Jan 9, 2022. II Samuel 22:1-37

Posted byJohn Sanzone

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DAVID’S LEGACY PSALM. II Samuel 22:1-37. 1/9/2022. #53.

1 Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. 2 And he said:  “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; 3 The God of my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, My stronghold and my refuge; My Savior, You save me from violence. 4 I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. 5 “When the waves of death surrounded me, The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. 6 The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me;

The snares of death confronted me. 7 In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God;

He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears. 8 “Then the earth shook and trembled;

The foundations of heaven quaked and were shaken, Because He was angry. 9 Smoke went up from His nostrils, And devouring fire from His mouth; Coals were kindled by it. 10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down With darkness under His feet. 11 He rode upon a cherub, and flew; And He was seen upon the wings of the wind. 12 He made darkness canopies around Him, Dark waters and thick clouds of the  skies. 13 From the brightness before Him Coals of fire were kindled.  14 “The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice. 15 He sent out arrows and scattered them; Lightning bolts, and He vanquished them. 16 Then the channels of the sea were seen, The foundations of the world were uncovered, At the rebuke of the Lord, At the blast of the breath of His nostrils. 17 “He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. 18 He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me; For they were too strong for me. 19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,

But the Lord was my support. 20 He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me. 21 “The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. 22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. 23 For all His judgments were before me; And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. 24 I was also blameless before Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. 25 Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness in His eyes. 26 “With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; 27 With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. 28 You will save the humble people; But Your eyes are on the haughty, that You may bring them down. 29 “For You are my lamp, O Lord; The Lord shall enlighten my darkness. 30 For by You I can run against a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall. 31 As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him. 32 “For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? 33 God is my strength and power, And He makes my way perfect. 34 He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. 35 He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 36 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great. 37 You enlarged my path under me; So my feet did not slip.

  1. A reflective Psalm (same as Psalm 18)
    1. This psalm = written before the Bathsheba scandal
      1.  David viewed himself as a man of integrity
      1.  David’s confidence in his holiness made him vulnerable to a fall (very subtle; Proverbs 16:18)
    1. vs. 1-4 David declares that God is his refuge, rock, strength, and deliverer
      1.  God had delivered David from Saul and his enemies (Philistines, Ammonites, Israel…)
      1.  God’s protection is the cause of his praise
      1.  David trusts that God will always save him
    1. This can’t be generalized since sometimes God allows his saints to be abused and martyred (Uriah, Abel, Jonathan, Stephen, James…)
      1.  The ultimate deliverance is glorification
      1.  David’s deliverances were God’s will for him
  2. (vs. 5-20) Poetic description of how God defeated enemies
    1. David describes in poetic imagery how God defeated his enemies (thundered, lightning, riding on a cherub, earthquakes, smoke from God’s nostrils, coals of fire, and David being plucked out of dark waters)
      1.  David was surrounded and terrorized)
      1.  God responded when he cried for help
    1. The same description given in Psalm 18
  3. (vs. 21-25) David declares his own righteousness
    1. The Psalm is written pre-Bathsheba
    1. David claims that God delivered him because he is a righteous man (clean and pure)
      1.  David had kept himself from iniquity
      1.  David had followed God’s statutes
      1.  David had sought God and was blameless
    1. David was unaware of several factors that eventually led to his downfall:
      1.  John 15:5, purity does not originate from within man, but it is a gift from God (John 15:5)
      1.  God, and not man, must be given glory and praise for righteousness
      1.  David could not maintain righteousness on his own (not to his credit)
      1.  Holy living is a lifelong endeavor (once David was free from pressure, he dropped guard)
    1. David declares that God repaid him for his purity
      1.  Job 1 Jobs purity was tested and not repaid
      1.  Isaiah 64:6 our purity is polluted before God
  4. (26-28) God repays in kind
    1. David makes a general principle out of his experience
    1. God shows favor to the humble, merciful, and sinless
    1. God deceives and destroys the wicked
      1.  Same argument Job’s neighbors used
      1.  John 9 same logic apostles used with blind man
    1. This logic contradicts what David said in Psalms 2
      1.  The wicked are not always punished on earth
      1.  The righteous aren’t always rewarded here
    1. In other Psalms David recognizes accounting is at end
  5. (32-37) David credits God
    1. David credits God in teaching him war and securing him
    1. He recognizes God’s providence, but his own holiness
    1. (40-46) David describes how God gave him victory over foes
    1. (47-50) David praises God for giving him victory, even over the internal struggles within Israel arrayed against him

(51) He acknowledges God’s mercy to him and his descendants