Today I arose at 5:00am to read 2 Samuel 23–24. The last words of David are a song giving praise to God for establishing his kingdom. God made a covenant with David in 7:8-18, so in this psalm David contrast the righteous ruler with the unrighteous. It was David who was raised on high. David began is a boy herding sheep and God made him king of his people Israel. David was considered the sweet psalmist; in fact, David wrote the majority of the psalms. David believed himself to be a prophet because his songs and wisdom came from God. After this, a list of David’s mighty men and some of their acts are given. There is the three and the thirty but there are a total of 37 men listed. Perhaps, as some died some were replaced? A remembrance is made regarding the men who brought David water from the the well in Bethlehem. David had made a comment that he would like a drink from that well. David did not say this as a command but was just speaking his desires out loud. These men wanting to serve him went and got the water at great risk to their lives. David refused to drink it because he believed himself to be unworthy of their blood but poured it out to the Lord because he is worthy. God’s anger was against Israel and God used David’s sin to punish Israel. David mistrusted the Lord; therefore, David did a count of the people so that he may know how many warriors he could count on having. For his sin, through the prophet Gad, God gave David a choice of famine, foes or sickness for Israel. David choose sickness because he believed the Lord would be merciful and relent. The Lord did relent and Jerusalem was not struck. This leads to the purchase of the sight of the temple which would be built by his son Solomon.
Yesterday, I worked in cardiac rehab from 7:30am to 6:30pm. We normally have about 30 patients throughout the day but yesterday we only had 24. Nonetheless I was busy throughout the day. A high school student visited us and we showed him many things about the heart and exercise. I took one of the ten commandment coins out of my pocket and began flipping it. The young man became curios so I gave it to him and told him what it was. After work I ran on a treadmill for 30 minutes, then ended the day with a meal at home and watched an episode of the Andy Griffith Show. I do not know why I enjoy that old television show.
