2 Samuel 23:14-17 - At that time David was in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.  David longed for water and said, “Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem!”  So the three mighty men broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem and carried it back to David. But he refused to drink it; instead, he poured it out before the Lord.  “Far be it from me, O Lord, to do this!” he said. “Is it not the blood of men who went at the risk of their lives?” And David would not drink it.

 The life of David provides a prophetic foreshadowing of the Work of the Holy Spirit that Jesus is accomplishing today.  The Lord Himself revealed to us that we would learn a great deal about the nature of a work that pleases Him if we studied the life of David and his relationship with God. 

Verse 15 tells us that David was longing for the water from the well of Bethlehem, which was by the gate. Several details here deserve our attention. 

Bethlehem means “House of Bread.”  It is also the city where Jesus was born. Jesus said that He is the living bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51), and that He is the bread of life (John 6:35).  He was comparing Himself with the manna that God sent from heaven to feed His people in the desert. 

Bread is the food for the body and, spiritually, represents the Word of God, His revelation to us.  Jesus is the full revelation of God to man, the expressed image of His person (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14).  That Word is living because the Holy Spirit reveals it to us.  It came down from heaven, i.e., it is revelation.  The Spirit gives life, unlike the letter that kills. 

The water is also another type of the Word of God. And that water had to come from the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate.  The gate, or the door, is also a type of Jesus.  He gives us access to the living waters of the Holy Spirit (John 4:14 and John 7:38). 

David longed for that water. He was missing the days when he could drink freely from those waters.  Waters that did not come from the well of Bethlehem simply did not have that flavor, could not satisfy him.  Similiary, after we have tasted the revealed word of God, nothing else satisfies us, nothing else tastes the same. 

David’s longing is a type of the longing of the church, who spent a long time without the wine of the Holy Spirit.  (This is also illustrated by the wedding of Cana: wine in the beginning, only water in the middle, a better wine at the end, representing the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early church, and the last outpouring during our days, fulfilling Joel’s prophecy of the early and latter rains). 

David therefore expresses the longing of God’s church for the revealed word, the word revealed in the process of the prophetic service. 

Verse 16 starts with “So.”  As soon as these three valiant men heard of David’s longing, they set about getting that water.  This is true willingness to serve, true readiness to do God’s will. 

They broke through the camp of the Philistines, meaning they overcame all opposition.  That opposition is everything the enemy raises against us getting the revelations for the prophetic service: weariness, laziness, complacency, besides all the distractions of the world, shouting at us their demand for priority. 

To go to the gate of Bethlehem represents to go to the feet of Jesus, to seek Him and His revelations with all diligence.  When they got it, they brought it to David, just as we bring to the church what the Lord reveals to us for each prophetic service.

David mentions that these men did this in jeopardy of their own lives. This shows how indeed these men were seeking first the kingdom of God, how willing they were to take up their crosses and follow Jesus.  Service to God was above their own lives, was their true priority. 

The Work of the Holy Spirit is for valiant servants.  It is for those who overcome the opposition of the enemy and who pray, fast, seek in the early mornings, who actively participate in the life and growth of the local church, and who share the Lord’s burden for the lost, making the most of every opportunity to share their faith with others.  These servants truly have their names written in the book of life, just as David’s valiant men had their names registered in the scriptures.