Menu

2 Samuel 22:17-31- The Words of Christ

Some read verses 21-25 and say: Well this must be David writing before he had Uriah killed and stolen his wife. Others would say – rightly – that it’s not necessarily a claim to sinless perfection, but it’s just a claim not to be guilty of what he’s being accused of. And yet is this language that any of us would be comfortable using of ourselves? ‘The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.’ Surely the gospel tells us that the LORD rewards us according to Jesus’ righteousness, not our own?

This psalm doesn’t contradict that. Because Jesus is the one who the New Testament authors believed was speaking in this song. Yes, David writes the words. On one level they’re a description of him. But on a deeper level they’re a description of his great descendant, Jesus Christ. Part of verse 3 is quoted in Hebrews 2:13 as the words of the Lord Jesus. Then verse 50 is quoted in Romans 15:9 as Jesus praising God among the Gentiles. And if the New Testament authors, guided by the Holy Spirit, saw the beginning and the end of this song as about Jesus, then it’s natural to understand that he is ultimately the one speaking throughout the psalm. People sometimes say to us: If we just sing the psalms, then we never get to sing about Jesus. But that’s not the way the New Testament writers saw them. In the psalms we not only get to sing about Jesus, we get to sing the very words of Jesus. We get to sing his emotions. In fact, the second last line of the chapter says that the LORD shows steadfast love to his anointed, and that word anointed is where we get the word Messiah from. This psalm is the LORD speaking about his Messiah, and ultimately that’s Jesus. That explains the dramatic language used to describe his rescue. That explains the claim that he will be rewarded for his righteousness.

With Jesus in view, the language of verses 5 and 6 can be understood as speaking not simply of a near-death experience, but of his actual death. It becomes the language of God raising Jesus from the dead. Try reading verses 17 through 19 thinking of Jesus’ resurrection.

Question

  1. Who is ultimately speaking in this psalm?

Prayer Points

  1. Give thanks for Christ’s resurrection.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.