Tuesday, November 14, 2023

2 Samuel Review

The first thing to acknowledge is that Samuel had died before events in the book of 2 Samuel occurred.   Still, his influence on the events was still felt, because he had anointed David as King.  Our deeds for God should outlast us.  We first find the record of the death of Saul and Jonathan, and the young man bringing what he thought would be good news to David, but David had never sought Saul's death.  I don't believe that the death of our worst enemy who dies without salvation should ever be considered good news to Christians.  The young man who had killed Saul and brought David the news was killed because he had killed God's anointed.  We will one day have to answer to God, and it is because of His mercy that we have forgiveness if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, since we in effect killed Him, God's anointed.  Instead of just assuming the role of king, even though he had already been anointed, David asked God if he should do so.  Even if we believe that God has called us to a particular place or service in the church, we need to pray and make sure that He has and that it is time to so.  God told David to go to Judah and he went.  When David sent word to Israel that Saul was dead and he had been anointed king by Judah and invited them to join him, Abner, Saul’s captain, opposed him.  He thought one of Saul's relatives should be king and not David.   We should not be surprised if some people oppose us as we do what God has called us to do today.  Abner, not God, anointed Ishbosheth, Saul's son, as king.  We need to make sure that we are never guilty of doing what we want instead of what God ordained.  This was the first time someone opposed David as king after Saul's death, but it wasn't the last.  We have a record of a battle between Abner’s forces representing Saul’s house and Joab’s forces representing David, and Abner’s forces lost.  They should have been united under David and fighting together against the Philistines instead of fighting each other.  We as Christians today should likewise be united in fighting against the enemies of God and never be guilty of fighting each other instead.  Asahel pursued Abner, and even though he didn't want to, Abner killed Asahel.  This would Abner lead to problems later on with Joab.  We also know that later Abner would be reconciled to David and placed in charge of his army, but Joab would murder him to avenge Asahel's death.  Though Abner had only killed Asahel in self-defense, Joab did not forgive him.  Some people today, even those who are or profess to be Christians refuse to forgive others, and some even do everything they can to destroy them. 

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