Tag Archives: 2 Samuel 4-7

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2024 Bible Study –How Long Was the Ark at Kiriath Jearim?

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

When David decided to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, we are told that they brought it from the house of Abinadab.  Interestingly, back in 1 Samuel 6-7, after the Philistines returned the Ark to the Israelites, it was taken from Beth Shemesh to Kiriath Jearim and left in the house of Abinadab.  It also says that it remained there for twenty years.  However, I cannot accept any reading of the two books of Samuel which has today’s passage happening only twenty years after those of 1 Samuel 6-7.  As I read this, the events of 1 Samuel 6-7 occurred before Samuel began leading Israel. Then Samuel was followed by Saul being king for forty-two years. Then I noticed as I was reading through this year that in 2 Samuel 14:18 it says that while Saul was king the Ark was with the Israelites when they mustered for battle.  As I was getting my facts straight on this, I came across an article which suggested that the twenty years which 1 Samuel 7 says that the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim was the time between the return of the Ark and Samuel beginning to lead Israel described next there in chapter 7.  The explanation then of why David was bringing the Ark from Kiriath Jearim to Jerusalem in today’s passage would be that while the Israelite army was not mustered for war, the Ark was returned to Kiriath Jearim.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2023 Bible Study — Be Willing To Humiliate Yourself In Order To Praise God

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

Shortly after the death of Abner, two brothers killed Ish-Bosheth, cut off his head, and took it to David, expecting to be rewarded for doing so (at least, I assume that is what they expected).  Instead David had them executed for the murder of Ish-Bosheth.  I mention this only because it continues the pattern I referred to in yesterday’s blog.  However, I want to focus on the interaction between Michal and David after David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem.  While the ark was being transported, David became caught up in the celebration and worship, completely forgetting himself and his dignity.  When Michal, David’s wife and King Saul’s daughter, became embarrassed by David’s behavior (and perhaps a little jealous).  She appears to have felt that his behavior was beneath the dignity of a king.  Then, when David came into his palace, intending to bring the celebration to his own household, Michal rained on his parade and disparaged him and his joy.  David responded by saying that he would be humiliated in order to bring praise to God.  David also made another important point.  Michal was concerned that David had made a fool of himself in front of “slave girls”, those of lower status than herself (and David).  David claimed that he would humiliate himself even further in order to praise God, and would be honored by those “slave girls” for it.  So, we should keep in mind these lessons.  First, we should not be ashamed to express our joy as we worship the Lord.  Second, we may be surprised by how much others respect us for being willing to express our love of God.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2021 Bible Study King David Makes Jerusalem The Capital, and The Center Of Worship For All Of Israel

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

Upon being made king over all of Israel, and no longer just king of Judah, King David moved his capital to Jerusalem.  Of course to do so he had to first conquer Jerusalem, which had held out against the Israelites since the time of Joshua.  The other aspect of this passage, and really the entire account of David’s military career, is the way in which it both credits his military brilliance and his reliance on God’s guidance.  When the Philistines attacked him, the passage tells us that he inquired of God on how he should respond and then again when the Philistines attacked a second time.  In both cases, the writer gives me the impression that King  David made good tactical and strategic decisions because he sought and followed God’s guidance.

I want to write about King David’s two efforts to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  The first time, King David gave up on bringing the Ark to Jerusalem when one of his allies was killed because he touched the Ark while trying to keep it from falling off of the cart they were transporting it on.  David became frightened and angry when this happened.  So, King David left the Ark in the care of a Philistine who had allied himself with David.  When King David was told a few months later that the man he left it with, and everything he had, had been blessed, David moved the Ark the rest of the way to Jerusalem.  This bit has always confused me, but I realized today what it tells us.  David was afraid that Uzzah had been killed because God was angry that he, David, was moving the Ark to Jerusalem.  He left the Ark with Obed-Edom as a test.  If things went badly, King David would have known to return the Ark to where it had been.  Since things went well, David chose to move the Ark the rest of the way into Jerusalem.  However, in the meantime, King David had learned that the Ark should be carried, not carted.  Using this new information King David moved the Ark into Jerusalem.

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

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2020 Bible Study — Honoring God With Enthusiasm

I am using 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.

This isn’t where I want to focus, but as I gathered my thoughts on that I was struck by the fact that the Philistines appear to have left Israel alone while David and Ishbosheth were fighting over who would be king after Saul (well technically, it was Joab and Abner who were fighting).  However, once King David consolidated power and used that power to finally conquer Jerusalem for Israel, the Philistines attacked.  This tells us that the Philistines did not want control over the land Israel controlled.  They just did not want a unified country controlling that territory.

Having said that part, what I really wanted to talk about was David bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  Now, I have come to the conclusion that the Ark was moved about from time to time between the time it was returned by the Philistines until David brought it to Jerusalem.  David was enthusiastic about moving it to Jerusalem, which probably explains why he did things wrong the first time he tried.  As part of the process of moving the Ark, David wanted to take part in making the offerings.  So, he dressed as a priest was supposed to and made offerings along the way.  In a way, what King David did here was similar to what King Saul did that got him into trouble with Samuel and God before Saul’s first battle against the Philistines.  There is an important difference here.  King Saul offered the sacrifice in order to consolidate his power.  King David offered sacrifices in order to express his joy at being in the presence of God.  While both King David and King Saul broke the letter of God’s law, King David kept the spirit of the law.  It doesn’t mean that we don’t have to follow God’s laws, look at what happened to Uzzah when David first tried to bring the Ark to Jerusalem.

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2019 Bible Study — Humiliating Ourselves to Bring Glory to God

I am using 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.

I find it noteworthy that King David did not attempt to establish himself as king over all of Israel by military conquest.  It would have been fairly straightforward for him to do so.  Ishbosheth was not military commander and both David and Joab were excellent commanders.  In fact, even after the death of Ishbosheth David waited for the tribes to come to him asking him to be their king.  I bring this up because it puts King David’s reaction to the two brothers who killed Ishbosheth in context.  If we go back and think about what had been going on before Abner’s death it becomes clear that Ishbosheth had been resigned to turning the kingdom over to David.  Ishobosheth’s falling out with Abner was over Abner sleeping with one of King Saul’s concubines.  Abner was not angry because the accusation itself was false.  Rather, Abner got angry because the implication of Ishbosheth’s accusation was false.  Abner did not sleep with Saul’s concubine as a step towards claiming the throne.  However, since Ishbosheth thought that Abner slept with the concubine as a step towards claiming the throne, he clearly understood that returning his sister to David to be David’s wife was accepting David’s claim to the throne.  The two brothers who killed Ishbosheth further miscalculated in that David did not seek vengeance on Saul and his family.  Instead, he mourned their deaths.

Usually when I write about David moving the Ark to Jerusalem I write about what went wrong and what David did to get it right the second time.  However, today I want to focus on David’s willingness to make a fool of himself to worship the Lord.  I would say “willingness to embarrass himself”, except that he was not embarrassed.  Michal, David’s wife and one of King Saul’s daughters, was embarrassed by what David did, but David was not.  David was enthusiastic about his worship of the Lord and felt no need to maintain his dignity.  WE can take a lesson from King David’s response to his wife.  He was willing, even eager, to be even more foolish in praising and worshiping God, to the point where even he felt that he had humiliated himself.  Not only should we not be worried about what others think of us when we worship the Lord, we should be willing to humiliate ourselves in our own eyes in order to bring glory to God.   If it takes me being humiliated to bring someone to God, I want to be willing to be humiliated.

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2018 Bible Study — Kingship and Strategy

I am using 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.

    Ishbosheth’s reaction to Abner’s death suggests that perhaps he had been accepting of Abner’s plan to turn the kingship of Israel over to David. In yesterday’s passage, Ishbosheth had returned Saul’s daughter, Michal, to David as his wife, which would have given David a claim to the throne as Saul’s successor. However, Abner’s death both deprived Ishbosheth of his best army commander and removed the assurance that he would survive handing his throne over to David. Unfortunately for Ishbosheth two of his men decided that they could curry favor with David by killing Ishbosheth. Those two men discovered that David did not approve of their action. David had them killed for doing so. I feel bad for Ishbosheth. He was never trained to be king and he never sought to be king. Abner made him king because he needed a son of Saul to be figurehead. Then when Abner got himself killed, two of Ishbosheth’s captains killed him in a deluded effort to curry favor with David.

    We see in today’s passage two aspects of David’s leadership that allowed him to be successful. First, we see that he had a good eye for strategy. When he sought to conquer Jerusalem, he saw that it was vulnerable to attack through the tunnel carrying water into the city. Later, when the Philistines attacked him, as they had Saul, he sought advice. The passage tells us that David sought God’s guidance, but I am sure that he also sought the advice of his commanders. As a result of this advice, David did not fall prey to the most common problem for military commanders, fighting the current war according to the strategies which worked in the last war.

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2017 Bible Study — Seeking the Lord’s Guidance

I am using 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.

    After telling how David gained kingship over all of Israel, the passage gives us examples of David’s tactical brilliance. First, he conquered heavily fortified Jerusalem by sneaking troops into the city through their water supply (a vulnerability which does not get addressed until Hezekiah is king). This seems to us like an obvious attack, yet the Jebusites had been able to hold Jerusalem against the Israelites since the time of Joshua. So, this was probably less obvious than it seems to us today, and probably more difficult than the passage makes it appear. When the Philistines learned that David had united the Israelites and taken Jerusalem, they mustered their armies to break his fledgling kingdom. The first time the Philistines attacked, David marched out against them and attacked them head on, driving them from the field of battle. The second time they attacked, David realized they would have a plan to deal with a frontal assault, so he marched around behind them and attacked them from the rear. In both cases, David sought God’s guidance before formulating a plan and launching an attack.

Daily Bible Study

April 9, 2016 Bible Study — God Holds Us To a Higher Standard

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.

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

    When word reached Ishbosheth’s camp about Abner’s death, two brothers, who were minor commanders in his army, slipped into Ishbosheth’s house while he napped and killed him. They took Ishbosheth’s head to David, apparently expecting him to reward them for killing Ishbosheth. Rather than reward them, David ordered them executed. Throughout his career David consistently rejected the idea of punishing people solely because they were his enemies. When the people of Israel learned that Ishbosheth, the last of Saul’s sons, had died, they made David their king. I do not know if anyone else has ever noticed, but sometimes when I write this blog I write whatever comes to my mind hoping that God (or perhaps just my mental processes) will inspire me with a spiritual message from the passage. Some days that inspiration never comes. However, today is not one of those days…

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    When David moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem he loaded it on a cart. This was contrary to the instructions which God had given the Israelites concerning how to move the Ark. As a result, when one of the men accompanying the Ark reached out to steady it, God struck him down. This may seem unfair, since a mere two generations earlier the Philistines had returned the Ark to the Israelites by sending it on a cart. However, the lesson here for us is that God holds those who know better to a higher standard. Or, perhaps a better way to say this is, God holds those who instruct others on right and wrong to a higher standard. We see time and again stories about people who tell others about how God wants us to live our lives getting caught up in a scandal, or otherwise having their life fall apart because they did that which they told others was wrong. If you feel called by God to tell others to live righteously make sure that you yourself are living up to your standard of righteousness, or, at least, be open about your failure to live up to what you believe is right.