2 Samuel 1-4

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 4^th 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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1 Samuel 28-31

1 Samuel 28 – Saul Consults Medium

In the last study David had chosen to escape Saul by making an alliance with King Achish.  He knew he had to join the Philistine army, but he didn’t want to fight the Israelites.  He was forgetting God and going his own way by making his own decisions.  He would learn a new lesson about humility. 

Samuel who was a great prophet of the Lord had died.  He had spoke God’s commands to Saul.  The Spirit of the Lord was with Saul when Saul first became king so he probably removed the spiritists and mediums at that time.  In Leviticus 19:31; 20:6, 27 and Deuteronomy 18:11 God says the Israelites must not consult mediums.  They had to kill anyone who did this.

The Philistines set up camp at Shunem and were ready to fight the Israelites.    Saul became desperate as to what to do so he inquired of the Lord.  God departed from Saul and didn’t answer.  God warns us that those who fail to follow His Word will lose the privilege of hearing or understanding it.  God looks at the motives of the heart.  Saul's heart was hardened.  Saul was afraid and went to a medium to hear from Samuel as to what to do.  Mediums are people who try to contact dead people.  Samuel spoke to Saul telling him the Lord has turned away from him and has done what was predicted.  He said the Lord has torn Saul’s kingdom away and has given it to neighbors – to David.  He said the Lord will turn Israel and Saul and his sons over to the Philistines.  Saul and his sons will die tomorrow.

We can’t explain this and don’t know how the medium called for Samuel, but the Bible says that we must not find out about such things, because they are evil.

When has your fear caused you to turn to someone other than God?

What were the results?

Principle:  God wants us to look to Him for guidance and trust in Him alone.

1 Samuel 29-30 – David Consults God

Achish and the Philistines didn’t worship the Lord of the Israelites, but Achish used the name of the Lord probably trying to convince David that he really trusted him.  He really wanted David to continue to serve him in the future.  He even said David was a good as an angel from God.  David was still wrapped up in his lies and deceptions.  He was playing a deadly game by deceiving Achish and dishonoring God.  He was ready to fight with Achish, but the army commanders thought since David was a Hebrew he couldn’t be trusted.  They wanted David sent back to Ziklag.  So Achish sent David and his army back.  I am sure David was relieved he wouldn’t have to fight his own people.  David got himself into trouble because he didn’t trust and rely on God.  But God was kind and saved him from a difficult situation.

When they reached home, they found the Amalekites had burned it, plundered it and their families were taken captive.  The men were very sad and cried and then became angry with David.  They blamed him and wanted to kill him.  David was very sad because he lost his 2 wives, but he didn’t blame the Lord.  Instead he trusted the Lord which made him stronger.

David lost the protection of Achish.  He lost his family and his men wanted to stone him.  David had lost everything, but he had not lost God.  This time he didn’t make his own decisions, he went to the priest for help.  David turned to God for strength.  God restored him because God is merciful and gave him undeserved grace.  He remembered God’s love and promises and how God delivered him in the past.

David and his men pursued the Amalekites leaving some of his army behind because they were too weak to continue.  David met an abandoned Egyptian who guided them to the Amalekites.  David and his men found the Amalekites and attacked them and rescued all their families and all the plunder they had taken.  David returned to the men left behind.  Some of his men were trouble makers and didn’t want to share the spoils because the others had not participated in the rescue.  David disagreed saying the Lord had protected them and had handed over the forces that came against them.  They would share everything with everyone.  He made a statue and ordinance for Israel that all will share alike.  David sent some of the spoils to the elders of Judah and to the other places he had been.

David was a generous and wise leader.  He cared for all his men even those left behind and showed no favoritism.  His generous gifts showed that he was a good leader. 

Where do you go for guidance?

Principle:  God guides his children to return to Him.

1 Samuel 31 – Saul Dies

The Philistines fought against Israel and many died.  Saul and his sons Jonathan, Abinadab and Malki-Shua also died.  Saul was not a good leader and led his army ran away from the Philistines.  Saul was injured and was afraid of what they would do to him so he asked his armor-bearer to kill him.  He said he would not.  So Saul killed himself.  Then his armor-bearer killed himself.

The Israelite army had no leader so the men had run away leaving the towns empty.  The Philistines went and lived in all of their empty towns.  The Philistines took the weapons and armor from the dead soldiers.  They cut off Saul’s head and put his armor in the temple of their idols.  This can be compared to David cutting of Goliath head and putting his sword in the holy place with the priest of the Lord.  David gave honor to the Lord.  Now Saul was dead and the Philistines gave honor to their gods.

The Israelites of Jabesh Gilead were loyal to Saul so they rescued his body and the bodies of his sons and burned them.  They buried the bones under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh and fasted for 7 days.

Saul died just as God said he would and as God predicted.  He died in the way he lived his life.  He died not like a man of courage.  A big lesson here is God’s word is absolutely reliable and will do as He has promises.  He will deal with sin and rebellion in judgment.  He wants us to trust and live in obedience.  God gave Saul time to repent, but he did not.  God gives everyone time to repent.  If you have never trusted in Jesus for salvation, God is now giving you opportunity to repent.

Have you repented?

Do you know where you will spend eternity?

Principle:  God’s Word is absolutely reliable and He will do as He has promises.

Is suicide wrong?  (Bob Deffinbaugh’s study on 1 Samuel 31).

Saul requested assisted suicide, which is wrong.  It’s wrong because he was attempting to minimize the pain and means of divine judgment.  He wanted to die in a way different from what God had predicted.  He was trying to kill the Lord’s anointed.  It would be wrong for his armor-bearer to take a king’s life.  It is wrong for Christians to commit suicide, assisted or not.  If we are ever in such a place that pain is intense or death is near, we should look forward to being at home with the Lord.  We should not end the life which God gives.  Only God has the authority to take life away.

There is a contrast to Saul and Jesus Christ.  Saul’s sin and his desire to die was selfish and self-serving.  The Lord’s death was very different.  He prayed in the garden that the cup of death be removed.  He died in obedience not disobedience.  He didn’t die to save Himself from pain; He died to endure the full pain that we deserve as punishment for our sins.  His death was not a tragic part of His life like a suicide.  His death was not self-serving, but sacrificial.  It was a death He suffered for our sins and for our salvation.

Originally 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel was 1 book.  So the book doesn’t end here.  In 2 Samuel we will continue with the account of David’s rule as king.  See you here next time.

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