(Through the Bible) 2 Samuel 1-7 — Chuck Smith

Saul’s Reign and His Failure to Obey God

2 Samuel 1. 1 Samuel dealt with the reign of King Saul over Israel, and it ends with the death of Saul at the hands of the Philistines. Saul, the tragic story of a man who had many natural abilities and many God-given opportunities, and yet his was a wasted life, and never achieving the full potential of his being.

A life of failure because he failed to submit himself totally to God. As the prophet Samuel said to him, because you have rejected the Lord from ruling over you, and that was the basic flaw of Saul's life, he had rejected the Lord from ruling over his own life.

He was a self-determined, self-governed man, self-willed, and that destroyed him from achieving and attaining those things that God intended for his life. A story of failure, dying at the hands of the Philistines, his body being mutilated, hung on the wall of the temple in Bethshean, until the men of Jabesh-Gilead came and cut it down and buried it over in Gilead, the other side of Jordan.

Now, the fact that the men of Jabesh-Gilead broke through the lines of the Philistines and rescued the bodies of Saul and his sons is interesting because Saul's career as king sort of began with the situation that developed at Jabesh-Gilead.

There was an invading king who came to Jabesh-Gilead and demanded that the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead surrender, or that they capitulate to him, on the basis of plucking out the eyes of all of the men and laying them out, the right eyes, and laying them out before him.

And so they cried unto Saul for help, who came with the army of Israel and destroyed this invading army, and so the city of Jabesh-Gilead was saved by Saul, and that was the thing that sort of catapulted Saul into prominence and into acceptance by the people as king over Israel.

Up until that time, there were men who were saying, shall Saul rule over us, who is he, and all, and there were those that were objecting to Saul's reign, but when he came to the rescue of Jabesh-Gilead, led the armies of Israel to victory, then he was catapulted into the limelight, became the king over Israel, and so it is significant that the men of Jabesh-Gilead are the men who came and rescued his body.

They, of course, felt a great obligation and debt to Saul. Now, Saul's greatest failure, perhaps, was his failure to obey the commandment of God to utterly wipe out the Amalekites. God sent him down against Amalek, and with the instructions he used to utterly wipe them out.

When he came back from the victory, and Samuel came out to meet him, he greeted Samuel with the words, As the Lord liveth, I have done everything the Lord commanded me to do. That was a giant lie. He had not done everything the Lord commanded him to do.

He had not utterly destroyed the Amalekites. He had left many of them alive. He utterly destroyed the weakest of the cattle, the ill-favored sheep, but he kept the best of the cattle, the best sheep.

He kept King Agag alive, plus he allowed many of the other Amalekites to live. Now, in Scripture there is interesting typologies, so that Egypt becomes a type of our old life in the bondage of sin in the world.

The Red Sea becomes a type of baptism, where I come out of the old life and into a new relationship with God. The wilderness becomes a type of that life, though redeemed, yet still dominated by the flesh.

Coming into the promised land is a type of coming into the full walk and life of the Spirit. And in biblical typology, Amalek is a type of the flesh life. And there are many places in the Scripture where Amalek is given as a type of the flesh and the life of the flesh.

And thus, when God ordered the utter destruction of the Amalekites, God was in a sense ordering the utter destruction of the flesh. In Romans 8 it said, if we thereby do mortify the deeds of the flesh, or put to death the deeds of the flesh, we shall live.

Know ye not that your old man was crucified with Christ? And as Paul declared, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Now, God has not developed any programs of reform for your flesh.

God has only one edict for your flesh, and that's, let it be crucified. The Bible says, give no place for the flesh to fulfill the desires thereof. God orders its utter destruction. It's not to rule over you.

By the Spirit, mortify the deeds of the flesh in order that you might live. For the mind of the flesh is death. And God doesn't seek to reform or modify our fleshly activities. He said, don't give any place for them, let it be crucified.

And thus, the command to utterly, utterly wipe out the Amalekites is an important command in a spiritual sense. And as we get into the first chapter of 2 Samuel, we see something very interesting indeed.

David Hears of Saul’s Death

Now, it came to pass, after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites. Now, you see, the Amalekites were still very much alive. David had had an experience with them when he took his men and went up to join with Achish in the battle, because the city of Ziklag, where he was living, was emptied of all of the men.

And the Amalekites came in and stole all of their things, burned their city, and took all of their wives and children captive. Now, had Saul utterly destroyed the Amalekites, they couldn't have done this.

You know, if you leave a place for the flesh, it's going to come back to haunt you. If you leave a foothold of the flesh in your life, it's going to come back to destroy you. So David and his men were two days there in Ziklag.

And it came to pass on the third day that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes torn. And he had earth upon his head, or he put dirt on his head. And so it was, when he came to David, that he fell to the earth and he did obeisance.

And David said unto him, Where have you come from? And he said, Out of the camp of Israel I have escaped. David said unto him, How did the battle go? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people are fallen and dead.

And Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also. And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance there on Mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear. And lo, the chariots and the horsemen were following hard after him.

And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and he called unto me. And I answered, Here I am. And he said unto me, Who are you? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite, one from that nation that God ordered Saul to utterly destroy.

And he said to me again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me and slay me, for anguish has come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen.

And I took the crown that was upon his head and his bracelets, and I have brought them to you. Now, one of two things here. In the last chapter, we read that Saul fell on his sword and died. It may be that this Amalekite is making up this story about Saul, thinking that he's going to get in good with David because he killed David's...

It would be wrong to say David's enemy, because actually Saul was never David's enemy, but David was an enemy of Saul. But the one who had been trying to destroy David, David's adversary, and maybe he felt that by making up a story that I killed him, that he would find favor in David's eyes.

It could be this is a lie, and it could be that it is true. In the last chapter, we read that Saul turned to his armor-bearer and said, kill me, because he had been shot through with an arrow. And he figured he was going to die, and he didn't want the Philistines to catch him and torture him, actually.

He was afraid of being tortured by them if they'd get him alive. And so he asked his armor-bearer to kill him, but the armor-bearer was afraid to do it. And so Saul set out his sword in front of him, and he lunged himself onto his sword to run it through him to kill himself.

And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul had fallen upon his sword, he set his sword out and he fell on his sword also. Now, it could be that the young man is telling the truth, that even after running himself through with his own sword, falling on his sword, it could be that still he was still alive, and he saw this young man and said, who are you?

I'm a Machi. Kill me, please. I don't want the Philistines to torture me, catch me and torture me. And it could be that he did slay him, or it could be that he's making up this story that he came and found Saul dead, ripped off his crown and bracelets, and made up the story.

I don't know. We're only left to conjecture. Nobody really knows for certain. However, there is an interesting thing here. If indeed this young man did kill Saul, it would make an interesting spiritual analogy concerning our flesh, and that is, if we don't utterly destroy the flesh, ultimately the flesh is going to destroy us.

Had he utterly wiped out the Amalekites, then this young Amalekite boy could never have killed him. But his failure to obey the Lord and utterly wipe out the Amalekites, it came back and a young Amalekite boy killed him.

And it is true that God tells us to put to death the flesh, the things of the flesh, because if we don't, if we keep making allowances and tolerate our flesh, you can be sure the flesh is going to come back and destroy you.

Make no provision for the flesh life. Walking after the flesh, but walk after the Spirit. So, David, when he got this news, wept. And he fasted. He wouldn't eat anything. And he began to mourn the death of Saul and Jonathan.

Then David took hold of his clothes, and he just ripped them. And, of course, this was always a sign of great emotion and feeling. You just rip your clothes. And he mourned and wept and fasted until the evening for Saul and Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

And David said to the young man that told him this, Who are you? And he answered, I am the son of a stranger. I am an Amalekite. And David said unto him, Weren't you afraid to stretch forth your hand against the anointed of the Lord?

How is it that you would destroy God's anointed? Now, again, it is interesting the tremendous respect David had for the anointing of God. This marvelous respect for God's anointing upon a person's life.

Because of that anointing upon Saul, because he had been anointed to be king, David wouldn't touch him. Now, David did prophesy, God will either strike him or he may fall in battle. And as David said, he may fall in battle.

Exactly what did happen to Saul, he fell in battle. But David wouldn't touch him. I will not stretch forth my hand to touch God's anointed. And so when this young man came and said, you know, that he begged me and I killed him, David said, weren't you afraid to touch God's anointed?

And he called one of his young men and he said, fall on him with your sword, because he dared to touch the anointed of God. And so one of David's young men fell upon him and killed this young man who thought, no doubt, that David would promote him and give him a position of honor, maybe even give him a reward for what he had done.

And David rewarded him, but not as he thought. And David said, your blood be upon your head, because from your own mouth you've testified against yourself that you have slain the Lord's anointed. And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan his son.

David’s Lament for Saul and Jonathan

This beautiful lamentation of David. Also, he had them teach the children of Judah the use of the bull. It is written in the book of Jasser. And this is his lamentation. The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places.

How are the mighty fallen? Tell it not in Gath, which was one of the principal Philistine cities. Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, which was another of the five major cities of the Philistines.

Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph. Actually, when the men came back from the war with the victories and all, the young girls would get their tambourines and they would come out in their dances and they would go through their dances praising the men for their battle and their valor and their victories and all.

And David could see the celebrations in his mind that were going on in these Philistine cities because this mighty man Saul and this beloved friend Jonathan were slain. And so he's crying out, don't publish it in Gath.

Don't publish it in Ashkelon. Lest the daughters of the Philistines come out in their dances and they rejoice and all. And then he turned to the Mount Gilboa where Saul fell and he said, Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain upon you, nor fields of offerings.

For there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away in the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil. From the blood of the slain and from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives and in their death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions. Now this sort of curse upon Mount Gilboa because Saul had fallen.

Let there not be the dew of heaven or rain fall upon thee. Let there not be wheat fields grow upon thee. Very interesting because you go to Israel today and look at Mount Gilboa and it's barren. A rocky, barren mountain.

Now all around it, the mountains are just covered with trees. Lush, beautiful and green. But Gilboa stands out because of its barrenness. Now I guess the people of Israel sort of helped this prophecy out because in all of the reforestation of Israel they planted millions of trees.

But they won't plant trees on Mount Gilboa because of this lament of David. And so it is interesting that Mount Gilboa remains barren to the present day in fulfillment of this lament of David. And it's always just sort of, you know, interesting to look at Gilboa and see the barrenness of it and then remember Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be any rain upon you or fields of offerings.

And then he addresses himself to the daughters of Israel. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul who clothed you in scarlet and with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle?

O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished?

Now there are some perverted minds who declare that David and Jonathan had a homosexual relationship going between them because of this declaration of David and such thing is the worst kind of trash. It's blasphemous.

No such thing is inferred from this in the Hebrew text at all. It's blasphemous. Now it came to pass after this that David inquired of the Lord and he said, shall I go up to Judah? Now to me it is interesting as we observe David, he doesn't take any actions without first of all seeking guidance from God.

Now there is a Scripture that says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. Now many times we complain that we don't know what God wants.

We are confused as to the leading of God within our lives. And often times it is as James said, you have not because you ask not. The Scripture tells us that if in all of our ways we acknowledge Him, He will direct our path.

You see, our problem is that we're prone to just go ahead and barge in and then later say, Lord, what am I doing here? Why did you allow me to get in this place? Whereas had I stopped beforehand and said, Lord, shall I go in?

He would have said, no, stay out of there. There's problems in there. So it's important that we acknowledge the Lord in everything. And if we do, then God will direct our path. And here David is a classic example of seeking the guidance of the Lord in every move.

David Seeks God’s Guidance and Is Made King

Now, you remember he was living in the city of the Philistine. Actually, the king of Gath, Achish, had given him this city of Ziklag because Saul had been chasing him all over and he got tired of running from Saul.

Saul was finally going to catch up with him and kill him. And so he fled over to the Philistines knowing that Saul wouldn't pursue him there. And Achish gave him this Philistine city of Ziklag. And so David now says, Lord, shall I go to one of the cities of Judah?

And the Lord answered David and said, go up. And David said, where shall I go, Lord? And the Lord said, to Hebron. So here's David inquiring of the Lord, seeking the guidance of God for each move that he made.

So David went up there and his two wives also. Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, Nabal's wife, the Carmelite. And his men that were with him, David brought up every man with his household and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron.

And the men of Judah came and they anointed David king over the house of Judah and they told David saying that the men of Jabesh-Gilead were those that buried Saul. So they came, anointed David king, and he was informed at that point of the men of Jabesh-Gilead who took Saul's body and Jonathan's body out of the temple at Bethshean and took them over to Jabesh-Gilead for a decent burial.

So David sent messengers unto the men of Jabesh-Gilead and said unto them, Blessed be ye of the Lord, that you have showed this kindness unto your Lord, even to Saul, and you have buried him. And now may the Lord show kindness and truth unto you.

And I also will requit you this kindness because you have done this thing. I'll remember this, David said. Therefore, now let your hands be strengthened and be valiant, for your master Saul is dead and also the house of Judah hath anointed me to be king over them.

However, Abner, the son of Ner, who was the captain of Saul's host, he was the one that David had chided earlier because he had failed to guard Saul. He took Ish-bathsheth, the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim, which is on the other side of Jordan.

And he made him king over Gilead and all of the Azurites and over Jezreel and Ephraim and over Bethlehem and all of Israel. So Ish-bathsheth, Saul's son, was 40 years old when he began to reign over Israel.

And he reigned for two years. But the house of Judah followed David and the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months. And so the kingdom is divided. Later on, the kingdom is to be divided again at the time of David's grandson Rehoboam because of his stupidity.

The northern ten tribes pulled out and formed a separate nation, Israel. The southern two tribes became known as Judah. But David ruled only over Judah. The rest of the tribes swore their allegiance to Saul's son Ish-bathsheth under Abner's instigation.

Now, Abner, it would seem, knew that God had anointed David to be king. Abner was actually a cousin to Saul and was probably more or less seeking to reign himself but using Ish-bathsheth as sort of a figurehead.

And so it was his own ambitions more or less to rule and Ish-bathsheth, because he was the son of Saul, became sort of a figurehead, sort of like Carter is. Not really ruling, you know, but just taking orders from those that control the things.

Now, Ish-bathsheth was 40 years old when he began to reign. David was 30 years old when he began his reign in Hebron. And David reigned for seven years and six months in Hebron over just Judah. It wasn't until seven and a half years later that it came to David, the rulers of Israel, and said, we want you to rule over all of us.

And so his reign began in Hebron over just the tribe of Judah. Now, Abner, who was the general and more or less the guy in charge of the Israel, and the servants of Ish-bathsheth, the son of Saul, went out from Minaim to Gibeon.

And Joab, who was David's general, and the servants of David went out and they met them together by the pool of Gibeon. And they sat down on one side of the pool and on the other side of the pool. And these guys are tough, bloody men of war.

There's very little to be admired in Joab. In fact, Joab was a very cruel and difficult person. Tough as nails. David tolerated him because he had such tremendous devotion to David. And he was such a tremendous fighter.

But David really was never comfortable with Joab because of the nature of the fellow. And so, what we read now, isn't it all commendable or pleasant? It just shows really the corrupt nature of man. So here's Abner with the men of Israel.

Young fellows. Here's Joab from David. They're sitting by this pool. And they say, how about having a little sport? Alright. So ten of the young men of David and ten of the young men from Abner got out to entertain these two generals.

And all of them grabbed each other by the head and ran each other through with their swords. Great sport. You know, it's just sort of hard for us in our Christian Western culture to even imagine such a thing as being sporting or whatever.

And so that escalated into a real battle. And Joab and his men jumped up. And Abner and his men. And Joab began to prevail. The men of David began to prevail over those of Abner. And Abner and his men began to flee.

And there were three sons there. Two brothers of Joab, actually. Three sons of Zariah. Joab and Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet as a deer. He was just a great runner. And as Abner was fleeing, Asahel started chasing him.

But evidently Asahel didn't have any armor. Just running after him. And Abner turned around and said, hey, grab the armor from one of those young boys in order that you might be able to have sort of a fair fight.

But he wouldn't do it. He just kept right on his heels. Just running after him. Right on his heels. And finally, Abner said, hey, turn away. Why should I smite you? But he wouldn't listen. He just stayed right on his heels.

And finally, Abner ran him through with his spear. And, you know, all the way through. And Asahel died there. And as the men of David came up to the spot, they just sort of waited, sort of shocked to see Asahel, the brother of Joab, dead.

And when Joab and his men came up, then they were getting ready to pursue again in the morning. It was evening. And in the morning, they started to pursue. And Abner was up on a hill and he said, you know, shall we fight with the sword forever?

You know, what value is it? And so, Joab said, good thing you said that or else we would have been destroying each other. And Joab and his men went home. However, Joab, in his heart, carried that desire for vengeance against Abner.

David’s Growing Kingdom and His Failure to Restrain the Flesh

Now, there was a long war, chapter 3, between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David became stronger and stronger and the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. Now, David began to display a weakness that ultimately led him to that terrible sin for which he received so much notoriety.

He began to add wives and concubines. So, we have here a list of six sons that were born to him while in Hebron and all six of them by different wives. So, he just started taking wives and women into his harem, so to speak.

And, of course, his son Solomon carried this thing to ridiculous extremes. But David started multiplying wives. Now, that was one of the things that the kings were not to do according to the commandment of God in Deuteronomy.

When you set up kings, they are not to multiply wives and so forth. But David started doing that. And it shows a weakness in David's flesh that ultimately led him to that great sin with Bathsheba. Now, Saul had a concubine whose name was Risba.

Saul, of course, had done the same thing. He had wives and concubines. And this one concubine, Risba, had born Saul two sons. And so, Ish-bathsheb said to Amner, why have you gone into my father's concubine?

Now, this evidently was a false charge. It was a grievous charge. Actually, to go into another man's concubine even though the other man was dead, it was symbolic of taking over his authority and his rule.

You remember later on in David's career when Absalom, his son, rebelled against him and David fled from Jerusalem as Absalom was moving up from Hebron with his troops. And David deserted from Jerusalem.

When Absalom came into the city, he went into David's concubines because in the sight of all the people, he went into where David's concubines were, which was equivalent of ascending to David's place and taking over David's place.

So, the accusation, you've gone into my father's concubine, why did you do that? Was equivalent of saying, what are you trying to do? Take over my father's place. And Abner became extremely upset with this false allegation.

And he was very angry with Ispachet. And he said, am I a dog's head which against Judah do show kindness this day unto the house of Saul thy father and to his brothers and friends? And have not I delivered thee into the hand of David that thou charges me today with a fault concerning this woman?

And I have not delivered thee into the hand of David? You know, look what I've done for you and yet you're making this stupid allegation. So do God to Abner and more also except as the Lord has sworn to David, even so I do to him.

Now notice, he knew that the Lord had sworn to David that David should be the king. In spite of the fact that he knew that the Lord had sworn to David that he should be king, yet he had gone against that in establishing Ispachet upon the throne.

So it was something that he knew was wrong and yet he did it. And so I swear to David to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan even to Beersheba.

Now Dan is up in the furthermost northern part of Israel. It's where the Jordan River comes right out of the ground and begins its course southward. And Beersheba was on the southern extreme just on the border of the wilderness from which area south it was just desert wilderness area.

So it sort of circumscribes the northern and southern borders of Israel from Dan to Beersheba. And Ispachet could not answer Abner a word again because he was afraid of him. So Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf saying, whose is the land?

Saying also, make a league with me and behold my hand shall be with you to bring about all Israel to you. And he said, well, I will make a league with you but one thing I require of thee and that is thou shalt not see my face except you first bring me Michelle, Saul's daughter when you come to see my face.

Now, Saul had of course done a dirty deal to David and he had promised David his daughter as a wife because of the killing of the Philistine. He promised whoever kills the Philistine giant, you know, he can marry my daughter.

And he gave his daughter Merib to another fellow because he was jealous of David. And then he heard that Michelle was in love with David and he said, ah, she's a little vixen. She'll really fix him and so I'll let him marry her, you know.

And he was really planning to let her just be an irritant to David. She was probably a self-willed, strong little gal and he figured she would really give him a bad time. And so he allowed David to marry Michelle.

But when David fled from Saul's presence, then Saul gave Michelle to another man, Thaddeus. And he became her husband. But this other guy was really crazy about her. But David sort of, and this is not, you know, a lot of David I admire and there's some that I don't admire.

And this is one part that I really don't admire. He almost is vindictive in this point or he's just, you know, wanting almost to just prove something, which he really doesn't need to prove. But when Abner sends a message and said, you know, I'd like to make a league with you.

I'll turn all Israel into your hands and so forth. He said, that's fine. I'll be glad to. But you can't see my face unless you bring Michelle, who was his wife. Now, as I pointed out, he had already taken many more wives than he brought.

He had a bunch of concubines and wives. And it wasn't really because of some sexual deprivation or whatever that he was wanting this gal. It was just to prove some kind of an ego point or something. And so, David sent messengers to Ish-basheth Saul's son saying, deliver me my wife, Michelle, which was a spouse to me for the dowry that he had given to Saul for her.

And Ish-basheth sent and took her from her husband, even from Phaethiel, the son of Laish. And her husband, and this is a sad scene, because evidently he liked her. And he went after her, weeping behind her to Behirim.

And then Abner said to him, go and return. And so he returned. And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel saying, you sought for David in times past to be the king over you. Now then, do it.

For the Lord hath spoken of David saying, by the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines and out of the hand of all their enemies. So, he knew that David had been anointed of God and that God had declared that through David they would be delivered.

So, Abner also spake in the ears of the tribe of Benjamin. And Abner went also to speak in the ears of David in Hebron all that seemed good to Israel and seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin. So, Abner came to David, to Hebron, twenty men with him.

And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast. And Abner said to David, I will arise and go and will gather all Israel to my Lord the King. And they will make a league with thee that you may reign over all that your heart desires.

And David sent Abner away and he went in peace. And behold, the servants of David and Joab came from pursuing a troop. Now, at this time, Joab was gone when Abner was down here. And there was this bitterness that was being harbored in Joab's heart against Abner because Abner had killed his brother.

So, when Joab came back, the guy said, did you know that Abner was here? And he made a league with David? Joab said, nah. He sure? Yeah. And so, Joab sent men after Abner saying, you know, come on back.

There's some further things to discuss. And so, Abner returned and Joab met him in the gate and said, here, I want to talk to you. And took him into a place and ran him through the heart under the fifth rib, which is the position of your heart.

And so, he smote him under the fifth rib and he died for the blood of Ashahel, his brother. Now, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever for the blood of Abner, the son of Ner.

Let it rest on the head of Joab and on his father's house. Now, here David actually curses Joab and his house for this deed. It's cruel. It's vindictive. It's wrong. And David acknowledges the wrongness of it and he curses the house of Joab.

Horrible curse. Let there not fail from the house of Joab one that has an issue or that is a leper or that leaneth on the staff or that falls on the sword or that lacks bread. Man, he really wiped him out.

You know, let there be a plague upon his house. Let them be crippled. Let them fall by the sword. Let them become beggars. Let them be destitute. So, Joab and Abishai, his brothers, slew Abner because he had slain their brother in Gibeon.

And David said to Joab and to all the people that were with him, tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And David followed the casket. And they buried Abner there in Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner and all of the people wept with him.

And the king lamented over Abner and said, Died Abner as a fool dieth? Thy hands were not bound nor thy feet put into fetters. As a man falleth before wicked men, so you fell. And all the people wept again over him.

So David is giving a public demonstration of his disapproval of Joab's deed. So that everyone knew that David was disapproved of the thing that Joab did. Cursing Joab and Joab's house for it. And putting on a big demonstration at the funeral and lamenting over the death of Abner.

And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat while it was yet day, David swears saying, So do God to me and more also if I taste bread or anything else till the sun has gone down. And all the people took notice of it and it pleased them.

And whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. Now David was behaving himself very wisely and allowing God to work to establish the kingdom with him. In other words, though he knew that he had been anointed by God to be king over Israel, he figured if God anointed me king and God wants me to be king, God is able to work out the circumstances.