Hi James and Ellen,
2 Samuel is David’s bio that was scribed by an unknown guy during when David ruled as the second anointed and positioned king over the Israelite people groups guys and gals. 2 Samuel is the second half of what originally was a single historical manuscript. Septuagint translators sometime in the mid third century took the liberty to divide the Samuel Book into two books. Your grandpaa thinks that Samuel was already an aging prophet when God had him look for and anoint a young sheepherder by the name of David to be the second king to rule over His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people groups guys and gals. Because Samuel was deceased when Saul – who Samuel anointed to be the first king to rule over the Israelite people group guys and gals, killed himself during a battle that he was losing against the Philistine people group army, Samuel could not have scribed the 24 chapters that are in 2 Samuel let along the entire Samuel Book. Your grandpaa conjectures that it may have been a guy by the name of Nathan – who was an Israelite people group prophet, who assembled the Samuel Book. Your grandpaa thinks that Nathan’s time on planet Earth intersected at some point with Samuel’s time on planet Earth and that because of this, Nathan would have been able to scribe a document using firsthand information from Samuel who would be able to pass on to him eyewitness accounts of what went on among the Israelite people group guys and gals before the Israelite people group guys and gals had someone positioned in place who they could call king.
David was 30 years old when Judah tribal clan established David as their king. After the murder of one of Saul’s surviving sons – whose name was Ish-Bosheth, the remaining eleven Israelite people group tribal clans accepted David as their king. David – as a king, was a decisive and effective leader. David was able to capture a town by the name of Jerusalem from the Jebusite people group guys and gals. David made the city of Jerusalem the Israelite people group’s royal city. David built his personal residence in the city of Jerusalem. Once David was settled in the city of Jerusalem, David had the ark of the Lord – which had been kept for twenty years at Abinadab’s house, carried to the city of Jerusalem. Abinadab lived about nine miles north of the city of Jerusalem in a place called Kiriath Jearim. After David publicly acknowledged to an assembled group of Israelite people group guys and gals of God’s Lordship over him and them, he led them into prosperity. David saw to it the defeating of the Israelite people group’s enemies. David extended the Israelite people group’s land boundaries. David showed his faithfulness to the covenant that he had made with his close friend Jonathan – who was one of Saul’s sons, when after he was told that one of Jonathan’s sons – whose name was Mephibosheth, was still alive albeit lame, David every day had Mephibosheth eat at his table. David had God give him a promise that his dynasty would always endure.
David started out in public service having a lot of success, acceptance and influence among the Israelite people group guys and gals. It all changed for David when he began to be actively pursued by a very jealous Saul resulting in David having to spend long days, weeks, months and even years with a gang of marginalized guys hunkering in caves that per psalms that David scribed had him keeping his thoughts focused on God always being there with him to times of inactivity when he let his mind wander away from God that had him making imprudent decisions. One of the wrong choices that David made was to pursue having an immoral relationship with a married gal – whose name was Bathsheba. The result was Bathsheba getting pregnant, David insuring that the gal’s husband – whose name was Uriah, be killed in a battle and the baby dying. Another choice that David had was to be strict or not to be strict with his sons. David opted for being lenient with them which resulted in – because of their vileness and vainness, two of his sons – whose names were Amnon and Absalom, being killed. A choice that David did not make that he needed to make was to bring to a stop Joab’s insubordination. Joab was David’s military leader. The final years of David’s rule over the Israelite people group guys and gals was punctuated with intrigue, violence and bloodshed brought about because of David’s weaknesses and failures. Even though David began toward the end of his life take God more and more out of his life equation, God was gracious to David. David’s kingship became the standard or bar for succeeding kings who ruled over the guys and gals who lived in Israel’s southern and northern kingdoms. David was recognized as being a man of God. David’s final words has him praising God for His redeeming righteousness. The life of David to your grandpaa exemplifies what happens when a complacent spirit has the opportunity to sneak into a life. Your grandpaa thinks that as David’s wealth increased, prestige grew and family grew older that he became less and less reliant on God and more and more caught up accruing booty, gals to fill up his time and hoping that his kids would turn out okay. David’s life is a teaching moment for Christ-follower guys, gals and kids. David’s closest friend was God when David was shepherding his dad’s sheep and fleeing from Saul. David’s awareness of God’s closeness was muted when he had more money than what he knew what to do with, a palace to live in, lots of people to rule over and . . . real joy is found only when God’s difficult life lessons are accepted as God’s teaching moments.
2 Samuel