Bible Tuesday - David Part 10

David is now King of Judah.  He is trying to negotiate with Ishbosheth who is Saul's son and the current King of Israel.  David wants his wife, Michal back.  Remember her?  She was Saul's daughter and David's first wife.

Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.”
2 Samuel 3:14

What follows has very little to do with David but I want to talk about it anyway.

And Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish.  But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go, return.” And he returned.
2 Samuel 3:15-16

Is that the saddest thing you ever read, or what?  Apparently, while David was hiding out from Saul, Saul gave Michal to Paltiel to marry.  I have no idea whether Michal liked him or not but he must have loved her big time.  Middle Eastern men do not cry over their wives.  They definitely do not follow them and weep in public. 

The next part of the story is kinda gross.

Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.”  But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity,   when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

2 Samuel 4:5-12

I don't have anything to say about this.  I just felt you needed to know.

This gruesome scene does, at least, lead us to an important event.  Now that Ishbosheth is dead, the people of Israel want David to be their king too.  So Judah and Israel are united under David's rule.

And you would think that after finally achieving this, that David would just chill out and king for a while but, nope, he goes after the Philistines, again.  (Remember when David lived with the Philistines a while back?  Remember how they didn't trust him?  Pretty good call in hindsight, huh?)

This war with the Philistines does have a purpose though. It shows us that, even though David is now king, he still considers himself to be a  humble servant for God.

When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went out against them. Now the Philistines had come and made a raid in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of God, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.” And he went up to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like a bursting flood.” Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. And they left their gods there, and David gave command, and they were burned.
And the Philistines yet again made a raid in the valley.  And when David again inquired of God, God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; go around and come against them opposite the balsam trees.  And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.”  And David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.  And the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations.

1 Chronicles 14:8-17

One more battle before we finish here. 

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David's soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”  And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward.  And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

2 Samuel 5:7-10

Here is our first glimpse of 'the city of David'...Jerusalem.  Clearly, this physical location has been referenced many times before this but here we have the beginning of Jerusalem as the center of Israel. 

So David has defeated his enemies.  He has united two kingdoms.  He has established a capital.  Things are looking good so you know he is about to start making a mess of everything, right?