2 Samuel 23:2

2Sa 23:2 The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word [was] in my tongue.

Ver. 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me.] Both here and in other psalms composed by me; I had from the Holy Ghost both matter and words. See Act 4:25 Luk 24:44.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa_23:2

The Spirit of the Lord spake by me.

The inspiration of the Scriptures

I. The Inspiration Of The Scriptures. This may be shown by the combined testimony of Moses, the Psalmist, the Prophets of our Lord, and also of the Apostles and Evangelists. Consider:

1. The language of Moses. Now what does Moses say of his own writings? Thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His statutes and His commandments, which are written in this book of the law.

2. The language of the Psalmist. David, the sweet Psalmist of Israel, claims inspiration for those psalms which are of his own composition. The Spirit of the Lord, he says, spake by me. And what are his other testimonies respecting the word of God at large? Very wonderful, he says, are its properties. It is the grand instrument, he tells us, in the sinners conversion. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

3. The language of the prophets. What does Jeremiah say concerning his own writings? The Lord commanded Jeremiah to set down in a book certain prophecies. Those prophecies Baruch read in the audience of the king and the princes. And what is said respecting Baruchs reading? Then read he in the book the words of the Lord in the house of the Lord. He read in the book the words of the Lord.

4. The language of Christ. He met His adversaries with the Scripture.

5. The language of the Evangelists and Apostles. Our Lord, before His departure, promised to send to His disciples the Holy Ghost. And when He is come, He will bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have spoken unto you. The Evangelists and Apostles, therefore, wrote under the controlling power of the Holy Ghost. All Scripture, wrote St. Peter, is given by inspiration of God, or, is God-breathed. That Scripture Timothy had known from a child; arid that Scripture was able to make Timothy wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. By that term Scripture, which was able to make its readers savingly acquainted with Christ, was meant the Old Testament writings. Now, these Old Testament books are directly quoted or alluded to in the New Testament several hundreds of times. There are more than eighty such references in St. Matthew; more than thirty in St. Mark; more than fifty in St. Luke; forty in St. John; more than fifty in the Acts of the Apostles; more than seventy in the Romans.

II. Words of counsel.

1. Beware of the sin of unbelief. God has given us-a revelation. The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken. That revelation contains difficulties and mysteries. Our Lord was satisfied with the Old Testament, and we, therefore, should surely be satisfied. But we have, in addition, a most clear commentary on the Old Testament. We have the New Testament.

2. Cultivate a childlike spirit. Our Lord has plainly told us that, except we be converted and become as little children, we shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.

3. Receive all that the Bible reveals. In the Bible, as St Peter tells us, there are many things hard to be understood. This is no more than we ought to expect, when the infinite God reveals Himself to a finite being like man. Those things, however, which are necessary for our salvation--sin, death, hell, heaven, the general resurrection, the atonement of Christ, the work of the Spirit--are written so plainly that he may run that reads. (C. Clayton, M. A.)

God the Author of Scripture

Who built St. Pauls Cathedral? So many masons, carpenters, iron-workers, carvers, painters--and then there was Wren. Yes, there was Christopher Wren. He was not a mason, nor a carpenter, nor an ironworker. He never laid a single stone, drove a nail, or forged a railing. What did he do? He did it all. He planned the splendid edifice: inspired with his thought and purpose all their toil, and wrought through every worker. They were his hands, and people flock to-day in their thousands from all over the world to see Christopher Wrens masterpiece. Who wrote the Bible? Moses, David, Isaiah, John, Paul? Yes. But the Holy Spirit did it all. Holy men of old spake as they were borne along by the Holy Ghost.

Plenary inspiration of Scripture

In an interesting little pamphlet, written by the late Dr. A. J. Gordon, and called Three weeks with Joseph Rabinowitz, there are several striking expressions uttered by the Russian Jew. What is your view of inspiration? we asked him, in order to draw him out concerning certain much-mooted questions Of our time. My view is, he said, holding up his Hebrew Bible, that this is the Word of God; the Spirit of God dwells in it; when I read it, I know that God is speaking to me; and when I preach it, I say to the people, Be silent, and hear what Jehovah will say to you. As for comparing the inspiration of Scripture with that of Homer or Shakespeare, he continued, it is not a question of degree, but of kind.. Electricity will pass through an iron bar, but it will not go through a rod of glass, however beautiful and transparent, because it has no affinity for it. So the Spirit of God dwells in the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, because these are His proper medium, but not in Homer or Shakespeare, because He has no affinity with these writings.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Sa 23:2-3. His word was in my tongue — The following words, and consequently the other words and psalms composed and uttered by me upon the like solemn occasions, are not to be looked upon as human inventions, but both the matter and the words of them were suggested by God’s Spirit, the great teacher of the church. The Rock of Israel — He who is the strength, and defence, and protector of his people; which he manifests by directing kings and rulers so to manage their power, as may most conduce to their comfort and benefit. He that ruleth over men — Here are the two principal parts of a king’s duty, answerable to the tables of God’s law, justice toward men, and piety toward God, both which he is to maintain and promote among his people.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

23:2 The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me: David spoke of God, and in the process, God spoke through David.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, he spake nothing but by the motion of God’s Spirit.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 2. The Spirit of the Lord spake by me] Hence the matter of his writing came by direct and immediate inspiration.

His word was in my tongue.] Hence the words of this writing were as directly inspired as the matter.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(2) The Spirit of the Lord spake by me.—In accordance with 2Sa_23:1, there is here, and also in the next clause, most explicit assertion that this was spoken under the prompting and guidance of the Divine Spirit.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. the Spirit of the Lord] A direct claim of inspiration, to which Christ Himself bears witness (Mat_22:43).

Observe the parallelisms, which constitute Hebrew poetry.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,.... The psalms and songs he composed were not the fruits of his own genius, but were written by him under the inspiration of the Spirit of God; by whom holy men of God, the penmen of the Scriptures, spoke, even as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, of whom David was one, being a prophet; see Act 1:16 Act 2:30; so the Targum here,"David spoke by the spirit of prophecy of the Lord:''or spake "in me" (h); what he spoke was first internally impressed upon his mind by the Spirit of God, and then he expressed it with his tongue, as follows:

and his word was in my tongue; not only the matter of his psalms was indited by the Spirit of God, and suggested to his mind; but the very words in which they are delivered were given to him, and he was directed to make use of them, and did.

(h) "in me", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Tongue. Nothing could more decisively prove the inspiration of the sacred books.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The following words, and consequently the other words and Psalms composed and uttered by me upon the like solemn occasions, are not to be looked upon as my private fancies or human inventions, but both the matter and the words of them are suggested and governed by God’s Spirit, which is the great Teacher of the church.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. His word is on my tongue — He was conscious of divine inspiration.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

His word - The following words, and consequently the other words and Psalms composed and uttered by me upon the like solemn occasions, are not to be looked upon as human inventions, but both the matter and the words of them are suggested by God's spirit, the great teacher of the church.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Speaks through me. He bestowed His holy spirit on me and spoke through me. Whenever [the verse refers] to prophecy, the word דִּבֵּר is appropriate as [we find] "Did [Adonoy] only speak to Moshe, He also spoke to us." "I will speak through him." The reason for it is because the spirit enters into the prophet and speaks through him.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.