2 Samuel 10

The king of Ammonites died and David sends a delegation to the new king, Hanun, to express sympathy for the death of his father.

The Ammonite commanders advise Hanun that the men are spies sent by David so that David could take their city. From the long list of conquered places, this perspective might be understandable. Their actions, however, are not. They have half of the beard of each man and cut off their garments at the butt. This greatly humiliates David’s emissaries.

This is not the way to avoid a war with a regional powerhouse. In fact, they have to hire 20,000 Aramean mercenaries to prepare for war.

David tells the emissaries to wait in Jericho until their beards have grown back. (side note – Joshua lay a heavy curse on Jericho after it was destroyed. He cursed anyone that lived there again. So, I guess Joshua’s curse did not have a lasting impact)

David sends Joab and the army. During the battle, the Aramean mercenaries flee and the Ammonites decide to hole up in their city.

Joab goes back to David who decides to go with his army after the Aramean homeland. There, they defeat the Arameans who then become subjects to David. After this, the Arameans did not help the Ammonites again.

2 Samuel 9

Remember Mephibosheth? He was Jonathon’s son who could not walk.

David asks a servant of Saul’s household if there is anyone that David could honor on behalf of Jonathon. Since Saul’s household still has a servant, I think this means that Saul’s family has not been eliminated. They seem to still be rich enough to have servants, perhaps the servants are Saul loyalists (Benjamites?) that nostalgic for the glory days of Saul, or maybe they were slaves to Saul’s household that had not been freed yet.

The servant, Ziba, suggests Mephibosheth. David asks for Mephibosheth. When he arrives, he bows low to David and David says to him to not be afraid. This was probably the very first time he ever met David. He probably had heard of the friendship pact between his father and David, but he had no idea if it was still valid. After all, his grandfather Saul had mercilessly pursued David for years and Saul’s death resulted in a 7 year civil war between Mephibosheth’s uncle and David. Mephibosheth is understandably nervous.

David’s reason for bringing Mephibosheth to court was probably the last thing he expected to hear – David wants to restore Saul’s familial lands to Mephibosheth and that Mephibosheth will always eat at David’s table.

David’s stated purpose in returning the land is to ensure that Mephibosheth is always provided for. This is redundant because Mephibosheth was taken care of because he stayed in Jerusalem to eat at David’s table.

The return of the family lands to Saul’s grandson is interesting. Real property always had to be returned to the familial owners every 50 years, but that was in the case of leasing land. The Mosaic Code real property portion had no provisions regarding whether a king could confiscate land and if that would be immune from returning to the original owners every 50 years. David’s action and statements implicitly suggests that – yes, the king can break the 50 year inheritance rule.

2 Samuel 8

The chapter summarizes David’s big military victories. It turns out he defeated all the regional rivals – the Philistines, Amalekites, Moabites, and Edomites. He set garrisons up in the conquered areas and even defeated an army by the Euphrates. I think this is the first military conflict we have seen with the Edomites (descendants of Esau). God wanted the Israelite/Edomite relations to be harmonious up to now.

These victories remind me of various promises to Abraham and Moses where God promised to enlarge the borders of Israel, but only if they were following God. Here, we see some of that potential being fulfill.

By our standards, David was sometimes a brutal warlord when he won battles. When he beat the Moabites, he had 2/3 of them put to death while 1/3 were allowed to live. The survivors then became servants to the Israelites. He also hamstrung 20,000+ horses that were captured in one battle. I am not sure why he would do that, I think it would be better to just kill the horses rather than torture them.

That reminds me of Joshua having the defeated kings impaled.

2 Samuel 7

God finally gives David rest from his enemies. As far as we can tell, he has been in a constant state of war ever since he slew Goliath.

David has time to think. He mentions to Nathan the prophet (Gad's replacement?), “I live in a house of cedar while the ark of God remains in a tent.” Well, David, the tent was God’s idea all along.

Nathan responds, “whatever is on your mind, go ahead and do it.”

That night, God speaks to Nathan. God is highly impressed with what David said, although David’s comment was nothing more than an observation. Nevertheless, God lays out the blessing of the Davidic Covenant. Essentially, David’s throne will rule forever and ever. It is also an interesting use of the word “house”, which comes through despite the translation. David had discussed a literal “house” (home) with Nathan. Here, God turns it around and plans to give David a dynastic “house”. God also says that he will never take his love away from David, as God took his love from Saul.

Well, we know that bond gets tested with the Bathsheba incident. It also is redeemed with Solomon.

David then makes a prayer of thanksgiving and worship and asks God to bless the “house of your servant”, i.e., the House of David.

2 Samuel 6

David decides to bring the ark to Jerusalem.

The first attempt goes horribly wrong. David assembles all Israel to bring the ark in a big procession train/ party. The ark is on a cart that is pulled by oxen, but the animals stumble. A man, Uzzah, grabs the ark to stabilize it and he is immediately struck down by God. Uh oh. What was a big party has now gone off-course.

David decides to leave the ark in the household of a local person, Obed-Edom. The ark is there for three months and God blesses Obed-Edom and his household on account of the presence of the ark.

David hears of the blessing of the ark’s presence for Obed-Edom and decides that the ark should be near him. So, he makes a second attempt. David rejoices and dances around wearing priest underwear in this big procession train when his wife Michal looks out a window, sees David doing this, and despises him.

She challenges David and said that he was making himself look like a fool. David’s response is that he was humiliating himself for the Lord. This appears to have been a public rebuke by her as well. The chapter ends by saying that Michal had no children to the day of her death.

So, was Michal’s anger towards David the reason for not having children? There is a spatial inference that one can make. She is angry at David and the next statement is that she has no kids. I am not convinced that is the case because the does not actually state that it was a cause and effect situation or that God cursed her on account of it. I read it as a sense of pitying - she had a rough life. Her father and many of her brothers have been killed. Her father made her give up her first husband (David) before her half-brother made her give up her second husband to go back to David. Here, David lacks dignity and dances around half-naked in front of the country. She may have just snapped from all that has happened in her life.

That said, the context was one of celebration and she is not joining in. She can be mad at David later and perhaps should have rebuked him in private later. Right now, the ark of God is now coming into the nation’s capital. The whole country is celebrating and her focus is on her anger towards David. I think that’s why this story gets so much attention in the Bible.

2 Samuel 5

Yes, the war is over. All the tribes of Israel came and paid homage to David. David made a covenant with the tribes and is anointed king over Israel.

The chapter covers a few high points of his reign:

David was 30 years old when he became king at Hebron. He reigned there for 7 ½ years before becoming king over all Israel. He reigned in Jerusalem for 33 years.

David’s first order of business – move his capital. His actions are not explained (i.e., why move to Jerusalem?), but he attacks Jerusalem and wrests it from the Jebusites. Afterwards, he takes up residence and builds up the city.

The King of Tyre sends a bunch of building supplies for the construction of David’s palace. David also marries more women and has a lot more children.

That appears to be the highlight reel. Now for the nitty-gritty of David’s reign.

The Philistines heard that David is now king of Israel (yes, he was a turncoat after all), so they move their armies into the Valley of Rephaim. David asks God what he should do (a smart move) and God says go attack the Philistines. David is unleashed on the Philistines. The Philistines abandon their idols and David and his men carry them off. Why is David carrying off the idols as opposed to destroying them on the ground? – I don’t know.

The Philistines move into the Valley of Rephaim again. God gives David a battle strategy to attack from the rear. David does this and defeats the Philistines again.

2 Samuel 4

The news of Abner’s death disillusions Ish-Bosheth and alarms the rest of the country. It is pretty obvious which side has won.

Two of Ish-Bosheth’s men decide to kill Ish-Bosheth and take his head to David. They obviously want a financial reward or at least amnesty from David. David is not pleased with this and has them both executed for killing an innocent man. David has the head of Ish-Bosheth buried in Abner’s tomb.

We are also introduced to Jonathon’s son Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was a child when the battle of Jezreel happened and the Philistines killed his father and grandfather. During the turmoil, his nurse had picked him up to flee, but he fell off her and became lame in both feet.

So, is the war finally over?