You Will Save the Humble

I was studying about something completely different when I came upon this, and I thought I would share it:

>Now these were the last words of David.

>Thus says David the son of Jesse;
>Thus says the man raised up on high,
>The anointed of the God of Jacob
>And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

>The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,
>And His word was on my tongue.
>The 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
>>And like the light of the morning when the sun rises
>>A morning without clouds,
>>Like the tender grass springing out of the earth
>>By a clear shining after rain.’

>Although my house is not so with God,
>Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
>Ordered in all and secure.
>For this is all my salvation and all my desire;
>Will He not make it increase?
>(2 Samuel 23:1-5)

David gives this incredibly beautiful picture of what the character and quality of a ruler of men should be like, literally what God himself has declared by David’s mouth. Then he goes on to say, basically, “And Lord knows, I’m not like that.”

Yeah. David’s life wasn’t like that at all. It was one long slew of violence and mishap. His first bride was bought with a bride price, a dowry of 200 male foreskins of the neighboring people group. That would be the bride who had no children, or at least, whose children were never counted as David’s. David was chased by his father-in-law like a convicted felon till the day of his death, and his own children were one of the best examples of dysfunctional family until the invention of the modern soap opera. You could never have described David’s life as “Like a morning without clouds.” Clouds were all he ever got.

Yet.
“Yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all and secure.”

Why?
“For this is all my salvation, and all my desire—will he not make it increase?”

That “everlasting covenant” of course, is the promise God made to David through Nathan the prophet, that Israel would never cease to have a descendant of David on the throne. Even when there wasn’t a throne, it was a son of David who was in charge of Israel. The governor of Israel under Darius of Persia was Zerubbabel, a son of David. In fact, in the Jewish mind, without a son of David on the throne, there was no Israel, which is what made life so frustrating from about 200 BC on. After the first Hanukkah, when the Maccabees kicked out the Greeks from Israel, it was the Maccabees who ruled Israel – and the Maccabees were Levites.

This is why everyone so desperately wanted Jesus to “restore the kingdom”: without a son of David on the throne, there was no Israel. Now, spiritually, we know that Jesus is still King of kings and Lord of lords and rules over every kingdom and principality, seated at the right hand of the father. But temporally, since that is how David and everybody else primarily understood it, I’d be willing to wager that every leader in the modern nation of Israel has just happened to be a descendant of David. There’d be no way of proving it, of course. But I’d just betcha.

There’s something about a dynasty that pricks my imagination. It may not be this way with everybody, but there’s just something about the idea of setting up something that will truly last, something that will be “ordered in all and secure,” that really grabs me. Just think—the impossible idea that you could set something up now, that will be in effect, setting to rights the lives of millions, hundreds, or even thousands of years from now. I think that’s a good desire to have. Imagine the writers of the US Constitution, painstakingly setting up the most stable government imaginable, that would bring prosperity and peace to an unprecedented number of people for hundreds of years. Think of William of Normandy, who, after invading England in 1066, determined that England should never be invaded again. He built a system of fortresses every fifty to a hundred miles or so around the entire coast of the British Island. In the nearly 1000 years since then Britain has never been successfully invaded by a foreign army.

But how much greater to be assured of such a heritage by the very word of God? Who could lay hold of such a claim? Surely not the smallest of nations, located at the very crossroads of empires. Nevertheless, David says “This is all my salvation and desire—will He not make it increase?” Like it’s no big deal. Technically, I suppose, for the God of all the universe, it isn’t any big deal. But why give such a promise? David takes it as a given that, not only will God give him this desire, but He will also make it increase—beyond the natural and onto the eternal rule of **the** Son of David. Just because it was David’s desire.

I think the key missing phrase here is “because of His great mercies, because of his everlasting lovingkindness.” David was a man after God’s own heart, and God’s heart was after him. Sometimes, it’s difficult to differentiate between the two. But after all from which God rescued David, and all God brought him through, I think I can point out a key feature of this special relationship David had with his God. You can see it in this verse: “Like the tender grass springing out of the earth by a clear shining after rain.” David’s life wasn’t like a clear morning without clouds, but it was like the grass springing up *after* the rain: soft and tender to the touch.

There’s one last set of verses in the last words of David:

>But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away,
Because they cannot be taken with hands.
But the man who touches them
Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear.
And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.

True, open hearted rebellion before the Lord is like thorns: you just can’t work with it at all. There is no preserving it, no redeeming it. The only solution is to mow it over and throw it into the fire. David’s heart was quite the opposite: soft and pliable before the Lord. Because his heart was open to God’s government, God established his government through him. Just a few verses beforehand, David declares: “You will save the humble people, but your eyes are on the haughty, that you may bring them down.”

Like I said, this idea pricks my heart. I have no fonder desire than to establish a heritage of righteousness in the earth, not something short-lived, but something that will be remembered, both in heaven and on earth as a light and a glory unto God. How could I accomplish this? Well, God has declared it: be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, on a morning without clouds, and Lord knows my life’s not like that. Nevertheless, I will at least be like the tender grass after the rain. I will give what I’ve got, and we’ll see what the Lord will give to me.

Author: KB French

Formerly many things, including theology student, mime, jr. high Latin teacher, and Army logistics officer. Currently in the National Guard, and employed as a civilian... somewhere View all posts by KB French