2 Samuel Chapter 1

2 Samuel picks up where 1 Samuel left off – the gruesome, undignified and tragic death of king Saul, his three sons and his reign, followed by the long-awaited ascent of David to the throne.

Throughout most of 1 Samuel, we see David tormented by king Saul’s determination to kill him. As a result, David’s life, although always preserved under God’s faithful gaze, was turbulent. Naturally/logically, David’s response to king Saul’s downfall is mindboggling – how is one able to find oneself in such deep agony, sorrow and distress at the end of an archenemy of one’s youth (1 Samuel 18: 29)?

Herein lies two key takeaways:

1. The weight and utmost esteem of the will of God above all.

From start to finish, not once did David fail to acknowledge king Saul as the Lord’s anointed.

The end of king Saul marked the end of a chosen king, and the way in which king Saul died was utter dishonour to God’s will. Although David was not one without weakness, found to have faltered in many ways, he led a life wholeheartedly seeking after God’s heart, knowing when and how to turn back to God even after straying far, almost to the point of no return.

It was in David’s lack that God’s power was made perfect, and it was in lack that he saw and wholly accepted the perfect will of God (Psalm 19, 119), “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are (God’s) ways higher than (our) ways, and (God’s) thoughts than (our) thoughts.” (Isaiah 55: 8-9).

2. The significance of spiritual unity as one body in Christ in the fulfilment of point 1.

David did not mourn alone; all the men who were with him mourned and wept and fasted in unison for the people of the Lord.

If a single man is able to complete all the work God requires, to have a part in God’s salvation plan, of what use is God’s command for us to multiply and fill the earth?

Is it not of God’s great joy and pleasure that His body of people continually grow, not only in faithfulness, but also in number?

In the same manner, just as each member of the same body cannot do without the other, all members of the same body are to be of one mind. If one member suffers, how is it possible that all other members of the body do not suffer with it? Indeed, God wills for us to fulfill the law of Christ through the bearing of each other’s burdens as our own.

How precious it is that in so doing, we abide in God as He abides in us.

May we pray unceasingly for one another, striving to be a single-minded like-minded people, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind, for such is the will of God for His body of chosen people.

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