2 ND SAMUEL Week 1, Intro and chapter 1 As is customary I begin each new book of the Tanach, the Old Testament, with an introduction so that we have a sense of what to expect. As we are entering the 2 nd book of Samuel today, we’ll have that…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 2, chapters 1 and 2 Saul and Jonathon are dead and so the road is now clear for David’s ascension to the throne of Israel. The writer and editor of the Samuel Scroll has gone to great lengths to demonstrate that David did not murder or…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 3, chapter 2 David is now king of Judah and residing in Hebron. 2 nd Samuel chapter 2 gives us a very brief accounting of David’s coronation and the circumstance is actually both odd and informative. A good question to ask is: why would a single…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 4, chapter 3 Chapter 2 of 2 nd Samuel established David, God’s man, as King over Judah and he set up headquarters in Hebron but he had by no means consolidated his power over all of the clans that represented even the Hebrews living in the…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 5, chapters 3 and 4 A corner is about to be turned in the history of Israel. 2 nd Samuel chapter 3 records the story of the final stage of David’s rise to power as the first king of a fully united Israel. Last week we…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 6, chapter 5 2 nd Samuel chapter 5 presents us with an opportunity for several detours, and we’ll take some of them. On the surface this chapter seems to be simple and straightforward but in actuality it is full of all kinds of twists, turns, and…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 7, chapter 5 continued I told you at the beginning of our last lesson that 2 nd Samuel chapter 5 is flowing over with information and issues that are easy to rush right by, but are quite important to our overall progression through the Bible and…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 8, chapter 6 2 nd Samuel chapter 5 concluded with David’s 2 nd and more decisive victory over the Philistines. The Philistines had been more than a thorn is Israel’s side for the past 3 centuries; they had prevented Israel from living peacefully enough to […]

2 ND SAMUEL Week 9, chapters 6 and 7 2 nd Samuel chapter 6 is the story of the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to the City of David from where it had rested for the past 70 years in the home of Avinadav (a Levite and probably…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 10, chapter 7 We embark on 2 nd Samuel chapter 7 today, which is another of those vitally important places in the Bible that could be called a canon within a canon; or a torah within a Torah. This is simultaneously a summary and a mountaintop…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 11, chapter 7 continued 2 nd Samuel 7 is a theological feast, which contains some principles and attributes of God that seem plain enough and even familiar for us, but were apparently not as obvious to David, his prophet Natan, and the Israelite population in general.…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 12, chapter 8 The Book of 2 nd Samuel gives us a good illustration of the various kinds of literature and their purposes that the several anonymous writers and editors wove together in order to reach a coherent story especially concerning the period of Israel’s history…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 13, chapter 9 As we enter 2 nd Samuel chapter 9 I want to remind you that precise chronological order is not maintained in the book. And this is because the authors and/or editors were not endeavoring to create a blow-by-blow account of David’s reign but…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 14, chapter 9 and 10 After further consideration, I want to spend just a little more time with 2 nd Samuel chapter 9. So indulge me please because the reason is that I see in this chapter an amazing God-pattern and prophecy developed that has direct…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 15, chapters 10 and 11 We ended last week by reading a substantial amount of Scripture in Psalms 44 and 60. These two Psalms are directly associated with the time period of the ferocious and dangerous 2 (or perhaps even 3) front war David was fighting…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 16, chapter 11 Last week we read 2 nd Samuel chapter 11 (the story of David and Bathsheba) and set the context and background for understanding it. But we also took a little time to discuss the rather lack-of-in-depth approach that Christianity usually has taken to…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 17, chapters 11 and 12 We are about halfway through 2 nd Samuel chapter 11, the story of David and Bathsheba. When we last met David had summoned Bathsheba’s husband, Uriyah , from the battlefield in the area of Rabbah and told him to come […]

2 ND SAMUEL Week 18, chapter 12 As we continue with the story of David and Bathsheba in 2 nd Samuel 12 today, we find ourselves deep into that part of the Bible that causes us to look back to the God-principles set down in the Torah, back to the…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 19, chapter 12 continued We will continue to go slow as the crucial God patterns and principles absolutely gush out of the pages of 2 nd Samuel as it concerns the David and Bathsheba affair. And in order to understand them we’re necessarily going to have…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 20, chapter 13 In the previous chapter we saw something that ought to give us great pause, if not perhaps discomfort. It is that although David was forgiven (as an act of grace) by Yehoveh, God of Israel; and although the Lord again showed David favor,…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 21, Chapters 13 and 14 Last week we finished the first half of 2 nd Samuel chapter 13 that reports the horrific incident of David’s firstborn son, Amnon, raping his half-sister Tamar in an act of out-of-control sexual lust. I won’t review the gory details […]

2 ND SAMUEL Week 22, chapter 14 I cannot begin to tell you the challenge I feel in presenting to you the deep matters present in 2 nd Samuel 14. We’ll only be able to delve down so far without getting so bogged down that the time spent will outweigh…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 23, Chapters 14 and 15 Last week we left off with the wise woman of Tekoa standing before King David, telling him a fabricated story about her supposed plight of being a widow with only one remaining son, but his life was in jeopardy. The […]

2 ND SAMUEL Week 24, Chapter 15 Absalom is going to be nearly successful in his rebellion against his father, King David. It seems as though much of the nation was behind Avishalom , and so David found himself in a position to either use his few remaining loyalists to…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 25, chapters 15 and 16 We’re going to continue our slow crawl through 2 nd Samuel 15 today because it is so laden with fundamental concepts and patterns that are vitally important to who we are in Christ. We certainly won’t go this painstakingly through the…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 26, chapters 16 and 17 David had barely escaped Jerusalem with his entourage of warriors, advisors, and family when Absalom and his rebel forces arrived. When David heard that a widespread and well organized revolt had happened, and that his own son was its leader, King…

2 nd SAMUEL Week 27, chapters 17 and 18 We began 2 nd Samuel chapter 17 last week, as Absalom and his forces were now running the government of Israel from Jerusalem, and he was even occupying the royal palace named after his father in the City of David. Absalom’s…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 28, chapters 18 and 19 As we ended our previous lesson, we received a sad (almost embarrassing) narrative of the aged and worn-down King David standing at the gates of Machanayim imploring his war bound army to go gently with Avishalom. One can only imagine the…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 29, chapter 19 We began this rather long chapter 19 of 2 nd Samuel last week and still won’t finish it today. In a few moments we will read this chapter in its entirety. While every word in the Bible is God- breathed and therefore necessary,…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 30, chapter 19 and 20 We’ve got a lot to cover today, and we’ll move along at a pretty good rate. However shortly I’m going to get on a little detour for a few minutes to make a point that some may appreciate but others may…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 31, chapters 20 and 21 This 20 th chapter of 2 nd Samuel that is often called Sheva’s Rebellion or revolt shapes today’s lesson. We got a little way into it last week as we found the northern 10-tribe coalition that this chapter tends […]

2 nd SAMUEL Week 32, chapter 21 We’ll pick up today with 2 nd Samuel chapter 21 that begins by explaining that at some point in David’s reign he dealt with a severe famine that lasted for 3 years. Let me remind you that chapters 21 through the end of…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 33, chapters 21 and 22 Last time we concluded the disturbing story of King David’s solution for ending a famine (that had been caused by a 3 year drought). There is no doubt that the drought was of divine origins because David inquired of the Lord…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 34, chapter 22 As we continue in this well-known Song of Thanksgiving of 2 nd Samuel chapter 22, I’ll start by reminding you that this same Song appears in Psalms as the 18 th . We’ll still not finish chapter 22 today, so rich and deep…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 35, chapters 22 and 23 As we continue in 2 nd Samuel 22 we’ll start at verse 29. And like last week we’ll do this in small chunks since this is such a long chapter. There are a number of important implications and applications in this…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 36, chapter 23 Chapter 23 of 2 nd Samuel is divided into two parts: David’s final oracle (some call it his last will and testament) and a listing of David’s special war heroes. The first part is filled with prophetic utterances whereby David is more or…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 37, chapters 23, 24 We’re not quite going to complete our study of 2 nd Samuel today, but we will next week. I imagine when we started it you didn’t expect that we’d spend almost 11 months in it. Besides the awesome spiritual truths contained here…

2 ND SAMUEL Week 38, chapter 24 END This will be our 38 th and final lesson in 2 nd Samuel. We will have spent 83 lessons in total in the entire Book of Samuel combined (1 st and 2 nd Samuel). Recall that originally what […]