From Many, One

Prayer

2 Samuel - David Becomes King over Israel

Today we’ve moving into the next chapter in the story of the Old Testament, the book of 2 Samuel - we’ll be making our way through the first five chapters. Last week, when we finished up 1 Samuel, we saw the end of King Saul’s life and reign. Not just Saul, but his son, Jonathan, who was killed in the battle against the Philistines as well. It was a devastating defeat for the Israelites. Israel is in shambles at the end of 1 Samuel.

2 Samuel 1 picks up with David learning of Saul’s death. A messenger - ironically an Amalekite (the people Saul was supposed to destroy entirely) - brings him news of Israel’s defeat and the death of Saul and Jonathan. Now the messenger thinks David is going to be happy to hear about Saul’s death, so he takes credit for being the one who kills Saul at Saul’s request (which is a lie - if you remember, Saul asked his armor-bearer to do it, who refused, so Saul fell on his own sword).

Talk about misreading the room. David does not rejoice in the news of Saul’s death. He mourns it deeply, tearing his clothing, weeping, fasting for the death of Saul and his beloved friend, Jonathan, and for Israel’s army. And because the messenger claimed to have killed Saul, David has him put to death for raising his hand against the Lord’s anointed.

2 Samuel 1 ends with David taking up a lament for Saul and Jonathan - it is a lament filled with praise for these two men. David orders the people of Judah to be taught the lament, so they would grieve with him.

Now, it’s in 2 Samuel 2 that we start getting some serious political intrigue, the Bible’s version of Game of Thrones. The tribe of Judah anoints David as their king. But Abner, Saul’s cousin and the commander of his army, secures support from the rest of the tribes to anoint Saul’s son, Ish-bosheth, as king. So we have a divided nation, two kings, and lots of tension. At one point the two sides try to meet, the armies - they propose a friendly challenge of having young men fight hand-to-hand - which turns deadly and breaks out into a battle between the two armies (which David’s army, led by David’s nephew, Joab, wins).

That victory is emblematic of what’s happening overall. We learn this in 2 Samuel 3:1 - The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker. And it’s here in 2 Samuel 3 the political intrigue really kicks into high gear:

2 Samuel 3:6 - During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner had been strengthening his own position in the house of Saul. We never learn what Abner was doing to strengthen his position in the house of Israel, but there is one thing: Ish-bosheth, the king, accuses Abner of sleeping with one of his father’s concubines. It doesn’t say if it’s true or not, but either way Abner is highly offended, and threatens Ish-bosheth with taking his support to David’s side. It’s clear from the story that Ish-bosheth is a weak king - and it’s Abner who has the true power here. 2 Samuel 3:11, Ish-Bosheth did not dare to say another word to Abner, because he was afraid of him.

But here’s the deal - Abner was already planning on taking his support to David - he saw the writing on the wall. So Abner sends messengers to David, offering to garner the support of the rest of Israel for David if David will make an agreement with him. David agrees to meet with him on the condition that Abner bring with him David’s wife, Michal, Saul’s daughter, whom Saul had given to another man. Abner does that, and then he meets with the elders of Israel, encouraging them to make David their king. He and David meet and it looks like everything is set to hand the rest of the kingdom over to David.

Until Joab shows up. Joab, David’s army commander, does not trust Abner, and wants revenge on Abner for killing Joab’s brother, Asahel. So unbeknownst to David, Joab sends messengers to Abner, who returns to Hebron, where David’s kingdom is set up, and murders him there. This of course threatens the plans to consolidate the kingdom for David. So David makes sure to distance himself from Joab’s actions, and makes sure that he joins him in the funeral that David arranges for Abner, a display of public grieving.

With the death of Abner, it’s clear that Ish-bosheth is losing power and influence, and so in 2 Samuel 4 we get the story of his murder. And it comes at the hands of some of Saul’s men, who were leaders of raiding bands. They sneak into his house, stab him to death, cut off his head, and bring the head to David. Again, a misreading of the room. They tell David what they did, thinking David will be delighted at the death of his rival - he is not. He has these men put to death as well.

This brings us to 2 Samuel 5, where we get this, vv. 1-5: All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. 2 In the past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel on their military campaigns. And the Lord said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will become their ruler.’” 3 When all the elders of Israel had come to King David at Hebron, the king made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. 4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years. 5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

So finally, years after Samuel had anointed David as king - remember this was back in Bethlehem when David was still working as a shepherd - David is anointed king over the entire nation of Israel when he is thirty years old. Just to give you a sense of where we are in the timeline of history, David begins his reign as king in the year 1010 BC, just a thousand years or so before the birth of Jesus.

We get a taste of how political astute David is in 2 Samuel 5, in how he chooses to establish capitol. Rather than set up it up an existing town, he marches his army to Jerusalem, a Jebusite city. In spite of their brazen confidence (Jerusalem is a well fortified city, sitting up on a hill), David and his army defeat them, conquering Jerusalem.

Strategically, making Jerusalem the capitol is a great move. It’s neutral, not affiliated with any of the tribes (though it is in the territory of Judah). It’s well fortified. Sits in the center of Israel along major east-west and north-south routes, easy to travel to. David has a palace built there. Things are definitely looking up for David and the nation of Israel, as we see in these verses, 2 Samuel 5:10, 12 - And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him...12 Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

From Many, One

So chapter five ends very differently from the ending of 1 Samuel. David is indisputably king over all of Israel - and the kingdom, as verse 12 tells us, has been exalted by God for the sake of all his people, the nation of Israel. It’s one of the rare moments in Israel when all is well. When everyone is together. There’s national unity and national pride, and David has been the one (of course, the Lord with him) who has brought them together.

And this brings us to what I want to talk about this morning, this idea of unity, of bringing people together - which is incredibly hard thing to do. Because we’re all so different. Look different, different preferences, think differently. How do you create connection, togetherness - without denying or stifling individuality?

In the couples counseling assessment I use (Prepare-Enrich), one of the aspects it measures is the level of family connectedness. Trick is to find the balance with how connected the family is. On the one hand, everyone should have a sense of belonging, they’re a part, you do things together, share life together - but at the same time, everyone should still have their own identity, their own interests and likes. You’re not overly connected, you don’t have to do everything together.

Consider how difficult the issue of unity is for our nation right now. The way we usual talk about our nation today is how divided it is. That we aren’t united, and each side blaming the other for the lack of unity. From the very founding of our nation, that’s been the challenge - a long-held motto for the United States has been “E Pluribus Unum”, it’s on the Great Seal of the United States. It’s Latin for, “from many, one.” That was the founding fathers’ challenge - how to bring thirteen colonies, filled with people who came to the New World for very different reasons, from different faith backgrounds, agriculturally based areas that wanted slavery, industrial areas that did not. They wanted the freedom to live their own lives - but at the same time, how to you create a sense of connectedness, of a single united nation. Huge task to create the United States of America.

What we see in 2 Samuel is that David was especially good at this - and long before he came into power. When Saul died, the man who had been obsessively hunting him down in spite of his innocence, David did not celebrate. He mourned, genuinely mourned his loss. He mourned for the nation of Israel, for their loss. His lament spoke of Saul in praiseworthy terms. He did the same for the commander of Saul’s army, Abner.

When the rest of Israel finally embraced him as king, he did not hold a grudge. He didn’t favor the tribe that had been with him the whole time (Judah). He sought to unite the entire nation - establishing a new capital, centrally located, that all could access. He’ll establish this national unity further in 2 Samuel 6, which we’ll look at next week, when he brings the ark of the covenant into the new capital, seeking to draw the nation together in their covenant relationship with the Lord. It works, the whole nation rallies together.

So I want to spend a few minutes talking about what this means for us, as the Church. When I say the Church here, I mean church with a capital “C”, those who belong to Jesus Christ. This is hugely important for us because the same tension exists for us - how are we to be united when we’re so different?! Different denominations, different styles of worship, we don’t interpret the Bible the same - we come from so many different backgrounds and nations, different races - the list goes on. By the way, this is no different than what the early church struggled with - one of the primary issues throughout the New Testament is difficulty of uniting Jewish believers and Gentile believers. How do you make the one out of the many? E Pluribus Unum.

Particularly important to talk about because I think there’s been a negative influence from our culture on the church. And it’s this - the focus on diversity. The push for diversity. Now let me be clear, this is not to say that I think the church should not be diverse. Absolutely, 100% it should be. It will be - that’s the promise of Scripture, church will be a beautiful gathering of believers from every background:

Revelation 7:9-10, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

What I mean when I say that diversity is a negative is when we push for diversity. When we put our focus on our differences, whether it be by race or gender or ability or whatever. Now it comes from good intentions, desire that everyone and anyone be included, that they belong, that they are valued, their gifts appreciated and used for the common good. But a focus on our differences, which is what the push diversity necessarily does, does not bring about unity. Instead, it keeps us preoccupied on what makes us different.

And that’s obvious from where the Bible turns our focus - and it does so in two ways. Galatians 3:26-28 is a perfect example of this: So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Notice the repetition of all - you are all children of God, for all of you, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. That the first point - the focus is on all, on everyone. Not on our differences - notice that those things are made secondary - there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, male or female. Now, it’s as if you stop being a Jew or free or female - Paul is making the point that’s not what we’re to be concerned with. We’re not working to make sure we’ve got proper representation of each group, that we check off all the boxes.

God’s encouragement to us to bring us together is not by commanding us to focus on our individual differences, but rather because we value every individual, no matter what their characteristics are. We recognize they are valuable, precious, how gifts to offer.

We don’t define each other by our race or gender or nationality or social class - which is what I think the push for diversity is doing in our culture today, but rather as brothers and sisters in Christ. Let me be clear, this is easier said than done. It certainly was for the early church. We tend to be tribal, associate with those most like us. It’s more comfortable there.

But growing into the oneness that Jesus has called us to isn’t intended to make us comfortable. Quite the opposite - it stretches us. It’s teaching us to love people in all their wondrous variety. It has certainly stretched me - I think in particular about being involved with Capernaum. Like a lot of folks, I came into this ministry with a mindset that this was all about how I was going to help this group of people, everything was one direction - what I was doing for them. But that reduces them. To really be unified with them, our relationship has to be mutual. I need to see what gifts they have to offer, what I can receive from them.

The other essential aspect of unity in the church is this - it is in Jesus Christ that we are made one. He is the source of our unity. Galatians 3 - In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith - you were baptized into him, you’ve been clothed with him.

There has to be something bigger, greater, that draws us together. And this is Paul’s point here - that unity can’t be derived from being Jewish or Greek, or economic status, or whatever else. In the church today we can’t be unified by our denomination, political leanings or whatever else.

For us, it must be Jesus. He is our center. He is who brings us together. Before I’m part of PCC or ECO or white or American or middle class or whatever - I belong to Jesus. I have been baptized into Jesus, immersed into life with Jesus, clothed with him - that’s my team uniform.

Let me finish with this, as we think about how to put this into practice. Paul talks about unity in Philippians 2, note what he says here in verses 1-5: Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

Two challenges I want to hold out to you. Note that it begins with being united with Christ - as we experience comfort from his love, share in his Spirit, tenderness, compassion. That moves us toward sharing the same with others.

So two practices - one is geared towards being united with Christ. Be with Jesus this week. Discipline of silence, of solitude is all about. Giving yourself time to know and experience Jesus - love, tenderness, his Spirit in you.

Second is to let the experience of Jesus’ love transform how you related to others, to have the same mindset - which is all about humility, valuing others, considering their interests above yours. Make a connection with someone this week from our church. Express your appreciation for them. Take time to show interest in their lives. Give them your attention.

E Pluribus Unum. From many, one. Let us be unified in Jesus Christ.