David’s Last Words
Open Your Bible
2 Samuel 23:1-39, 2 Samuel 24:1-25, Micah 1:2-3, John 2:19-22
BY Amanda Bible Williams
Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 23:1-39, 2 Samuel 24:1-25, Micah 1:2-3, John 2:19-22
They say that at the end of life, things will become clearer. Our priorities will crystallize and our discernment will sharpen. They say no one ever lies on their deathbed and says, “I should have spent more time at the office.” No one wishes they’d been less generous, less loving, less devoted to forgiveness and reconciliation. The secret, then, is to live now with the end in mind—to live now like we’ll wish we had then.
This is what they say. But what does the Bible say?
Scripture is filled with flawed humans who could have lived life better. Aside from Jesus, you’ll be hard pressed to find a person whose deathbed retrospective is free of wishes or regrets. Come to think of it, the idea of finding a “secret” to outsmarting our humanity is wholly absent in the 66 books of the Bible.
Instead of giving us life hacks, God’s Word gives us a promise: our life here on earth exists within our truer, eternal life with God through His Son.
When we reach the final chapters of 2 Samuel, at the end of David’s life, we don’t find him urging us to be our best selves. We find him composing a final poem—one last expression of what he knows to be true of God and his life with God. In it, David declares:
Is it not true my house is with God?
For he has established a permanent covenant with me,
ordered and secured in every detail.
Will he not bring about
My whole salvation and my every desire?
– 2 Samuel 23:5
David’s dying thoughts don’t hinge on what he has or has not done, but rather on what God has done and continues to do.
God made a covenant with David and He ordered every detail, in David’s life and beyond, to uphold that covenant. The second half of chapter 23 gives us a glimpse into those details—a brief and profound look into God’s provision, for David and for all people of the covenant, through the exploits of David’s “Mighty Men.”
This group of more than thirty men were named and known, both by the Lord and by David. Their devotion to God’s anointed king was no accident, and neither was the bravery and might they displayed on David’s behalf. One, named Eleazar, fought until he quite literally could not go on. Verse 10 says he “stood his ground and attacked the Philistines until his hand was tired and stuck to his sword.” Even so, Scripture makes it clear that God brought about the victory that day (1 Samuel 23:10). Another, called Benaiah, “went down into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion” (v.20). A trio of men known as “the Three” risked their lives just to bring a thirsty, homesick King David a drink of water from his hometown well (vv.15-16).
I circled their names in my study book—these warriors of the covenant who are known by name to the Lord and now to us so many generations later. It was the name at the end of the list that made my stomach lurch: Uriah the Hethite (v.39). The same Uriah who was married to Bathsheba. The same Uriah who was killed to cover up the king’s own sin. A mighty man snuffed out by a powerful one.
Our stories, like David’s, are complicated. They are filled with things we did and didn’t do, things other people did and didn’t do, and the consequences that followed. We have days when we look like heroes and days when our hearts look as murderous and unfaithful as David’s did with Uriah and Bathsheba. The story told in 1 and 2 Samuel offers us only one faithful Hero—the Lord.
God’s faithfulness is the context of David’s story and ours. His sovereignty reigns over every plot point; His mercy is mightier than our regrets. By faith in God’s Son, Jesus, we can stand at the end of our days and say with David, “My house is with God. He has established a permanent covenant with me, ordered and secured in every detail. He will bring about my whole salvation.”
All glory be to Him.
28 thoughts on "David’s Last Words"
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I’ve been saved since I was a little girl, but I’ve never really completed 1st and 2nd Samuel before. I’m so glad I did. It was amazing to read the events that inspired some of the Psalms. Those Psalms mean so much more to me now, almost identical to how certain hymns have more meanings after knowing the author’s stories. To say this wasn’t a struggle at times would be a lie. I’m not much of a “guts and gore” girl, but I loved getting a deeper look at David. I knew about Bathsheba. I knew that even after adultery, God called him a man after His own heart, but I didn’t know that there was SO much more than that. It gives me hope for myself, that as I seek and pray after my mistakes that God sees ME. That He sees my heart. This was my first physical book I received in the mail and I am now hooked! I love that these studies are so Scripture based and any other commentary is fully secondary.
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I have really enjoyed this entire study as well. I needed the reminder of David’s character and how reminded of myself I was. Sometimes I have felt so much pride and so much joy for all of God’s graces and so many times in life I have seen that I have taken advantage of these things and need to humble myself lest I let them bring me to the lowest of low plot points in life, and I have been there time and time again but God ALWAYS provides a light in the darkness. He has never failed me, and I know He won’t fail me even to my last days. “God’s mercy is mightier than our regrets”….such a fantastic thought to put in our pocket and carry with us throughout each and every single detail, through every little detail of our lives, which, yes, God has “ordered and secured for us”. Just to live every day walking in the way He would have us to is ultimately all we are tasked with, and there is no need to worry with any of the rest.
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“God’s faithfulness is the context of David’s story and ours. His sovereignty reigns over every plot point; His mercy is mightier than our regrets. By faith in God’s Son, Jesus, we can stand at the end of our days and say with David, “My house is with God. He has established a permanent covenant with me, ordered and secured in every detail. He will bring about my whole salvation.”” I’ve been facing a lot of plot points these days, and forgetting that God’s faithfulness IS the context of my story. Lord, protect me from the enemy who tries to convince me that I can be King and save myself. Isn’t that what he’s been doing since the Garden? Separating us from God with our very own pride? Humble me Lord. Over and over. Do what you must to bring me back to your protective, loving and faithful embrace again and again.
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I found this a difficult study. leaving me wondering if after two years I should even stop? I found the darkness and the slaying and murders and violence difficult.I did not feel lifted up. I felt down. I have never delved into the study of the Old Testament. I have spent my life as a Christian and am finding there are many parts of the Bible I have never read. God may be calling me to continue..perhaps this was the lesson or the truth I was to learn.
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A strong dose of the Old Testament can be hard. But its so so good. Keep going. Dig deeper. These books make us take a deep look into ourselves and truly see our need for Christ. The taste of the Gospel is only sweeter after a few bites of the OT. When I first started studying the OT it was if I finally understood what it meant to be a Christian and to have my own faith. Before that – it was just my family’s tradition. My heart goes out to you Kathryn. He will not leave you – Christ is the balm your soul needs.
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Thank you. I am really glad this one is over. I get the books delivered each month and I have for the past two years. I am really trying to get to know the Bible better and the study books are making me read parts I have never read. I find the OT tough…..the rapes,the polygamy,the violence even to children. I really struggle with feeling lifted up. I grew up in a very fundamentalist family- that came with tons of guilt and lots of things I am happy to drop as my own form of being a Christian takes place.
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I remember hearing Louie Giglio promoting the Jesus Bible that he and author pastors created…what I loved was that he related that Jesus is in both the Old Testament and the New Testament…just a reminder that there is purpose in the Old Testament books, because they point to our need for Jesus and God’s faithfulness.
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It helps me as I read this part of the Old Testament to remember that, at this time, God’s relationship with His people was through the Law. It was a temporary, conditional covenant just for Israel, the keeping of which would cause them to be so obviously different from the pagan nations around them in their reflection of their God’s holiness and righteousness. The point of the Law was to define sin and point Israel to the promised Fulfiller of the Law – the righteous Son of God – not to be a formula to salvation. The time of this covenant shows the severity and absoluteness of holiness, and that’s what we see so much of in the OT. God is still good and gracious; we do see justice mixed with mercy in the life of David and others, but Israel did not yet have the Messiah as the fulfillment of the divine balance of holiness and mercy. Until He came, they were the stewards of what holiness looked like, and the provers of how impossible it is for mere humans to attain it.
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This was such an amazing study, SRT. Thank you for bringing excitement back into the Bible. I was so excited each morning to continue to story of David. Thank you for the meaning and the ease that you brought out of each chapter. Thank you ladies for your time spent in the Lord, and sharing this with us. What a phenomenal study.
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