Recap

So far in 1-2 Samuel, we've read through the rise of Samuel, Saul, and David, and then Samuel and Saul's deaths. Samuel was born to Hannah, who gave him over to the priest Eli to server in the Tabernacle. Samuel grew up in God's presence and grew in favour with God, while Eli's own sons and the rest of Israel were disobedient and rebellious. Samuel stepped up to fill the gap and led the Israelites to repentance before defeating the Philistines, giving the Israelites a new era of peace.

But as Samuel got older, the Israelites did not want his sons leading them, so they asked Samuel for a king. Samuel warned them that this king would oppress them, but they weren't interested. So Samuel gives them what they want and appoints a young man named Saul to be king. Saul started off okay, but things quickly turned south. He offered sacrifices himself when he wasn't meant to and he made foolish and impulsive decisions that impacted his people negatively.

So Samuel found a new king. A young shepherd boy, David. When Samuel anointed him, the spirit of God left Saul and settled on David. We saw as David grew in favour with the people and with Saul's children, while Saul became unhinged by jealousy, wanting to kill David. Eventually, David fled from Saul's court, fearing for his life.. But David continued to grow in favour while on the run, gathering men around him who looked to him for leadership. And in it all, David was committed to being obedient, refusing to kill Saul when he had the chance.

Saul finally dies in battle against the Philistines and David is made king, but only of Judah. The rest of Israel choose one of Saul's sons as king. This led to a civil war as the two kingdoms fought it out. David's commander, Joab, shows himself to be manipulative and violent, killing the enemy commander Aber in cold blood after he had made peace. But David didn't punish him for his behaviour. Yesterday we read as David won the civil war, defeated the Philistines, claimed Jerusalem as the capital city, and reclaimed the Ark of the Covenant. But cracks started to show with David taking many wives for himself and his wife Michael despising him.

2 Samuel 9-12

In the past, David had made Jonathon a promise to look after his family when he became king. Remembering that promise now, David asks if there is anyone from Jonathon's family still alive. The only one left is Mephibosheth, Jonathon's son, who broke his legs as a child and is now disabled.

David brings Mephibosheth to the palace and invites him to live there and eat from his table. In all but name, David has adopted Mephibosheth as his own son. This is huge. During this time, it was fairly normal for a new king to kill off all the family members of the old king, to make it clear that he was king now. But David clearly prefers mercy and generosity.

We the read that the king of Ammon dies and his son Hanun becomes king. The old king had been kind to David, and so David now wanted to be kind to his son. He sent some men to give their sympathy to the new king for the death of his father. But Hanun's advisors convinced him that these men were just spies from David, and so Hanun shames them and sends them back. This starts a war between the Ammonites, the Syrians, and the Israelites, which David, ultimately, wins. The sad thing is that suspicion and mistrust destroyed what could have been a great friendship between these two nations.

And then things start to go bad for David. Spring was wartime. The cold was gone and so it was normal to start raiding some enemy towns or to wage full-on war. It was also expected that the king would go out ahead of the army to lead them into battle. Instead, David sends Joab and stays at home.

There he sees a woman, Bathsheba, bathing on the roof. This was a fairly normal thing to do. But David, finding out she was married, decides to invite her over to the palace and have sex with her. Some claim that this was rape. The Bible doesn't specify. Bathsheba may have been willing, she may have not. We don't know. What is clear is that this is an abuse of power.

It is very difficult to say no to the king. Unfortunately for David, Bathsheba gets pregnant. At first he tries to convince her husband to come back and sleep with his wife, so that they could claim the child was his. But her husband, Uriah, refused to go home when his fellow men were still out fighting. In this, we see Uriah's loyalty contrasted with David disloyalty. Note, Uriah is a Hittite. He’s a non-Israelite. Once again, we get this image of foreigners who know God and are loyal when God’s own people fail him.

Finally, David arranges for Uriah to go back out to the battle and get killed off. David's behaviour is beyond awful here, and the worst thing is, it was unnecessary. As the king, if he publicly said he was taking Bathsheba as his own, no one would have told him no or tried to punish him. The only thing that would be wounded was his pride. Just like Saul and the judges before him, David allowed his selfishness and pride to turn to violence against his fellow Israelites. After finishing her mourning, Bathsheba joins David in the palace, becomes his wife and bears his son.

But David's actions have not been missed. Nathan challenges David for his behaviour, pointing out that as king he could have whatever he wanted and yet, he decided to claim another man's wife and then kill him. Because of this, God curses David so that his family will fall apart and the rest of his reign will be difficult and painful. He also causes the newborn child to die.

David repents and turns from his ways. Once he and Bathsheba have finished mourning, they have another child, Solomon. But this is a sad stain on David's incredible reign, and while God has forgiven him, he hasn't removed the consequences of David's actions. As we will see, going forward, David's reign is only downhill from here.

Psalm 89

This psalm is attributed to Ethan the Ezrahite, who was a wise man comparable to Solomon (1 Kings 4:31). It is a mixture of praise, oracle, and lament psalm but through its core it is a royal psalm. The psalm is focused on the covenant God made with David and his descendants, and how God has seemingly broken that covenant now Jerusalem is broken and there is no king. This is the final psalm of the third book of the psalms (Psalm 73-89).

Psalm 89:1-18 - Praise - The God of the covenant

Psalm 89:19-37 - Oracle - God makes the covenant

Psalm 89:38-51 - Lament - God breaks the covenant

Psalm 89:52 - Closing doxology

The psalmist starts with singing God’s praise. He’s a God of steadfast love who will be faithful to all generations. He made a covenant with David to establish him and his descendants as kings forever,

Then the psalmist really doubles down on the praise. Surrounded by his spiritual beings, God is still the greatest. Who is like him? God crushed Rahab, which is both another name for Egypt and for the Leviathan, the sea dragon of chaos. This is to demonstrate God’s authority over geographic locations and over the forces of chaos and darkness.

All heaven belongs to God, and he leads with righteousness justice, love, and faithfulness. Blessed are those who know God, for they walk in his way, and find strength, favour, and protection in him.

Next up, the psalmist then quotes God as he made that covenant with David. God separated out the Israelites from the other nations and picked David to lead them. He protected David, defeated his enemies, and was faithful and loving to him. David and his descendants will call God ‘father’ and God will lift them up. God promises to establish the throne for David and his descendants forever.

God will punish David’s descendants if they are disobedient, but he will never stop being faithful to them. God will not violate this covenant. David’s descendants will endure forever.

Having established who God is, and the covenant he made with David, the psalmist now brings their complaint. Despite everything that God said, he has rejected his kingdom and people, and renounced his covenant. The walls of Jerusalem have been torn down and all its plunder has been taken off by other nations.

God has supported the king’s enemies in rising up against the kingdom and has weakened the kingdom before them. The king no longer reigns. How long will God allow this to happen? While this might seem like a short punishment to God, his people live short lives.

So the psalmist moves to their request. Show up with your steadfast love, O God, that you promised to David. Remember your people, the people that God himself set apart, who right now are mocked and beaten by the other nations.

And then the psalmist ends this psalm, and the third book of the psalms with the doxology, “Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.”

We’ve seen how this third book of the psalms is largely shaped by the destruction of Jerusalem and the exile of its people. This psalm brings a conclusion to this. Yes, the people are currently exiled and held captive by foreign nations. But they belong to a God who is loving and faithful and who made a covenant with David that he swore never to break,

And so the people look forward to the time when God will restore them, defeat their enemies, and establish his king once again.