2 Sam. 2-3: “David Is Made King Over Judah, Then Civil
War Breaks Out In
By
1. INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapter 31
of 1 Samuel as well as chapter 1 of 2 Samuel.
1.1.1.
We saw how that Saul and three of his sons,
including Jonathan David’s best friend, were killed by the Philistines in
battle.
1.1.2.
We saw also how David sincerely mourned for Jonathan
his friend as well as king Saul. David’s
lamentation for these men we looked at in chapter 1 of 2 Samuel.
1.1.3.
In that study, we then did a review of King Saul’s
life.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapters
2 and 3 of 2 Samuel and how it comes to pass that David comes to be made king
over the tribe of Judah and then how that Ishbosheth, the only surviving son of
King Saul, is made to be king over all of the remaining tribes of Israel, and
then, how that war breaks out between the house of David and the house of Saul.
2.
VS 2:1-2 - “1
Then it came about afterwards that David inquired of the Lord, saying, “Shall I go up to one of
the cities of
2.1.
We saw in our previous chapter that King Saul had
been slain in battle against the Philistines on
2.2.
David we see here inquires of the Lord concerning
His leading. Being healed of his
backslidings had cured David of not inquiring of the Lord. In our study of chapter 28 of 1 Samuel we saw
there that David had been restored to the Lord from backsliding after he had
returned from the battle that the Philistines were entering in to fight with
Israel and then upon getting back to his home town of Ziklag and discovering
that the city had been burned and the women and children captured. David at that time repented and got his heart
right with the Lord and then inquired of the Lord about what he should do, and
we saw that he hadn’t inquired of the Lord prior to this in many months (ever
since he decided to leave the land of Israel and go with his men and begin
living in the land of the Philistines and serving the Philistine king). David now will not make any moves without
first inquiring of the Lord.
2.3.
David does not presume upon the Lord anymore in
regard to the decisions and moves he makes.
David had known for many years that he had been anointed to be the next
king over Israel, however he knows also that it would be foolish to act in any
way without first consulting the Lord.
2.4.
As I read over this chapter, I believe that the
biggest story is really what is not written in the chapter. We can imagine how that David could have
acted like so many other leaders have done all throughout history upon the
hearing of such news. We can imagine
that David might have done many things at this point, none of which are listed
in our chapter:
2.4.1.
David could have immediately mustered his army to go
and to kill off every last descendant of Saul’s to assure that there would be
no one alive who would now try to vie for the kingdom.
2.4.2.
David could have gathered his troops and mobilized
them to go and to attack what he knew would be left of King Saul’s army after
most of that army by now had surely strayed away to their homes.
2.4.3.
David could have immediately moved to Israel with
his men knowing that with King Saul removed there surely could be nothing that
could get in his way to keep him from taking the throne.
2.4.4.
David could have begun a political campaign. He could have sent some of his men to each of
the 12 tribes and begun to bid them to come and accept as king the one whom the
prophet Samuel had anointed to reign those many years ago, and then he could
have begun the campaign circle himself.
2.4.5.
Etc., etc.
2.5.
David however would not make a move without first
consulting the Lord, and he would make no power plays to force the kingdom into
his hand. David had been brought to the
end of himself, and his many trials he encountered during the period of his
wanderings when the Lord was chastening him greatly ( many times directly
because of his sin ) had taken all ambition from him.
2.5.1. It is imperative that we as Christians, especially those whom the Lord would raise up as leaders over his people, not be people with selfish ambitions. James wrote in Ja. 3:13-18, “13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. 15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. 18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
2.5.2.
The Lord brings each of us as Christians through
trials and difficulties just as He did with David until we are also to that
place where it really doesn’t matter to us what the Lord does through our
lives. If the Lord raises us up into
fruitful and effective ministry and even leadership then so be it, but if we
are called to serve in obscurity or even in the lowest position we are willing
to accept that just as well. This is the
attitude we all ought to have.
2.6.
Let us take notice that every mention in these books
of Samuel of the multiple wives of David ( as Abigail and Ahinoam are mentioned
here ) is placed there by the Holy Spirit as a subtle reminder of the fact that
David was not walking in obedience to the Lord as he should in taking multiple
wives. We’ll talk about this more in a
little bit…
3.
VS 2:3-7 - “3
And David brought up his men who were with him, each with his
household; and they lived in the cities of
3.1.
There was a
dividend gained in David’s sending of gifts of spoil from the recapture of all
of his possessions in the city of
3.2.
The men of
3.3.
This phase of David’s life is the phase where there
is a divided
3.4.
Notice here that having been anointed as king over
the tribe of
4.
VS 2:8-11 - “8
But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-bosheth
the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. 9 He made him king
over Gilead, over the Ashurites, over Jezreel, over Ephraim, and over Benjamin,
even over all
4.1.
This is a temporary schism that occurs between the
northern and southern kingdoms of
4.2.
In establishing Ishbosheth as king over
4.3.
It is a bit intriguing that it is mentioned here
that Ishbosheth’s reign over the northern tribes lasted only 2 years whereas
David’s rule over
4.3.1.
Some have speculated that a possible answer for this
has to do with Ishbosheth being made king sometime after David had begun to
reign over
5.
VS 2:12-17 - “12
Now Abner the son of Ner, went out from Mahanaim to
5.1.
Tension was everywhere in
5.1.1.
By the way, archeologists have discovered this pool
in
5.1.2.
The city of
5.2.
Abner suggests that the two army set up
representative warriors to fight each other.
Twelve warriors from each army then assemble and begin to fight each
other. However, all 24 men are killed in
the fighting. Then, both armies begin
fighting each other, however the army of David begins to beat the army of
Abner.
5.2.1.
It is interesting to see here how David’s fighting
men, this group that had been comprised of misfits that society didn’t want,
now has become such a fierce fighting force, the best in the history of the
nation of Israel.
5.3.
Because of the fierceness of this battle, they named
the place ‘Helkath-hazzurim’ which means “field of sword edges.”
5.4.
We ought to take a minute here and look at
5.4.1.
Israel as a nation needed to gain the victory over
her enemy the Philistines, however she shall only have victory when she has
David as her king. In the same way, we
as Christians shall live a life of futility and be enslaved to the lusts of our
flesh until we get to the point that we make Jesus king over our heart and
life. Our dilemma is that He must be
king of all if He is to be king at all!
5.4.1.1.
Jesus taught His disciples in Matt. 6:24 about how
that they could not have two masters in their lives, “24 “ No one can serve two
masters ; for either he will hate the one and love the other , or he will be
devoted to one and despise the other . You cannot serve God and wealth.”
5.4.1.2.
As one person once related this, “If Jesus isn’t
Lord of all, then He isn’t lord at all!”
5.4.2.
So many times we as Christians give the Lord most of
the areas of our life, and just because we are holding back a few places here
and there we think that we are going to have the Lord’s blessing in our life,
however instead we just end up suffering heartache upon heartache and spin our
wheels in serving the Lord.
5.4.2.1.
This is exactly what has been the history of the
nation of
5.4.2.2.
True blessing and fruitfulness however only come in
our lives when we allow Jesus to rule our hearts as Lord over all of us.
6.
VS 2:18-23 - “18
Now the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab and Abishai and Asahel;
and Asahel was as swift-footed as one of the gazelles which is in the
field. 19 Asahel pursued Abner and did not turn to the right or to
the left from following Abner. 20 Then Abner looked behind him and
said, “Is that you, Asahel?” And he answered, “It is I.” 21 So Abner
said to him, “Turn to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the
young men for yourself, and take for yourself his spoil.” But Asahel was not
willing to turn aside from following him. 22 Abner repeated again to
Asahel, “Turn aside from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground?
How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” 23 However,
he refused to turn aside; therefore Abner struck him in the belly with the butt
end of the spear, so that the spear came out at his back. And he fell there and
died on the spot. And it came about that all who came to the place where Asahel
had fallen and died, stood still.” - Asahel runs after Abner and will not relent
until Abner is forced to turn around and kill him with his spear
6.1.
Asahel being a fast runner kept on pursuing after
Abner, forcing a confrontation between the two, which ends with Abner killing
Asahel. Abner warned Asahel twice to
stop pursuing him or he would have to kill him, however Asahel forces this
confrontation to occur and dies as a result.
6.2.
Asahel might have been a fast runner, however he was
no match for a great warrior in Abner.
7.
VS 2:24-32 - “24
But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and when the sun was going down, they
came to the hill of Ammah, which is in front of Giah by the way of the
wilderness of Gibeon. 25 The sons of Benjamin gathered together
behind Abner and became one band, and they stood on the top of a certain hill. 26
Then Abner called to Joab and said, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do
you not know that it will be bitter in the end? How long will you refrain from
telling the people to turn back from following their brothers?” 27 Joab
said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely then the people would have
gone away in the morning, each from following his brother.” 28 So
Joab blew the trumpet; and all the people halted and pursued
7.1.
Joab and his men continue pursuing Abner and his
men, and as the sun is going down, Abner and his men proceed to the top of a
certain hill and he calls out to Joab and asks in essence if it is worth if for
the two armies to continue to fight each other until none are left alive?
7.2.
Joab agrees with Abner’s reasoning and decides to
call off the battle blowing the trumpet to halt his men’s fighting.
7.3.
Abner and his army and Joab and his army both head
to their homes. Abner and his men
crossed the
7.4.
In the fighting, Joab and his men lost only 20 men,
including Asahel. Abner and his men lost
360 men.
7.5.
On their return home, Joab and his men pick up the body
of fallen Asahel and take it and bury it in his father’s tomb which was located
in Bethlem.
8.
VS 3:1-5 - “1
Now there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of
David; and David grew steadily stronger, but the house of Saul grew weaker continually.
2 Sons were born to David at Hebron: his firstborn was Amnon, by
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; 3 and his second, Chileab, by Abigail the
widow of Nabal the Carmelite; and the third, Absalom the son of Maacah, the
daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; 4 and the fourth, Adonijah the
son of Haggith; and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; 5 and
the sixth, Ithream, by David’s wife Eglah. These were born to David at
8.1.
The Lord in verse 1 is showing the favor which He
had for the house of David, for David and his following were always growing
stronger.
8.2.
We see here though that the Holy Spirit reveals to
us the sons that began to be born to David.
The text reveals how that David was building for himself a harem of
women. This of course was done against
the law of Moses which forbid kings to accumulate for themselves either horses
or wives ( Deut. 17:15-17).
8.3.
David, you see, as soon as he is anointed as king,
he begins to multiply wives to himself.
Not satisfied just to have as wives Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail
the widow of Nabal, David also has taken wives named:
8.3.1.
Maacah.
8.3.1.1.
She came as part of a political alliance between
David and the king of Geshur, but this type of a marriage was forbidden in
Deut. 7:3 and 17:17.
8.3.1.2.
Oh, what great pain will Absalom, the son born to
this woman, be to David later when he grows up and tries to take away David’s
kingdom.
8.3.2.
Haggith.
8.3.3.
Abital.
8.3.4.
Eglah.
8.4.
We’ll see in 2 Sam. 5:13 that after David has moved
his kingdom from Hebron to Jerusalem that he takes even more concubines and
wives from the city of Jerusalem.
8.5.
David was a man after God’s own heart, however he also
allowed compromise into his life and as a result he continually suffered
domestic strife in his life, for consider all of the calamity that occurred in
David’s life as a result of this sin of accumulating wives which he allowed to
be in his life:
8.5.1.
Arthur Pink writes the following about the calamity
that occurred in David’s life because of all of the wives that he multiplied to
himself, “Few men have experienced such sore social and domestic trials as
David did. Not only was he caused much
trouble by political traitors in his kingdom, but what was far more painful,
the members of his own family brought down heavy grief upon him. His favorite wife turned against him
(6:20-22), his daughter Tamar was raped by her half brother (13:14), his son
Ammon was murdered (13:28,29). His
favorite son Absalom sought to wrest the kingdom from him, and then he was
murdered (18:14). Before his death,
another of his sons, Adonijah, sought to obtain the throne (1 Kings 1:5), and
he too was murdered (1 Kings 2:24,25).”
8.5.1.1.
Another consequence of David’s sin we must not
forget has to do with how his son Solomon followed in his father’s footsteps
and stumbled greatly. Solomon took
hundreds of wives and then we read that in the latter part of his life he began
to worship the gods of his many wives.
8.5.2.
As God’s people, how painful can the consequences of
our own sins be!
8.6.
I just do want to mention that though there are a
few of God’s men in the Old Testament who like David were polygamists that it
was never God’s plan for men to have multiple wives. Jesus taught in Matt. 19:4,5 that from the
beginning it was always the Father’s plan for a man to have only one wife.
9.
VS 3:6-11 - “6
It came about while there was war between the house of Saul and the house
of David that Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. 7 Now
Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah; and
Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you gone in to my father’s concubine?” 8
Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish-bosheth and said, “Am I a
dog’s head that belongs to
9.1.
In this day, the only man who was to go into a
king’s concubine ( have sexual relations ) was a conquering king, therefore
Abner was completely out of line by going into Saul’s concubine, for this was
as if to say that he was trying to take the throne himself.
9.2.
But, we see here that Abner’s anger at Ishbosheth
was for questioning his loyalty when Ishbosheth confronted him about going in
to Saul’s concubine. But, the Lord was
in this confrontation by Ishbosheth for the Lord was working through Abner to take
the kingdom away from Ishbosheth and give it to His man, a man after His own
heart, David.
10.
VS 3:13-16 - “12
Then Abner sent messengers to David in his place, saying, “Whose is the
land? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to
bring all
10.1.
The fact has already been stated that David was
wrong for multiplying wives unto himself now that he had been made king at
Hebron, and here we see that a stipulation for a covenant being made to Abner
in which Abner would bring the rest of the tribes of Israel to David, was that
Abner had to bring to David his first wife Michal, the daughter of king Saul whom
Saul had later given as a wife to another man.
10.2.
Ishbosheth brings Michal back to David it says
here. This may be an indication that
Ishbosheth is now trying to step down as king since Abner has betrayed him.
11.
VS 3:17-21 - “17
Now Abner had consultation with the elders of
11.1.
Abner appears to have realized through the
difficulties that he faced supporting Ishbosheth that he had been resisting the
Lord when he had tried to make Ishbosheth king over
11.1.1.
Besides, by God’s doing David had steadily been
gaining favor in the people’s sight ever since he first killed the giant,
Goliath. They will now gladly receive
David as their king.
12.
VS 3:22-30 - “22
And behold, the servants of David and Joab came from a raid and brought
much spoil with them; but Abner was not with David in
12.1.
Joab accuses Abner of deception regarding his true
motives for seeking to form an alliance with King David, however Joab is still
seething towards Abner for his having killed Asahel, Joab’s brother. Joab will settle for nothing but blood
revenge for the death of Asahel.
12.2.
I would have you consider if in fact that Joab might
also have another motive for wanting to kill Abner. Who was the only other general in
12.3.
Hebron was a city of refuge and by the law Abner was
free from revenge by Joab, the blood avenger for his brother Asahel, that is,
as long as he remained in Hebron.
However, Joab coaxes Abner to step outside of the gate of the city and
then murders him in revenge for the death of his brother.
13.
VS 3:31-39 - “31
Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, “Tear
your clothes and gird on sackcloth and lament before Abner.” And King David
walked behind the bier. 32 Thus they buried Abner in
13.1.
David refers to Abner here as dying like a fool, and
he speaks of him this way because of the fact that it was very foolish for
Abner to have stepped outside of the city gate of Hebron, the city of refuge
where he would be safe from the blood avenger.
13.1.1.
By the way, Jesus is our city of refuge and it is
foolish for people to not take refuge in Him from the penalty of their sins (
the wages of sin is death ) and choose instead to die in the city gate.
13.2.
David’s sincere grieving and lamenting the death of
Abner was used by the Lord to unify the nation under David as king, as the
people realized by this that David
hadn’t orchestrated Abner’s death.
13.3.
David asks the Lord to repay Joab for the murder of
Abner, and we will see later in the study of this book how that Joab eventually
does pay for this murder with his own life.
14.
CONCLUSIONS:
14.1.
What an encouragement it is for us to see David at
hearing of the death of King Saul not try to manipulate his circumstances in
any way to make himself be recognized as king over Israel, but just inquire of
the Lord about what he is to do and then after he has moved to Hebron and been
anointed as king over Judah, just welcoming all who will accept him as their king. May we today likewise rid ourselves of all
selfish ambition and leave our life completely in the Lord’s hands to do with
us whatever He desires.
14.2.
As we see the nation of Israel divided over who will
rule over them, divided between serving two kings, and yet suffering all the
while because they will only have victory over their enemy the Philistines when
they unite themselves together under one king, under God’s man, may we today
too realize how we must make Jesus to be Lord over us, and crown Him to be king
over our life. Jesus will never settle
for less than lordship over our lives, and it is truly only those who will know
Jesus as their king who shall also know Him as their Savior for all eternity.
14.2.1.
In 1 Kings 18:21, when Elijah was living in an Israel
that was given over to idolatry, he gathered the people together and told them
to choose between who they would serve, whether Baal or the Lord, as it is
written “21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you
hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord
is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him
a word.”
14.2.2.
No man can serve two masters, as Jesus taught, who
shall you serve today? Will you join
with me and serve the Lord and Him alone, giving full allegiance to Him?