Intro to Second Samuel

16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.

2 Samuel 7:16

As we continue through our Bible in a Year plan, we have begun the book of Second Samuel in our Old Testament reading. You can think of Second Samuel as though it were the next movie in the series because you will see that it continues where we left off in First Samuel. You will recall that we were left at a cliffhanger moment, Saul had just fallen in the war with the Philistines and David was just returning from a battle of his own to recapture his family, livestock, and possessions from the Amalekites. We are left with a series of questions at the end of the first book such as, will the nation of Israel survive without a king and without a prophet (Samuel had died as well)? Will David return home to Israel instead of dwelling with the Philistines? What will David do after he hears that Saul has died?

Second Samuel answers all of these questions and, more importantly, tracks the reign of David and the covenant that God makes with him which will ultimately find its fulfillment in the coming of Jesus Christ. A covenant that will continue despite the horrendous sins of David which are called out in this book. Like First Samuel, Second Samuel may be divided into two major sections. The first section, chapters 1-10, describe the great victories and triumphs. It is in these sections where we read of David’s great wisdom in ruling the nation, kindness to the descendants of Saul, and faith in God. The second section is not quite as bright.

In the second sections, chapters 11-20, we see David’s failures and tragedies. He falls and commits great sins which eventually lead to three judgements from God: 1) that the sword will never depart from his house (12:10), 2) that God will raise up evil against him from his own house (12:11), 3) and that the child born to him from Bathsheba will die (12:14). We read of all of these judgements taking place in the life of David as his son does die (12:15-25- fulfillment of third), his own son Absalom treacherously steals the kingdom and tries to kill David (2 Sam 15-19), and there is internal strife in his own family with one of his sons killing the other (13-14).

We are reminded in Second Samuel that anyone can fall, even a man who is described as having a heart after God (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22). Even though we fail God, it does not mean that He will fail us. We know that the covenant that God makes with David does become fulfilled. And that brings us hope knowing that while we are being sanctified by the Lord, He can still use weak and fragile vessels to accomplish His purposes. That should humble us. Likewise, we see the need to guard our hearts, minds, and eyes from temptations that may come our way. And for the moments when we do sin, we must repent. There may still be consequences, but that does not mean that we will be discarded and abandoned by God. He never fails and that is something to praise Him for.

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

P.s. For those astute studiers, you probably are wondering if there is a third section that covers chapters 21-24. This section can be thought of as an appendix with various events from David’s reign which highlight some of his commendable qualities, as well as one of his major failures which costs the lives of 70,000 Israelites.

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