Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 23:1

"Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse saith, And the man who was raised on high saith, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel:" — 2 Samuel 23:1 (ASV)

The son of Jesse said. — The description of the human author of the following prophecy is strikingly analogous to that of Balaam in Numbers 24:3-4 and Numbers 24:15-16. The word “said,” used twice, is a peculiar form (used between two hundred and three hundred times) of direct Divine utterances, and is applied to human sayings only here, in the places referred to in Numbers, and in Proverbs 30:1, in all of which a special claim is made to inspiration.

The sweet psalmist of Israel. — Literally, He that is pleasant in Israel’s psalms, that is, by the composition and arrangement of Israel’s liturgical songs he was entitled to be called “pleasant.” David, with his life now closing, fittingly passes down this prophetic song to posterity with such a description of its human writer as would secure its authority.