Read 2 Samuel 22:38–46
Questions from the Scripture text: What has David done (2 Samuel 22:38a)? To what extent (2 Samuel 22:38-39)? How did this come about (2 Samuel 22:40-41)? To Whom were the enemies looking, with what response (2 Samuel 22:42)? And with what result (2 Samuel 22:43)? From what/whom else will the King be delivered (2 Samuel 22:44a)? Why (2 Samuel 22:44-46)?
Christ is the victorious and forever King. When we consider the last three verses more closely, we realize that their application in David’s life is the minor point, but their prophecy of Christ is the major point. In 2 Samuel 22:38–46, the verb stems are more appropriately translated in the future tense than the past.
It is Christ, especially, against Whom all the peoples and nations strive, but who is Head over all (2 Samuel 22:44, cf. Psalm 2).
It is Christ, especially, to Whom all foreign nations will come and bow the knee (2 Samuel 22:45-46, cf. Psalm 72).
Christ’s destroying of His enemies will be utterly complete. It will do no good to explain away the ruthless dominance of 2 Samuel 22:38-43 by thinking that it comes from some flaw in David as a man of war. Instead, we find that Christ Himself is a Man of war—something we would know from the prophecy about Him beginning in Genesis 3:15 and going through to the end of Revelation.
God’s anointed King is One who crushes the head of the enemy. It simply will not do to have a Christ Who leaves any enemies alive or any of the enemies’ works undestroyed. To a large extent David did not, and here in these nine verses, he prophesies that the Lord Jesus will not at all.
There is a strong emphasis on the completeness of the destruction: not turning back until it is done (2 Samuel 22:38), being so complete that that the enemies can never rise again (2 Samuel 22:39), beating them as fine as dust and dirt (2 Samuel 22:43).
Yahweh Himself gives this everlasting victory. So, it is especially Christ, who is the victorious and forever King. And His destroying of His enemies is utterly complete. The middle section (2 Samuel 22:40-42) of our portion tells us how this is:
Yahweh Himself is fighting for His king (2 Samuel 22:40, or “as the King” in the case of Christ).
Yahweh Himself has determined the outcome (2 Samuel 22:41).
Yahweh Himself, Whom we have known from this Psalm to be the only possible help, has justly refused to be the help of the enemy (2 Samuel 22:42).
This last is a sobering reminder that the Lord is only the help of those who come to Him through Christ. There are many who think they hope in the Lord over all creation, but they don’t know Him as Jesus the God-Man, and He justly does not save or answer.
But if it is through Christ that we come, we can be absolutely sure that He saves completely and forever. Not one thing or being who is against Him and us will be permitted to stand!
What enemies and evils trouble you most in this world? How many of them will remain when Christ has finished with them? Why hasn’t Christ destroyed them already?
Sample prayer: Lord, all who are against You must utterly perish. But we have been agaisnt You; have mercy upon us through Jesus Christ and His blood! And grant unto us to rejoice in the completeness, permanence, and certainty of Your victory in Jesus’s Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP2 “Why Do Gentile Nations Rage?” or TPH375 “All Hail the Power of Jesus’s Name”
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