Introduction
Far too many Christians have been told “The Bible doesn’t have anything to say about politics, so you shouldn’t care about it so much.” But that is simply not true, the Bible shows us God dealing with men who have political power all the time. Throughout the Bible, kings are reproved and judged by God for their wickedness, they are directed by His prophets, and they are praised when they are good and just. The Bible gives us so many examples of how God wants those with power to rule that to say “the Bible doesn’t have anything to say about politics” is, frankly, a sick joke.
The reason so many Christians believe that the Bible has nothing to say about politics is that we simply do not know the Bible—especially the Old Testament. The Book of Samuel, for example, is entirely about God bringing about a “revolution of elites,” a changing of the political order from the top down, starting with the removal of the wicked High Priest Eli and his sons, and then the replacement of the tyrannical and demonic Saul with a man after God’s own heart. The book shows that God giving His people a just and righteous king is grace to them from His hand.
2 Samuel 22, in particular, is a Psalm of David, and almost identical to Psalm 18. The fact that it is repeated here at the close of the book of Samuel isn’t just God trying to up the word count in the Bible like a student writing a term paper. It’s placement here is meaningful for the theology of the entire book. You’ll remember at the very beginning of the book of Samuel, Samuel’s mother, Hannah, sang a song about the child God had given her after years of barrenness. It isn’t just that God had given her a child, as wonderful as that is, but that God has given His people a deliverer to throw down the proud and mighty and raise up the humble and weak. That deliverer, Samuel, lead the way, like John the Baptist, to an even greater deliverer, David. This psalm is a record of God’s covenant keeping. He has made a covenant with His people to be their God, to be with them, and to deliver them from their enemies when they call upon His name. And He makes a particular covenant with that deliverer himself, David, that if he and his sons keep God’s law, God would never cease to keep a man on this throne. This psalm is a celebration of God keeping His covenant with His people. He is a God who does what He says.
