Day 88. 2 Samuel 4-7

We have to feel a degree of pity for the hapless Ishbaal, whose end is recorded into today's readings. Even though he is bullied by Abner, the commander of his army, Ishbaal is helpless with him, and dissolves in fear at the news of his death (4:1). We are led to believe that Ishbaal is not so much an evil king as a victim of shifting political circumstances. His legitimacy as king is always in doubt. He rules un-anointed and unblessed. When the LORD has abandoned the house of Saul, Saul's son Ishbaal is left to face charismatic David without divine support.
His assassination is carried out by two of his captains, not Israelites but resident aliens. They come into his house while he is lying on his couch, attack him, kill him and behead him (4:7). But when they bring their grisly trophy to David, hoping for a reward , like the man who came to David to claim credit for Saul's death (4:9), they are disappointed. There will be no reward for "killing a righteous man on his bed in his own house" (4:11). David instead gives orders, and the assassins are summarily executed, their bodies put on display to warn others of the consequences of political murder. The head of poor Ishbaal is buried in Abner's tomb (4:12), we are told, and thus ends Saul's dynasty.
Now David—appointed by God as the "shepherd" of his people—reigns unopposed. He makes a covenant with the elders and is anointed for the third time, this time as king of all Israel and Judah (4:2). The kingdom is united, as the LORD had promised. Then with the conquest of the city of Jerusalem, which up until now had been thought impregnable (4:6), the Gold Age of the Israelite monarchy begins. David names his new capital for himself and rules from there. His star is ascendant. Now we are told that "David [becomes] greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, [is] with him" (5:10).
David's new status is ratified by a treaty with the powerful Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre, who sends David of gift of cedar, together with carpenters and masons to build David a house suitable to his new position(5:11). He has gone from outlaw upstart to king with international prestige, and his increased power is symbolized by an enlarged harem (5:13).
But the old enemies of Israel are still there, lurking on the frontiers of David's kingdom."When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel," they make several incursions into the Israelite territory (5:17ff). But each time he is threatened, David asks the LORD what to do, presumably by consulting the sacred lots, and each time the LORD gives him explicit instructions to meet the threat head-on. Dealing with the Philistine menace is specifically what David has been anointed to do. It is in this calling, the LORD, the champion of Israel, goes before him into battle to ensure this victory (5:24).
But David also faces the challenge of uniting a patchwork of tribes into a unified nation. In order to do this he must centralize his authority. To effect that unification it is necessary to move the ark, where "the LORD of hosts . . . is enthroned on the cherubim" (6:2), to his royal city of Jerusalem. This is no easy process. As the ark is being transported by oxcart, "the oxen shook it" (6:6), and man named Uzzah reached out to steady the sacred object to keep it from falling. He broke the taboo against touching the ark—in effect he took matters into his own hands. Immediately we are told that "the anger of the LORD was kindled against" Uzzah, and he was struck down by the LORD beside the ark (6:7).
David was angry—understandably so—but absolute obedience is required of those who have dealings with the God of Israel. As we have had reason note before, sacredness holds an element of peril for those approach it carelessly.
After this incident, David is moved to a holy fear, and at first he hesitates to bring the ark into his city (6:10). When he finally does, it is with great rejoicing. David, filled with the spirit, dances before the ark with wild abandon. But when Michal, David's wife and Saul's daughter, sees him making a spectacle of himself in this way, "she despised him in her heart" (6:16). As a royal princess she is offended to see her husband making of fool of himself in front of everyone. But when she ventures to rebuke him for "uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants' maid, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself" (6:20), he turns on her, and they are estranged from each other permanently. "Michal, the daughter of Saul," we are told, has "no child to the day of her death" (6:23). So the bloodline of Saul does not continue in the royal house of Israel.
So Jerusalem is conquered. The court is established there. The ark is installed there. But the ark is still lodged in a tent. It is the ambition of David to build a temple in Jerusalem to house it and insure the continued blessing of the LORD upon his royal capital. But through the prophet Nathan, the LORD communicates his lack of enthusiasm for the project. The honor of building the temple will be reserved for David's son (7:13). But David will build not a temple but an eternal house--the LORD enlarges the covenant he has made with Israel to include the promise that the house of David "shall be made sure forever" (7:16). David's descendents may "commit iniquity," but the promise of God's forgiveness will never be taken away from them (7:15). The LORD had promised Abraham that he would give him and his numberless descendents the Land of Promise. Now that that promise has been fulfilled, God makes a covenant with David that his descendents
will rule the people of Israel forever.(7:24). We see that promise fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the son of David, whole kingship over Israel will never end.