The Bible in a Year – 10 April

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

10 April. 2 Samuel chapters 19-21

There is a lot in these few chapters, in which David’s fortunes wax and wane.  It is no wonder that by the time of the several battles against the Philistine ‘giants’ in chapter 21, which must have reminded him of his own defeat of Goliath when he was much younger, David ‘grows weary’ and is advised no longer to take on active military service. All those who have been energetic in youth must sooner or later recognise that their sporting or  fighting days are over and they must find fulfilment in other ways.

 

Along the way, we see once again David’s genius for reconciliation, making peace with Shimei who not long ago had opposed him, as well as rewarding loyal supporters.  But in the argument between the men of Judah and those of the other ten tribes about who was most loyal to David, we see the beginnings of the split between the ‘north’ and ‘south’ that would come to dominate the next few centuries.

 

Between these two incidents comes the brief rebellion of Sheba, another failed coup attempt in which heavy casualties on both sides are avoided by the cunning of one unnamed woman of Abel, who persuades the besieging army commander Joab that having someone inside the city to murder Sheba and prove it by giving up his head, would be better than holding out against the siege.  This is far from the first time in the Bible that a woman has been key to stopping a conflict.