Reading the Bible Through

2 Samuel 24 - 1 Kings 2   24:1, Lots of things I don't understand here. Why was the anger of the Lord kindled against Israel this time? Does the Lord incite people to do wrong in the Lord's eyes? That seems terrible. How did Joab know this was wrong? What convicted David's heart?  Then David basically has to chose his own punishment. I am always troubled by the number of people that died because of that. As I sit here typing this, I guess it would make David's census invalid. As I read on, it looks like David maybe thought the pestilence would be against his family not all the people of Israel.  So ends 2 Samuel.  Bathsheba goes to King David to report that Adonijah has made himself king. Nathan the prophet comes in to back up her story. Than David says to call Bathsheba to him. Where was she in the meantime?  What is the significance of Adonijah grabbing the horns of the altar? How do we keep God's testimonies? I don't understand what that means.  1 Kings ...

2 Samuel 21 - 23   Saul had struck down the Gibeonites in his zeal for Israel and Judah. It is so important what our zeal does. The Gibeonites ask for 7 sons of Saul to hang them before the Lord. Back in 2 Samuel 9, David asks if there is anyone left of the house of Saul, so that David may kindness to that person for the sake of Jonathan. Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, then comes to eat at King David's table. So why were these other 7 grandsons of Saul not mentioned then?  2 Samuel 21 says that the  Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. Previously, we read that Saul either fell on his sword or his armor bearer ran Saul through at Saul's request.  There's some wild names in here!! The 3 mighty men risk their lives to get David water from a certain well. David then refuses to drink this water. He then pours it out before the Lord. I have always gotten stuck on "he poured it out." Now I am more focused on the "before the Lord" part. He gave it to the Lord. ...

2 Samuel 18 - 20   I don't have much to say about this. I do notice how David as king is challenged twice in this short passage. Absalom rebels against David until Absalom is killed. Then Sheba rebels against David until he is killed. I do find myself wondering about Joab and Absalom. Joab was told to deal gently with Absalom, but he kills him instead. Was this justified? Was David justified in weeping for his son? 

2 Samuel 15 - 17   Just now, the fighting between David and Absalom reminds me of the fighting between David and Saul. In both, David must flee for his life, but refuses to kill the person seeking David's life.  David goes up on the Mount of Olives. This is where Christ also went. 

2 Samuel 10 - 14   10:5 How were David's men able to stay at Jericho? It had been destroyed by Joshua.  David doesn't go out to battle when kings do so. He sees Bathsheba bathing which lead to David getting her pregnant. David then tries, twice, to get Bathsheba's husband, Uriah,  to have sex with her so that David's philandering wouldn't be found out. (How often we try to wiggle our way out of things!)When this doesn't work, David sends Uriah back to the front with a note to Joab that says to be sure to get Uriah killed. Why does Joab do it? Yet, David is a man after God's own heart.  Tamar tries to talk Ammon out of raping her by telling him to ask their father's permission to marry each other. I really think back in maybe Leviticus or Numbers, somewhere that we have already read, it said that a man should not marry his sister or his half-sister. Why would David have permitted this? Was Tamar just trying to get away perhaps? Ammon's friend didn...

2 Samuel 1 - 3   I wonder why this book is called 2nd Samuel. Samuel is already dead. It seems to me it should be called 'David'. The Amalekite thinks he is bringing David good news of Saul's death. However, the Amalekite ends up being executed for killing Saul although Saul had told him to (at least according to the Amalekite.) This is different from what we last heard about Saul's death. When we first learned of Saul's death, his armor bearer refused to kill Saul. Saul then fell on his own sword. His armor bearer then did the same thing.  The battle of Gibeon sounds like a sporting event. The commander chose 12 men from each side to compete before them.  Ish-bosheth accuses Abner of having sex with Saul's concubine. However, Ish-bosheth is afraid of Abner and doesn't follow up. Did Abner have sex with Saul's concubine? Why did Ish-botheth bring it up if he wasn't going to do anything about it? This is the thing that sends Abner to David's side....

1 Samuel 18 - 22   Saul become jealous of David because the people sang of David having killed more people. Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with David but had left Saul. Still, Saul tries to kill David with a spear while David is playing the lyre to soothe Saul. This sounds like it belongs on a seedy talk show.  Today, when I read of Saul naming 100 Philistine foreskins as the bride price for Michal in the hopes that David would be killed, I think of David sending Uriah to the front of the battle to get Uriah killed. That way David would have Bathsheba for a wife and David's adultery might be covered up.  I am curious as to the exact covenant between David and Jonathan. As I read 20:31, it seems to me that Jonathan was next in line for the throne after Saul. However, it also seems clear that Jonathan was content for the throne to go to David.  It always interests me that David choses to act as a madman at a time he was afraid.  Suddenly, we hear of...

1 Samuel 15 - 17   Saul did not follow the Lord wholeheartedly. He sacrificed the lesser things. (As I understand it, this was also what was 'wrong' with Cain's sacrifice. It was not the best for the Lord.) Then Saul lies about what he did to Samuel's face while Samuel could hear the captured animals that were to have been sacrificed. Did Saul's power corrupt him or was it from fear? This was the same man who hid among the baggage. In 15:24, Saul owns that he was afraid of the people.  The Lord regretted making Saul king over Israel. What does it mean to have a God who had regrets, yet is always good and perfect. It is hard to see this God in the old testament being full of love for all people when he keeps telling the Israelites to devote them to destruction/kill them all.  In chapter 16, the elders of Bethlehem ask Samuel if he comes peaceably. What would the other answer be? A quick google search indicates Samuel may have come to rebuke or judge them in some mann...