During this COVID crisis, government at every level has become more involved in our daily lives. From Federal subsidies to county and city curfews, we look to our leaders to keep us safe.

So, what makes a good leader? And what should good leaders do for their people? David sums it all up in his “last words,” the final song he wrote. And his first point is perhaps the most obvious – kings should rule righteously (II Samuel 23:3). Kings who thus avoid cronyism and corruption will bless and refresh their people as sunlight and rain refresh the earth (II Samuel 23:4).

But there’s a corresponding task that righteous kings must perform: punishing the wicked. There must be no room for the vile or venal in the service of a godly king. Instead, they must be expelled and destroyed (II Samuel 23:67).

But how is a King to determine who is worthy to serve him? How is a king to determine what is righteous on the one hand and what is wicked and worthless on the other? II Samuel 23:3 explains that a king must rule “in the fear of God.” In other words, instead of relying on his own imagination, and instead of depending on the opinions of his counsellors, he must seek to know God’s will and to put only what is God’s will into practice.

And the only way we can be certain we are walking in God’s ways is to follow His Son, Jesus Christ. After all, in II Samuel 23 verse 5, David refers to the promise God made to his “house,” his dynasty. And that promise was fully and finally fulfilled in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the Son of God. This everlasting covenant with David means that all human kings must recognize that they are nothing more than subjects of King Jesus, desiring to know His will, seeking to discern His will, and striving to do His will.

May God grant us such human leaders. And who knows? If all of us everyday folks will also seek to know God’s will and to do God’s will with the same kind of devotion, maybe we’ll do a better job of selecting our leaders. Instead of picking people who promise to give us what we want, maybe we’ll start to look for those who will lead us in more godly ways. For as long as we have the right of self-government, don’t we all have a role to play in the public pursuit of righteousness?

II Samuel 23:1-7 (NASB)

Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse declares, And the man who was raised on high declares, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel,
2 “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue.
3 “The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘He who rules over men righteously, Who rules in the fear of God,
4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, When the tender grass springs out of the earth, Through sunshine after rain.’
5 “Truly is not my house so with God? For He has made an everlasting covenant with me, Ordered in all things, and secured; For all my salvation and all my desire, Will He not indeed make it grow?
6 “But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns, Because they cannot be taken in hand;
7 But the man who touches them Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, And they will be completely burned with fire in their place.”