A Picture of Grace

As we come to the close of II Samuel, we find the last words of King David, and his last acts. Between these, we find an oddity — a list of David’s companions. It would seem to me as I am reading through chapters 23 and 24 that a list of military champions might better fit earlier in the history, perhaps in a summation of military victories as in chapter 8. David’s last words are an encouragement to holiness and submission, and his last act is to purchase the future temple site as a sacrifice. How does a register of champions fit here?

It is interesting to remember where David met these men. These were not the sons of aristocratic houses, or graduates of the military academy. These men had been with David from the wilderness days.  I Samuel 22 tells us when David fled from Saul, he drew the malcontents and outcasts, and became their shepherd.  These were the people you would cross the street to avoid.   Before they met David, they were bandits and outlaws, not exactly the kind of people you would expect to be drawn to God’s anointed.  David chose to give these men a second chance, to show them grace and lead them into God’s love.  We see that David was respected in the court of Moab, and placed his parents in the protection of that king.  Perhaps David could have chosen to stay there as well, and wait in comfort for the death of Saul. But instead he led the people no one else wanted.

So when we come to the end of his life, his list of friends and their accomplishments is offered as another example of how David was a godly king.  Where would these men have been if David had rejected them? Who would have done the work they did?  In I Samuel, David starts with four hundred and in II Samuel we find thirty-seven still with him. Some might consider this a failure — the loss of three hundred sixty-three men. I praise God for the thirty-seven lives that were redeemed, this faithful flock that devoted themselves to God’s cause and accomplished more in the service of God’s man than all the rest of Israel and Judah.