2 Samuel 3

2 Samuel 3:1-5

6. The strengthening of David’s position 3:1-5 The first verse in this chapter summarizes 2 Samuel 2:8-32. The point of the remaining verses is that during the seven and one-half years that David ruled Judah, he grew stronger because God was blessing him. Many of the sections of 2 Samuel, beginning with this pericope, plus 1 Samuel 31, were recast in 1 Chronicles. [Note: For the parallel references, see Youngblood, p. 803; William D. Crockett, A Harmony of the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, pp. 106-41; James D. Newsome Jr., ed., A Synoptic Harmony of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, pp. 23-79; or, for the Hebrew, Abba Bendavid, Parallels in the Bible, pp. 31-70. David resorted to further polygamy even though God had commanded Israel’s kings not to multiply wives (Deuteronomy 17:17).

He undoubtedly married the women mentioned, partially in order to cement political alliances, as was common in the ancient Near East. [Note: Abraham Malamat, “Aspects of the Foreign Policies of David and Solomon,” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 22:1 (1963):8. The site of Gesher (2 Samuel 3:3) was northeast of the Sea of Chinnereth (Galilee) and north of Jabesh-gilead. The Israelites were to make no covenants with the inhabitants of the Promised Land (Exodus 23:32; Exodus 34:12). That is where the king of Gesher lived. Perhaps if David had relied less on foreign alliances, he would not have had to fight as many battles with his neighbors as he did. Unfortunately he spent a large portion of his total reign as king fighting battles (cf. 1 Chronicles 22:8).

2 Samuel 3:6-5

B. The Unification of the Kingdom 3:6-5:16 The writer also documented God’s blessing on David in this record of how David wisely unified the nation of Israel and became the leader of all 12 tribes.

“The story of how David became king of all Israel follows, in most essentials, the same outline already established in the account of his accession to kingship over Judah (2 Samuel 1:1 to 2 Samuel 3:5). Both begin with a warrior trying to curry David’s favor (an unnamed Amalekite, 2 Samuel 1:1-13; Saul’s army commander Abner, 2 Samuel 3:6-21) and continue with the execution or murder of the warrior (2 Samuel 1:14-16; 2 Samuel 3:22-32), which is followed by a lament uttered by David (over Saul and Jonathan, 2 Samuel 1:17-27; over Abner, 2 Samuel 3:33-34). Near the center of each literary unit is a brief report of the anointing of David as king (over Judah, 2 Samuel 2:1-7; over Israel, 2 Samuel 5:1-5). David and his men are then successful in defeating their enemies (2 Samuel 2:8 to 2 Samuel 3:1; 2 Samuel 5:6-12), and each unit concludes with a list of sons/children born to David (in Hebron, 2 Samuel 3:2-5; in Jerusalem, 2 Samuel 5:13-16). The similarities between the two sections point to the careful craftsmanship of a single author, who now sets about to tell his readers that just as the house of David has replaced Saul and his house in southern Canaan (2 Samuel 1:1 to 2 Samuel 3:5), so also David’s house is about to replace that of Saul in the rest of the land as well (2 Samuel 3:6 to 2 Samuel 5:16).” [Note: Youngblood, pp. 832-33. “Avraham Biran and his team of Israeli excavators were wrapping up a day’s work when one of them noticed a faint outline of characters incised on a rock embedded in a wall. Study showed it to be an Aramaic text from about 830 B.C., the substance of which was the account by an Aramaean king of his military operations against the ‘house of David.’ Along with a possible example in the Mesha inscription, this is the only reference to David so far in any extrabiblical text. This puts the historical existence of David beyond doubt and furthermore shows him to be so powerful a figure that the nation was named for him.” [Note: Eugene Merrill, “The Veracity of the Word: A Summary of Major Archaeological Finds,” Kindred Spirit 34:3 (Winter 2010):13.