2 Samuel

The Reign of David

 David was at Ziklag when the news of Saul’s death on Mt. Gilboa came to him.  The messenger told David he had found Saul still alive, but that he had killed Saul as Saul had asked him to do.  He had brought Saul’s crown and armband as proof that Saul was dead.  This scene sets the tone of David's rise to power and reflects David's sometimes ambiguous character.  Saul and his sons were obstacles to David's career.  When they are eliminated without David having to do anything, he punishes the men responsible for helping him, acquiring a public reputation for piously mourning fallen enemies.  By executing the Amalekite who claims to have slain the former king, David not only absolves himself of any responsibility for Saul's death but also proclaims the life of God's anointed ruler to be sacrosanct.  This policy was crucial for protecting his own anointed status. (2 Sam. 1:1-16)

 Acknowledged king of Judah, his own tribe, David has yet to become ruler of the northern ten tribes.  The northern ten tribes accept Saul's son Ishbaal or Ishbosheth as their rightful king.  Two men from the tribe of Benjamin murdered him as he slept.  They cut off his head and carried it to David at Hebron.  David reacted as he had to the report of Saul's death by having the murderers executed. (2 Sam. 4:1-12)  Although he owes much of his success to Joab, commander of the army, David repeatedly condemns his general for killing opponents of the king. (2 Sam. 3:22-39)

 David's laments over rivals whom others have killed are well known.  This is especially true for Saul and Jonathan.  Note that David's love for Saul's son Jonathan was "more wonderful than the love of a woman". (2 Sam. 1:26)  After Ishbaal's murder, David, who had reigned over Judah at Hebron for seven years, is acclaimed king of all twelve tribes. (2 Sam. 5:1-5).

 One of David's first acts as king of all Israel is to capture the Jebusite city of Jerusalem, which Joshua and his successors had been unable to conquer (Judg. 1:21).  Jerusalem was on the border between Judah and Benjamin.  David's success was so impressive that it caused the covenant at Sinai to fade into the background.  It was replaced with the concept of the covenant with David, which said that David's descendants would sit on the throne of Israel forever.  By bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, David makes his well-fortified capital the religious as well as the political center of the newly united nation. (2 Sam. 6)

 As the Ark was brought into Jerusalem, David played the role of priest, wearing the priestly garment, and dancing naked before the Ark as it was brought into the city (6:12-17).  Michal saw David dancing naked in front of the Ark.  She told him that he had acted like a dirty old man.  David argued that he was dancing to honor the LORD.  Because of her criticism (6:16-23), she was demoted in the harem. 

 David quickly routs the Philistines, drives back the Ammonites and Aramaeans, and reduces neighboring states like Edom, Moab, and Damascus to small dependent states.  At its greatest extent, David's kingdom stretches from the Euphrates River in the northeast to the frontiers of Egypt in the south.  The borders of the Davidic state thus correspond exactly to those Yahweh outlined to Abraham (Gen. 15:18), representing the fulfillment of the divine promises.  As the books of Samuel present it, David is the man whom God adopts as his son and whose political success is divinely ordained.  David transforms Israel, triggering a cultural revolution that affects almost every aspect of Israelite life.  Commercial treaties with Hiram of Tyre and other trading peoples stimulate a flow of wealth and cosmopolitan influences into Israel such as it had never known before (Chapters 5 and 8).

 The Lord's Promise to David and His Heirs

 David was living in a palace made of cedar, and he resolves to build a comparable house for God.  The court prophet Nathan, who functioned as David's spiritual advisor, at first agrees with David's plan because God has so obviously favored David in his many enterprises.  Later, however, he told David that he had had a vision which stated that

1.  the LORD had always dwelt in the Tabernacle from the Exodus until the present time (7:4-7)

2.  the LORD had made David what he was (7:8-11)

3.  future rulers of Israel would be David's descendants (7:12-17)

 Instead of David building a house for God, God will build David a "house," an "everlasting" dynasty ensuring that heirs of David will remain on Israel's throne in perpetuity.  God's oath to establish David's royal line forever is unconditional, a striking contrast to the terms of the Mosaic Covenant, whose continued validity depends on the people's obedience.  Yahweh vows that although he may chastise Davidic heirs, he will never remove them from power as he had Saul. (2 Sam. 7)

 David and Bathsheba

 David abuses his kingly authority by having an adulterous affair with the already married Bathsheba.  This episode, reveals the fatal flaw that compromises David's relationship with God.  After learning that Bathsheba is carrying his child, David tries to cover his paternity by first trying to get Uriah to break his soldier's vow of celibacy.  When Uriah refuses to sleep with his wife, David contrives to send Uriah into the front lines of battle, where he is betrayed and killed. (2 Sam. 11:2-27) 

 But to the prophet Nathan, however, not even the king is above Yahweh's law. Appearing one day in court, he tells David of a rich man with many flocks who took the one lamb of a poor man and killed it.  David denounces the rich villain for his greed and lack of compassion.  "You," Nathan answers, "are the man" (2 Sam. 12:1-15). Instead of banishing or even killing Nathan for his audacity, David faced his guilt and admitted his wrong (12:1-15).

From the time of its birth, the baby was ill and David mourned.  When told of the baby's death, David, having prayed for the child to live, ceased mourning (12:16-23).  Not too long afterward, a second child, Solomon, was born (12:24-25).  Yahweh's judgment extends far beyond the infant's death.  God's judgment includes a series of betrayals and rebellions that reduce David's household to a state of moral anarchy.  Having set the example of wrongdoing, David must now endure the consequences, which include incest and murder among his own children.

After his firstborn son Amnon rapes his half-sister, Tamar, her full-brother Absalom avenges his sister's honor by killing Amnon.

When Absalom, whose good looks and gift for attracting followers are a mocking image of the young David, rebels against his father, the king is forced to abandon his capital and seek refuge east of the Jordan River.  As David's army is chasing Absalom, his mule ran under an oak, Absalom was caught by the head in a tree branch and left hanging.  When Joab heard, he came and ordered his men to kill Absalom.  When they refused, Joab personally killed him, had his body thrown into a pit, and covered it with stones (18:6-18).  The ostentatious grief that David shows over his traitorous son disgusts Joab (Ch. 19).  These disorders in the kingdom provide an opportunity for some Israelites, unhappy with the rule of a Judean king, to rebel.  Although the revolt led by Sheba, a Benjaminite, is short-lived, it foreshadows the deep political discontent that will eventually strip the ten northern tribes from the Davidic monarchy (Ch. 20)

Odds and Ends

An anthology of supplementary documents that have not been chronologically integrated into the main narrative forms the conclusion of 2 Samuel.  The appendices preserve six incidents.  Perhaps the most interesting for their theological views are the first and last.

In the first incident (2 Sam. 21), a three-year famine is interpreted as a sign of divine anger against Saul's family.  This gives David an excuse to eliminate Saul's seven surviving sons.  David delivers the sons to the Gibeonites for impalement.

The last incident (2 Sam. 24) presents God telling David to take a census of the people.  First Chronicles indicates that it was Satan that convinced David to take a census.  The result of taking the census is a plague that kills 70,000 Israelites.  Taking a census was a highly unpopular move because numbering the population was primarily for purposes of taxation and military conscription (see 1 Chron. 21).

On the advice of the prophet Gad, David buys a Jebusite threshing floor and erects upon it an altar to Yahweh.  David's sacrifice halts the Angel of Death in his tracks, thus ending the epidemic.  This Jebusite threshing floor is the site of the future Jerusalem Temple.