2 Samuel Series From defeat of Absalom, to reconciliation, to rebellion, to order 2 Samuel 19-20 Mercy prefers to deal with the needy in terms of what is needed rather than what is deserved. - D. Edmond Hiebert Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan. – Chrysostom The immediate context of chapters 19-20 is the rebellion […]
2 Samuel Series The Lord ordains the defeat of Absalom 2 Samuel 17-18 From our scripture reading this morning, even that greatest Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar learns that it is God who ordains kings and kingdoms, and he is able to bring low or exalt whom He alone ordains. And human pride, while opposed to God, […]
2 Samuel Series A House Divided 2 Samuel 15-16 Abraham Lincoln, in 1858, a few years prior to the outbreak of the Civil War presciently opined regarding the schism forming in the state of the union over the issue of slaver, that, “A houses divided against itself cannot stand.” John Blanchard observed, “A home with […]
2 Samuel Series We look at outward appearances, God looks at the inner person 2 Samuel 14 Have you ever entered into a relationship (any close relationship, not necessarily a romantic one) with someone because too all outward appearances, they looked good, they were an attractive personality, their situation was appealing? Only to find out […]
v1, The news of general Abner's death crushed Ish-bosheth's hope of continuing his father, Saul's reign. It also gravely shocked the Israelites who lived north of Judah and who were attached to Ish-bosheth’s reign. Bad news can greatly affect and dishearten us. V2-3 here the writer wanted to make the very sharp point that Baanah […]
v1, is the summation, the result of the war initiated by the hubris of Abner and Joab in 2:8 through 32: There was a long war between the house of Saul (Ish-bosheth) from Israel and the house of David from Judah. Overt hostilities resolved when David became king over all Israel (5:3), but antagonism continued […]
2nd Samuel – God’s shepherd: King and mercy-bearer, David David anointed king in Judah, civil war breaks out 2 Samuel 2 Chapters 2-4 record the tension and positioning of two rival men, two lineages, two different spiritual directions. Ish-bosheth, the surviving son of the deceased Saul, the Saul who was judged by God as disobedient, […]
2nd Samuel – God’s shepherd: King and mercy-bearer, David David learns of king Saul and sons’ deaths 2 Samuel 1 In the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel (1 book in the Torah) the Holy Spirit records for us the end of the period of the great transition by the children of Israel as they […]
2nd Samuel – God’s shepherd: King and mercy-bearer, David An introduction to 2nd Samuel 1 Samuel 2:1-10, 2 Samuel 22:26-28 1st Samuel tells how God worked through circumstance and prepared David to serve as Israel's king. 2nd Samuel tells how God used David as Israel's king, including David's stunning successes as well as his abject […]