2 Samuel 9:1-3 – Reason to Hide
In the Gospels Jesus is seldom called the Son of Moses or Son of Abraham, but over and over again he’s called the Son of David. That doesn’t just mean he was a descendant of David. It means when David the king is at his best, we’re getting a glimpse into the heart of our true King. We’re getting a glimpse into our own salvation and into the heart of the character of God our Savior. In this chapter we have a breath-taking picture of what the gospel really is!
In the opening verse of the chapter, David asks a question, which up until the comma is a question no-one would have batted an eyelid at. But what he says after the comma is so unexpected that there would have probably been gasps of surprise around the room as he said it. When a new dynasty started, when a new king came to the throne, it was the most natural thing in the world for him to ask if there was still anyone left belonging to the old regime. That was for the sole reason that he could hunt them down and kill them. For us, that’s totally barbaric, but back then, no-one would have batted an eyelid. We have examples of it happening in the Bible. For example, when Baasha comes to the throne in 1 Kings 15, we’re told, ‘as soon as he was king, he killed all the house of Jeroboam’. He’s followed by Zimri, who does the same thing: ‘When he began to reign, as soon as he had seated himself on his throne, he struck down all the house of Baasha’. In 2nd Kings 10 Jehu does the same thing. Why did they do it? Because as long as anyone related to the old king is still alive, they can become a focus for a rebellion.
We’ve seen that already in 2nd Samuel. Do you remember Ish-bosheth? He was a surviving son of Saul. Back in chapter 2, Abner, Saul’s army commander, takes him and makes him king. Ish-bosheth was a weak ruler, a puppet king, but that didn’t matter. He became a focal point for those tribes who weren’t willing to accept David as king over them. So hunting down and killing any remaining descendants of Saul wasn’t simply the done thing. There’s also evidence in this book already that humanly speaking it’s the only way for David to be really secure.
Question
- What did kings usually do when they came to the throne?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks for the good news of salvation.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.