Day 87. 2 Samuel 1-3

The Book of 2nd Samuel picks up the story with the death of Saul. The tragedy at Mount Gilboa is not the end of the Saul's family—far from it. David will continue to have enemies among Saul's relatives and henchmen throughout most of his reign. Even dead, Saul continues to be a major character in the story.
But for David the death of the man who had sought to kill him and of the friend whose love for him "was wonderful, passing the love of women" (1:26) is a great personal sorrow. The news comes to him from an unnamed Amalekite (1:8) who delivers a story that is in a number of ways at odds with the one we read in 1 Samuel 31:4-5. Bringing Saul's crown and armlet (1:10), the young man no doubt expects a reward from David for having dispatched the king. In this, he is disappointed. When David ascertains that this Amalekite has killed the LORD's anointed—or at least claims to have killed him--David dispatches him with his own hand. "Your blood be on your head," David says, "for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the LORD's anointed'" (1:16).
Then David makes a lamentation in which the famous refrain "How the mighty have fallen" is repeated three times (1:19, 25 and 27), expressing the sorrow of all of Israel. David mourns, but already the partition is widening between Judah and Israel. David is anointed king of Judah—the southern kingdom. But Saul's surviving son Ishbaal is crowned king of Israel—the northern kingdom.
From the beginning Ishbaal, who is a weak character, owes his authority to the military strongman Abner, who had long been the commander of Saul's army. Civil war breaks out because of a vendetta between two families. Abner slays Asabel, a young hot-head, who is the brother of David's second- in-command Joab. Joab and another bother, Abishai pursue Abner with the object of exacting blood vengeance. "Is the sword to keep devouring forever?" Abner asks (2:26). Apparently the answer is yes—at least for the immediate future.
We are told that "there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker" (3:1). Abner remains the real power behind the throne of Israel. When Ishbaal accuses of him of having intimate relations with one of Saul's concubines—a sign that he might have designs on the throne—Abner explodes in anger (3:8) and deserts Ishbaal , offering to bring Israel into David's control (3:12). David agrees to treat with him on the condition that Michal, Saul's daughter, be returned to him. He sends this demand to Ishbaal, who in his weakened state cannot refuse. Michal is taken from her husband and given to David. Her husband Paltiel, we are told, goes "with her weeping as he walked behind her." Finally Abner, who is apparently a real tough guy, tells him to "go back home," which he does (3:15-16). Love is often a victim of political expediency.
But Abner the tough guy does not come to a good end either. He meets with David offering to change sides in the war and leave Ishbaal. David sends him away in peace. But Joab, still thirsting for revenge for his dead brother, takes him "aside to speak with him privately" and then stabs him in the stomach (3:27). David is innocent of all this—the author wants to make that clear. His hands are clean. He laments the death of Abner and fasts. His behavior becomes him, as usual—we are told that "everything that the king did pleased all the people" (3:36). This universal popularity will not continue forever—his fortunes will shift several times before his story ends. But for the compiler David is the hero of the work; David is the man of peace who struggles to bring order to chaos that follows the death of Saul, in spite of men who are "too violent" for him (3:39).