Song of Praise

 2 Samuel 22:1-51

 

Today we come to the end of our message series on the life of David, and next week we will start on the second half of Matthew’s gospel, which will take us until next Easter. At this juncture, therefore, we will be turning our attention from David to the Son of David, the promised descendent who would fulfill the prophecy of David’s throne lasting forever. You may recall back in 2 Samuel 7, when David wanted to build a temple, that God told him that his son would be the one to do that, but that God would also establish his house or his lineage. The Lord stated it clearly: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.” The Jewish people who recognized Jesus as the Messiah referred to him as the Son of David, for example during the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, when people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” It was an important part of where he had come from, who he was, and how he was identified. And we, too, as believers, have been brought into that eternal House of David that God promised to establish and sustain.

 

As he wrote his account, Matthew was careful to point out how Jesus fulfilled so many Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah. Jesus is the eternal, perfect king that David could never be. As we have studied the life of David, especially the latter part here in 2 Samuel, we have seen just how human he was. His sin with Bathsheba was not the solitary wrong thing that he did, though it was an indication of the lust that was in his heart at times. He certainly made mistakes in raising his children, resulting in much conflict and heartache. That seems to have been the focus of the last several messages in our series. And yet we know that his heart was continually turning to God in repentance, love, and worship. He was indeed “a man after God’s own heart” who recognized his need for forgiveness and grace.

We are not quite to the end of David’s story here in 2 Samuel 22, which we will look at today, but the chronology of the rest of the book is unclear. Chapter 23 starts out with an oracle described as “the last words of David,” affirming his everlasting covenant with God. Then there are some miscellaneous sections describing David’s mighty men and his decision to count them, which he afterward recognized as sinful, since it indicated that he was finding security in the size of his army rather than in the Lord. Then there is the story of David buying a threshing floor in Jerusalem to build an altar to the Lord. This would become the site of Solomon’s temple and could well be the area covered by the Dome of the Rock today.

 

Second Samuel ends with David sacrificing on this altar to end a plague on the people of Israel. He is therefore an old man at the start of the book of 1 Kings, getting close to the end of his life and needing help to stay warm. But he has to face one more challenge in the form of his son Adonijah attempting to usurp the throne, just as Absalom had done. God had already ordained that Solomon would succeed David, so David had him anointed by Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet to thwart the plans of Adonijah. Joab, the commander of David’s army, had sided with Adonijah in this power struggle, so David urges Solomon to finally judge this bloodthirsty man, as well as Shimei the Benjaminite who had cursed David when he was fleeing from Absalom. In this final admonition to Solomon, David urges him to remain faithful to the covenant with God, walking in obedience to him.

 

Then David dies early in chapter 2 of 1 Kings, and Solomon begins his reign, which we know was glorious in many ways but not completely devoted to God, sowing the seeds of the eventual destruction of the monarchy. David had reigned 40 years over Israel, accomplishing so much over his lifetime and coming so far from being a humble shepherd boy, unexpectedly anointed by God to take over from Saul as king. David lived with a sense of God’s divine purposes being worked out through him. He was continually conscious of his own dependence on God, his need for obedience, and his calling to worship and to bring glory to God. These themes come through clearly in 2 Samuel 22, the chapter that we will look at today.

 

This entire chapter is a psalm of praise to the Lord. In fact it is a duplicate of Psalm 18, with only minor differences. There are also many similarities to Hannah’s song, way back in 1 Samuel 2. These two poems therefore act as bookends to this entire narrative of Samuel, Saul, and David as the leaders of Israel. The ideas and principles expressed by Hannah had been passed on to David via her son Samuel. They had informed his life in a way that they had never touched Saul’s. David had apparently composed this psalm earlier in his life, but it indicates that he came back to it again and again. It is included here at the end of his story as a testimony of how he had lived in relationship with God. So let’s begin reading in 2 Samuel 22:

 

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 22:1-3

 

Hannah started her song delighting in the Lord’s deliverance. Similarly David acknowledges the way that God has saved him from his enemies. He begins by singing about God, but by the end of verse 3 he is addressing God directly: “You save me.” Before asking God for anything, it is important to thank him for what he has already done. David offers praise for who God is: strong, secure, unchanging. Hannah described God as her Rock as well, the firm foundation for life. God has a defensive role as a refuge and an offensive role as savior and deliverer. David had many enemies, many people seeking his harm; he was also conscious of the spiritual forces arrayed against him. The Lord was his stronghold.

 

“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. – 2 Samuel 22:4-7

 

Many times in his life David had felt threatened by destruction of one kind or another. He uses these vivid images of waves and torrents and snares to capture his feelings of helplessness and despair when attacked by the forces of evil. Perhaps you can relate to similar emotions when faced with a situation that seems beyond your ability to cope with. Our response should match his: to call out to the Lord, knowing that he will hear us.

The earth trembled and quaked,
    the foundations of the heavens shook;
    they trembled because he was angry.
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. – 2 Samuel 22:8-13

 

It is an awesome thing to have God on our side. He rages against evil in the world. It is good to remind ourselves of this during the times when he seems silent and uninvolved. Deists believe that God created the world and then left it to run by itself, like a clock. What we do is up to us, they say. But the truth is that God is intimately involved in his creation, pursuing his purposes, confronting evil, bringing his salvation. David is using poetic language here to attempt to describe his power and glory.

 

The Lord thundered from heaven;
    the voice of the Most High resounded.
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. – 2 Samuel 22:14-16

 

It is a fearful thing to be under the Lord’s rebuke. Nothing is hidden from him. His perfect justice demands that evil be judged. We may not see this today, but we know it will come in the end. David is also being prophetic in this imagery. The equivalent in Hannah’s song is where she declares, “The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.” David continues,

 

“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. – 2 Samuel 22:17-20

 

David experienced both literal and figurative deliverance. When he was on the run from Saul, for example, the threat of capture was very real at times, and he had to trust God for physical protection. However, there were no actual deep waters that we know of his being rescued from. Sometimes the darkest threats come from within us when we feel weak and vulnerable or oppressed and hopeless. You have no doubt encountered “deep waters” in your life, foes too strong for you, or a day of disaster now and then.

 

The Lord is our rescue and support, as it says here. He wants to bring us into a spacious place of rest and freedom, where we can lose that sense of too much piling in on us at the same time. Sometimes we have to go there by faith, not feeling that sense of release right away. Sometimes he makes darkness his canopy, as it says in verse 12. However, he is with us even in that darkness, and we mustn’t doubt in the dark what he has shown us in the light.

 

It will encourage us to remember that he delights in us. What does this really mean? You are uniquely valuable to him. You bring him joy just by being you, his wonderful creation. He wants to spend time with you and take care of you. He delights in you, just as he did with David.

 

“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.
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. – 2 Samuel 22:21-25

 

This might sound self-righteous. Was David being prideful here – or at least unrealistic? He was not blameless before God, and he knew it. We have all his other psalms where he was burdened by his sin and failure before God, pleading with God for mercy. In Psalm 51 he acknowledges that he was sinful from birth, even from the moment of conception. How can he appeal to his own righteousness here?

 

The only way he could appear clean in the Lord’s sight is because of grace. David knew that he needed to receive forgiveness for the many ways in which he fell short of what God wanted. In Psalm 103 he makes this clear, as he speaks of the grace and mercy of God:

 

He does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us. – Psalm 103:10-12

 

David knew that this was the only way that he could possibly be clean in the Lord’s sight. But receiving grace did not weaken his resolve to keep himself from sin. He knew too well the consequences of going astray. Back to our text in 2 Samuel 22:

 

“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. – 2 Samuel 22:26-27

 

To the faithful you show yourself faithful. It seems clear that this is not a matter of God’s behavior being dictated by ours. He is certainly not blameless because we are blameless. It has to do with our biased perception of his faultless character. People who are not willing to trust God will generally not think of him as trustworthy. Some people see the COVID crisis as a capricious “act of God” in some vaguely wrathful or at least uncaring sense.

 

I have mentioned this before, but I keep coming back to the truth of the line in old hymn, “Like a River Glorious” which says, “They who trust him wholly, find him wholly true.” Jesus told the blind men of Matthew 9 that it would be done to them “according to [their] faith.” We cannot understand how our faith affects what God does, but we can certainly see how it allows us to receive both good and evil from his sovereign hand. How else was David able to tell God (again in Psalm 51), “Let the bones you have broken rejoice”? That is clearly a faith statement. If God is the one who has broken my bones, how can I rejoice in that? It can only be by submitting to his will, which supersedes our understanding at times. Hard things may be part of his plan for us. Hannah recognizes this in her song in 1 Samuel 2:

 

The Lord brings death and makes alive;
    he brings down to the grave and raises up.

The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
    he humbles and he exalts. – 1 Samuel 2:6-7

 

We need to be able to keep trusting him regardless of what comes. He can handle our honest response, as long as we are open and broken before him. But to the devious he shows himself shrewd. He is not fooled by pretense nor deterred by human pride. No one can escape from God, whether they believe in him or not. First Chronicles 28:9 records David’s charge to Solomon:

 

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.” – 1 Chronicles 28:9

 

Our actions need to reflect the condition of our heart. We cannot get away with just “going through the motions.” If God understands our every desire and every thought, we cannot pretend to be devoted to him and expect him to be impressed. If we seek him with a willing mind and wholehearted devotion then we will find him. He will shrewdly counter any of our attempts to be devious. This calls for humility, as see on returning to our text for today:

 

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.
With your help I can advance against a troop;
    with my God I can scale a wall. – 2 Samuel 22:28-30

 

With the right spirit of dependence on him we can accomplish great things for God. He will illuminate our way and empower us against daunting odds. Elsewhere we read that if we humble ourselves before the Lord that in due time he will lift us up, turning our darkness to light. We need to be patient and keep trusting him.

 

“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?
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. – 2 Samuel 22:31-37

 

It’s interesting to note the chiastic structure of just this passage. It begins and ends with a description of God’s way, a perfect and broad path for our feet. It is not always easy, but he is with us to help us. We can work our way inward from there, roughly verse by verse. God shields us as we take refuge in him (verse 31), and his saving help is our shield (verse 36). In a military metaphor he arms us with strength – and trains our hands for battle. And at the center of the passage we have the summit, where we can stand as secure as a nimble deer and see in every direction. The exhilaration of mountaintop experiences is part of his gracious plan for us, too.

 

 “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. – 2 Samuel 22:38-43

 

David recounts how the Lord has given him victory in battle. It was God who had humbled his adversaries before him. Even those who called on the Lord were not saved, reinforcing that prayer is not a magical solution but that God looks on the heart attitude of the person of the person calling on him.

 

“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. – 2 Samuel 22:44-46

 

David had expanded the boundaries of his territory, and Solomon’s empire would be even larger. Israel’s reputation was based on the supremacy of Yahweh over all other gods. Therefore David could refer to himself as “the head of nations,” foreshadowing the rule of Jesus over the whole world. We know that someday in the future, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

 

“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.

“He gives his king great victories;
    he shows unfailing kindness to his anointed,
    to David and his descendants forever.” – 2 Samuel 22:47-51

 

We are included in this last verse, as recipients of God’s unfailing kindness, adopted into the House of David through the anointed Messiah. Therefore we join with David in singing the Lord’s praises among the nations. This is mentioned in several psalms, so it must be important: declaring the glory of the Lord among all the nations of the earth. God’s heart is for the whole world. This theme runs through the entire Bible. Part of God’s covenant with Abraham was that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. We can be a part of that blessing by declaring the glory of the Lord among all nations, especially where he is not known.

 

What does this mean for you and for me? If we seek God the way David did, God will make it clear and show us what we should do. Once again I would like to close with part of a song. Here is the one from Tenth Avenue North that was running through my head last week, the chorus of “Control,” simple and yet powerful. Look it up on YouTube if you don’t know it.

 

God You don't need me
But somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me
Somehow that frees me
To take my hands off of my life
And the way it should go

God You don't need me
But somehow You want me
Oh, how You love me
Somehow that frees me
To open my hands up
And give You control
I give You control