RE-RUN -- The Ending, a Reminiscence
These are the last words of David:
2 Sam 23:1-8
"The oracle of David son of Jesse,
the oracle of the man exalted by the Most High,
the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
Israel's singer of songs:
"The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me;
his word was on my tongue. The God of Israel spoke,
the Rock of Israel said to me:
'When one rules over men in righteousness,
when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise
on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain
that brings the grass from the earth.'
"Is not my house right with God?
Has he not made with me an everlasting covenant,
arranged and secured in every part?
Will he not bring to fruition my salvation and grant me my every desire?
But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns,
which are not gathered with the hand. Whoever touches thorns
uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear;
they are burned up where they lie."
These are the names of David's mighty men:
NIV
After a short psalm (II Samuel 23:2-7), that Gad tells us are the last words of David, Gad seems to change the subject. The next verse is
2 Sam 23:8
These are the names of David's mighty men:
What?! Don't you want to ask, "Wait? David's last words ... then you change the subject and add a chapter that you - what? - forgot to put somewhere earlier in the book?"
But I think Gad knew exactly what he was doing. As I said, I think II Samuel ends as it does not because like some absent-minded scribe he just never got around to finishing David's story. Rather, I suspect that Gad ~ the seer and friend of David, the seer that I think authored the books of I and II Samuel ~ finished the book and thereby the story of David after reminiscing with with David about the "good old days".
Can you see them? David propped up in his bed, Gad sitting nearby ~ two old men sipping wine, now laughing till the tears drip from their beards, then in the next minutes calling forth memories that they soberly recount in hushed tones as if the ghosts of their fallen friends rise to haunt the room they whisper in. I think Gad came away shaken by the love he had for his dear friend, and by deep precognitive grief at David's death. Having walked with David, all the way since the days at Adullam, he had to be well aware that David's failings and weaknesses might mar the memory of this complex warrior, king, and friend of God. So he finishes this book, this epic of a warrior king, with stories.
If you want to know a man and know his mettle, look at those men and women who people his life. Study his friends, see who admired him, who loved him. Examine the lives of those around him. Ask, "What do people become when they walk out their days with this man?"
That is what I see, here at the end of II Samuel ~ not the grey, melancholy bedside of a dying king, but stories that tell the measure of this man, David ~ a man after God's own heart. 1
What are the men like who were his comrades in arms? They are his monument, they are his magnum opus. Here I think we have recounted Gad's favorite story ~ the men and the story that I think, for Gad, defined David.
2 Sam 23:8-12
Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; it was Adino the Eznite who killed eight hundred men, he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.
You loose a lot in translation here. "A Tahkemonite" literally means "the sagacious or very wise one". Then we get his nic-name and the reason for it. {SO glad I looked this one up!} "Adino the Eznite" literally means "the slender spear" because ... he raised his spear against 800 men whom he killed in one encounter. Umm . . . he killed 800 men . . . with a spear. Now I am no warrior, but I think that means 'stab, pull out the spear -- stab, pull the spear out the other side, stab, pull out the spear . . . again again again . . . 800 times' !!! Of course he was nic-named "The Spear"! The one who sat as chief of David's three top men was "The Wise One, the Slender Spear"!
Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite. As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered [at Pas Dammim] for battle. Then the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day. The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.
Can't you hear Gad and David laughing and still awestruck. He literally fought till his hand had frozen around the sword. All the other warriors retreat, everyone but Eleazar. He just keeps fighting. The word : tenacious, it comes from the Latin word tenācitās that means "holding fast". Right?? How long did it take? All day? He fights till ALL the Philistines are dead. The men who stood with David were tenacious. Don't you want men who are that tenacious beside you?
Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel's troops fled from them. But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.
Today it might sound a bit lame, especially when set beside the accounts of Eleazar and Josheb-Basshebeth, that Shammah defended a field of lentils. I mean, come on! a field of lentils? But this epitomized the fight Israel had been having with the Philistines since the days of the judges. The strategy of the Philistines was 'let the Israelis sow their fields, water them, and weed them -- then when it is time to harvest ~ strike then! When the rest of the troops saw the Philistine warriors, they said, "It is just a field of lentils". But Shammah knew when to hold on and fight, he knew what battles were worth his life, and Shammah said, "NO! This is our sweat and our tears. This is the food for our children. This is our life."
Then, what I think was Gad's favorite story: This story tells not just who these 3 warriors were, but who David was.
2 Sam 23:13-17
During harvest time, three of the thirty chief men came down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem. David longed for water and said, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the LORD. "Far be it from me, O LORD, to do this!" he said. "Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?" And David would not drink it.
NIV
I get choked up every time I read this.
"the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem". It must have galled David: here he hides in a cave out in Nowheresville Adullam, hiding both from Saul and from the Philistines, . . . and his enemy sits garrisoned at his home. Perhaps David had been recounting stories from when he was a boy. Wistfully, idly, maybe even under his breath David says, "Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!" And these three men catch each others' eyes and silently pact, "Let's do it!" and they DO! They sneak past guards, scurry, hearts beating with exhilaration liberally seasoned with fear, and they return with a skin of water fresh from the well near Bethlehem's gate. Does David cheer? Does he grab the skin, guzzle it down, laughing in glee? Does he congratulate these men on their daring? No. He freezes. Then he pours out this precious gift as a sacrifice to God in worship telling the men "this is not water...this is your very blood, a gift too dear for me. I am not worthy ... only God is worthy."
This is the story that epitomizes David. This story shows you the men in David's life and the reason that men of this mettle follow him. This is what Gad wanted us to remember.
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