Scripture Reading: 2 Samuel 22
Okay, you can turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 22. 2 Samuel 22. Remember these latter chapters, chapters 21 to 24, are sort of a final assessment of David's reign as the king over Israel. And 2 Samuel 22 specifically is a psalm of David. It's his response to God's faithfulness in his life.
It's similar Very similar, parallel to what Psalm 18 is. Most likely David sang this or a version of it and recited it and rehearsed it throughout his life. He does here at the end of his life, and then the version in Psalm 18 is probably that which he prepared for the chief musician in order for the church to have it to sing and to praise and to worship God with. As I said, it's similar, parallel, exactly, but there are some word differences, word changes and whatnot.
But 2 Samuel 22, it's a long chapter. I did want to try and sketch it all tonight. We won't go over every jot and tittle, but hopefully just get the major emphases. But beginning in 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. And he said, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, the God of my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my Savior. My Savior, you save me from violence. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised.
So shall I be saved from my enemies. When the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me. The snares of death confronted me.
In my distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple and my cry entered his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because He was angry.
Smoke went up from His nostrils and devouring fire from His mouth. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also and came down. With darkness under His feet, He rode upon a cherub and flew, and He was seen upon the wings of the wind.
He made darkness canopies around Him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him, coals of fire were kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice. He sent out arrows and scattered them, lightning bolts, and He vanquished them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen. The foundations of the world were uncovered at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of the breath of His nostrils. He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place. He delivered me because He delighted in me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands, He has recompensed me.
For I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. For all His judgments were before me, and as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless before Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in His eyes.
With the merciful, you will show yourself merciful. With a blameless man, you will show yourself blameless. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. And with the devious, you will show yourself shrewd.
You will save the humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty that you may bring them down. For you are my lamp, O Lord. The Lord shall enlighten my darkness. For by you I can run against a troop.
By my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect. The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
For who is God except the Lord, and who is a rock except our God? God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer. He sets me on high places.
He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great. You enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip.
I have pursued my enemies and destroyed them. Neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed. And I have destroyed them and wounded them so that they could not rise. They have fallen under my feet. for you have armed me with strength for the battle.
You have subdued under me those who rose against me. You have also given me the necks of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me. They looked, but there was none to save, even to the Lord, but he did not answer them. Then I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth.
I trod them like dirt in the streets, and I spread them out. You have also delivered me from the strivings of my people. You have kept me as the head of the nations. A people I have not known shall serve me.
The foreigners submit to me. As soon as they hear, they obey me. The foreigners fade away and come frightened from their hideouts. The Lord lives.
Blessed be my rock. Let God be exalted, the rock of my salvation. It is God who avenges me and subdues the peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and sing praises to your name. He is the tower of salvation to his king, and shows mercy to his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, this is essentially Psalm 18, and in many respects, it's a theological assessment of David's life. In other words, as we review the life of David, we've come about to the end of that review. We see providence working in his favor. We see God orchestrating events to turn out for the best in the life of David.
Obviously not in every jot and tittle, but in terms of him as a victorious king, God in his providence has overruled and has caused that to come to pass. And if you were to survey the life of David from, say, a humanistic vantage point, you might conclude that David was, in fact, a great king. He was a strong military strategist. He had an ability with war. knew how to command troops.
We saw last week that his troops loved him. They didn't want him to go out to battle with the Philistines at the thought that he might die. But that would be wrong, and David wants to make sure that nobody surveys his life and ends with that particular conclusion. David is the man that David is because of God.
In other words, 2 Samuel 22, David gives the glory, the praise, the honor, and the adoration to God for the victories that David has achieved. He doesn't say, I'm a great king, I'm an awesome king, I'm like other kings, but better. No, he says, I serve the living and the true God, and it's that God who has trained my hand for war. It is that God who has brought me through every trial, through every difficulty, through every hardship, through every danger and snare.
And it's that God to who we ascribe praise to. So as we look at this particular psalm,
Deliverance of God's Servant
we ought to notice at least three things. We'll probably notice a few more on the way, but in the first place, the deliverance of God's servant in verses 1 to 20. Secondly, the faithfulness of God's servant in verses 21 to 31. And then thirdly, the invincibility of God's kingdom in verses 32 to 51.
I do commend Ralph Davis' commentary on this particular chapter. It was excellent. Those who have it, you'll benefit greatly by reading it. You'll probably note some dependence in my exposition tonight upon that very commentary.
But I want us to first notice the deliverance of God's servant. And there's three things we ought to see here. First, the occasion of praise. Secondly, the ascription of praise.
And thirdly, the reason for praise.
The Occasion of Praise
Note the occasion in 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. This does summarize all that we've seen since 1 Samuel 16. Remember, when the Spirit comes upon David, then great trouble comes upon David as well.
His immediate foe is Saul. Then he has to face Philistines. And then as he assumes the kingdom, he's got problems within, he's got problems without. And so this is his musing upon that, and he wants to give glory to God Most High.
He 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. Vanoi says that 2 Samuel 22 is a strong affirmation by David, as Israel's anointed king, that he continued to recognize Yahweh as his and Israel's ultimate sovereign. Again, he doesn't want us to have the perception that he did this in and of himself. He gives the praise and the glory to whom it is due.
Another commentator says, David's history could have been narrated as that of a great and powerful king. This chapter, however, is concerned that it should be understood as the action of a great and powerful God. That's what's conspicuous in 2 Samuel 22. All that we have seen up to this point, the glory goes to God Most High.
And as well, he refers to the fact that he has had many enemies. He was delivered from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. Matthew Henry comments, it has often been the lot of God's people to have many enemies and to be in imminent danger of falling into their hands. I love what he says here, David was a man after God's heart, but not after men's heart.
He says, many were those that hated Him and sought His ruin. I think there's a good lesson for us here. We ought to realize and recognize that if troubles, difficulties, trials, and hardships befell God's man that sat upon the throne in Israel, we ought to assume that the same sorts of things are going to happen to us. Now, we're not going to face Goliath, and we're not going to be on the run from Saul, we're not going to have to deal with Philistines, we're not going to have to deal with the various things that are particular to David's life, but the reality is that adversity does come upon God's people.
And we ought to learn from Psalms like these that when we find deliverance by the grace of God, we rehearse His praise, we bring glory and honor to Him, we celebrate the reality that our deliverance has been from the Lord.
The Ascription of Praise
Now note the ascription of praise in verses 2 to 4. He just stacks it up. There's an exuberance here. There's a zeal here.
He's fired up. He's not just complacent when it comes to rehearsing the goodness and the kindness of his God. He says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. Kyle and Dalich comment on the reality that God is both rock and fortress.
Now, when the Bible refers to Him as rock, it means that there is a steadiness about Him. There is an unchangingness. There is an immutability. There is a rock-solid character concerning God.
But those terms, rock and fortress, Kyle and Dalich write, the two epithets are borrowed from the natural character of Palestine, where steep and almost inaccessible rocks afford protection to the fugitive, as David had often found at the time when Saul was pursuing him. Don't we understand that? David was on the run. He found refuge among the rocks.
He hid in the caves. They continue, but whilst David took refuge in rocks, he placed his hopes of safety not in their inaccessible character, but in God the Lord, the eternal spiritual rock whom he could see in the earthly rock, so that he called him his true fortress. So he extols God by highlighting the fact that he is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. He continues, he says, the God of my strength and whom I will trust.
And as I've said, he's tried and he's proven as God. He knows that God is his strength, because as David has cried out to the Lord, the Lord God has vindicated him. He has indeed proven his God. And that then serves as the reason for him to say, in whom I will trust.
That's one of the blessings of faith. The more we believe God, the more we trust God, the more God comes to our aid and our rescue, it strengthens our faith, it increases it. The way a muscle grows stronger under constant stress and repair and rest and all those sorts of things. He says, the God of my strength and whom I will trust, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
God displays or reveals Himself to Abraham in Genesis 15.1 as His shield, His exceedingly great reward. This whole idea of the horn of my salvation that you see very often times in the Psalter. The horn refers to, or the idiom is drawn from the goring horn of a charging ram or a bull. It bespeaks the strength and the power of Almighty God.
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my Savior, you save me from violence. So you see, right off the bat, he rehearses in brief compass all the reasons why, all the goodness of God. that he will now substantiate or confirm as he moves through the rest of the psalm. And after having made these statements, he then affirms in verse 4, I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. Learn this from David.
If indeed God has proven to be our rock, our fortress, our deliverer, our strength, the shield and horn of our salvation, our stronghold and refuge, our Savior, we ought to learn from David that we will call upon Him and we ought to acknowledge that He is worthy to be praised. Now, we don't add to God when we praise Him. We don't add to God or increase His blessedness when we ascribe blessedness to Him. We are simply affirming, highlighting, and confirming what He already possesses.
It's an act of recognition on the part of the creature to see what God's all about and to ascribe praise and honor and glory to Him. And that's the thrust of David's psalm in this instance.
The Reason for Praise
Now note the reason for praise in verses 5 to 20. And this comes in the context of his desperate condition. Notice the desperation of his condition in verses 5 to 7. He describes it in verse 5, for, we might translate the word when as for, this kind of gives the reason.
God is these things for I was in this desperate condition and he vindicated me, he delivered me, he came to my aid or rescue. For the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid, the sorrows of Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me. So the description of his trials are summarized here. And he uses very vivid and very poetic language throughout this particular psalm.
That's to the benefit of not only the act of praising and honoring God, it helps us to elucidate and draw out and multiply the reasons why God is to be praised, but it's for us as well. We are to enter into the poem. We are to enter into the poetry of this psalmist, and we are to take it as our own, and we're to praise God for it. The waves of death surrounded him.
He says as much to Jonathan in 1 Samuel 23. The floods of ungodliness made him afraid. The sorrows of Sheol, probably the grave, that's what Sheol represents here, surrounded me and the snares of death confronted me. So all of that befell David.
All of that came upon David. Again, since 1 Samuel 16, we have traced it. We have watched, we have seen, we have viewed, we have understood all these particulars. This is a short summary statement that encapsulates all those trials that he faced, not only from Saul, but from all the rest of his enemies.
Now note the remedy that he engages in when he had these things. Verse 7, he says, In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple, and my cry entered his ears. Good lesson for us.
When these things come upon us, when verses 5 and 6 become our reality, when the waves of death surround us, when the floods of ungodliness make us afraid, instead of panic, instead of running, instead of departing, instead of saying, forget it, I can't bear up, I can't handle it, I can't go on anymore. Note what David's remedy was in verse 7, in my distress I called upon the Lord. This is the answer to God's people throughout the history of the ages. We need in our distress to call upon the Lord.
Doesn't Peter tell us in 1 Peter chapter 5, we're to cast our burdens upon the Lord because He cares for us. I think so often as believers, as Christians, we find ourselves in distress, and we go try and find the latest book that deals with that particular situation. There's nothing wrong with reading good books that deal with particular situations. But in our distress, we ought to call upon the Lord.
In our distress, we ought to cry out to our God. We have the confidence that He hears. He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears. Davis comments here, he says, his distress went far beyond facing gallbladder surgery or replacing a defunct automatic transmission.
Death daily dogged his tracks. He was the most wanted man on Saul's hit list. One might escape once or twice, but what are the ordinary chances of salvaging your skin when the king stays on a concerted, relentless campaign to make Sheol your new address? But Yahweh had done it.
And as the one who's forgiven much loves much, Luke 7, 47, so the one who has been delivered from much praises much. You see, that's why David does what he does in verses 2 and 3. He highlights the attributes of God because he has seen those things displayed in the deliverance of David from certain death time and time again. This is a lesson we ought to call from the psalm.
In our distress, we are to call upon God, we are to cry out to Him and trust that He will hear, and trust that He will answer, and trust that in His providence He will indeed do what Paul says in Romans 8, 28. He causes all things to work for good, to those who love him, to those who are the called according to his purpose." Now, it's not always going to look like that. It's not always going to be rosy. It's not all going to be those things that are most pleasant to us.
Think only of Paul. God told him he would preach to take the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth. Well, how does he get to Rome? He doesn't get there on a luxury liner.
He doesn't get there sipping iced tea on the deck of some beautiful ship. He gets there as a criminal. He gets there having been arrested, transported with other criminals to get to Rome. But got there he did, and preached the gospel he would.
So the Lord God does accomplish His purposes for His people, and He has promised, Romans 8.28, that all things will work for good to those who love Him, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
The Manner of God's Deliverance
Now note the manner of God's deliverance in verses 8 to 16. Essentially what David does here is what's done often in the Psalms. He uses anthropomorphisms. In other words, he gives us these metaphors, or he gives us this analogy, or he gives us something that we can sink our physical teeth in.
Note specifically what we read, say for instance in verse 9. Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Again, verse 16, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. Now, God is spirit.
Jesus teaches us that in John 4.24. Our confession affirms that God is without body, without parts, and without passions. But the biblical writers at times apply or use what's called an anthropomorphism. That means they ascribe to God physical body parts to teach us something concerning God.
And the writer does that here. You see this convention employed again throughout scripture. It is to speak in the manner of man to communicate to us truth concerning God in a way that is easy for us to grasp. As well, what the author does in verses 8 to 16 is he goes back to the exodus.
He highlights God when he comes down to Sinai, when there's thunder and lightning and all of that glorious display of the Lord. So essentially, that's what's happening here in verses 8 to 16. Again, Davis. comments that Yahweh both hears, verse 7, and He calms, verses 8 to 16. And when He calms, it is as if Sinai happens all over again.
Yahweh is irate that His servant stands in such affliction, and so comes in blazing anger, shuddering majesty, and world-convulsing power to rescue him. So you see, when we read in the life of David, or when we survey from 1 Samuel 16 up to this point, we don't really notice those earthquakes or heaven quaking, we don't see smoke coming out from the nostrils of God, we don't see the heavens bowed, we don't see Him riding upon a cherub, literally. But what David says is that through historical circumstances, through providence, when God comes to confound His enemies, this is what's taking place. We'll see a similar convention when we return to our studies in the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24.
When Jesus speaks about the sun falling and the moon falling and the stars turning and the blood, all those sorts of things, that's biblical language to display for us or to highlight for us the manifestation of God. through His revealed Word, coming in power and in great glory. There's convention employed. There is imagery used to display for us or to teach us what it means that God comes to vindicate His servant, to come and to deliver David. So that's the convention employed in verses 8 to 16.
It is anthropomorphic in nature, the ascription of human anatomy, nostrils and mouth and breath and all those things to God. God is spirit, he does not have a body like man, the children's version of the Shorter Catechism teaches. But this language is employed for us as creatures so that he can describe for us our God in his majesty and in his excellence and in his glory. And as well, one of the reasons why this convention is used, he could have just said, he delivered me.
But doesn't this rouse us in a contemplation of our holy God when we see what's behind the scenes? And in many respects, what we have here in 2 Samuel 22 is not David the king, it's not even David the psalmist, it's not David the historian, it's not even David the believer, but I suspect that we're dealing with David the theologian. We're dealing with David, the doctor of divinity. We're dealing with one who knows God intimately and who is describing God for us so that we may join ranks with David and praise this great and glorious God.
This majestic language, this glorious language is ascribed to God so that it elicits from the reader this sort of hand-waving fist in the air, praise to God for His coming and judgment. The earth shook and trembled, the foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, because He was angry. Brethren, this is your God, this is the way He operates, and when persons afflict His chosen one, He comes in vengeance to deal the death blow to them. This is essentially what David is saying for us, his reader.
Now
The Execution of God's Deliverance
note the execution of God's deliverance, still under this heading, the deliverance of God's servant. Notice the execution of that deliverance in verses 17 to 20. It says, He sent from above, He took me. He drew me out of many waters.
This is the language of rescue or deliverance. It doesn't necessarily mean He was drowning, but more often than not, Scripture uses waters. to bespeak chaos and trouble and sometimes even Gentile nations. And he says, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. So he highlights the fact that his rescue came from Yahweh.
Notice in verse 18, he delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me. Notice, for they were too strong for me. What's the implication? They were too strong for me.
If there was deliverance to be had, or rescue to be had, it must come from God. David acknowledges his own weakness. David acknowledges his own helplessness. David realizes that God must do this because they were too strong for me.
He says in verse 19, they confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. Think of the calamity of David on the run from Saul. Think of the calamity of David when his own son Absalom rises in rebellion against him. Think of the calamity of David when Sheba rises up in rebellion against him.
And yet look at what he's able to say, but the Lord was my support. Isn't that what all of God's people have found to be the case? that in the midst of calamity, in the midst of those difficulties, the Lord is our support. We managed to get by because God was there. We managed to persevere because the Lord sustained me.
We managed to go through those fires because He was my rock. He was my fortress. He was my deliverer. He was my support.
And then notice this blessed thing he says in verse 20. He also brought me out into a broad place. No more rocks or fortresses or caves, but he brought him out into this broad place. He gave him freedom.
He gave him liberty. And notice what David says in verse 20. He delivered me because he delighted in me. That's our God, isn't it?
That's how He operates. That's the way the Lord sees His people, because He delighted in me. Not because we're necessarily delightful, but in Christ, He delights in His people. In Christ, He loves us a lot.
In Christ, He rejoices in the upright. Our uprightness, of course, being in Jesus.
Faithfulness of God's Servant
Now that brings us secondly to the faithfulness of God's servant in verses 21 to 31. Note what David says in verse 21, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. This presents a bit of an issue. for some commentators, because David asserts his righteousness. In fact, it almost sounds causal.
In other words, the Lord did all these things because I'm a righteous man. Again, that presents an issue in light of the Uriah situation, in light of the Bathsheba situation. Those of you who have been here since 1 Samuel 16, we have noticed over the the overarching course of our study, the goodness, the rightness, the excellence of King David, but he's certainly not been sinless. He's not been perfect.
We see along the way the fact that David has affinity with all the sons of men. So how do we deal with, excuse me, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness? Some say this wasn't really David's song. I mean, that's one way to deal with the problem, isn't it?
David really didn't write this. David really didn't compose this. This really wasn't what David had to say. So that dispatches the issue or deals with the problem.
It's kind of like cutting off your arm if you get a cut on your forearm. I don't think that's a very good way to deal with a cut on your forearm. Others say that this was composed prior to the Bathsheba and Uriah incident. In other words, David asserts his righteousness prior to actually committing adultery and murder.
Well, then one would have to wonder why it was included at the end in this sort of final assessment of David's reign. All the readers would know that 2 Samuel 11 and 12 are there. So that really doesn't seem to make sense either, and we have in verse 1 that he praises God, or he sings this song, or he composes this song on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. Other commentators suggested some other editors later on added this section to 2 Samuel 22.
Again, I don't know how that gets the issue resolved, but those are some attempts because certain persons come to this and they say, well, how in the world could David ever be, you know, consider himself righteous in light of murder and adultery? Well, we ought to consider a resolution. How do we deal with this issue? The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness.
According to the cleanness of my hands, He has recompensed me.
The Theology of David
I want to consider three things here. First, the theology of David. The theology of David. In other words, David asserts here his righteousness.
Does David think that he's sinlessly perfect? Does David think that he is, you know, the only guy in the world that has ever done anything right and good? Well, I suggest other Psalms help us understand David's theology. You can turn to Psalm 32 for a moment.
Psalm 32. My contention is that the theology of David, the testimony of others, will indeed yield a likely explanation for the situation as it faces us in 2 Samuel 22. Note his understanding of imputation in Psalm 32. Blessed is he, verse 1, whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. David understands imputation. David understands the reality. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered or literally atoned for.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Now, notice Paul's take on this in Romans 4. Paul takes from this substantiation or confirmation for the doctrine of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. I do not believe the doctrine of the imputation of the righteousness of Christ began with Paul.
It began in the Old Testament. Paul's theologizing. David knew this. David understood by or how he could stand before a holy God.
David had Genesis 15.6. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. David asserting his righteousness in 2 Samuel 22 is akin to you and I asserting our righteousness. We know what we mean.
We don't mean that I'm the most excellent chap that lives on woodbine and I never do anything wrong. My righteousness is tied to another. It is an alien righteousness. It is an imputed righteousness.
It is outside of me and given to me by the sovereign hand of God. Look at Romans 4, 5. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from words.
See, Paul understood what David was meditating on or celebrating. What David writes is essentially negative, blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin. But positively, Paul understands him to say, blessed is the man to whom the Lord does impute the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Imputed Righteousness in David's Psalm
So, back in 2 Samuel 22, there's no harm nor foul for David to assert his righteousness. Now, as I often do, I survey the commentaries and none of them mention the righteousness of Christ in 2 Samuel 22-21. Gil comments about that much on 2 Samuel 22. He essentially says it's Psalm 18, so you'll read our exposition when we get to Psalm 18.
So I survey all of my commentaries and I had already come to the conclusion that he's got to be speaking of the imputed righteousness of Christ, so of course Gil has to agree. Of course he did. Not that Gil agreed with me. I agreed with Gil.
It's probably the fruit of reading a lot of Gil. So I go to Gil in Psalm 18, verse 20 is the particular verse in question. And Gil says, you know, what it isn't and typical puritanical reformed particular Baptist fashion, what it can't be and what it must be. And he says it could refer to, you know, the course of David's kingdom, the course of David's rule.
And I don't think that's out David, all this stuff would apply to David as the king over Israel. Contra Saul realized that that's probably part of what's happening, too. Remember, this paves the way to the succession narrative in 1 Kings 1 and 2 that Solomon is going to take the throne. What the author's doing in these final chapters is not only setting forth the beauty and the splendor of the reign of King David, but he's also telling us that Saul missed the mark.
Saul was an apostate. Saul was a wretch. So I don't think that's necessarily out of the question, but then Gil on Psalm 18.20 says, Though it is best of all to apply it to Christ, and understand it of His righteousness, which He, as mediator, has wrought out for His people. This is perfect, pure, and spotless, and entirely agreeable to the law of God.
What will bear the sight of God, is satisfying to His justice, is well-pleasing to Him, and is what? He accepts off. and imputes to them that believe in Christ, and by which they are justified from all things." So we have David, the theologian, his understanding of the doctrine of imputation, but we're not left there. We have David's doctrine of atonement. Turn back to 2 Samuel 12. 2 Samuel 12, all this to argue that what Paul is doing in Romans 4 is simply telling us what David already understood.
If we, as Reformed people, believe the only way of salvation for all ages is grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, it would seem odd for us not to believe that believers in the Old Testament understood the basis upon which they stood. The doctrine of penal substitution was taught from the outset. It was taught in the garden. God killed animals in order to clothe Adam and Eve.
He didn't ask the animals to part with their skins. He didn't ask them to unzip so He could take them and put them on Adam and Eve. God killed them. It was a bloody display.
And He takes those skins and He covers Adam and Eve. Genesis 22, rather. What is the lesson on Mount Moriah? Abraham tells Isaac, the Lord will provide.
We end the scene with a ram caught in the thicket that serves as the substitute, takes the place of Isaac. God stays the hand of Abraham from driving a knife into Isaac. The children of Israel were taught substitution. They were taught penal substitution.
When the worshiper went to the tabernacle and cut the throat of the bull and carved up the animal and presented it to the priest, do you think they were just engaged in magic or voodoo? They knew that sacrifice was taking their place. They knew what was happening. They understood.
So for David to have a concept of the imputed righteousness of Christ is not only believable, but it's how we must treat the sacred text. David says as much in Psalm 32. But back here in 2 Samuel 12, notice the doctrine of atonement. Verse 13, so David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord.
And Nathan said to David, the Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Now turn to Psalm 65. Psalm 65.
Again, I think that we ought to understand that David is many things. He wears many hats. One of those hats is theologian. I don't think any of us would disagree that the man who wrote the bulk of the Psalms was a theologian.
I mean, certainly he knew his theology. Notice in Psalm 65, verse 1, Praise is awaiting you, O God, in Zion, and to you the vow shall be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you all flesh will come. Iniquities prevail against me.
As for our transgressions, you will provide atonement for them. You see, David didn't think that it was by his righteousness he stood. He understood that the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, the forgiveness and the pardon of iniquity, the work of the Holy Spirit in his heart and life was the foundation of any righteousness that he had in and of himself. In fact, in Psalm 51, one of his petitions is, take not thine Holy Spirit from me.
He had the Spirit. So the theology of David.
Testimony of Others to David's Righteousness
We have the testimony of others. Jonathan said that he was without sin. Not perfectly, not ever, but in terms of his dealings with Saul. We have the testimony of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25-28.
We have the testimony of God himself in 1 Kings 3, 1 Kings 9, 1 Kings 11, and 1 Kings 14. God constantly highlights the fact that David was indeed righteous. So back in 2 Samuel 22, David is a good man, he is a righteous man. There is a godliness, but the actual fruits of righteousness that he engages in, when he engages in covenant faithfulness, when he engages in kind-heartedness, when he shows hesed to Mephibosheth, when he shows hesed to others around him, flows from the fact that God has justified him freely by His grace.
And so the likely explanation that we find in terms of David's righteousness set forth in this psalm is the imputed righteousness of Jesus, the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, and then the actual acts, the sanctification, the fruits that flow. We know that that faith that justifies it is alone, but it's not alone in terms of all other saving graces are added to us. David was a godly man. David was a faithful man.
David was a righteous man. And barring any of that theological explanation, if you are not so inclined, though I hope that you are because we've seen by David's own testimony and Paul's affirmation as to what David is testifying, that he does speak concerning the imputed righteousness of Christ, there is as well the faithfulness of David that was opposite to the apostasy of Saul. David can say these sorts of things because David is, in fact, a man after God's own heart, justified freely by grace through the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, and as well, as a believer, David had a recognition of the importance of faith and repentance. When David is called out in 2 Samuel 24 for numbering Israel, what does he do?
Does he harden his heart? Is he incorrigible? Does he say, oh no, God, that wasn't me? No, he owns it.
He says he sins against the Lord. When Nathan the prophet comes and rebukes him in 2 Samuel 12, what does he do? Does he harden his heart? Does he stiffen his neck?
He says, I have sinned against the Lord. All of that is absent from Saul. You never see Saul repent. You never see Saul forsake.
You never see Saul say, God, I'm sorry. Have mercy on me. One man says the distinction between Saul and David, between a rejected king and an accepted one, is not that one is a sinner and the other is not. Both are sinners.
Rather, the distinction lies in the very different attitudes to faith and repentance displayed by the two, and at a deeper level still, in the sovereign election of the one, the man of God's own choosing, over the other. And I love the way Matthew Henry describes this point, the fact that David, though a sinner, was not a sinner like Saul. And this jives really with what we saw in the book of Hebrews. Saul is the Hebrews 10, 26 to 31 apostate.
Saul is the man who tramples underfoot the Son of God. Saul is the man who counts the blood of the covenant by which Christ was sanctified as an unclean or rather as a common thing. It's Saul who insults the spirit of grace, not David. David confesses his sins.
David forsakes his sins. David finds mercy from God. So it's not outlandish for him to highlight the fact that he's a righteous man. He's righteous in Christ.
He's kept by the Spirit. He seeks to do those things that are covenantally faithful before the Lord God. Matthew Henry said, though he had sometimes weakly departed from his duty, he had never wickedly departed from his God. That's how he can assert what he asserts here.
All his judgments were before me, and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them. I was also blameless before him, and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his eyes." You see, brethren, as God's people, when we do good things, the Lord sees that. I don't think we as Reformed people always get that.
You know, we hear the eyes of the Lord in every place, beholding the good and the evil, and we hit our kids with that. He's watching you when you're in your room sinning. He beholds the good, too. Those letters to the churches in Asia Minor in the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, they follow a scheme.
There's a pattern to each one. There's certain elements that are consistent throughout. And for the most part, not all of them receive commendation, but several do. In other words, Jesus commends the church in Ephesus, the very church that He indicts for having lost their first love.
Nevertheless, you tested those who said they were apostles and are not. Jesus is pleased with that. Jesus approves of that. And we need to understand that, that in Christ Jesus, the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, God looks favorably upon His people.
And that's a blessed reality, something that David had obviously considered and David rejoiced in. And then he summarizes this section. We may just stop here and look at the last point, God willing, next week. Boy, the time just flies on these Wednesday nights.
David's Relationship with God
But note, in verses 26 to 31, He highlights his relationship with this God. So in terms of his theology, he has been justified freely by grace, he seeks by the Holy Spirit to live in a manner that is consistent with God's Word, he seeks to be a faithful covenantal king, and then he acknowledges this in verse 26, with the merciful you will show yourself merciful, With a blameless man, you will show yourself blameless. With the pure, you will show yourself pure. And with the devious, you will show yourself shrewd.
You will save the humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down." This strikes a similar chord to what we have in Hannah's song in 1 Samuel 2. It's very intriguing. First Samuel 2, Hannah's song. Second Samuel 22, David's song.
There's a lot of similarity and a lot of parallel. They bookend the Samuel narratives very beautifully and very wonderfully. But she has that same sort of emphasis. He raises the poor and he brings down the proud.
And David asserts or highlights this very thing as well. And then notice what he says in verse 29, for you are my lamp, O Lord. The Lord shall enlighten my darkness, for by you I can run against a troop. By my God, I can leap over a wall.
Now, again, I don't know that he's teaching us that this is the way to be a track star. You know, trust in God and you'll be able to pole vault higher than anyone else. It's unfortunate. Philippians 4 is often used this way.
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. You know, you get the Christian bodybuilder that's going to go for the new personal record because Christ strengthens him. I'm not sure that's the way to interpret that or, you know, the chef who says, I'm going to make the best dinner ever because Christ strengthens me. Probably in context has to do with contentedness and, you know, difficult or hard situations.
You know, whether he's a beast or whether he abounds, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He doesn't mean he can, you know, fly to the moon without a rocket or a jetpack. He doesn't mean that, and we ought not to be those kinds of foolish people that think that's what he means. So when he says, for by you I can run against a troop, yeah, we've seen David go into some you know, pretty hairy battles.
By my God, I can leap over a wall. It doesn't say it's a, you know, Trump's wall. It could be a shorter wall. He's got vigor.
He's got energy. He's got strength for battle. He's able to throw down, is what he is saying. But notice this reference in verse 29.
I think in some sense it confirms the theological interpretation that we looked at just a moment ago in terms of David's righteousness. Note he says, for you are my lamp, O Lord. The Lord shall enlighten my darkness. Go back a chapter to 2117.
Verse 21, 17, remember what David's men said. Verse 17, Abishai the son of Zariah came to his aid and struck the Philistine and killed him. Then the men of David swore to him saying, you shall go out no more with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel. Here in his psalm he says, I ain't the lamp of Israel, God's the lamp of Israel.
You are my lamp, O Lord. The Lord shall enlighten my darkness." Vannoy makes this very good observation. When David says in 2229 that the Lord is the lamp that lights up his darkness, the reader is reminded that in the previous chapter, David was referred to by his own warriors as being the light of Israel. A comparison of these two statements suggests that David understood that whatever light his life may project is merely a reflected light.
He had no light to give in and of himself and was Israel's light only to the extent that his own life and reign reflected something of the light of Yahweh. So we interpret our own righteousness, isn't it? because we have some intrinsic goodness. We're reflecting what Christ has done. We're reflecting what the Spirit has wrought.
We're reflecting and working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in us, both to will and to do for His good pleasure. David understands theology, and David knows that he's not the lamp of Israel. God is the lamp of Israel, and David wants to ascribe praise and glory and honor to this God in all of His ways.
Closing Application
Well, we'll stop there and pick up the invincibility of God's kingdom next week in verses 32 to 51. But in summary, I hope that we can see that this is the response of the faithful. This is how God's people are to respond to Him. What we have is a God who delivers us.
What we have is a God who has saved us. What we have is a God who has vindicated us, and we ought to respond in kind. We ought to, with this staccato approach and with this exuberant praise, we ought to go about the business of worshiping God. When we come on the Lord's Day, we ought to sing with gusto and earnestness.
When we take up the hymnal, or when we take up the Psalms of David, let's enter in with David and sing praises to our God. Again, our enemies, our foes, our trials, our difficulties don't look exactly like David's, but nevertheless we have deliverance. Nevertheless, we have freedom. Nevertheless, we have Him as our support, and we can rest assured that He does this because He delights in us.
He delights in us because of Christ. He does this because of what Christ has accomplished on our behalf in His life, His death, and His resurrection. and all those who by grace who look to him in faith receive the forgiveness of sins and imputed righteousness." So with that, let us join the saints in Zion and sing these praises to our God. As well, we ought to appreciate the power, the majesty, and the excellence of God. I don't know how better David could say, your God is great.
Your God is powerful. Your God is majestic. Just read verses 8 to 16 if you ever doubt the power and the majesty of God. This anthropomorphic view, this ascription of God coming in power and in might to do what He does in terms of vindicating His servant really should inspire the terror of the Lord in our hearts.
It ought to present or produce in us that reverence and that godly fear when we consider His greatness and His majesty and His excellence. And then I think a last point of observation is we ought to appreciate the consistency of God. One of the things we'll notice next week, if we looked at Hannah's prayer, in fact let's just do this, hopefully you'll all forget this by next week, just kidding. 1 Samuel 2. Hannah's prayer in verses 1 to 10.
Note specifically verse 10, the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces. From heaven he will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.
Isn't that a beautiful prospectus concerning the coming kingdom? It is prospective. Hannah stands on that side and she says, this is what Yahweh is going to do. 2 Samuel 22 comes and David has a bit of retrospection. This is what Yahweh has done.
Notice in verse 50, therefore I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name. He is the tower of salvation to his king and shows mercy to his anointed. There's the retrospection. But there is perspective with David as well.
The end of verse 51, to David and his descendants forevermore. We ought to appreciate in this psalm the consistency of God. This is grounded and founded upon the covenant promise in 2 Samuel 7. David looks beyond his own reign, his own kingship, to the reality that the Yahweh who had promised to him that from his seed one would raise up and enter into an eternal kingdom where he would rule in righteousness and in justice and with equity over the peoples, that will come to fruition.
That God of David is our God. He is consistent if he delivered David out of every trial, every difficulty. Actually, Davis calls this chapter, his exposition on this chapter, through many dangers, toils, and snares. He lifts that right out of Newton's hymn, right?
Isn't that what Newton said? Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. That's 2 Samuel 22. And if that God of David is the God described by David, he will be thus for us as well.
Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your word, and we thank you for your grace, and we thank you for this psalm given to us by David, and how we pray that you'd help us to sing it, if not corporately, help us to sing it privately. For we have many reasons, many causes, many reasons to praise and honor and glorify you for your deliverance, for rescue, for support, for safety, for security, all these things that David rehearses here. And our God, I pray that you would go with us now and watch over us, watch over all the people in our church, and we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen.