author: Ryan Hayden Take your Bibles with me and turn to 2 Samuel 2. 2 Samuel 2.

How many of you have noticed that in life, things rarely work out like we thought they would?

God is at the helm in our life, and He has a different map than we do - and most of the time, our life doesn't work out anywhere near like we thought it would.

David is the perfect example of this. His life has been a roller coaster so far.

He started by being anointed by Samuel to be the next king of Israel. That was a surprise, he was the youngest of 8 kids. He was a nobody from a nowhere town. He was the one left watching the sheep.

Then, by God's grace, he was brought to the king to play music for him. He was taken from out of the fields and taken into the royal court.

But then he went back. A war happened. He didn't get to go. He stayed home with the sheep. Until that day when his father sent him to check on his older brothers and he saw the Philistine champion mocking God and God's people and he stood up and killed Goliath.

Then came a whirlwind of popularity. He became a general in Saul's army. He eventually became Saul's son in law. Everything he touched was turning to gold. Until Saul turned against him.

He lost his wife. He spent something like 12-15 years on the run as a fugitive. He even went to live with the Philistines, among Goliath's people.

But now in 2 Samuel 2, Saul is dead. Jonathan is dead. It seems like things are finally ready for David to step up and be the king like he was anointed to be.

If you are expecting this to happen quickly and without any problems, you should know by now that isn't how God works most of the time.

Let's look at verses 1-4 of 2 Samuel 2.

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:1-4 - KJV

1. And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron.
2. So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal’s wife the Carmelite.
3. And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.
4. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah...

I want to break down this story into two sections:

• First we are going to talk about the heart of David
• Second we are going to talk about the opposition to David.

These verses we just read show us...

1. The heart of David

There are three things David does in this chapter that show us that his heart was in the right place.

First, David sought God's direction.

Remember, David at this point is still in Philistine territory. He is still living in Ziklag. He's just got back from killing the Amalekites and he finds out that Saul is dead.

So is this his chance to rush in and become king? After all this waiting?

David wisely doesn't just act - He seek's God's direction. He prays to God and says "should I go back to Judah?" God told him "yes." Well, where should I go? And God told him "Hebron."

(Hebron was a significant place - it was the religious center of Israel and it was associated with Abraham.)

But the important thing is that David sought God's direction and God led him.

Now listen, at this point, David has been backslidden for quite some time. He probably should not have gone to Philistia. He shouldn't have fought with the Philistines. But notice - God didn't put him on ice. God didn't give him a probation period. God didn't say "you are on your own for awhile David."

God was merciful to him and led him. And if you are away from God, God doesn't put you on probation when you come back to Him. If you seek Him, He will be found. He will lead you.

What David did here was right. He sought God's will. He didn't try to go out and do his own thing. He didn't assume that he knew what made sense. He prayed and sought God and God led him.

Too often we assume we know what God wants us to do, and we need to seek His will and direction in our life.

So David sought God's direction.

A second interesting thing we see about the heart of David is...

Second, David waited patiently on God.

David didn't rush in to take over the throne of Israel, even though decades before God had promised that He would be king. He didn't take it.

He just went home to Judah, and they made Him king of Judah.

Now, at this point, Israel wasn't really a solidified country. It was a bunch of tribes that were like their own little countries with a leader in Saul. David being made King of Judah wouldn't mean he was king over all Israel. Just over Judah.

It would be seven years before David was king over all Israel, and David just waited patiently for God to take care of it.

Sometimes we need to learn to wait patiently on God. You know, you can turn a good thing into a bad thing by jumping out of time and trying to hurry what God wants.

But there is a third thing we see about David's heart in this story that I find really interesting.

Look at verse 4 again through verse 7:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:4-7 - KJV 4. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. And they told David, saying, That the men of Jabesh-gilead were they that buried Saul. 5. And David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-gilead, and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the LORD, that ye have shewed this kindness unto your lord, even unto Saul, and have buried him. 6. And now the LORD shew kindness and truth unto you: and I also will requite you this kindness, because ye have done this thing. 7. Therefore now let your hands be strengthened, and be ye valiant: for your master Saul is dead, and also the house of Judah have anointed me king over them.

David hears about what the people of Jabesh-Gilead had done for Saul's body and he send them a message thanking them for honoring Saul.

Now, this is interesting. Jabesh-Gilead wasn't in the tribe of Judah. It was in the tribe of Manassah. They had already proved themselves to be stalwartly loyal to Saul (even risking their lives to save his dead body.) So what does David have to gain in messaging these people?

I think the third important thing in the heart of Saul was...

Third, David honored God's anointed.

I know we didn't read this - but do you know what is at the end of chapter 1? It's a song that David wrote honoring the life of Saul. Here, David honors these men who honored the life of Saul. At the end of 1 Samuel he kills the man who claims to have killed Saul.

David had ample reason to hate Saul. Saul tried to kill him many times. Saul took his wife away and gave her to someone else. Saul forced him into over a decade of living as a fugitive. Saul had been wicked in many of his ways, even killing all of the priests.

There was plenty of reason for David to hate Saul - but David honored Saul to the end, because He was God's anointed.

You know, we live in a culture and an age that has completely lost this idea, but I do think there is something biblically to be said about honoring authority.

Let me show you this real quick. Look at Jude 1:9 with me. This is a fascinating verse.

[!bible] Jude 1:9 - KJV 9. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.

This verse tells us that Michael - who is an archangel - chief angel. He's battling against the devil - Satan. And Michael refuses to bring railing accusations against the Devil. Do you understand that? He is refusing to be disrespectful to the devil. He is recognizing the Devil's office and guarding what he says about him.

Now - that's the devil! Literally the devil!

Think about some politician you don't like that you want to rail on, or some preacher you don't like that you want to pick to pieces with your words. They may very well be bad - they may be really bad - but do you know what? They aren't the devil.

This applies to the church too.

1 Timothy 5:19-20 says:

[!bible] 1 Timothy 5:19-20 - KJV 19. Against an elder receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses. 20. Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear.

The scripture teaches that you have to be really, really careful when it comes to accusations against pastors and church leaders. There is a higher standard of proof there. A higher bar to cross.

If you do cross it, then they need to be publicly rebuked. But that is something that should be entered into very, very carefully.

David seems to have grasped ahold of this idea that when you are God's anointed - there is some honor that goes with that.

He refused to lift one finger to hurt Saul. He had pangs of conscience about even cutting Saul's robe. He praised Saul in life and death.

Now, I want to say something that may be a bit controversial. You can take it or leave it. But I do think there is some Bible behind it.

We live in a ridiculously anti-authoritarian age. An age where it is seen as ok to disparage any authority figure.

We mock our parents. We mock our bosses. We mock our pastors. We mock our government officials.

And all of that is completely normal. It's so normal that it's the cultural water we are swimming in. You don't even realize it's there.

But that doesn't mean it's biblical. That doesn't mean it's right.

Wives - be careful about how you talk about your husbands.

[!bible] 1 Peter 3:6 - KJV 6. Even as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.

Kids - be careful about how you talk about your parents.

[!bible] Proverbs 20:20 - KJV 20. Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.

[!bible] Proverbs 30:17 - KJV 17. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it.

Employees - be careful about how you talk about your boss.

[!bible] 1 Timothy 6:1 - KJV

1. Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honour, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.

And listen to this - all of this - it is irrespective of whether or not that authority figure is good. Saul was not good. Saul did David unbelievable wrong. David left that to the Lord and still honored Saul.

I think when our heart is right with God, we will seek his direction, we will wait on His plan and we will honor the authority He sets up.

That's what we see here about the heart of David. But the second thing I told you this chapter was about was about

2. The opposition to David.

You see, wherever God is working, there is always going to be opposition. David becoming king was no different.

Let's read verses 8-11:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:8-11 - KJV 8. But Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s host, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim; 9. And made him king over Gilead, and over the Ashurites, and over Jezreel, and over Ephraim, and over Benjamin, and over all Israel. 10. Ish-bosheth Saul’s son was forty years old when he began to reign over Israel, and reigned two years. But the house of Judah followed David. 11. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months.

So Abner was Saul's chief general. He was also Saul's cousin. And Abner and David had some bad blood.

Remember the story of David sneaking into Saul's camp to take his spear? Well David called out Abner and said "you failed to protect your king." Abner and David go way back, and there was some bad blood there.

So Abner goes and takes one of Saul's sons named Ish-bosheth and has him made king over all of Israel.

Most likely, Ish-bosheth is a nickname. Most likely, he is Saul's son whose given name was Ish-baal. Which means "man of God." That's the name of one of Saul's sons given in Chronicles.

But here he is called "Ish-bosheth" and that means "Man of shame."

This was a shameful thing that Abner did - setting up another kingdom.

Abner knew that David was anointed by Samuel to be king. He was there at least two different times when Saul acknowledged that David would be the king. He knew that Jonathan wanted David to be king.

But I think the thing is, David was someone that Abner couldn't control - and this Ish-boseth was.

So the first thing we see under David's opposition is that...

A. Abner organizes another Kingdom.

Let's read what happens next:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:12 - KJV 12. And Abner the son of Ner, and the servants of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.

Abner takes a small army and goes to Gibeon. This is actually an affront. Gibeon is in Benjamin but it's right next to Judah. So it's kind of the border - and it's obvious that Abner is looking for a fight.

And David's men meet him there. Let's read what happens.

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:13-14 - KJV 13. And Joab the son of Zeruiah, and the servants of David, went out, and met together by the pool of Gibeon: and they sat down, the one on the one side of the pool, and the other on the other side of the pool. 14. And Abner said to Joab, Let the young men now arise, and play before us. And Joab said, Let them arise.

Joab is another interesting character. Abner was Saul's cousin. Joab is David's nephew.

Remember, David is the youngest of 8 children so it is very likely that he and Joab are around the same age.

Joab is basically David's Abner. He is David's chief general.

So Joab takes an army to meet Abner's army and they have a stand off around a small pond.

Abner comes up with an idea: let's have a tournament. We don't know if he was thinking like David and Goliath - like representative combat or this was just some kind of amusement. But Joab agrees, and so they both send out 12 of their most skilled fighters.

Let's read what happens next:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:15-17 - KJV 15. Then there arose and went over by number twelve of Benjamin, which pertained to Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve of the servants of David. 16. And they caught every one his fellow by the head, and thrust his sword in his fellow’s side; so they fell down together: wherefore that place was called Helkath-hazzurim, which is in Gibeon. 17. And there was a very sore battle that day; and Abner was beaten, and the men of Israel, before the servants of David.

This is crazy, you have twenty four fighters paired off against each other. Like two football teams. Facing off. All of them end up killing each other at the same time. All 24 are dead.

That will motivate the troops. And that is what happens. It kicks off a battle. Abner verses Joab. Ish-besheth verses David.

And something interesting happens in the aftermath of that battle. Let's keep reading:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:18-23 - KJV 18. And there were three sons of Zeruiah there, Joab, and Abishai, and Asahel: and Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe. 19. And Asahel pursued after Abner; and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. 20. Then Abner looked behind him, and said, Art thou Asahel? And he answered, I am. 21. And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside to thy right hand or to thy left, and lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armour. But Asahel would not turn aside from following of him. 22. And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me: wherefore should I smite thee to the ground? how then should I hold up my face to Joab thy brother? 23. Howbeit he refused to turn aside: wherefore Abner with the hinder end of the spear smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him; and he fell down there, and died in the same place: and it came to pass, that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died stood still.

Abner and his men get whooped. It's bad. And Abner is running away - well Joab has a brother named Asahel and Asahel is really fast. He runs like a deer. So Asahel is just chasing Abner down. He wants to be the one who kills Abner.

• And Abner keeps saying "is that you Asahel?"
• "Why don't you take someone else's armor and go back Asahel?"
• "You don't want to do this Asahel, I'll have to kill you, and then I'll never be able to face your brother again, Asahel."

But Asahel keeps chasing. Abner, in self-defense turns around and kills him with his spear.

Look what happens next:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:24-25 - KJV 24. Joab also and Abishai pursued after Abner: and the sun went down when they were come to the hill of Ammah, that lieth before Giah by the way of the wilderness of Gibeon. 25. And the children of Benjamin gathered themselves together after Abner, and became one troop, and stood on the top of an hill.

Now you have a stand-off between the two armies again. Abner has reinforcements from the tribe of Benjamin. Joab has chased them to this hill. It looks like it is going to be another round of battle.

Look what Abner does:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:26-31 - KJV 26. Then Abner called to Joab, and said, Shall the sword devour for ever? knowest thou not that it will be bitterness in the latter end? how long shall it be then, ere thou bid the people return from following their brethren? 27. And Joab said, As God liveth, unless thou hadst spoken, surely then in the morning the people had gone up every one from following his brother. 28. So Joab blew a trumpet, and all the people stood still, and pursued after Israel no more, neither fought they any more. 29. And Abner and his men walked all that night through the plain, and passed over Jordan, and went through all Bithron, and they came to Mahanaim. 30. And Joab returned from following Abner: and when he had gathered all the people together, there lacked of David’s servants nineteen men and Asahel. 31. But the servants of David had smitten of Benjamin, and of Abner’s men, so that three hundred and threescore men died.

Basically, Abner calls out to Joab and says "Let's call this off, or we will never stop fighting."

Joab says "you know, you are right." And they call of the fight. They reach a truce.

At the end of the day, Abner's army got destroyed in this fight. David and Joab lost 20 men. Abner lost 360 men.

Let's read the last verse here and the first verse of chapter 3 and we'll be done:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 2:32 - KJV 32. And they took up Asahel, and buried him in the sepulchre of his father, which was in Bethlehem. And Joab and his men went all night, and they came to Hebron at break of day.

And 2 Samuel 3:1 says:

[!bible] 2 Samuel 3:1 - KJV

1. Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.

So what do we make of this? You know, when I first read this story, I thought - yay. Good for you Joab. Good for you Abner. You had the sense to stop fighting.

I was getting ready to talk about how we should all get along.

But after second thought, I actually think that is the wrong take on this story.

You see, this false peace didn't really last. Chapter 3 tells us they fought a long war.

Abner refused the rightful king. He refused God's man. As long as that was going on, how could there be peace?

Joab had Abner and had the army, and he could have eliminated them. But instead he let them go.

This little cease-fire here seems to have made things better, but it actually made things worse. It just gave Abner the chance to regroup and fight another day.

Who knows how many lives would have been saved if Joab just finished the job here? How many people had to die in this civil war?

So what application do we take from this?

You know, God wants to be the king of our heart. He is the rightful king of our heart. The devil is always going to make sure there are other people vying for the throne. Like Abner putting up Ish-bosheth.

And so there is this war. And as long as we are fighting for God - it's going to be like Joab here - it's going to be victory. But do you know what we do? We tend to give up, we tend to try to make peace with the other things warring against our heart.

David Guzik put it this way:

When we try to make peace between King Jesus and King Self within us, the result is a long, bitter war. It is so much better to simply surrender and submit to the reign of Jesus.

Conclusion

So what did we learn tonight?

• We should seek God's will
• We should patiently wait for Him.
• We should respect the authority God places over us.
• We should expect opposition.
• We should fight and defeat those things that try to be the king of our heart (because that is God's rightful place.)

I can't wait to look next week at the story of David becoming the King from 2 Samuel 3 and 4.