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

Some people think the account given of Saul’s death here contradicts the one given at the end of 1  Samuel.  While this is true, they miss the fact that the account of his death given here is not told as what happened.  Rather, it is told as what the messenger who brought the news to David said happened.  The writer makes no comment in this passage as to whether or not the messenger is telling the truth.  Even David’s response does not necessarily tell us that David believed the messenger.  It is worth noting that the messenger was an Amalekite and that David had recently returned from chasing down a group of Amalekites who had destroyed his home and taken the women and children of his men, and himself, captive.  So, David was predisposed to think poorly of Amalekites.  The messenger did confess to killing the king, something David had refrained from doing at least twice.

I have often wondered at the hostility which David expresses towards Joab and his brother Abishai.  I think today reading this passage I finally understand it.  It is not made completely clear, but when Abner offered to come over to David, David asked for Saul’s daughter Michal to be returned to him as his wife.  Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s surviving son whom Abner had previously supported as king over Israel, ordered her taken from the man to whom King Saul had given her after David fled from Saul’s attempts to kill him.  This suggests that not only was Abner going to swear fealty to David as king, but that Ish-Bosheth would do so as well.  So, Joab killing Abner ended to opportunity to end the conflict between David and Saul’s house without further bloodshed.  After the death of Abner, Ish-Bosheth was afraid that someone among David’s men would kill him as well.  We see from David’s psalm of mourning in today’s passage that he had no enmity towards Saul’s family.  In any case, while David had stopped Abishai from killing Saul on the occasion when the two of them had snuck into Saul’s camp, he only starts complaining about how bloodthirsty Abishai and Joab were after the incident with Abner.

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.

In today’s passage we have two accounts about how David reacted to the deaths of his political enemies (although the death of Abner occurred after Abner had reconciled with David).  When an Amalekite brought David the news of King Saul’s death, claiming to have administered the coup-de-gras, David ordered him executed.  Later, when Joab murdered Abner, David forced Joab to put on a show of mourning for Abner’s death.  After Abner’s burial, David laments his inability to control Joab and Abishai.  In both cases, the death of Saul and the death of Abner, David mourned the loss of those he counted as great men.

One thing which often seems odd to me is the verse which tells us that Joab and Abishai murdered Abner in vengeance for Abner killing their brother.  Yet, one would have thought that if Joab sought vengeance for his brother’s death he would have continued the pursuit of Abner on the day when Abner had killed him, rather than calling off the pursuit.  Instead we have Joab killing Abner after Abner had made an agreement with David to turn over the kingship still held by the House of Saul in return for David giving him Joab’s job as commander of David’s armies.  I realized today that the reference to Joab killing Abner as revenge for the death of his brother records Joab’s defense against a murder charge.  Mosaic law gives implied permission to the family of someone killed by another the right to take the life of the killer.  So, the writer is not claiming that Joab murdered Abner to revenge his brother.  Rather, the writer is explaining, in part, why David could not execute Joab for doing so.

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