The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, 'He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God, The God of Israel spokeThis phrase emphasizes the divine authority and the sacred origin of the message. The Hebrew word for "God" here is "Elohim," which signifies the supreme deity, the Creator, and Sustainer of all. "Israel" refers to the chosen people of God, descendants of Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel. This highlights the covenant relationship between God and His people. The act of speaking indicates direct communication from God, underscoring the importance and truth of the message being delivered. the Rock of Israel
The term "Rock" in Hebrew is "Tsur," symbolizing strength, stability, and reliability. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, rocks were often seen as symbols of protection and refuge. By referring to God as the "Rock of Israel," the text conveys the idea of God as the unchanging and dependable foundation for His people. This metaphor is used throughout the Old Testament to describe God's enduring faithfulness and protection. said to me
This phrase indicates a personal revelation or message given to the speaker, traditionally understood to be King David. The personal nature of this communication suggests a close relationship between God and His anointed leader. It also implies that the message is not just for the individual but for the people he leads, as it is meant to guide and instruct them. He who rules the people with justice
The Hebrew word for "rules" is "mashal," which means to govern or have dominion. "Justice" is translated from the Hebrew word "tsedeq," which encompasses righteousness, fairness, and moral integrity. This phrase sets a standard for leadership, emphasizing that those in authority are to govern with fairness and righteousness, reflecting God's own just nature. It serves as a reminder that true leadership is accountable to divine standards. who rules in the fear of God
The "fear of God" is a central theme in the wisdom literature of the Bible, often associated with reverence, awe, and respect for God's holiness and authority. The Hebrew word "yirah" conveys this sense of profound respect and acknowledgment of God's power and majesty. Ruling in the fear of God implies that leaders should be guided by a deep respect for God's laws and principles, recognizing their accountability to Him. This phrase underscores the belief that righteous leadership is rooted in a relationship with God and a commitment to His ways. Persons / Places / Events 1. God of IsraelThe one true God, Yahweh, who is the covenant God of Israel, speaking through His chosen servant. 2. Rock of IsraelA metaphorical title for God, emphasizing His strength, stability, and reliability. 3. DavidThe king of Israel, who is recounting the words of God as part of his final words and reflections on leadership. 4. IsraelThe nation chosen by God, to whom these words are directed, emphasizing the importance of just and God-fearing leadership. 5. RulersThose in positions of authority, specifically in the context of Israel, but applicable to all leaders who are called to govern with justice and reverence for God. Teaching Points The Divine Source of AuthorityRecognize that all authority comes from God, and leaders are accountable to Him. Justice as a Hallmark of LeadershipTrue leadership is marked by justice, reflecting God's character and His expectations for those in authority. Fear of God in LeadershipLeaders must govern with a reverent fear of God, acknowledging His ultimate authority and seeking His guidance. Stability in GodJust as God is the Rock of Israel, leaders should be stable and reliable, providing security and trust for those they lead. Legacy of LeadershipConsider the legacy you leave as a leader, ensuring it aligns with God's principles of justice and reverence. Bible Study Questions 1. How does understanding God as the "Rock of Israel" influence your view of His role in leadership? 2. In what ways can you apply the principle of ruling with justice in your own areas of influence, whether at work, home, or community? 3. How does the fear of God shape your decisions and actions as a leader or in your daily life? 4. Reflect on a time when you experienced leadership that was both just and God-fearing. What impact did it have on you? 5. How can you encourage and support leaders in your community to govern with justice and in the fear of God? Connections to Other Scriptures Deuteronomy 17:18-20This passage outlines the requirements for a king in Israel, emphasizing the need for the king to read and follow God's law, which aligns with ruling in the fear of God. Proverbs 8:15-16Wisdom speaks of how kings and rulers govern justly through her, connecting to the idea of ruling with justice. Romans 13:1-4Paul discusses the role of governing authorities as servants of God, reinforcing the concept of ruling with justice and fear of God. Psalm 72:1-2A prayer for the king to rule with justice and righteousness, echoing the themes of 2 Samuel 23:3. People Abialbon, Abiel, Abiezer, Abishai, Adino, Agee, Ahasbai, Ahiam, Ahithophel, Anathoth, Ariel, Asahel, Azmaveth, Baanah, Bani, Benaiah, Benjamin, Benjaminites, David, Dodai, Dodo, Eleazar, Elhanan, Eliahba, Eliam, Elika, Eliphelet, Gareb, Heldai, Heleb, Helez, Hezrai, Hezro, Hiddai, Igal, Ikkesh, Ira, Ithai, Ittai, Jacob, Jashen, Jehoiada, Jesse, Joab, Jonathan, Maharai, Mebunnai, Naharai, Nahari, Nathan, Paarai, Ribai, Shammah, Sharar, Sibbecai, Uriah, Zalmon, Zelek, ZeruiahPlaces Adullam, Anathoth, Bahurim, Beeroth, Bethlehem, Carmel, Gaash, Gath, Gibeah, Gilo, Harod, Jerusalem, Kabzeel, Lehi, Maacah, Moab, Netophah, Pirathon, Tekoa, Valley of Rephaim, ZobahTopics Fear, Justly, Righteous, Righteously, Righteousness, Rock, Ruler, Rules, Ruleth, Ruling, Spake, Spoke, Spoken, UprightDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Samuel 23:3 1240 God, the Rock
8335 reverence, and blessing 2 Samuel 23:1-4 1421 oracles 2 Samuel 23:1-7 5087 David, reign of 2 Samuel 23:2-3 1170 God, unity of 2 Samuel 23:2-4 4354 rock 2 Samuel 23:3-4 1125 God, righteousness
4284 sun
4836 light, and people of God
4855 weather, God's judgment
5366 king
8243 ethics, social Library The Dying King's Last vision and Psalm
'Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and His word was in my tongue. 3. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureA Libation to Jehovah
'And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Beth-lehem, which is by the gate! 16. And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the Lord. 17. And he said, Be it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this; is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The Royal Jubilee
[Footnote: Preached on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.] '... He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. 4. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth, by clear shining after rain.'--2 SAMUEL xxiii. 3, 4. One of the Psalms ascribed to David sounds like the resolves of a new monarch on his accession. In it the Psalmist draws the ideal of a king, and says such …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture David's Dying Song
We shall notice first, that the Psalmist had sorrow in his house--" Although my house be not so with God." Secondly, he had confidence in the covenant--" yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant." And thirdly, he had satisfaction in his heart, for he says--" this is all my salvation, and all my desire. I. The Psalmist says he had sorrow in his house--"Although my house be not so with God." What man is there of all our race, who, if he had to write his history, would not need to use a great …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: 1855 Covenanting Sanctioned by the Divine Example.
God's procedure when imitable forms a peculiar argument for duty. That is made known for many reasons; among which must stand this,--that it may be observed and followed as an example. That, being perfect, is a safe and necessary pattern to follow. The law of God proclaims what he wills men as well as angels to do. The purposes of God show what he has resolved to have accomplished. The constitutions of his moral subjects intimate that he has provided that his will shall be voluntarily accomplished …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Christian's Book
Scripture references 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21; John 5:39; Romans 15:4; 2 Samuel 23:2; Luke 1:70; 24:32,45; John 2:22; 10:35; 19:36; Acts 1:16; Romans 1:1,2; 1 Corinthians 15:3,4; James 2:8. WHAT IS THE BIBLE? What is the Bible? How shall we regard it? Where shall we place it? These and many questions like them at once come to the front when we begin to discuss the Bible as a book. It is only possible in this brief study, of a great subject, to indicate the line of some of the answers. …
Henry T. Sell—Studies in the Life of the Christian Thoughts Upon the Appearance of Christ the Sun of Righteousness, or the Beatifick vision.
SO long as we are in the Body, we are apt to be governed wholly by its senses, seldom or never minding any thing but what comes to us through one or other of them. Though we are all able to abstract our Thoughts when we please from matter, and fix them upon things that are purely spiritual; there are but few that ever do it. But few, even among those also that have such things revealed to them by God himself, and so have infinitely more and firmer ground to believe them, than any one, or all their …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life The Truth of God
The next attribute is God's truth. A God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is he.' Deut 32:4. For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.' Psa 57:10. Plenteous in truth.' Psa 86:15. I. God is the truth. He is true in a physical sense; true in his being: he has a real subsistence, and gives a being to others. He is true in a moral sense; he is true sine errore, without errors; et sine fallacia, without deceit. God is prima veritas, the pattern and prototype …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting The Work of the Holy Spirit in Prophets and Apostles.
The work of the Holy Spirit in apostles and prophets is an entirely distinctive work. He imparts to apostles and prophets an especial gift for an especial purpose. We read in 1 Cor. xii. 4, 8-11, 28, 29, R. V., "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.... For to one is given through the Spirit wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; and to another workings …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament The Deity of the Holy Spirit.
In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite person? Is He God? This question also is plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments five distinct and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy Spirit. I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is ascribed to the Holy Spirit. What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity, omnipresence, …
R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit How is Christ, as the Life, to be Applied by a Soul that Misseth God's Favour and Countenance.
The sixth case, that we shall speak a little to, is a deadness, occasioned by the Lord's hiding of himself, who is their life, and "the fountain of life," Ps. xxxvi. 9, and "whose loving-kindness is better than life," Ps. lxiii. 3, and "in whose favour is their life," Ps. xxx. 5. A case, which the frequent complaints of the saints manifest to be rife enough, concerning which we shall, 1. Shew some of the consequences of the Lord's hiding his face, whereby the soul's case will appear. 2. Shew the …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life Thoughts Upon the Mystery of the Trinity.
THOUGH there be many in the World that seem to be Religious, there are but few that are so: One great Reason whereof is, because there are so many Mistakes about Religion, that it is an hard matter to hit upon the true Notion of it: And therefore desiring nothing in this World, so much as to be an Instrument in God's Hand to direct Men unto true Religion, my great Care must, and, by the Blessing of God, shall be to instil into them right Conceptions of him, that is the only Object of all Religious …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life The Covenant of Grace
Q-20: DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH 1N THE ESTATE OF SIN AND MISERY? A: No! He entered into a covenant of grace to deliver the elect out of that state, and to bring them into a state of grace by a Redeemer. 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' Isa 55:5. Man being by his fall plunged into a labyrinth of misery, and having no way left to recover himself, God was pleased to enter into a new covenant with him, and to restore him to life by a Redeemer. The great proposition I shall go …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Samuel 23:3 NIV2 Samuel 23:3 NLT2 Samuel 23:3 ESV2 Samuel 23:3 NASB2 Samuel 23:3 KJV
2 Samuel 23:3 Commentaries
Bible Hub |
