2 Samuel 1-5: Divided House

Presented to each Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 21 October 2007
by Captain Michael Ramsay

Quiz:

1. Samuel anointed two Kings; who was the first one?
2. Who was the second one?
3. Name the giant the David killed
4. Tricky one: what is a prophet?
5. List one prophet in the book of 2 Samuel… (not Samuel, he’s dead) *Answers at bottom

Let me give you a bit of history before we begin. In the book of 1 Samuel, which we did not read yet as a community, Israel was finished with its judges and the corrupt leadership of the High Priest and his sons. They begged God and Samuel for a king and one was reluctantly given to them: Saul. Saul was a tall, dark, and handsome farmer. He was a reluctant ruler – he did not want to be king – and eventually his Kingdom was torn away from his family line.

1 Samuel ends as King Saul and his son Prince Jonathan die in battle. Throughout the last days of Saul’s reign a rival for the throne[1] was set up in the person of David. The prophet Samuel himself anointed David as king and David and Saul have quite a relationship that sees David and his mighty men and Saul and this soldiers competing for the heart and soul of the Israelites.

All this is in First Samuel but now Saul (and Samuel for that matter) is dead as 2 Samuel opens up but there is still a problem. The tribes of Israel and of Judah are locked in a civil war because Abner, one of Saul’s generals (acting on his own and for his own benefit)[2] has seized power (2:8-9; contrast David, 2:2-7) –even though it is David who is the Lord’s anointed (1 Samuel 16:13). Look at verse 8 and 9: It says there that Abner (not God) takes Ishbaal and makes him king - he thereby seizes control by propping up Saul’s son Ishbaal (Ishboseth) as a puppet ruler.

Now this war goes on for quite a long time and the forces loyal to David – under the leadership of Joab – have great success in their battles against General Abner (2:17; 3:1). Abner proves himself to be a much better politician than a general for even as he is losing badly his military contest with Joab, he is stealing all of King Ishbaal’s remaining power (3:6, 11).

Then Abner, after he is the one who provokes the entire war in the first place (2:8-9) by installing a puppet ruler[3], betrays his own people by switching sides in this war (3:8-20). Abner acts on his own and is concerned primarily about himself and his own power – and, as a result, there is war and the house of Israel is divided.

Israel is divided and in our text today, 3:20-31, we read about Abner’s treason to Israel in approaching David. He stages his betrayal masterfully. He provokes King Ishbaal (3:6) to the point where even he can’t stomach it anymore, kicks up a big fuss and heads over to Judah.[4]

Abner, however, in relying on himself rather than God, makes a serious mistake:[5] He forgets about Joab.[6] Now Joab is the one who, in our story today, is shown as out-manoeuvring and defeating Abner in battle (2 Sam 2:17-28). Joab is known to be quick with a knife and to even carry out David’s murderous deeds for him (2 Sam 11:16-17). And Abner has previously killed Joab’s brother (2 Sam 2:23) and now Abner has forgotten about Joab. And so guess who shows up now? 3:21: “just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid…”

And Joab is mad.[7] 3:24-25: Joab goes to the king and says, ‘what have you done? Abner came to deceive you and you let him get away!’ Joab knows Abner is up to something and now Joab goes to deal with it on HIS own[8] and, in verse 27, it says that Abner dies for shedding the blood of Joab’s brother. There is more death. The house is still divided.

Now at first glance this may not seem to be so bad for David actually. Your enemy’s armies are on the retreat and now their popular leader is dead. It seams like this would be a good thing? Right? But how does David thank Joab, verse 29, he says: May his blood fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house! May Joab's house never be without someone who has a running sore or leprosy or who leans on a crutch or who falls by the sword or who lacks food."[9] (Wow that’s quite a curse!)

So what’s the problem? Well, the problem is that Israel is still embroiled in a terrible civil war. It is not reconciled. Her house is still divided, even with Abner out of the way. Joab ON HIS OWN struck back at Abner and now David is vulnerable to someone seeking revenge. Israel is still at war. Israel is not reconciled. Her house is still divided.

Think about our houses today. I have, in my time, seen many divided houses. We have, in the past, had tenants who were always fighting with each other. I had one friend while I was growing up whose mother was so loud that we could hear her yelling at her sons all the way down the block. I had another friend who was thrown out of his house and had his father and his brother on another occasion come to blows.

I have seen homes where one spouse cannot stand to be around the other anymore; so, he looks for any excuse to have an out of town business trip. I have another friend who has signed up for every extra-curricular activity – every sports team in town - so he doesn’t go home. I have many friends from my time in the business world who just work and work all the time and if they can prolong their evening a little longer by heading out for a drink – or anything else - they will. These houses are divided.

There are houses divided – like Israel was - all over this country, in our community, and probably even in our churches. People act on their own. Wives yell at their husbands. Husbands leave the house to work long hours or to drink. They return to more yelling so they seek solace in more abandonment, which provokes still more yelling. It’s a terrible cycle. Houses remain divided; they need to be reconciled; what do you do?

In our world today there seems to be a big need for us all to be reconciled to God. Pornography and indulgence in sexual sin are at an all time high. They are even openly promoted in North America. I remember reading somewhere that more than 80% of US pastors have confessed to use of pornography in some way. Drug addiction and export are rampant. There are more wars and violence these days in the world than there has ever been at any time in history. And the sin inside the churches is AT LEAST as bad as it is outside. I believe the divorce rate is even higher inside than outside the churches actually . It seems like even Christian societies and houses are divided and in need of reconciliation? So, what do you do?

So, what do you do? This is a question that I wrestled with in studying this text? How come there are still divided houses? Why did Jesus die, anyway? Romans 5:10, didn’t Jesus die to reconcile us to God, (Rom 5:10, 2 Cor 5:18, Eph 2:16, Col 1:20-22)? Didn’t He rise again to establish His Kingdom (the Kingdom of God) on earth as it is in Heaven (Matt 6, Lk 11). As we seek first the Kingdom of God, is not all else supposed be added unto us (Matt 6:33)? Isn’t Jesus a Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6), rather than of war and divided houses (cf. Matt 12:25, Mark 3:25, Lk 11:17)? And, after all is said and done, aren’t all things supposed to work out for the good for those of us who love the Lord? (cf. Eph 6:8) So why is everything seemingly worse when Christ died so that we can be reconciled? Why are houses still divided?

What can this portion of the scriptures teach us about that? What can 2 Samuel 2-5 teach us, on this side of the cross, about when the battle against sin and death is supposed to be already won? Well, I think there are a couple of important things.

One that we have been looking at a lot lately through our Bible studies about Moses, Aaron, Abraham, and Babel, and Abner and Joab: if we don’t act on our own instead relying on God, we won’t have this discord in the first place. You see David was anointed by God way back in 1 Samuel (1 Sam 16:13) and he inquires of the Lord in our text today (2:1) before his people ratify his kingship.

There would not be this war in the first place had Abner consulted God, instead of, as we see in 2 verse 8, taking Ishbaal and making him king! If Abner, who was supposed to be a commander in the Lord’s army, had relied on God instead of seeking his own glory none of this would have happened! And if Joab hadn’t taken out HIS OWN vengeance on Abner when he did (3:26-27), maybe the problems could have ended a lot smoother and quicker. Maybe.

God promises (Col 1:20-23) that we will experience his reconciliation as we continue in the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all know that if our country today would just keep its eyes on the Lord it wouldn’t keep getting deeper into the troubles it is every day with the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, and everyone suffering the consequences of doing what is right in his own eyes. And in our own lives, if we’d just keep our eyes on the Lord, we wouldn’t have waded into a lot of the difficulties that we personally have. We know that.

But now a lot of us in this world are already in a mess. We are already addicted to all kinds of self-indulgences. There are many divided houses in and out of the churches (Rom 5:10, 2 Cor 5:18, Eph 2:16, Col 1:20-23). Why then aren’t we benefiting from God’s reconciliation? After all, Jesus did die so we would be reconciled to God.

I think we have an answer to this in our text today. In Chapter 5: 1-3, it says:
“All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, "We are your own flesh and blood. In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the LORD said to you, 'You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.' "

When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a compact with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.”

You see God already - way back in 1 Samuel 16:13 – as was reaffirmed in 2 Sam 2:1-7 of our text today, united/reconciled Israel through David. Most of the tribes of Israel however, chose to reject this reconciliation; they continued to serve someone else – one of their own – they continued to serve themselves (2 Samuel 2-4), instead of the King.

In order for Israel to be reconciled with Judah then, Israel had to give up its claim to be its own King. They had to give up on their demands of independence (5:1-3). They had to no longer be ruled by one of their own choice. They, instead, had to repent, change their whole way of thinking, and had to submit to the leadership of another. They could not maintain their independence and experience reconciliation at the same time. It is not possible. It is not possible to be independent and reconciled at the same time.

And this I think is important: we cannot experience our independence and reconciliation all at the same time. Many of us here today have taken wedding vows (Eph. 5:23-6:3; cf. Col. 3:18-19) Husbands you must love your wives (it says!) as Christ loved the church – and how did Christ love the church by serving them. (He gave up his own life, for the life of the church.)

And wives, you must submit to your husbands. It is true. Children of believing parents; (cf. Matt 10:35-36,12:46-50; Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21) you have a responsibility to them as well.

After all, Just like Saul dies and Israel is united under a new king,[10] Jesus dies so that we might be reconciled under the true King. So then let us not be the captains of our own ships instead, let us now go, serve God and live reconciled lives.

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* Answers 1) Saul, 2) David, 3) Goliath, 4) a messanger of God, one who speaks for the Lord, etc. 5) Nathan
[1] This rivalry was actually for succession to Saul’s reign. Saul very much desired that his descendants should rule; there is a certain irony in this in that he himself was reluctant to take the job. David also never harmed Saul or his sons but waited on the Lord instead.
[2] Cf. Birch, 2 Samuel, NIB: 1212, 1222.
[3] He does this by acting on his own to install Ishbaal as King. Ishbaal appears to be nothing more than a puppet ruler and the scriptures testify that David, by way of a contrast, inquired of the Lord before he was acknowledge as king over Judah. Cf. Birch, 2 Samuel, NIB: 1212, 1222.
[4] Ibid; cf. also Birch, 1213 and Tullock and McEntire, The OT Story, 7th ed., p. 148.
[5] Abner comes up with this masterful political and military coup idea to betray his King and secure power and glory for himself; however, in relying on himself rather than God, he makes a serious mistake: He forgets about Joab.Now Joab, as we will find out (as we continue to read in 2 Samuel) is, from time to time, David’s right hand man. He is with David from near the beginning (cf. 2 Samuel 23; 1 Chronicles 2:16). Joab is the one who cares enough to rescue David from his self-indulgence at home (with Bathsheba) so that David -not Joab- may be remembered for conquering Jerusalem (2 Samuel 12:26-28). He is the one who tries to stop David from sinning against God and causing the death of many people in the process (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21). He is the one who, in our text for Sunday (2 Samuel 2-3) is shown as out-manoeuvring and defeating Abner in battle (2 Samuel 2:17-28) and he is the one who is loyal enough to David to carry out David’s own murderous deeds for him (Uriah: 2 Samuel 11:16-17).And Abner – acting on his own - forgets about Joab. And Joab - acting on his own - kills Abner, And Solomon - acting a generation later - kills Joab.
[6] Joab is David’s Nephew; the son of his sister, Zeruiah.
[7] While he was out fighting, David is politicking with his enemy.
[8] Cf. 2 Kings 2:5, 34. This is his ultimate undoing as this is the reason given for Joab’s death in the purges that later accompanied Solomon’s rise to power.
[9] One irony of this curse may be of course that Joab is of David’s father’s house; Joab is David’s nephew (1 Chr. 2:16).
[10] Intentional turn of phrase here – I am linking the language to that of Joshua and Judges, as I think the author of Samuel does as well with this same phraseology.