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The David Chronicles 35: A World Class Curse

Joe Harby on June 9, 2013

Introduction

The affairs of state are flowing in David’s direction but, as any leader can tell you, there’s always something. As soon as the division between Saul and David is healed, the division between David and Joab appears.

The Text

“Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker . . .” (2 Sam. 3:1-39).

Summary of the Text

In the extended civil war between the house of Saul and the house of David, things went badly for Saul (v. 1). In the next verses, we are given the names of the six sons born to David in Hebron (vv. 2-5). At the same time David was growing stronger in all Israel, Abner was growing stronger in the house of Saul (v. 6). Ish-bosheth made the bad move of accusing Abner of taking Rizpah, a concubine of Saul, for himself (v. 7). This was the last straw for Abner (v. 8), who then swears to give the whole kingdom to David (vv. 9-11).

Abner is true to his word (v. 12), and yet David is ready for him with a demand for Michal (v. 13). David then makes the demand of Ish-bosheth, whose compliance reveals him as a spent force (v. 14-16). Abner then meets with the elders of Israel and persuades them to give their allegiance to David (vv. 17-18). The tribe of Benjamin was obviously a special case (v. 19), which Abner has to give additional attention to. So Abner comes to Hebron with 20 men, and is received with a feast (v. 20). The deal is closed (v. 21).

Joab comes in from the field, and Abner was gone (v. 22). He finds out what had happened, and registers a strong protest with David (vv. 23-25). Without David’s knowledge, Joab then sent messengers after Abner (v. 26), and when he returned, he stabbed him in the city gate (v. 27). When David heard about it, he disclaims all responsibility and curses the house of Joab (vv. 28-30). David forces Joab to lament the death of Abner (v. 31). David mourned the loss of Abner, and composed an elegy for him (vv. 32-34). He mourned in a high profile way (v. 35). The people were pleased with David’s response and knew he had not had Abner killed (v. 36-37). And David praises Abner again, confesses his own weakness, and the hardness of his nephews (vv. 38-39).

Too Many Princes

We have yet another biblical sampling here of what a bad idea polygamy is. With multiple woman, a man is easily able to beget more children than he can be a father to. Some men are even able to do that with one woman. Amnon, the first born, later raped his half-sister, Tamar. For that, her full brother took his revenge (2 Sam. 13:28-29). Absalom is the grandson of a king, and a Gentile king at that. Chileab, with a name that combines Caleb and Abigail (also called Daniel, see 1 Chron. 3:1), is not heard from, perhaps because he was given the estate of Nabal, and perhaps because he had such a shrewd mother. Adonijah made an ill-fated play for the throne when David was on his death-bed, and was later killed by Solomon (1 Kings 1:5-53). Shephatiah and Ithream were not major players, and other sons are born later in Jerusalem (2 Sam. 5:13-16).

Conquest and Concubines

Saul was paranoid, and Ish-bosheth was a little that way himself. He accuses Abner, and Abner’s anger shows his innocence. If Abner really were making a play for the throne, there would be no sense in denying the relationship with Saul’s concubine. It should be noted that while politics and sex were both involved, the political element is foremost. A concubine was a slave wife, or a second-tier wife. At the same time, concubines were influential enough that to claim the concubine of a king was to claim the prerogatives of royalty. We see this with how David inherited Saul’s concubines (2 Sam. 12:8), with Absalom’s treatment of David’s concubines (2 Sam. 16:21-22), and with Adonijah’s request for Abishag (1 Kings 1:21-22). Ishbosheth accused Abner in a slanderous (not to mention idiotic) way.

A World Class Curse

Joab killed Abner ostensibly because Abner had killed his brother (v. 30), but don’t forget that in a united Israel, Abner would have been a formidable rival to Joab. At the same time, Joab had enough “societal cover” for his actions to make them “debatable.” But they were not debatable among righteous men—Abner had killed Asahel in honest battle, after repeatedly trying to avoid doing it. Moreover, even when it was a case of true manslaughter, a man could take refuge in one of the cities of refuge. Hebron was one such city, and Joab murdered Abner in the very gate of that city.

This means that while David could not bring a murder charge, he could identify Joab as a wicked man, which he plainly does. He does this through the curse he pronounces, and through his lament for Abner. The curse is bad enough on the surface—may every man in Joab’s house have a running discharge, or be a leper, or have to work with a spindle, or fall in battle, or have to go without bread. Note that the first two would exclude such a person from approaching the Lord in worship. He also laments that Abner fell the way he ought not to have—in the hands of the wicked (v. 34).

The Peril of Passivity

At the very moment when David is coming into his kingdom, we see some ominous signs. Through the course of his life, David’s great failures were sins of omission. He failed to deal with Joab at the beginning of his consolidation of power, and he has to charge Solomon to finish that particular business for him. He failed to go to war with the army, which provided him with the temptation to adultery with Bathsheba. And he failed to be the kind of father he needed to be, and he soon had a palace full of princes who were themselves full of a sense of entitlement.

But the Lord who was with him on the field of battle so many times could have been with him in the realm of domestic politics. The hard things close to home are often the hardest things of all. Instead of trusting God the most there, we often trust Him the least.

The David Chronicles 34: How Envy Devours

Joe Harby on May 19, 2013

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Introduction

This chapter marks the beginning of civil war in Israel. There had been strains and tensions before, but now it breaks out into open hostilities. As we will see, there are noble men on both sides, and scoundrels on both sides. Life is not always a simple white hats/black hats affair.

The Text

“And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron . . .” (2 Sam. 2:1-32).

Summary of the Text

Saul had fallen because he would not obey the Lord, or in other instances, inquire of Him. With Saul out of the picture, David begins by humbly seeking the Lord’s will for his movements (v. 1). Go to Hebron, God tells him. So David moved there with his family (v. 2). All the men who had been with him in Ziklag, and their families, moved with him to Hebron (v. 3). The men of Judah, David’s tribe, came and anointed him king there (v. 4). Immediately after this, David reaches out to the courageous men of Jabesh-gilead (vv. 4b-7), the men who had buried Saul. In the meantime, Abner brought Ish-bosheth to a place east of the Jordan called Mahanaim, and made him king there (apparently gradually) over the northern tribes (vv. 8-9). We then have a comparison of the reign of Ish-bosheth and David (vv. 10-11).

Now it happened that a small force with Abner ran across a small force with Joab at Gibeon (vv. 12-13). Abner proposes some sort of tournament or ritual combat, and Joab agrees (v. 14). Twelve men from each side came out, and they all slew each other (v. 15-16). The tournament erupted into a battle, and it went badly for Abner (v. 17). There were three sons of Zeruiah (1 Chron. 2:16), who was David’s sister. These men were Joab, Abishai, and Asahel, who was very swift (v. 18). Asahel made a point of pursuing Abner, who twice tried to stop Asahel from chasing him (vv. 19-22). Finally, Abner struck Asahel with the butt of his spear and killed him (v. 23). Joab and Abishai pursued Abner until sundown (v. 24), when Abner was able to regroup with his men at the top of a hill (v. 25). Abner calls upon Joab to halt (v. 26), which Joab decides to do (vv. 27-28). Abner and his men traveled all night back to Mahahaim (v. 29), just as Joab and his men traveled back to Hebron the same way (v. 32). When the tally was made, the fatalities were disproportionate in favor of David’s men (vv. 30-31).

Hebron and Mahanaim

To get a lay of the land, David’s temporary “capital” was about 55 miles southwest of Mahanaim, where Ish- bosheth was located. David’s territory was due west of the Dead Sea, and Ish-bosheth “controlled” both sides of the Jordan north of the Dead Sea. Gibeon was in the border area about halfway between. It is likely that Ish- bosheth was headquartered east of the Jordan because the Philistines made things dicey to the west.

Hebron was an important city in Judah, and had been associated with Abraham (e.g. Gen. 13:18), and was a Levitical city (Josh. 21:13).

The discrepancy between the length of Ish-bosheth’s reign and David’s here is likely accounted for by the time it took for Ish-bosheth to consolidate his reign, and the time it took all Israel to acknowledge David after Ish- bosheth’s death.

Getting to Know Abner

Abner was a noble character, despite being in opposition to David. He sets Ish-bosheth on the throne instead of taking it himself, for example. Abner was Saul’s cousin, and captain of his army (1 Sam. 14:50), and clearly had the power to make himself king. He was not worried about Asahel killing him; he was worried about how he

would face Joab if he was forced to kill him. He and Joab knew each other—having apparently studied at West

Point together—but Abner was clearly not cold-blooded the way Joab was.

Terrible War

“I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war” (Ps. 120:7). Robert E. Lee once said that it was good that war was so terrible—otherwise we would grow too fond of it. And of all wars, civil wars are the worst. The eagerness with which the twenty-four warriors dispatched one another was a grim foreshadowing of what was to come. Asahel’s single-minded pursuit of Abner (and glory for himself) is another indicator of how these things go. And Abner’s vain desire to keep things constrained show us another side of this kind of conflict.

How Envy Devours

Subsequent events will show that not only were David and Ish-bosheth rival kings, but that Abner and Joab were rival military commanders. What would happen to Joab if someone of Abner’s caliber came over to David’s side? Joab knew the answer to that question, and he acted accordingly. He was shrewd, but still a fool.

When John the Baptist gave way to Jesus, he said that Christ would increase, and the he would decrease. Jesus taught us to defer to one another, to take the lowest seat, to become the servant of all. But in countless situations, we still jockey for position, we still throw elbows. We would rather be the biggest frog in the smallest pond than to have much more than we do and be the seventeenth biggest frog in the biggest pond. If there were a button in front of you that would make you, a poor person, and all other poor people in the world, twice as well-off, but it would also make every rich person five times better off, would you push it?

This is not just a matter of income, or status, or military power. James asks us to figure out where conflicts in our midst come from (Jas. 4:1-7). Do they not come from desire that wars within our members?

Because of this, many would rather be a Joab—a wrong man on the right side—than an Abner, a right man on the wrong side. This is because we are trying to write the narrative of the world in big block letters, and we want it to shake out simplistically. There are, of course, two other options, but never become the kind of person who hides personal sin behind a righteous cause.

The David Chronicles 33:The Song of the Bow

Joe Harby on May 12, 2013

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Introduction

Remember that the book of Samuel is all one book, and we stopped in the middle of it (at our conventional break between first and second Samuel) simply for the sake of convenience. The same great narrative continues, as God establishes His kind of rule, and does so in His way.

The Text

“Now it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; It came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth, and did obeisance . . .” (2 Sam. 1:1-27).

Summary of the Text

While the battle was going on at Gilboa, David was fighting the Amalekites and, after his victory, he had been back in Ziklag for two days (v. 1). On the third day, a messenger arrived from Saul’s battlefield (v. 2). He reported that he had escaped from the camp of Israel (v. 3). When asked, he said that many were dead, as were Saul and Jonathan (v. 4). How do you know this? (v. 5). The young man then spins a story which the reader knows to be false (vv. 6-10; 1 Sam. 31:4-7). He claims to have killed Saul at Saul’s request, and he brought the crown and bracelet to David. David, and all the men with him, tore their clothes and wept for Saul and Jonathan (and for Israel) until that evening (v. 12). David then inquired further of the messenger (v. 13), and asked how he dared to lift up his hand against God’s anointed (v. 14). He then turned and commanded one of his soldiers to execute him (v. 15). David pronounced him condemned by his own testimony (v. 16).

David then composed a lament to be included in the Book of Jasher (the Book of the Upright), called the Song of the Bow (vv. 17-18). The gazelle of Israel is slain in the high places (v. 19). Don’t tell the Philistines about this (v. 20). Mount Gilboa is told to wither up and go dry (v. 21). Saul and Jonathan are then praised highly (vv. 22-23). The daughters of Israel are then commanded to lament (v. 24). The gazelle from earlier is now identified as Jonathan (v. 25), and we come to the center of David’s lament (v. 26). The mighty have indeed fallen (v. 27).

Some Striking Figures

Saul lost his kingship because he plundered the Amalekites, and here an Amalekite plunders him . . . and loses his life for it. David has just finished wiping out the Amalekites, and then here comes another one. When David asks what happened? he uses the same phrase that Eli spoke to his messenger from the battlefield. This is the next iteration of Hannah’s great vision of the collapse of the corrupt elites, and their replacement by faithful outsiders. Only this time the words are spoken by the one who will replace, not the one to be replaced.

Hebrew poetry is vivid, concrete, and brevity is one of its great virtues. The word rendered beauty (v. 19) also means gazelle, and David makes it very plain he was talking about Jonathan (v. 25). Also, the lost shield of Saul, unburnished with oil, represents a play on words (v. 21). Shields were oiled to make them gleam, and to help weapons glance off them. But this lost shield has no oil—it is unanointed, or “messiah-less.” This is a powerful image showing that the Lord’s anointed is no longer alive. But if we remember our narrative, David is also the Lord’s anointed.

This lament repeatedly uses the apostrophe—David speaks to Israel at large, and then to Gilboa, then to (about) Saul and Jonathan, then to the daughters of Israel, and then last to Jonathan directly. It is a fitting form of address for an elegy.

Those who take v. 26 as representing something homoerotic simply demonstrate that they have not read the rest of David’s life, not to mention how little they understand a warrior culture like this one.

The Early Chapters

Not surprisingly, we have a chiastic structure here. A. David executes the purported murderer of Saul (1:1-16); B. David laments Saul and Jonathan (1:17-27); C. struggle between the house of David and house of Saul (2:1-3:1); D. David’s house (3:2-5); C’ struggle between Abner and Joab (3:6-30); B’ David laments Abner (3:31-39); A’ David executes the murderers of Ish-bosheth (4:1-12).

Teach the Bow

This injunction (v. 18) should be understood by us at three different levels. The first is that this is clearly the title of the song, and this is how it is to be recorded in the Book of Jasher. The children of Judah were to be taught this song that eulogized Saul and Jonathan. Second, the title is significant. The central person to be honored here is Jonathan—he is the one associated with the bow (v. 22). Be a Jonathan, imitate Jonathan in this. Take the right lesson away from the song. This is how David is able to include Saul in the eulogy. Anyone that someone like Jonathan was willing to die with (and for) is worthy of praise (v. 23). This is not an instance of “lying at funerals.” Saul was David’s father here because Jonathan was his brother (v. 26).

But last, this is a call to learn the craft of bowmanship itself. There is no gun control fastidiousness here. There is no “being like Jonathan” without actual bows, and the knowledge of how to use them (Ps. 144:1). To praise his use of the bow in song is to praise the bow itself. Remember that this was a lament offered by a small band of men whose great army had just been taken out by the Philistines. Never forget. Learn the bow, and learn to be the kind of man that Jonathan was when he wielded it. And whatever happens, do not drift back to the way it was when Saul and Jonathan first mustered the troops (1 Sam. 13:19-22). When there is no “smith” allowed in Israel, there is a tyrant in Israel.

Just this last week, Vice-President Biden called upon “faith leaders” to keep up the pressure on the issue of gun control, and to reframe the whole debate in moral terms. Okay. Anyone who cannot tell the difference between a criminal and an inanimate weapon is also someone who cannot tell the difference between an American and an Amalekite. Do not be children in your understanding, but grow up into maturity.