The twelve tribes of Israel are embroiled in civil war. It is one tribe versus the other eleven. David is king of the one tribe, Judah. Ish-Bosheth is king of the other eleven. We learned in the previous post that assasins take Ish-Bosheth’s life, cut off his head and bring it to David, claiming that God has given David victory. How will David view this situation?
In 2nd Samuel chapter 4, verse 9, we read,
“David answered Rekab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who has delivered me out of every trouble, when someone told me, “Saul is dead,” and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and put him to death in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news! How much more—when wicked men have killed an innocent man in his own house and on his own bed—should I not now demand his blood from your hand and rid the earth of you!’ So David gave an order to his men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung the bodies by the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb at Hebron.”
Disgusting, right? We have seen this kind of gore time and time again in the life of David. War is awful. There is quite a lot of gore in this passage. But I want to point out how David is consistent. Earlier in 2nd Samuel chapter 1, just as David punished the Amalekite man who killed King Saul, David now enacts capital punishment on these two men who killed Ish-Bosheth. David is sending a clear message that murderers will be punished with the death penalty.
But now the eleven tribes of Israel must face a difficult situation. They are without a king. Worse, still, there is no obvious heir to accede to the throne. The only possible heir left is Saul’s grandson, Mephibosheth, and as we learned in the previous post he is only ten to twelve years old, and he is disabled. What will happen?
The eleven tribes approach David, and they make a treaty. Thus David becomes king of all twelve tribes of Israel. The civil war is over.
Finally!!! After so many years, David has become king of all Israel, just as God promised. Observe how David got to the throne. David did not do so by lifting a finger against the previous kings Saul or Ish-Bosheth or their families. Even when he had golden opportunities to kill Saul, David did not touch him. Instead, David ascends to the throne of all twelve tribes of Israel by natural causes. David chooses not to play God as he waits. And did he ever wait.
How many years had passed since he was anointed by God to be the next king? We don’t know for sure. I’m guessing here, but I suspect there were at least ten years between the time he was first anointed to be king until he became king of Judah. Then there were another seven and a half years until he became king of all Israel.
Think about how many of those years were hard years. David first had to run away from Saul, because Saul was trying to kill him. At first, David didn’t know where he could turn for help or who he could trust. Except that God has been faithful to David all these years, and David has worked hard to be faithful to God. David hasn’t been perfect, but he has truly been a man after God’s own heart. He desires to follow God’s ways, and he tries hard to purse that. Let me repeat: he’s not perfect, but in David, we have a wonderful example of patient trust in God, even when waiting doesn’t make sense and is difficult.
Though David has been made King over all Israel, there is some significant unfinished business to care for. In fact, it has been unfinished for centuries. I am referring to the conquest of Palestine, the Promised Land of Canaan. Hundreds of years earlier, the twelve tribes of Israel had been freed from slavery and they eventually made it back to the land of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The land of Canaan, the Promised Land.
But they found Canaan/Palestine occupied by many different people groups. Following God’s direction, they began the military conquest of the land. Under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb, they made a lot of progress, but they never completed the job. During the period of the judges, they were so rebellious to God, it was only God’s grace that the people didn’t lose the land and become slaves again.
There were certainly bright spots from time to time, such as the final judge and prophet Samuel. But Samuel did not lead the people on a campaign of completing the conquest. That would be the work of a political and military leader like a king. When Israel asked for a king, God gave them Saul. King Saul fought many battles, but he didn’t make much headway towards completing the conquest of the Promised Land.
Now that the civil is over and David is king of all Israel, will he take up the completion of the conquest? Check back to the next post, and we will find out.
Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash
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