DBG - April 10 - II Samuel 8-11

In this chapter we have an overview of David’s victories and administration.

vs. 1-14 – This section is an overview of David’s military victories and expansion of territory.  Much of this is done through defeating kingdoms and making them client states under David’s rule. It is not the case that David swept the areas clean and Israelites settled in  them.   The area is vast, roughly the size of the territory promised to Abrham in Genesis 15:18.  Of note in this discussion is vs. 2, where David sorts the conquered Moabites into three equal groups and kills 2 of those groups.  One has to wonder if something had happened since David had placed his parents in the care of the Moabites in I Samuel 22:3-5.   We simply do not know the motivation behind David’s harsh actions singled out against them.

vs. 15-18 – One of David’s greatest and most overlooked strengths is that of administration.  Saul had a functional government, but David greatly expands the  power and organization of the kingdom.  Note that there are two high priests: Zadok (“the just”) and Ahimelech (“brother of the king”). Zadok is a descendant of Aaron through his on Eleazar. Ahimelech is a descendant of Aaron through the line of Ithamar and is from the family of Eli. The Cherithites and Pelethites are David’s personal bodyguard. The names are linked to the Philistines (I Samuel 30:14). It is unclear if these are Philistines or David’s mighty men that had been with him in Philistia.

In this chapter David finds and blesses Mephibosheth.

vs. 1-8 – David had sworn to Jonathan that he would not wipe out the house of Saul, as seen in such passages as I Samuel 20:14-17.  Now that David is established in his rule, he seeks out someone from Jonathan’s family to bless.  We first met Mephibosheth (“exterminator of shame; i.e., of idols.”) in I Samuel 4:4.  He is a cripple that is hiding in Lodebar (“no  pasture”), surely fearing the vengeance of the David.  He is enough to have a son, who is named Micha (“who is like God?”).   One of Saul’s old servants named Ziba (“post, statue”) points David to Mephibosheth.  I think the reason Ziba did so was in hopes of gaining wealth or power through Mephibosheth, either as a reward or swooping up what he could if David killed him.

vs. 9-13 – What a wonderful picture of God’s grace that we see in David’s treatment of Mephibosheth.  Instead of punishing or killing him, David brings him into the royal court.  He gives him control of Saul’s former estates, which surely made him a very rich man.  Ziba and his sons are appointed to serve his family.  The lame man who feared the king’s vengeance is now part of the royal household.

In this chapter a war against the Ammonites begins that will continue in the background through the end of Chapter 12.

vs. 1-5 – Once again we do not know all of the history behind what is happening.  Nahash, the king of Ammon that Saul defeated at Jabeshgilead, has died.  He had at some point aided David, probably because they shared a common enemy in Saul.  David sends representatives to offer his respect to Ammonites on their loss and to begin good relations with the new king, Hunan (“favored”).  Hunan suspects that the visitors are spies and humiliates them.  The Ammonites shave off half their beards and cut their robes so short as to make  modesty impossible.  David is infuriated.  He tells the ill-treated ambassadors to stay at Jericho until their beards grow back and their shame alleviated.

vs. 6-14 – The Ammonites realize their mistake and hire Syrian mercenaries to aid them.  Joab is dispatched at the head of Israel’s army.  In the day of battle, Israel is caught between the Ammonite forces on one side and the Syrian on the other. Joab takes the best men to fight the Syrians while his brother Abishai commands most of the force against the Ammonites. The fierceness of Joab’s attack drives the Syrians from the field, which the Ammonites see and go into retreat.

vs. 15-19 – The Syrians seek to regain their lost honor by attacking Israel.  David defeats them at a place called Helam (“place of abundance”), which was somewhere between the Jordan and Euphrates Rivers. Despite these early victories, the war continues on.  The Ammonites fortify themselves in their capital of Rabbah.

In this chapter David commits adultery with Bathsheba and attempts to cover the sin.

vs. 1-5 – David’s pride gets him in trouble again.  He stays home and does not go with his troops into battle, trusting Joab to finish the siege of Rabbah.  David is tempted when he witnesses a woman bathing.  HIs inquiries show that this is Bathsheba (“daughter of the oath”) was the wife of Uriah (“light of Jehovah”) the Hittite, one of David’s mighty men listed in II Samuel 23:39 and I Chronicles 11:41. Her father Eliam (“God’s people”) may have been one the mighty men also, if it is the same person as listed in II Samuel 23:34. Yet the connections do not stop there. If the Eliam of II Samuel 23:34 is her father, that will make her grandfather to be Ahithophel (“brother of foolishness”), one of David’s most trusted advisors (II Samuel 16:23).  None of this stops him.  He fetches Bathsheba to the palace and the two willfully commit adultery together.  The act causes her to become pregnant with Davd’s child.

vs. 6-27 – Instead of confessing his sin and accepting the consequences, David attempts to hide it.  He calls Uriah back from the battlefront, hoping that he will return home, and the child could be believed to be Uriah’s.  Uriah does not cooperate with the plan, so David takes drastic measures. He plans the death of his faithful servant Uriah to cover his sin. Uriah returns to the battlefront unknowingly carrying his own death sentence. He is placed in the fiercest fighting then abandoned by the army. His death is reported back to David via messenger. David’s callous remark in vs. 25 exposes the coldness of his heart.  After the appropriate time of mourning, David takes Bathsheba as his wife.  Note the closing words of the chapter, “But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.”

Again I want to highlight David’s pride. It was his wounded pride that caused him to go to war with Ammon. It was his pride that let him send his troops into battle without joining them.  It was his pride that thought he could cover up his sin with Bathsheba.  His son Solomon would later write, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”  Even the best of men my fall, and so many are because pride crept it.

Our hymn today is “At the Table of the King” by Eliza E. Hewitt.  It is inspired by Mephibosheth’s story.

I was starving in the desert
For a crumb of living bread,
When the Lord my wand’ring footsteps
To his own pavilion led.
Tho’ the waves may roll around me,
Shadows to the hillside cling,
Yet I’m feasting, daily feasting,
At the table of the King.

Refrain:
At the table of the King,
I am feasting at the table of the King;
Of his goodness I am telling,
Of his wondrous love I’ll sing.

I was wounded in the battle,
Crippled by the darts of sin,
But my Savior, in his mercy,
Brought his healing pow’r within;
For his uttermost salvation
Let unceasing praises ring,
While I’m feasting, daily feasting,
At the table of the King. [Refrain]

In his word there’s full provision,
For his children, goodly fare;
Here are milk and wine and honey,
Every blessing I may share;
His bright banner floats above me,
Love its spicy sweets will bring,
While I’m feasting, daily feasting,
At the table of the King. [Refrain]