II SAMUEL---FROM SUCCESS TO SORROW
INTRODUCTION
1. The contents of this book deal with the history of the kingship of David.
2. It begins with his ascension to the throne and gives account of the events during his 40-year reign.
3. The importance of David in the government of God is at once seen when we realize that there is no other man that has one whole book devoted to his life.
4. Some comments about David as a person:
A. “He was the strongest king Israel ever had and was characterized as a fine executive, a skillful soldier and was of a deeply religious disposition.” --Tidwell
B. “There is no one found anywhere in God’s Word who is more versatile. He is David, the shepherd boy, the court musician, the soldier, the true friend, the outcast captain, the king, the great general, the loving father, the poet, the sinner, the brokenhearted old man, but always the lover of God.” --Mears
5. “As I Samuel marks the failure of man in Eli, Saul, and even Samuel, so II Samuel marks the restoration of order through the enthroning of God’s king.” --Original Scofield, p. 355, Introduction
A. Saul chose to become king by the way of self-will, David chose God’s way.
B. After Saul’s death David made no effort to seize the kingdom by force. Even after Judah claimed him as their king, it was seven years before Israel crowned him. (5:4,5)
C. David knew it was God’s plan for him to be king, but he was willing to wait.
D. Michelangelo once said of a piece of marble: “I see an angel in that marble and I must get him out.” God was shaping David. He saw a king in a shepherd lad. It took some time to chisel out a king, but as always, it pays to wait God’s time.
AUTHOR
1. Perhaps Nathan the Prophet (7:2; 12:1; I Kings 1:22)
2. Perhaps Gad or one or more of the other early prophets (24:11,18)
DATE OF COVERAGE - about 40 years, during the reign of David, from about 1060-1020 B.C. (5:4)
CIRCUMSTANCES
1. To record the reign of David (2:11; 5:1-5)
2. To record the preparation for the building of the Temple and of Messiah’s kingdom (7:4-7, 11-16)
KEY PASSAGE - 7:10-16
KEY VERSE - 5:12
MESSAGE OF THE BOOK
1. “The book teaches us first that God’s opportunity is created by the attitude of man towards Him, and secondly, that man’s opportunity is created by the attitude of God towards him.” --G. Campbell Morgan
2. The need of patience and dependence upon God for the fulfillment of His promises (2:1; 5:1-3)
3. The triumph of the life that keeps close to the Lord (1-12) and the troubles of the life that drifts from God. (cf. Heb. 2:1-4) It was through the very prosperity which had come to him by his widespread conquests that David had become exposed to the temptations that led to his deep fall into sin. (cf. I Cor. 10:12)
4. The swiftness of God’s punishment of sin (11:4; 12:13-23; 13:1-15)
A. God is always ready to forgive sin. (12:13)
B. Sometimes pardoned sin is punished. (12:14) (cf. Gal. 6:7,8)
C. There is little joy in David’s life after his sin.
D. “All sin, whether in king or commoner, whether in high or low, whether in the godly or godless, certainly brings its bitter fruitage. Sin is the destroyer of prosperity. However full and fair the tree may look, if rot is eating its way within the trunk, the tree will surely break and fall, or else become a leafless skeleton. There is not sinning without suffering. Especially is all this true about the lust of the eye, and sexual sin, which was the point of David’s breakdown. We should flee it as we would a viper. See, too, how David’s sin led on to the even greater sin of murder. More often than not, one sin leads on to another of a worse kind.” -- J.S. Baxter
5. “TRIUMPHS TURNED TO TROUBLES THROUGH TRESPASS”
THE DAVIDIC COVENANT
I. The Promise to David (7:12-16)
A. Of a house - reference to David’s physical posterity
1. They will never be displaced by another family.
2. The line of David will always be the royal line.
B. Of a throne - not a reference to a material throne, but rather to the dignity and power which God had conferred upon David as king. It reflects a quality.
C. Of a kingdom
1. Reference to David’s political rule over Israel
2. “Forever” signifies that the Davidic authority and Davidic rule over Israel shall never be taken away from David’s posterity.
3. The right to rule will never be transferred to another family, but would remain eternally as the inheritance of David’s seed.
4. Thus, David’s Kingdom stands as an eternal kingdom.
II. The Fulfillment of the Covenant
A. The fulfillment is yet future and anticipates the return of Christ to earth to reign as the Eternal King.
B. Five conditions to be fulfilled by the covenant
1. Israel must be preserved as a nation - without the preservation of the nation it is impossible to restore the Davidic Kingdom.
2. Israel must have a national existence and occupy specific geographical boundaries. (7:10)
3. David’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, must return to the earth bodily and literally in order to reign over David’s kingdom. (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:29-32; 15:14-18)
4. A literal earthly kingdom will exist over which the returned Messiah reigns in contrast to a spiritual kingdom. (Isaiah 9:6,7)
5. This kingdom must become an eternal kingdom. (Psa. 89:29, 36-37; II Samuel 7:13,16)
OUTLINE OF THE BOOK
I. THE PATIENT YEARS (1-4)
A. The lament for Saul (1)
B. The house of Saul (2-4)
II. THE PROSPEROUS YEARS (5-12)
A. David’s coronation (5)
B. David’s convictions (6)
C. David’s covenant (7)
D. David’s conquests (8)
E. David’s compassion (9)
F. David’s critics (10)
G. David’s crime (11-12)
III. THE PERILOUS YEARS (13-24)
A. Trouble with His kinsmen (13-19)
B. Trouble with His kingdom (20-24)
--Exploring the Scriptures
John Phillips