Another Bible Commentary: 2 Samuel

This is a continuation of the history we’ve been reading. This was once all one work. Samuel died in 1 Samuel 25, so it’s just named in his honor.

1:1-8 David just got back from killing Amalekites. This man chose poorly.

1:10 The Bible says that he said he did it, not that he did it. The manner of Saul’s death does not make the Bible self-contradictory.

1:13 The murder laws, etc., applied to foreigners in the land, too.

1:15 see Genesis 9:6.

1:16 see 1 Samuel 26:9.

1:17-18 Lots of non-usurper behavior by David is recorded in these histories. We don’t have the Book of Jashar. Redacted material can still be inspired.

1:26 see Proverbs 18:24. Some commentators can’t comprehend loyalty proven under fire, and they try to interpret this through a homosexual lens. However, Scripture speaks against related behavior and endorses David and Jonathan’s righteousness (with all their associated wives and concubines).

2:1 They probably inquired with the ephod as in 1 Samuel 30:7-8. Hebron was an Abrahamic altar (Genesis 13:18) outside Benjaminite (Saul-friendly) land.

2:4 “anointed David king” of just Judah, for now. The civil war that follows shortly in the text will be skipped in Chronicles.

2:5-7 Their loyalty, including cremation, to the Lord’s anointed (even David’s enemy) was rewarded by faithful David.

2:8-10 There is much to be said about the later divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah, but this is a reminder that they were rarely united.

2:12-17 This is an attempt at representative combat like 1 Samuel 17:8-10. It failed, so the battle happened anyway.

2:18 These are David’s nephews per 1 Chronicles 2.

2:21 Professional salaried armies did not exist yet; loot was payment.

3:7-8 Royal widows only married kings. Only other kings were of suitable station. Sleeping with a king’s concubine, riding his donkey, etc., was seen as an attempted coup. About “the head of a dead dog”: Dogs were not pets in that culture; they roamed around eating dead/unclean things, and they spread ritual uncleanliness wherever they went. Part of a dead animal (already a way to become unclean), an unclean animal at that, that also fed on dead animals would have been very, very unclean.

3:13-15 David’s claim to the throne is helped by a marriage to a princess. This isn’t a Deuteronomy 24:4 remarriage, because David never sent her away. David and God’s view of this is closer to the rescue of 1 Samuel 30 than Matthew 5:31. Michal was “abandoned” when David fled Saul, but paradoxically it was for her protection and provision of food, clothing, and shelter (Exodus 21:10), and therefore not abandonment from his point of view. Saul as head of the household was within his rights to marry her off, so we find ourselves in an adultery-free Schrodinger’s cat box with two “valid” marriages until David solves the puzzle by showing up with a prior claim and a sword. See 1 Kings 15:5. If Paltiel’s marriage was invalid, he and Michal would have been stoned as adulterers.

3:15 This speaks to how scary Abner was (2 Samuel 2:11) because a king gave his sister to a rival claimant to his throne (making David’s claim to it even stronger) for fear of him.

3:16 Taking a wife from a husband is another foreshadowing of Bathsheba.

3:27 Joab, acting as kinsman redeemer, treated Abner as if Asahel’s killing were premeditated murder instead of an act of war.

3:29 “leans on a crutch” has been variously translated to mean crippled, “holds a distaff” only suited for alleged woman’s work and not war, “holds a(nother guy’s) staff” euphemistically gay, etc.

3:30 See 1 Kings 2:5-6.

3:33 The “lawless” are the godless. They are also called “fools”; see 2 Samuel 13:13 and Psalm 14:1.

3:37 David having no part of (frequently politically convenient) wrongdoing is the point of several of these anecdotes.

3:39 David, the slayer of Goliath and thousands of Philistines, said that he was too weak to control his nephews.

4:4 When people are mean to you, try to understand that when our ancestors chose the knowledge of good and evil, they dropped your enemies on their most important faculty. They are likely doing the best they know how to. The name “Meribaal” means “out of the mouth of the Lord”. As the generic term for “lord” baal became more closely associated with the false god Baal, -baal was replaced in texts with -bosheth or “shame”. Hence, Ish-Bosheth (2 Samuel 2:8) in the text was “Ishbaal” in life.

4:12 More non-usurper behavior from David, who kept taking the high road when politically expedient scapegoats did him favors he didn’t ask for. He publicly displayed the hands that acted and the feet that brought him the news.

5:2 Another comparison of a leader to a shepherd like Numbers 27:17-18 that is fitting since David has come from the pasture to the palace. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd. Bad shepherds/leaders are compared to fat sheep (Ezekiel 34) and goats (Zechariah 10:2-3), which is a clue to the “sheep and goats” parable of Matthew 25.

5:3 David was anointed as a boy by Samuel, as King of Judah back in chapter 2, and now as King of Israel. The varying circumstances of Christ’s anointings suggest a similar number of occurrences.

5:4 David began his reign at the age of 30. Priests began their service at 30, and Christ started His ministry at 30, too. Between acting like a priest in the order of Melchizedek in bringing the Ark to Jerusalem and prophesying in the Spirit in Psalms, David was a prototype prophet/priest/king that foreshadowed Jesus Christ.

5:6 Maiming a defeated/surrendered city’s population so they couldn’t rebel is part of the context needed to understand the hand and eye rhetoric in the Sermon on the Mount. The Jebusites were saying, in essence, that even such persons could defend such an impregnable city.

5:7 At the time of this writing, image searching “Warren’s Shaft” shows the waterway David’s men used. Make sure your safe search is on, though.

5:11 Hiram comes around again in 1 Kings 5.

5:13 God’s fine with this. See 1 Kings 15:5. Nathan had nothing to say about it on God’s behalf in 2 Samuel 12, either.

5:21 Ancient armies would have kept the idols to gain their “powers”; 1 Chronicles 14:12 makes it clear that David burned them.

6:3 The Ark was to have been carried by Levites (Numbers 4:4-20, Numbers 7:9). David should have known better (Deuteronomy 17:18).

6:13 While some make a fuss of David doing the sacrifices, remember Leviticus 1:5 – the person offering the animal kills it, and the priests process it afterward.

6:14 Jerusalem was traditionally ruled by a priest-king like Melchizedek (Genesis 14, Psalm 110).

6:16 Michal once loved David and helped him escape, but since then she’s been married to Paltiel and taken back, and David has acquired many additional wives and concubines. Underwear was not common then, so David flashed a bit in enthusiasm (verse 20). Have you ever had that much fun at church? Explain.

7:6 The lesson of the Tabernacle was “Move where and when God moves”. At this point in the story, the lesson of the Temple becomes “Hey world, see what God is doing here”. Now, after Pentecost, God is in us wherever we go. We’re the lesson; the example of His grace (Ephesians 2:7).

7:7 If God never really wanted a Temple, then the Book of Haggai would have been about a tent. I bring this up because there are some commentators that try to posit the growth of Israel’s wealth and opulence as when they went off the rails as opposed to their actual sinning like idolatry, etc.

7:11 The way Chronicles is translated in English (1 Chronicles 22:8-9, 1 Chronicles 28:3) leads some commentators to lean too heavily on David’s killings making him ineligible to build the Temple, but the focus is more on “peace on every side”. There were more wars coming (1 Chronicles 18-20). The God who cut off all of David’s enemies in verse 9 was not suddenly squeamish about blood (1 Kings 5:3-4, 1 Kings 15:5). Solomon also fought (2 Chronicles 8:3), and he was an arms dealer (1 Kings 10:29, 2 Chronicles 1:17). When God says he will establish David’s “house”, the word also carries connotations of “dynasty” and “family”.

7:12 When David publicly announces this later in his reign (1 Chronicles 28:5-7), it is clear that Solomon was chosen as the next king, so Adonijah’s attempt at usurpation in 1 Kings was not just a mistake.

7:13 Jesus rules forever.

7:14-15 The descendants of David had it rough as kings, but they were not replaced by God with another dynasty as with Saul. Our adoption by God is as irrevocable

7:16 The eternal Jesus sitting on the throne keeps this promise. See Isaiah 9:6-7.

7:18 “family” We’ve been reading stories about the family of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Perez via Tamar, Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz via Rahab, Obed via Ruth, and Jesse (Matthew 1:2-6) in the Bible so far on our way to Jesus.

8:2 While merciful for the time (vs. total annihilation) and profitable from a taxation standpoint, it does seem an odd way to say, “Thanks for the hospitality in 1 Samuel 22:4!”

8:4 We moderns pity the horses. David was just trying to obey Deuteronomy 17:16.

8:9-10 Hadadezer and his son Hadoram aka “Hadad is exalted” were named for the god of Aram (basically Baal). David made Hadoram change his name to Joram “YHWH is exalted” in fealty. Changing someone’s name is a show of dominance, like Adam naming an animal.

8:10-12 David stored up building supplies for the Temple of Solomon.

8:13 Psalm 60 is related to this incident.

8:17 Zadok is of Eleazar’s lineage (Numbers 25:7-13). Much has been made of who was priest when (1 Chronicles 18:16 and Jesus’ comment in Mark 2:26 vs. 2 Samuel 15:24-35, 17:15, 19:11, and 20:25). Since Samuel died in 1 Samuel, and splitting the Old Testament into chapters happened later (Archbishop Stephen Langton in the 12th century is frequently credited with this), Jesus may have just been mentioning the history scroll by bringing up Abiathar.

8:18 Since “priests” and “chiefs” differ by one letter in Hebrew, David obeyed the Law mostly (1 Kings 15:5), these sons are Judahites and not Levites, and 1 Chronicles 18:17 says they were “chiefs”, I propose shenanigans with translations that have “priests” in this verse. The Septuagint, the KJV, and several others say “chiefs” or “chief ministers” (of government).

9:1 See 1 Samuel 20:15.

9:2 Certain fictitious crocodiles might have addressed him with a hearty, “Hullooo Zeeba Neighba!”

9:3 David gave his word to Saul and to Jonathan. David was savvy (1 Kings 2:9), but still kept his word. Critics point out that Mephibosheth’s infirmity made him an unlikely source of a coup, and that the scenario that follows could look like the world’s nicest house arrest.

9:4 Lo Debar is said to mean “no pasture”; Mephibosheth was stuck in the middle of nowhere.

9:5-13 Believers, who know they can’t save themselves, have been taken from the middle of nowhere to the palace of the ruler of the universe for the sake of Jesus. We are seated with Him (Ephesians 2:6). We’re co-heirs of the universe with Him (Romans 8:17,32). We will never hunger nor thirst (John 6:35).

10:1-2 The “kindness” here can also mean loyalty. This was Nahash the Eye-Poker from 1 Samuel 11. He and David had a common enemy in Saul while David was on the run.

10:4 I guess that’s one way to keep them from staying around to spy. Treating an ambassador like that is equivalent to treating David like that.

10:18 or “7,000” as in 1 Chronicles 19:18. The word for “a thousand” can also mean “military unit”. I don’t pretend that the translations of the histories that we have are in perfect agreement like the inerrancy people (I’m sure the original manuscripts are awesome, and we don’t have them), but the differences are in the numbers of long-dead side characters, the amounts of money later confiscated by world empires, the sizes of long-destroyed buildings, the reigns of failed kings, etc. What God was doing in Hebrew history is consistent. We worship Immanuel, not a manual. The men in this verse are dead now, and Jesus is our risen Lord (Romans 10:9-13).

11:2 See Exodus 2:5. Private bathing (really, private anything) is a recent invention and is still a rarity in parts of the world. David sleeping in the cool fresh air on the rooftop was normal (See 1 Samuel 9:25-26 note). This scenario was not unusual, unloving, creepy voyeurism. Coveting Uriah’s wife (wishing/plotting to actually commit adultery), taking her (adultery), and the subsequent murder were the sins. If David had applied Leviticus 15:16 with the common sense of Paul in Colossians 2:20-23, we wouldn’t be reading about it now. God provides a way out (1 Corinthians 10:13), and certain things are within reach for a reason (1 Corinthians 12:18). Certain people influenced by the Accuser by way of human philosophy will say that David would still have been looking with intent to lust, but a proper reading of Matthew 5:28 is about looking with intent to covet and take another man’s wife. “Objection! My client doesn’t want that man’s wife, he wants to get off alone without bothering anyone. He seeks to not want that man’s wife.”

11:4-5 David broke Leviticus 18:20 but kept Leviticus 18:19, which a lot of modern “moral guardian” types are pretty blasé about. We are sure the child is David’s.

11:8 “Feet” can be a polite euphemism for genitals in the Bible (Isaiah 7:20, Deuteronomy 28:57, Ruth 3; some versions translate the Hebrew word for “feet” variously to thighs, legs, etc., to convey the intended meaning). David told Uriah to go get it wet.

11:11 Uriah could have taken a bath before going back to the war front (Deuteronomy 23:9-11), but David had previously called for a higher standard (like a Pharisee fence); see the 1 Samuel 21:5 note. Uriah wanted to avoid a Joshua 7 scenario, but he was also technically insubordinate to his king and commander. It is implied that David should have been encamped as well in verse 1.

11:17 These men and their grieving families are often forgotten collateral damage in this story.

11:21 “millstone” in Judges 9.

11:25 David, who used to grieve for rivals, was callous in his sin.

12:5 doesn’t contradict verse 6’s immediate pivot to a demand for financial restitution: “...is a son of death!” means “deserves to die”, like in John 17:12.

12:6 See Exodus 22:1.

12:8 If polygyny were bad, this would have been the time to say it. God had a perfect chance to set a man with eight wives and ten concubines straight on the whole one-man-one-woman thing. Instead we find that God gave David a whole bunch of women, and He said that more could have been on the table, too. God's not stingy: see Psalm 37:4, Romans 8:32, etc. Before the Roman one-wife rule we started to obey (Romans 13) came about, the standard was one man with as many post-pubescent women (Song of Solomon 8:8-10) as he could financially support. Marriage depicts Christ and the Church; Christ's love for me does not diminish his love for you. He can always add another believer, but we can't have Him and Baal. The “yen for concubines” aka concupiscence is not sinful, per se. Abraham had one wife (Sarah) and two concubines (Hagar and Keturah),and God says in Genesis 26:5 that Abe “obeyed and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions”. Anyone teaching biblical inerrancy and preaching about Abraham's "adultery" is contradicting themselves. Also, in Numbers 31, God gave Eleazar 32 women, which is basically enough to make a rap video.

12:10-11 David had publicly dishonored God by behaving egregiously in his role as prophet/priest/king/proto-Christ/moral exemplar, so God dishonored David publicly in a number of ways to preserve His good Name. God could not be seen to be in favor of David’s actions. There has been conjecture about David’s penalty of four lambs from 2 Samuel 12:6 with regard to the lives lost in 2 Samuel 11:17 (See 2 Samuel 11:25 note). See 2 Samuel 12:18, 2 Samuel 13:23-29, 2 Samuel 18:15, and 1 Kings 2:25.

12:12 This is paid off in 2 Samuel 16.

12:13 Read Psalm 51, but then immediately read Psalm 32. David’s forgiveness went as far as his own death sentence and being square with God. There are still earthly consequences for behavior sometimes; God loves you, but recreational opioids can still kill you.

12:14 As the leader of God’s people, David was responsible for God’s good Name like Moses in Numbers 20:12. Israel was given Deuteronomy 24:16, but imagine the symbolism if this child had grown up to be David’s heir: people would assume that God approved of David’s actions regarding Bathsheba. Apart from what Christ has done for us, we all deserve death (Exodus 12:30, Luke 13:4). Judging God is above everyone’s pay grade (Job 42). Also, given the threat of 2 Samuel 12:10 in light of 1 Kings 14:12-13, the authors of Ecclesiastes 4:2 and Isaiah 57:1 would call this a mercy.

12:25 Jedidiah means “loved by the LORD”. This isn’t a case of misnaming the baby, this is identifying the promised son from 2 Samuel 7:14-15. This is a foreshadowing of Jesus in Matthew 3:17 and, by extension, us in Ephesians 1:6.

12:26-28 Joab covered for David in this difficult time.

12:30 “king’s head” This might have been a statue of a false god since the crown weighed seventy-five pounds, or maybe pagan dude had a strong neck.

12:31 He put them to work tearing down their own walls, turning them back into bricks. (Some translations say he sawed the people with saws and burned them in brick kilns like their child sacrifices to Molech. There are rabbis on either side of that discussion, but the forced labor interpretation has more support at the time of this writing.)

2 Samuel 13 – Brother-sister incest is prohibited in Leviticus 18:9,11 and Leviticus 20:17. See Deuteronomy 22:28-29 note: In that verse, the couple are “discovered” and no one’s yelling for rescue. The tale of Amnon and Tamar isn’t the “seduction” of Exodus 22:16-17, but a rape. The Bible has been accused of forcing women to marry their rapists; Tamar’s statements are used to support this interpretation. Women traditionally did not study Torah. Her (possible) attempt to apply Deuteronomy 22:29 to her situation, especially given Leviticus 20, is maybe less biblical than Absalom’s application of Deuteronomy 22:25-26 when David would not. If she did know the Torah, she knew being sent away (verse 16) would leave her as “damaged goods”/accused of promiscuity, but getting the story in the open in front of the paterfamilias might have led to Amnon’s death, granting her freedom to remarry by any reckoning (if less profitable for David), which Absalom later accomplished.

13:3 A certain snake received basically the same introduction in Genesis 3:1.

13:13 “fools” refers to the godless as in Psalm 14. About the notion of David ever giving her to a sibling, if she studied Torah, she may have been lying to get away from him.

13:20 Absalom’s reply to Tamar seems cold, but 2 Samuel 13:22, 2 Samuel 13:32, and 2 Samuel 14:27 show how he really felt. “Desolate” is like Isaiah 54:1.

13:23 “Two years” It is said that revenge is a dish best served cold. It belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35, Leviticus 19:18), so don’t get any ideas.

13:30,33,35 It seems that crafty Jonadab set this miscommunication up to soften the blow of the real news and to obscure his involvement (2 Samuel 13:3-5).

13:32 Absalom has acted the paterfamilias more so than David in executing Amnon, which foreshadows his usurpation.

13:39 “no longer felt the need to go after Absalom” seems to be the translation based on 2 Samuel 14:24 and the lead-up to it.

14:3 Joab’s a killer, so her lying is fine. Pikuach nefesh. 

14:6 The familiar tale of Cain and Abel.

14:14 Jesus went to the Cross to keep humanity from remaining banished from Him.

14:22 There is still the lingering awkwardness of 2 Samuel 3:28-29.

14:29 Because of the lingering awkwardness between Joab and David (2 Samuel 3:28-29), Joab hesitates to answer Absalom.

14:30 Another glimpse at Absalom’s personality (likely warped by the curse of 2 Samuel 12:10). Ignoring a man that burns fields for attention after two years of icing him out sounds like a usurpation risk.

15:1 See 1 Kings 1:5. Absalom was presenting himself as king. He may as well have had intro music.

15:4 Kingly prerogative.

15:7-10 Hebron was the old capital.

15:16 David had at least 10 concubines.

15:18 Well-paid foreign troops guarding the king (like the men David picked up in his days among the Philistines) have the advantage of lacking the divided loyalties locals might have (for example, people insisting on a Saul relative, etc.).

15:19-21 Sounds like the story of David’s ancestor Ruth.

15:23 Time for another wilderness experience like Israel and Jesus.

15:30 Foreshadows Jesus.

16:3 Ziba’s answer does not seem plausible. Absalom was not going to usurp David only to turn the kingdom over to Saul’s handicapped grandson, nor was a popular uprising toward that end likely.

16:4 See 2 Samuel 19:24.

16:5-11 See Exodus 22:28. David’s later stance in 1 Kings 2:9 is still appropriate.

16:12 like Deuteronomy 23:5.

16:21-22 David’s old advisor, Bathsheba’s grandfather, recommended roof sex for a visible usurpation. See 2 Samuel 3:7 note.

17:5-6 David left Hushai behind in 2 Samuel 15:32-36 to give intentionally bad advice to Absalom.

17:7-13 True, David was an experienced guerilla warrior, but 2 Samuel 17:2 seems more likely to have worked compared with the risk of giving him plenty of time to recover or strike first while a massive slow-moving army was being assembled.

17:20 Pikuach nefesh.

17:22 David crossed the Jordan as did Israel, and as would Elijah and friends, Jesus, etc.

17:23 In addition to being publicly dishonored (2 Samuel 16:23), Ahithophel saw a few steps ahead to David winning and chose suicide over being executed as a traitor.

17:25 Amasa was David’s nephew (1 Chronicles 2). The Septuagint says that Abigail was Jesse’s daughter; the translators likely saw “Nahash” as transposed from verse 27.

18:12 This man would have refused 1,000 pieces of silver. Judas took 30.

18:14 Joab was complicated. There are times he did what David asked even when he disagreed (2 Samuel 24:3-4). He did some things for David’s own good (2 Samuel 14:1, 2 Samuel 19:5-7), and to what extent that was self-serving is debatable. He also had taken vengeance before (2 Samuel 3:27), and he had a complicated history with Absalom (2 Samuel 14:30).

18:15 The betrayer dies hanging from a tree like Judas (Matthew 27:5).

18:17 like Joshua 7:25. This fate was better than being unburied, but not being in the family tomb was still a disgrace.

18:18 I guess the sons in 2 Samuel 14:27 had died by then, as naming one of them Absalom Jr. would have been an easy fix.

18:27 Wishful thinking.

18:33 This Christlike notion of self-sacrifice and substitutionary atonement is what marks David as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22).

2 Samuel 19 – There will be several actions motivated by a desire for national unity in this chapter as typified by 2 Samuel 19:7 and 2 Samuel 19:14 that might not make sense otherwise.

19:6 Christ loves those who hate Him, too.

19:13 Joab’s push for reconciliation cost him his job (2 Samuel 17:25).

19:15 “Gilgal” Back to the beginning again (Joshua 4).

19:22 There’s a “new” king in town. This is the same general amnesty common for new regimes for which people ran to Jesus.

19:23 “You shall not die…” comes with an implicit “today” from verse 22. See 1 Kings 2:9, Exodus 22:28, and 1 Kings 15:5 for clarification.

19:24 This behavior would not have occurred if Ziba were telling the truth in 2 Samuel 16:3.

19:28 New dynasties usually killed old heirs.

19:29 Ziba most likely lied but provided hospitality as recently as 2 Samuel 19:18. David had a lot on his mind, and the themes of “unity” and “no one dies” took precedence. Some rabbis have said that unjustly dividing Mephibosheth’s portion led to the kingdom being similarly divided later.

19:30 Spoken like the true mother in 1 Kings 3.

19:41-20:2 This story serves as a preview of the later permanent split between Israel and Judah.

20:3 The concubines David’s son slept with present us with some problems. They were slaves and not wives, so no adultery was committed (Leviticus 19:20), and they did not deserve the death penalty. The strictest readings of Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20 would not have permitted David to sleep with women his son had relations with already. He couldn’t free them to marry other men because that would be like giving away claims to the throne (2 Samuel 3:7 note). David’s righteousness (1 Kings 15:5) is questioned by those who claim Exodus 21:10-11 includes sex; as we’ve discussed, the requirements were food, clothing, and shelter. Therefore, treating them as royal widows was a righteous option.

20:7 Kerethites and Pelethites were foreign royal bodyguards.

20:9-10 This foreshadows Judas in more than one way (Matthew 26:49, Acts 1:18).

20:19-22 “mother in Israel” This wise woman is in authority like Deborah to the horror of those who claim that women can’t lead due to misreading some things Paul wrote.

20:25 Zadok’s loyalty during the tumultuous days of 2 Samuel and 1 Kings ultimately leads to Zadokite exclusivity for high priests in Ezekiel 40:46, Ezekiel 44, etc.

20:26 Jair was in Manasseh. Levites resided in towns (providing the location name) but did not own land.

21:1 This is the first mention of this.

21:2 “Gibeonites” were Canaanites who scammed their way into being vassals of the Israelites in Joshua 9.

21:3 “inheritance” meaning heritage or people.

21:4 Only life is worth life.

21:5 This was not an execution by Israel for their father’s violation of the Mosaic Law (Deuteronomy 24:16), but appeasement of a foreign power for a treaty violation.

21:6 David only promised Saul not to wipe out his line. Seven concubine-derived descendants didn’t break the oath.

21:7 Perhaps impalement or crucifixion. Mephibosheth said as much was to be predicted in 2 Samuel 19:28. David’s hands are conveniently clean of the usual post-accession cleanup. Like Christ died for us, another person died in the place of Mephibosheth son of Jonathan.

21:8 Two sons and five grandsons of Saul died. David had almost married Merab (1 Samuel 18:19). Some manuscripts say Michal and invoke 2 Samuel 6:23 (but when do they think she got knocked up by Adriel so many times without being stoned to death? And it’s not like a king’s divorcee would have been attainable by another man, as we have discussed). Barzillai here is not the Gileadite of 2 Samuel 19:31. Based on the military activities we’ve seen involving Saul’s sons, David’s nephews, etc. so far, it is possible that those who were chosen to die had spilled Gibeonite blood.  

21:10 Rizpah (from 2 Samuel 3:7) prevented carrion to preserve their afterlives by the ancient reckoning. Gibeonites were not under Deuteronomy 21:22-23, and God only ended things upon their proper burial. This was no more a human sacrifice to God than every exercise of Genesis 9:6 is.

21:17 Calling a mere human the lamp of Israel seems to be an invitation for pride. Did being put out to pasture make room for David the warrior to be enticed (spoiler alert) to count his troops?

21:18-21 No mention of God in these giant-slaying tales. Pride goes before a fall.

21:19 Later, we’ll see in 1 Chronicles 20:5 that this was a brother of Goliath rather than Goliath as seen in some manuscripts.

21:22 as was Goliath.

2 Samuel 22 and 2 Samuel 23 provide a break for bonus material and backstory before the history resumes in chapter 24.

2 Samuel 22 – See Psalm 18, which was likely written right after the Saul issue concluded. The iniquity denied in verse 21 would have originally meant killing Saul, Nabal, etc. Placing it here, after all that has happened, amounts to an understanding (Psalm 32:1-2) that sins forgiven by God are forgotten (Hebrews 8:12), and it is as if they never happened (Romans 8:33). If God says you’re justified in Christ, you are.

22:21-23 Thankfully, God deals with us based on Christ’s righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21, Romans 8:33) instead of our failures.

22:24-25 Yes, David stumbled (2 Samuel 12:13), but he asked to be fixed (Psalm 51:9-10). We’re going to encounter grace in Romans 4, Psalm 32, Psalm 103, etc.

22:26,31 Faith (by God’s grace) saves.

22:35 This promise is repeated in Psalm 18:34 and Psalm 144:1.

22:38-43,48 God’s promise to avenge (Deuteronomy 32:35) does not preclude appropriate action by believers.

23:1 The “last words” recorded in this chapter are more inspirational than his last words recorded in the history books (1 Kings 2:9-10).

23:2 David is presented as a prophet.

23:5 See Romans 8:32. We’re moving up to the big house.

23:6-7 like in John 15:6.

23:8 The Three are like David’s Peter, James, and John. See Judges 3:31.

23:17 See Leviticus 17:10-13 and Deuteronomy 12:23-24.

23:18 Abishai bagged “half a Shamgar” (Judges 3:31).

23:23-39 There were more than thirty members over the years. “The Thirty” is a unit, like “The Navy SEALs” or how a total of approximately 18 men and counting were ever members of The Four Horsemen of professional wrestling.

24:1 See 1 Chronicles 21:1 for comparison; the census is attributed to the “anger of the LORD” here and to “Satan” in Chronicles. This is basically a military draft ; see Exodus 30:12. 1 Chronicles 27:23-24 explains the bad census as counting what should be innumerable. (Despite 2 Samuel 23:1, David’s still talking.) The curses come from the Deuteronomy 28 menu, so any Deuteronomy 28:15 related activity could have caused the initial anger. Remember the wild days of the Judges, and look ahead to 1 Kings 14:22-24; David was more righteous than his subjects. The Deuteronomistic historians of 2 Samuel see God as Sovereign behind all activity, whereas the Chronicler sees the devil (Job 1:12, Job 2:6, John 8:44, and 1 John 3:8) being allowed to do what he was dying to do all along. Deuteronomy 31:16-17 has the pattern: they sinned, God looked away (Habakkuk 1:13), and the devil went to work (Hebrews 2:14). Thank God we live on this side of the Cross and the Resurrection. The punishment for sin is death (Romans 6:23), and Christ paid that price already. God doesn’t treat Christians like this when they sin (Hebrews 8:12, 1 John 2:1-2, Colossians 1:22, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 7:25, Hebrews 10:14, etc.).

24:3 If Joab, the consistently pragmatic murderer, says “whoa”, maybe reconsider.

24:9 compare 1 Chronicles 21:5. Either way, David had many more soldiers than God had used to conquer Canaan.

24:16 As we saw at Bethel, an encounter with God establishes a worship site. The Temple would be built here eventually. This was where the promise of innumerable offspring (and blessing to the nations which we now enjoy in Christ) was given in Genesis 22, so “withdraw your hand” echoes the attempted sacrifice of Isaac.

24:24 Compare this with 1 Chronicles 21:25 and 1 Chronicles 22:1. The price for this day’s sacrifice and the threshing floor is a separate transaction from the price for all the land for the future Temple. Chronicles focuses on the Temple (to motivate the returning exiles to rebuild).

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