II Samuel 2: Dedicated to God’s Path

Verses 1-11

David, ever the faithful man of God, models goodness and righteousness in the wake of Saul’s death. Despite Saul’s waywardness, David still honors the men that properly buried Saul: 

“So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead, and said to them, “You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness, because you have done this thing. Now therefore, let your hands be strengthened, and be valiant; for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.” 

II Samuel 2:5-7

The root reason for David honoring these men’s work in burying Saul is that Saul respects that God ordained Saul as the king of Israel. Even though his character and his strategies were self-centered rather than God-centered, David still honored the man because it was God that made him king. 

David is then anointed king of Judah and Ishbosheth is anointed king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin. Ishbosheth will reign over these areas for two years while David will reign over Judah for seven years and six months. 

Verses 12-32

There was an obvious conflict now between Ishbosheth and David. Ishbosheth wanted to retain control over the entire kingdom of Israel, but David had the loyalty of many and was anointed King of Judah. As Ishbosheth had been anointed king over pretty much the rest of the kingdom of Israel, Ishbosheth now wants to defeat David so that the kingdom can be complete under Ishbosheth. So Ishbosheth proposes a battle between their mutually strongest warriors. When the faction under Ishbosheth, led by Abner, fails under David’s men, led by Joab, a fast man named Asahel pursues Abner, to kill him. Asahel knew that if he killed Abner, the power would be again consolidated under David. 

Abner ends up killing Asahel and Abner proposes a truce of sorts to Joab. Joab agrees, seeing the wisdom in avoiding further bloodshed (the men under David experienced far less losses than the men under Ishbosheth). We will see in the next chapter that the houses of Saul and David will end up warring against one another for quite some time to come, with the house of David slowly gaining the advantage (II Samuel 3:1).

What can we learn from this chapter? It progresses the story of David nicely. David was first anointed as king in I Samuel 16 by Samuel when Saul was still king. So, while we see David as the eventual rightful ruler of Israel in God’s eyes, we see his earthly progression towards the throne guided by God and taking place in God’s time. We can learn that God has a plan for everything and all will come to pass in His time, not in our own. David’s patience and diligence to do the right thing even though it is not convenient or even just is admirable. This is an example for us to persevere in our own lives through difficult or confusing stages, even when things are particularly hard. It can seem near impossible, but we have so many examples in our own lives and in God’s Word of people persevering through difficult times and keeping the faith. No matter their reward on earth (which is often substantial), the heavenly reward trumps all.