Useful Bible Studies > 2 Samuel Commentary > chapter 22
David had defeated the evil rulers of all the nations that surrounded Israel (chapter 8). He freed the poor and weak people in those nations from those cruel rulers; and he established his own good government over them. He taught them too to serve the true and living God, who gave him this success (for example, 2 Samuel 15:19-21).
So David did not merely praise God for the defeat of those nations. He praised God among the nations – in other words, he encouraged the people from those nations to praise God with him (Romans 15:9). What God promised Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 was now starting to happen. God was using his people in Israel to show his kindness to people in the other nations too.
That is so because Israel’s God is the only true God. He created heaven and earth – and therefore, the whole world belongs to him (Psalm 24:1-2; Psalm 50:7-12). He has a special relationship with Israel’s people (Romans 9:4-5); but he claims people in every nation as his own (Matthew 28:19-20).
God promised David that God’s future king, called the Messiah, will come from David’s family (7:10-18). Isaiah 11:1-11 also refers to this promise; it mentions Jesse, who was David’s father. The Messiah’s future rule will be over the whole world, and his rule will never end (Psalm 2; Zechariah 14:9; Luke 1:33; Revelation chapters 20 to 22). The word ‘Messiah’ comes from the Hebrew language; it appears in Hebrew in 2 Samuel 22:51. The translation of this word into the Greek language gives us the word ‘Christ’.
Next part: God's kindness to his 'Anointed', the Messiah (2 Samuel 22:51)
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