October 20, 2019: Day 36 – II Samuel 5

Finally the kingdom of David has begun and we get some of the details of time associated with that.  He was king over Judah for 7 years while Saul and his son were in charge in Israel.  He then was king over the united kingdom for 33 years after that.  All the tribes of Israel came to him and agreed to make him king and anointed him king at Hebron at the beginning of this chapter.  

From there we get a very curious and actually disturbing scene of David taking over Jerusalem specifically against the blind and the lame because, as the Scripture states: “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” because “David hates” the blind and the lame.  He occupies the city and drives them out of the city and did not allow them to inhabit that city.  Most commentators ignore these verses, but to me they only confirm that David was a serial sinner in so many different ways and did not represent the kingdom of God that the God which he worshiped wanted.  

Now David’s old friends, the Philistines, remember after he killed Goliath and was on the outs with Saul, he used to run with them and was actually embraced by them, until they went to battle directly against Saul.  Well, now they are looking to go to battle directly against David and we have two reports of battles where David conquers them.

What we find in this chapter is David taking over as king and consolidating his rule against the Jebusites in Jerusalem and against the Philistines in the adjoining territories.  He builds his house and only now realizes in vs.12: “David then perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of the people of Israel.”  It seems to my count that this might be the 4th time that he was anointed king from Samuel to this chapter.  Maybe it takes a few times for it to stick.