2 Samuel 1 – David Grieves
David
returned to Ziklog and after 2 days an Amalekite man came to the camp. He told David that Saul and his sons were
dead. He said Saul was wounded and had
asked him to kill him, which the man did.
He took Saul’s crown and arm band and brought them to David. We know from the last chapter that this was not
true. He didn’t kill Saul. Saul killed himself because he had been
mortally wounded and didn’t want to be taken captive and tortured by the enemy.
The man
probably found Saul’s body before the Philistines did and stole Saul’s
belongings. The man lied maybe because
he thought David would be happy of Saul’s death. Maybe David would admire him as a hero and
even reward him. That was not the
case. David and his men tore their
clothes, mourned, wept and fasted. He asked
the man why he wasn’t afraid to kill God’s anointed. Then David had him killed because by his own
mouth he admitted he killed the Lord’s anointed.
When
have you lied to make yourself look good to others?
David
mourned Saul, his fellow countrymen who had died and his faithful friend
Jonathan. Saul had tried to kill David
many times, but David never became bitter against him. He always had love and forgiveness in his heart
towards Saul.
If you
had an enemy die, how would you mourn their death? Would you be relieved and be glad? That wasn’t the heart of David and that’s
not the heart of God. Followers of
Christ are called to be different than the world. Loving only those who love us means we are
not different from the world. Ask
yourself, “Do I love my enemies?” Christ’s
command is to love your enemies.
We see
qualities in David that we should all have.
He was not vengeful. He was
just. He continued to be loyal to Saul
even after his death. He had love for
his enemy. He showed reverence to God by
honoring God’s anointed.
Do you
have any of these qualities?
Principle: God expects us to love one another even our
enemies.
2 Samuel 2 – David Becomes King of Judah
David
wanted to return to his own country, but he didn’t make his own decision. He asked the Lord where he should go and the
Lord told him to go to Judah. Now that
Saul was dead Israel had no king. David
was from the tribe of Judah and the people there knew David because he had
helped and protected them. So they
anointed David as their king. We’re not sure
if the people knew that Samuel had anointed him king many years ago. David hoped the rest of Israel would also choose
him as their king.
Usually
when a king dies his son became the new king.
Three of Saul’s sons had died in battle, but there was a 4th son,
Ish-Bosheth. Abner who was Saul’s cousin
took it upon himself and appointed Ish-Bosheth as king of Israel except for the
tribe of Judah. Probably Abner’s real
reason was to be the power behind the throne.
You can guess what happens next.
It’s war time.
David allowed
Ish-Bosheth to reign for 2 years, which showed David’s patience and his trust
in the Lord. He could have taken his
rightful place, but out of respect for Saul’s memory he waited. David refused to force his reign and neither
will the Son of God. Jesus doesn’t force
Himself on anyone. We must choose Him
ourselves.
Principle: God expects us to be patient and trust in His
timing.
Israel
now had 2 kings. The captains of both
armies wanted their king to be the king of all Israel so they chose 12 men to
fight and represent each nation. Then
it’s winner take all. The men fought to
the death and none were left. Then the
rest of the armies started to fight. Asahel
who was a leader in David’s army pursued Abner.
Abner didn’t want to kill him. He
pleaded for Asahel to stop pursuing him, but Asahel wanted to finish the battle
and wouldn’t stop. He ran into Abner’s
spear and died. Then Ashael’s brothers,
Joab and Abishai wanted to kill Abner because he had killed their brother. Sounds like the Hatfields and the
Mccoys. Abner knew they were all Israelites
and not enemies. Joab, David’s commander
realized this and wanted peace and the fighting to stop so he blew his
trumpet. The fighting stopped and they
all returned to their homes. The war
lasted a long time. David grew stronger
and the house of Saul became weaker.
2 Samuel 3 – Abner Murdered
David
reigned for 7 years and took 6 different wives that gave him 6 sons. Again David went against the Lord’s command
that a king should not have multiple wives.
It was wrong to have more than one wife. (Deuteronomy 17:17; Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:4-6). You would think that this Scripture in Samuel
would condemn this. But we have to
remember this is only stating the facts and records of David.
These
sons from different wives would later cause David problems and would not be
blessed by God: Amon raped his
half-sister and was murdered by his half-brother; Chileab was recorded as being ungodly and unworthy;
Absalom murdered his half-brother and led a civil against David and attempted
to murder him; Adonijah tried to seize the throne and tried to take David’s
concubine and was executed; Shephatiah and Ithream probably died young or were
ungodly since they were only mentioned once in Scripture.
Ish-Bosheth
accused Abner of sleeping with one of Saul’s concubines. This may have not been true. Ish-Bosheth was a weak king, but Abner was
increasing in power. This may have been
a way for Ish-Bosheth to get rid of Abner.
This made Abner angry and he would now support David. Abner knew David was God’s choice for king
and had no good reason to fight him. He is
a good example of knowing something is true, but ignoring it and not living as
if it were true.
When
have you known the truth, but ignored it anyway?
Abner
ask David to make a peace treaty with him.
David asked him for 1 thing, to give him back his wife Michael. Saul had given his daughter Michal to David
in marriage, but took her away because of his hatred for David. Now David wants her back, because he loved
her. This would also give him greater
claim the throne of Israel.
Abner
told the elders about the treaty. David
wanted the message to come from Abner instead of himself. He wanted them to submit to him freely and
invite him to be king. This is like
Jesus. He wants us to invite Him into
our hearts freely to be our King.
David
prepared a feast for Abner, they made peace and Abner went home. When Joab returned and found out the David
let Abner leave, he was angry. He said
Abner was deceiving David. Joab knew
Abner had killed his brother and wanted to avenge his death. Maybe Joab was afraid Abner would take his
place a David’s army. Later Joab sent
for Abner and killed him without David’s knowledge.
David
found out about this murder and probably thought that it would give his reign a bad reputation. So he told the people that it was Joab who murdered Abner and pronounced a
curse against him. David didn’t want his
kingdom to be known as a violent kingdom.
He believed that vengeance belonged to the Lord.
Principle: God expects us to live peacefully.
2 Samuel 4 – Ish-Bosheth Murdered
When
Ish-Bosheth heard of Abner’s murder, he became discouraged. He probably knew his day as king was about to
end. He was weak and trusted in the man
Abner. He should have trusted in
God. His army was loyal to him when they
thought he was strong and could keep the throne, but now they saw him was
weak. All Israel became alarmed. Two captains of the troops, Rechab and Baanah
went to his house and murdered him while he was lying in his bed. They beheaded him and took his head to David
to prove their loyalty.
Rechab
and Baanah thought David would be pleased to know they killed Ish-Bosheth. But they underestimated David’s loyalty to God
and the house of Saul. David didn’t
accept this evil deed. He swiftly made
an example of the men. He ordered his
men to kill them and cut off their hands and feet and hang the bodies. They took the head and buried it in Abner’s
tomb.
Principle: God expects us to leave vengeance to Him.
Next
time we will continue in the book of 2
Samuel. See you here next time.
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