Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 23-24.

I was not sure where to start today, when I was reminded of spring by David’s words recorded here.
‘When one rules over people in righteousness,
    when he rules in the fear of God,
 he is like the light of morning at sunrise
    on a cloudless morning,
like the brightness after rain
    that brings grass from the earth.’
Reading that I am reminded of how pleasant it is when one takes walk outside in the spring after the rain ends, or first thing in the morning on a clear day in spring.  Everything seems better, brighter, and happier.  The grass is greener, and life seems to be everywhere.  While David was talking about those in charge of government, what he says applies to anyone in a position of leadership over others.  If a leader of people fears God and acts in righteousness, those whom he leads perceive everything to be better and brighter than it was before this leader emerge.  As David said, a society or a nation will thrive more when their rulers fear God.   As we read David’s words a little further, he tells us that evil men in any role in any society are like thorns.  They tear and damage those who come too close.  If they become too numerous, nothing fruitful will be produced.   Let us fear God and live in righteousness rather than allow ourselves to become thorns which bring a land down.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 20-22.

I love the imagery of David’s song which was recorded here.  The passage tells us that David composed this song after he had been delivered from the hands of his enemies, specifically from the hand of Saul.  David says that he called out to the Lord when he was in distress and his life was under threat.  He saw no way to survive his enemies attacks through his own actions.  So, in his distress David called out to God.  God heard David’s cry and the earth trembled because of God’s anger.  And why was God angry?  God was angry because one whom He had chosen was in distress.  We, who are followers of Jesus, have been chosen by God and He will react to our cries of distress in the same way that he responded to David’s cries.  If you are in distress, cry out to God and He will come to your rescue.

There is one other part of David’s song which I want to write about.  David tells us that if we approach God with faithfulness, God will respond with Faithfulness.  If we approach God with with blamelessness, we will find nothing with which to blame God.  If e approach Him with purity, we will find God pure.  But if we approach God deviously, looking for a loophole, we will find Him shrewd.  We will not outsmart God, but if we approach Him with humbleness and faith, He will reward us with honor.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 18-19.

This passage reads as if the people of Judah did not begin seeking David’s return as king after Absalom’s death until David sent messages to them suggesting it would be in their best interest.  It appears that David sent those messages after others in Israel reached out to him about him returning as king.  Then once David did return as king, the men of Judah asserted greater credit for his return than the other tribes, starting the divide which came to fruition upon Solomon’s death.  Now I want to point out that this divide actually seems to have begun on the part of the other tribes.  I find it interesting that the other tribes count themselves as ten, but Shimei, a Benjamite, counted himself as “first from the tribes of Joseph” to come and greet David upon his return.  I am not sure of the significance of this, just something I noticed.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 16-17.

There are a lot of things I could write about today: Ziba’s comments about Mephibosheth’s reaction to Absalom’s treachery, the contrasting advice of Ahithophel and Hushai, and why Absalom listened to Hushai’s intentionally bad advice rather than Ahithophel’s good advice.  I chose however to write about how King David reacted to Shimei cursing him.  Abishai, Joab’s brother and David’s nephew, wanted to execute Shimei for cursing the king, a reaction which harkens back to David’s refusal to kill King Saul when he had the opportunity.  David, on the other hand, chose to let Shimei’s offense pass.  We can learn a lot about how we should react to our enemies from what David did here.  David chose to accept Shimei’s curse as something from God which he deserved because of his sin with Bathsheba and what he did to Uriah.  At this time, David chose to humbly bow his head and accept the suffering which God chose to inflict upon him by inspiring Shimei to curse him.  David chose to bow his head and accept that perhaps God had torn the throne from him.  David did not think it appropriate to claim the prerogatives of being God’s anointed when he was fleeing Jerusalem, because perhaps God had taken that blessing from him, as He had done to Saul many years earlier.  What I have written so far does not quite capture what I am trying to say.  David models for us something we should imitate.  As he fled from Absalom, he refused to take his frustration out on those who heaped abuse on him because of his fallen estate.  Instead, he threw himself on the mercy of God, and accepted the full suffering which came with what God had inflicted on him.  When we suffer, let us strive to not take our misery out on others, but instead cry out to God for forgiveness and rescue.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 14-15.

As I started to read this passage I was thinking about the role Joab played in setting up Absalom’s coup attempt, not that Joab did that on purpose.  Or, even the way Absalom set his coup in motion.  However, as I read what the wise woman from Tekoa said to David, it really struck me.  She said, “Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.”  This seems to me to be a foreshadowing of the Gospel.  God seeks that those who have been banished from His presence by sin do not remain banished.  Each and every one of us has been banished from God’s presence by sin, but God does not desire for us to remain banished from Him.  So, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so that we might not remain banished from His presence.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 12-13.

I debated with myself a lot about what to write about today’s passage.  Part of me wants to write about Nathan’s condemnation of David for his sin with Bathsheba.  Part of me wants to write about the actions of David’s sons, Amnon and Absalom.  Both of whom were clearly spoiled.  However, I decided to write about David’s reaction to the sickness and death of his first son with Bathsheba.  When the child fell ill, David fasted and prayed with so much fervor that his attendants were afraid to tell him when the child died.  David’s prayer while the child was sick reminds me of what Jesus taught in the parable of the persistent widow.  Jesus told them that they should pray and not give up.  David prayed and did not give up, but when the child died he recognized that God had told him “No.”  At that point, David accepted God’s will and went on with his life, seeking to serve the Lord.  We should follow David’s example, praying and fasting that God relieve the suffering of those around us, but not losing faith when God chooses differently than our desires.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 8-11.

Today’s passage contains two accounts about David’s war against the Ammonites.  The first is a summary about what caused the war and summarizes the course of the war.  The second mostly presents the war as a backdrop to David’s affair with Bathsheba.  The conclusion to the war in the second account occurs in tomorrow’s passage.  One of the things which always strikes me is that David was led into temptation because he did not do what he should have been doing.  Rather than lead his army to war, David sent them off to war under Joab.  As a result, David found himself in Jerusalem with time on his hands.  If instead David had led his army into battle, he would not have been tempted by the sight of Bathsheba.  He would not have committed adultery, betraying one of his most loyal men (Uriah is listed elsewhere as being one of David’s Thirty Mighty Men).  David followed up his initial betrayal by having Uriah put into a situation where he would die in battle.  Today’s passage ends with “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.”  King David is held up as a man who sought to serve the Lord with his whole heart, but even he fell into temptation because he chose not to do what he knew he should be doing.  Many tragedies occurred in his life as a result.  Yes, to some degree they were the result of God’s judgement, but some of them resulted from his sons following the bad example he gave them here.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 4-7.

When David was made king over all of Israel, the Philistines mustered their forces in an attempt to prevent him from consolidating his power.  As I read this passage, David initially withdrew to one of the places where he had hid from King Saul, but once the Philistines had assembled their forces he decided to attack.  However, before he attacked he sought God’s guidance.  When God told him to attack, he did so and drove the Philistines from the field of battle.  The Philistines reassembled their forces and prepared a second time to attack David.  Again, David sought God’s guidance before attacking and defeating the Philistines.  Then later when he brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, he danced with abandon to celebrate and worship God, with no concern for his dignity.  Let us seek to do the same.  Seek God’s guidance before we take action and worship Him without concern for our dignity.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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

As I read today’s passage I thought about the easy familiarity which Abner, who had commanded King Saul’s army, had with Asahel, brother of Joab, commander of David’s army.  Abner was King Saul’s cousin, and the man responsible for putting Saul’s surviving son on the throne of all of Israel aside from the tribe of Judah (and possibly Simeon, since Simeon’s original territory was within the territory of Judah).  While Asahel, and his brothers Joab and Abishai, were David’s nephews.  I want to note that since David was the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons, he may have been only a couple of years older than his nephews (I have a first cousin who is the same age as her niece).  Getting back to my main point.  Abner, as Saul’s cousin would have almost certainly grown up in the same town as Saul did, Gibeah in Benjamin, while David and his nephews grew up in Bethlehem of Judah.  It turns out that Gibeah and Bethlehem were only 12 miles apart, or about four to five hours on foot, and an hour or so by horse drawn wagon.  Which means there would have been social interaction between Bethlehem and Gibeah.  So, Abner and Joab (and David) would have known each other since they were children.  Perhaps not well, but at least aware of each other, such that when they became elite fighting men of Israel (which both were)  they would have interacted socially on many occasions.  All of this puts the relationship between David and Abner into perspective.

This also gives me a new perspective on why King Saul asked who David’s father was after David had defeated Goliath: Saul may have recognized David as someone he had seen around and wanted to know which family he was from.  I mean, we already knew that Saul wanted to know what family David was from, but the new perspective is that Saul knew David’s family.  To explain what I mean: I grew up in a close knit community spread out over a large geographic area.  Many people knew my father’s family, and for that matter, my father was well-known in that community.  In addition, my brothers and I look a lot like each other, but many of our cousins also bear a strong resemblance to us.  As a result, when I would meet people from the community for the first time they would often ask who my father was.  Or, if they knew one of his brothers, or cousins, better than they knew my father, they would ask if I was one of their sons.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 28-31.

Throughout his time as king, Saul had received guidance from God, and then done whatever he thought was the correct thing to do.  Now, he faces a problem which he knows is more than he can handle and seeks God’s guidance, but God will no longer answer him.  And rather than accept what God has decreed for him, King Saul chooses to consult a medium, which he knows is contrary to God’s command.  Sometimes I wish we had an example of what would have happened had King Saul chosen to repent his sins here and throw himself on God’s mercy instead of seeking a way around God’s judgment.  Nevertheless, the important lesson we learn here is that if we repeatedly choose to take the action which we thinks is best, despite it being contrary to the guidance which God offers us, eventually He will no longer offer us guidance.  We have a contrary lesson from David in this passage.  David had actively sought God’s guidance and followed it in the passages from the previous days, and in today’s, and God worked things to his benefit.  First, God arranged for the Philistines to expel David from their order of battle before they attacked King Saul in his final battle.  Thus saving David from having to decide between loyalty to Achish, who had provided him protection from Saul, and his unwillingness to raise his hand against King Saul as God’s anointed.  Even further, if David and his men had joined in battle with the Philistines, they would have returned home to Ziklag too late to rescue their families from the Amalekite raiders who had raided it in their absence.  “All things work together for good for those who love the Lord.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.