David on the throne

A Bob Deffinbaugh fest of commentary excerpts:

"But now David was the king of all Israel. He needed a capital that was farther north. He needed a capital which would be more centrally located, and one which would unify the nation. Jebus was the perfect city. Israel's victory over the Jebusites would unite the nation. The possession of Jebus as David's new capital would do likewise. The city was virtually on the border of Judah and Benjamin. It was a city that neither the sons of Judah nor the sons of Benjamin had been able to capture. Thus, taking this city as his capital would not seem to favor either of these two tribes. In addition to all of this, its natural setting made it difficult to defeat (which is why the Israelites had not taken and held it before). It was in the hill country, on the top of more than one mountain, and with valleys around it. With a little work, it was a virtual fortress (5:9)" -Bob Deffinbaugh, Study on 2 Samuel, Bible.org

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"Unlike Saul, David is not just a king who knows nothing other than crisis management, who seems only willing to “put out fires.” Saul only dealt with the problems he could not avoid. David dealt with problems that those before him had avoided, and with some success. The taking of Jebus is one such example of David's initiative and leadership. I believe that David understood God's promise that He would give over the Jebusites and their land. I further believe that David sought to obey God's command, though given to Israel in an earlier day, to defeat the Jebusites and drive them out of the land. I believe that David saw the city of Jebus as an ideal capital, and one that would serve to unite the tribes of Israel under his rule. He could have chosen to “peacefully co-exist” with the Jebusites, as others before him had done, but instead he took the difficult path and prevailed over them. And it was a victory such as this which gave Israel (and her king) status and respect (even fear) among the nations." -Bob Deffinbaugh

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"First, this passage illustrates the providential hand of God, working all things to the good of the believer. The battles which David fights with the enemies of Israel, who surround him, he fights having been prepared by God in the days when he fled from Saul. In chapter 5, the Philistines marched against Israel and specifically against David. We know from the parallel text in 1 Chronicles 11:15-16 that this stronghold was the cave of Adullam. Do you not find it interesting that David's hideouts from Saul become his outposts when fighting the surrounding nations? We are told in 2 Samuel 8:1 that David fought the Philistines and captured their chief city. We know from 1 Chronicles 18:1 that this “chief city” was none other than Gath. We know from 1 Chronicles 18:1 that this “chief city” was none other than Gath. All the while David was hiding from Saul in Gath, he was unwittingly spying out this land and this city, which he would eventually attack and defeat. We know that when David fled from Saul he went to Moab, and he probably received sanctuary in some of the other nations. Now, when David becomes the king of Israel, he is able to use this information to his military advantage. Surely we see from the Psalms that David cried out to God in those days when he fled from Saul. He had to ask, “Why?” and yet he received no answer at the time. Now we are beginning to see the answer. God was preparing David in those days of his flight from Saul for his days fighting as the King of Israel. I think it is Bill Gothard who points out that Israel's days of slavery in Egypt were a kind of boot camp, preparing them for the hard days they would spend in the wilderness on their way toward the promised land. Our tears, sorrows, and sufferings are never for naught; they always have a purpose, and that purpose is God's glory and our good.

But wait, there's more! The political and military intrigue we see in our text are used providentially of God to give Israel the land and the victory which God had long before promised His people. And the tribute which David obtains from his subjected enemies seems to provide the raw materials which will be required for the building of the temple. The events of our text fulfill not only the promise of God made to David in chapter 7, they fulfill the promises God had made long before to Abraham and the patriarchs and to Moses."

-BDeff

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Meissen Castle, Saxony---I like the way this artist features Bathsheba in the foreground and larger with David looking on, although Deffinbaugh makes a great argument that Bathsheba was probably not fully undressed.


"David's sin did not just suddenly appear in a moment of time. David set himself up for this fall. We know he disengaged himself from the battle, choosing instead a life of comfort and ease. You and I may make the same decision, though in a slightly different way. We may choose to ease up in our pursuit of becoming a disciple of our Lord, of the disciplined life which causes us to bring our bodies under our control (see 1 Corinthians 9:24-27). We may weary of taking up our cross and begin to take up ourselves as our highest cause. We may back off in the area of separation, having become weary of being laughed at for our Christian principles. We may keep quiet, rather than bear witness to our faith, lest we be rejected by our peers. We may hold off from rebuking a fellow-believer, who is falling into sin, because the last time we tried it was very messy. When we retreat from the battle, a fall is not far away.

Sins of commission are often the result of sins of omission. David committed sin by his adultery with Bathsheba and later by the murder of her husband, but these sins were borne out of David's omissions which came to pass when he stayed home, rather than go to war.These sins of omission are often difficult to recognize in ourselves or others, but they are there. And after a while, they incline us to more open sins, as we see in David." -B Deff

Finally, a few of my thoughts:

I agree that sins of omission are subtle. It reminds me of my children who are quick to emphasize the part of a chore they did do and overlook the additional pieces that were not convenient, obvious, and requiring of more thought and perspective.


It's painful to think that there are areas of my life where I am not serving God in this fullness. We always wish to see the best in us and diminish our shortcomings, but knowing so well the sins of others---commission and omission--it would benefit us to study our own lives and motives with a contemplative heart. Not just to check off the list of things that we have done for the Lord in a perfunctory spirit, but to develop a sensitivity in our spirit to the larger picture, the things of omission, missed opportunities, areas where we should operate with more self-control and pro-activity.

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"Fourth, sin snowballs. Sin is not stagnant; it is not static. Sin grows. Look at theprogression of sin in our text. David's sin starts when he ceases to act like a soldier and becomes a late sleeper. David's sin grows from adultery to murder. His sin begins very privately, but as the story progresses, more and more people become aware of it, and worse yet, more and more people become participants in it. His sin first acted out by his taking another man's wife, and then taking her husband's life, and along with his life, the lives of a number of men who must die with him to make his death credible. David's sin blossoms so that it transforms a true and loyal friend (Uriah) to his enemy, and his enemies (the Ammonites, and in some senses, Joab) into his allies." -BD



David & Uriah, Rembrandt...see poem on this painting too.


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Seventh, Uriah is a reminder to us that God does not always deliver the righteous from the hand of the wicked immediately, or even in this lifetime. Daniel's three friends told the king that their God was able to deliver them. They did not presume that He would, or that He must. And God did deliver them. I think Christians look upon this deliverance as the rule, rather than the exception. But when Uriah faithfully serves his king (David), he loses his life. God is not obliged to “bail us out of trouble” or to keep us from trials and tribulations just because we trust in Him. Sometimes it is the will of God for men to trust fully in Him and to submit to human government, and still to suffer adversity, from which God may not deliver us. Spirituality is no guarantee that we will no longer suffer in this life. In fact, spiritual intimacy with God is often the result of our sufferings (see Matthew 5).

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Bob Deffinbaugh's article on David's repentance is his strongest of the series. Not only does he tease out qualities of David's remorse, but he defines sincere repentance by contrasting it against the false repentance of others in the scriptures. His article helped me see Saul's actions in a clearer light. When reading Saul's narrative, I often found myself wondering why God was so seemingly harsh with Saul from the beginning, but reading through Deffinbaugh's assessment of Saul's insincere repentance helped me to understand how God's knowledge is higher and perfect. We see the outward acts and hear the words, but the Lord alone knows the heart of the individual. How often we judge by our own "evidence" and underestimate the limited nature of our own perception.

His article is worth reading for all of these reasons and more. Here is an excerpt:

“I remember a friend of mine in England who said something to me long ago. 'Baby repentance is sorry for what it has done. Adult repentance is regretful for what it is. If I am merely sorry for what I have done. . . I will go out and do it again.”49-BD

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“But there are times when our grand human plans to do something for God are seen, after a night of prayer, to be a huge human distraction from what God is doing for us. That's what Nathan realized that night: God showed Nathan that David's building plans for God would interfere with God's building plans for David." -Eugene Peterson

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"Hugh Blevins, a friend and fellow-elder, made this observation on our text. God has orchestrated these events to enable David to experience his own sin from the perspective of others. In effect, some of David's family were doing to David what he had done to God. As David had abused his authority as the “king of Israel” to sin against God by taking Bathsheba, Amnon now abuses his authority and position as a “son of the king” to take Tamar. As David sinned by killing Uriah, Absalom sinned by killing Amnon. David can now experience what God did, what Bathsheba did, what others impacted by his sin did." BD


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"It is what Absalom says next which is most troubling to me. “And if there is iniquity in me, let him put me to death” (verse 32). It sounds a little bit like some more familiar words to us: “Give me liberty, or give me death!” But how can Absalom speak this way? Does he really believe he is without guilt? Does he not think himself worthy of the death penalty? It would seem so. And if this is true, then he once again reveals that he has no regard for God's law. He wanted the death penalty for Amnon, though the law did not require it. He thinks the death penalty harsh and inappropriate for him, though he is a murderer under the law. This is a man who manifests absolutely no repentance." -BD on Joab bringing Absalom back to Jerusalem

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John J. Tissot, 'Absalom' (1896-1902), gouache on board,
The Jewish Museum, New York.

Not only is Absalom a liar (in saying there is no one to hear their case), he is a hypocrite. Just what kind of “justice” would he mete out? The kind of “justice” he was sure that Amnon received? The kind of justice his own sister received? The kind of “justice” he himself got? Absalom is no friend of justice or of the oppressed. He just gets people to think he is their friend. And it works! Absalom wins the hearts of the people. He is now ready to make his move. -bd

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How sad to read all this. The author does not pull any punches here. The “trail of tears” began with David's sin concerning Uriah and his wife, Bathsheba. It began with the agony of David's soul, even before he repented and confessed his sin (see Psalm 32:3-4). It continued with the death of the first son born to David and the wife of Uriah. Soon, David's own daughter (Tamar) was raped by one of his sons, and then this son (Amnon) was murdered by yet another son (Absalom). Absalom flees to Gerar, and David yearns to see him, but knows he cannot. Then, manipulated by the deception of Joab, David is compelled to bring Absalom back to Israel. This is not a pleasant experience either. When Absalom gains his freedom, he uses it to undermine David's reputation and standing with the people. Next comes his rebellion, and the division of Israel, and finally the death of Absalom at the hand of Joab. It is, indeed, a trail of tears. -bd

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In the midst of all this suffering and adversity, I must once again emphasize that God is not punishing David for his sins here. Nathan made it very clear David would not undergo the (death) penalty for his sin, because the “Lord had taken his sin away” (2 Samuel 12:13) Here is one of the very common errors Christians make; namely, that whenever a person suffers, it is because they are being punished for their sin. Job's friends believed this and continually sought to compel him to repent (see Job 4 and 5). Our Lord's disciples assumed the man born blind was this way because of someone's sin (John 9:1-2). There are those whose suffering is the direct result of their sin (see Deuteronomy 28:15ff.), but this is not always the explanation for suffering. Sometimes the righteous suffer for being righteous (1 Peter 4).

And then there are other times when the saints suffer because they are the“sons of God,” who are being prepared for glory (see Hebrews 12). Even our Lord suffered in order to prepare Him for his glory (see Hebrews 2:10-18; 5:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11). I am not saying here that David's suffering was unrelated to his sin. I am saying that his suffering was not punishment for his sin, but divine discipline, which was designed to draw him closer to God and to cling more loosely to the things of this world (compare 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). -bd

This text has much to say about parenting. Even a cursory reading of the Bible should make it amply clear that there were no perfect parents. Even the most godly men and women failed in their parenting (think of Eli, Samuel, Saul, and now David). We should all purpose before God to be better parents. This is not because “good parenting” guarantees godly children, but because “good parenting” pleases God. We should seek to be good parents because this is what God requires of us. -bd

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In the Old Testament in particular I find that family failures are often a part of God's great plan and program for His people. They do not prevent God from doing as He has promised; often they are the means by which God does fulfill His promises. -bd


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When Joab tricked David into letting Absalom return, he did so in a way that did not facilitate repentance or reconciliation. If we are going to blame anyone for Absalom’s sin (other than Absalom, who bears the primary responsibility), it would have to be Joab rather than David, because Joab sought to bring about reconciliation without repentance. -bd