2 Samuel 2:12-3:39
2 Samuel
2:12-32
Vs. 12-17
We have no real description of the fighting that went on between David's forces
and Abner's forces. It went on for over seven years. What we have here is a
small battle that might have happened fairly early in the civil war, after
David had established himself in Hebron and organized his army. It is a small
battle, but it is huge in understanding some of the events that followed. Also,
it gives us tiny character sketches of the two main players, Joab and Abner.
Joab is
never mentioned as one of David's mighty men, but he does later become the
captain of his army. Joab and his brother were David’s half-nephews and were
probably the same age as David. It is probably a good guess that Joab had been
with David from the early days of David’s service for Saul. Apparently he was a
confident and commanding leader.
Abner
would have been the older man, and it is likely that Joab had been in the army
under Abner just as David had been. They all knew each other.
V. 16 This
wasn’t a sword fight, it was a dagger fight. The intent, I guess, was to decide
the war with the outcome of this fight; but BOOM, a miracle - they all killed
each other.
Vs. 18-23
Notice that Abner knew Asahel. Apparently Asahel’s pride was his death. Abner
was too good a prize to pass up; unfortunately, Abner was also the experienced
fighter. The most important part of this story is Abner killing Joab's brother.
Vs. 24-28
Fueled by their need for vengeance, Joab and Abishai (who wanted to kill Saul
for David) drove the army of David. Abner tried to speak peace to the situation
and Joab listened. In a sense, Joab was blaming Abner for the fighting,
suggesting that if Abner had spoken sooner, they would have stopped fighting
sooner.
Vs. 29-32
The interesting thing here is the headquarters of Abner and Ish-bosheth. It was
in Mahanaim, way across the Jordan in the middle of Gad. It was miles away from
Hebron and the main life of Israel.
2 Samuel
3:1-39
V. 1
During this story, years are passing. What we actually read about here will
happen fairly close to the end of the civil war. We know this war lasted seven
years and six months.
Vs. 2-5
According to the law, the king was not supposed to have a lot of wives. This
would be a good place to look at what God said:
Deuteronomy 17:14-20 “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and
dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that
are around me,’ 15you may indeed set a
king over you whom the Lord your God will choose.
One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a
foreigner over you, who is not your brother. 16Only
he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to
Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord
has said to you, ‘You shall never return that way again.’ 17And he shall not acquire many
wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for
himself excessive silver and gold. 18“And
when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book
a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 1 And
it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he
may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all
the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, 20that his heart may not be lifted up above
his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to
the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he
and his children, in Israel.
Now, how
many wives are too many? We guys ask ourselves that all the time, and some days
"one" is too many; but usually we would say, "Who'd want more
than one?" By v. 5, David has six wives and he'll acquire some others
along the way. This will quietly set up David for a fall, one from which he
will never fully recover. If the point of marriage is completion and becoming
"one" with one person, then the effect of all of these women was that
David remained incomplete and "one" with no one. David would remain
unsatisfied emotionally and sexually and he would keep looking, in all the
wrong places.
Vs. 7-8
This was a very serious thing that Abner did. To claim one of Saul's wives as
his own, even having sex with her, would have been a step to the throne. When
Solomon's brother tried to marry David's last concubine (which would have been
illegal under the law), Solomon had him killed, knowing it was a ploy
(instigated by Joab and Abiathar) so he could claim the right to the throne
over Solomon. It was a murky business and what Abner did here was possibly
preparation for becoming king himself. In Abner's defense, although he never
denies the charge, he seems offended by the insinuation. He still did what he
did and shouldn't have. I wonder if Abner was getting tired of fighting against
God. They all knew Samuel had anointed David king.
Vs. 9-11
Abner, as a political animal, would have to find a way to come into David's
favor. Ish-bosheth seems like a tragic figure here. If Abner hadn’t fueled the
civil war, I think Ish-bosheth, who was probably a friend of David’s and was
legally David’s brother-in-law, might have been happy with making
peace with David and endorsing David’s throne.
Vs. 13-16
This is all very interesting. David wanted Michal back. She had been his wife,
but also, she was the daughter of Saul and he was Saul's son-in-law. It was
justice, it was political and it could heal some things.
Notice
that Ish-bosheth had her taken and separated from her husband. Ish-bosheth
doesn't seem like a bad guy, and the fact that David didn't kill him during
these seven years shows some respect. Before this whole fiasco, I’ll bet they
had been friends.
Somehow I
feel bad for this poor schmuck Paltiel. His name sounds like a sandwich from
Panera and he is really moved and hurt by this thing. What a mess. People were
still paying for Saul’s ungodliness.
Vs. 17-19
Abner, a natural leader and very influential person, was laying the framework
for bringing all the tribes to David.
Vs. 20-21
There might be more to this than meets the eye. Abner had been one of those
former "friends" of David who had kept Saul’s fears of and hate for
David alive. This covenant was not only for peace with Abner, but it might have
been for Abner to have a position in David’s government.
Vs. 22-39
This story eventually brings the civil war to an end, and it seems tragic to me
for more than one reason.
V. 26 Joab
not only acted without any obedience to David, but he showed that he was very
deceitful and ambitious.
V. 27 This
verse explains God's view of why Joab did this.
V. 35
Unlike Saul, David’s resolve was firm.
Vs. 36-37
God used this situation to bring the people to David. Politically speaking,
removing Abner was a good thing, but the means by which it happened would poison
David’s reign. Although David rightfully said he didn't know about this, and
then cursed Joab's family, and cried and made a poem, the just thing would have
been to have put Joab to death. David saved this job for Solomon. In the
future, David will command Solomon to kill Joab for this act.
I can only
think that David was so fixed on getting things secure and stable that he
didn't want to lose a man like Joab, who was important to the forming of
Israel. You will get your own ideas as you read this, but year after year I'm
saddened by these stories.
I know we
are all riddled by sin and weakness, and none of us is any better than David;
but these stories are here for us to learn. I guess I would say that if we
begin with faith and dependence on God, we have to end that way. There have
been ministries that have protected key players when they have sinned, because
if those sins had been exposed or that person treated justly in accordance with
their failure, it would have "hurt" the ministry. No one is so important
that their sin can be overlooked if it disqualifies them from leadership. No
ministry is so important that it can tolerate sin for the greater good. All of
us are prone to this, but in different areas and different ways.
Here, at
the beginning of David's reign, he is allowing poison to enter the stream, and
it will get worse. It might be that David's own tolerance for his own lying
also made him weak to dealing justly with those who were like him. Again, we'll
see the tragic result of that too.
John 13:1-30
The Gospel
of John is very unique, and particularly after reading the first three Gospels,
there is a different kind of richness in the stories John includes. If the
other portions of John shine, this part is absolutely brilliant. This Upper Room
Discourse, beginning in chapter 13 and ending in chapter 17, is amazing. It is
uncut discipleship teaching. Jesus is preparing His disciples to hold on to
their faith, which will be severely tested at His death. He is also preparing
them for the ministry they will have after His resurrection as they are guided
by the Spirit. Understanding this portion of Jesus' teaching is dependent on
understanding the stress they all felt and the fact that they were entering a
very dark tunnel. This teaching would stay with them the rest of their lives
and mark their ministries, but here, it was meant to give them hope following
Him as His disciples on this mission.
We
actually get the setting for chapter 13 from the other Gospels, where they tell
us that a fight broke out among the disciples as to who was the greatest. They
all knew that something was going to happen during this visit to Jerusalem.
Thomas had already said those sage words, Let
us also go that we may die with Him (John 11:16). They all knew there were
threats against Jesus. And Jesus kept talking about His death and resurrection.
There was some expectation that something would happen, and they must have been
hopeful that Jesus would win and there would be a kingdom.
Vs. 1-11
Notice that Jesus served from a position of strength and He had a goal and a
message. We tend to think that those who "can," "do," and
those who "can't," "serve." Not so. Servant leadership
always has a deep strength, a goal and a message. Notice, too, that this was
outside of Jesus' "job description" as a rabbi, but not outside His
job as a savior and maker of disciples.
V. 8 Jesus
seeks to wash. How sad to resist.
Vs. 12-20
Jesus gave the explanation of what He had done. This was not only teaching on
leadership and servanthood, but there was something here about preparing the
disciples for the night ahead.
Vs. 21-30
Jesus was troubled in His spirit
again, but this time, because one of His own would betray Him.
V. 23 The
disciple Jesus loved is the writer of this Gospel, John the son of Zebedee,
Jesus' cousin.
V. 27 This
was Satan himself taking possession of Judas. Satan saved the big job for
himself.
Again,
although Jesus knew what Judas would do, His love and actions toward Judas
never wavered. The disciples had no clue by Jesus' actions or moods or words to
Judas that Judas was a traitor. Judas always had the option of saying,
"No." Jesus never treated Judas unfairly. Judas' problem was within
himself.
V. 30 is
very poetic and ominous in its ending, And
it was night.
Psalm 119:1-16
I believe
that David wrote this during his seven years in Hebron. I think the view you
have here of David's heart describes him as a man after God's own heart in a
way the stories about him do not. As much as I understand that David was a
contradiction in his life and actions, this psalm expresses his heart. I know
I'm a contradiction. All of us are. So what do we do? We follow David's/the
Spirit's advice in this psalm, if possible, and do it better than David did.
This psalm ought to be the cry of every disciple's heart.
Notice how
often words like law, testimonies, commandments, word, and other variants are used. Verse 11 is one of the famous
verses out of this section. How can we as disciples afford to live one day
without reading His Word and allowing it to flow through our hearts, cleansing
us? Reading the Word daily is a must. Memorizing is what truly leads to
meditation. On this earth, I think that is vital for us too.
In this
psalm, each paragraph of eight verses begins with a successive letter of the
Hebrew alphabet. It’s kind of artsy.
Vs. 1-8
This paragraph begins with the letter “A.” Since it is the introduction of the
psalm, David uses it to describe blessing. The key to blessing is not just
keeping God’s Word, but fixing our eyes on it.
Vs. 9-16 The
question asked in v. 9 is answered in this section. What a great section of
Scripture and v. 11 is definitely worth memorizing if you haven’t done it
already.
Our
longevity and fruitfulness in the harvest is held in all that David is saying
here. Jesus said, If you abide in Me and
My words abide in you…. His words have to dwell in us and we are all leaky
vessels. We need to be pouring in the Word every day.
Proverbs 15:29-30
If our
hope is set on the Lord, our good news each day comes from His Word. And with
His hope and His Word, we bring strength to His disciples and His light to
those who are lost in the dark fields of this world.
If you’re reading along and don’t have a One Year
Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't
work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/
and click on “Every
Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these comments to and for those who are
following a One Year Bible and interested in growing deeper as a disciple,
following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see the growth of a discipleship
culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples, meeting weekly, encouraging
each other to follow Christ and work to reach out and make disciples who make
disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal manual we have and key to our
growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us more focused on why we are here
or what we are to be doing. My comments are only meant to provide some
explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's plan of redemption. My
comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to keep us focused on
Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the people in these groups
will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to find 3 others to meet with
and encourage in their growth as disciples, disciples making disciples in the
harvest.
If you would like a complete description of this model
of being and making disciples you can find it in my book: Simply
Disciples*Making Disciples. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more descriptive commentary that is
still readable and concise, I'd recommend the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's
keyed to the NIV, so the result is the commentators are constantly telling you
what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never hurts.
I am not endorsing any particular One Year Bible; in
fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with us is welcome to do so and is
encouraged to take their own notes and make their own observations. If the
comments made do not agree with your particular tradition or understanding,
that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to criticize any point of view, but
only to express the truth of what God has written to us, as I understand it.
Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like documents containing an entire month
of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download
these to use on your computer or to print.
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