his spear

3. David flees from Saul’s presence which puts a strain on his friendship with Jonathan, Saul’s son

a. the friendship endured and becomes one of the great examples of deep abiding friendship in all of literature — ancient and modern

4. David lives the life of a fugitive alternating time in the Judean wilderness and refuge with the Philistines

C. KING OF JUDAH: The Unstable Years

1. David is in the wilderness with his followers when word comes that King Saul and Jonathan have been killed in battle with the Philistines

a. the leaders of the tribe of Judah respond by anointing David as their king ... David is thirty years old

b. he conquers the City of Jerusalem and rebuilds it as his capitol

2. it is not a time of peace, however

a. to the north, the remaining Israelite tribes select Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, as their king and civil war breaks out

b. the war ends when some of Ishbosheth’s own men assassinate him on his bed

D. KING OF ALL ISRAEL: The Stable Years

1. these become years of stability

a. David subdues all of Israel’s enemies

b. he expands Israel’s boarders and influence

c. the nation flourishes

2. David rules over a united Israel for thirty-three years

E. KING OF ALL ISRAEL: The Years of Sorrow

1. David’s greatest years came to a sudden end when he fell into scandal

a. he has a brief affair with Bathsheba, and then has her husband assassinated when she turns up pregnant

b. Nathan the prophet appears, condemning David for his sin

2. David sincerely repents, but God tells him that the consequences will be far-ranging for David’s family and even the nation

a. a daughter is raped by her own half-brother

b. Absalom, another son, has the half-brother assassinated and then flees the nation

c. Absalom returns, there is a brief reconciliation between him and David, but Absalom is hatching a plot to rip the kingdom from his father

3. a brief civil war breaks out, but David’s forces prevail, and Absalom is killed

a. but the turmoil was not over, and David has to subdue a potentially more serious insurrection instigated by Sheba

b. David put the rebellion down and a semblance of peace and unity return to the kingdom

4. this brings us to tonight’s text

II. A SONG OF DEVOTION OF DAVID TO GOD

1. these verses are entitled The last words of David, but actually these are not literally the final words to come from King David’s mouth

a. they are the last prophetic oracle of David

2. the oracle describe David and it describes David’s God

a. these verses tell us that David is a righteous king guided by the fear of the Lord

A. THE ORACLE’S DESCRIPTION OF DAVID

“Now these are the last words of David: The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel:” (2 Samuel 23:1, ESV)

1. He Is the Son of Jesse

a. David comes from humble origins

1) Jesse was a peasant, a farmer in Bethlehem — David was never ashamed of that

2. He Is the Man Who Was Raised on High

a. in God’s economy of leadership, the first shall be last and the last shall be first

1) David may have stared life inconspicuously, but God chose him to become the Shepard of Israel

2) just as David has once tended God’s sheep, now he will tend God’s people

3. He Is the Anointed of the God of Jacob

a. the same God who took that clever, conniving fellow Jacob and made him Israel, a prince with God, is the same God who took David and makes him a king

b. but the text implies that David is more than just a king

1) the word anointed in vs. 1 is the word messiah

2) in David’s case the word is used to remind his fellow countrymen that David has delivered God’s people from all their enemies

4. He Is the Sweet Psalmist of Israel

a. David is a singer of songs, we all know that

b. what we forget is that the Psalter was Israel’s hymn book ... in fact, for the first 1500 years it was the Church’s hymn book

c. David is the one who leads the people of God into praise and worship

B. THE ORACLE’S DESCRIPTION OF GOD

“The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, 4 he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. 5 “For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire?” (2 Samuel 23:3–5, ESV)

1. our God is a God who speaks

a. almost every world religion has a set of sacred scriptures that guides an adherent’s belief

1) most of those sacred scriptures are men telling us their view who they believe God or the gods to be

b. only Christianity has a set of Scripture where God reveals Himself to men — including David who say The Spirit of the Lord speaks by me; his word is on my tongue

2. our God is a God who demands justice from men

a. because God acts justly, he demands that His people act justly — When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth

3. our God is a covenantal God who will bring prosperity to those who love and serve him

C. THE ORACLE’S DESCRIPTION OF THE UNRIGHTEOUS

“But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be taken with the hand; 7 but the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they are utterly consumed with fire.”” (2 Samuel 23:6–7, ESV)

1. God loves the lost, and desires that they come to Him, but God loves His honor more

a. at the end of days worthless men shall be utterly consumed with fire

III. LESSONS

A. Lesson 1: A Heart for God Prepares Us to Be Used by God

1. David is chosen to be king because he has what Saul does not: a heart for God

a. 1 Samuel 13:14 says the Lord “sought out a man after his own heart" to be king, and Saul simply was not this man

b. David was

2. David’s heart for God prepares him to be used by God

a. our impressive resumes aren’t what make us useful in God’s kingdom

B. Lesson 2: The Spirit of God Equips Us to Do the Will of God

1. the lives of David and Saul make it crystal clear that if we want to do God’s will, we must be filled with the Spirit

a. although Saul is filled with the Spirit and actually prophesies early in his public life, his disobedience causes the Spirit to depart from him and instead “rush upon David” (1 Sam. 16:13-14)

2. without the Spirit, we are powerless to fulfill the role to which God has called us as Christians

a. it’s the Spirit who enables us to obey God

C. Lesson 3: It's Better to Fear God than to Be Nine Feet Tall

1. David believed the promises of God more than he feared Goliath

D. Lesson 4: The Glory of David is not David At All—It's Jesus Christ

1. look again at how the Scriptures describe David and then compare that description to Jesus

E. Lesson 5: Sin Can Bring Horrible Consequences, but Sin Can Be Forgiven