Articles
Inspiration of David - 2 Sam. 23
Inspiration of David - 2 Sam. 23
The Word of God. The Oracles of God. God said. The moment people hear these phrases their thought almost automatically think of the Bible. Then the argument begins. There can be NO argument that it CLAIMS to be inspired. Here in 2Sam. 23 David states:
· The Spirit of the Lord SPOKE by me.
· The Spirit of the Lord spoke BY me.
· HIS word was on my tongue.
· The God of Israel SAID.
· The Rock of Israel SPOKE to me.
Jesus affirmed the truthfulness of this: "He said to them, “Then how does David in the Spirit call Him ‘Lord,’ saying," (Matthew 22:43).
The apostles affirmed this truth: "And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples devise futile things?" (Acts 4:24–25).
At the end of his life, Peter stated: "for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God" (2 Peter 1:21).
David was not only the king over Israel, he was also a prophet of God through whom God revealed His thoughts. YET, in our reading the last few days, we have seen two remarkable things: David sinned and David had a myriad of earthly problems.
Notice first that being inspired did NOT take away man's will and choice. It didn't even guarantee that EVERYTHING they said was inspired.
Secondly, being a prophet did not insulate one from the evil of this world. In fact, it put them into a position of rebuking evil and incurring the wrath of the ungodly. Which of the prophets did they not persecute? Even Jesus encountered this and then warned: "The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil" (John 7:7, cp. also John 15:18; 17:14).
We are facing an upsurge in unbelief and denial of God's word today, accompanied by the ungodliness that goes hand in hand with such denial. The bottom line of our disagreement is the existence of God and the reality that the Bible is the revelation of the very mind of God. Our debates over moral principles must be preceded by this debate in order to have any meaningful discussions. I know the 'world' believes a lot of things, but our faith comes from God's word (Rom. 10:17). The ways of the world approve many things that God has proclaimed to be evil.
It behooves us to prepare ourselves for the fundamental battle of belief in God and the inspiration of God's word. THEN, we are to hold for the word of light. We are to "be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world" (Phil. 2:15).
We have been warned and thus we should not be surprised at this reaction to the preaching of God's word (cp. 1John 3:13 and 1 Pet. 4:12-16). How bright is your light shining? Hugh DeLong
