David’s Final Words
23:1 These are the final words of David: “The oracle of David son of Jesse, the oracle of the man raised up as the ruler chosen by the God of Jacob, Israel’s beloved singer of songs:
The next appendix gives not the final words of King David, but the final “oracle of David.” The Hebrew word for “oracle” is דָּבָר (dabar), meaning the final message, speech, or words of David. David also introduced himself as a beloved singer of songs. Many of his songs were prophetic and placed in the canon of Scripture by the Holy Spirit.
David introduced himself as “the son of Jesse,” meaning that he was a peasant shepherd. However, God took this peasant shepherd, anointed him, and chose him to be the most powerful and most righteous king who has ever lived.
23:2 The Lord’s spirit spoke through me; his word was on my tongue.
All of David’s oracles that were recorded in Scripture were inspired by the Holy Spirit. David wrote with his own human personality what the Holy Spirit wanted to express from this side of heaven.
23:3 The God of Israel spoke, the protector of Israel spoke to me. The one who rules fairly among men, the one who rules in the fear of God, 23:4 is like the light of morning when the sun comes up, a morning in which there are no clouds. He is like the brightness after rain that produces grass from the earth.
David was not only a king, but he was a prophet as well. God spoke through David. David wrote this divine revelation down and many have read it throughout the centuries.
Jehovah protects Israel. This is why they are still here, even though the entire Gentile world has attempted to exterminate them.
Whatever Jehovah does is right. Anyone who disagrees with Him is wrong. His divine revelation can only be found today in the Bible. There is no other source of divine revelation on earth.
David was a king who ruled in the fear of God. Politicians no longer rule this way. They rule in fear of the voters. If a political ruler did rule in the fear of God, then he would bring light to the dark world in which other politicians have created. He would produce flowers across the earth.
David was a very good musician who knew how to use figures of speech to convey a literal concept. Many skeptics like to take the similes and metaphors of the Bible and use them literally to make the Bible look silly. This is silly bias. Skeptics like this show the world that they do not know the first thing about biblical hermeneutics.
23:5 My dynasty is approved by God, for he has made a perpetual covenant with me, arranged in all its particulars and secured. He always delivers me, and brings all I desire to fruition.
The dynasty of David was approved by the Davidic Covenant. God promised David that He would produce a human seed who would eventually become virgin born as the Messiah.
23:6 But evil people are like thorns –all of them are tossed away, for they cannot be held in the hand.
David ran across many evil people in his lifetime. They were like thorns that people would step on while walking barefooted. These thorns were good for nothing. They caused pain to the foot, until one removed the thorn and threw it away. God will take all of the thorns out of the satanic world system and throw them into the Lake of Fire.
23:7 The one who touches them must use an iron instrument
or the wooden shaft of a spear. They are completely burned up right where they lie!”
Evil men are continually being removed from this earth and transported to hell. The entire population of evil people will be removed at the end of the Great Tribulation. There will be some evil people born during the Millennial Kingdom. God will give them 1,000 years of life to turn to Him. If they are still rebellious towards God at 1,000 years, then He will execute them.
David’s Warriors
23:8 These are the names of David’s warriors:
Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was head of the officers. He killed eight hundred men with his spear in one battle.
The next appendix gives the names of David’s mighty men. There are three sets of men listed. The first set lists “the three.” The second set lists two more honored than “the thirty.” The third set lists “the thirty.” The thirty were David’s personal guards. As some of the thirty died, then they were replaced with new recruits. This is why the number appears more than thirty in this text. It was listed in a more detailed list in 1 Chronicles 11:41-47.
These men came to David when he was in the wilderness running from Saul. They were the outcasts of society and enemies of King Saul. They had lost property, failed to paid taxes, or fell out of favor with Saul. David took these outcasts, very much like Jesus took the disciples, and turned them into a righteous fighting corps. David was much like a Robin Hood leader, while his men were knights in shining armor with a code of chivalry. There was no unit like this anywhere in ancient history at this time. The knights of chivalry in the Middle Ages learned and trained from this example.
Josheb-Basshebeth was the first of the three mentioned. The text says that he killed 800 men with a spear, but 1 Chronicles 11:10 stated that he killed 300. One of them is a copyist error. Skeptics like to call this a bible contradiction, but only the original copies were inspired and inerrant.
23:9 Next in command was Eleazar son of Dodo, the son of Ahohi. He was one of the three warriors who were with David when they defied the Philistines who were assembled there for battle. When the men of Israel retreated, 23:10 he stood his ground and fought the Philistines until his hand grew so tired that it seemed stuck to his sword. The Lord gave a great victory on that day. When the army returned to him, the only thing left to do was to plunder the corpses.
Eleazar was the second of the three. When Israel retreated, he stayed and fought the Philistines until his hands grew tired.
23:11 Next in command was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines assembled at Lehi, where there happened to be an area of a field that was full of lentils, the army retreated before the Philistines. 23:12 But he made a stand in the middle of that area. He defended it and defeated the Philistines; the Lord gave them a great victory.
The third of the three was Shammah. The Philistines had plundered the food supply of Israel. Food was very important during war and famine. Shammah defended a field full of lentils from an entire Philistine army.
23:13 At the time of the harvest three of the thirty leaders went down to David at the cave of Adullam. A band of Philistines was camped in the valley of Rephaim. 23:14 David was in the stronghold at the time, while a Philistine garrison was in Bethlehem. 23:15 David was thirsty and said, “How I wish someone would give me some water to drink from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate!” 23:16 So the three elite warriors broke through the Philistine forces and drew some water from the cistern in Bethlehem near the gate. They carried it back to David, but he refused to drink it. He poured it out as a drink offering to the Lord 23:17 and said, “O Lord, I will not do this! It is equivalent to the blood of the men who risked their lives by going.” So he refused to drink it. Such were the exploits of the three elite warriors.
Three of the thirty leaders invaded the Philistine camp just to bring David a drink of water. This historical event was recorded by the Holy Spirit to show the great love that these men possessed for David. David took these men as outcasts and turned them into an elite and righteous military force who used their military skills for good. They never lost a battle.
23:18 Abishai son of Zeruiah, the brother of Joab, was head of the three. He killed three hundred men with his spear and gained fame among the three. 23:19 From the three he was given honor and he became their officer, even though he was not one of the three.
Abishai was the brother of Joab. Joab was not mentioned as one of the three, because he was commander of the Israelite army. Joab and Abishai were very strong warriors who were completely loyal to David.
23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoida was a brave warrior from Kabzeel who performed great exploits. He struck down the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in a cistern on a snowy day. 23:21 He also killed an impressive-looking Egyptian. The Egyptian wielded a spear, while Benaiah attacked him with a club. He grabbed the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 23:22 Such were the exploits of Benaiah son of Jehoida, who gained fame among the three elite warriors. 23:23 He received honor from the thirty warriors, though he was not one of the three elite warriors. David put him in charge of his bodyguard.
Benaiah was another feared warrior who killed a lion in the snow. Most modern Christians will not even go to church in the snow. Benaiah was placed in charge of David’s personal bodyguard.
23:24 Included with the thirty were the following: Asahel the brother of Joab, Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem, 23:25 Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 23:26 Helez the Paltite, Ira son of Ikkesh from Tekoa, 23:27 Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 23:28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 23:29 Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah in Benjamin, 23:30 Benaiah the Pirathonite, Hiddai from the wadis of Gaash, 23:31 Abi-Albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 23:32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan 23:33 son of Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite, 23:34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai the Maacathite, Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 23:35 Hezrai the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 23:36 Igal son of Nathan from Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 23:37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite (the armor-bearer of Joab son of Zeruiah), 23:38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite 23:39 and Uriah the Hittite. Altogether there were thirty-seven.
David’s thirty men were a special operations unit. The list is longer than thirty, because some of the men died and were replaced by others. 1 Chronicles 11 gives a more complete replacement list of 55 names. The second list was possibly written later. It may have included the names of replacement soldiers.