'And it came to pass after this, that David enquired 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. So David went up thither, and his two wives also,
Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite. 3.
And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his
household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. 4. And the men of
Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.
And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they
that buried Saul. 5. And David sent messengers unto the men of
Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the Lord, that ye
have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have
buried him. 6. And now the Lord shew kindness and truth unto you: and I
also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing.
7. Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for
your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me
king over them. 8. But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul's host,
took Ishb-osheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; 9.
And he made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over
Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10.
Ish-bosheth Saul's son was forty years old when he began to reign over
Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
11. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah
was seven years and six months.'--2 SAMUEL ii. 1-11.
The last stage of David's wanderings had brought him to Ziklag, a
Philistine city. There he had been for over a year, during which he had
won the regard of Achish, the Philistine king of Gath. He had, at
Achish's request, accompanied him with his contingent, in the invasion
of Israel, which crushed Saul's house at Gilboa; but jealousy on the
part of the other Philistine leaders had obliged his patron to send him
back to Ziklag. He found it a heap of ashes. An Amalekite raid had
carried off all the women and children, and his soldiers were on the
point of mutiny. His fortunes seemed desperate, but his courage and
faith were high, and he paused not a moment for useless sorrow, but
swept after the robbers, swooped down on them like a bolt out of the
blue, and scattered them, recovering the captives and spoil. He went
back to the ruins which had been Ziklag, and three days after heard of
Saul's death.
The lowest point of his fortunes suddenly turned into the highest, for
now the path to the throne was open. But the tidings did not move him
to joy. His first thought was not for himself, but for Saul and
Jonathan, whose old love to him shone out again, glorified by their
deaths. Swift vengeance from his hand struck Saul's slayer; the lovely
elegy on the great king and his son eased his heart. Then he turned to
front his new circumstances, and this passage shows how a God-fearing
man will meet the summons to dignity which is duty. It sets forth
David's conduct in three aspects-his assumption of his kingdom, his
loving regard for Saul's memory, and his demeanour in the face of
rebellion.
I. David was now about thirty years old, and had had his character
tested and matured by his hard experiences. He 'learned in suffering
what he taught in song.' Exile, poverty, and danger are harsh but
effectual teachers, if accepted by a devout spirit, and fronted with
brave effort. The fugitive's cave was a good preparation for the king's
palace. The throne to which he was called was no soft seat for repose.
The Philistine invasion had torn away all the northern territory. He
took the helm in a tempest. What was he to do? Ziklag was untenable;
where was he to take his men? He could not stop in the Philistine
territory, and he saw no way clear.
God's servants generally find that their promotion means harder duties
and multiplied perplexities. 'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.'
David did what we shall do, if we are wise--he asked God to guide him.
How that guidance was asked and given we are not here told; but the
analogy of 1 Samuel xxx. 7, 8, suggests that it was by the Urim and
Thummim, interpreted by the high-priest. The form of inquiry seems to
have been that a course of action, suggested by the inquirer, was
decided for him by a 'Yes' or a 'No.' So that there was the exercise of
common-sense and judgment in formulating the proposed course, as well
as that of God's direction in determining it.
That is how we still get divine direction. Bring your own wits to bear
on your action, and then do not obstinately stick to what seems right
to you, but ask God to negative it if it is wrong, and to confirm you
in it if it is right. If we humbly ask Him, 'Am I to go, or not to go?'
we shall not be left unanswered. We note the contrast between David's
submission to God's guidance and Saul's self-willed taking his own way,
in spite of Samuel. He began right, and, in the main, he continued as
he began. Self-will is sin and ruin. Submission is joy, and peace, and
success. God's kings are viceroys. They have to rule themselves and the
world, but they have to be ruled by His will. If they faithfully
continue as His servants, they are masters of all besides.
Hebron was a good capital for the new king, for it was a defensible
position, in the centre of his own tribe, and sacred by association
with the patriarchs. Established there, David was recognised as king by
his fellow-tribesmen, and by them only. No doubt, tribal jealousy was
partly the cause of this limited recognition, but probably the
confusion incident to the Philistine victory contributed to it. The
result was that, though David's designation by Samuel to the kingship
was universally known, and his candidature had been popular, he had
seven years of precarious sway over this mere fraction of the nation.
We read of no impatience on his part. He let events shape themselves,
or, rather, he let God shape events.
Passiveness is not always indolence. There are two ways of compassing
our desires. One is that which David himself tells us is the 'young
lions' way, of struggling and fighting, and that often ends in 'lacking
and suffering hunger'; the other is that of waiting on the Lord, and
that always ends in 'not lacking any good.' If we are sure that God has
promised us anything, and if He does not seem to have yet opened the
way to obtaining it, our 'strength is to sit still.' If He has given us
Hebron, we can be patient till He please to give us Jerusalem.
II. Another side of David's character comes beautifully out in his
treatment of the men of Jabesh-gilead. That town owed much to Saul (1
Samuel xi.), and its gratitude lasted, and dared much for him. It was a
brave dash that they made across Jordan to carry off Saul's corpse from
its ignominious exposure; for it both defied the Philistines, and might
be construed as hostile to David. But his heart was too true to ancient
friendship to do anything but glow with admiring sympathy at that
exhibition of affectionate remembrance. Reconciling death had swept
away all memories of Saul's insane jealousy, and he owned a brother in
every one who showed kindness to the unfortunate king.
If the Jabesh-Gileadites are a pattern of long-memoried gratitude,
David's commendation of them is a model of love which survives
injuries, and of forgivingness which forgets them. It was as politic as
it was generous. Nothing could have been better calculated to attach
Saul's most devoted partisans to him than showing that he honoured
their faithful attachment to Saul, and nothing could have more clearly
defined his own position during his wanderings as being no rebel. The
dictates of true policy and those of devout generosity always coincide.
It is ever a blunder to be unforgiving, and mercifulness is always
expedient.
But David did not hide his claim to the allegiance of these true
hearts. He called on them to transfer their loyalty to himself, and he
asserted, not his anointing by Samuel, but his recognition by Judah,
the premier tribe, as the motive. No doubt the divine appointment is
implied, as it was generally known, but Judah's action is put forward
as showing the beginning of the realisation of the divine designation.
The men of Jabesh needed to 'be valiant' if they were to acknowledge
him; for it was a far cry to Hebron, and the forces of the rival son of
Saul were overrunning the northern districts.
We have to take our sides in the age-long and worldwide warfare between
God's King and the pretenders to His throne, and it often wants much
courage to do so when surrounded by antagonists. It seems a long way
off to the true monarch, and Abner's army is a very solid reality, and
very near. But it is safest to take the side of the distant, rightful
king.
III. David's bearing in the face of opposition and rebellion comes out
in verses 8-11. Abner, Saul's cousin, who had been in high position
when the stripling from Bethlehem fought Goliath, was not capable of
the self-effacement involved in acquiescing in David's accession,
though he knew that the Lord had 'sworn to David.' So he set up a 'King
Do-nothing' in the person of a weak lad, the only survivor of Saul's
sons. A strange state of mind that, which struggles against a
recognised divine appointment!
But is it only Abner who knew that he was trying to thwart God's will?
Thousands of us are doing the same, and the attempt answers as well as
it did in his case.
The puppet king is named Ishbosheth in the lesson, but I Chronicles
viii. 33 and ix. 39 show that his real name was Esh-baal. The former
word means 'The man of shame'; the latter, 'The man of Baal.' The
existence of Baal as an element in names seems to indicate the
incompleteness of the emancipation from idolatry in Saul's time, and
the change will then indicate the keener monotheistic conscience of
later days. Another explanation is that Baal (' Lord') was in these
cases used as a name for Jehovah, and was 'changed at a later period
for the purpose of avoiding what was interpreted then as a compound of
the name of the Phoenician deity Baal' (Driver, _Notes on Hebrew Text
of the Books of Samuel_).
Abner set up his tool in Mahanaim, sacred for its associations with
Jacob, but, no doubt, recommended to him rather by its position on the
east side of Jordan, safe from the attacks of the victorious
Philistines. From that fastness he made raids to recover the territory
which the victory at Gilboa had won for them. First Gilead, on the same
side of the river as Mahanaim; then the territory of the
'Ashurites'--probably a scribe's error for 'Asherites,' the most
northern tribe; and then, coming southward, the great plain, with its
cities, Ephraim and Benjamin,--in fact, all Israel except Judah's
country was reconquered for Saul's house.
The account of the distribution of territory between the two monarchies
is broken by the parenthesis in verse 10, which, both by its awkward
interposition in the middle of a sentence and by its difficult
chronological statements, looks like a late addition.
For seven and a half years David reigned in Hebron, but was rather shut
up there than ruling thence. The most noteworthy fact is that he,
soldier as he was, took no steps to put down Abner's rebellion. He
defended himself when attacked, but that was all. The three figures of
David, Ishbosheth, and Abner point lessons. Silent, still, trustful,
and therefore patient, David shows us how faith in God can lead to
possessing one's soul in patience till 'the vision' comes. We may have
to wait for it, but 'it will surely come,' and what is time enough for
God should be time enough for us. Saul's son was a poor, weak creature,
who would never have thought of resisting David but for the stronger
will behind him. To be weak is, in this world full of tempters, to
drift into being wicked. We have to learn betimes to say 'No,' and to
stick to it. Moral weakness attracts tempters as surely as a camel
fallen by the caravan track draws vultures from every corner of the
sky. The fierce soldier who fought for his own hand while professing to
be moved by loyalty to the dead king, may stand as a type of the
self-deception with which we gloss over our ugliest selfishness with
fine names, and for an instance of the madness which leads men to set
themselves against God's plans, and therefore to be dashed in pieces,
as some slim barrier reared across the track of a train would be. To
'rush against the thick bosses of the Almighty's buckler' does no harm
to the buckler, but kills the insane assailant.