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2 Samuel 22:8-20 – An Exodus Rescue

We have this hugely dramatic description in verses 8-16 of what God has done. And yes we know there is rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. But is this description not a bit over the top as a description of God intervening to save us – or even to save David? There are two ways to answer that. The first way is to say that, as someone has put it, ‘David doesn’t merely want to tell you a fact about Yahweh, he wants you to see Yahweh in all his saving fury’. The words: ‘The Lord delivered me’ would express truth. But the dramatic language of verses 8-16 does more than express truth. It impresses truth on us. May God save us from the danger of cold and clinical descriptions of him. More and more may we have a sense of his utter majesty as we have it on display here, his power, his grandeur, his magnificence. This is our God! And this is how he acts. Let these descriptions stir you!

But still, I think we’re right if we have a sense that there’s something going on here that’s about more than God rescuing us as individuals – or even about him rescuing a great king like David. The language used here is Exodus language. In verse 16, at the blast of the breath of the LORD’s nostrils, the channels of the sea were seen and the foundations of the world were laid bare. Just like when God brings his people out of Egypt and divides the Sea for them to walk in between. Other verses, like the smoke in verse 9, the darkness and clouds in verse 12 and the thunder and lightning in verses 14 and 15, use language very similar to language used at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 and 20. So why’s all this pointing back to Exodus? In the Old Testament, the Exodus was the supreme example of God’s deliverance. If someone in the Old Testament wanted to explain what God rescuing his people looked like, they would go back to the time when God brought his people out of slavery through the Red Sea. And here this language is being used for the rescue of one man. We’ll look at this more tomorrow.

Question

  1. How does this language remind us of the exodus?

Prayer Points

  1. Pray that you would not grow cold to descriptions of God’s glory.
  2. Use prayer points from your congregation.
  3. Pray for family matters.