Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
I love good commentaries. For years now when I find a good one my practice is to read it cover to cover. I often pray for the Lord to show me the equivalent of David's "five smooth stones" in my decisions on which commentaries to read and the ones to skip. Lately, the commentaries on Old Testament history by Gordon Keddie have grabbed me. So I am sharing just the ending summary of 2 Chronicles chapter 15 with all of you. Of course, this would be better in the context of the whole of 2 Samuel, but then I would have to post all 247 pages.
If you will remember chapter 15 is about Absalom's Conspiracy to be king of Israel by forcing out or killing his Father and as many Juralsem's residents necessary to achieve his ungodly goal. David, the most excellent type of Christ ever was indeed a godly man, but he was also a very flawed man. I have cried many tears on this trip through 1&2 Samual–more than ever before.
So out of context, it will be, but this summary spoke volumes to me, and it should do the same for you. May the Lord bless you as you read.
Learning from David
Throughout our study we have seen many points at which basic biblical principles touch our lives. In drawing these threads together and setting them in the overall context of redemptive history as recorded in the whole of Scripture, we should notice two main themes which clothe the lessons of David’s life as a child of God with an immediacy and relevance of vital significance for ourselves today.
We can discern what God is doing in our lives
David was specifically the subject of prophecy (12:10–12). When Absalom so unexpectedly rebelled, he immediately realized that God was dealing with him according to his word through Nathan. Absalom was the evil from his own household and Ahithophel, whom he trusted, was Bathsheba’s grandfather (23:34, 39; 11:3). Did he secretly resent David’s seduction of his granddaughter? David could see the consequences of his sin in the troubles that came upon him. And he saw that it was God’s doing to humble him and bring him to a deeper trust in the Lord.
But how does this apply to us? Surely to reinforce within us a conviction that the sovereign God is holy, that his Word is the truth for faith and life, that he is faithful and loving in his dealings with his believing people, and that we are to learn from his Word and our circumstances so as to humble ourselves under his hand and pray for the blessings of his grace, which he has promised to us by his everlasting covenant.
We are pointed to faith in Jesus Christ
If we are to make sense of Old Testament teaching in our own time (the New Testament era), we must grasp that, rightly understood, it all points us to Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation in him. Without undue spiritualization of the passage, we can surely allow David’s humbling experience to remind us of ‘another King’ who left Jerusalem one evening with a few followers and crossed the Kidron to ascend the Mount of Olives, his soul agitated and his heart turning to prayer. If we learn anything from David, let it be that we must humble ourselves, cast ourselves in repentance on God’s mercy and earnestly give ourselves to prayer—and all explicitly in Christ our Saviour, as it was in type and shadow for David. David truly trusted in Christ for his salvation, but it was at a distance, behind the veil of an as yet incomplete revelation of the Messiah (Acts 2:30–31). But David points us to the New Testament fulness that is now a reality for the human race—to a New Testament holiness in a faith-relationship to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, the one who crossed the Kidron, ascended Olivet and died on Calvary’s cross for his people.
In this perspective, it becomes easy for us to see the gospel meaning of the psalm David wrote about this time:
‘O Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
But you are a shield around me, O Lord;
You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
To the Lord I cry aloud,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.
Arise, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people’
(Psalm 3).
Here is a living faith in the Lord of hosts, a holy confidence in the Son of Man! Here is the Christian’s only boast—the glory of God and the enjoyment of him for ever, in and through Christ Jesus our Lord!
If you will remember chapter 15 is about Absalom's Conspiracy to be king of Israel by forcing out or killing his Father and as many Juralsem's residents necessary to achieve his ungodly goal. David, the most excellent type of Christ ever was indeed a godly man, but he was also a very flawed man. I have cried many tears on this trip through 1&2 Samual–more than ever before.
So out of context, it will be, but this summary spoke volumes to me, and it should do the same for you. May the Lord bless you as you read.
From
Triumph of the King
The message of 2 Samuel
Gordon J. Keddie
Triumph of the King
The message of 2 Samuel
Gordon J. Keddie
Learning from David
Throughout our study we have seen many points at which basic biblical principles touch our lives. In drawing these threads together and setting them in the overall context of redemptive history as recorded in the whole of Scripture, we should notice two main themes which clothe the lessons of David’s life as a child of God with an immediacy and relevance of vital significance for ourselves today.
We can discern what God is doing in our lives
David was specifically the subject of prophecy (12:10–12). When Absalom so unexpectedly rebelled, he immediately realized that God was dealing with him according to his word through Nathan. Absalom was the evil from his own household and Ahithophel, whom he trusted, was Bathsheba’s grandfather (23:34, 39; 11:3). Did he secretly resent David’s seduction of his granddaughter? David could see the consequences of his sin in the troubles that came upon him. And he saw that it was God’s doing to humble him and bring him to a deeper trust in the Lord.
But how does this apply to us? Surely to reinforce within us a conviction that the sovereign God is holy, that his Word is the truth for faith and life, that he is faithful and loving in his dealings with his believing people, and that we are to learn from his Word and our circumstances so as to humble ourselves under his hand and pray for the blessings of his grace, which he has promised to us by his everlasting covenant.
We are pointed to faith in Jesus Christ
If we are to make sense of Old Testament teaching in our own time (the New Testament era), we must grasp that, rightly understood, it all points us to Jesus Christ and the good news of salvation in him. Without undue spiritualization of the passage, we can surely allow David’s humbling experience to remind us of ‘another King’ who left Jerusalem one evening with a few followers and crossed the Kidron to ascend the Mount of Olives, his soul agitated and his heart turning to prayer. If we learn anything from David, let it be that we must humble ourselves, cast ourselves in repentance on God’s mercy and earnestly give ourselves to prayer—and all explicitly in Christ our Saviour, as it was in type and shadow for David. David truly trusted in Christ for his salvation, but it was at a distance, behind the veil of an as yet incomplete revelation of the Messiah (Acts 2:30–31). But David points us to the New Testament fulness that is now a reality for the human race—to a New Testament holiness in a faith-relationship to God through the blood of Jesus Christ, the one who crossed the Kidron, ascended Olivet and died on Calvary’s cross for his people.
In this perspective, it becomes easy for us to see the gospel meaning of the psalm David wrote about this time:
‘O Lord, how many are my foes!
How many rise up against me!
Many are saying of me,
“God will not deliver him.”
But you are a shield around me, O Lord;
You bestow glory on me and lift up my head.
To the Lord I cry aloud,
and he answers me from his holy hill.
I lie down and sleep;
I wake again, because the Lord sustains me.
I will not fear the tens of thousands
drawn up against me on every side.
Arise, O Lord!
Deliver me, O my God!
Strike all my enemies on the jaw;
break the teeth of the wicked.
From the Lord comes deliverance.
May your blessing be on your people’
(Psalm 3).
Here is a living faith in the Lord of hosts, a holy confidence in the Son of Man! Here is the Christian’s only boast—the glory of God and the enjoyment of him for ever, in and through Christ Jesus our Lord!
Keddie, G. J. (1990). Triumph of the King: The Message of 2 Samuel (pp. 147–149). Darlington, England: Evangelical Press.
