Then David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
David's story closes with one quiet sentence. The king dies, and they bury him in the fortress he once captured. Behind that short line sit large questions. What does "slept with his fathers" claim? Why does the burial place matter? And why did his tomb still matter centuries later?
A reign measured, a life ended
The record is sober. One commentator adds up the years and draws a lesson from them:
Leslie M. Grant2 Samuel 5:4 tells us that David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and reigned 40 years over Israel. So he died at 70 years of age and was buried in Jerusalem. For seven years he reigned in Hebron and for 33 years in Jerusalem. By the time David died, Solomon was already reigning and his kingdom was firmly established. Solomon also reigned for forty years. How short indeed is the span of earthly glory! The last days of Paul in prison were much brighter with rejoicing than the last days of either David or Solomon.
What "slept with his fathers" says — and does not say
The phrase sounds gentle, but it states one thing only: the man died. Scripture uses different words for being buried with one's fathers:
C. Knapp"So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers" only expresses his death. In Scripture that is a different expression from "buried with his fathers." Compare 2 Kings 15:38 with 2 Kings 16:20 and you will see it at once.
Scripture uses the same expression of good and bad kings alike. One commentator warns against reading a quiet death as a verdict on the man:
H. L. Rossier"Asa slept with his fathers" — the same words that are said of Jeroboam, of Rehoboam, and of so many others. It may be a special favour. … But this favour is far from showing that the Lord took pleasure in them. It does not show either that they had found beyond the tomb the happiness their hearts had sought in vain in the world.
The city he took becomes the place he rests
David rests in the stronghold he took from the Jebusites, the people who held it before him. The names of that place carry meaning:
Frederick W. GrantZion is the place which illustrates God's sovereignty in grace, as we see from another psalm (Psalm 78:68). It shows that grace at work when man has done all he could to produce utter ruin. … Zion itself means "fixed." Scripture first mentions it (2 Samuel 5:7) when David takes it out of the hand of the Gentile "treader down" — the Jebusite. It becomes then "the city of David," which, we rejoice to remember, means "Beloved."
Two accounts of the same ending
Another book of Scripture closes David's history on a different note, and that choice fits its purpose:
H. L. RossierThe last verses of our chapter (1 Chronicles 29:26-30) repeat 1 Kings 2:10-12 in view of at last closing David's history. The Holy Spirit mentions his old age, "full of days, riches, and honour." That fits the purpose of this book. It also stands in contrast with his end, as 2 Samuel 23:1-6 and 1 Kings 1 record it for us.
The grave that never emptied
David's tomb was still a well-known landmark long after his death. That fact settled a question about the words David wrote:
C. E. StuartWas David writing of himself? Impossible. He had died and was buried, and his tomb was with them, still holding his dust. Clearly his tomb was then well known. And all were perfectly agreed that he, the first of his dynasty, had not risen from the dead. Yet he wrote of One who would die, and would be raised soon afterwards. For God would not leave that One's soul in Hades (the place of spirits without their bodies), and He would not allow His body to see corruption.
One writer points to how Paul used David's death when he preached:
H. J. VineHe contrasted Christ with the Psalmist. He said, "David indeed, having in his own generation ministered to the will of God, fell asleep and was added to his fathers and saw corruption." But He whom God raised again "saw no corruption" (Acts 13:36-37). This fact is of fundamental importance for us today.
The epitaph worth wanting
The same sentence in Acts sums up David's whole life:
A. J. PollockIn Acts 13:36 we have a full, unqualified commendation of David's life. No "but" comes in to spoil the picture. … We notice David "served his own generation by the will of God." He could not truly serve his own generation unless he served the will of God.
Summary
- Slept — the phrase states one fact: the man died. Scripture uses it of faithful and faithless kings alike. It settles nothing about a person's standing before God.
- Buried — he rests in the stronghold he took from the Jebusites. It became the city of David, a name that means "Beloved" — grace stepping in after ruin.
- Remained — his tomb still held his dust centuries later. That fact proved his words pointed past himself to Another.
- Contrast — David's body saw corruption. God raised Christ, and He saw none. Everything for us today rests on that difference.
- Serve — David's epitaph is not his throne or his forty years. It is that he served his own generation by God's will. That part is open to us too.