KJV 2 Samuel 21:15, 17 …David waxed faint …Then the men of David sware unto him, saying, Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.

NASB 2 Samuel 21:15, 17 …David became weary … Then the men of David swore to him, saying, “You shall not go out again with us to battle, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”

The passage of time and the peril of years had transformed the young shepherd boy who had defeated Goliath into a man who now “waxed faint” in battle with another giant. He now needed to be “succoured” by another who came to his aid. This awareness of David’s vulnerability caused those who loved him to declare: “Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel.”

While David is one of the loveliest pictures of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament, there are, however, contrasts. In other devotionals, I have drawn attention to the marked differences that David and our Lord Jesus found when, in rejection, they each crossed the brook Kidron (John 18). Here is another.

The Lord never “waxed faint” in doing the will of God. Though the Gospel accounts may recount His agony in the Garden and Simon bearing His cross after Him, the Lord Jesus was always “strong” to do the will of God.

In John 18, the Lord Jesus went forth to meet the motley crowd that came to apprehend Him. “Let these go their way.” (John 18:8) He shielded them from the enemy. He protected them. He, the “Light of the world,” did not seek to be succoured by His own but to safeguard them. He went forth to “battle” and fought the fight alone.

David’s men were concerned that the light of Israel would not be quenched. A further contrast suggests itself to us as we consider the Lord as the light, not only of Israel but of the world. He went into the darkness of Calvary. Yet the light could not be quenched. He continued to shine His light even there.

Nothing can conceal the light streaming from Calvary. It is there that we see the heart of God revealed in its fullest and clearest light. The Lord Jesus, in His love for His Father, would go to a cross to declare to all humanity and for all time the heart of God in its immeasurable depth of love and grace. Every insinuation that the Adversary had introduced in the Garden, impugning the character of God, was answered and refuted.

It is there, as well, that we see the ultimate expression of the grace of our Lord Jesus, His humble mind that became obedient to the point of death, and His love for His Father and for us. Nothing could ever dim or extinguish the Light of that life. The scene in 2 Samuel 21 revealed David’s physical weakness. The scenes in John 18 reveal the Lord Jesus’ moral strength and wealth.

Consider

Earlier, the people had proclaimed, “Thou art worth ten thousand of us” (2 Sam 18:3). Christ is conspicuous among ten thousand (S of S 5:1), suggesting a further contrast.