Poole on 2 Samuel 23:1: The Last Words of David, the Sweet Psalmist of Israel

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Verse 1:[1]  Now these be the last words of David.  David the son of Jesse said, (2 Sam. 7:8, 9; Ps. 78:70, 71; 89:27) and the man who was raised up on high, (1 Sam. 16:12, 13; Ps. 89:20) the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said…

[These are the last words of David]  That is, had from him, after the commandments given to Solomon, 1 Kings 2, and the prayers for him, Psalm 72, when he was now about to die (Junius).  [Others thus:]  They were not the absolute last (Munster), but which he spoke after all the Psalms (Vatablus out of Munster, Estius).  So that those words might be, as it were, the seal of all the Psalms (Estius); which he subjoined to his Psalter in the absolute last place.  But they could not incommodiously be placed at the beginning, since they are, as it were, a title, preface, and sum of the whole Psalter (Tirinus nearly out of Sanchez).  This Prophecy was not entered into the Psalter, because it was not composed in metrical and musical cadences (Sanchez).  Or they were the last, namely, that he spoke by the prophetic spirit (Menochius, thus Sanchez, Grotius); for he spoke many other, non-prophetic things afterwards, as it will appear in the following chapter, and in the following book (Grotius, Sanchez).  They are able to be called the last words, because they contain that which David had in his mouth all the way to the last period of his life.  It is the testament and confession of David.  It is rightly subjoined here; because in the preceding Psalm he gives thanks for his victories:  now he commemorates those that are to be granted in the future, and gives thanks for them also (Martyr).  The Chaldean adds that they are called the last, because they contain a prophecy concerning the rise of the Christ in the last age of the world (Lapide).  [But let us hear its very words:]  And these are the words of David’s prophecy, which he prophesied on the consummation of the age, the days of consolation that are going to be that they might come, etc. (Jonathan).  All the Hebrews (especially the Chaldean Paraphrast), convinced of the truth, expound these of the Messiah.  And certainly, since in that song David relates the promise in which he confide above all others, it is proper for us to understand it of the Christ:  because in no [other] of his posterity was he able to place his faither than in the Christ (Martyr).  Or they are called the last, because the last admonitions of the fathers, commended in a special manner to memory, are to be made use of among the sons (Lapide out of Lyra).  The words that are magnified by us, like those Christ spoke after the last supper, are the last words (Martyr).

The last words of David; not simply the last that he spoke, but some of the last uttered in his last days upon the approach of his death; or the last which he spoke by the Spirit of God, assisting and directing him in an extraordinary manner.

[David, the son of Jesse, said]  Not some uncertain prophet.  He is not ashamed of his father.  Prophets were wont to state their fathers (Martyr); and identifying marks, whereby the author of the prophecy might be known (Sanchez).

[The man to whom it was appointed concerning the Christ of the God of Jacob]  The sense of our version is, either, 1.  unto whose favor it was appointed and decreed by God concerning the attribution of the kingdom to him (Menochius out of Sanchez).  Or, 2.  to whom it was established and confirmed concerning the Christ of God; that is, to whom it was promised by the immutable word of God that the Messiah was going to be born of his seed (Malvenda). וּנְאֻ֤ם הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ הֻ֣קַם עָ֔ל מְשִׁ֙יחַ֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב, and faithful [thus they translate the ‎נְאֻם [2] in the immediately preceding words] is the man whom the Lord raised unto the Christ of the God of Jacob (Septuagint).  And said the man who raised the yoke[3] of Christ and of the God of Jacob (Syriac).  Speak, O man, who carried the yoke of his Christ of the God of Jacob (Arabic).  Said the man confident concerning the Messiah of the God of Jacob (Strigelius), who was assured of the rising of Messiah from himself, according to 1 Samuel 7 (Osiander).  They take ‎עָל as the preposition upon or concerning, etc. (Malvenda).  But ‎עָל with a Qametz (ָ ) is a noun (Mercerus in Malvenda).  [Others otherwise:]  And said the man (that man [Munster, Tirinus], the saying of the man, I say [Junius and Tremellius], the faithful saying of one mighty [Malvenda]) who was raised up to the kingdom, anointed in the word of the God of Jacob (Jonathan).  Who had been appointed as the Christ of the God of Jacob (Munster), stationed high (Montanus, Pagnine, Mariana, Junius and Tremellius).  The Messiah (that is, the Christ) of the God of Jacob (Mariana); the anointed of God, etc. (Junius and Tremellius, similarly Tigurinus).  ‎עָל is the same as עֶלְיוֹן/high (Hebrews in Vatablus).  Who was set by God in a lofty place; that is, in great dignity (Vatablus).  David speaks of himself, the one whom he says was constituted king (Mariana).

Raised up on high; advanced from an obscure family and estate to the kingdom.  The anointed of the God of Jacob; whom, though despised by men, and rejected by his own brethren, God himself singled out from all his father’s house, and out of all the families and tribes of Israel, and anointed to be king.

[The distinguished psalmist of Israel (similarly Munster, Tigurinus, Vatablus), ‎וּנְעִ֖ים זְמִר֥וֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃]  And one pleasant, or sweet, or charming, in songs (psalms [Montanus, Junius and Tremellius]; in canticles [Vatablus]) of Israel (Pagnine); for he composed the sweetest psalms, of which Israel makes use in praising God (Osiander).  For the use of the whole church, whereby they have already been received and approved, that they might be sung (Osiander).  Whatever doctrine the pious hold, they understand to be not their own, but the church’s (Martyr).  One sweet in psalms (Mariana, Strigelius), that is, in their composition (Mariana).  A writer and composer of sacred songs (Menochius), so excellent among his own, that out of all Israel he was chosen to cheer Saul (Sanchez).  The delight of the Israelite women’s songs (Castalio); who made the songs of Israel sweet (Syriac, similarly the Arabic).  And appointed that he might preside in sweet sport over the praise of Israel (Jonathan).  [If anyone should impute arrogance to David, because he ascribes these titles to himself, I would have him consider:  1.  That θεοπνευστοὺς/inspired[4] men, in composing sacred Scripture, were obliged to follow, not their own, but the leading of the Holy Spirit, whether in reciting praises, or their own disgraces; they sometimes do both.  2.  That it is not necessary to receive these words as if they proceeded from David, as it is commonly thought; for they are able to be the words of the writer, who with this prelude paves the way to the following sayings of David.]

The sweet psalmist of Israel; or, sweet, or delightful, or amiable in the songs of Israel:  either, first, As the object of them; he whom the people of Israel mentioned in their songs with joy and praise, as when they sung, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands; and many others which doubtless they made and sung concerning him, upon the occasion of his eminent victories, and the blessings of his wise and righteous government; some whereof we have in the Book of Psalms.  Or, secondly, As the author of them, he who was eminent and famous among the people of God for the composing of sweet and holy songs to the praise of God, and for the use of his church in after-ages; for he did not only indite most of the Book of Psalms, by the direction of God’s Spirit; but also invented the tunes, or appointed tunes to which they were to be sung, and the instruments of music which were used in and with those holy songs, 1 Chronicles 25:1, 6; Amos 6:5.  If the expressions here used seem arrogant, and not fit to be said by David in his own praise, let it be considered, first, That holy men spake by inspiration from God; and therefore must follow his suggestions impartially, as indeed they do sometimes in the publishing their own praises; which yet is never done unnecessarily, and always moderately; and sometimes in the publishing of their own infirmities and shame, as they are moved thereunto, and as the edification of the church requires.  Secondly, That these seem not to be the words of David, but of the sacred penman of this book, to make for and gain the greater attention and respect unto David’s following words.

[1] Hebrew: ‎וְאֵ֛לֶּה דִּבְרֵ֥י דָוִ֖ד הָאַֽחֲרֹנִ֑ים נְאֻ֧ם דָּוִ֣ד בֶּן־יִשַׁ֗י וּנְאֻ֤ם הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ הֻ֣קַם עָ֔ל מְשִׁ֙יחַ֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב וּנְעִ֖ים זְמִר֥וֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃

[2] ‎נֶאֱמָן signifies he is faithful.

[3] עֹל signifies yoke.

[4] 2 Timothy 3:16:  “All scripture is given by inspiration of God (θεόπνευστος/God-breathed), and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”