2 Samuel – The Story So Far
0 comments | Posted by Steven Layson on 31 Oct 2010 in From Steve's Study ::
I wonder if you remember our series from 1 Samuel earlier in the year. The book opened with a woman at prayer. Hannah was in great distress because she had no children, & so cried out to God for help. God answered her prayer and Samuel was born. But he was to be no ordinary child, God had a plan to use him to change Israel forever.
As Samuel grew, he dedicated his life to serving God. In turn, God spoke through him & worked through him to raise Israel up. As he grew older, however, the people of Israel asked him to appoint a king to lead them. Both God and Samuel warned them about what that would mean for them, but they were insistent & so God agreed to give them a king.
The first king of Israel seemed a perfect choice, he was “an impressive young man without equal among the Israelites – a head taller than any of the others” (9:2). However, though Saul started off well, it didn’t take long until he had turned his back on God & gone his own way.
One of Samuel’s last acts was to tell Saul that God had rejected him as king, & that he was going to appoint “a man after his own heart” (13:14). God leads him to a small family in Bethlehem. He does not choose the oldest, or the tallest, or the strongest, but the youngest, for he tells Samuel “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (16:7). And so, Samuel anoints David as Saul’s successor.
The rest of the book of 1 Samuel is a sorry tale of the decline of King Saul combined with the rise in stature and power of David. Interestingly, throughout this story, David’s loyalty to his king never falters. He makes no move to usurp God’s chosen king, instead waiting for God to fulfil his promise to him.
And so we come to the book of 2 Samuel. Saul has been killed in battle, as has his son Jonathan (David’s best friend), and the way becomes clear for David to finally become king. In our journey through this book, we’ll see the kind of king he is, how he acts with love, wisdom, patience and devotion to God. But we’ll also see that even this “man after God’s own heart” is flawed. We’ll be left with God’s sovereign promise to install a new king who will reign forever – a king that will not falter or turn from his God. This king will establish the kingdom of God, which will impact the whole world for eternity. That king is…
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