Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Famous Last Words (2 Samuel 22-23, Psalm 57)

Here are some famous last words:

Humphrey Bogart: "I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis."
M. Barrie, author of Peter Pan: "I can't sleep."
Joseph Henry Green, upon checking his own pulse: "It's stopped."
Marie Antoinette after she accidentally stepped on the foot of her executioner as she went to the guillotine.: "Pardon me, sir.  I did not do it on purpose."
John Lennon: "I'm shot."
Elvis Presley: "I hope I haven't bored you."

People sure do get ironic before they die.  But leave it to David to be calm, cool, and poetic as ever in his last minutes:
“The Spirit of the Lord spoke through me;
    his word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel spoke,
    the Rock of Israel said to me:
‘When one rules over people in righteousness,
    when he rules in the fear of God,
he is like the light of morning at sunrise
    on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
    that brings grass from the earth.’
“If my house were not right with God,
    surely he would not have made with me an everlasting covenant,
    arranged and secured in every part;
surely he would not bring to fruition my salvation
    and grant me my every desire.
But evil men are all to be cast aside like thorns,
    which are not gathered with the hand.
Whoever touches thorns
    uses a tool of iron or the shaft of a spear;
    they are burned up where they lie.”
 
I certainly won't be able to top that when my time comes.  Just in case, I think I'll start jotting some thoughts down now.  Otherwise I'll undoubtedly wind up notorious for saying something less-than-brilliant like, "I'm hungry." or, "I should have this mole removed."  I'm so happy David had his poetical ability at the end- otherwise 2 Samuel 23 could have gone a totally different direction.

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