The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/2_samuel/22.htm

This is why you just can’t “read” the Bible, you must study it.

Verse 1, “Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul.” If this is a song, shouldn’t it be a psalm? And if this is a psalm, why wasn’t the psalm included after this chapter of Second Samuel?

Well, it is a psalm, Psalm 18 to be exact. And we likely don’t know when it was written because, in the Bible Timeline I’m using for the chronological list of events, it is just lumped in with the other psalms of David. So, even something that seems so minute, can be misleading. And while the name of the book suggests it was written by Samuel himself, we know that by this time in Bible history, Samuel has died. So theologians and scholars suggest that perhaps the prophets Gad and Nathan helped write portions of the book. So as to who took the psalms and compiled them into one book apparently didn’t recognize this as having already been documented in the Book of Samuel, or perhaps this was extracted from the Book of Samuel and listed as a psalm as well. Who knows? I’m just pointing this out because if it sounds familiar, this is why.

And nothing about the Bible is perfect as it was compiled and translated by man, who is not perfect. We can discuss the inspiration of the scriptures all day, but we know the content of the Bible was compiled by man because of the order the books are compiled, and how they differ from the Hebrew Bible, which was the original language of the Old Testament.

In 2 Samuel 23, you see the scripture, “Now these are the last words of David”, and this chapter is preparing you for the death of David. He is aging and the end of his life is near. We also see David talking about the covenant God made with him which is found in 2 Samuel 7. God made covenants with those special to him, and theologians have named them (I know, I’m not supposed to be referring to theology, but it’s information I’ve previously learned). The Adamic Covenant was made with Adam, God made a covenant with Noah to never destroy the earth with flood again (the rainbow being a sign of this covenant), there was the Abrahamic Covenant, and what we are referring to now, the Davidic Covenant. And God has also made a covenant with us, first the Ten Commandments which were a written covenant that man did not/could not follow, then the new covenant, the Ten Commandments again, but this time “written on our hearts”, along with “those who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life”, which will be discussed in the future.

And finally in the last chapter of Second Samuel, the actions of David in taking the unauthorized census is covered, the events that were also documented in the First Book of Chronicles and a chapter which we’ve already covered.

David is not yet dead; the end of his life is covered in the next book of the Bible, the First Book of Kings. But we’re entering a new phase of the Bible, a phase which covers the many different kings that Israel, and that Israel and Judah had.

Here are the main lessons I learned from reading about the life of King David.

David loved music, and he loved to worship God with song.

David was originally a shepherd, often times a job that was looked down upon. He wasn’t afraid of hard work, nor was he afraid of the threats of animals preying on the sheep.

David had a faith like no other. While Saul and even the men of Israel in Saul’s army were afraid of Goliath, David had the faith that God would protect him if he stood up for God. And that was exactly what he did. He as a young man went up against a giant and won because of his faith in God. I can tell you that, as a firefighter, I often thought of my own safety and the safety of the men I was responsible for. I was often reckless as young, macho men with perceived invinsibility often are, and I can tell you that God protected me despite myself. Not once did I rush into a burning building with the faith of David, knowing that God would protect me. But David had that faith. David would have been a fearless firefighter, knowing that God was going to protect him. That said, you can’t just go about life recklessly with the misconception that God will protect you…you have to be faithful, “full of faith”, in order for God to keep his hedge of protection around you. And when faced with danger, it is really hard to be that full of faith, but David was.

David was loyal. He was loyal to God, and he was loyal to God’s appointed. Even though Saul had lost his mind, even though Saul was pursuing David with the intention of killing him, David was still loyal to Saul, so loyal that he spared Saul’s life at a time when he could have easily killed Saul in the name of “self defense”. And that kind of loyalty is rare. If you know someone that has extensive mental health problems, you obviously try to get them help, and sometimes that help may come in the form of some kind of commitment, but David knowing that Saul was having a mental health crisis, continued to honor his kingship, and ot once did he try to overthrow Saul’s throne.

David was a sinner. No one is without sin, and neither was David. In fact, you can say that David was a pretty bad sinner; he lusted after another man’s wife, he had an affair with her, he impregnated her, then he ordered the killing of her husband to cover his actions up. And here’s what scripture doesn’t come out and say outright; David knew what he was doing was wrong. David was faithful, David sang songs of praises to the Lord, but somehow in the brief moment of bad decision making, he strayed far enough away from God that he forgot the law, and it took Nathan the prophet to make him realize that. I sin every day. I’m close enough to God that sometimes he convicts me and I instantly realize my sin. Unfortunately, I’m not close enough to God to have control of sin; I sometimes lose my tempor, sometimes the “old me” comes out and a curse word erupts from my larynx, and sometimes I don’t realize my sin until a time in which I’m in prayer thinking about my confession. In fact, a pastor I once followed closely taught in a sermon that, if you didn’t know where to start in confession (and we’re talking private confession to God Himself through prayer), to sit down with paper and pencil and start comparing your life to the life of Jesus. He said you can easily start writing down your errors so you know what to work on. But despite David’s grave sin, he did come to realize it, he did confess his sins and repented, and I have no doubt that David will be saved because of his faithfulness.

David was merciful, he forgave quickly. Even when his own son Absolam killed his brother, fled, then returned to try to overthrow the throne of David, David still forgave him, and David grieved his death. David even grieved the death of Saul.

There is a lot we can learn from David. And as I’ve said before, I’m studying the Bible on my own, using only the Holy Spirit to guide me, but in previous times that I’ve read the Bible, I’ve used a wonderful video series called, “The Shepherd King”, and it has much more insight on King David than I can provide. Here is a link to the video series.