I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 1-3.

    When a messenger came to David with news of Saul’s death, the messenger claimed to have killed Saul, at Saul’s request. I am not sure why the messenger claimed to have killed Saul, perhaps he thought David would reward him. Yet he appears to have been aware that the news would not be greeted with unmitigated joy by David, since he was careful to make clear that he only killed Saul at Saul’s request. David had the messenger killed for claiming to have killed Saul. It is not clear to me why David did this. However, David was sending a clear message that he had not been behind Saul’s death. He also sent a message that not only would he not reward people for assassinating his enemies, he would hold them accountable for doing so.

    In the story of Abner coming over to David we see the weakness in David’s approach to governing. When Joab killed Abner, David was unable to do anything about it because he needed Joab’s support. While Joab claimed to have killed Abner because Abner had killed Joab’s brother, there is reason to believe that Joab killed Abner because he saw Abner as a threat to his position as commander of David’s armies.