Sorry for the frequent delays. Once I get caught up again I’m going to try to get a week or two ahead so I have some buffer space again.
Samuel was so awesome that he got two books, even though he’s dead for the second one.
In second Samuel, David learns about the death of Saul from a guy who says he helped Saul kill himself. He’s an Amalekite, which is a strike against him already, then David and his men mourn deeply for Saul and execute the Amalekite messenger for having killed God’s anointed. I think that’s kind of a technicality, but it wouldn’t be the most obtuse interpretation of God’s will we’ve seen so far.
When the Lord tells David that it’s a good time to return to Israel, he goes into Hebron and explains that he is now the king of Israel. The tribe of Judah is on board, but no one else is buying it. The rest of Israel is following Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth propped up by Saul’s general Abner. Just as one would expect, things go pretty well for David and the tribe of Judah, but not so hot for Israel. David starts having lots of sons and stuff, but Ish-Bosheth winds up losing the support of Abner over some accusations regarding one of Saul’s concubines. Abner actually went to join David over the quarrel, but David sent him away. Once David’s general heard about what happened though, he had Abner brought back again and killed him, believing the whole thing to be a ploy and that Abner was a spy.
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