David and Dying
Today, we’re going to talk about death and dying. I looked into some famous final words of people as they were dying—the most famous has to be, “Watch this.” I’m just kidding about that one.
Here are some of the famous last words from culture:
Karl Marx said, “Go on, get out – last words are for fools who have not yet said enough!”
Winston Churchill said, “I’m bored with it all.”
Steve Jobs said, “Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow.”
Oscar Wilde said, “Either that wallpaper goes, or I do."
Christians have a different perspective when dying compared to non-Christians. They die with hope.
Richard Baxter, the English Puritan, said, “I have pain—there is no arguing against sense—but I have peace, I have peace!"
Wylliam Tyndale, the great Bible Translator, cried, before being burned at the stake, "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
D.L. Moody said, “I see earth receding; Heaven is opening; God is calling me.”
Just shortly before that, Moody had said this: “I am not going to throw my life away. If God has more work for me to do, I’ll not die.”[1] When thinking about dying, we must also think about living. The prospect of mortality puts life into perspective. As we see David’s final days, I pray it puts our life into perspective as well.
People are not a problem to be solved.(1:1-4)
Twice they failed to cure David from dying. They were doing whatever they could to keep him alive.
But here’s what we see: When David was a problem to be solved, he wasn’t a person to be loved. Think about that. There are several applications we could draw from it—not just with dying. For example, one is when you see your husband or wife is as a project. "If only they would be like this then I could love them how I know I should.” It’s then you no longer love the person they are. You love a version of them you wish they were. (That’s not saying we shouldn’t work on things! We should all strive to be better. But we should also love our spouse unconditionally.)
It's the same in the workplace. We can see the duties people are hired to do and fail to see the person behind them. We so often forget that we are human beings and not human doings, and we either treat people as machines, objects, or something less than human.
But what we see in this narrative is one person stays with David. Abishag stays on as a person. It seems a little awkward—and I think it is. But this was an actual medicinal prescription in this day and age, believe it or not. A young person keeping an older person warm was mentioned as a medical treatment by the ancient Greek doctor Galen,[2] and when Josephus described this in Antiquities of the Jews, he called the servants here “physicians.”[3]
Notice who wasn’t there—his family. I don’t know if the narrative just omits it and they were near, but I do know there was family turmoil with them. And death often brings family turmoil out.
People are not in our way.(1:5-10)
While David is dying, his oldest son, Adonijah, sets himself up as king. Why do you think he did this? Well first, David was taking too long to die. Why couldn’t he just hurry up and die? Do you notice that? David is still living when this happens. Usually, it’s after the death that the heir to the throne takes their place. But Adonijah exalted himself (vs. 5). Notice who didn’t exalt him to that position—God.
So, how did Adonijah see his father? He saw David as in the way of where he needed to go. He wished David would hurry up and die so that he could fulfill his personal potential. It didn’t matter what God thought. It didn’t matter what David thought. It just mattered what Adonijah thought. He was the oldest—that’s usually how it worked. He looked the part (vs. 6). He could do way better than that invalid lying in the bed!
Hear me: People are not in your way. People are your ministry. When you use people, you hurt your witness. The kingdom of God is of far greater importance than you climbing a ladder on someone else’s back.
We have become so selfish we often don’t even see this as an issue. The Bible tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves[4] and to count others as more significant than ourselves.[5] But we live for ourselves. One parallel I see here in our culture is that people are waiting longer and longer to get married and have kids.
Time Magazine says,
“In 1970, the average woman in the U.S. had her first baby at around 21 years old. That’s hard to imagine now: new federal data published in April show that in 2022, the average first-time mother was a little older than 27—a record high for the country.”[6]
But they go on to reveal their bias when they say,
“In some ways, delayed parenthood is a sign of progress. Waiting to have kids is a kind of empowerment for some women, ensuring they can finish their education, find a fulfilling job, become financially stable, choose the right partner, and grow and mature as a person before settling down to have a family.”
Notice they call it progress…not having kids. They think kids get in the way. That they take away empowerment. That they get in the way of education and jobs and that you lose money and they get in the way of your relationship, and so on. They believe real empowerment is just waiting so kids aren’t in the way. Put yourself first. That’s the “people are in the way” mindset that has led to a birthrate decline. We are called to live the opposite.
I love how an article by World Magazine on the topic ends:
“We need a generation that encourages people, despite the unknowns, to embrace this self-sacrificial call of Christ. It is only then that marriage and children as a gift received rather than a mere act of the will will be celebrated rightly.”[7]
So, all of that is happening as David is dying. Adonijah is setting himself up to be king. How could that happen? Didn’t David have a plan in place?
We must rightly order our lives while we are still living. (1:11-53)
If David would have died earlier on in this chapter, everything would have been so much more of a mess. Eugene Peterson says, “David has been negligent in taking care of kingdom affairs; David hasn’t made out his will. If David dies as is, things will be a mess.”[8] Solomon was supposed to be the next king, but Adonijah likely would have continued to be. Then there would have been an internal power struggle and even more fractured family dynamics.
Plus, think of the messianic implications—the kingdom of God wouldn’t be perpetuated in David’s dying the way it needed to. Solomon was to build the temple. We see that from 1 Chronicles 22:5-9:
5 For David said, “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands. I will therefore make preparation for it.” So David provided materials in great quantity before his death.
6 Then he called for Solomon his son and charged him to build a house for the Lord, the God of Israel. 7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. 8 But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. 9 Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.
David couldn’t do this on his own. We see from verse 15 that Abishag was still taking care of him. So his wife, Bathsheba, essentially helps David write his will (vss. 16-21). He secures the throne for Solomon and not Adonijah (vss. 28-31).
Solomon was God’s choice. Think about this: if David had set all of this up beforehand, he wouldn’t have had to worry about it while he was on his deathbed.
In your dying, you can still invest in eternity, and your life can outlast you. But we so often don’t think about what it practically means to store up treasures in heaven.[9] Have you ever thought about estate planning?[10] What happens to the stuff you’ve worked so hard for after you die? For many people, it comes under the authority of federal and local state governments.[11] That doesn’t sound too appealing, does it? There are organizations that exist to help you think through these things, like the “Southern Baptist Foundation.”[12] They say,
“Believers have a compelling reason to consider estate planning because God instructs us to be wise stewards. With proper planning, we can direct more resources to the ministries we love and help advance the Kingdom.”
It's not only monetary matters we must rightly order while we are still living, but it’s relational matters. David dies with family drama still surrounding him, and his final words are in ordering the execution of a man he once pardoned (2:8-9). While you’re still living, you have the chance to say, “I’m sorry.” You can still give that person a hug. You can still share the grace of Jesus. Who in your life do you need to do that to today?
The ultimate matter we must rightly order, though, is our own spiritual life. David did that. Notice who has free reign to his chamber. Among others, it’s the prophet Nathan (vs. 22). The last time we saw Nathan, it’s when he harshly confronted David with his sin.[13] But that led to the repentance of that very sin, not the hardening of David’s heart, which it very well could have done.[14] It could have caused resentment towards Nathan from David. But no. There’s none of that. David had pure hands and a clean heart before God. But you can only do that in this lifetime.[15]
God is true to His Word. (2:1-12)
In verses 13, 17, and 20, it mentions that David swore to God that Solomon would be king. And the thing with the Davidic covenant is that his throne would continue forever.[16] And it was a one-sided covenant. God had impressed upon David’s heart that Solomon would be king. It wasn’t David’s choosing; it was God’s.
1 Chronicles 28:5 – And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel.
1 Chronicles 29:1 – And David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the palace will not be for man but for the Lord God.
1 Chronicles 22:9-10 – 9 Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10 He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.’
God is true to His Word—always—even if it’s through unconventional means. And why is this important, that Solomon is the chosen one? Because if you trace the line from David to Solomon and keep going, you will find that it leads all the way to the greater son of David. It leads straight to Jesus.
Jesus gets the final word on death. (Psalm 22)
Jesus quotes the very words of David on death from Psalm 22 as He is dying on the cross. You can see it in Mark 15:34, when He cries out with a loud voice at the ninth hour, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He was doing this because the Jews there would have had this Psalm memorized.[17] It’s about death. The first part is. And Jesus is taking it head on.
There’s nothing we’ll face in dying that Jesus hasn’t already entered into.
But Psalm 22 doesn’t end in death. Halfway through, the mood changes. It turns to praise.[18] Jesus doesn’t stay in the grave. Jesus gets the final word on death because He has risen from the dead! And that’s where our hope is. That’s our only hope—in life and in death, for all who have placed their faith in Jesus.
[1] https://www.moodymedia.org/articles/dwight-l-moody-is-dead
[2] Galen (AD 130-200), Method of Medicine, 8.7.
[3] Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 7.14.3
[4] Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18
[5] Philippians 2:3 – Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.
[6] https://time.com/6965267/women-having-kids-later
[7] https://wng.org/opinions/the-birth-dearth-gives-rise-to-pro-natalism-1720432594
[8] Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall, 223.
[10] https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/deicqy0m09emhr1s3tttz/SBF-Estate-Planning-Guide-July-2026.pdf?rlkey=5owtra7vqk7iezikfx5da9ljm&dl=0
[11] https://www.sbfdn.org/our-services/services-for-individuals-and-families
[12] https://sbc.giftlegacy.com
[15] Hebrews 9:27-28 – 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
[16] 2 Samuel 7:8–16; 1 Chronicles 17:11–14
[17] https://www.gty.org/sermons/2397/gods-miraculous-commentary-on-the-cross
[18] https://answersingenesis.org/jesus/psalm-22-crucifixion-messiah
