Join us as we unravel how human nature has remained constant throughout the ages, mirroring incidents of today in ancient stories. We’ll discuss David’s journey to become king and the internal dynamics that shaped his reign. Experience the timeless struggles of power, loyalty, and integrity within the kingdoms of Israel.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
SPEAKER 02 :
It’s fascinating when you read history to see how much people are the same in every age and every time. Cultures change. Standards change. Technology changes. But human nature, at its base, changes very little, if at all. Petty politics, palace intrigue, deal-making, petty and great jealousies. Hey, they make us feel right at home, even in strange times and places. I think it’s one of the reasons Shakespeare remains so relevant. His plots, you know, have been stolen over and over again by playwrights and movie makers. When Solomon said there’s nothing new under the sun, he was talking about Hollywood. For all I know, Shakespeare stole some of his stuff from the Bible. But when you read along in the history of Israel, you feel right at home even in these days of modern, modern political assassination. When Saul died in battle against the Philistines, Anyone reading the story or even remotely familiar with subsequent history would have assumed that David would have taken over the throne over all of Israel the day after Saul died. After all, Samuel himself had anointed David king at God’s own command and choice to be king over Israel. But if that was our assumption, we would have been wrong. The men of Judah accepted David as king immediately because David was one of them. But Saul’s chief of the military, a man named Abner, installed Saul’s son as king over the rest of Israel. And so the battles, the struggles between these two kingdoms begin. Reading in 2 Samuel 3, we learn that there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. David got stronger and stronger. The house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Now, none of this, as it happened, could possibly have been lost on a man like Abner. Abner was a military man. He was a fighter. He was a warrior. He was tough as nails, and he was very aware. He had his attitudes toward David, who had on one occasion really showed him up and then had the nerve to rub it in in front of everybody while Saul was chasing David around from cave to cave. But Abner was no fool, and he well understood the levers of power in his own time. And it came to pass that while there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul. He strengthened his position in every way. Saul had a concubine. Her name was Rizpah. And Ish-bosheth, the king of Israel, said to Abner, Why have you gone in unto my father’s concubine? Now, this probably, looking back on it, even though the idea of concubines may be a little strange, the fact that the chief of your military staff goes to bed with the original, the former king’s concubine, may not seem like that big a deal. However, the concubines of a king, his retinue, his harem, was a royal prerogative. And for Abner to be fooling around with a king’s concubine, it was perceived wrong. by Ish-bosheth as a power move. This was no petty jealousy on his part. Abner had to know this would not go down well, but he had no business fooling with the king’s concubine. Although, truth to tell, we don’t even know he did it. All we know is Ish-bosheth accused him. Abner was furious, and he said, I’m a dog’s head, which against Judah I show kindness this day to the house of Saul your father, to his brethren, to his friends. You do understand, don’t you, that I have fought against the house of David on behalf of your kingdom? I have not handed you over to David, which I could have done. That you charge me this day with a fault concerning this woman? And I have little doubt that Abner was probably really flabbergasted by this because he probably could have had a whole lineup of women being the kind of man that he was. Then he says this, So do God to Abner, and more also, except as the Lord has sworn to David. He knew that God had sworn to give all Israel to David. Even so, I will do to him. to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel, over Judah, all the way from Dan, way in the north, to Beersheba at the far south. And Ish-bosheth couldn’t say anything to Abner because he was afraid of him. Well, he might. Well, he might. He would not have been king at all unless Abner had installed him. And that being the case, he really would have done well to keep his mouth shut about that concubine. Why not turn a blind eye to it? Why not ignore the thing? But somehow, being king, he had come to assume that he had the real power. He didn’t. Abner did. And there’s not a hint that Abner had shown him any disrespect at all. Ish-bosheth, though… may not have been able to live with his own sense of powerlessness. People do this, you know. After a period of time of feeling powerless, we are prone to exert ourselves, and oftentimes in the most foolish ways, at the worst possible times, and in situations where we can’t possibly win. This is exactly what Ish-bosheth did, and he lost everything in the process. So Abner didn’t waste any time. He sent messengers to David saying, whose is the land? Who does all this belong to? Make your league with me and behold, my hand will be with you to bring all Israel to you. David said, well, in reply, I will make a league with you. but I require one thing of you. You shall not see my face, except you first bring Michael, Saul’s daughter, my wife, when you come to see my face. Michael was David’s first wife, the daughter of Saul, whom Saul had given to him after his defeat of the Philistines. And there’s every reason to believe that David, in spite of the fact that he’d had a string of wives following her, still cared for her. So, he said, you’ve got to do this. And David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, saying, deliver me my wife, Michael, whom I espoused to me for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. I paid for her. I want her. Ish-bosheth sent, took her away from her husband, his name was Phaltiel, and sent him down south. And her husband went along with her, weeping behind her all the way to Baharim. And Abner finally said to him, go home. and he returned. It kind of hurts to imagine this poor fellow, weeping behind his wife, walking down the road. He must have really loved her. We don’t have a clue how Michael felt about all this. She had been David’s wife, but her father, Saul, had given her to another man when David had run for his life, and she had been with this man a long time. Abner, meanwhile, had communication with all the elders of Israel, saying, You sought for David in time past to be king over you. Now this is interesting, because it suggests that David, as king, was the elders’ preference all along. That Abner had imposed Saul’s son on them, which they did not really want. But Abner was powerful enough to make it stick as long as he wanted to. So he said, You wanted this, now do it. For the Lord has spoken of David, saying, By the hand of my servant David will I save my people Israel out of the hand of the Philistines and out of the hands of their enemies. Now there’s a certain cynicism in all this because he had known all along that God had appointed David. And if he knew that all along, why did he wait all this time before he did something about it? He only finally did something about it when he got angry, peaked at Ish-bosheth. But now we’re going to do God’s will, something we never quite got around to doing before. So Abner spoke in the ears of the tribe of Benjamin, and he went also to speak in the ears of David and Hebron, all that seemed good to Israel and all that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin. So Abner came to David and Hebron, and twenty men were with him. David made Abner and the men that were there a feast. And Abner said to David, I will arise and go and gather all Israel unto my lord the king, that they can make a covenant a league with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires. And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. Now David was, among other things, a statesman. He and this man had held serious differences in the past. Mortal differences, in fact. But that time was past. And the interesting thing about David is that he knew how to be a good winner. He didn’t have to grind people’s faces in the dust. He didn’t have to humiliate people who were his enemies. When he had won, he was gracious about having won. But there would be, in short order, a fly in this ointment. Grab a pencil and a piece of paper. I want to give you some information, and I’ll be right back with the rest of the story after this short announcement.
SPEAKER 03 :
Join us online at borntowin.net. That’s borntowin.net. Read essays by Ronald Dart. Listen to Born to Win radio programs every day, past weekend Bible studies, plus recent sermons, as well as sermons from the CEM Vault. Drop us an email and visit our online store for CDs, DVDs, literature, and books. That’s borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 02 :
The problem, the fly in the ointment, if you will, was Joab, David’s commander. David had sent Joab and a troop off on some errand or another, and they’d been out fighting and brought back a great deal of spoil. Abner had already left. David had sent him away, and he was gone in peace. Problem is that when Joab and his men hit town, somebody went straight to Joab and said, Abner was here. Would you believe Abner was here? You won’t believe it. And the king sent him away, let him go. He’s gone in peace. And Joab was beside himself. He came to the king and said, what have you done? Abner came. He was here. Why have you let him go? You know Abner, the son of Ner. He came to deceive you and to know you’re going out and you’re coming in and to know everything you’re doing. He came here to spy. The problem here transcended all matters of state, spying or otherwise, for Joab. He was every bit the warrior as Abner, and Abner had killed his brother. Never mind that Abner killed him in self-defense, in combat. For Joab, it was a blood feud. Abner had actually tried not to kill the boy, but the boy wouldn’t turn aside. And he had to. Well, when Joab came out from David, having vented his spleen, he sent messengers after Abner and brought him back. David knew none of this. So when Abner was returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly. And there he smote him, struck him right through the heart that he died for the blood of Asahel, his brother. It was a blood feud. And it was not combat. It was murder. He actually in stealth killed this brave man. Afterward, when David heard it, he said, I and my kingdom, my government, are guiltless before the Lord forever from the blood of Abner, the son of Ner. Let it rest on the head of Joab, on all his father’s house. Let there not fail from the house of Joab somebody that has an issue or is a leper or that leans on a staff or a cane or that commits suicide or that’s hungry because he doesn’t have anything to eat. So Joab and, by the way, Joab was not alone when he did this. Abishai, his brother, was there. They killed Abner because he had slain their brother, Asahel, at Gibeon in the battle. And apparently, it took two of them to do the deed with a man like Abner. David said to Joab and all the people that were with him, Rend your garments, tear your clothes, gird yourself with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And King David himself followed the beer, and they buried Abner in Hebron, with David walking behind as they carried him there. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. If you’ve watched much in the way of television and news events, you realize that people in the Middle East really do know how to mourn. And the king lamented over Abner. And he said, Did Abner die as a fool dies? Did he have to go like a common fool? Your hands weren’t bound. Your feet weren’t put into fetters. You weren’t arrested. You fell as a man falls before wicked men. And all the people wept again over him. And when all the people came to cause David to eat food while it was yet day… David swore and said, No, so do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else until the sun has gone down. A sign of mourning. And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people. What was important here is that all the people and all Israel understood that day that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner. This was important from the one end of the kingdom to the other, because if David had killed him, if David had been responsible for his death, he would have had great difficulty in commanding the respect and the leadership of much of Israel off to the northern part of the kingdom. It was important to David. It helped to solidify him as king. He was a fighter. He was a valiant man. He was no stranger to the shedding of blood. But David never shed a drop of blood to become king. And this, in the eyes of all the people, was extremely important. And the king said to his servants, Don’t you know that there is a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, even though I am anointed king. And these men, the sons of Zeruiah, that’s Joab and Abishai, are too hard for me. The Lord shall reward the doer of evil according to his wickedness. This was no posturing on David’s part. David never forgot, even on his deathbed, what Joab and Abishai had done, and he made provision for it. In his final words. 2 Samuel 4. When Saul’s son heard that Abner was dead in Hebron, his hands were feeble and all the Israelites were troubled. And Saul’s son had two men who were captains of bands. They were company captains or brigade captains. One of them’s name was Baana. The name of the other was Rechab. They are two real losers if there ever were any. Jonathan, his son, Saul’s son, had a son that was lame in his feet. He was five years old when tidings came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel. His nurse took him up and fled, and it came to pass as she was fleeing, he fell and hurt his foot, and he was forevermore lame. His name was Mephibosheth. Being a son of Jonathan, he was protected by David’s promise to Jonathan, as indeed all of Saul’s children were. Rechab and Benaiah, though, went and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-bosheth, who was the one that Abner put in position as king. He was taking a nap on his bed at noon. They came there into the middle of the house as though they would have fetched some wheat, and they struck him in the heart, and they escaped. But when they came into the house as he lay there, they smote him and slew him and cut off his head. And they took his head and got away through the plain all night. And they came to David bearing the head of Ish-bosheth all the way to Hebron. And they said to the king, Look, the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of all his seed. What total idiots they were. Evidently, they knew nothing of David, but they were idiots even if they had. David answered, he said, As the Lord lives who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when one told me, Behold, Saul is dead, thinking to have brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and I slew him in Ziklag, who thought I would have given him a reward for his tidings. You should have known this. How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house, on his own bed, shall I not therefore require his blood of your hand and take you away from the earth? He pronounced sentence on them right there, because he knew what they were doing. It is so unbelievably stupid to try to curry favor in this way by the committing of murder, by the shedding of blood. Sometimes in life you have to fight. And sometimes in life it’s necessary to kill. As Solomon once said, there is a time to kill and a time to make alive. But this was the killing of a righteous man in his own house, on his own bed. It was murder. So David commanded his young men, and they killed him, and cut off their hands and feet, and hanged them over the pool in Hebron. They took the head of Ish-bosheth, and they buried it in the sepulcher of Abner in Hebron.
SPEAKER 03 :
For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, The Book of Samuel, number 12. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
SPEAKER 02 :
After all the blood was shed, and after the news had spread far to the far north part of Israel, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said, Look, We are your bone and your flesh. We’re your relatives. And in time past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one that led us out and brought us back into battle. And the Lord said to you then, you shall feed my people Israel. You shall be a captain over Israel. So, you know, this has been they knew from what God’s will was from way back. But politics got in the way. This is in 2 Samuel 5. David would have been about 37 years old when this happened. He was 30 years old when he began to reign in Judah. And he reigned a total of 40 years, seven years and six months over Judah. In Jerusalem, he reigned for 33 years over all the country. So we have David for over a 40-year reign in total. And the king and his men went to Jerusalem to the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, Even the blind and lame can keep you out of here. You’re not coming in here, thinking David can’t come in here. Well, nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, the same as the city of David. Now, if you have any feeling at all for the geography of Jerusalem, what was then the Jebusite city of Jerusalem was what would be today the Old City, including the Temple Mount. The city of David would have been to the south and to the east of that, I think across the Brook Kedron and a little bit south of the Mount of Olives. Most of your Bible maps will probably show approximately where it’s at. It was a part of the whole thing. David was able to take that, and it became the city of David. On that day said, David said, anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those lame and blind who are David’s enemies. And that’s why they said that blind and lame will not enter the palace. So David dwelt in the fort and called it the city of David. And David built round about from millow and inward. And he went on and grew great. And the Lord God of hosts was with him. Hiram, king of Tyre, seeing this new thing developing in the south, sent messengers to David. He sent cedar trees, carpenters, and masons, and they built David a house.” And David was finally beginning to realize himself that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and he is exalting his kingdom for his people Israel’s sake. This is an important distinction. David wasn’t there for his own good, his own sake, and he knew that. He knew God was exalting his kingdom for the sake of the people. David took himself some more concubines and wives out of Jerusalem after he was come from Hebron, and he still had sons and daughters born to him. It’s a different world, different time, and it falls strangely on our ears. But it was important in those times that there be many sons and daughters from royal blood. Well, when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, they all came up to seek David. And David heard of it, and he went down to the fortress. The Philistines also came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up and fight these people? Will you deliver them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, Go up. I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hand. Now, what is really interesting about this man, he didn’t do stuff on his own. He didn’t do things without at least asking God before he went to do it. He didn’t jump to conclusions, and he waited for answers from God. There would come times when he would break this approach to things and would suffer for it, but that was later. David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote the Philistines there and said, The Lord has broken forth on my enemies before you as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim. And there they left their images. The Philistines went off and left their images, and David and his men burned them. And the Philistines came up one more time and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. And David inquired of the Lord. He says, Go up or not? And he says, You shall go up. But this time I want you to fetch a compass behind them. I want you to work your way around behind them and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And let it be, when you hear the sound of a going, a rushing in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you get your men up, because the Lord is going out before you to smite the host of the Philistines. So David did what God told him, and they smote the Philistines from Geba till you come all the way to Gezer. What a difference a king can make. If that king trusts God first… and asks for guidance. I’m glad that in times of distress, our leaders have called for a national day of prayer. The pressure is on to push prayer out of public life, and I do not know where we will be in years to come.
SPEAKER 03 :
Ronald Dart will be right back. If you would like more information or if you have any questions, write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. In the U.S. and Canada, call toll-free 1-888-BIBLE-44 and visit our website at borntowin.net.
SPEAKER 02 :
you’ve probably noticed that we don’t routinely ask for money on this program. And that leaves open the question of how the program is financed. The fact is it varies from station to station. Some are sponsored locally by individuals, churches, or associations in your community. Others are paid for directly by Born to Win with funds we receive from listeners just like you. If you’d like to inquire about sponsorship, please get in touch with us and we’ll tell you how it can be done. Or if you’d rather, drop a check in the mail to help us advance the program into other areas or to move on to daily broadcasting in many more areas. If we’ve helped you, you can trust that we’re helping other people as well. Maybe now it’s your turn to see what you can do to help us reach out to new places and new people with the power of the Word of God. If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor, drop us a letter or give us a call during business hours. Call toll-free at 1-888-BIBLE44. That’s 1-888-242-5344. Or if you want, just drop a check in the mail to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Until next time.
SPEAKER 01 :
Christian Educational Ministries is happy to announce a new full-color Born to Win monthly newsletter with articles and free offers from Ronald L. Dart. Call us today at 1-888-BIBLE44 to sign up or visit us at born2win.net.
