Thursday - II Samuel 5 - A Kingdom & A Capitol

Finally, the conflict was over. The great peak of ancient Jewish history had arrived. All 12 tribes came under David's jurisdiction and (for the most part) remained loyally under his authority until the day of his death. To mark the expansion of his realm, David moved his capitol city from Hebron to Zion... that is, to Jerusalem. In order to do this, he had to drive out the Canaanites who lived there; specifically, the Jebusites.

The Jebusites didn't think that David could defeat them. In fact, they told him that even their handicapped citizens would be enough to keep him out of their city. But, they misjudged him on that point. He utterly conquered that city and moved into the fort that was there. He established it as the pride of Israel... it became known as the City of David. It was destined to become the city of the Great King... the city of God.

David settled in quickly there and began to live life generally as kings did in his day. He made peace with some nations, fought wars with other nations, married wives, procreated plentifully and began to spread out his influence as widely as he could. Among the children that were born from David's harem in Jerusalem, there were 2 very important sons: Nathan and Solomon. It would be through these 2 sons that Jesus' genealogy would be traced.

Tuesday - II Samuel 4 - The Death of lshbosheth

After Abner's death, 2 brothers (who had been under Abner's command) went and killed their own king, lshbosheth. They killed him in his own home; in his own bed. And, mistakenly they assumed that David would be thrilled that his enemy was dead.  So, they brought him lshbosheth’s head. But, they were dead wrong. David had those 2 men executed just like he had done to the Amalekite who had formerly brought him Saul's crown.

In the end, the most important thing (as far as the development of Israel's history is concerned) is that after this episode, there was only one king in Israel.  And, David was not nervous, insecure, jealous nor vindictive as a young king. He had God's distinct hand of blessing upon him as a leader. He had the discernment, discipline and direction that are necessary for good leadership. His reign was certainly going to be a step up from that of his predecessor, Saul. And, the difference maker is seen in 1 primary area: faith. David believed God... he was a man of faith, whereas Saul is remembered for his doubts and his disobedience.

Monday - II Samuel 3 - The Death of Abner

As the war between Israel's 2 kings waged on, David's side became increasingly stronger. In fact, David's strength increased to the point that the opposing general, Abner, defected to David's side.  It is true that he had an excuse to switch sides. lshbosheth rebuked Abner for taking one of Saul's former mistresses for himself.  That was enough of a pretext for Abner to contact David with an offer of peace.

Now, David had some simple terms for the ensuing peace. He wanted his former wife Michal back (remember, she was a princess). It seems likely that David wanted her back more for political reasons than for romantic ones. After all, at this point he had 6 other wives, I'm not sure a seventh one was necessary for David's heart or body to be satisfied. Whatever his reasons, lshbosheth and Abner did force Michal's second husband to surrender her back to David (Saul had wrongly given her to Phaltiel while David was away - I Samuel 25:44).

While Abner was going about to bring the whole nation under David's control, David's nephew Joab was going about to avenge the death of his brother Asahel. Since Abner had killed Asahel away from a battlefield and while he was unarmed, Joab considered it to be murder and felt justified in killing Abner. Incidentally, the later part of this chapter indicates that David did not concur with Joab's judgment. Anyway, Joab tricked Abner into stepping outside of the gate and away from the safety of the city of refuge, and there, Joab killed him.

Saturday - II Samuel 2 - Another Civil War

A couple of civil wars had broken out earlier in Israel's history (Judges 12 & 20), and many more would erupt in the future.  This should be the third one that we have examined so far.  This time the war was between those Jews who were loyal to Saul's son lshbosheth (mostly Benjaminites) and the tribe of Judah and their leader, David.

After Saul's death, David moved from the wilderness into the city of Hebron. There, he was elevated to be the king over his tribe, Judah. The rest of Israel would end up following him too, but it would be more than 7 years later.

In the meantime, King lshbosheth’s top general was Abner, a hand-me-down from his father. On David's side, his nephew Joab was rising to prominence and dominance. In fact, his first military victory is recorded in this chapter. Joab and his men fought with Abner and his men on the shores of a body of water called the pool of Gibeon. On that day Joab won handily, losing only a little more than a dozen men in battle. Abner lost 360 men, but he did kill Joab's brother, Asahel. It was a tough day, but the outcome of the battle did indicate which side was destined to excel over the other. David was the chosen king for all of Israel.  He was picked by God. Therefore, David's men prevailed over lshbosheth’s.

Friday - II Samuel 1 - Weeping for Royalty

While David was rescuing his family from the Amalekites, another Amalekite was on the way to find David with news from the battlefield where Saul had died. This is a good time to review a mistake that Saul had made early on. God had commanded him to utterly destroy all the Amalakities... but, Saul had stopped short of that objective. Obviously, their population had been rejuvenated because David was encountering them at every turn. Now, the Amalekite who came to David with news from the warfront thought he had news that would cheer David up and cause David to reward him. Boy, oh boy! Was he ever wrong!

Obviously, the Amalekite did indeed stumble upon the body of Saul on the battlefield. He had Saul's crown and bracelet to prove it. But, it seems to me that his claim that he finished Saul off must be false. Saul had fallen on his own sword and died in front of his own armor-bearer (I Samuel 31:4-5). That lie cost the Amalekite his life.

So, David was faithful to his king all the way to the end of Saul's life. In a sense, David's first kingly act was to execute the man who claimed to have killed the former monarch.  And, from II Samuel 1:17 on, we find the record of David's sincere sorrow over the loss of Saul and Jonathan. He lamented, wept and mourned because of the passing of these royal Israelites. He cursed the land upon which they died. He spoke highly of them and of their feats. Especially for Jonathan; David was brokenhearted because of his death.  It is an especially great person who can mourn the passing of his enemy.

Thursday - 1 Samuel 31 - The Demise of Saul

In his last battle against the Philistines, King Saul was shot by their arrows. When he realized that he was doomed, he fell on his own sword and died (I Samuel 31:5). Saul did not die alone that day though, he lost 3 sons in the same battle... including Jonathan. But, worse than that is the fact that the polytheistic Philistines used the death of Saul to glorify their gods and to mock Jehovah (I Samuel 31:9- 10). They celebrated their victory as they desecrated the bodies of Saul and his sons in the temples of their gods.

Now, evidently somewhere along the way the Jewish people of Jabeshgilead had learned some good lessons. Remember how they had been absent from the fray back in Judges 21:8. And, recall also that they looked to others for help, strength and defense back in I Samuel 11:3. But, (probably in gratitude for Saul's original act on their behalf (see I Samuel 11:11) this time things were different. This time the men of Jabeshgilead were the bravest of all. While the rest of the nation was hightailing it away from the Philistines, some of the mightiest men of Jabeshgilead went into Philistine territory and collected what royal remains they could lay hold of (to try to preserve some of the dignity of the Jewish crown). Then they buried them honorably.

There does seem to be a good lesson for us here. Although Saul ended his life in decadence and despair, after his death his people honored what they could of his memory. This is appropriate. While there is no point in glorifying an absolute scoundrel at his funeral (as if he was a saint), yet there is a proper respect which we should demonstrate in giving credit wherever we can... especially for the sake of the grieving survivors.