seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
2 Samuel 22:21 “The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
23 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
24 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
25 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness[f] in his sight.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
27 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
28 You save the humble,
but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.
29 You, Lord, are my lamp;
the Lord turns my darkness into light.
30 With your help I can advance against a troop[g];
with my God I can scale a wall.
f. 2 Samuel 22:25 Hebrew; Septuagint and Vulgate (see also Psalm 18:24) to the cleanness of my handsaccording to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
22 For I have kept the ways of the Lord;
I am not guilty of turning from my God.
23 All his laws are before me;
I have not turned away from his decrees.
24 I have been blameless before him
and have kept myself from sin.
25 The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness[f] in his sight.
26 “To the faithful you show yourself faithful,
to the blameless you show yourself blameless,
27 to the pure you show yourself pure,
but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.
28 You save the humble,
but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.
29 You, Lord, are my lamp;
the Lord turns my darkness into light.
30 With your help I can advance against a troop[g];
with my God I can scale a wall.
g. 2 Samuel 22:30 Or can run through a barricade
So there is some discussion in the commentaries about when this was written. Some want to say it was written before he became a murderer during the cover up over his affair with Bathsheba.
This is from the blueletterbible.org site.
According to the cleanness of my hands: These words are one reason why many believe David could only sing this psalm before his sin with Bathsheba. Yet the text seems to indicate that David sang this towards the end of his days (2 Samuel 22:1).
I have kept the ways of the LORD … I was also blameless before Him: David isn't claiming sinless perfection. He speaks of his general righteousness and of his righteousness as it contrasts with the wickedness of his enemies.
I kept myself from my iniquity: Some think this is arrogance or pride on David's part. Spurgeon quotes one commentator who wrote, "Kept himself! Who made man his own keeper?" Yet we know there is certainly a sense in which we must keep ourselves from sin, even as Paul spoke of a man cleansing himself for God's glory and for greater service (2 Timothy 2:21).
With the devious You will show Yourself shrewd: Translators have trouble with this sentence because it communicates a difficult concept. It's easy say that if a man is pure towards God then God will be pure to him. But you can't say that if a man is wicked towards God then God will be wicked towards him, because God can't do wickedness.
We might say that David simply believed what the Prophet Nathan told him in 2 Samuel 12:13: The LORD also has put away your sin. David knew he was a forgiven man, and that the cleanness of his hands was because they were cleansed by God, not because they had never been dirtied.
I have kept the ways of the LORD … I was also blameless before Him: David isn't claiming sinless perfection. He speaks of his general righteousness and of his righteousness as it contrasts with the wickedness of his enemies.
I kept myself from my iniquity: Some think this is arrogance or pride on David's part. Spurgeon quotes one commentator who wrote, "Kept himself! Who made man his own keeper?" Yet we know there is certainly a sense in which we must keep ourselves from sin, even as Paul spoke of a man cleansing himself for God's glory and for greater service (2 Timothy 2:21).
With the devious You will show Yourself shrewd: Translators have trouble with this sentence because it communicates a difficult concept. It's easy say that if a man is pure towards God then God will be pure to him. But you can't say that if a man is wicked towards God then God will be wicked towards him, because God can't do wickedness.
IMHO...The commentaries seem to think David got a life sentence for what he did. Then again... David and Bathsheba lost their son over that incident. During the illness of their son, David prayed for a different consequence... but when his son died... David went on with life. He tried to do better. He knew he did wrong. IMHO.... if God had wanted David's life in return for Uriah's death, he wouldn't have taken their little boy. That's why I think the commentaries are a little misguided on that assumption. The sins committed through David and Bathsheba... they were paid for when God took their baby boy. I think that's how it worked back then with God.
