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David's Kingdom - A Proper View
2 Samuel 5
Opening Prayer and Introduction
In the precious name of your son Jesus, amen.
You want to take your Bibles and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 5? We're not going to try to cover three chapters today, we're just going to do one. 2 Samuel chapter 5.
What drives you to your knees in prayer? What sort of situations cause you to cry out, I need thee. Oh, I need thee. Every hour, I need thee.
If you're like me, there are particular rhythms in life which remind you to pray. For me, it's before a meal or during family devotions or before bed with the kids or before bed with Andy. Corporately, we gather on Sundays and we pray together, and Tuesday nights serve as kind of the same sort of family devotion times, family rhythm times, where we get together and pray.
But those things, even as frequent as they may feel, still leave an awful lot of time when I'm not praying. And it can be easy in those in-between times, even for me as a pastor, somebody whose job, literally my job, is ministry of the word and prayer.
But when you're praying, it doesn't feel like you're doing anything. And so it can seem unimportant, and I can just forget about prayer, which in the end is a symptom of simply forgetting God.
The Structure and Purpose of 2 Samuel 5
The chapter before us here in 2 Samuel 5 is about God establishing David's throne in Jerusalem. And as I wrestled with this text this week, what's the center of the text is this obviously important historical event. What does this event have to teach us today, David's throne being established?
I was struck by how the narrator frames each of these happenings. Now maybe the first thing to point out in 2 Samuel 5, for those of you that have an eye for detail, is that the narrative in chapter 5 is not in chronological order.
Dale Ralph Davis, probably my favorite commentator on the books of Samuel, he says, The chapter is orderly, but not sequential. It is a collage, a collection of fragments intending to give us a proper view of the kingdom.
That phrase, orderly but not sequential, is important. If you're interested in the chronology here, there's five mini-units that make up chapter 5. Verses 1 through 5 describe David being received as the king by the united tribes of Israel. And this probably was the first thing that happened chronologically in this chapter. It sets up everything else that happens in chapter 5.
But probably the story that takes place next are actually the two stories of verses 17 to 25, David's interactions with the Philistines there, two battles. In those verses, David heads for the stronghold, the same one probably that he had gone to when he was running away from Saul in 1 Samuel, when the Philistines come to attack him, which would be unnecessary if he already possessed the city of Jerusalem, which was itself a stronghold, but wasn't someplace he went down to. He went up to Jerusalem, so the language wouldn't fit.
So it's likely, after he deals with the Philistine issue, that he's able to shift his focus to Jerusalem and attack the Jebusites in verses 6 through 10. And then the story of Hiram sending messengers and materials in verses 11 through 12 likely takes place towards the end of David's reign, because from what we can tell in history, Hiram's reign likely only overlapped with David's for the last 10 years of David's life. And then finally, verses 13 through 16 are more of an overarching statement covering all of David's reign in Jerusalem.
And this is important because you'll occasionally hear people point out these chronological discrepancies, either here in the Old Testament or you get to the Gospels. And so Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels. They cover a lot of the same events, but they're not in the same order. And so people will say, well, see, these are inconsistencies. But that's not an inconsistency.
When somebody's making those kind of points, what it's showing is that they don't actually understand Ancient Near Eastern storytellers, narrators, were not bound by our modern ideas of everything has to be in chronological order. In fact, even today, sometimes you'll read a memoir or an autobiography that cuts from scene to scene, like you're at a later point in someone's life, and it'll flash back to a related scene earlier in their life that kind of helps tie their story together. And the biblical story writers do this very often.
Is this the way you would have written the story? Maybe not. But you're not God. How are you? Maybe he has something he's trying to show us with the order that the stories are in.
Remember how Dale Ralph Davis had described this chapter. Orderly, but not sequential. So what is the order? What's the orderliness here? What's it meaning to show us by grouping these stories together? A proper view of David's kingdom. And a proper view of David's kingdom is that it's ultimately founded on the promises of God and that it was practically established through dependent prayer to the Lord. Dependence upon the Lord through prayer.
David Crowned King Over All Israel (Verses 1-5)
So let's read verses 1 through 5.
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, Behold, we are your bone and flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel. So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord and the anointed David king over Israel. David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. At Hebron, he reigned over Judah 7 years and 6 months, and at Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and Judah 33 years.
So here at the beginning of the chapter, the civil war that we saw last week has come to an end. As we read there at the end of chapter 4 last week, Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, who had been set up as king over most of the tribes of Israel, he had been beheaded, killed in his own bed by wicked men. And while David did not approve of his murder, Clearly, it seems to have laid open the path for him to the throne of the entire nation of Israel.
And in verses 1 of chapter 5 and following, it seems the men of Israel have come to their senses. They're no longer going to rebel against what God had declared way back in 1 Samuel, that David was going to be his anointed king.
They come to David, and essentially they give three reasons for him to become king over the United Tribes. And the first is that he's an Israelite. First one, they say, you are our bone and flesh, which is to say you're one of our people. And we read in Deuteronomy 17 last week the requirements for a king in Israel, one of which is that you aren't going to make a foreigner. You will make one of your own people the king. And so they're saying, because you're one of us, you're an appropriate king. You're not a Philistine, you're not a Jebusite, you're not one of the other peoples of the region.
Second, in verse 2, they acknowledge his prior leadership of the people. If you remember back in 1 Samuel chapter 8... When the people asked for a king, one of the things they were looking for was someone to go out in front of us to battle, to lead us. Like all the other nations, they have kings to lead us. That was one of the functions of a king in the ancient world, is to lead the troops into battle. But what the men of Israel remember is that when David had been leading Saul's army, David was the one who led them into battle. David was the one functioning like a king, even when Saul was still on the throne. His role was one in which he had exercised king-like authority. And God had worked mightily through him for the benefit of the nation.
And then third, at the end of verse 2... They note that this throne was promised to David by the Lord. And in the mind of the author of 1 and 2 Samuel, this is clearly the reason for David becoming king that matters the most. God had promised it to David. And this promise made to a teenage shepherd boy in 1 Samuel 15, 20 or 25 years before this. You know, David is 37 at this point. So that promise probably took place when he was between 12 and 17 years old. So it's been over two decades. It's finally fulfilled as the United Tribes of Israel asked David to reign over them.
God's Faithful Timing
God established his kingdom for David in spite of Saul's resistance, in spite of the Philistines' resistance, in spite of Ish-bosheth and Abner's resistance. God's promise to David was faithful and true, though it had seemed to take a long time.
Sometimes Andy asks me to do something, or I just voluntarily say to her, I'll do that. And maybe it's washing the dishes. And then an hour or two later, she'll be frustrated because I said I was going to do something and I haven't done it yet. Now, given enough time, I normally do get around to doing what I said I would do. But if we're being honest, the reason for the delay usually is that I forgot. Or I got sidetracked by something else and decided, well, yeah, I told her I'd do that, but I'll get to it when I have time and do this more urgent thing first.
Do you ever wonder... If God forgot about you. Or if he got sidetracked by some other more important matter. I mean, after all, there's war in Ukraine. Iran is progressing in their nuclear capabilities. There's people around who are homeless. Maybe my problems just aren't that big of a deal to God. Maybe he'll give back around to me when he remembers me.
But Peter tells us in 2 Peter chapter 3... 2 Peter 3, verses 8 and 9 say, Do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, that all should reach repentance.
Your timeline and God's timeline are not the same. Maybe God didn't deliver the kingdom to David immediately in 1 Samuel when he promised it to him, because it wouldn't have been good for David to receive it then. Perhaps a young, immature David who had not been through the metaphorical death of the wilderness years would not have been ready for the resurrection to the throne of Israel.
And you, saying, banking on the promises of God to carry you through your hour of need, know that at the proper time he will deliver you. Not before, and not too late either. God knows what you need, and he knows when you need it, and you can trust him. Cling to the promises of God in Scripture, promises like, He will never leave you nor forsake you, Deuteronomy 31.8. He is able to keep you from stumbling and present you before the presence of His glory with great joy, Jude 24. And none who wait for you will be put to shame, Psalm 25.3.
The Conquest of Jerusalem (Verses 6-10)
And speaking of promises, the next paragraph deals with a really old promise. In Genesis 15, so we just read in Genesis 25, earlier than that, Genesis 15, verses 17 to 21, we read the conclusion of a covenant God made with Abram, which was essentially a reaffirmation of the covenant God made with him in Genesis 12. Genesis 15, beginning in verse 17.
It says, when the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. So God had Abram lay out these sacrifices and then cut them open. And then God put Abram into a deep sleep. And then the Spirit of God, like in some visible form, passed through these pieces of animals like he was up. The idea is that a covenant was cut by blood and was sealed in blood. And by walking through the pieces, you're saying you agreed on your own blood to fulfill the covenant. And so God is passing between these, making a promise to Abram.
And he says, verse 18, On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
A lot of ites. It is a lot of ites. You're right. The Jebusites. The last one mentioned there in that text. The Jebusites.
Remember what we read in 2 Peter with the Lord? A thousand years is a day. A day is a thousand years. Abram lived a thousand years before David.
Verse 6 of 2 Samuel 5.
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 millow inward and David became greater and greater for the Lord the God of hosts was with him
So at this point David had been crowned the king but there was still no true capital for the nation David had been reigning from Hebron which was great when he just ruled the people of Judah. It was in their territory. It was in the far south of the country. But when he becomes king over the whole nation, Abram's not a very central location for people who are mostly traveling on foot. It's not a good location for a capital. It would have made sense for him to move it somewhere further north, like Jerusalem. This is a perfect city, Jerusalem.
and to keep on with the Abrahamic theme, you might also remember another story from Genesis. Right before Genesis 15, we have Genesis 14. And in that chapter, Lot, the nephew of Abram, had been captured. He, along with many of the people of his city, had been captured and hauled off. And Abram had mounted up his 300-some soldiers and chased them down and freed them.
And as he's coming back with Lot and everything that they freed, they come past the city of Salem, which is the same city. It becomes the city of Jerusalem. And out from the city of Salem... comes a king, a priest king, whose name is Melchizedek. He's called a priest of the Most High God, and he is the King of Salem, the King of Peace. Not only is he a priest, again, he is the King of Salem. He's a priest of the Most High God, the King of Peace, and his throne was established in a city that would one day be called Zion.
So as we come to this story in 2 Samuel, we read not only of God delivering the Jebusites into David's hand in fulfillment of a Genesis 15 promise, we also see David's throne being established in a pattern that's closer to the ancient king Melchizedek than to his predecessor Saul.
We should also look at the details of this conquest of Jerusalem because they're pretty great. The Jebusites are supremely comfortable that they can ward off David and his men. They jeer at them and say, well, soldiers who don't even have feet or don't even have eyes can keep you out of here. They just mock David and his men. But the joke turned out to be on them.
In verse 8, the ESV reads that David sent his men to attack by the water shaft, which puzzled people for years. Like, what water shaft? And then in the year 1867, a man named Charles Warren discovered a water shaft in Jerusalem that likely dates to the time of the Jebusites, where possibly, we still don't know exactly how it would have worked, but possibly one by one, Joab and the men of David could have climbed up through that water shaft to attack from inside Jerusalem. We don't know exactly how it worked, but we do know that the end result was God delivered the jeering Jebusites into the hand of David and his men.
And David so hates the Jebusites for their mockery that from then on, he just calls them the blind and the lame. And he won't even allow them to come near his house, those who survive. They made a joke about what David's army could accomplish, but the joke came back on their own head. God was on David's side.
And so we read the theme of this part of 2 Samuel once again in verse 10. David became greater and greater. You remember 2 Samuel 3, last week we read... The house of David became greater and greater and the house of Saul became less and less. Well, at this point, the house of Saul is basically gone. And so it's just the house of David became greater and greater for the Lord, the God of hosts. And that word hosts could also be armies. The God of armies was with him. You can't really stand against the army that has the God of armies on its side.
God made promises to his people, to Abraham and to David, and though both seemed like they took a really long time to be fulfilled, God held up his end of the bargain. Remember that God has a different timescale than you, and that when you turn to the word, you can cling to the promises, knowing that he who promised is faithful.
David's House and Family (Verses 11-16)
Turning now to verses 11 through 16. It says Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house. And David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron and more sons and daughters were born to David. And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem.
Verses 11 through 16, in those verses that we just read, we see, again, the earthly establishment of David's house, and his literal house, as Hiram, king of Tyre, sent people and materials to build him a house. Tyre was a region renowned for their timber and for their skilled craftsmen, and Hiram's eager to help David by sending the men and material that he needs.
And beyond that, we know that Hiram sent much of the material needed by Solomon later to build the house of the Lord, the temple. And as these events come together, it's obvious to David that God has in fact been faithful and that he's established his throne. But it's also clear to David that this blessing from the Lord is not just for David's sake.
If you look again at verse 12, it says... David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people, Israel.
God established David not just for David's own sake, but for the sake of the whole people of Israel.
A Challenge About Prayer and Motivation
When you pray, even as you pray for God's blessings on your life and on the things that you do on your endeavors, which are by no means wrong to pray for, are you praying for your own sake or are you praying for the sake of others? Do you ask God to provide a stable job or a raise or the ability to pay off your debts so that you have more to spend on yourself and your toys and your goals? Or do you ask for that stability to give you more opportunity for generosity?
Do you pray for stable and happy relationships in your family just so that life's easier for you? Or because you want a safe place to draw others into?
God had ultimately yet certainly established David. And David saw that, but David also saw that it wasn't ultimately about him. It was bigger than just David.
Which makes verses 13 to 16 so cautionary. While the kingship It was received by David and conquering Jerusalem. These things were fulfillments of previous promises that God had given to David, demonstrations of God's blessing. And in verses 17 to 25, we're going to see David seeking the Lord in prayer and then acting in response to what God gives him for guidance.
Here at the very middle of the chapter, verses 13 to 16. We read of David taking advantage of his position as king to act just like the kings of all the other nations. Again, just like we saw in chapter 3, David multiplies to himself more wives and more children. And it's telling that this action is not like the first part of the chapter, a response to a promise. God didn't promise David multiple wives and many children. Nor, as in the last half of the chapter, does it follow prayer. It's David acting on his own for his own benefit in stark contrast to the idea that his kingship was meant to benefit others.
Sometimes when we don't pray, it's not because prayer is too hard and it's not even because we forget. Sometimes we don't pray because we don't want the answer. Always question your own motivations. And if you feel a hesitation to pray about something, you should probably pray about it all the more.
Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer. Had David entrusted his family life to the Lord in prayer, how much different might 2 Samuel read? How different his life might have been? How different the nation might have fared?
But while that cautionary note sits here without comment, just waiting for us to see it and think about it, the emphasis of this chapter remains on how God did establish David's throne. And so now we'll turn to those pesky Philistines.
The Battles with the Philistines (Verses 17-25)
Verses 17 and following say,
When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand. And David came to Baal-perazim, and David struck them down there. And he said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking through of waters. Therefore the name of that place is called Baal-perazim. And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, You shall not go up; go around to their rear and come up against them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then rouse yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines. And David did as the Lord commanded him and struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.
Again, this is likely just shortly after David has been made king over the United Tribes, because his position still seems to be pretty weak. He hears that the Philistines have gathered together, and he heads for the hills. He heads for his old stronghold, where he'd hidden from Saul. But this moment of desperation is useful in David's life, because again, it points him back to his need for God, and he turns to the Lord in prayer for direction.
Verse 19, he asks God, shall I go up against the Philistines? David doesn't simply trust his own prowess or his own skill. And he has plenty of both. He is a skilled warrior. He's an experienced warrior. At this point, he's got two decades of service leading men under his belt. But he doesn't count on that. Instead, he relies on the Lord in prayer.
We're reminded of the words of James chapter 1 and verse 5 says, If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. It is that simple. If you need wisdom, pray for wisdom, depend on the Lord, and trust that he will guide you.
David did pray, he did trust the Lord, and he did break through his enemies. David then names the place Baal Parazim in verse 20, and that name means Lord of the breaking through. God had led him through his enemies. David trusted the Lord, and his prayer wasn't just like, oh, please, pretty, please help me. Pretty, please give me an idea. No, he asked for guidance. made a decision based on what guidance God had given him, and then he acted on it. Faith doesn't just sit on its hands. It often requires us to do something, even as we depend on God for the results.
So if you keep reading there in James chapter 1, after verse 5, we've got verses 6 through 8. And they say, Pray to the Lord, expecting that he will answer you.
Now that answer is not going to be written in the sky. I doubt you'll ever hear an audible voice. But pray for wisdom. Weigh the decision. Look at the evidence. Make a decision and act. Trust that God will give you the wisdom that you need after you've prayed to him. Trust the Lord will answer the prayer that you prayed.
David does this again when the Philistines return in verse 22. Instead of resting on having prayed once and, well, I'll just do what I did last time. He comes back to the Lord again and asks for more wisdom, new wisdom for a new situation. And this time God gives a different battle plan.
The God of armies, remember that's who God calls himself in verse 10, sends his troops marching out, says God's armies march out front. They're marching through the top of the balsam trees. The God of angel armies is how Eugene Peterson brings that into English in the message. And instead of coming out front, David is to circle the rear and come up opposite the balsam trees. And the result is that the Philistines are driven and David strikes them down from Geba to Gezer. God brought David victory and he brought victory for his troops.
David's kingdom was established not through David's genius, but as a result of dependent prayer to the Lord.
One of the most well-known verses in the Bible, and I know I quoted it last week, but it bears repeating here. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Be not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.
Conclusion: A Proper View of God's Kingdom
So we end really where we began. 2 Samuel 5 isn't written to give you a chronological order of how David got to the throne. The goal of the chapter is to give you a proper view of his kingdom. A view that sees David's throne as founded in the promises of God and practically established through dependent prayer.
The kingdom Jesus builds today is no different. The kingdom of Jesus, of David's greater son, Jesus, is just like that. Except, Hebrews tells us, it's founded on even better promises. It's founded upon a promise to save to the uttermost, to save for all time and eternity, to bring into the very family of God all of those who trust in Jesus.
Jesus sealed those covenant promises by his blood shed upon the cross, and he proved their validity by his resurrection from the dead, and he seals them upon the life of the believer with the gift of his Holy Spirit.
And how is his kingdom established today? through the prayers of his people. So we pray, your kingdom come. We look into the world and we see the lost and we pray for the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest fields. And we look into our own hearts and see the old man still there. We see the residual sin that still lives within us. And we ask God in his kindness to purge us of that sin and to make us more like Jesus, to cut away the sin every day.
Then we return to the promise our foundation that for those who trust in Jesus, he's happy not only to cut away the sin but to forgive it completely in revelation it pictures our prayers the prayers of the saints as incense before the heavenly throne Jesus the son of David sits on that throne not a throne in Jerusalem but a throne in heaven bearing all authority in heaven and on earth.
So let us run to him, our great high priest king, our greater Melchizedek, with our every name, casting all your cares upon him because he cares for you.
Closing Prayer
Would you pray with me? Father God, we thank you for your kindness to us in Christ, who has paid for all of our sin and who now ever lives, Hebrews says, to make intercession for us, his saints, his people.
