2 Samuel 5
Shawn Bumpers / General
2 Samuel
Introduction:
Saul is dead and David is no longer on the run.
About 7 years have passed with David ruling over Judah from Hebron in the south and Ishbosheth, Saul’s one remaining son, ruling over Benjamin and the rest of Israel from Mahanaim in the north.
In our chapter for tonight, the tribes of Israel now make David king.
Psalm 18:30 NKJV
As for God, His way is perfect; The word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.
2 Samuel 5:2 NKJV
Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, ‘You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.’ ”
One of David’s first acts is to take the strategic city of Jerusalem, and make it his capital (vv. 6–16; see Jerusalem).
Prior to this point, Jerusalem was in the hands of the Jebusites.
Also in this chapter, David takes on the Philistines.
Of course, the Philistines had personal experience with David.
v1-5
The assassination of Ishbosheth left the eleven tribes without a king.
There was no more able heir to claim Saul’s throne.
Deuteronomy 17:14–20 NKJV
“When you come to the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and possess it and dwell in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations that are around me,’ you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses; one from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not set a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall not return that way again.’ Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself. “Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.
From verse 15 of Deuteronomy 17, we see that the first and most important requirement was that he was to be chosen by the Lord from the people of Israel.
Psalm 78:70–72 NKJV
He also chose David His servant, And took him from the sheepfolds; From following the ewes that had young He brought him, To shepherd Jacob His people, And Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, And guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
Hosea 13:11 NKJV
I gave you a king in My anger, And took him away in My wrath.
Over the years, when they rejected the LORD as King, He gave them the kind of kings their hearts wanted and deserved.
Genesis 49:10 NKJV
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Micah 5:2 NKJV
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting.”
Back to our text, the people who gathered at Hebron were representatives from all the tribes.
They enthusiastically gave their allegiance to the new king (1 Chron. 12:23–40).
1 Chronicles 12:23–40 NKJV
Now these were the numbers of the divisions that were equipped for war, and came to David at Hebron to turn over the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of the Lord: of the sons of Judah bearing shield and spear, six thousand eight hundred armed for war; of the sons of Simeon, mighty men of valor fit for war, seven thousand one hundred; of the sons of Levi four thousand six hundred; Jehoiada, the leader of the Aaronites, and with him three thousand seven hundred; Zadok, a young man, a valiant warrior, and from his father’s house twenty-two captains; of the sons of Benjamin, relatives of Saul, three thousand (until then the greatest part of them had remained loyal to the house of Saul); of the sons of Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men throughout their father’s house; of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were designated by name to come and make David king; of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their command; of Zebulun there were fifty thousand who went out to battle, expert in war with all weapons of war, stouthearted men who could keep ranks; of Naphtali one thousand captains, and with them thirty-seven thousand with shield and spear; of the Danites who could keep battle formation, twenty-eight thousand six hundred; of Asher, those who could go out to war, able to keep battle formation, forty thousand; of the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, from the other side of the Jordan, one hundred and twenty thousand armed for battle with every kind of weapon of war. All these men of war, who could keep ranks, came to Hebron with a loyal heart, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were of one mind to make David king. And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking, for their brethren had prepared for them. Moreover those who were near to them, from as far away as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, were bringing food on donkeys and camels, on mules and oxen—provisions of flour and cakes of figs and cakes of raisins, wine and oil and oxen and sheep abundantly, for there was joy in Israel.
The total number of officers and men who came to David at Hebron is 340,800.
1 Chronicles 12:38 NKJV
All these men of war, who could keep ranks, came to Hebron with a loyal heart, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest of Israel were of one mind to make David king.
Deuteronomy 17:18 NKJV
“Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites.
So, David entered into a covenant with the Lord and with the people.
When David was a teenager, Samuel had anointed him privately as recorded in 1 Samuel 16.
Later, in 2 Samuel 2, the elders of the tribe of Judah had anointed him when he became their king.
v4-9
Abner and Ishbosheth had established their capital at Mahanaim.
Mahanaim was over on the East side of the Jordan River on the boundary of Gad and Manasseh.
Psalm 48:2 NKJV
Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King.
Psalm 50:2 NKJV
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth.
It seems pretty clear that David was led of the LORD to choose Jerusalem for his capital.
Jerusalem would play a very important role in God’s plan of salvation for the world.
The Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem thought that their city could not be taken.
In fact, so confident were they that they bragged that even the blind and the lame could defend it.
1 Chronicles 11:6 NKJV
Now David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.” And Joab the son of Zeruiah went up first, and became chief.
Now, the Jerusalem that we know today is much larger than that which existed in David’s time.
Then, the city occupied a much smaller portion … about 11 football fields in size.
1 Samuel 17:54 NKJV
And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent.
v10-16
Israel was a small nation.
What made Israel special and distinguished Israel from her neighbors was it’s special covenant relationship with God.
Now, it may have been that this relationship he suddenly made with David was one of convenience more than anything.
In verse 13, after mention of a palace, we have the “house” that the Lord was building for him … his family.
Now, you may remember that Deuteronomy 17:17 prohibited Israel’s king from taking many wives.
v17-21
Now, remember that the Philistine king was quite fond of David.
Even though the Philistine military commanders suspected something was up with David, Achish still was favorably inclined toward David.
David got word that the Philistine army was approaching.
So, he met the Philistine army in the Valley of Rephaim, just a short distance from Jerusalem.
v22-25
With verse 22, we find that the Philistines returned to fight David a second time.
And David sought the Lord’s will a second time.
