2 Samuel 23:3

_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._ The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me. The epithet, "the Rock," applied to God, expresses His immutability and inviolable faithfulness (see the notes at 2 Samuel 22:3; 2 Samuel 22:32; 2 Samuel 22:47; Deuteronomy 32:4). A revelation made by the God of Israel, who is so unchangeable and true to His covenant promises, must have some reference either to the interests of Israel as a nation, or to their subserviency, in the economy of Providence, to the future well-being of

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...

Verse 2 Samuel 23:3. _THE ROCK OF ISRAEL_] The _Fountain_ whence Israel was derived. _HE THAT RULETH OVER MEN_ MUST BE _JUST_] More literally, מושל באדם צדיק _moshel baadam tsaddik, He that ruleth in man is the just one_; or, _The just one is the ruler among men_. _RULING IN THE FEAR OF GOD._] It is by God's fear that Jesus Christ rules the hearts of all his followers; and he who has not the fear of God before his eyes, can never be a Christian....

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....

THE GOD OF ISRAEL SAID,.... To David, or by him; he who was the covenant God of Israel literally considered, and is the covenant God and Father of the whole spiritual Israel, and who is owned, believed in, and worshipped by them: THE ROCK OF ISRAEL SPAKE TO ME; the same with the God of Israel in other words, who is the strength and security of Israel; or the second divine Person, the Son and Word of God, is meant, who is often called a rock in Scripture; and is the rock on which the Israel or church of God is built, and in whom it remains safe and firm, the gates of hell not being able to prevail against it; and so here is an instance and proof of a trinity of persons in the Godhead; the God of Israel, Jehovah the Father; the Rock of Israel, Jehovah the Son; and the Spirit of Jehovah, as in 2 Samuel 23:2, who is Jehovah the Spirit: now what was said by these three divine

FEAR (_ See Scofield) - (Psalms 19:9). _...

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

ISRAEL. The higher title (not Jacob), because human instrumentality not in question here. SAID. Here Hebrew. _'amar,_ referring to the _matter_ of the Divine revelation. See App-73. SPAKE. See note on "spike", 2 Samuel 23:2. MEN. Hebrew. _'adam,_ App-14....

2 Samuel 23:1-7. The last words of David The great hymn of triumph in ch. 22, composed when David was in the zenith of his prosperity, is followed by his "last words:" his last prophetic utterance, delivered not long before his death, a parting testimony to the world of his confidence in the fulfilment of the promise concerning the eternal dominion of his posterity. A translation of the Targum or Aramaic paraphrase of David's last words is given in Note IV., p. 237....