Spirit

2 Samuel 23:2 – “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.

Mark 12:36 – David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

2 Peter 1:21 – For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Application:

• ·         The Messiah was more than a descendant of David—he was David’s Lord.
• ·         Although human authors were actively speaking, “they were carried along by the Holy Spirit”.
• ·         Paul affirms God’s active involvement in the writing of Scripture, an involvement so powerful and pervasive that what is written is the infallible and authoritative word of God.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Last Words Of David

2 Samuel 23:1-2 – These are the last words of David: “The inspired utterance of David son of Jesse, the utterance of the man exalted by the Most High, the man anointed by the God of Jacob, the hero of Israel’s songs: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.

1 Samuel 2:9-10 – He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Psalm 18:50 – He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing love to his anointed, to David and to his descendants forever.

Isaiah 45:1-2 – “This is what the Lord says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

1 Kings 2:2-4 – “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man, and observe what the Lord your God requires: Walk in obedience to him, and keep his decrees and commands, his laws and regulations, as written in the Law of Moses. Do this so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go and that the Lord may keep his promise to me: ‘If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’

Application:

• ·         The first reference in the Bible to the Lord’s anointed—i.e., His anointed king—is found in Hannah’s prayer.
• ·         David views himself as the Lord’s chosen and anointed king.
• ·         “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew for anointed. Cyrus, a foreign emperor, is called “His anointed” just as he is called “my shepherd”, because God has appointed him to carry out a divine commission in his role as king. The servant—Christ—is called “the Anointed One”.
• ·         “Walk in obedience to Him” was a characteristic expression of Deuteronomy for obedience to covenant obligations.
• ·         Both Solomon and his descendants fell short of their covenant obligations.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

His King...His Anointed

2 Samuel 22:51 – “He gives his king great victories; he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed, to David and his descendants forever.”

1 Samuel 2:9-10 – He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

1 Samuel 12:14 – If you fear the Lord and serve and obey him and do not rebel against his commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good!

2 Samuel 7:14-16 – I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”

Application:

• ·         Hannah’s prayer is prophetic, anticipating the establishment of kingship in Israel and the initial realization of the Messianic ideal in David.
• ·         Israel and her king were to demonstrate that although human kingship had been established, they would continue to recognize the Lord as their true King.
• ·         God promised a special relationship would be maintained with the descendant of David whom He would establish on David’s throne.
• ·         “My love” is God’s special and unfailing favor.
• ·         The promise of an everlasting kingdom for the house of David became the focal point for many later prophecies and powerfully influenced the development of the Messianic hope in Israel.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

The Lord Lives!

2 Samuel 22:44-50 – “You have delivered me from the attacks of the peoples; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me. They all lose heart; they come trembling from their strongholds. “The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be my God, the Rock, my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who puts the nations under me, who sets me free from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from a violent man you rescued me. Therefore I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing the praises of your name.

Psalm 18:46 – The Lord lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted be God my Savior!

Psalm 144:2 – He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

Romans 15:8-9 – For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.”

Application:

• ·         God’s interventions and blessings in David’s behalf have shown Him to be the living God.
• ·         My loving God is literally, “my unfailing love”; so called because God is the source of benevolent acts of love that David can count on—just as God can be called “my salvation” because he is the source of salvation.
• ·         God’s greatest and climactic act for Israel’s salvation was the sending of the Messiah to fulfill the promises made to the patriarchs and so to gather in the great harvest of the Gentiles.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

People

2 Samuel 22:44-45 – “You have delivered me from the attacks of the peoples; you have preserved me as the head of nations. People I did not know now serve me, foreigners cower before me; as soon as they hear of me, they obey me.

Isaiah 55:3-5 – Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.”

Application:

• ·         Christ’s resurrection was proof of God’s faithfulness to David.
• ·         David was a witness to the peoples because he exalted the Lord among the nations. David’s Son, the Messiah, is a witness to the peoples because he is a light to the nations.
• ·         The attraction of nations to Zion and to the God of Israel is a major Biblical theme. The nation will be restored physically and spiritually.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Deer

2 Samuel 22:33-43 – It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he causes me to stand on the heights. He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You make your saving help my shield; your help has made me great. You provide a broad path for my feet, so that my ankles do not give way. “I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you humbled my adversaries before me. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the Lord, but he did not answer. I beat them as fine as the dust of the earth; I pounded and trampled them like mud in the streets.

Habakkuk 3:19 – The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

Application:

• ·         “Makes my feet like the feet of a deer” means gives me sure-footed confidence.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Rock

2 Samuel 22:30-32 – With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall. “As for God, his way is perfect: The Lord’s word is flawless; he shields all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except our God?

Matthew 5:48 – Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Genesis 15:1 – After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

1 Samuel 2:2 – “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

2 Samuel 22:2-3 – He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me.

Application:

• ·         Christ sets up the high ideal of perfect love—not that we can fully attain it in this life. That, however, is God’s high standard for us.
• ·         Though Abram was quite rich, God Himself was Abram’s greatest treasure.
• ·         Rock was a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people.
• ·         David had often taken refuge among the rocks of the desert, but he realized that true security was found only in the Lord.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

You...Are My Lamp

2 Samuel 22:24-29 – I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from sin. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight. “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd. You save the humble, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low. You, Lord, are my lamp; the Lord turns my darkness into light.

Ephesians 1:4-6 – For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

Psalm 131:1 – My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.

Psalm 27:1 – The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?

Application:

• ·         Holiness is the result—not the basis—of God’s choosing.
• ·         Pride in humanity’s presumed ability to master the whole creation, design its own moral world and control its own destiny is that which, more than all else, alienates humans from God.
• ·         To say “The Lord is my light” is to confess confidence in Him as the source of well-being or life and salvation.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Spacious

2 Samuel 22:15-23 – He shot his arrows and scattered the enemy, with great bolts of lightning he routed them. The valleys of the sea were exposed and the foundations of the earth laid bare at the rebuke of the Lord, at the blast of breath from his nostrils. “He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my disaster, but the Lord was my support. He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I am not guilty of turning from my God. All his laws are before me; I have not turned away from his decrees.

Job 36:16 – “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

Psalm 26:6-7 – I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar, Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 – Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Psalm 119:32 – I run in the path of your commands, for you have broadened my understanding.

Application:

• ·         With tender compassion, God brings His people back to Himself.
• ·         “Clean hands and a pure heart” are requisite for those who come to God.
• ·         Israel lived serenely in the knowledge that all things and all times were under the rule of one divine King. Such serenity in the midst of the ragings of history and all its seeming chaos remains the precious gift of faith for all who know and trust the God of Israel.
• ·         Love for God and neighbor is built on the love that the Lord has for His people and on His identification with them. Such love is to be total, involving one’s whole being.
• ·         Following the Lord’s commands broadens our understanding.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Mounted The Cherubim And Flew

2 Samuel 22:9-14 – Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his canopy around him—the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence bolts of lightning blazed forth. The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.

Leviticus 16:2 – The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die. For I will appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.

Genesis 3:24 – After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

1 Samuel 2:9-10 – He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Application:

• ·         In the Septuagint the word for “atonement cover” is the same one used of Christ and translated “sacrifice of atonement”.
• ·         Only through God’s redemption in Christ does man have access again to the tree of life.
• ·         Hannah’s prophetic anticipation of a king at the time of the dedication of her son Samuel, who was to be God’s agent for establishing kingship in Israel, is entirely appropriate.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Distress

2 Samuel 22:4-8 – “I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and have been saved from my enemies. The waves of death swirled about me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. “In my distress I called to the Lord; I called out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came to his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, the foundations of the heavens shook; they trembled because he was angry.

Psalm 4:1 – Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.

Psalm 34:6 – This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.

Jeremiah 10:10 – But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.

Psalm 75:3 – When the earth and all its people quake, it is I who hold its pillars firm.

Application:

• ·         David’s distress was the threat of being publicly discredited by the slander of those who blame him for the nation’s troubles.
• ·         “Poor” characterizes not necessarily one who has no possessions but one who is without resources to effect his own deliverance –and so is dependent on God.
• ·         Everything that idols are not, The Lord is.
• ·         When, because of the upsurge of evil powers, the whole moral order of the world seems to have crumbled, God still guarantees its stability.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

My Shield

2 Samuel 22:2-3 – He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me.

Jeremiah 16:19 – Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, worthless idols that did them no good.

Genesis 15:1 – After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

Luke 1:69-75 – He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago), salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us—to show mercy to our ancestors and to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham: to rescue us from the hand of our enemies, and to enable us to serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

Application:

• ·         God is dependable and has the power to protect.
• ·         Though Abram was quite rich, God Himself was Abram’s greatest treasure.
• ·         Jesus, the Messiah from the house of David, has the power to save.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

Rock

2 Samuel 22:2-3 – He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me.

1 Samuel 2:2 – “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.

Psalm 144:2 – He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

2 Samuel 23:3-4 – The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’

Psalm 61:2 – From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

Application:

• ·         David had often taken refuge among the rocks of the desert, but he realized that true security was found only in the Lord.
• ·         Rock was a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people.
• ·         God is the source of benevolent acts of love that David could count on—just as God can be called “my salvation” because he is the source of salvation.
• ·         In brief and vivid strokes David portrays the ideal theocratic king—to be fully realized only in the rule of David’s greater son, Jesus Christ.
• ·         Since God is often confessed by the psalmists to be their “rock of refuge”, it may be that God Himself is that higher “rock” that the psalmist pleads for. Or it may be the secure refuge of God’s sanctuary.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV

So That The Lamp Of Israel Will Not Be Extinguished

2 Samuel 21:17-22:3 – But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to David’s rescue; he struck the Philistine down and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, saying, “Never again will you go out with us to battle, so that the lamp of Israel will not be extinguished.” In the course of time, there was another battle with the Philistines, at Gob. At that time Sibbekai the Hushathite killed Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha. In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan son of Jair the Bethlehemite killed the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod. In still another battle, which took place at Gath, there was a huge man with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot—twenty-four in all. He also was descended from Rapha. When he taunted Israel, Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, killed him. These four were descendants of Rapha in Gath, and they fell at the hands of David and his men. David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior—from violent people you save me.

2 Samuel 23:3-4 – The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me: ‘When one rules over people in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’

1 Samuel 2:1-2,10 – Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God…He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

Application:

• ·         In brief and vivid strokes David portrays the ideal theocratic king—to be fully realized only in the rule of David’s greater son, Jesus Christ.
• ·         The supreme source of Hannah’s joy is not in the child but in the God who has answered her prayer.
• ·         Rock was a metaphor to depict the strength and stability of the God of Israel as the unfailing source of security for His people.
• ·         Hannah’s expectation finds fulfillment in Christ and His complete triumph over the enemies of God.
• ·         David had often taken refuge among the rocks of the desert, but he realized that true security was found only in the Lord.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV