Bible 101 - 2 Samuel Chapters 21-24

Presented January 3, 2005 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: At the end of chapter 20, David appeared to be back to business as usual after successfully putting down two revolts. We know that the rebellions fulfilled Nathan's prophecy that the "sword would never depart from David's house," and that "calamity" would come upon him (II Sam. 12:10-11). These were consequences of David's sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, both of which showed that he had contempt for God's laws (clear because he'd broken most of the 10 commandments and tried to cover it up), and caused others to despise God. But following the rebellion by Absalom and Sheba, he's back in Jerusalem, and the days of his reign are coming to an end. His son Solomon (Bathsheba's son) will succeed him, and we'll read of his reign in I Kings.

II Samuel 21-24: The four chapters which conclude this book include incidents during David's reign which fall outside the chronology we just completed. By way of context, the arc of David's story began in I Samuel 16 when he was anointed to become king after Saul. Thereafter we read of his killing Goliath and becoming a great warrior against the Philistines and other enemies of Israel. His military exploits are great - so great that the women of Israel sing "Saul has slain his thousands but David his tens of thousands," making Saul insanely jealous with a desire to kill David, and Saul pursues him for 10 years. David as a fugitive attracts many other disaffected men, the core of whom are his "mighty men" (some of which are named in II Sam. 23, and they and additional men are named in I Chron. 11). At Saul's death, David is first king over Judah (his own tribe) in Hebron, and then six years later, he's anointed by Israel's 10 tribes, too, and his first act is to conquer Jerusalem and make it his capital city.

His life continues as a warrior, husband and father until the fateful incidents of II Samuel 11, the turning point of his life. Here he takes Bathsheba, murders her husband, and the prophet Nathan has to confront him (II Sam. 12). From then on, David's life is a series of tragedies involving his family: first his son Amnon rapes his half-sister Tamar (II Sam. 13), and Absalom, Tamar's brother, kills Amnon (II Sam. 14). Absalom lives in exile for three years, finally is invited back to Jerusalem where he "steals the hearts of all Israel" by undermining his father's authority and effectiveness as king. Absalom takes 200 people to Hebron (II Sam. 15) where he's apparently anointed king (the event is not recorded in scripture, but is referred to by the people), and he makes his way back to Jerusalem. However, someone warns David, and he flees with all of his household except for 10 concubines left in charge. With David go his mighty men, Joab and Abishai, his commanders, and many other supporters. They are told (II Sam. 17) that Absalom is gathering troops to come after David to kill him; David goes to Mahanaim where he musters an army, and fights Absalom's men. Absalom himself is killed (II Sam. 18) after his hair is caught in a tree, hanging him "between heaven and earth" until Joab comes and stabs him - against David's direct command to "deal gently with the young man Absalom." The rebellion is put down; David returns to Jerusalem, but not with a united kingdom. A Benjamite named Sheba sounds a battle call and many from Israel, who'd supported Absalom, follow him. But he is beheaded in Abel beth Maacah, avoiding mass bloodshed and further civil war, and another rebellion ends.

David's effectiveness as king is for all intents and purposes over; it's only a matter of time until he dies and Solomon takes the throne. But before he does, there are a few more events in David's life that the historians want us to be aware of, and they are recorded in II Samuel 21, and II Samuel 24. In between is poetry and a list of the mighty men.

II Samuel 21:1-14: Back in Joshua 9, we met the Gibeonites who are the subject of this passage in David's life. As you recall, they were residents of Canaan who, after hearing of the many defeats of neighboring tribes, went to Joshua in disguise, telling him they'd come from a great distance (they show their ragged clothes, worn out sandals, wine skins, and moldy bread as proof). They ask for a truce: they'll become Israel's servants (hewers of wood and drawers of water), in exchange for peace. Joshua and the elders agree; then they discover they'd been tricked, but a promise is a promise. Now sometime during Saul's reign, Saul had tried to wipe out the Gibeonites, but this war was not at God's direction. Saul's action broke the promise Joshua and the nation had made 400 years before. God doesn't ask us to make vows, but if we do, we are bound to keep them. After all, we want God to keep HIS promises to us. The old promise Israel had made was to be honored, and because it wasn't, for three years, Israel suffered a famine during David's reign. David asked God why the nation was being punished by the famine, and God told him it was because of Saul's slaughter of the Gibeonites. David went to the remaining Gibeonites asking what they'd like; they don't want money, but they do want "an eye for an eye" in dead men. They ask specifically for 7 of Saul's descendants to be handed over, and they'll publicly kill them, and then the problem will be solved. So David gives them what they ask for, sparing Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son who is an honored member of David's household. In our 21st century eyes, this way of settling the score seems barbaric. But in the times in which it occurred, it was deemed appropriate because the sins of one man (Saul) reflected guilt on the rest of his family.

II Samuel 21:10: Rizpah is a tragic figure in all of this, and an honorable one. She was Saul's concubine and two of her sons were handed to the Gibeonites to hang. (Recall that in God's law (Deut. 21), "cursed is any man who hangs from a tree" another reason Jesus' death, that of a criminal, was so devastating to his followers.) Rizpah grieved for her sons publicly, keeping a vigil near their bodies for days. Finally, David heard what she was doing and took pity on her. He took the bones of the 7 dead men (left hanging on a wall to mock and further dishonor them), along with Saul and Jonathan's bones to bury all of them with dignity. Recall that the bodies of Saul and Jonathan had been taken by the Philistines as trophies. They'd hung them on a Philistine city wall, but the men of Jabesh Gilead (whom Saul had rescued from the Philistines early in his reign) took their bodies back to Israel. Now David, in an act of love and respect, buries all of Saul's family with Saul's father Kish. And the narrative moves on.

II Samuel 21:15: The remaining verses of this chapter recall battles against Philistine giants. In a sense, they echo David's first prominence in Israel as the slayer of Goliath (II Samuel 17), and these are all relatives of Goliath whom the Israelites kill in later battles. Apparently these giants came after Israel - and David in particular - for revenge. The interesting part of this post script is David's inability to fight. It demonstrates that he's aged, and no longer able to safely take the battle field. His men aren't willing to lose him and tell him to stay on the sidelines, a bitter-sweet moment for David: on the one hand, his life as a military man is over; on the other, listen to their poetic description of their king: "the lamp of Israel" whom they do not want extinguished.

II Samuel 22:1-23:7: David is known as the "sweet singer of Israel," and these poetic verses illustrate just that. Most of ch. 22 duplicates Psalm 18; the first part of ch. 23 is called "the last words of David," and most likely were spoken at the time David handed over the plans for the Temple and the crown to Solomon. No matter when they were written, they demonstrate David's artistry as a poet, as well as his relationship with God.

II Samuel 22: Some commentators have said that the song recorded here is a summary of David's faith and trust in God - it's his life theme. Just as Sinatra had "I Did it My Way," David's anthem was the faithfulness of God. And in David's life, he'd had plenty of experience with God's faithful ways. God rescued him, God heard his cries for help and came to his aid; God preserved his life, God chose him to be king, and God made a promise to David (II Sam. 7) "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever." And indeed it was - first when his human heirs succeeded to his throne in Judah, and then its ultimate fulfillment came when the Messiah was born as the Prince of Peace (Mary and Joseph both of the house of David).

We can break this passage into six sections:

Whether this was written early or late in David's life, it is based on a close friendship with God, never forgetting that God is God and David isn't.

II Samuel 23:1-7: This song called "the last song of David" is unusual in that he first identifies himself as the human author, and then David acknowledges God's hand and spirit guided his words. In the Psalms, we never read "I David, king of Israel, say thus and so." In them, we simply read David's praise of God, a prayer to God, a song for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a song for a special day, etc. But here, at the end of David's life, he makes sure to say that while he is the human instrument, it is God who has inspired him, given him the throne, and delivered him from all his enemies. It's a loving way to say farewell to the world and to pass through Heaven's portals to be with God for eternity. His description of God (and there are many in the Psalms) is pure poetry (v. 4): "He is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth." God is light - but a particular light. Sunrise in literature symbolizes beginnings (just as sunset symbolizes endings). God's light illuminates our lives in that way - showing us new paths, new ideas, new ways to serve him. And David adds that it's "like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth." This is not a scorching, burning light, but a gentle sunshine that causes fields to grow into a harvest. John in his Gospel said that Jesus came into the world and "in him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (John 1:4-5). And in his epistle, John said "God is light and in him there is no darkness at all." (I John 1:5). John had read David's Psalms and he connects Jesus to them.

II Samuel 23:8-39: Here is a partial list of David's "mighty men" the core of his most loyal fighting forces. Note that the last name is Uriah the Hittite. And we're told why they were called his mighty men when the exploits of a handful are singled out for acclaim. What we have are vignettes from battles and skirmishes. In the longer narrative of David's life, we simply have statistics such as 20,000 men died that day or with God's help, David was victorious over the Philistines in such and such a place. Now here are incidents which occurred to help us understand the kind of forces who were with David and how they won so many battles.

II Samuel 24: This chapter begins with David's order to Joab to take a census - on the surface not a bad thing, but listen to Joab's reaction to David's order: "why do you want to do such a thing?" His question implies that this is NOT a good thing, and in fact, it's David's motivation that's wrong: he wants to know the number of fighting men he can call on, those between the ages of 20 and 50, the same kind of census which God ordered Moses to take in Numbers (as preparation for conquering the Promised Land). So the reason David's counting is wrong is that he is apparently going to put his faith in the strength of men rather than in God. In Deut. 17 when God gave Moses a list of the king's obligations, God said that the king was not to acquire large numbers of horses, and we can infer that God is saying "don't depend on the implements and equipment of war, but depend on Me." David is thus forgetting who'd given him all his victories: it was God's power that prevailed, not that of David's army. Is David proud of himself and human power? Nevertheless, Joab and his men, over a nine month period, travel from one end of Israel to the other, counting the men, and when they return to Jerusalem, they tell David there are 800,000 men in Israel (the northern 10 tribes) who can handle a sword, and in Judah, 500,000, for a total of 1.3 million. (Recall that God said that certain men were exempt from serving in the army, and they included the priests and Levites, newly married men, and those who were afraid.)

II Samuel 24:10: "David was conscience-stricken after he counted the fighting men." David realized that what he'd done was wrong - not because of the actual counting, but the reliance on these men that motivated the counting. And as we saw David doing in the aftermath of his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, he repents, saying "I have sinned greatly," and he asks God for forgiveness. God sends the prophet Gad to David saying that the consequences of this sin were David's choice: three years of famine, three months of war or three days of plague. David threw himself on God's mercy and God destroyed 70,000 people by plague in the next three days. And then we read "The Lord was grieved because of the calamity, and said to the angel afflicting the people 'withdraw your hand,'" and the plague stopped. The angel afflicting the people is called the angel of the Lord (v. 16), the same death angel who caused the death of Egypt's firstborn sons (Ex. 12:23). The plague ceased at the threshing floor of Araunah, a place soon to become significant in both David's life and that of the people.

II Samuel 24:17: David begs God to punish him rather than the people, and once again, we see David's tender heart, and the reason God loved him. He takes responsibility for his own sin, and God hears his prayer and answers through Gad. David is told to go up to the place where the plague had ended and there build an altar to sacrifice to God. And David goes to Araunah to ask to purchase his threshing floor for that purpose. Araunah offers it along with animals to sacrifice without charge, and David says "I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." David knows a "sacrifice" isn't a sacrifice unless it involves some cost to the one offering it. And so David buys the threshing floor, builds an altar and sacrifices burnt offerings to God. The last verse of this book reads: "Then the Lord answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped."

Threshing floor: This spot where David made his sacrifices to God is thought to be the same place where Abraham went to offer Isaac (Gen. 22). It is the place where Solomon built the temple.

Significance of David's reign: David was the first king who followed God, who relied on God, and who was blessed by God. He presents a stark contrast to Saul who depended on himself and his own wisdom instead of on God. David is a warrior; his reign (1010-970 B.C.) is marked by frequent battles with the Philistines and other warring nations that surrounded Israel. Unfortunately, it was also marked by civil wars following Saul's death and Absalom's rebellion. These civil wars point to the division of the kingdom which comes on the heels of Solomon's reign. The nation that God rescued from Egypt is still trying to learn what it means to trust and obey God. Sadly, they, as we, find this a hard lesson to learn. The difference in our lives is that we have the blood of Jesus offered as a permanent, once for all sacrifice for sin, and our sins are not only forgiven, but we have the Holy Spirit to help us live the life God wants us to live: one totally dependent on him.

Next week: the potluck (at 6:30 p.m.) will take us back to Genesis, and then forward to I Kings so that we begin the new study with an extensive review.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Let's close in prayer.