Thu, 8 September, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.

2 Samuel 2:1-11

¹ After this David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” And the LORD said to him, “Go up.” David said, “To which shall I go up?” And he said, “To Hebron.” ² So David went up there, and his two wives also, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. ⁴ And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

When they told David, “It was the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul,” ⁵ David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed by the LORD, because you showed this loyalty to Saul your lord and buried him. ⁶ Now may the LORD show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. ⁷ Now therefore let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for Saul your lord is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”

⁸ But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, ⁹ and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and he reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. ¹¹ And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

It was a long time ago that God had Samuel anoint David as king (way back in 1 Samuel 16 that we read August 24th). David has patiently waited all this time, and has refused to take the situation in his own hands by killing king Saul when he had the opportunity. In fact, in the previous chapter, David has such respect for God’s anointed that when a man claims that he killed Saul in mercy to spare Saul from further suffering, David executes the confessed murderer.

Today we finally get to the day that God had promised, and the leaders of Judah anoint David as king over their tribe. David is now king, but not over all the tribes of Israel. Only Judah. It isn’t everything, but it is a start.

Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, refuses to submit to David, and sets up his own king over the rest of the tribes of Israel. Apparently, Abner is the de facto king, and Saul’s surviving son Ish-bosheth is just puppet for Abner’s rule.

What do we learn from this?

Abner knew, just as Saul knew, that David was God’s choice for king. Yet he struggled against God’s decree and set up his own king in contention against God’s king. The result was seven plus years of civil war, as the inevitable happens: David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.

The Psalmist asks:

Psalm 2:1-3

¹ Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
² The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his anointed, saying,
³ “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”

Abner isn’t unique in this. Nations and their people, kings and rulers have been in a futile rebellion against God’s anointed since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, and they are in rebellion against Him even to this day. They make their plans and set themselves up as the final authority in place of God’s Anointed. They say there is no God, and they ignore and ridicule His word. They ban Him from the public square and think they have burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords. They make war against God’s rule and congratulate themselves on their supposed success.

But just as we see David’s rule slowly established in one tribe of Israel, and then eventually growing in power and finally established over all Israel, as God promised, so will God’s kingdom grow in the world as slowly the Gospel works in power to bring all in subjection to God’s Anointed.

Where is Christ in this passage?

Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Anointed. He is the Son of David, who rules and reigns over all and brings everything into subjection under His rule. Many today reject His rule and are in rebellion against Him. But He is working, through the power of His Gospel to bring everything into subjection to Him.