Last Years of David
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“David the son of Jesse saith,
And the man who was raised on high saith,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me: ...
One that ruleth over men righteously,
That ruleth in the fear of God,
He shall be as the light of the morning, when the
sun riseth,
A morning without clouds;
When the tender grass springeth out of the earth,
Through clear shining after rain.
Verily my house is not so with God;
Yet He hath made me an everlasting covenant,
Ordered in all things, and sure:
For it is all my salvation, and all my desire.”
2 Samuel 23:1-5
, R.V.
Great had been David’s fall, but deep was his repentance, ardent
was his love, and strong his faith. He had been forgiven much, and
therefore he loved much.
Luke 7:47
.
The psalms of David pass through the whole range of experience,
from the depths of conscious guilt and self-condemnation to the lofti-
est faith and the most exalted communing with God. His life record
declares that sin can bring only shame and woe, but that God’s love
and mercy can reach to the deepest depths, that faith will lift up the
repenting soul to share the adoption of the sons of God. Of all the as-
surances which His word contains, it is one of the strongest testimonies
to the faithfulness, the justice, and the covenant mercy of God.
Man “fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not,” “but the word of
our God shall stand forever.” “The mercy of Jehovah is from everlasting
to everlasting upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness unto
children’s children; to such as keep His covenant, and to those that
remember His commandments to do them.”
Job 14:2
;
Isaiah 40:8
;
Psalm 103:17, 18
.
“Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever.”
Ecclesiastes 3:14
.