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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
2 Sam. 1
It amazes me, after all that David went through with Saul, that he still thought of Saul the way he did. The way David wrote of Saul in this lament is rather incongruous with how he wrote of his enemies in the Psalms we have been reading. Which is odd, since the enemy who was pursuing him in most of those Psalms was Saul. Maybe David understood that his real enemy wasn’t Saul, but the deceiver, who is not of flesh and blood, who enticed Saul away from God.
2 Sam. 2-4
Even after God took Saul out of the picture, clearing the way for David to take his rightful throne, a lot of time and turmoil passed before he sat over a united kingdom. As with all of these Old Testament stories, I believe there are pieces of God’s plan revealed in that. Though Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords forever, He set all that aside for a while so that He could be our Savior. Thus, when He came to us in human form, He came as a suffering servant. We see this in David, who suffered as a servant of Saul even after Samuel anointed him king.
When Jesus conquered the grave, He took His rightful throne, but His Kingdom remains divided. Thus, we remain in turmoil as evil, though it has lost, continues to fight. Jesus, however, continues to call the nations to come to Him. And there will come a day when His Kingdom is complete. Then He will return as the conquering King to put an end to all evil and establish His reign forever.