000 Allen FMT (i-xxii) - The Presbyterian Leader

206 Proper 29 [34]/Year B
Proper 29 [34]/Year B
Reign of Christ
2 Samuel 23:1–7+ (Semicontinuous)
The last recorded words of a major figure in antiquity were often important
because they summed up major themes from that person’s life (e.g.,
Propers 25/Year A, 27/Year A, and 16/Year B). Today’s text presents the
last words of David as interpreted by the Deuteronomic theologian
(Proper 17/Year B).
In 2 Samuel 23:1 the authors remember that God appointed David by
taking him from a shepherd’s life and making him monarch of all Israel.
David was anointed by Samuel at the behest of God, who raised David
over Saul and preserved him on the throne despite challenges to his rule.
As ruler, however, David should be responsible for fulfilling the obligations
of the monarch set forth in Deuteronomy 17:14–20.
In 2 Samuel 23:2a, David uses language that usually comes from a
prophet. The writers present David as implicitly acknowledging that the
monarchy is responsible to prophetic evaluation, a perspective the writers
would like for the postexilic community to incorporate into their reconstitution
of the nation. These themes become explicit in 2 Samuel 23:3.
When David describes God as a rock, he calls to mind the idea that God
is a fortress or stronghold. If the community wants the security implied by
living in a fortress, they need a sovereign who “rules over the people justly,
ruling in the fear of God.” The editors want the community to be led by
one who practices the behaviors prescribed in Deuteronomy and who has
the deep sense of religious awe described in that book. The narrators compare
this rule to the light and sun of morning, gleaming from the rain on
a grassy land (23:4), gently evoking the idea that the practice of justice in
community restrains chaos and aims toward blessing for all.
There is an ironic dimension in 2 Samuel 23:5. While David may think
of the promise of God triumphalistically, the reader recalls that in
2 Samuel 7 this everlasting promise is not only to sustain the Davidic lineage
but to discipline the community in the hope that it will repent and
embody justice (see Fourth Sunday of Advent/Year B). Indeed, David’s
statement in 23:6–7 foreshadows aspects of what will happen to the people
of Israel and Judah as their behavior leads them toward exile.
Some Jewish authors in the first century CE believed that David spoke
the psalms through the Spirit. Matthew 22:43 interprets 2 Samuel 23:2 in
saying that the Spirit led David in Psalm 110:1 (quoted in Matt. 22:44) to