Read 2
Samuel 1-3 & Luke
18:1-17
To discover:
As you read note what we learn from David’s response to
these events.
To ponder:
The same author wrote both books of
Samuel. So the contradiction between this account of Saul’s death and that
ending 1 Samuel is intended. In short, the Amalekite who comes to David in
Ziklag is lying. He pretends to have killed Saul, and brings David Saul’s
emblems of kingship thinking this would gain favour. David’s response shows he
in no way wished for Saul’s death out of ambition for the throne. He and his
men weep and fast, and David has the duplicitous Amalekite (one of those Saul
had been fighting) executed for killing the LORD’s anointed. David’s song then
stresses the genuineness of his grief. God’s people are to leave their
advancement in God’s hands, never seeking it by underhand means. Moreover, like
David, and supremely Christ, they are not to seek greatness in and of itself,
but service, by doing what is right.
David’s
integrity in not grasping after the throne is then seen in enquiring of God as
to whether to go to “one of the towns of Judah,”
rather than just making the most of the opportunity. God directs him to Hebron
where he is crowned, but only as king over Judah.
He then sends messages of blessing to Jabesh Gilead for burying Saul. The town
is outside of Judah,
showing David saw himself as the king of all Israel.
As Abner, Saul’s commander then has Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth crowned king over
the rest of Israel,
we see the nation split into two kingdoms. The great need is therefore to be
united under one, so the nation might flourish under God’s rule.
What follows is
a continuance of the rivalry between the “houses” of Saul and David. There is
an integrity in Abner here, who seems to want peace between the two groups. His
suggestion in 2v14 may have been intended to prevent all out civil war by
having champions fight instead of armies. But it ended in a battle in which
David’s army is victorious, and Abner, with much reluctance, is forced to kill
Ashael, the brother of David’s commander Joab. As Joab and his other brother
then pursue Abner and the two forces line up to fight again, Abner urges Joab
to stop because “it will end in bitterness” and involves David’s men “pursuing
their brothers.”
Joab is not as
upright. We learn that the war continued a long time with Saul’s house
weakening and David’s strengthening, and sons being born, raising the
possibility of a dynasty. At this point, Ish-Bosheth accuses Abner of sleeping
with his father’s concubine, and so making a play for his throne. The wording
suggests this was a false accusation, perhaps intended to weaken Abner because
he was gaining political strength (3v6). In response, Abner makes an agreement
with David “to bring Israel
over” to him. David requires the return of his wife Michal (Saul’s daughter), whom
he loved (1 Sam 18v20), but who would also affirm his legitimacy as king. Strangely,
Ish-Bosheth takes her from her husband for David. Abner then urges the elders
of Israel, who
seem to have wanted David to be king for some time, to transfer their
allegiance, speaking to Benjamin (Saul’s tribe) personally. He subsequently
promises to “assemble all Israel”
for David who sends him away in peace.
However Joab
tells David Abner is acting deceptively and kills him for killing his brother.
This threatens the uniting of Israel
that Abner was arranging, and would have been assumed by many to have been done
on David’s orders. In various ways David therefore stresses he and his kingdom
are innocent (3v28-25). We read the people “were pleased” with this and all
David did. But further problems from Joab and his brother are hinted at (3v39).
These events
encourage the Christian reader to be like Abner, seeking peace within the
church, rather than Joab, by breeding hostility, rivalry and disunity.
Praying it home:
Thank God for the genuine love
there is between true Christians from differing sections of the church. Pray
for the church to be increasingly united, but under Christ, and so united
around the truth of the gospel.
Thinking further:
To read the NIV introduction to 2
Samuel click
here.
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