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.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Samuel 25-27.

When I read the account of Nabal and Abigail I am always struck that it tells us a lot about how property was controlled in that ancient time.  Let’s look at the account.  Apparently, David and his men had guarded Nabal’s men as they herded his sheep, then when sheepshearing time came, David sent some men to request that Nabal give them supplies in payment for their protection against bandits.  Reading between the lines, it even looks as if there had been an implied agreement between David and Nabal.  Nabal’s response seems to be Nabal telling David, “What are you going to do about me violating our contract?  Are you going to appeal to the king?”  Then something interesting happens.  Nabal’s servants, recognizing that David had the means to enforce his contract without appealing to King Saul, went to Abigail, Nabal’s wife.  She immediately ordered the servants to gather supplies and take them to David.  The servants to whom Abigail gave these instructions would have known what Nabal had said, so they knew that she was doing this without her husband’s permission, or approval.  Later, after Nabal’s death, David asked Abigail to marry him, and she did so.  There is a bit of implication that David acquired Nabal’s wealth by marrying Abigail, or, perhaps I should say that he acquired Abigail’s wealth.  So, in reading this we learn a bit about how contracts worked.  We also learn that, although it was a male dominated society where a man controlled his wife’s economic assets, the wife still played a major role in managing those assets.  I wrote that by marrying Abigail, David gained control of Nabal’s wealth, but it occurs to me that perhaps David married Abigail because she showed wisdom in managing Nabal’s wealth, by gathering supplies for David and his men, rather than because he gained wealth by marrying her.

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 21-24.

Today’s passage contrasts King Saul with David in several ways.  We also see how much David had progressed as a warrior since the day he defeated Goliath.  When David defeated Goliath, he rejected the weapons and armor which King Saul offered him as being more hindrance than benefit because they were too heavy.  Here, when he is fleeing Saul’s court, he takes the sword which Goliath had worn as better than no sword.  The fact that David could wield Goliath’s sword at this point indicates that he had grown in strength and skill.  We should seek to similarly grow in the strength and skill needed to carry out the tasks to which God calls us.  So, one of the contrasts between King Saul and David comes when Saul discovered where David had gone, and that he had gathered a force of men around him.  King Saul accuses everyone around him of conspiring against him.  Further, when he discovered that the priest, Ahimelek, had provided aid to David when David first fled from him, he had Ahimelek, and all of his family, killed.  It is worth noting that Ahimelek had no way to know that David was no longer in Saul’s favor.  On the other hand, when David realized that the people of Keilah would turn him over to King Saul, after he had protected them from Philistine raiders, he left.  Further, when King Saul relieved himself, without a guard, in a cave which David was hiding in, David chose not to kill Saul.  We should seek to emulate David, not Saul.

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 18-20.

One of the things which always strikes me is that David turned down the opportunity to marry King Saul’s eldest daughter, but later married another of Saul’s daughters, Michal.  The passage never really tells us why, but it gives us a few hints.  First, it seems to me that David had no ambitions, other than serving the Lord (and perhaps, fighting against those who were the enemies of the Lord’s people).  Second, I think he knew that Michal was in love with him and desired to marry him, while her older sister, Merab, would only have married him because her father told her to do so.  I suspect that David returned Michal’s love (this is supported by the fact that one of his demands to make peace with Abner after King Saul’s death was her being returned to him).  All of this to say, that David did not seek the kingship of Israel.  It came to him due to the hand of God.  David did what he could to serve God in the situations he found himself in, and God raised him to be king.

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