Jesus has already won the victory is he the ruler you choose?
2 Samuel 2:8-3:5
8 Meanwhile, Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, had taken Ish-Bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim. 9 He made him king over Gilead, Ashuri and Jezreel, and also over Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.
10 Ish-Bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned two years. The tribe of Judah, however, remained loyal to David. 11 The length of time David was king in Hebron over Judah was seven years and six months.
12 Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.
14 Then Abner said to Joab, ‘Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.’
‘All right, let them do it,’ Joab said.
15 So they stood up and were counted – twelve men for Benjamin and Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, and twelve for David. 16 Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into his opponent’s side, and they fell down together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath Hazzurim.
17 The battle that day was very fierce, and Abner and the Israelites were defeated by David’s men.
18 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Now Asahel was as fleet-footed as a wild gazelle. 19 He chased Abner, turning neither to the right nor to the left as he pursued him. 20 Abner looked behind him and asked, ‘Is that you, Asahel?’
‘It is,’ he answered.
21 Then Abner said to him, ‘Turn aside to the right or to the left; take on one of the young men and strip him of his weapons.’ But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
22 Again Abner warned Asahel, ‘Stop chasing me! Why should I strike you down? How could I look your brother Joab in the face?’
23 But Asahel refused to give up the pursuit; so Abner thrust the butt of his spear into Asahel’s stomach, and the spear came out through his back. He fell there and died on the spot. And every man stopped when he came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died.
24 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner, and as the sun was setting, they came to the hill of Ammah, near Giah on the way to the wasteland of Gibeon. 25 Then the men of Benjamin rallied behind Abner. They formed themselves into a group and took their stand on top of a hill.
26 Abner called out to Joab, ‘Must the sword devour for ever? Don’t you realise that this will end in bitterness? How long before you order your men to stop pursuing their fellow Israelites?’
27 Joab answered, ‘As surely as God lives, if you had not spoken, the men would have continued pursuing them until morning.’
28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the troops came to a halt; they no longer pursued Israel, nor did they fight any more.
29 All that night Abner and his men marched through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, continued through the morning hours and came to Mahanaim.
30 Then Joab stopped pursuing Abner and assembled the whole army. Besides Asahel, nineteen of David’s men were found missing. 31 But David’s men had killed 360 Benjaminites who were with Abner. 32 They took Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem. Then Joab and his men marched all night and arrived at Hebron by daybreak.
3 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
2 Sons were born to David in Hebron:
his firstborn was Amnon the son of Ahinoam of Jezreel;
3 his second, Kileab the son of Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel;
the third, Absalom the son of Maakah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur;
4 the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith;
the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital;
5 and the sixth, Ithream the son of David’s wife Eglah.
These were born to David in Hebron.
David has just been anointed king. In this passage, we see his kingdom increasing and Saul’s kingdom decreasing.
Let me go a bit meta here for a moment. As part of the Grow Daily writing process, we’re encouraged to not necessarily have every devotional be a teaching piece – instead, the guideline is to share what we find challenging/frustrating/uplifting/ and so on.
We are blessed to have amongst us wiser heads than mine that could explain to you in great detail the ins and outs of this passage – who was related to who, what is the significance of the meaning of certain names, etc.
Instead, can I ask you to step back with me and look at the big picture. Two competing kingdoms each send a group of warriors to a contest. Carnage ensues. In the aftermath, more death and destruction.
At one level, this reminds me of the lengths to which we often go to avoid Jesus being lord over us. While the Spirit will move differently in everyone’s lives, often we can run and delay and lie to ourselves about sin in our lives. A war rages between our sinful desires and how God calls us to live. As I read this passage, I am reminded that Jesus has already won the victory over sin, and one day we will see Him sitting on His throne forever. We will kick and struggle and, like Saul (and his followers) try to keep our own kingdoms going. Far better that we give up our earthly agendas and look heavenwards towards the one true king who will, if we would only turn and trust in Him, satisfy our every desire beyond measure.
Head: are there areas of your life that you think you can ‘hide’ from God?
Heart: if you find you are exhausted from busy-ness most weeks, is that because you’ve somehow filled your life with things that aren’t good for you?
Hands: think about what you could start, or stop, doing this week to more clearly show Jesus as the true King over your life
Prayer: Lord, we read things like this and while it all seems so distant from our everyday reality, we acknowledge that we often run from you and don’t want to let you rule over our lives. In your mercy, please give us the desire to put away sinful habits and instead seek Christ.
A song to listen to: Can’t nobody do me like Jesus
Oliver Meehan
Living Church Creek Road
