2 Samuel 23:1

_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,_ Now these be the last words of David. Various opinions are entertained as to the precise meaning of this statement, which, it is obvious, proceeded from the compiler or collector of the sacred canon. Some think that, as there is no division of chapters in the Hebrew Scriptures, this introduction was intended to show that what follows is no part of the preceding song; others regard this as the last of the king's poetical compositions; while a third party consider it the last of his utterances as an inspired writer. The fact seems to be, that they formed the last divine communication which David received of the kingly character and glory of the Messiah; and although he probably composed some of his sacred lyri...

1-7 These words of David are very worthy of regard. Let those who have had long experience of God's goodness, and the pleasantness of heavenly wisdom, when they come to finish their course, bear their testimony to the truth of the promise. David avows his Divine inspiration, that the Spirit of God spake by him. He, and other holy men, spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. In many things he had his own neglect and wrong conduct to blame. But David comforted himself that the Lord had made with him an everlasting covenant. By this he principally intended the covenant of mercy and peace, which the Lord made with him as a sinner, who believed in the promised Saviour, who embraced the promised blessing, who yielded up himself to the Lord, to be his redeemed servant. Believers shall for ever enjoy covenant blessings; and God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, shall be for ever gl...

CHAPTER XXIII _The last words of David_, 1-7. _The names and exploits of has thirty-seven worthies_, 8-39. NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII Verse 2 Samuel 23:1. _THESE_ BE _THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID._] I suppose the _last_ _poetical composition_ is here intended. He might have spoken many words after these in _prose_, but none in _verse_. Other meanings are given; this I prefer. The words of this song contain a glorious prediction of the Messiah's kingdom and conquests, in highly poetic language. _THE SWEET PSALMIST OF ISRAEL_] This character not only belonged to him as the finest poet in _Israel_, but as the finest and most Divine poet of the whole C

THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID - i. e., his last Psalm, his last “words of song” 2 Samuel 22:1. The insertion of this Psalm, which is not in the Book of Psalms, was probably suggested by the insertion of the long Psalm in 2 Samuel 22. DAVID THE SON OF JESSE SAID ... - The original word for “said” is used between 200 and 300 times in the phrase, “saith the Lord,” designating the word of God in the mouth of the prophet. It is only applied to the words of a man here, and in the strikingly similar passage Numbers 24:3, Numbers 24:15, and in...

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 23:1 NOW THESE BE THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID. A long interval separates this psalm from the preceding. The one was written when David had just reached the zenith of his power, and, when still unstained by foul crime, he could claim God's favour as due to his innocence. These last words were David's latest inspired utterance, written, probably, towards the end of the calm period which followed upon his restoration to his throne, and when time and the sense of God's renewed favour had healed the wounds of his soul. DAVID THE SON OF JESSE SAID. It was probably this account of the author, and its personal character, which caused the exclusion of this hymn from the Book of Psalms. It seemed to belong rather to David's private history than to a collection made for use in the public services of the temple....

NOW THESE [BE] THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID,.... Which refer not to the psalm in the preceding chapter, but to what follows; not the last words he spoke, for he said many things afterwards; for the advice he gave to Solomon, and the instructions to him about building the temple, were delivered after this time; but these were the last after he had finished the book of Psalms; or the last that he spoke under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, or that he delivered out by way of prophecy; though the Jews f will not allow him to speak by the spirit of prophecy; they own he spoke by the Holy Spirit, which they distinguish from prophecy; but the Targum calls these words a prophecy, and takes them to be a prophecy of the Messiah, and of things to come, as undoubtedly they are, paraphrasing them thus; "these are the words of the prophecy of David, which he prophesied concerning the end of the world,...

3. THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID AND THE RECORD OF THE MIGHTY MEN CHAPTER 23 _ 1. His last words (2 Samuel 23:1)_ 2. The names and records of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:8) In his last words an even greater and clearer vision is given to King David. “If Psalms 18 was a grand Hallelujah, with which David quitted the scene of life, these ‘his last words' are the divine attestation of all that he had sung and prophesied in the Psalms concerning the spiritual import of the kingdom which he was to found in accordance with the divine message that Nathan had been commissioned to bring to him. Hence these ‘last words' must be regarded as an inspired prophetic utterance by David, before his death, about th

THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID (_cf._ above). This poem is generally held to be a late production and not composed by David. Saith (twice) in 1 Samuel 23:1, is the solemn _ne-' um,_ oracle (Numbers 24:3). Instead of sweet psalmist of Israel, render him whom Israel delights to praise (_cf._ RVm). 2 Samuel 23:4 should run: He shall dawn like the light of morning, Like the sun on a morning without clouds. The text and translation of the last line, and of 2 Samuel 23:5, are uncertain; there is no agreement amongst scholars as to how they are to be restored, so t

Chapter 23 follows 24, but is placed here (by the Figure of speech _Hysterologia)_ so as to include David's "last words "with his "song" under his "worship", and make the correspondence shown in the Structure. See p. 414. LAST WORDS. Hence their importance. WORDS. discourse, message, oracle, revelation. Hebrew. _dabar._ App-73. SAID. Hebrew. _na'am. to_ speak with assurance and authority. MAN. Hebrew. _geber._ App-14. GOD. Hebrew. _'Elohim._ App-4. GOD OF JACOB: i.e. the God Who met Jacob when he had nothing and deserved nothing (but wrath), and promised him all. therefore "the God of all grace". Compare Psalms 146:5 and 1 Peter 5:10, referring to the grace which had called David....

_David the son of Jesse said_ THE ORACLE OF DAVID THE SON OF JESSE: a peculiar word, generally used of a direct message from God through a prophet in the phrase rendered, "saith the Lord," and joined with the name of the human speaker only here and in Numbers 24:3-4; Numbers 24:15-16; Proverbs 30:1. It therefore marks these "last words" as an utterance delivered by special divine inspiration. _raised up on high_ Raised by God from a low estate to be the king of Israel. Cp. ch. 2 Samuel 7:8-9; Psalms 78:70-71.