2:1
It seems that David spent some time at Ziklag, just carrying on as before. Then, “in the course of time, David enquired of the Lord”. He asks if he should go up to one of the towns of Judah. We never really heard of Saul inquiring of the Lord, though he would ask of Samuel. David looked to the Lord directly, as the Psalms make abundantly clear. David receives an affirmative answer from God, then David inquires further, looking for a more precise answer, and is told to go to Hebron. Hebron was located centrally in Judah.
2:2-4
David went with his two wives. Rather frequent mention is made of David’s two wives. This is perhaps significant, given his later disastrous failure. All his men and their families travelled with David. The men of Hebron anointed David as king of Judah. David had earlier been anointed privately by Samuel, in the presence of his brothers (1 Sam 16:13). We can maybe see a pattern here that can apply more generally. God may make His purposes for us long before the events come to pass. There will be an inner witness from God, this will later be followed by a public realisation. One of the key things is how we react in the intervening period. The wrong reaction is to tell everyone that God has made me king (preacher, teacher, prophet or whatever) and expect everyone just to accept it. Indeed the reaction will likely be the complete opposite. The right reaction is that we prepare ourselves, living faithfully, learning from experiences and from other people, studying the word. In time, God’s promise will work itself out. At this point David is only king over Judah, there are still several more years before he becomes king of all Israel.
No comments:
Post a Comment