2 Samuel 1-3: Be a David, not a Joab

2 Samuel 3:39b "The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness."

This morning, we open the book of 2 Samuel and find some complex stories. I don't know about you, but whenever I read the first few chapters of 2 Samuel, I get confused. Nevertheless, I spent some extra time this morning working on my reading comprehension so that I could present the stories correctly to y'all. Yet, I hope you will still go and read them for yourself.

At the beginning of 2 Samuel, we find an unnamed Amalekite coming to David in the land of Ziklag. This man had his clothes torn and dirt on his head. He came to David, reporting to him the news that Saul had been killed. The Amalekite thought that David would enjoy this news since he was, in fact, the king who was to take the throne after Saul's death, but it was not so. Although Saul actually committed suicide, this Amalekite tries to steal the glory for himself by saying that he murdered Saul. However, David was not going to reward him for what David saw as treason. Thus, David ends up murdering the Amalekite for slaying the Lord's anointed.

Next, we find a great lamentation by David mourning the death of Saul and his son Jonathan. This is most peculiar, is it not? Saul was the man who wanted David dead and had attempted to murder him many, many times. Yet here we find David mourning and even lamenting over his death. David did not want Saul to die. Why? Because he knew that the Lord had placed him in authority above him.

As we come to the second chapter of 2 Samuel, we see two more important characters: Joab and Abner. Joab was the commander of David's army, and Abner was the commander of Ish-bosheth's army, who was Saul's son who has illegitimately been set up as king over Israel (although David reigned over the one tribe of Judah). Because of Ish-bosheth's illegitimate reign, a civil war commenced in Israel. Abner's men and Joab's men went against each other, and amidst the battle, Joab's brother Asahel was murdered by Abner.

In 2 Samuel 3, the story gets even better. Ish-bosheth (Saul's son who was illegitimately set up as king of Israel), for whatever reason, accuses Abner of committing adultery with his father's concubine. Insulted, Abner commits treason against Ish-bosheth and runs to David. David makes a deal with Abner, accepts him into his army, and everything seems like it was going well. Abner had promised the allegiance of the rest of Israel to David since he was over them as their military commander. However, Joab ends up hearing about this, and thinks that its all a big scheme of Abner and Ish-bosheth to overtake David. Thus, Joab follows Abner and kills him, taking revenge on him for the murder of his brother.

It might seem logical for David to rejoice over this. After all, Abner was the commander of the army that sought to overtake David's people and was the one who set up an illegitimate king when David was supposed to be reigning over the entire land. However, this is not what we find. We find David being extremely angry with Joab, who has murdered the man Abner out of revenge. David even curses Joab, and ends up greatly lamenting Abner's innocent death.

First, let us take a moment here to appreciate biblical literature. At times, we must simply sit back and behold our God for the stories that he has preserved for us, each of which speaks of his marvelous sovereignty and grace in every situation. Stories like this are simply phenominal, and we must not dial them down to mere hermeneutical beat-boxes for us to beat up. Rather, they are timeless stories that we ought to stand in awe of.

Second, let us talk about the idea of submission as seen in the character of David. Although this may not be the main point of this text, I think it is extremely applicable to our lives today. In the first part of our story today, we find David greatly honoring Saul, even though he was out to kill him. Even in the death of his enemy, David lamented greatly, showing great honor to the one whom the Lord anointed. David did not want Saul to die, and thus we see his submission to the authority that God has appointed. In contrast to this, we have a man named Joab. Joab didn't submit to authority, but rose up behind David (his king's) back and took revenge into his own hands, murdering a man who had just turned to his own side. Where David lamented the death of his enemy, Joab murdered his own enemy. Surely there is great irony here.

In the end, we need to be like David, who submitted to God's authority by submitting to man's authority. What do I mean here? Well, if you were to go and read Romans 13:1-7, you would find that God is sovereign over the government, and therefore as we submit to them, we submit to God. Now, there is certainly a time for civil disobedience when and only when the government commands us to do something against God's will. We see this most notably in the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. But let us realize this morning that civil disobedience is never the starting point--the starting point is submission. David didn't rise up against Saul as soon as he realized he was out to kill him. If anyone had a reason to rebel, it was David, but he didn't. Rather, he honored Saul and even lamented his death.

In response to this, let us consider: amidst this interesting time of government-sanctioned quarantine, let us start with submission. Let us honor the officials that God has sovereignly put in place. Although their demands may make us uncomfortable, until they push us to beyond God's clear commands, we have a Christian duty to submit. Furthermore, we should delight in doing so, as David did, since God has appointed those who are above us.