Tag: 2 Samuel

Scripture Focus: 2 Samuel 1.17-18
17 David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, 18 and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow…

Originally published on September 7, 2023, based on readings from 2 Samuel 1.17-18.

Readers’ Choice is here: There’s still time to tell us about your favorite, most meaningful posts of the year. If you shared it with someone, or it helped you, let us know via email, direct message, or filling out the linked form.

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Brian, MT — A lot to think about on this topic.  Never thought about that way. Thanks for sharing the insight on an important matter.

Reflection: Eulogize your Enemy? — Readers’ Choice
By Erin Newton

Would you write a eulogy for your enemy? If someone targeted your life, would you speak kind words in memory of their death? The questions sound absurd.

When God’s anointing passed from Saul to David, the king sought to kill him. With every turn, David’s life was in mortal danger. There was no peace between them. In the end, however, the news of Saul’s death stirred David to write a dirge, a funeral song.

The book of Psalms is filled with songs of lament that seek the favor of God and reflect upon God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. This song is different. There are no calls to God or reflections of past hope. It is very much a eulogy for Saul and Jonathan. A funeral song for a man who hated David and a man who loved David—a friend and a foe.

It is little wonder that David felt compelled to sing praises of his closest friend. It is unthinkable that he would do the same for Saul. What compels David to give such honor to someone who, by all accounts, did not deserve it?

The answer is David’s relationship with God. The words were honoring Saul and Jonathan, but the motivation was to honor God. For all the years of hiding in the wilderness or dodging assassination attempts, David waited patiently to see the outworking of his anointing. He never raised a hand against Saul, though he was tempted on occasion!

How we speak of the dead reveals one aspect of our relationship with God. David likely struggled with hoping for Saul’s demise so that his future would be secured. He had enough reasons to be opposed to the king. His faith, however, would not allow him to act upon such thoughts.

Each person is born as the image of God. Each person dies as the same image of God. How do we easily honor new life at birth, pure and innocent, and dishonor the same life in death, ravaged by sin and broken? We cannot celebrate evil, but we must find space to honor God at death. It is a difficult task; one we may spend our lives trying to understand.

Like David, Jesus speaks words of grace about his enemies, “Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” Perhaps, we can learn that relationships with our enemies are a reflection of our relationship with God.

From John: The Divine Hours prayers will return in October. This month we will pray one scripture passage or verse each week.

Prayer:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. — Matthew 5.44-45

​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 52 (Listen 5:49)
2 Corinthians 11 (Listen 4:46)

Read more about Eating With Enemies
When Christ leads us into the heavenly city, we will find ourselves dining and worshiping with people we harmed or who harmed us.

Read more about Do You Know The Enemy?
Do we remember who the real enemy is or are we too focused on the powers of this earth?

Scripture Focus: 2 Samuel 14.1, 19-20
1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart longed for Absalom… 

19 The king asked, “Isn’t the hand of Joab with you in all this?” 
The woman answered, “As surely as you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or to the left from anything my lord the king says. Yes, it was your servant Joab who instructed me to do this and who put all these words into the mouth of your servant. 20 Your servant Joab did this to change the present situation…

Reflection: Joab’s Play
By John Tillman

Joab is one of the most fascinating and frustrating characters in the Bible. On one page, he’s a heroic general and David’s loyal friend. On the next, he’s an out-of-control assassin. He’d risk life and reputation to carry out David’s will, even when it was murder. Then he’d risk the same to subvert David’s will, even when it was peaceful.

In this chapter, Joab acts not as a military tactician but a dramatic one. He writes a script, a compelling, emotional story. He casts an actress, a wise woman in her own right. He plans the production for maximum effect on David and the public opinion of the court.

Plays often carry great truth and wisdom. Joab, as playwright, gave his actress these wise words: “But that [banishment] is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him.” Joab wrote a gospel play for David. Why? “To change the present situation,” the wise woman tells us.

Joab pricked David’s conscience to bring Absalom home. But Joab only cared about David, not Absalom. Also, Absalom was unrepentant. In this same chapter, Joab ignored Absalom until he burned down Joab’s field to get his attention. Later, when commanded by David to spare Absalom, Joab killed him. Joab’s play was to benefit David, not Absalom. 

Despite Joab’s callous reasoning, dishonesty, and inconsistent character, his words hold truth. God devises ways for us, the banished, to come back to him.

But God’s plot goes beyond the shortcomings of Joab’s play. God, the King of Kings, doesn’t have to be shamed into forgiving us. God initiates and accomplishes our return. God doesn’t receive us just to make himself feel better or look better. It’s us he wants, not good PR.

Unlike Absalom, we don’t need to burn anything down to get God’s attention. He doesn’t say, like David, “Come back, but you can’t see my face.” With repentance, we are fully welcomed in. And unlike Absalom, who ended his life hung in a tree, Jesus hung in a tree for us.

Let us be actors in God’s gospel play, taking up our cross and our role. Let us play our part, speaking words that the Holy Spirit puts in our mouths. Let us have faith that if we let the gospel play out in our lives, our words and actions can “change the present situation.”

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Protect me, O God, for I take refuge in you; I have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, my good above all other.” — Psalm 16.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 14 (Listen 5:57)
Revelation 22 (Listen 3:59)

Read more about Bringing Back the Banished
Our king didn’t grant us partial forgiveness, keeping us from his presence. He died in our place, hung on the tree we were doomed for…

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Scripture Focus: 2 Samuel 10
2 David thought, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, just as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent a delegation to express his sympathy to Hanun concerning his father.

When David’s men came to the land of the Ammonites, 3 the Ammonite commanders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending envoys to you to express sympathy? Hasn’t David sent them to you only to explore the city and spy it out and overthrow it?” 4 So Hanun seized David’s envoys, shaved off half of each man’s beard, cut off their garments at the buttocks, and sent them away. 

Reflection: Cost of Immature Leadership
By John Tillman

David, who mourned his enemy, Saul, sent peaceful envoys to express sympathy to Hanun, the young Ammonite king, on his father’s death. Nahash, the former king, had shown kindness to David, and he sought to return that kindness. But the young king’s advisors sowed suspicion, conspiracy, and fear. Hanun believed them. He chose the politics of humiliation and intimidation, treating the envoys horribly. 

Wartime captives would be shaved and marched naked. Shaving half the envoy’s beards and cutting off half their clothing to expose their buttocks was more than rude. It implied they were on their way to being prisoners. What one did to a king’s representative was the same as doing it to that king. Hanun implied, intentionally or not, that David would soon be his humiliated captive. It was effectively a declaration of war. After the envoys left, Hanun seemed to realize he acted rashly and foolishly. 

David showed compassion to his envoys, but wasn’t intimidated by Hunan’s rash actions. Despite insults and threats, David didn’t leap to war. He waited, moving to defend Israel after Hanun hired mercenary armies. Hanun spent big to cover his bluster, but desperate military spending couldn’t save him. Joab easily won the first conflict, and then David rode out to battle, eventually subduing Hanun and all the kingdoms called in as reinforcements. In the final battle, over 40,000 of the soldiers supporting Hanun died.

David’s envoys were naked for a time. Hanun’s foolishness lies naked for all time.

When kings are careless, spiteful, and insulting, war and death are often the result. Many times in recent years, violence has erupted after violent, careless words from political leaders. Many times, leaders have embraced the politics of humiliation and intimidation. Too often, Christians have applauded this. Many times, people have died for leaders’ careless and rash words.

David’s example is not always good. But in this case, he kept a level head in the face of insults and intimidation, had compassion on those humiliated by others, and acted decisively to defend against violence and threats.

May we distance ourselves from rash, immature leaders like Hanun. May we grow in our own leadership and influence, showing empathy, even to our enemies, acting compassionately toward victims and the oppressed, defending the humiliated, and refusing to bow to or tolerate violence.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Thus says Yahweh, “Let the sage boast no more of wisdom, nor the valiant of valor, nor the wealthy of riches! But let anyone who wants to boast, boast of this: of understanding and knowing me. For I am Yahweh, who acts with faithful love, justice, and uprightness on earth; yes, these are what please me,” Yahweh declares. — Jeremiah 9.22-24

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 10 (Listen 3:19)
Revelation 18 (Listen 4:48)

Read more about Puking Prophets of Success
By hubris they are humiliated. By turning away they become blind. By not listening they become deaf.

Read more about Lament the Fall of Leaders (Even Bad Ones)
But despite their words of judgment to the kings and rulers of Judah and Israel, both men deeply loved their country, their kings, and the people.

Scripture Focus: 2 Samuel 9.3, 8
3 The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”
Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”
8 Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

Reflection: True Oaths to Keep
By Erin Newton

Last week we explored the dynamics of David’s eulogy for Saul. David’s relationship with God motivated any kindness extended to Saul’s memory. David’s allegiance was not bound to political authority. He sought to honor God above and beyond the actions of the king.

After all his national conquests, David’s heart was turned toward kindness again. The motivation was “for Jonathan’s sake.” David had made an oath to Jonathan that his lineage would not be cut off (1 Samuel 20.13-17, 42).

The type of person who can dwell with the Lord knows the price of keeping an oath. “The one whose walk is blameless…who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind” (Psalm 15.2,4).

Jonathan was dead. If David changed his mind, he would not have Jonathan nearby to rebuke him or urge him to fulfill his duty. However, David’s relationship with God guided him to be like the blameless person the psalm described.

Fulfilling David’s promise meant seeking out someone to bestow favor. The answer to the oath was not knocking on his door. It was not waiting for him. Keeping his promise meant acting, not just reacting.

Fulfilling David’s promise meant giving up his possessions. The text tells us that all the land once owned by Saul would be restored to Mephibosheth and he would always eat at David’s table. Even with resources and financial security restored, Mephibosheth would partake of David’s resources at every meal. David gave what was owed and then gave of his own.

…keeps an oath even when it hurts…

In many ways, this oath could have been painful for David. He restores a relationship with the descendant of Saul, although for the sake of Jonathan whom he loved. There is an element of humility in which the opposing families are reconciled by the willingness of David to show kindness.

The oath was financially painful in some ways. David could have given only what was easily afforded or could have been used in a way that continued to benefit him. The gift secured Mephibosheth’s finances and physical needs indefinitely.

When we hand our lives to Christ, we trade our nature for his. Jesus, who gave all he had to others—food, health, time, space, reputation, pride, power, life—bids us to make an oath to love our neighbors. And to that oath we must keep our word, even when it hurts.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “In truth I tell you, there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, father, children or land for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and land—and persecutions too—now in this present time and, in the world to come, eternal life. Many who are first will be last, and the last, first. — Mark 10.29-31

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


Today’s Readings
2 Samuel 8-9 (Listen 4:51)
Revelation 17 (Listen 3:19)

Read more about Not So Random Acts of Kindness
Eating at the king’s table, Mephibosheth was treated as an equal to David’s sons.

Read more about Loving God by Loving Others — Guided Prayer
In all these things, may we bring glory to God by loving others.
May we love you, Lord, by loving others.