2nd Samuel Chapters 2-3 – John Karmelich

1. This lesson is going to read like a made for television soap opera. If you like sex, violence, deceit, corruption, and sinful practices, you’ve come to the right place. ☺

a) The question, of course, is why is any of this stuff in the bible? What does God want me to learn from all of these details and how do they apply to my life?

b) Let me start by summarizing the entire chapter in a few sentences: David rose to power from a fugitive to the king of all Israel. This happened by civil war. Much of these chapters focus on the two generals working under both sides of the civil war. Eventually, all the leaders opposing David were killed. David eventually became king of all Israel.

i) There, I just summarized chapters 2-5. We’re done for the next two lessons. ☺

2. So again, why all of the details? These chapters are essentially subplots in the story of the rise of King David. We are going to read of David’s leaders and the oppositions’ leaders. We’ll read of war, double-crossing, corruption, and just plain old sin. Since the bible records all of these details, God must want us to know them and apply them. What is their purpose?

a) For starters, this is the way life works. It is rare when one becomes successful at anything overnight. It usually involves hard work, struggles, temporary failures and a lot of pain. From the end of Chapter 1 until David becomes king of all Israel in Chapter 5 is a seven and one-half year period. Let that sink in for a moment. That means over seven years of struggles, and wars just to get “God’s will” done of David becoming king.

b) I have a friend whose father was a pastor. His father’s tag line was “People are no damn good”. What he meant by that is people are imperfect. Christians are imperfect. Christians are no better people “internally” than nonbelievers are. Corruption is going to happen within the church as well as outside.

i) That ties here to this story. All of these characters, more or less, fear God and are accountable to God. Despite that, the allure of power corrupts them and draws them away from God. One lesson to watch in this chapter is the danger of power.

ii) In fact, we’ll read of David himself making mistakes in this chapter, and part of the reason is the allure of power.

c) If I had to pick the most important lesson to get out of this chapter, it is the simple phrase, “God’s-will, will be done”. Decades earlier, God made an unconditional promise to David that he would be king one day over all of Israel. When God makes such an unconditional promise, you can count on it, period. Despite all of the horrible, on-going soap opera like stories that take place here, God’s will, will get done.

i) Was God aware of all of David’s faults and sins? Of course. Was God aware of all the things that David will do wrong in his life when God made that promise to David? Of course. Despite all of that, God made promises that David would be king and God keeps His word.

ii) My point is that God poured out all of these wonderful blessings despite the corruption we read of David’s life in these chapters. Here’s the kicker”: God wants to bless you and I the same way. What God is looking for are people who want to commit their lives to Him and be zealous for Him. Does God expect perfection? Look at David’s life and there’s your answer. David, (like us) had to suffer for all of his mistakes but David never stopped seeking God despite his faults. That made him a “man after God’s own heart”.

d) OK, two chapters and lots of drama to discuss. ☺ Let’s get going.

3. Chapter 2, Verse 1: In the course of time, David inquired of the LORD. "Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?" he asked. The LORD said, "Go up." David asked, "Where shall I go?" "To Hebron," the LORD answered.

a) When we last read of David, he just heard the news of King Saul’s death. He was still living in a Philistine town. That town was ruined as it had been sacked while David and his men were away. David recaptured all that was stolen, but the town was ruined.

b) David did what we should do when we don’t know what to do next: Ask God.

i) That is what Verse 1 is all about. Personally, I don’t think the bible ever misses an opportunity to point out when someone seeks God. God desires communication with us. The bible seems to go out of its way to point out every time someone takes the time to inquire of God.

c) This verse is David inquiring what to do next. David asks God two specific questions:

i) Question #1: Shall I move out of my present location? Remember that David was living among the Philistines. This is David asking in a sense, “Is it time for me to stop being a fugitive?”

ii) Question #2: Where shall I go? Somehow, someway, God said, “To Hebron”. Hebron was the largest town in the territory of Judah, which was David’s tribe. It was centrally located in that territory. It would be David’s headquarters as king for the next seven-plus years.

iii) How God spoke to David was a bit of a mystery. The text doesn’t say.

d) This leads to the question, how do we discern God’s will? Why can’t we just ask God a direct question and get a direct answer?

i) I take the view that God answers all our prayer requests. Sometimes the answer is no and sometimes the answer is “wait”.

ii) Sometimes learning God’s will is “instinctive”. It is as if an internal voice is telling you what to do. I am also very leery of such things and a big point is one never follows such a “voice” if it violates any sort of biblical principal.

iii) Let me give an illustration of God’s will getting done through “instinct”. My car “died” a few days ago. My wife and I prayed, and then had to research and shop fast. Once I was down to my final choices, God led me (I’m convinced of this) to a dealer 30 miles away, passing others that were much closer. There was a one-year old car with a 100,000 mile warranty in tact. It was in my price range, and it was the one I wanted.

a) What’s my point? There was no audible voice from God telling me to buy this car. There was no audible voice telling me to drive pass dozens of places and go to this one. Somehow, we just picked this place to go and the next thing I knew, I was driving my new (ok, new to me!) car. My point is God can lead us “instinctively” once we ask for His will to be done.

iv) Seeking God’s will mainly comes down to praying often, reading your bible often and then “go live your life”. If you desire to please God, if you are constantly aware that you are accountable to God, then you are doing God’s will.

v) In moments of big decisions, God is quite aware that those decisions have to be made. I have found that stopping to pray and then “going forward” gives God an opportunity to be glorified by whatever happens. A great prayer in such times is “God, bless it or block it”. Then watch and see what happens and be willing to accept the results.

4. Verse 2: So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. ³ David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in Hebron and its towns.

a) David heard God’s orders and David acted upon them. He took his wives and everybody under his command and moved to Hebron “and its towns” (suburbs).

b) Here we read of David having two wives. Soon, we’ll read of David adding more.

i) A command for a king of Israel is that he should not multiply wives (Ref.: Deut. 17:17). We don’t read of David being “zapped” for violating this command.

ii) One of my favorite comments on the sin of adultery is as follows: “Sometimes God punishes the adulterer by letting him or her live with their new sexual partner” (paraphrasing Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel). Often the new sexual partner is a much worse person than the spouse you cheated upon. A person willing to commit adultery is not a God-fearing person. God is then punishing the adultery by saying, “You want that person? Ok, you’ve got them! I’ll let you live with that person, that’s punishment enough!”

iii) This leads back to David’s multiple wives. We don’t read in the bible of God ever punishing David for it. We do read of all sorts of problems in David’s personal life because of it. We’ll read of wives chastising David, of corruption among the stepbrothers and one of his sons committing treason and murder.

a) In fact, if you take any bible character that has more than one wife, you’ll read of trouble and corruption due to that relationship.

b) In the Garden of Eden, God set the “one man, one woman” marriage as the ideal. God does call some to be single, but God does set the one-man, one-woman relationship as the ideal for the family structure. This is not about the topic of divorce. My point here is that God “punishes” polygamy by showing the suffering of the people who commit such a sin.

c) It’s hard enough to make one wife happy. I can’t imagine multiples! ☺

5. Verse 4: Then the men of Judah came to Hebron and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

a) When David and his men showed up in Hebron, the people of Judah made David king.

b) Remember that when God told David to go to Hebron, there was no mention that David would be king at this point. David went to Hebron “on faith” and God rewarded him.

c) David didn’t reject this either. David understood that Saul was dead and understood that he would be king one day. Given both, David accepted this responsibility.

d) The people of Judah also knew David was to be king one day. They understood Saul was trying to kill him out of jealously.

e) Back in 1^st Samuel 30:26, when David conquered the Amalekites, David sent some of the spoil to the people of Judah. David knew he was to be king soon and this was a “present in advance” to his fellow tribesmen of Judah.

6. Verse 5: When David was told that it was the men of Jabesh Gilead who had buried Saul, ⁵ he sent messengers to the men of Jabesh Gilead to say to them, "The LORD bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. ⁶ May the LORD now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this. ⁷ Now then, be strong and brave, for Saul your master is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them."

a) Let me paraphrase David, “Attention all of you people of the town of Jabesh Gilead. The body of Saul was captured by the Philistines (implied). You people went and captured Saul’s body and gave it a decent burial. My God bless you for your brave deed. I want to bless you for your brave deed. I, David, just happen to be the new King of Judah and would like to be the king over all of Israel, hint-hint”. ☺ David is being a politician.

b) Here’s the important historical lesson. God didn’t let David be king of all of Israel for another seven and one-half years. Despite this “cute little gesture”, it was not God’s will for David to be king of the whole land all at once. If it was, God would have allowed it.

c) The lesson for us is that God usually gives us our victories a little at a time. If God wants to raise you to a prominent position, then you have to be properly trained and educated before reaching that position. God is working on David’s patience and timing.

7. Verse 8: Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. ⁹ He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel. ¹⁰ Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The house of Judah, however, followed David. ¹¹ The length of time David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

a) Back in 1^st Samuel Chapter 26, we learn that Saul’s top general and right-hand man was named Abner. I’ll call him “General Abner” to help you remember. Back when David was on the run from Saul, David snuck in Saul’s camp and stole Saul’s spear and water jug. David then taunted General Abner for not properly protecting Saul.

b) Here we have Abner “out of a job” as Saul was dead. Since Abner was Saul’s right-hand man, he must have heard the predictions of David being the next king. He saw David’s rise to power. Abner saw David survive despite his best efforts to capture him.

c) Instead of General Abner submitting to David, he takes the last remaining living son of Saul and made him king. The new king of Israel was named Ish-Bosheth (try saying that one ten times fast! ☺). In the last chapter of 1^st Samuel, it stated Saul’s three sons died in the battle with Saul. Ish-Bosheth may have been a son of a concubine or some illegitimate son. The point is this is the last heir of Saul and he is now a “puppet king” with General Abner pulling the strings.

d) I warned you back in the introduction that this lesson is a soap opera of greed, power, and corruption. This paragraph is a prime example. This paragraph also indicates there would be civil war in Israel for the next few years until one guy is King of all Israel.

e) This reminds us of the classical saying, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. General Abner was accustomed to power. People are not willing to give up “the status quo”, especially if it means losing power.

f) Verse 10 says King Ish-Bosheth ruled for two years over Israel (except Judah) and David ruled for seven and one half years over Judah. After that seven-plus year time frame, David would be the king over all of Israel. The question is, who ruled over Israel for the first five years after the death of Saul?

i) The answer is nobody. Remember the Israelites were defeated heavily by the Philistines. I suspect the Philistines gained control of most of Israel during that five-year time span. General Abner may have been busy during that five-year span collectively organizing the Nation of Israel once again from that defeat.

8. Verse 12: Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. ¹³ Joab son of Zeruiah and David's men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side. Then Abner said to Joab, "Let's have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us." "All right, let them do it," Joab said. ¹⁵ So they stood up and were counted off--twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. ¹⁶ Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent's side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.

a) Here we read of the first battle between the armies of Saul’s son led by General-Abner, against the forces of King David and his top general named Joab.

b) Over the remainder of 2nd Samuel, we’ll read a lot about Joab, most of which is bad.

i) In summary, Joab is a guy out for himself. He is loyal to David most of the time, but Joab’s fault is Joab does what is best for Joab, instead of fearing God.

c) In Verse 13, we have a battle scene. As opposed to having both armies attack each other at once, both sides agree to have 12 men from each side engage in battle and see who wins. They agree, hoping that the loser will then accept defeat.

i) Some suspect the reason “12” were picked as it represents the 12 tribes of Israel.

ii) The “12 on 12” battle ends up being a draw. Somehow, all 24 men die in this battle. They each draw a sword to each other and kill each other simultaneously.

iii) The location of this battle was a pool. Historians have found this spot. It is not a water-filled pool. It is a deep hole. Some may have died by falling into this hole as opposed to the death by the sword. Whatever happened, all 24 men died.

d) OK, what’s the point? Why did God want us to know this?

i) The answer is God “wanted” the war to be drawn out. Eventually, we’ll read of the death of General Abner and Saul’s’ last remaining son, King Ish-Bosheth.

ii) God did not want this “quick settlement” and everyone to live happily ever after. Let’s face it, if General Abner was not willing to accept David as the king back when Saul was alive. If Abner was not willing to accept David as king during the “post-Saul” years, the victory or defeat of these 12 guys won’t matter either. It had to be a long drawn out civil war in order for “God’s will” of David being king to be accomplished.

e) Why should we care about this stalemate? The answer is often God won’t let us have an easy victory or an easy defeat. God wants 100% control of our lives of every aspect. We can’t compromise and say, “Tell you what God, let’s do a little test. If you win, I’ll submit and if I win, I go my own way.” Even if God wins, we won’t submit, as we don’t want to let go of our old nature. It often takes a “full war” for us to change.

9. Verse 17: The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated by David's men.

a) After the “12 on 12” stalemate, everybody fought each other. David’s side won.

b) Notice that “General Abner” is mentioned in the defeat, but “General Joab” was not given credit for the victory. Instead, it says, “David’s men”. I believe that is a subtle hint that God was working behind the scenes to bless David’s victory. In other words, it wasn’t Joab’s brilliant strategy that won the battle, it was “God’ will” that David be king one day.

10. Verse 18: The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle.

a) Here we are formally introduced to Joab and his two brothers. In 1^st Chronicles 2:13, we learn that the three brothers were David’s nephews. Given that David was the youngest of 8 brothers (Ref. 1^st Sam. 17:12), these three guys were more like cousins in that they were similar in age to David.

b) The primary focus of Verses 18-21 is on Joab’s brother Asahel. If you study all of Samuel, it implies that Joab was the “head guy” for David’s army. Therefore, Joab is more prominent throughout both books of Samuel. The focus of these verses is on Asahel.

c) What is poetically stated here in Verse 18 is that Asahel was known as a fast runner.

11. Verse 19: He (Asahel) chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him. ²⁰ Abner looked behind him and asked, "Is that you, Asahel?" "It is," he answered. ²¹ Then Abner said to him, "Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons." But Asahel would not stop chasing him. ²² Again Abner warned Asahel, "Stop chasing me! Why should I strike you down? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?" ²³ But Asahel refused to give up the pursuit; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into Asahel's stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.

a) In these five verses, the battle between David’s army and Saul’s sons army is still going on. Joab’s brother Asahel is running after General Abner, the leader of Saul’s forces.

b) It might be good to paraphrase this from General Abner’s perspective: “Hey, someone’s chasing after me! It’s Joab’s brother Asahel. Listen Asahel, stop chasing me, or I’ll have to kill you. I don’t want to kill you, mainly because I don’t want a blood feud between your brother Joab and myself. If you keep chasing me, I’ll have to kill you out of self defense.”

c) When Asahel kept chasing after Abner, he killed Asahel by running a spear through him.

d) This paragraph goes out of its way to mention the specifics of how General Abner killed Joab’s brother Asahel. It does so because we’ll read in Chapter 3 of Abner being killed in a similar fashion. I’m not saying Abner was wrong for killing Joab’s brother. This is a war scene and it appears to have been done in self-defense. The point is God allowed all of this to happen as to get David to be king. If Abner had submitted to David in the first place, none of these events would be necessary.

e) There is nothing wrong with General Abner killing Joab’s brother Abner. It was done in self-defense and the text goes out of its way to point it out. This text is mainly there to understand Joab’s motive for revenge in the next chapter when Joab kills General Abner.

f) Meanwhile, back at the war. ☺

12. Verse 24: But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon. ²⁵ Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill. ²⁶ Abner called out to Joab, "Must the sword devour forever? Don't you realize that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their brothers?" ²⁷ Joab answered, "As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued the pursuit of their brothers until morning. " ²⁸ So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight anymore.

a) The battle is still continuing after the death of Joab’s brother. The other two brothers, Joab and Abishai, continue to pursue General Abner, the leader of Saul’s forces.

b) Saul’s troops under General Abner are now being set for another big battle. All of Abner’s troupes line up on a hill behind Abner. Abner stops at this point and yells to Joab in effect, “Can’t we all get along? Why can’t we stop the fighting now? ”

i) John’s translation: “Our side is losing and I want to call for a truce”.

ii) In war, it is usually the losing side calling for a truce!

iii) If you think I’m reading too much into this verse, in Verse 31 Abner counts his losses, and it is in the hundreds, while David’s side only loss about 20 guys.

c) General Joab of David’s side agrees to this truce. That is the statement of Verse 27.

i) This appears to be a mistake on Joab’s part. Because Joab agreed to stop, the war continued for two full years.

ii) The application to us is sometimes a “peace settlement” is not God’s will for our lives. Remember that God wants “full victory” over our lives. Being a Christian is all about God’s will being done in every aspect of our lives. Our old human nature “loves” compromises. It is like our ego saying, “Ok, I’ll agree to submit to God in this and that area of our lives, but let me be in control of...”

13. Verse 29: All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, continued through the whole Bithron and came to Mahanaim. ³⁰ Then Joab returned from pursuing Abner and assembled all his men. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David's men were found missing. ³¹ But David's men had killed three hundred and sixty Benjamites who were with Abner. ³² They took Asahel and buried him in his father's tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron by daybreak.

a) Here we read of the retreat of the two generals and a head-count after this battle.

i) Abner (Saul’s army) retreats to the east end of Israel across the Jordan River.

ii) Joab (David’s army) goes back to Hebron, where David was located.

b) Both sides count their losses. Game score: Abner loss 360, David’s side lost 20.

i) That’s a wipe out. You would think that fact would get Abner to ponder, “Gee maybe God does want David to be king”. Of course, our pride is the last thing to die, and Abner won’t give up.

c) The easy thing for us is to read this and think, “You dummy Abner, can’t you see what is plain in front your face? ☺ God wants you to submit to David! Why don’t you stop allowing all of these men to get killed and save us some grief?”

d) The hard thing is to personalize it. We all have areas of our life where our pride doesn’t want to give up control. Occasionally when we are “losing” life’s battles, we may have to stop and check if we are doing God’s will or if our pride has taken over. Sometimes we have to lose battles to win a war. That’s not the point. The point is about checking our pride in comparison to the results at hand.

e) I think of Peter in this situation. Peter believed Jesus was God. Peter’s strength was his boldness. Peter was a “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of guy. Yet how did Peter stumble? By being too afraid to stand up for Jesus when a young girl asked if Peter was a follower of Jesus (Ref.: Matthew 26 and Mark 11).

i) My point here is Peter was willing to submit to Jesus on every aspect except his boldness. Peter thought, “I’ve got boldness covered and I don’t have to pray about that aspect of his life.” God will often let us “fall” in the areas of our live we consider ourselves strong just to show we need dependence upon God for every aspect of our lives.

f) Getting back to Abner, the man wanted the status of being the top general. Because he refused to submit, he got innocent men killed and eventually himself.

14. Chapter 3, Verse 1: The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.

a) This verse is a good summary of most of Chapter 2. It summarizes how David’s forces were winning, and the forces loyal to the house of now-dead Saul were losing.

b) We’re going to read of General Abner defecting to David’s side in a matter of verses. It maybe that he saw the tide turning in the war and wanted to be on the winning side.

15. Verse 2: Sons were born to David in Hebron: His firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel; ³ his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel; the third, Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; ⁴ the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith; the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; ⁵ and the sixth, Ithream the son of David's wife Eglah. These were born to David in Hebron.

a) We interrupt this war story to bring you an update on David’s sex life. ☺

b) I promised back in the introduction that this chapter dealt with sex and violence and I meant it. ☺ In these three verses we read of David going from two wives to six wives. Further, David was now the father of a child of each of these wives in Verses 2-6.

c) I stated a few pages back about the problems of polygamy, so I won’t go into all of that again. Just know that some of the children mentioned here will be guilty of treason, lying, murder, rape and incense later in 2^nd Samuel. God didn’t have inflict any additional punishment on David. What will happen in the future is “punishment enough” and should teach us about the long-term affects of being disobedient to God’s command.

d) It also says something about how David was occupying his time during this time of civil war. Notice back in the last chapter we read of General Abner versus General Joab. What was missing from those battle scenes is David himself. Now we know why. David was busy with his six-pack of wives. ☺

e) It also shows how David was “prospering” during this time era. The text says that these six children were born to David during the seven years that David reigned in Hebron. Despite the fact of a civil war, David “went on living” and had a growing family.

16. Verse 6: During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. ⁷ Now Saul had had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. And Ish-Bosheth said to Abner, "Why did you sleep with my father's concubine?" ⁸ Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said and he answered, "Am I a dog's head--on Judah's side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven't handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman! ⁹ May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the LORD promised him on oath ¹⁰ and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David's throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba." ¹¹ Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.

a) Now we have a new story in this soap opera. Let me give the highlights:

i) This paragraph focuses on the events on “Saul’s side” of the war.

ii) Remember that Saul’s side just lost a big battle. They lost hundreds of men.

iii) General Abner, decided, that he too needed “a sex break”. ☺ He decided to go sleep with a concubine of Saul. The girl’s name was Rizpah. A concubine like being a wife, without any of the privileges. (Gee, where do I sign up? ☺)

iv) Having sexual relations with a king’s concubine is “making a public statement”. It is saying that he is really the man in power.

v) Remember that the only remaining living son of Saul is (King) Ish-Bosheth. When Ish-Bosheth found out about this, General Abner, went on a verbal tirade. General Abner said to the king in effect, “Look your highness, I’m the one being loyal to you, fighting for you and have not handed you over to David to be killed. How dare you complain about “anything” that I do around here?”

vi) Verse 11 said King Ish-Bosheth was afraid of Abner. This again implies that King Ish-Bosheth was a puppet king and Abner was “pulling the strings”.

b) We don’t know Abner’s motivation for doing this. I suspect from the text that he was “pouting” because he lost the battle. Abner knew that he was the real power for Saul’s side and to have sex with one of Saul’s concubines to “exercise” that power.

i) When Abner was confronted about it, he said in effect, “I can do whatever I want”.

ii) It’s like the final sentence of the Book of Judges: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25, NKJV) To paraphrase: “Everybody did what the jolly-well felt like doing”. (Alistair Begg)

iii) That’s also a good summary of Chapter 3 and this soap opera. We don’t read of people seeking and obeying God. It’s every man for themselves.

iv) A point of this chapter is that “God’s will” is getting done despite all the sin and deceit going on. Everyone has to pay for their sins, but despite it all, God’s promises to David will come true and God’s will, does get done.

c) Abner said in Verse 10, “If I do not do for David what the LORD promised him on oath”.

i) Stop and think about it. General Abner was aware of the oath that God had made to David about being the next king. Abner was willfully disobeying God’s promises by propping up King Ish-Bosheth and fighting for him. Why? Probably because he was afraid David would execute him. In Abner’s mind, “He was fighting for his life as he has nothing else to lose”.