Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

David is a grieving father in 2 Samuel chapter 19.  The soldiers know this and enter the city as if they are ashamed of being victorious.  Joab goes into the King’s chamber and lets him know what he has done to the men who risk their lives for him.  It is time to try to minimize the damage.  He sits in the gate and all the men come to him as he praises their courage and gives his men the encouragement, we all need.

It is time to return to the throne that he fled when Absalom invaded.  As they return, he is met by those that supported him during his flight.  Those that had opposed him ask for forgiveness and it is given.  David will have scores to settle someday.  For today it is a day to celebrate life and not seek revenge.

Nathan had predicted that David’s rule would continue in bloodshed and in 2 Samuel 20 another Benjamite draws the rest of Israel from the King and only the tribe of Judah around Jerusalem remains faithful to their God-anointed leader.  Bikri’s is pursued by Joab and the Judean army.  Joab murders another of the King’s men for not being fast enough.

They chase Bikri’s son, Sheba, and follow him into a city.  They are in the process of besieging it when one of the residents makes a deal with Joab to deliver Sheba in exchange for sparing the rest of the residents and their property.

David had attempted to put his hears of running from King Saul behind him but in 2 Samuel chapter 21, they are haunting him again.  The land is suffering from a famine.  God reveals that it is because of Saul trying to exterminate the Gibeonites.

To appease Jehovah, seven of his family are given to the descendants of Gibeon and they are murdered.  The bodies are left out in the open.  After a female relative protects them from being eaten by the birds and wild animals David takes pity on them and buries them with Saul, Jonathan, and the rest of their family.

Remember the five stones that David picked up when he went to face Goliath.  Here we have a possible explanation.  It is disguised in these verses that tell of continuing battles with the Philistines.  Ishbi-Benob, Saph, Goliath’s brother, and another relative are casualties of these battles.  That is four men that are described as being like Goliath in stature and with common relatives.  Could this be the reason the shepherd needed four extra stones and it took thanks long to catch them when they ran?

©Copyright 2020 by Charles Kensinger