David, the Sweet Singer of Israel (2 Samuel 23:1)

We are used to brief bios of people, say on the back cover of a book or in a footnote reference to a person mentioned in a text. In such bios, important details about the person are mentioned. In verse 1 of 2 Samuel 23, we have a bio of David placed before an oracle that he made towards the end of his life: ‘The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel.’ What makes this brief bio of further interest is that the person who wrote it was guided by the Holy Spirit to make it. So what does it say? The bio refers to the lowly beginnings of David in the family of Jesse in Bethlehem, and then his ascent to become the king of Israel, a role for which he was anointed by God, before closing with the mention of his activity as a psalmist. There are few bios as good as the one given of David.

It is a striking description of his activity as the psalmist to say that it was sweet. Sweet is a word connected to taste, whether literal or otherwise. Were the words sweet to the ear of the composer of the bio because of David’s ability to use words, or were they sweet to that person’s heart because of the themes that David described? Take Psalm 23. It is a psalm that can be admired for David’s use of illustrations or for how he describes the inner experience of those who belong to the people of God. No doubt, the latter is the best way to recognise the psalm.

What is there about the songs of David that make them sweet to believers? I am sure that many reasons could be given. But here are five that we can think about. They are sweet because he sings about a God of mercy, they are sweet because he wrote about Jesus the Messiah, they are sweet because he sang about forgiveness from God, they are sweet because he refers to a different kind of people that God is forming, and they are sweet because they focus on a living hope, a hope that is not destroyed by the existence of death.

Songs about a God of mercy

We are familiar with the verse of Psalm 103 which says that the Lord our God is merciful and gracious, longsuffering and slow to wrath. Or we have sung the words of Psalm 23 which say that goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives. There are other psalms that mention the divine attribute of mercy. It is worth asking why the Lord is merciful. It is good to know that he is, but will he always be? May he run out of mercy?

The reason that he is merciful to us is because it is the expression and the outcome of his covenant of grace that he has made with sinners to treat them in a particular manner. Mercy is his loving-kindness, more than his pardon. It is his gracious disposition towards us, and David delighted to sing about it repeatedly. What songs can compare to the songs that celebrate divine mercy? It is a reminder to us of the goodness of the Lord to the unworthy.

Songs about Jesus the Messiah

David sings many songs about Jesus. It is possible to compile a life of Jesus from those psalms, beginning with his coming into the world (mentioned in Psalm 40), his birth (mentioned in Psalm 22), his life (described in Psalm 16), his experience on the cross (the focus of Psalm 22), his resurrection (psalm 16), his ascension (Psalm 24), his exaltation (Psalm 110) and his kingdom (Psalm 72). Of course, other psalms refer to those aspects of his life as well.

David sings about the suffering of Jesus and the sovereignty of Jesus. What can we say about them? The sufferings of Jesus on the cross were intense, not mainly from man although they were the ones who pierced him, but from God. The awfulness of the opening words of Psalm 22 gives us an entrance into what took place on the cross, a window as it were into the sufferings of his soul. It is good for us to go there and look, and marvel at the fact that we are called to sing about what was happening to him. Even the possibility of singing with him is a reminder that his sufferings were connected to who we had become as sinners, not merely to what we had done.

Then there are the psalms that remind us of the sovereignty of Jesus, of how he has been given power to reign on behalf of God over the nations. We see details of it in Psalm 72, which tells of the duration of his kingdom (as long as the sun and the moon) and of the extent of his kingdom (from the river (Euphrates] to the ends of the earth). That psalm also describes the nature of his kingdom, how he will help the needy and provide justice for the poor. This is the kingdom of Jesus that exists today, which has been in existence since he ascended, and which will exist until he returns the second time.

Songs about forgiveness

We are all familiar with the sins of David. But why are we told about them because others would have committed the same sins? One answer is that David received forgiveness for his great sins. David knew the truth that all his sins were forgiven, as he urged God’s worshippers to sing, ‘All thine iniquities who doth most graciously forgive.’

In Psalm 32:1-2, David mentions three words that are frequently used for sin in the Bible: ‘Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.’ The three words are transgression, sin and iniquity. What do they mean? Is there a difference of emphasis between them? Transgression means rebellion, sin means to fall short, and iniquity means corrupted or twisted.

David also uses three words to describe what God does with our errors. First, our transgressions are forgiven by him – the word translated as forgiven means a burden that is lifted off a person. That is what forgiveness does. Second, our sin is covered by him – this is a reference to how the blood of a sacrifice covered a person’s failures, a picture of what the sacrifice of Jesus does. Third, our iniquity is not counted by him – this is a term from book-keeping or from the details of debts written in a ledger. David was guilty of many sins. Why are they not in the ledger of heaven? Because a sacrifice has purchased his redemption. He and all other believers have been set free from the awfulness of rebellions and debts. No wonder David wanted to sing about divine forgiveness, and to say in his song that such a person is blessed.

Songs about a people

David looked forward to the expansion of God’s kingdom that would happen when the nations would be gathered in. In Psalm 22:27, he sings about the time when ‘All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.’ He wrote these lines when God’s kingdom was small as far as numbers were concerned. But he knew what the author of Psalm 87 also knew: a day was coming when the people of God would be composed of persons from all over the world, indeed from among those who had been the enemies of God’s people.

We get a hint of this marvellous change in the second psalm where David exhorts those involved in the conspiracy against Jesus to kiss the Son, to embrace him and be reconciled to him instead of experiencing his divine judgement. Of course, the same advice is extended to others who ignore the cross, and indeed when we sing this psalm we are joining with David as his desire for the salvation of God’s enemies is repeated.

We are reminded in those psalms by the sweet singer of Israel that all who are accepted into the kingdom of God were previously the enemies of God, who despised his authority over them, who disobeyed his instructions, who refused to worship him, but who through the message of pardon and restoration contained in the gospel discovered that it was possible for them to taste and see that God is good, that who trusts in him is blest. Of course, since we were once his enemies, it means that there is no place for pride among the people of God, and David the singer often describes them as the needy and the humble.

Songs of hope

It is likely today that most people are desperate for a sense of certainty, of having the assurance that everything will yet work out fine. David had that certainty – he even mentions it in the oracle that follows in this chapter from 2 Samuel. In Psalm 45, he describes the wedding day of the King, the grand occasion when Jesus and his people will be together for ever. As he says about the redeemed in verse 15: ‘With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.’ That is going to be an incredible occasion. We know that the gospel offer is an invitation to the eternal banquet, to come and participate in the endless celebration. What boundless joy will be experienced by those who are there when that awesome day comes.

David tells us more about what will happen in the future as he sings about the basis of his hope. He points out in Psalm 102 that God’s people can look forward to a great inheritance because Jesus will recreate the universe: ‘Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.’ And we can see what is promised to his people when that passage is fulfilled: ‘The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you.’

At the close of Psalm 17, a psalm in which he has lamented the way of life of those who live only for this life, he expresses his own hope: ‘As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness’ (v. 15). He looked ahead to the beatific vision, when he would behold the beauty of the Lord, and do so in a condition of likeness to the Saviour.

Conclusion

The questions that come to us are, ‘Do we regard David as a sweet singer, a spiritual composer, a suitable provider of songs that rise from the hearts of the saints?’ ‘Do we join him in singing about the God of mercy, about Jesus the Messiah, about the wonder of forgiveness of all our sins, about the special people that God is forming for himself, and about the living hope that strengthen our hearts as we live in difficult days?’ 

What wonderful songs he has composed, and they have been sung by millions down the centuries. The situation is that if we have not started doing so, we can begin to do so, even today. We can heed his call to join him and praise the Lord, the great God of salvation, and of the many aspects of his amazing grace.