Thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be establish

II Samuel 8-10

Chapter 8 is a whirlwind of conquering different people groups. For this purpose of this study, there is one main point we want to see; God is keeping his word. The title comes from II Samuel 7:16. God promised David that he would establish his kingdom and throne forever. Now we see the beginning of this promise taking place. David defeats enemies and makes them servants. He spoils them, takes the bronze, silver, and gold to be used in the building of the Temple. He also has the enemies of Israel paying tribute. Israel has gone from a struggling fledgling nation, to a regional superpower.

In chapter 9, David remembers his friend Jonathan who died in the battle with Saul. David wants to honor Jonathan, so he enquires if there is anyone left alive of the family of Saul. He learns that Jonathan has a son who survived. He sends for Mephibosheth and has him brought to the king’s house. Upon arrival, Mephibosheth is scared, and rightfully so. Saul, his grandfather had tried for years to kill David. David is not focused on Saul but rather on Mephibosheth’s father, Jonathan. David restores all of Saul’s property to Mephibosheth and puts one of Saul’s servants (who is now David’s servant) as caretake of the property to farm it. He tells the servant that the farm is to provide for the family of Mephibosheth and the servants, but Mephibosheth himself would eat at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons. If David could not repay Jonathan for his friendship, he would repay his son.

Chapter 10 tells us that one of David’s allies dies. His son takes over the kingdom and listens to poor advice. When David sends men to offer condolences for the loss of his father, Hanun embarrasses the servants of David in two ways. First, he shaves half their beard off. While people in New York City or Los Angeles may find this fashionable today, it was a disgrace then (and should be today). They also cut off their robes from the waist down. This left the men indecently exposed. Word reached David of what happened, and he sent servants to meet the men who had been dishonored. David tells the men to stay in Jericho (just across the Jordan river in Israel’s territory) until their beards grow back.

Hanun, learning that David was displeased with Ammon because of what he did hires mercenaries. When David learns that Ammon is preparing for war, he is happy to oblige. He sends his army to fight. When the battle begins, Joab and his forces are surrounded. Joab splits his forces in two and places his brother in charge of one of the groups, while Joab himself led the other. They begin fighting and it is a clear victory for Israel. When the Syrians saw that Israel was defeated, they pledged allegiance to David and served them. They did not help Ammon again because of their fear of Israel.

During the time of the judges, Israel struggled with being harassed by the countries all around them. This was due to Israel’s continued failure to solely worship God. They continued to turn to idol worship. Now however, they have a king who worships God. When leadership follows God, he will bless a nation. David’s heart is to serve God faithfully. Yes, he is a sinful human (as we all are), and he will make some major mistakes in his life (as we will see in the next chapter), but when he sins, he turns to God and seeks forgiveness. Such is God’s desire for all of us.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

God has thoughts of peace, and not of evil towards us. Some may ask, then why do we have this corona virus if God is not thinking evil thoughts towards us. I cannot profess to know the mind of God. What I do know is that he is all knowing. He could end the virus but there is something that he is accomplishing through this. The virus is a result of us living in a broken sinful world. God did not cause us to sin, that was mankind’s choice. We are not responsible for Adam’s sin, but we each have our own sins to answer for. Living in a broken world, bad things happen. Yet, God thinks thoughts of peace for us and wants to be merciful to us. However, he will not bless us in our rebellion. We must turn to him and seek his face. Then, and only then, will he heal our land.