I know that 2 Samuel’s story revolves around David’s triumphs and tragedies. But really—these final chapters need some kind of a directory to help us keep all of the players straight. Some of the story’s characters are larger than life. Some are seemingly insignificant. Some dominate the plot, and some are just acquaintances along the way. And the relationships inside and outside David’s family—what a mess! Who is on whose side? Who is deceiving whom? Whose counsel is to be believed? Who is a war with whom (and why)? Who loves and hates whom? Who is in power, and who is out of power? I found myself reading and re-reading and trying to make sense of it all.
And where is God while all of this is going on? Sometimes God is not even mentioned for pages.
Perhaps that is the point. David’s victories and catastrophes plunge us into the actual business of living itself. David’s life displays the human condition. He is God’s person (even God’s king), but David is a real person who lives a real life. His story doesn’t show us how we should live but in fact how we do live. In the process, 2 Samuel teaches that real daily life is the stuff God uses to work out his purposes of salvation in us and in the world.
Part of David’s closing prayer in 2 Samuel 22 (The Message) gives some perspective: But me he caught—reached all the way from sky to sea; he pulled me out of that ocean of hate, that enemy chaos, the void in which I was drowning. They hit me while I was down, but God stuck by me. He stood me up on a wide-open field; I stood there saved—surprised to be loved! - Dr. Steve Winter, executive pastor
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