2 Samuel 19 David returns to Jerusalem. Joab rebuked David for his continual grieving over the death of Absalom. He said it was offensive to those who risked their lives to keep Absalom from killing David. David finally decided to return to Jerusalem as king and made a passionate appeal to his officials to bring him back, which they did. Shimei meets David at the Jordan River and begs forgiveness for when he cursed David and threw stones at him as he was fleeing Jerusalem. David swore not to kill him even though Abishai wanted to. Later on his deathbed he would turn the fate of Shimei over to Solomon who eventually did kill Shimei. Ziba and his 15 sons met David to help him cross the Jordan. Mephibosheth also met David as he was returning to Jerusalem and explained why he did not go with David when he fled Jerusalem. He said that Ziba had lied to David when he told him that Mephibosheth had gone over to Absalom. Instead, Ziba had told him that he would saddle a donkey for him to leave with David, and then Ziba just left him in Jerusalem. Since he was lame, he could not get on a donkey and leave. I’m pretty sure David believed Mephibosheth’s version of what happened, but he had already sworn to give Mephibosheth’s land to Ziba. So David just resolved to divide the land between them. Do you remember Barzilli? He had brought much food and supplies to David at Mahanaim after he fled from Absalom. David offered to take Barzilli into Jerusalem with him and care for him but Barzilli declined due to his age (80) and a desire to die in his home town. There was a lot of angry words between 10 of the tribes (apparently Benjamin was the 11th tribe not involved here) and the men of the 12th tribe, Judah, over who would get the credit for binging the king back to Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 20 Sheba’s revolt. Sheba and the Benjamites revolted against David as king. David told his main commander Amasa whom David had replaced Joab with to put down the rebellion. But Joab met Amasa and killed him. Joab is a bloodthirsty man and out of David’s control. Joab then pursued Sheba and trapped him in a city and sieged the city. A woman met with Joab and told him that the people in the city would deliver Sheba to prevent the city from being destroyed. They cut off the head of Sheba and threw it over the wall and Joab left. That ended Sheba’s rebellion. Joab is back in control as the main commander of David’s army.
2 Samuel 21 Gibeonite revenge. God told David that the famine was b/c of how King Saul had broken Joshua’s treaty with the Gibeonites (they had deceived Joshua into thinking they were from a far off city instead of the nearby cities that were to be totally destroyed) and killed man Gibeonites. David aaked them what would appease them and they asked for 7 of Saul’s descendants to be given to them to be hanged, which he did. A sad, sad story about Rizpah. The bodies of the 7 men (2 or which were Rizpah’s sons) were left out in the open. Rizpah stayed day and night, even in the rain, to keep the birds from feeding on the corpses. David heard about that and had the bones of Saul and Jonathon (that were at Jabesh-Gilead) and the bodies of the 7 hanged men buried in the grave of Saul’s father Kish. One of the descendants of Goliath tried to kill David but Abishai (Joab’s brother) killed him. David’s men killed several other Philistine giants, one of whom had 24 toes and fingers! . It makes you wonder just how many giants there were. And then we wonder where did the giants originate since everyone came from Noah and his 3 sons. Where did the DNA get in the gene pool to create all these giants?
2 Samuel 22 David’s psalm of deliverance. Psalm 18 is nearly identical to 2 Samuel 22. Both chapters record King David’s song of thanksgiving and praise to God for delivering him from his enemies (including Saul).
2 Samuel 23 is called “the last words of David” because it marks his final prophetic oracle and formal poetic testament rather than his absolute last spoken words before death. Then comes the names of the “mighty men of David”, made famous for their heroic deeds on behalf of David. You can read all their heroic deeds but one stands out to me. David was thirsty and wanted water from the well at Bethlehem where the Philistines were camped. 3 men risked their lives, broke through the Philistine camp and brought David some water from that well. David poured it out b/c he felt unworthy to drink it. I wonder what those 3 men thought when he poured it out. That might not have looked like a noble gesture to them!
