2 Samuel 23:1

Now these [be] the last words of David,.... Which refer not to the psalm in the preceding chapter, but to what follows; not the last words he spoke, for he said many things afterwards; for the advice

Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, Now these be the last words of David.

2 SAMUEL CHAPTER 23 David’ s last words: a character of himself; of a good ruler, and his usefulness, . His faith on God’ s covenant with him, . Destruction to the wicked, ,7. David’ s worthies and their valiant acts, . The last words of David; not simply the last that he spoke, but some of the last uttered in his last days upon the approach of his death; or the last which he spoke by the Spirit of God, assisting and directing him in an extraordinary manner. Raised up on high; advanced from an obscure family and estate to the kingdom. The anointed of the God of Jacob; whom, though despised by men, and rejected by his own brethren, God himself singled out from all his father’ s house, and out of all the families and tribes of Israel, and anointed to be king. The sweet psalmist of Israel; or, sweet, or delightful, or amiable in the songs of Israel: either, first, As the object of them; he whom the people of Israel mentioned in their songs with joy and praise, as when they sung, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands; and many others which doubtless they made and sung concerning him, upon the occasion of his eminent victories, and the blessings of his wise and righteous government; some whereof we have in the Book of Psalms. Or, secondly, As the author of them, he who was eminent and famous among the people of God for the composing of sweet and holy songs to the praise of God, and for the use of his church in after-ages; for he did not only indite most of the Book of Psalms, by the direction of God’ s Spirit; but also invented the tunes, or appointed tunes to which they were to be sung, and the instruments of music which were used in and with those holy songs, ,6 Amos 6:5. If the expressions here used seem arrogant, and not fit to be said by David in his own praise, let it be considered, first, That holy men spake by inspiration from God; and therefore must follow his suggestions impartially, as indeed they do sometimes in the publishing their own praises; which yet is never done unnecessarily, and always moderately; and sometimes in the publishing of their own infirmities and shame, as they are moved thereunto, and as the edification of the church requires. Secondly, That these seem not to be the words of David, but of the sacred penman of this book, to make for and gain the greater attention and respect unto David’ s following words.

2 Samuel 23:1 Now these [be] the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man [who was] raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,Ver. 1. Now these be the last words of David.] The last he set down as a penman of holy writ, and as divinely inspired. This was his swanlike song; Davidis novissima; wherein he doth, in few words but full of matter, acknowledge God’ s benefits, confess his sins, profess his faith, comfort himself in the covenant, and denounce destruction to unbelievers. So that we may well say of this piece of Scripture, as Cicero did of Brutus’ s laconical epistle, Quam multa quam paucis! How much in a little! Some think that they were his very last solemn words that he uttered, though here set down. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high.] Though raised up to regal majesty, yet as not ashamed of his mean parentage and the obscurity of his family; saying in effect as Iphierates afterwards did, εξοιωνειςοια, from what a low estate am I advanced to this height of honour! The sweet psalmist of Israel.] Sweet indeed: for in his psalms are amulets of comfort, as one well saith, more pleasant than the pools of Heshbon, more glorious than the tower of Lebanon, more redolent than the oil of Aaron, more fructifying than the dew of Hermon. One touch of the son of Jesse, one murmur of this heavenly turtle dove, one michtam of David’ s jewel, is far above the buskined raptures, garish phantasms, splendid vanities, pageants and landscapes of profaner wits. Quum iamiam esset moriturus. - Jun. The divine cosmographer.

(1) The son of Jesse said.—The description of the human author of the following prophecy is strikingly analogous to that of Balaam in Numbers 24:3-4; Numbers 24:15-16. The word “said,” used twice, is a peculiar form (used between two hundred and three hundred times) of direct Divine utterances, and applied to human sayings only here, in the places referred to in Numbers, and in Proverbs 30:1, in all which special claim is made to inspiration. The sweet psalmist of Israel.—Literally, He that is pleasant in Israel’s psalms, i.e., by the composition and arrangement of Israel’s liturgical songs he was entitled to be called “pleasant.” David, with life now closing, fitly sends down this prophetic song to posterity with such description of its human writer as should secure to it authority.

CHAPTER XXIII The last words of David, 1-7. The names and exploits of has thirty-seven worthies, 8-39. NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII Verse 1. These be the last words of David.] I suppose the last poetical composition is here intended. He might have spoken many words after these in prose, but none in verse. Other meanings are given; this I prefer. The words of this song contain a glorious prediction of the Messiah's kingdom and conquests, in highly poetic language. The sweet psalmist of Israel] This character not only belonged to him as the finest poet in Israel, but as the finest and most Divine poet of the whole Christian world. The sweet psalmist of Israel has been the sweet psalmist of every part of the habitable world, where religion and piety have been held in reverence.

Ch. 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.

The last words of David - i. e., his last Psalm, his last “words of song” 2 Samuel 22:1. The insertion of this Psalm, which is not in the Book of Psalms, was probably suggested by the insertion of the long Psalm in 2 Sam. 22.

1. Oracle — Divine saying; a prophecy. This introduction is modeled after the sayings of Balaam in Numbers 24:3-4; Numbers 24:15-16.