He who rules over men must be just,
Ruling in the fear of God.
And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
Like the tender grass springing out of the earth,
By clear shining after rain.
For does not my house stand so with God?
For he has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and secure.
For will he not cause to prosper
all my help and my desire? (2 Samuel 23:3-5)
These are David’s last words, spoken as an unimpeachable oracle (23:1): Rulers who rule justly, upholding all that God himself upholds, are like the dawn of a cloudless day after a soaking rain that that brings fresh life to the land—an analogy that connotes far more than it denotes. We all know mornings like that though we cannot adequately explain what we feel.
David longed to be such a ruler, but it was not to be: adultery, murder, cruelty, violence, cowardice and duplicity characterized much of his tenure and that of his successors (e.g., 1 Samuel 17—1 Kings 2). It was only through the faithfulness of God that David’s dynasty prospered and endured (23:5)
And so it comes to this: Men will always disappoint us, which is why our national motto rightly reads, “In God we trust,” and not, “Long live the king.”
David Roper
9.29.20
