Free Daily Bible Study Podcast

2 Samuel 12 | 2 Corinthians 5 | Ezekiel 19 | Psalms 64–65

In 2 Samuel 12, we see the beginning of the aftermath of David’s sin with Bathsheba. In some ways, this sin will negatively affect the course of the rest of David’s reign. There are, however, some great principles to learn from this passage, both in the way that Nathan confronts David concerning his sin and also in the way that David responds to Nathan’s confrontation.

The first positive aspect of this story comes in Nathan’s confrontation of David. To start, we should recognize that Nathan is risking his status and even his life by confronting David about his sin, especially since David has already murdered to cover up that sin. But it is also interesting to examine the manner in which Nathan confronts David. Rather than coming to David and unloading all his anger on him for what he had done, Nathan comes to David with a story that captures David’s imagination and leads him to convict himself of the crime he has committed.1 Tact is a powerful tool for the shepherding of sinners.

Second, David’s unqualified repentance is another positive part of this story. David completely owns his sin, saying, “I have sinned against the LORD” (2 Sam. 12:13). Certainly, there is far more to David’s repentance than only these words (see Ps. 51 for David’s extended reflection on his repentance), but David does not do less than freely confessing his sin before Yahweh. Once David confesses, Nathan assures David that Yahweh has indeed pardoned him.

Beyond asking merely for forgiveness, David also boldly pleads with Yahweh to spare his unborn child, whom Yahweh had said would die (2 Sam. 12:14). Sometimes, the people we meet in the Bible simply accept Yahweh’s judgment (e.g., the priest Eli in 1 Sam. 3:18 or King Hezekiah in 2 Kgs. 20:19), but it is far better when God’s servants confidently come before Yahweh to ask him to relent (e.g., Moses in Deut. 3:23–28). David’s baby does die, but David’s confidence teaches us much about how we ought to pray.

Specifically, David’s example should give us bold confidence to deal with sin in our midst. Sin sometimes paralyzes us with fear, but the more we understand the gospel of Jesus, the more we should recognize that Jesus came precisely to heal us of our sinfulness. Jesus wants to confront our sinfulness with his boundless grace. The more we meditate on the gospel of Jesus, the less we find it necessary to protect the mirage of our own righteousness and the more confident we feel not only to repent of our sin and ask for forgiveness but also to pray that God would relent from disaster that may come as a consequence for our sins.

Where does sin bring fear into your own life, and how might Jesus be calling you to trust him with your sin in spite of your fears?

1 Warren W. Wiersbe, Preaching and Teaching with Imagination (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1994), 51–55.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 11 | 2 Corinthians 4 | Ezekiel 18 | Psalms 62–63

The events of 2 Samuel 11 are difficult to read. David, the king after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), commits a series of wicked acts that could not be further from what God desires. This is the summary we read in the last verse of the chapter: “But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD” (2 Sam. 11:27). If we had any temptation to believe David could be the Messiah whom Yahweh would use to usher in his eternal kingdom fully, 2 Samuel 11 dispels that notion altogether. What can we learn from this story?

First, David’s great sin did not happen all at once but instead when a variety of small sins compounded together. The first verse of this chapter gives a not-so-subtle hint that the only reason David was in a position to see Bathsheba at all was that he had shirked his duties to go to war at a time when kings should be going to war with their armies: “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle…” (2 Sam. 11:1). Additionally, it isn’t that Bathsheba threw herself at David and David succumbed to weakness; rather, we read that he gazed on the woman from his palace while she was bathing (2 Sam. 11:2).

If David had fulfilled his responsibilities or even if he had simply avoided stoking the flames of his lust, the ensuing events would never have happened—and this point is perhaps the most instructive for us. Great sin almost never catches us totally by surprise. Rather, Satan knows how to lay the foundation for sin brick by brick. Never forget that the fight against sin is often won—or lost—hours or days or weeks or months or even years before a specific opportunity for sin presents itself.

Second, we should see (again) that sin begets more sin. The masterful writing of this story unfolds the details of David’s descent slowly, so that, for example, we read originally that Bathsheba was “bathing” (2 Sam. 11:2), but only after David sends for her and takes her do we discover what kind of bathing she had been doing: “Now she had been purifying from her uncleanness” (2 Sam. 11:4). In other words, David interrupted Bathsheba when she had been preparing to go to worship.1 From there, the details snowball, so that David conspires first to deceive Uriah (2 Sam. 11:8), then to murder him (2 Sam. 11:15), and then to take the widow Bathsheba as his own wife to cover up his wickedness (2 Sam. 11:27).

Brothers and sisters, flee from sin. Do not make any provision for your flesh, but take seriously the fact that Satan prowls like a roaring lion, seeking with malicious cunning to devour you. We will continue reflecting on this story tomorrow.

1 My seminary Hebrew professor Allen Ross pointed this detail out in his Hebrew Exegesis course.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 10 | 2 Corinthians 3 | Ezekiel 17 | Psalms 60–61

Reading through the Old Testament can be difficult for a variety of reasons, but perhaps the greatest difficulty arises as we try to make sense of the frequent violence we encounter there. Why did the conquest of the land of Canaan require so much bloodshed? And what are we to make of the fact that David, the king after God’s own heart (1 Sam. 13:14), is a warrior who prolifically sheds blood, even for seemingly minor offenses like when the Ammonites shaved his servants’ beards and cut off their garments at the waist (2 Sam. 10:4)?

As the Bible’s storyline progresses, it is crucial to keep in focus Yahweh’s ultimate purpose in this world: to make his dwelling place with his people. This is what was lost in the Garden of Eden through the sin of Adam and Eve, and this is where the entire story of the Bible is heading, as seen in the final, exultant cry of the Bible’s story in Revelation 21:3: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.’” Everything in the Bible’s story narrates how God comes to dwell with his people—including the warfare of David.

In his book According to Plan, Graeme Goldsworthy helpfully clarifies how the violence of David and the kingdom of God go together. First, Goldsworthy points out the context of the warfare in Canaan: “The destruction of the Canaanites must be understood as the invasion of the kingdom of God into an alien and rebellious world. The saving acts of God on behalf of his chosen people are thus acts of judgment on godless nations.”1 In this kingdom—through God’s chosen king and God’s established tabernacle—God was creating the place where he could dwell with his people on the earth.

But Goldsworthy is also careful to point out that the warfare we read about in the book of Joshua and in the life of David is not the ultimate goal of the Bible: “We need to distinguish between the pattern of events and their perfection. The events of saving history in the Old Testament prefigure and demonstrate the pattern of the one true and perfect saving act yet to come.”2 All of David’s work on earth was important, but David’s most important work by far was to point forward to God’s end-goal of sending the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue, redeem, and restore God’s people and creation itself for all eternity.

Let us therefore not grow sluggish in actively awaiting the day when Jesus Christ will return to judge the living and the dead and to make his dwelling place—that is, his kingdom—in the new heavens and the new earth with us forever and ever.

1 Graeme Goldsworthy, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1991), 161.

2 Ibid.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 8–9 | 2 Corinthians 2 | Ezekiel 16 | Psalms 58–59

One of the most touching storylines from the life of David is the kindness he extends to Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan. David and Jonathan swore covenants together (1 Sam. 18:3, 20:16, 23:18), with Jonathan promising to protect David from Saul and with David swearing to show kindness to Jonathan’s house (1 Sam. 20:15)—that is, house in the sense of the family, just as we saw in 2 Samuel 7. Additionally, David made a promise to Saul that when he became king, he would not destroy any of Saul’s descendants (1 Sam. 24:21). David did not take lightly his covenants with Jonathan and his promises to Saul, and so, at the beginning of 2 Samuel 9, we find David seeking to locate any surviving members of Saul’s house to whom he could show kindness.

It would be difficult to identify a story in the Bible that more accurately captures the essence of our relationship to Jesus than what we find in the story of David and Mephibosheth. In Mephibosheth, we see someone born into the house of Saul—a house that Yahweh had rejected because of the sin of that house’s covenantal head. Not only that, but as a result of that sin, Mephibosheth had been left crippled (2 Sam. 4:4). But, because of a covenantal promise, King David seeks to extend kindness to such a “dead dog” (2 Sam. 9:8), so he brings Mephibosheth into his palace, treats him as though he were one of his own sons (2 Sam. 9:11), and feeds him from his own table (2 Sam. 9:13).

For us, it was the sin of our first father, Adam, that rendered us not merely crippled but even dead in our sins and trespasses (Eph. 2:1). And yet, because of the covenant promises that Yahweh made to Abraham, Jesus came as a Davidic king to show us kindness, to bring us into his Father’s house, and to feed us from his table forever—now through the Lord’s Supper and ultimately at the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:9).

But where the gospel of Jesus goes even beyond the story of David and Mephibosheth is in the cost Jesus had to pay to fulfill the promises of the covenant and to bring us into his Father’s house—nothing less than death on a cross. But just as the costs run deeper in the gospel, the blessings also run infinitely further. David could care for Mephibosheth, but he could not make him whole. Jesus, on the other hand, came to take our brokenness, sin, and sorrow upon himself, so that by his own suffering, we could be healed (Isa. 53:4–5).

If you are in Christ, Mephibosheth’s story is your story. Praise Jesus today for his covenantal kindness toward you.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 7 | 2 Corinthians 1 | Ezekiel 15 | Psalms 56–57

In 2 Samuel 7, David asks Nathan about whether he should build a permanent temple for Yahweh. David points to his own house built with solid cedar and contrasts it with the impermanent dwelling place of Yahweh in the tent of the tabernacle (2 Sam. 7:1–2). Yahweh quickly puts this matter to rest, insisting he does not need a house of cedar (2 Sam. 7:5–7).

But then, Yahweh flips the discussion. David will not build Yahweh a house of cedar, but Yahweh promises instead to build David a house—that is, a house in the sense of a family (2 Sam. 7:11). Specifically, Yahweh promises to establish forever the kingdom of Israel through David’s offspring (2 Sam. 7:12). This is an incredible promise, since earlier Yahweh had sworn that the offspring of the woman would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15) and that through the offspring of Abraham he would bless all the families of the earth (Gen. 12:1–3, 7). Here, Yahweh is further specifying the identity of this offspring who would save the world—he would be the son of David.

More than that, Yahweh promises to adopt the son of David as his own son (2 Sam. 7:14) so that the throne of this son of David/son of God would be established forever (2 Sam. 7:16). Yahweh swears not to treat the son of David as he had treated Saul by rejecting the house of David when the offspring of David sins but rather to discipline the son of David with a rod and with stripes—that is, by beating him. Yahweh will never, however, remove his steadfast love from David’s offspring (2 Sam. 7:14–15).

Ultimately, Yahweh would keep every bit of this promise—and more. Yahweh did not merely adopt one of the descendants of David, but he actually sent his only, eternally begotten Son into the world to be born into the house of David. Then, this greater Son of David (who is by nature the Son of God) was disciplined with the rod of men and with the stripes of the son of men, not for his own disobedience, but for the disobedience of all the sons of David who had come before him. But Yahweh then raised his Son up from the dead, declaring Jesus to be the Son of God through his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4) and exalting him as king forever to reign on the throne of David.

And all of this he did for us, crushing the head of the serpent and blessing all the families of the earth in his life, death, and resurrection. Praise Jesus—he, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he is worthy of all praise, honor, and glory now and forevermore (Rev. 5:5–14).

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 6 | 1 Corinthians 16 | Ezekiel 14 | Psalm 55

In 2 Samuel 6, we read one of the first stories explicitly describing the worship of Yahweh since Deuteronomy. David, the anointed king after God’s own heart who reigns over Israel, here brings the ark of God into Jerusalem. When Israel left Egypt, Yahweh led his people in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, and then, once the tabernacle was built, Yahweh dwelt in the midst of his people in the tabernacle. Now, however, Yahweh’s dwelling place with his people would be set in a single location—on Mount Zion in the City of David. In order to establish Jerusalem as the place where Yahweh would make his name dwell (Deut. 12:1–28), Yahweh reestablished two of the guidelines for his worship.

First, through the death of Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:5–11), Yahweh reminds his people that he is holy and that his people may not worship him in any way they see fit. Rather, they should observe all the commandments and statutes he had given them through Moses—including the commandment that only the priests should carry the ark of the covenant and that they should use the poles designed for that purpose and not a cart. It may seem that Uzzah has noble intentions in trying to prevent damage or harm from coming to the ark of the covenant, but because he disregards Yahweh’s commandment, he fundamentally mistreats the holiness of Yahweh when he reaches out to touch it.

Second, through the closing of Michal’s womb (2 Sam. 6:16–23), Yahweh reminds his people that his glory is infinitely superior to the glory even of Israel’s kings. Ultimately, Michal’s offense at David’s dancing for joy as the ark of Yahweh enters the city arises because she does not care that much about Yahweh’s glory and because she cares a lot about the dignity of her husband, Israel’s king. So, David points out to her that her father, Saul, had worried about his own dignity. Additionally, David reminds Michal that Yahweh had rejected Saul in favor of David precisely because David, unlike Saul, cared about Yahweh’s glory more than his own (2 Sam. 6:21–22).

In our own worship, then, we must take seriously the deadly holiness of Yahweh while also abandoning our dignity to rejoice in the Lord—especially since we have a better word than David had as he brought the ark into Jerusalem. The good news of the gospel is that Jesus Christ himself has been struck down, like Uzzah, for all the ways in which we have mistreated the holiness of Yahweh. Since Jesus went to trial for us, we are not on trial, and we may rejoice, having been named sons and daughters of the Most High God who dwells in our midst through his Holy Spirit.

O come, let us worship the Lord!

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 4–5 | 1 Corinthians 15 | Ezekiel 13 | Psalms 52, 53 & 54

Harry Emerson Fosdick once famously said, “Nobody except the preacher comes to church desperately anxious to discover what happened to the Jebusites.” Now, if Fosdick was describing situations where pastors primarily obsess about Bible trivia with their congregations, he was certainly right. But from another angle, Fosdick could not have been more wrong, since it was from the Jebusites that David captures the exceedingly important city of Jerusalem, as we discover in 2 Samuel 5.

Although we have had limited interactions with Jerusalem thus far in the story of the Bible, Jerusalem will quickly become the primary setting of the Bible’s story. Much less will we read about the Promised Land as a whole—which has been the focus of the Bible up to this point—and much more will we see Jerusalem as the main place in the Promised Land where Yahweh would dwell with his people.

David makes Jerusalem the center of both Israel’s kingdom and their worship in a way that will forever associate the city of Jerusalem with himself. Since David had been the one to capture Jerusalem from the Jebusites, and also because David moves his capital there from Hebron, Jerusalem comes to be called “the City of David” (2 Sam. 5:7, 9). Furthermore, in 2 Samuel 6, David will bring the ark of the covenant into Jerusalem, and David’s son Solomon will eventually build a permanent temple in Jerusalem where Yahweh would set his name.

If we have been reading the story of the Bible carefully, however, this should not surprise us. Back in Genesis 14, when we read the story of that curious figure Melchizedek, we learned that he was both the king and the priest of Salem (Gen. 14:18)—that is, of Jerusalem. Now, part of the introduction of the city of Jerusalem in Genesis 14 was to contrast Jerusalem with Babylon, the wicked city from Genesis 11,1 but the other part of this story was to set forth—from the very beginning of the Bible—a figure who could serve as king and as priest in Jerusalem. David would serve as king, but as we learned once again from the story of Saul, David was forbidden from ever usurping the role of priest, since David was not of the line of Aaron.

Instead, these stories anticipate the day when David’s greater Son would come into this world to claim his throne in Jerusalem as a priest—not in the line of Aaron, but after the order of Melchizedek. And when Jesus came to claim both his kingdom and his priesthood, he would do so not through conquering the Jebusites but through offering himself up to be conquered as a once-for-all sacrifice to take away the sins of his people.

The fate of the Jebusites is hardly trivia. In fact, the entire gospel of Jesus depends on what happened to them.

1 For more details on this point, see the meditation on Genesis 14.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 3 | 1 Corinthians 14 | Ezekiel 12 | Psalm 51

Sadly, we have only just begun to read here in 2 Samuel 3 about the murders Joab commits. In fact, Joab will be a thorn in David’s side throughout his reign, so that David will instruct his son Solomon to execute Joab as one of his first official acts when Solomon becomes the next king of Israel (1 Kgs. 2:5–6). Joab’s first murder here in 2 Samuel 3, though, establishes the besetting patterns that Joab—and David—will fall into again and again.

Joab had been one of David’s most trusted military leaders, along with his brother Asahel, while Abner had been the commander of Saul’s army (2 Sam. 2:8). After Saul’s death, Abner installed Ish-bosheth as king over Israel (2 Sam. 2:8–10), drawing both sides into a bloody conflict (2 Sam. 2:12–17). When Abner flees the battle in defeat, Joab’s swift-footed brother Asahel pursues him, and Abner kills Asahel to protect himself (2 Sam. 2:23). But, when Ish-bosheth accuses Abner of going into Saul’s former concubine (which would have been a claim to Saul’s throne), Abner rejects Ish-bosheth and joins forces with David (2 Sam. 3:6–11).

David joyfully embraces Abner, but Joab refuses to forgive him for the death of his brother—even in spite of the fact that Abner had tried to warn Asahel to break off his pursuit because he did not want to kill Asahel (2 Sam. 2:22). When Joab treacherously murders Abner, David distances himself from what Joab has done, but David does not punish Joab (2 Sam. 3:37), and David’s passivity sets the tone for the relationship between David and Joab for the rest of their lives. Joab will murder whenever he sees fit—even murdering David’s own son Absalom (2 Sam. 18:14)—but David will never hold Joab accountable.

It is not only Joab, however, whom David refuses to discipline. David will also fail to discipline his own children when they rape and murder, and even when they attempt to murder David himself (2 Sam. 13–18). While some sins of David are more glaring (e.g., adultery and murder in 2 Samuel 11), it is David’s failure to discipline that causes the most trouble during his reign.

Right from the beginning of the history of David’s reign as king, then, we are already seeing warnings not to put too much trust in David. He is the anointed king who follows after God’s own heart, but he will not be the one to destroy God’s enemies forever or to bring lasting peace to God’s people. So, while David’s many successes foreshadow who Jesus will be, we should also see that David’s failures foreshadow what Jesus will not be, so that Jesus will succeed where David has failed.

David may be a messiah, but he is not the Messiah.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 2 | 1 Corinthians 13 | Ezekiel 11 | Psalm 50

When Samuel anointed David as the next king of Israel in 1 Samuel 16, the anointing happened in secret. It is perhaps not surprising, then, to read that Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, makes Saul’s son Ish-bosheth king over Israel in 2 Samuel 2:8–11. Tomorrow, we will evaluate the actions of Abner, Joab, and Ish-bosheth. Today, however, let us consider the way this story in 2 Samuel 2 foreshadows the disputed reign of another true king—the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even though Yahweh anointed David as his king, Yahweh does not immediately reveal that choice with perfect clarity to all people. Similarly, in the life of Jesus, there are four main places where Jesus is identified as the Son of God but without universal clarity.1 One of those events was public, one private, one veiled, and the final one disputed.2 The first event was at the baptism of Jesus, when the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and the Father boomed his praise for his Son publicly from heaven for all to hear: “And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:11).

The second event was private, only for the eyes and ears of Jesus’ closest three disciples, Peter, James, and John, when Jesus was transfigured into his glory. There, the Father insisted that Jesus was greater than both Moses and Elijah, saying: “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mark 9:7).

The third event where Jesus is identified as the Son of God is the most interesting: at Jesus’ crucifixion. This event was public, but its significance was not equally clear to all. Furthermore, the declaration of Jesus’ Sonship comes from the most unlikely of sources: a Roman centurion overseeing the crucifixion. Seeing Jesus die, the centurion says, “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).

Ultimately, the legitimacy of Jesus’ reign hangs on the final event where God declared Jesus to be his Son: his resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4). Nevertheless, there are still those who dispute Jesus’ kingship, either because they remain unconvinced that the resurrection happened or because they think that, even if the resurrection did happen, nothing in this world has subsequently changed because of it. But if God did raise Jesus from the dead, shouldn’t that provide sufficient proof of our Lord’s kingship?

Perhaps not quite. David’s story, in fact, gives us another pattern—a pattern where Yahweh’s anointed one would be rejected, despised, and mistreated in this life. Nevertheless, the day is coming when Jesus will come again in his glory, riding on the clouds, and on that day, no one will dispute his reign. Therefore, let us look to him in faith now so that when he comes, we may rejoice to see our king coming to rescue his people once and for all.

1 As we will see later in our study of David, the title Son of God is the title God used to speak of the kings in the line of David (cf. 2 Sam. 7:14), although that title became much more significant with Jesus, who is not only the rightful heir to the throne of David but also is the eternally begotten Son of God the Father.

2 For a detailed exposition of this progression in the Gospel of Mark, see Frank Thielman, The Theology of the New Testament: A Canonical and Synthetic Approach (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2005), 57–83.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2 Samuel 1 | 1 Corinthians 12 | Ezekiel 10 | Psalm 49

In the opening of 2 Samuel, David learns about the deaths of Saul and Jonathan—a scene that teaches us important principles about the nature of Yahweh’s anointing of his kings. In 1 Samuel 31, we read that Saul had fallen on his own sword to end his life after being wounded (1 Sam. 31:4–6), but here in 2 Samuel 1, we learn a bit more of the story.

Apparently, Saul’s attempt at suicide was not successful, so he pleaded with an Amalekite to finish him. The Amalekite judged that Saul was correct about the impossibility of surviving, so he killed Saul, took Saul’s crown, and promptly went to report what had happened to David (2 Sam. 1:6–11). Now, remember that David had refused twice to kill Saul in 1 Samuel 24 and 26 (despite the fact that Saul was actually trying to kill him), so this news does not please David. Instead, he orders that the Amalekite be executed for putting his hand against Yahweh’s anointed (2 Sam. 1:14–16).

David’s response to the deaths of Saul and Jonathan is significant in two ways. First, David demonstrates again that he values Yahweh’s anointed king more than he does his own life. Saul represented a serious, unrelenting threat to David’s life and yet we see David writing a lament for Saul in 2 Samuel 1:17–27 rather than breathing a sigh of relief. David understood first and foremost that Saul was king because Yahweh had anointed him, which meant that David owed Saul boundless loyalty.

Second, David’s action to execute the Amalekite signals both his commitment to justice and his shift toward becoming the king. God had commanded in his covenant with Noah that anyone who sheds the blood of another human being must be put to death (Gen. 9:6)—and beyond the sin of murder, this Amalekite had murdered the man whom Yahweh had anointed as king. For David to order the Amalekite’s execution, then, was his first act as king, since God calls the state, not individuals, to judge criminals.

These two principles set up the theological foundations of 2 Samuel. If the entire book of Judges was an extended argument on why Israel needs a king, and if 1 Samuel demonstrated that Israel needed a specific kind of king—that is, a king after God’s own heart—2 Samuel will give us a much fuller picture of what Yahweh’s anointed king should look like.

This doesn’t mean that David will be perfect. In fact, we will read in 2 Samuel that David has serious, horrific flaws. But as we study the anointed kingship of David, we will learn more about what God’s ultimate anointed king, the Lord Jesus Christ, will look like—not only in the ways that he must resemble David, but in the ways that he must exceed David as well.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.