10 April

Bible In 365 Days

2 Samuel 19-21

2 Samuel 19

The king's sorrow affected the people. They stole back into Jerusalem silently, instead of with rejoicing, while he was left outside. Once again his words tell of his agony, the deepest note thereof being still revealed in the thrice repeated "my son."

In the midst of his sorrow Joab came to him, again politic, but unsympathetic. There are times when men must rise above the grief of their own repentance and act for the sake of others. This was so now in the case of David, and Joab told him so with almost brutal frankness.

It is interesting to notice that on his return the men who had crossed his path in differing ways during the period of his temporary exile came back to David. Shirnei, the man who struck his foe in the dust, came fawning back, and David's magnanimity was shown in sparing his life. Mephibosheth met him with all the signs of mourning for his absence, and David was comforted by his coming. Barzillai, who had helped him, set him back on his way to Jerusalem, and there was a tender parting between them. All this was followed by strife between Judah and Israel over the right of ringing in the king.

2 Samuel 20

The occasion invariably finds the man for evil as well as for good. Sheba seized the strife between Judah and Israel as an opportunity to attempt to divide the kingdom.

David's hosts went forth against Israel. Once more Joab appears on the scene, and the same relentless ferocity was manifested in his murder of Amasa, coupled with continued loyalty to David, as he proceeded to quell the insurrection.

This was accomplished through the wisdom of a woman by the death of Sheba. Thus David was restored to his true position, and the story ends with the new appointment of officers of state. Joab retained the position of commander-in-chief, having ensured this position by the murder of Amasa. Benaiah was appointed over the bodyguard of the king. Adoram was made the national treasurer. Jehoshaphat became the chronicler, or historian. Sheva was appointed scribe, or secretary of state. Zadok and Abiathar continued in the priesthood, and Ira was made the king's priest, or chief minister.

2 Samuel 21

As at the close of the Book of Judges, so here, several matters are dealt with not in chronological order, or related, but as illustrating the times which have been under consideration.

In many senses they were the best times in the history of Israel, for during this period the theocratic monarchy was most perfectly realized.

During the reign of Solomon there was more magnificence and material prosperity, but the seeds of dissension sown even under David worked toward the ultimate disruption of the kingdom throughout the whole of that period.

This appendix contains matter which reveals the direct government of God: two utterances of David which reveal his real character; and an account of some of the deeds of the mighty men which shows the heroic spirit of the period.

The account of the famine was written to give a purely national lesson. Saul had broken faith with the Gibeonites, and his guilt action had neither been recognized nor expiated. The sin of the ruling house was the sin of the people, and it was noted by God, and must be accounted for. Hence the famine, which was stayed only when by the sacrifice of the sons of Saul the nation had come to consciousness of its guilt and repented thereof.