David’s Last Words
About This Entry
Poems containing a person’s last words are also attributed to Jacob (Genesis 49) and to Moses (Deuteronomy 33). This poem mentions David’s anointing as king and the promise of a dynasty. In addition, it presents him as a prophet (a person through whom the spirit of the Lord spoke)—an idea absent elsewhere in the Bible but found in later Jewish tradition—and perhaps as a singer of psalms, as in late biblical tradition; see the difficult phrase in verse 1, “The favorite of the songs of Israel,” or, as more commonly rendered, “The sweet singer of Israel.”
1These are the last words of David:
Notes
Or “The favorite of the Mighty One of Israel.” Others “The sweet singer of Israel.”
Credits
Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.
You may also like
The Song of Songs
The Song of Songs is a collection of love poetry using natural and royal imagery to express longing and sensual enjoyment between lovers.
Embracing Couple in Ivory Inlay
Isaiah’s Vineyard Poem
Isaiah uses the metaphor of a neglected vineyard to warn Israel of divine punishment resulting from a lack of social justice.
Lamentations
Lamentations 1–3 (selections)
Lamentations uses moving imagery to memorialize the catastrophe of the destruction of Jerusalem.
David’s Lament over the Death of Saul and Jonathan
King David mourns the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, honoring their bravery and his close bond with Jonathan.
Praise the Lord for He is Good
Each verse of this psalm recounting divine acts of creation and rescue is punctuated with a refrain of God's eternal love.
You may also like
The Song of Songs
The Song of Songs is a collection of love poetry using natural and royal imagery to express longing and sensual enjoyment between lovers.
Embracing Couple in Ivory Inlay
Isaiah’s Vineyard Poem
Isaiah uses the metaphor of a neglected vineyard to warn Israel of divine punishment resulting from a lack of social justice.
Lamentations
Lamentations 1–3 (selections)
Lamentations uses moving imagery to memorialize the catastrophe of the destruction of Jerusalem.
David’s Lament over the Death of Saul and Jonathan
King David mourns the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, honoring their bravery and his close bond with Jonathan.
Praise the Lord for He is Good
Each verse of this psalm recounting divine acts of creation and rescue is punctuated with a refrain of God's eternal love.