CHAPTER 23

(1018 B.C.)

THE LAST WORDS OF DAVID

¹Now these be the last words of David (we know what the heart of David was by these last words). David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob (this refers to God, Who met Jacob when he had nothing, and deserved nothing, and Who promised him all things the God of all Grace; in effect, David puts himself in the same category as this poor, scheming Jacob, who was ultimately changed by God), and the sweet Psalmist of Israel (refers to the fact that God had given David many of the Psalms; actually, he wrote over half of these great songs), said,

²The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His Word was in my tongue (this means that the mouth belonged to David, but the Words were those of the Lord; this statement claims and guarantees Inspiration).

³The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He Who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God (both Verses 3 and 4 speak of the Advent of Christ, and compare His Rule with that of man).

⁴And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain. (Verses 3 and 4 foretell the Advent of One Who should rule men righteously, in the fear of God; and that His Rule, contrasted with mans, would be comparable to the cloudless sunshine of a beautiful morning following the black shadows of a dark night, and to the rich herbage produced by refreshing rain, which alone can clothe barren land. In fact, these two Verses leap ahead to the coming Millennial Reign, when Christ will rule supreme.)

⁵Although my house be not so with God (meaning that neither he nor any member of his family fulfilled, or, in fact, could fulfill, the promises of this Prophecy); yet He has made with me an Everlasting Covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my Salvation, and all my desire, although He make it not to grow. (The last phrase should be translated, Shall He not make it to grow? In the statement of this Fifth Verse, the Holy Spirit through David says that even though David had failed in realizing the better purposes of his heart, still, it was Gods good pleasure that the Covenant, despite personal failure, will remain firm and secure. There would be born into his family the great King described in these Verses. That King would be Christ, and so it was!)

⁶But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands (Belial means worthless, and, in this case, vicious worthlessness; it is from this worthlessness that opposition arises; it cannot be defeated by mans ability, but only by the Lord):

⁷But the man who shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place (in other words, there is no way that man, with his limited power, can overcome the powers of darkness; he can only win the victory by being fenced with iron, which speaks of the Power of the Holy Spirit, which will burn out the dross in our lives with unquenchable fire [Mat. 3:11]; Gods Prescribed Order of Victory is Christ and the Cross, with the Cross ever being the Object of our Faith, which then gives the Holy Spirit latitude to work within our lives, bringing about the desired results [I Cor. 1:17-18, 21, 23; 2:2; Gal. 6:14; Col. 2:14-15]).

DAVIDS MIGHTY MEN

⁸These be the names of the mighty men whom David had (it must be understood that they were mighty because of being with David): The Tachmonite who sat in the seat, chief among the Captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he killed at one time. (Humanly possible? No! But with God, all things are possible. The Holy Spirit gave this man amazing power, in order for him to accomplish this feat against Gods enemies. The enemies of our soul must be killed. No compromise can be entertained.)

⁹And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David, when they defied the Philistines who were there gathered together to battle, and the men of Israel were gone away (Israel was being defeated, and its soldiers were fleeing):

¹⁰He arose, and smote the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clave unto the sword: and the LORD wrought a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to spoil. (One man stemmed the tide, one man who had Faith. Eleazar refused to run, but rather arose and began to smite the Philistines, and did so to such an extent that, when it was all over and with the battle won, others had to pry his fingers loose from the sword. God give us men and women who will be as tenacious for the Lord presently as was Eleazar then!)

¹¹And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where was a piece of ground full of lentiles (a pea patch): and the people fled from the Philistines. (Israel would plant her crops, and then, as here, when they were ready to be harvested, the Philistines would swoop down and take it all. This is so indicative of so many modern Christians. We work and labor, and then allow Satan to take the harvest.)

¹²But he stood in the midst of the ground, and defended it, and killed the Philistines: and the LORD wrought a great victory. (In effect, Shammah said, Even though all of the other Israelites have fled, I will stand my ground and defend what is rightly mine. The Lord gave him special strength and, thereby, a great victory was won. We must learn two things from this:

1. Faith does not go into action until we put it into action; and, 2. Youve got to tell the Devil, Ive left this pea patch my last time!)

¹³And three of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim.

¹⁴And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem (this was before David became king).

¹⁵And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! (David was a Type of Christ. God help us to be so close to the Heart of Christ that we can hear His Sigh regarding the great needs of those in other parts of the world, who desperately need to be touched with the Water of Life.)

¹⁶And the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD (all Drink Offerings poured out before the Lord in Old Testament times pictured Christ pouring out Himself for the sin of mankind, which He did at Calvarys Cross).

¹⁷And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mighty men (the Holy Spirit called them mighty; how many is He referring to as such presently?).

¹⁸And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief among three. And he lifted up his spear against three hundred, and killed them, and had the name among three (in this Verse, Joab is only mentioned as the brother of Abishai, not as one of Davids mighty men).

¹⁹Was he not most honourable of three? therefore he was their Captain: howbeit he attained not unto the first three (the first three were Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah).

²⁰And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man, of Kabzeel, who had done many acts, he killed two lionlike men of Moab: he went down also and killed a lion in the midst of a pit in time of snow (he was a very important person throughout Davids reign, being commander of the bodyguard [8:18], and General of the third brigade of 24,000 men [I Chron. 27:5]):

²¹And he killed an Egyptian, a goodly man: and the Egyptian had a spear in his hand; but he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptians hand, and killed him with his own spear.

²²These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among three mighty men (they were mighty because the Lord was with them).

²³He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three. And David set him over his guard (as stated, he was the head of the bodyguard of David).

²⁴Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Beth-lehem (this man was killed by Abner [2:18-23]),

²⁵Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite,

²⁶Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite,

²⁷Abiezer the Anethothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite,

²⁸Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite,

²⁹Heleb the son of Baanah, a Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai out of Gibeah of the Children of Benjamin,

³⁰Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash,

³¹Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite,

³²Eliahba the Shaalbonite, of the sons of Jashen, Jonathan,

³³Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite,

³⁴Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite,

³⁵Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite,

³⁶Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite,

³⁷Zelek the Ammonite, Nahari the Beerothite, armourbearer to Joab the son of Zeruiah,

³⁸Ira an Ithrite, Gareb an Ithrite,

³⁹Uriah the Hittite: thirty and seven in all. (Verses 24-39 record other mighty men. All of these typify that records are kept in the portals of Glory concerning the acts of Faith of every Child of God. What does the record show concerning you and me?)