\n<\/p>\n
Pete\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019re listening to the Bible for Normal People, the only God-ordained podcast on the internet. I\u2019m Pete Enns.<\/p>\n Jared\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And I\u2019m Jared Byas.<\/p>\n [Intro music begins]<\/p>\n Pete\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Hey folks, it\u2019s just me Pete here on the podcast today, but before I get started, I want to mention our July summer school class called \u201cHeaven and Hell and Black Theology: Discussing Heaven and Hell Through the Lens of the Oppressed.\u201d And it\u2019s going to be led by Dr. Eboni Marshall Turman, who teaches constructive theology, ethics, and African American religion at the Yale University Divinity School. Now the class is pay-what-you-can, as they always are, until the class ends, and then it costs $25 to download. And it\u2019s happening\u2014let me give you the date. Are you ready? Are you writing this down? Here we go\u2014July 26th, from 8-9:30pm, Eastern Time. But don\u2019t worry, if you can\u2019t make it live, you can still buy the class during the pay-what-you-can window, and you\u2019ll get the recording to watch afterward. And you can get access\u2014did you know?\u2014to all our classes for $12 a month, just $12 a month, by joining our community the Society of Normal People. Now for more information and to sign up for summer school, go to www.TheBibleForNormalPeople.com\/SummerSchool. Alright, now that we\u2019ve got that out of the way today, I\u2019ll be continuing our ruinous journey through the Deuteronomistic History by taking a closer look at 2 Samuel. Okay folks, let\u2019s jump in.<\/p>\n [Transitional music plays over teaser clip of Pete speaking] \u201cKings win wars if they have divine favor. They lose them if they don\u2019t. See, success in battle is evidence of God\u2019s stamp of approval. This once enslaved people who spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness and who put up with generations of judges that came around now and then to rule them? Well now they have their king. They have their man\u2014a man after God\u2019s own heart. What could go wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n [Ad break]<\/p>\n Pete\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, now, you may remember from previous episodes that the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings are referred to in biblical scholarship as the Deuteronomistic History. It\u2019s a mouthful, right? Well, why are these books called that? Because they advocate a theological perspective that is promoted in the book of Deuteronomy. Namely\u2014this is the big deal here, folks\u2014namely the importance of proper worship of God, which is the centralization of the worship of God in the temple, rather than you know, in high places that might be scattered around the country. So you centralize worship, big, big deal for the Deuteronomistic historian, and for Deuteronomy. Then you have the king\u2019s obligation to uphold that. That\u2019s the king\u2019s job, among other things. And you also have a system of rewards and punishments from God for Israel\u2019s obedience and disobedience concerning worship. Now those themes, they find their way prominently into the Deuteronomistic History. In fact, they\u2019re the basis by which the kings of Israel in the north and Judah in the south are judged. And a lot of study has been done on the Deuteronomistic History with its distinctive concepts and vocabulary, and this theory is considered one of the key insights of modern scholarship. And I mentioned this mainly just to encourage readers to see 2 Samuel\u2014today\u2019s topic\u2014not as a standalone book, but as part of a narrative of Israel\u2019s monarchy, and I\u2019m going to say, largely failed monarchy and all this is fueled by the theology of the book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, there are a few more housekeeping things we could look at here, but I would just be repeating what I said in Episode 241, the episode on 1 Samuel. So it might be a good idea, if you haven\u2019t already, to listen to the first part of that episode. And what I call the \u201cFive Fun Facts\u201d for 1 Samuel that I discussed there, and those facts are relevant for 2 Samuel as well. And let me just list them here as a quick reminder, and then move on to 2 Samuel itself. One of those Five Fun Facts concerns, what I just mentioned, the Deuteronomistic History. Second Samuel is part of a larger corpus of material that have a shared theological outlook. The other four of the five are as follows:\u00a0<\/p>\n 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book and not two.\u00a0<\/p>\n 1 and 2 Samuel are anonymous, that\u2019s another point.\u00a0<\/p>\n Third point is both 1 and 2 Samuel, are written from a later point of view after the monarchy ended, and likely during or even after the Babylonian exile itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n And the fourth point is that these books are, at the end of the day, pro-David propaganda. It\u2019s a little more complicated than that, but what we see here basically is a defending of David\u2019s legacy and some would say a spinning of David\u2019s legacy. Alright? So again, listening to the first few minutes of episode 241 might be worthwhile if this interests you. And yeah, in fact, you know, many people have told me those few minutes have changed their lives, saved their marriages, made them filthy rich, so it\u2019s up to you if you want to go back and listen to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n Alright, so as is my habit, let\u2019s begin with a 30,000-foot overview of the book. And I divide 2 Samuel\u2019s 24 chapters into four sections. And the first, chapter one through chapter five verse five, this first section recounts David\u2019s struggles with Saul\u2019s legacy, as he attempts to consolidate power. Now, you remember that King Saul was killed in battle at the end of 1 Samuel, but the path to kingship is hardly a smooth one for David. But eventually he does come out on top. And that leads to the second section, which begins at chapter five verse six, and it goes through chapter 10, which we can call David\u2019s good years. Everything is going well and it looks like David\u2019s going to be just great. You know, just what the doctor ordered, a king to govern justly and obediently to God. Remember that refrain from the book of Judges, \u201cEveryone did what was right in his own eyes because there was no king.\u201d Well, David seems to be solving that problem, at least for a few chapters.\u00a0<\/p>\n See, the problem is what follows next is chapters 11-20\u2014that\u2019s section three\u2014are what scholars refer to by the highly technical term, \u201cDavid\u2019s totally crappy years.\u201d Mainly because they are totally crappy for David and he deserves everything he gets. And the precipitating factor is the whole Bathsheba thing which we\u2019ll get to. Now, basically, public David is pretty good but private David is a disaster. Then the fourth section, chapters 21-24 brings the story of David toward a close by listing some of his exploits, and why, you know, despite the totally crappy years, he is still \u201cthe man.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n So FYI, David does not die at the end of 2 Samuel\u2014it would be sort of neat if he did, literarily neat\u2014but he doesn\u2019t. For that we need to wait until 1 Kings, chapter two, because his death is all wrapped up in the succession of Solomon\u2019s narrative, which is how 1 Kings begins. Which is filled with all sorts of intrigue to be sure, but that is for the next episode.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now before we touch down on some of the specific stories of these four sections, let me add a couple more thoughts to help orient us toward the book. One thing to mention\u2014and it\u2019s hard to miss this if you just sit down and read 2 Samuel\u2014but one thing to mention is that this book is pretty violent. And on a personal level, not simply the battles and things like that but on a personal level, we read of 12 rapes, one suicide, seven murders, and 10 executions. Some of them happen in rapid succession, some are more spread out. But there was a lot of violence, this is not a happy time. So be ready. You know, if you\u2019re reading 2 Samuel on your own, just be ready to watch people drop like flies, or get abused, or that sort of thing. The Bible\u2019s a violent book, folks. I hope that\u2019s not a shock, but a lot of that comes out.\u00a0<\/p>\n So, okay, another issue concerns the composition of 2 Samuel, which means how it was written, how it came to be. And as is the case with virtually every book of the Hebrew Bible, 2 Samuel is considered by scholars to be a compilation of older material that has been brought together into one narrative. And one of those sources that scholars talk about is referred to as the \u201cCourt History\u201d of David, or the \u201cSuccession Narrative\u201d of David, and that\u2019s chapters nine through 20, and then skipping 21-24, goes into 1 Kings 1-2. They deal with the backstories of David\u2019s consolidation of the throne and his legacy. Now, some scholars see this as a separate source which arose independently, and that might be roughly contemporary with David because they provide a more intimate portrait of David focusing on, you know, the disasters of his private life. And you may notice that this source\u2014which is chapters 9-20, this Court History, as it\u2019s called\u2014it spans the end of what I\u2019m calling part two, and then all of part three in my outline. But\u2014maybe this is too much math and who cares\u2014but don\u2019t let that throw you. The outline I gave you, those four sections, follows the flow of the story, not the sources that are there. The sources have been woven into the story as a whole and that\u2019s really what I\u2019m trying to stick with here.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another source may be section four, chapters 21-24, because they read like a collection of deeds of David that occurred earlier in his reign, and are sort of tacked on here as an addendum to tie up loose ends and wrap things up.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now you can make of this theory of sources what you will, and you may or may not find them convincing, that\u2019s fine with me. But just know that they do make sense to a good number of scholars who work in this area, and we can assume, for good reason. See, like the other books of the Deuteronomistic History, 2 Samuel was not composed out of whole cloth by one person in one sitting. It has a complex prehistory before they even get into the hands of an editor and then the form that we know them today. And I think, you know\u2014not just I think, but this is pretty standard in biblical scholarship\u2014the book itself provides clues that have led scholars to draw this conclusion of sources because there\u2019s an unevenness, abrupt changes, and things like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Okay, enough of all this stuff. So let\u2019s look at some highlights now from these four sections that will give us a sense of the book as a whole, and I think will also give us a sense of some scholarly issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n Okay, so section one, which is chapters one through chapter five verse five\u2014and by the way, not to get sidetracked too much here, but don\u2019t get thrown by sections ending in the middle of a chapter like we have here, you know, chapter five verse five. It\u2019s just the chapter divisions are the responsibilities of medieval monks and maybe they had too much mead now and then but they put divisions, chapter divisions, sometimes in places that are curious and don\u2019t always make a lot of sense, at least to us. So that\u2019s why I, sometimes, tell students just to, in your mind, take these chapter numbers out of the way entirely and just read the story and sometimes things make a little more sense. But anyway, so don\u2019t let it throw you that I have a section that ends in the middle of chapter five. It\u2019s not my fault, alright?\u00a0<\/p>\n Okay. So this section deals with the struggles David faced to become king. And Saul and his son are dead. Right? They died at the end of 1 Samuel. But that doesn\u2019t mean David is free to take over without oppositions. He has opposition right from the beginning. And even though 2 Samuel begins with David, you know, lamenting Saul and Jonathan\u2019s death at the end of the previous book, there is still a Saul party out there that doesn\u2019t like David. In fact, David is anointed as king in chapter two of 2 Samuel, but only over Judah, the southernmost tribe, his own home tribe, the tribe of his birth. The tribe that has allegiance to David. See, they are quick to crown him king. The rest of the kingdom, the other tribes to the north were under the control of Ishbaal, a surviving son of, guess who, Saul.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, Saul\u2019s commander\u2014his military commander Abner, he made sure of Ishbaal\u2019s throne, of his stability. He supported the Saul dynasty. Now, your English Bible likely refers to him as Ishbaal, which means something like the \u201cLord\u2019s man.\u201d But if you have a decent study Bible, you\u2019ll see that this is his name from the Greek version of the Old Testament, which is called the Septuagint\u2014I\u2019ve done several podcasts that deal with the Septuagint, I won\u2019t repeat that stuff here\u2014but that\u2019s the name that we get from the Greek version. The Hebrew has Ishbosheth, not Ishbaal, but Ishbosheth, which means \u201cman of shame.\u201d Okay, folks. See, this is not rocket science. His mother didn\u2019t name him \u201cman of shame.\u201d That is the name the writer gives this rival of David, the son of Saul. It\u2019s sort of like opponents of a recent former president of the United States referring to him as Donald Tax Duck, or Diaper Donald, or Agent Orange, or Hair Apparent. That\u2019s the same kind of idea, you give people you don\u2019t like names that will embarrass them. Okay?<\/p>\n Anyway, we read in this section that there was war for a long time between the house of Saul and of David, so the tensions were real. Few welcome David with open arms. Saul\u2019s commander Abner, he does wind up defecting to David\u2019s side\u2014you know, he knows a winner when he sees one\u2014but then he\u2019s killed by David\u2019s commander, Joab, who reasonably doesn\u2019t trust Abner and probably doesn\u2019t want a rival either. So soon thereafter, we have more intrigue. We have Ishbaal, Saul\u2019s son, again, is assassinated [Hums]. Now this story has David being very disapproving of all this killing. But many scholars read between the lines here a bit and they see these deaths that help David\u2019s career as a bit too convenient. And they see David\u2019s condemnation of them as a bit over the top. And actually these condemnations of all this killing that benefits David, this is cited by many scholars as evidence of the writer\u2019s propagandistic spin on David. \u201cOh, he hates it. He\u2019s a great guy. He doesn\u2019t want people killed,\u201d but he really benefits from their death and you wonder, what role did he play in it? And I think personally, this hypothesis makes a lot of sense to me. I think this is a valid and good way of reading this book a little bit between the lines, but I think we\u2019re invited to. Anyway.\u00a0<\/p>\n Okay, one more point, if I may, on section one. David\u2019s reign begins with military conflict between the tribe of Judah, as I just said, and the rest of the tribes, which are the northern nation called Israel. Later, after Solomon\u2019s death, as David\u2019s son takes over for him\u2014after Solomon\u2019s death, the kingdom that was united eventually under David, and especially under Solomon, that kingdom divides into two nations right at this very same fault line: Judah in the south, everybody else in the north. When the nation split into two after the death of Solomon\u2014in other words, it was a geopolitically natural division, not a random one, which you know, mirrored a tradition of antagonism between north and south.\u00a0<\/p>\n And this all gets a bit complicated, and I don\u2019t mean to dump and run here, but this has led over the years to some speculation that the whole idea of a united monarchy may not reflect history very carefully. The nation with this huge fissure along the border of Judah, suggests that there was no true unity at all, but rather persistent conflict among warring tribes. So unity was more of a later fantasy on the part of the writers. And if it ever was united, it hung by a thread for two generations, two\u2014merely two generations, folks\u2014before it quickly dissolved at the first opportunity, which we read about in 1 Kings chapter 10 and so on. And the only reason\u2014see David would have had any traction as king of united Israel, is because his competition was conveniently eliminated. So just think of it this way, the tribes were not so much drawn together in unity as they were coerced into some sort of unity, at least in the mind of the writer. Like I said, I hope that\u2019s not too confusing. It gets a little bit complicated, but that\u2019s just how many scholars think of all this transition of power and things like that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Okay, at any rate, this section ends with David, after seven years of reigning as king over Judah only, he is then anointed, and only then anointed, as king over all Israel for another 33 years. So we have here a 40 year reign total, which is a suspiciously round number. A common one in the Hebrew Bible, which connotes like a complete period that was under God\u2019s direction or some such thing like that. But again, this round number of 40 suggests that the story is not about relaying brute facts of history. But it is an interpretation of David\u2019s reign as marked by divine providence and we\u2019ll see something similar with the reign of David in 1 Kings.<\/p>\n Ad Break\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n [Ad break]<\/p>\n Pete\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Okay, this brings us to section two, which is chapter five verse six, through chapter 10, which are the good years. David is a major character in the Hebrew Bible and he will wind up becoming the king par excellence of later Judaism and we get that largely from these chapters. But it\u2019s worth noting that these good years were brief. I mean, the story gives no obvious chronology of how long this period took, but these six chapters, they really do fly by.\u00a0<\/p>\n So first, David, as king, establishes Jerusalem as its capital by routing its inhabitants. And they\u2019re called the Jebusites. Now Jerusalem is located to the very north of the tribe of Judah. It is a good strategic site, one reason being its proximity to the northern tribes. See, it\u2019s somewhat analogous to choosing Washington DC as the US Capital because of its location near the Mason Dixon Line. After David captures Jerusalem, he battles the attacking Philistines\u2014remember, these are the good years where he captures Jerusalem and battles the Philistines\u2014and after defeating them, he captures the ark. The Philistines, you might remember, they had taken the ark in 1 Samuel 4, but David now takes it back and brings the ark not to Jerusalem, but to the home of a guy, Obededom the Gittite, and he leaves it there for three months. Interesting. Why doesn\u2019t he just take it to the capital that he just founded? Well, because along the way, as they were bringing the ark back from the Philistines, a certain guy named Uzzah, he reached out to touch the ark to keep it from falling over\u2014and of course, this resulted in his immediate death, which seems extreme\u2014and I think because it is\u2014but he probably dies, not by like a random act of divine anger\u2014I\u2019m not trying to justify this by way\u2014but he doesn\u2019t really die from a random act of divine anger, but because he was not ritually pure to touch the ark, which is a symbol of God\u2019s presence. At least that\u2019s what I think. I\u2019m engaging here in a little bit of learned speculation, but I\u2019m not trying to justify this because, why would being impure result in somebody\u2019s death? All this kind of stuff, these questions come up. But anyway, the point is that after three months, David feels it\u2019s safe to bring the ark to Jerusalem, but very carefully. Right? Sacrificing an ox and a fatling every six paces. Wouldn\u2019t want to repeat the Uzzah incident and I don\u2019t blame him.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now in this section, there is a passage that is among the more central in the Deuteronomistic History and this is 2 Samuel 7:1-17. This is Nathan\u2019s prophecy. Nathan is David\u2019s prophet. You can call him a court prophet. He\u2019s a prophet who hangs out with kings as opposed to some prophets like Hosea and Amos, who are sort of outliers. But this is a court prophet, he\u2019s prophesying. And he prophesied to David that he will have an everlasting dynasty through his offspring. And here, the offspring that\u2019s really in view, he\u2019s not named, but it\u2019s certainly Solomon, David\u2019s son. So this is a promise that God will be with David, and that he will not take his steadfast love from Solomon, even if he sins against God. Sure, he\u2019ll be punished by human means. Like there\u2019ll be war or something like that\u2014which is part of the Deuteronomistic historian\u2019s ideology, war as punishment for disobedience\u2014but regardless, the tie between God and David\u2019s offspring will have no end. Now, of course, this anticipates the division of the monarchy into north and south, which Solomon was largely responsible for instigating, but God will never reject Solomon and his legacy as he rejected Saul\u2019s. So that\u2019s the promise, \u201cI\u2019m not going to give up on you like I did on him.\u201d And that\u2019s what is special about the \u201cDavidic Covenant.\u201d That it will go on, it will continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, one reason this passage is so pivotal and attracts so much attention is that it comes into rather obvious conflict, should I say, with the fact that the southern nation of Judah went into Babylonian exile. In other words, the House of David came to an end. No kings, no line of kings, they\u2019re done. See, God\u2019s supposed steadfast love that will establish the line of David forever, as Nathan says, seems to have an expiration date. And Psalm 89, in fact\u2014which is one of my favorite psalms\u2014with great energy takes God to task for not holding to his promise to be with David and his line through thick and thin to never reject them. Sure, punish them, but never let the lineage of David and Solomon slip. See, in effect, Psalm 89\u2014which I would love to do a podcast just on this psalm\u2014Psalm 89, more or less calls God a liar, for allowing the exile to happen. \u201cYou promised, and now you broke your promise.\u201d Yeah, it\u2019s a great psalm, really, but we can\u2019t jump onto this as much as I\u2019m tempted to. The bottom line is simply that the writer\u2019s hope is in the Davidic line. This is God\u2019s choice for whom he will back. Not the northern kings, but the southern kings.\u00a0<\/p>\n Elsewhere in this section, section two, right? We read of David\u2019s successful battles, this is like chapters 8 and 10, which is to say David\u2019s kingship is moving along swimmingly. Kings win wars if they have divine favor. They lose them if they don\u2019t. See, success in battle is evidence of God\u2019s stamp of approval. Things are looking up folks. This once enslaved people who spent 40 years wandering in the wilderness and who put up with generations of judges that came around now and then to rule them? Well now they have their king, they have their man, a man after God\u2019s own heart. What could go wrong? Well, that brings us to section three: chapters 11-20. The totally crappy years. Okay.<\/p>\n Chapter 11 contains one of the better-known stories of David\u2019s life, his rape of Bathsheba. Now I called it a rape, as most do, because when the king sends messengers summoning a woman to come to his palace, right\u2014a king sends messengers, probably with spears, summoning a woman to come to his palace\u2014a woman who\u2019s left home alone while her husband is at war, by the way\u2014you know, she\u2019s not being asked out on a date. This is not an offer she can simply refuse. It is an order. Now we don\u2019t get Bathsheba\u2019s take on all this, the only line she has in this whole story is announcing to David later on that she\u2019s pregnant by him. That\u2019s all she says. But we don\u2019t get her take on this, but the circumstances are clear enough from what\u2019s presented in the story. This is what\u2019s happening. She\u2019s doing this against her will.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now we see trouble brewing here already in the first verse of this story. This is the first verse of chapter 11. It goes like this, \u201cIn the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle\u201d actually, [Chuckles] I have to stop here. I always have images in my mind of Hagar the Horrible, remember that cartoon? Where he sort of takes his briefcase and goes out to war like it\u2019s what you do when you get up in the morning, you come back and eat dinner and stuff like that? It\u2019s sort of like that here, you know, \u201cIt\u2019s springtime, it\u2019s wartime. Let\u2019s go out guys,\u201d you know, and, and that\u2019s what\u2019s happening. The weather turns. It\u2019s good for fighting. And David, we read here continuing with his verse, \u201cDavid sent Joab\u201d\u2014remember, that\u2019s his commander\u2014\u201dwith his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.\u201d That should raise alarms. Don\u2019t slide over that too quickly. See, David here is pulling a Saul. Rather than engaging in battle with Goliath himself, Saul, remember? He hands the duty to David, right? Well, here too, rather than doing the kingly thing and being out there in the battle, David remains behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n So one day, as the story goes, while on his roof, David caught eye of a woman bathing below. And she\u2019s right there next door. Now had he been sneaking glances at her in the past? Hard to say. He does need to inquire who the woman is, so he doesn\u2019t seem to know her name, but that doesn\u2019t mean he hadn\u2019t seen her before. But anyway, they do the deed and then she becomes pregnant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now David, the \u201cman after God\u2019s own heart\u201d and always the quick thinker, he summons her husband Uriah the Hittite to come home from the battle, and he tried to entice Uriah to take some R&R with his wife so David could pin the pregnancy on him. Now Uriah the Hittite\u2014that is, he\u2019s not an Israelite, right\u2014he\u2019s more noble than David is. He refuses to do that, citing that his comrades were in battle, right? Where David should be. And he can\u2019t very well go and enjoy himself while they are risking their lives. So David, not at all flustered, he tries next to get Uriah drunk and get him to sleep with his wife that way, but no sale. So David next resorted to, what I\u2019m sure any of us would do in the same circumstance, he has Uriah assigned to the frontline and give orders for the army to pull back and leave Uriah exposed so he could be killed in battle. And he was. So now David is free to marry Bathsheba\u2014scot free.\u00a0<\/p>\n Except Nathan the prophet, he confronts David with a parable of a rich shepherd with many flocks and herds, but who takes the lone ewe lamb from a poor man. And David went berserk and ordered that the rich man should die for this and then Nathan reveals to David that duh, this story is about him. He\u2019s the rich man who took advantage of a disenfranchised man. Then Nathan tells him that their child\u2014right?\u2014the one Bathsheba is pregnant with\u2014he will die. And he survived seven days after birth, which, you know, many have a lot of sympathy for this, many feel that sort of a misplaced punishment. I mean, why should the child die? He didn\u2019t do anything. Anyway, he does die. David is repentant and Bathsheba conceives again and bears a son whom they call Solomon, also known as Jedediah, which means \u201cBeloved of Yahweh.\u201d<\/p>\n Now this incident sparked a series of events that eventually led to David needing to flee Jerusalem for his own safety\u2014and frankly, in my opinion at least, it throws a wet blanket on David\u2019s reign and the very positive vibe we all got from 2 Samuel 7 and David\u2019s eternal dynasty. And we begin to see the aftermath of David\u2019s rape and murder but after a brief interlude, which reports how the battle with the Ammonites, which began in chapter 10, it comes to a close in chapter 12 and this is sort of like David\u2019s last hurrah before all the bad stuff starts happening to him.\u00a0<\/p>\n So the next story about David\u2019s personal life\u2014we\u2019re still in the same section here, folks\u2014the next story about David\u2019s personal life is in chapter 13. And there we have the story of Amnon\u2019s rape of Tamar. Yes, another rape story, and one that is, I feel, intended to be connected to the Bathsheba story. See this story involves David\u2019s daughter Tamar, her half brother Amnon\u2014right, because David had multiple wives\u2014and her full brother, Absalom. Now, Amnon apparently has quite a crush on his half sister, so much so that he faked sick so that when his father David comes to visit him, he can request \u201cOh Dad, give me Tamar to come take care of me?\u201d This is his way of getting her alone, right. So David then orders Tamar to wait on her brother\u2014by the way, not unlike David ordering Bathsheba to go to his house, so this may not end well, just like that incident didn\u2019t end well. So there\u2019s Amnon with Tamar and Tamar pleads with Amnon not to do this heinous thing, but he did it anyway. So she tells her full brother Absalom what happened, who then reports it to David. Surely he\u2019ll do the right thing. He doesn\u2019t. David doesn\u2019t have a good track record with the treatment of women. We are told that he became angry about it, but he refused to do anything about it. Why? Because Amnon was his firstborn and therefore slated to be the next king. So once again, David is more interested in cover up and spin than justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, Absalom had no intention of allowing his sister to be shamed. So he waited two years. Why two years? Well, presumably to see if David might change his mind or perhaps biding his time in gaining Amnon\u2019s trust. I sort of think it\u2019s more that. But after two years, Absalom got his revenge. He had Amnon murdered by his servants after getting him drunk. Absalom flees of course, but David misses him so much, especially after a little persuasion from the \u201cwoman of Tekoa\u201d\u2014this story is in chapter 14, you\u2019re gonna read it yourself, just hang with me here\u2014remember, Nathan told David a story to get him to convict himself over the rape of Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. Well, this woman of Tekoa told David a story to convict him that Absalom might be brought home without any further bloodshed. Similar scene as we saw with David and Nathan. So Absalom comes home and stays in Jerusalem and bides his time for two more years. That\u2019s how long it took for him to gain the support that he needed to usurp the throne from his father, David. Gee, David, way to go. Your reign is barely getting underway and you\u2019ve got this eternal dynasty promised and it\u2019s already under threat by someone from your own house. Great job.<\/p>\n Anyway, with a lot of readers, I actually have a lot of sympathy for Absalom. He did the kingly thing in trying to hold accountable those who did wrong. Now like David, who fought Saul\u2019s battles for him\u2014again, the Goliath story\u2014he did the kingly thing, Absalom is also playing the role of king in bringing some justice to the crime against Tamar. David does not come out of this smelling like a rose.<\/p>\n Ad Break\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n [Ad break]<\/p>\n So after a few scenes where Absalom gets conflicting advice about what to do about David, he avails himself of his father\u2019s concubines\u2014which is to say, he has sex with them\u2014which is a blatant grasping for David\u2019s throne and for David\u2019s power. Something similar happened, by the way, with Ruben, one of the 12 sons of Jacob. This is in Genesis 35, where he slept with his father\u2019s concubines. And that\u2019s going to happen again, at least, somebody is going to try to do it again, to a challenger to Solomon\u2019s throne in 1 Kings, right? Lying with the king\u2019s concubine is a way of claiming royal power and this is a thing in the Bible, right? So it\u2019s a thing here.\u00a0<\/p>\n So Absalom gained a strong following, and was actually declared king in the town of Hebron. And that\u2019s a major city, it\u2019s a big one that pops up in Bible stories a lot and it\u2019s about 20 miles south of Jerusalem\u2014if you have your map in front of you\u2014which also happens to be where David was first proclaimed king earlier in the book. But David at this point, he\u2019s just a hot mess, right? And so he flees Jerusalem. We\u2019re in chapter 15 now. And he doesn\u2019t return until Chapter 19, during which time Absalom is killed in a battle between David\u2019s army and Absalom\u2019s followers. Now, David did plead that his commanders not kill Absalom in battle, but they did anyway. I mean, you know, why leave a rival alive, right? It just doesn\u2019t work that way.\u00a0<\/p>\n But this death of Absalom led to David\u2019s line which is made famous by the William Faulkner novel where David says, \u201cO my son Absalom, my son, my son, Absalom. Would that I had died instead of you, O Absalom my son, my son.\u201d Touching, I suppose, though one wonders where David\u2019s compassion was for his daughter? Also, Absalom\u2019s death, let\u2019s not forget, removes a clear rival to David, someone with a proven track record of being a rival of David. And it also opens up, his death also opens up the door for the younger son Solomon to eventually succeed David. So as I mentioned earlier, here is another example of a convenient death that suits David, but the writer is spinning this a bit to make David remorseful about the death of his son, which, you know, he supposedly had nothing to do with\u2014and that\u2019s exactly what many scholars question.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, before leaving this incident of Bathsheba, I want to mention something briefly because I find this so interesting and just so\u2014such a wonderful, almost example of the intricacies of biblical narratives. In Genesis 38\u2014yes, we\u2019re in Genesis here for a second\u2014we have a story that seems to come out of nowhere, and it is a story that echoes these scenes of David and the rape of women, whether it\u2019s Bathsheba, which he commits, and Tamar, which he does nothing about and doesn\u2019t execute justice. Now, if you want to know more about how Genesis 38 connects with these stories, just go to our website and search for Tamar, and I\u2019m sure something will come up.\u00a0<\/p>\n But let me just drop some hints here to whet your appetite. The main characters in Genesis 38 are Judah, he\u2019s one of the 12 sons of Jacob, and Judah is also the tribe David is taken from. So he\u2019s one of the main characters. The other is a woman named Tamar. Yes, another story involving something David-ish that has Tamar in it. And this story also involves an unjust sexual exploit, this between Judah and Tamar. And one of the more intriguing parallels between these stories\u2014again, just trying to whet your appetite here\u2014is that Judah\u2019s wife\u2019s name, right, Tamar is not his wife, Tamar\u2019s actually his daughter-in-law and\u2026Okay, it gets complicated. But leaving that to the side, one of the more intriguing parallels is that Judah\u2019s wife, her name is never given. She\u2019s only identified twice as the \u201cdaughter of Shua.\u201d In Hebrew, \u201cdaughter of Shua\u201d is Batshua. Batshua\u2014which is oh, so close to Batsheva, Bathsheba. It\u2019s just one letter different in Hebrew.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, my point in this little side path is that this story in Genesis 38 foreshadows or echoes David\u2019s misdeeds in part perhaps to hold him accountable indirectly. He doesn\u2019t get condemnation from the Deuteronomistic historian in 2 Samuel 11. Things don\u2019t go well for him, but there\u2019s nothing there about divine retribution or whatever. So perhaps this is holding him to somewhat accountability, but in a gentle, indirect, politically correct way. But perhaps also, this story in Genesis 38 serves to exonerate David a bit, you know? See this sort of thing, of the mistreatment of women, has been part of the tribe of Judah\u2019s history since the beginning. And so we\u2019re not going to be deterred by this incident, from keeping a positive evaluation of David, right? That\u2019s very important to the Deuteronomistic historian, a positive evaluation of David. I also like mentioning chapter 38, because it speaks to the sophisticated nature of the literary composition of the Hebrew Bible, and also\u2014one of my hobby horses, folks, bear with me\u2014how much of Genesis really has the monarchy in view, because that\u2019s when it was written. It\u2019s preparing you, Genesis is preparing you, to understand the stories of the monarchy that we see in Samuel and Kings. And I\u2019ve covered the monarchic themes in Genesis and various places on the website as well, so we won\u2019t get into that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, section three ends with David being king once again, and showing mercy to Shimei, who supported Absalom. He also made nice with Saul\u2019s remaining son Mephibosheth, who we met back in chapter nine. But David also got rid of this guy Sheba who was a Benjamite, as was Saul, by the way. And Sheba, because of his Benjamite-Saul connection, was fomenting rebellion against David\u2014so he got himself killed. And his general Joab did the deed but David here masterminded it. It\u2019s more explicit here, David\u2019s role in getting rid of political rivals.\u00a0<\/p>\n And one thing that grabs my attention in chapter 19\u2014this is the last thing I\u2019ll say about section three\u2014I mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating, is how clear the political fissures are between the tribe of Judah and the northern tribes. If you go to chapter 19:40-43, David was supported at this point\u2014remember, he\u2019s regaining his throne\u2014he was supported at this point by Judah and half of Israel, half of the north. See, it seems there was never a time when the north and south didn\u2019t have some issues between them. And again, this ancient faultline gave way to the divided monarchy after Solomon\u2019s death. So all this, just, you know, keep your eyes and ears open before the period of the divided monarchy for how Judah and Israel are talked about. They\u2019re already talked about as separate entities.<\/p>\n And all this now brings us to section four: chapters 21-24. This section is an epilogue to David\u2019s reign and ties up a loose end or two. And it forms a nice bookend with the very beginning\u2014not of 2 Samuel\u2014but of 1 Samuel, remember, originally 1 and 2 Samuel were one book. Now you may remember from that episode, that Hannah\u2019s song of thanksgiving\u2014she\u2019s the mother of Samuel\u2014her song of thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2 begins as a praise to God for her miraculous pregnancy\u2014she was barren\u2014but ends with praise for God\u2019s anointed, which is David. That\u2019s where her whole, her whole story is going to come to a good conclusion when her son Samuel anoints David as king. And she\u2019s already praising, not by mentioning his name, but it\u2019s pretty clear who she\u2019s talking about, she\u2019s praising God for God\u2019s anointed\u2014for David and all the good he\u2019s going to do to bring justice.\u00a0<\/p>\n And now we are at the end of the book with some stories of David, not the least of which is a song of thanksgiving of his own, that\u2019s in chapter 22, which is a long one. But in brief, chapter 22\u2014which, by the way, is essentially the same as Psalm 18, okay\u2014but this is a song about God\u2019s steadfast care for David. So all\u2019s well that ends well, and these two songs are bookends to the story of David as a whole. It\u2019s turning out great.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anyway, as we wind down this episode, let me share with you some highlights from section four in order. Okay, so the first is the story of David avenging people called the Gibeonites, avenging them because of Saul\u2019s massacre of them and we read about the story in chapter 21. And it\u2019s a flashback to something early in David\u2019s reign. Exactly when is not exactly clear, and it\u2019s not clear what incident this is referring to, since there is no story where Saul attacks Gibeah.<\/p>\n But the story seems to be a reminder here at the end of the book, right? We\u2019re bookending things. It\u2019s a reminder of Saul\u2019s failed reign and the horrible things he did, and David\u2019s godliness and righteous reign by avenging these people who were massacred by Saul\u2019s army. And then there\u2019s a brief note about the exploits of David\u2019s men, which seems designed to show how well respected he was by them, because remember, David\u2019s awesome, right? And that\u2019s the note we\u2019re ending on here in 2 Samuel. Now, one verse in this section here that\u2019s gotten a fair amount of attention is chapter 21 verse 19, it has to do with Goliath, okay? And many of you are aware of this, I know we\u2019ve done TikToks and Instagram videos on this, and we\u2019ve talked about it in podcasts, it\u2019s sort of a big deal. But here\u2019s 21:19 and I\u2019m just going to read this verbatim: \u201cThen there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob; and El-hanan son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver\u2019s beam.\u201d Which, by the way, is also how Goliath\u2019s spear is described in the story in 1 Samuel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, the reason this gets some attention\u2014and I\u2019m sure you know this already\u2014is that despite protests from some well intended apologists, this story contradicts 1 Samuel 17, where Goliath also again described as having a spear shaft like a weaver\u2019s beam, he was killed by David, not in Gob, but in the Valley of Elah. And now here, we have one of David\u2019s warriors, Elhanan, killing the weaver-beam-spear-shafted Goliath at Gob\u2014location unknown, or at least, I couldn\u2019t find where it was\u2014and it\u2019s commonly attempted by some to reconcile these two stories but that\u2019s hard to do and I think it\u2019s only necessary if you\u2019re not used to seeing and accepting and, frankly, embracing contradictions in the Bible. And this is certainly one of them. Having said that, you might be interested in knowing that 1 Chronicles 20:5 seems to be an early attempt at reconciling these two stories, because there we read that Elhanan killed who, not Goliath, but Lahmi, the brother of Goliath. Which is nowhere in the Deuteronomistic History. It\u2019s just the Chronicler doing his thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n So in chapter 23, we read of the exploits of David\u2019s \u201cMighty Men,\u201d 37 in all. And the point of this seems to be to pump up David\u2019s military exploits, at least the ones he was in charge of and the people under him. And one thing this story adds is some conflicts that are frankly missing in 2 Samuel, but had to have been there, conflicts with the Philistines, right, Judah\u2019s hostile neighbors. The only other incident involving Philistines is in chapter five, right after David came into power, so talking about the Philistines a bit more, this fills in more of the conflicts that would have reflected the reign of David.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now the last chapter, chapter 24, ends on a bit of a down note, but then a slight uptick. We read here of David\u2019s sin of numbering his troops, and the consequences of that act for the nation as a whole. Now, for some reason, [Sighs] utterly unstated, we read here in chapter 24 that the Lord is angry with Israel. And so what does God do? And this is where it gets very odd. The Lord instigates David to sin by numbering his troops. And this gives God a reason, I guess, for punishing the people. He instigates David to sin so that he can punish the people for something he\u2019s angry about.\u00a0<\/p>\n And I have to say, that doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense to me but, you know, nobody asked. So here\u2019s what happened: once David becomes aware of the sin, he repents, and the Lord\u2014again, this is so odd\u2014he doesn\u2019t just forgive him, but he grants him the choice of how exactly God is going to punish Israel. He repents, but God\u2019s going to punish him anyway. But he is going to give them a choice of three things: You can either pick famine, or being attacked by your enemies, or some sort of pestilence, disease or whatever. And David chooses pestilence. And you know, frankly, it all seems a bit bizarre for God to do this and apparently 1 Chronicles 21:1 does too, because there, in relaying the same story, what does this writer do? Well, he says that Satan incited David to number his troops rather than the Lord, right? Sort of problem solved, although that doesn\u2019t really solve the problem of why God would punish David for being incited by a higher power. But anyway, it\u2019s really an odd story. I mean, things are going so well, we\u2019re getting a good vibe about David, and then we get this thing that comes crashing down, as if maybe to remind us that David wasn\u2019t all wonderful, just had his bad side.\u00a0<\/p>\n But one positive thing does come out of the story\u2014and this is how the book ends\u2014is that David, he erects an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite\u2014right, this is in, Jebusites lived in Jerusalem so we\u2019re in the Jerusalem area here. And this threshing floor is where the pestilence came to an end. So one of David\u2019s prophets, his name is Gad, he tells him that this would be a great place to build an altar. And it also happens to be in Jerusalem. Aha! So David prayed for the cessation of the Lord\u2019s wrath and then he erects an altar on the very site where the temple will later be built under Solomon. So David buys the land, and it is here that Solomon will build the temple. Not to stress the point too much, but this is the big deal. So David\u2019s last deed is what? His last deed as functioning king is an act of repentance, forgiveness, and setting things right after his transgression, which involves the temple. So yes, this is a good place for Israel\u2019s temple, which will be so central to Israel\u2019s life for centuries to come.<\/p>\n Well, folks, that\u2019s how 2 Samuel ends. David\u2019s story, however, is picked up in 1 Kings 1 and 2 with his old age and death, and we\u2019ll get to all that in my next solo episode. So thanks for listening, folks. And until next time, see ya!<\/p>\n [Outro music begins]\u00a0<\/p>\n Jared\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, thanks to everyone who supports the show. If you want to support what we do, there are three ways you can do it. One, if you just want to give a little money, go to www.TheBibleForNormalPeople.com\/give.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Pete\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And if you want to support us and want a community, classes, and other great resources, go to TheBibleForNormalPeople.com\/join.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Jared\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And lastly, it always goes a long way if you just wanted to rate the podcast, leave a review, and tell others about our show. In addition, you can let us know what you thought about the episode by emailing us at info@TheBibleForNormalPeople.com\u00a0<\/p>\n Outro\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n You\u2019ve just made it through another episode of The Bible for Normal People<\/em>! Don\u2019t forget you can also catch the latest episode of our other show, Faith for Normal People<\/em>, wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was brought to you by the Bible for Normal People podcast team: Brittany Prescott, Savannah Locke, Natalie Weyand, Stephen Henning, Tessa Stultz, Haley Warren, Nick Striegel, and Jessica Shao.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n [Outro music continues and ends]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n