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

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Today’s passage divides into three parts.  First, it tells us about David learning of the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan.  Second, it tells us about David becoming king over Judah and his war against the House of Saul.  Finally, it tells us about Abner’s attempt to bring all of Israel over to David and Joab’s murder of Abner.  People often claim a contradiction between the account of Saul’s death given here by the man who brought the news to David and the account of Saul’s death given at the end of 1 Samuel.  The problem is that there is only a contradiction if you believe that the passage here intends for you to believe that the man who brought the news was telling the truth.  As I read it, it reads to me as if this man, an Amalekite, brought the news, and told it the way he did, in order to gain favor with David.  David’s action in killing the Amalekite who brought him news of King Saul’s death, and who claimed to have delivered the death blow, is consistent with his repeated refusal to take opportunities to kill Saul while Saul was hunting him.  David received power because God delivered it into his hand, not because he sought it out.

It reads to me like the war between David and the House of Saul was more because Abner tried to set up Ish-bosheth as ruler over all of Israel, rather than because David tried to expand his power base.  While Joab’s murder of Abner prevented Abner from ending that war. it was effectively over from the time Abner came to David to negotiate peace.  We see in that ending, and in David’s reaction to Abner’s murder, how David relied on God to establish his kingship.  Our ambitions should be similar.  Our ambitions should be to do God’s will, and if God desires for us to be leaders, He will direct us into that role.

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