Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Is Justice Always Sweet? | Historical Books | 2 Samuel 1:1-16

Episode Date: May 28, 2025

Do you rejoice at the downfall of others? Why does David put the messenger to death? Are you only concerned with your well-being? In today's episode, Jensen shares how 2 Samuel 1:1-16 encourages us to see ourselves within God's narrative, submissive to his commands. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Samuel 1:1-16

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt-McNair. I have a confession. In college, I had a friend tell me she didn't like to ride in the car with me because I got too angry. Now, I'm not one to yell obscenities at anyone or make rude gestures. I have boundaries. But she wasn't wrong that deep within me something ugly boils up whenever another driver does something that I perceive as stupid. or rude, especially when it interferes with my day. It happens less now. With kids in the car, turns out you become the one sitting at the stoplight a little too long while you try to hand your

toddler a book, or the one driving extra slow to extend a nap in the car, or speeding to get home before your potty training toddler has an accident. Parenthood humbled me pretty quick. It reminded me to see other drivers as people with their own stories, not people out to get me ruining my day. But man, back in the day, when I suffered from a speller to a road rage, the best possible thing would be when the person who cut you off or sped around you or was an absolute jerk in some way got stuck behind someone else who was driving slow, or was cut off themselves, or best of all, got pulled over by a cop for reckless driving. I cannot explain to you the satisfaction of seeing the downfall of your enemies. Enemies, in this case, being any other driver I had beef

with on the road. Now, this isn't about the folly of road rage. I know. I've worked on it. Turns out it hurt me more than it hurt them. My point is about the satisfaction I felt watching my enemy get what I thought they deserved. Sweet, sweet justice. Just a girl in her car full of pride, feeling smug, reveling in the glory of another's downfall. Now, saying it out loud feels ridiculous because it is, and it's such a ridiculous thing to get so worked up about. I know. But that feeling happens all the time in other ways, and in ways that we don't often think are ridiculous. Like, turn on your TV, flip to any news station with whatever political affiliation, and you'll find one or two people celebrating the failure of their enemy. Trump dropped

the ball, AOC's plan backfired. Watch a reality TV show and see how the stars rejoice when the villain gets what was coming to them. Or maybe just look inside your own heart. When the coworker you always feel like you're competing with fighting to be better than makes a mistake, does part of you feel a little happy? When the person who is mean to you in high school ends up with a life that you think is less successful than your own, does part of you feel smug? You see, we live in a world where the downfall of your enemy is your victory. This has been true long before cable news, reality TV, or the invention of cars and road rage.

It's exactly the worldview that the people of the ancient Near East expected David to hold regarding King Saul's death. At the end of First Samuel, we learn that King Saul fell on his sword and killed himself during battle. But here, in 2 Samuel, David is unaware of what has transpired. He's still a fugitive running from a king who wants him dead. He knows he has been anointed as the next king, but again and again, we've seen him trust God for his timing and respect Saul's kingship. Now, as he and his men are resting after a battle, a young man dressed in mourning clothes runs up to tell David what had transpired for the nation of Israel during the battle, that Saul, and Jonathan were dead. Verse 5. Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead? I happened to be on Mount Gilboa, the young man said, and there was Saul leaning on his spear with the chariots and their drivers in hot pursuit. When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said,

What can I do? He asked me, who are you? An Amalekite, I answered. Then he said to me, Stand here by me and kill me. I'm in the throes of death, but I'm still alive. So I stood beside him and killed him because I knew that after he had fallen, he could not survive. And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord. Okay, so this man, the Amalekite, tells David that Saul, having fallen on his sword, was nearing death and asked for mercy to be killed swiftly by this man. And he does. He killed. He killed. kills King Saul. But with our context of First Samuel, we know that this man is lying. He didn't kill Saul. Saul killed himself. He was successful. So why lie? Why say you've killed the king of Israel and

why steal his crown and arm band and take such a long journey to find David and deliver this news? Well, this young man clearly expects David to be happy. To see that his path to the throne is now open. With Saul dead, David should realize that his enemy, the one who pursued him, forced him to live in the wilderness, is no longer a threat. He's gone. And this young man before him had been the one to ultimately clear that path for him. This man expects David to see the downfall of his enemy as his victory, and he hopes to gain something in the midst of it all. What comes next must have been deeply shocking for him. Then David and all the men with him took off their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan and for the army of the Lord and for the nation of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. Then, rather than reward this young man, David actually puts him to death

because he's admitted to killing the Lord's anointed. He enacts justice on behalf of Saul. David wasn't just from another time where things were different. Remember, this young man expected David to see Saul as his enemy, expected him to rejoice in Saul's downfall, expected him to be grateful that his path to the throne was clear. His exile in the wilderness could end, but he wasn't. How?

Why is David's response so different? Well, let's look at the passage again. When David hears the news, he mourns and weeps and fasts for Saul, for Jonathan, for the army of the Lord, and for the nation of Israel because they had fallen by the sword. See, David is not primarily concerned with himself. He's not driven by his own success, his own narrative. He's shown again and again that he's living in surrender to the will of God, that he respects God's commands, that he understands Saul to be, not his enemy, but the anointed king of Israel. David mourns because when he's told of the fate of Israel, he doesn't let his story overshadow the pain and defeat and death that they've suffered that day. When you think about yourself, when you are primarily focused on you and your life, your well-being,

then it becomes easy to see everyone else, anyone else who gets in the way of that, who disagrees, who impedes you, as your enemy. In the silliest of things like driving and in the big things like your identity and purpose. No one would have faulted David for rejoicing, for at least first feeling relief that his time as a fugitive in the wilderness was over.

But David is able to respond differently because he saw himself rightly in God's narrative. He wasn't focused on his own narrative of success, of kingship, of comfort, and safety. He wasn't primarily thinking about and emotionally tethered to the outcome of his life. He knew that he was a servant of God. His greatest concern was for God's story, for God's people. That's how he saw the people the world told him to see as his enemies as his friends, as human beings deserving of his compassion, empathy, and mercy. It's how he was able to genuinely mourn the downfall of Saul, as

a true tragedy and not a victory for himself. Are you able to do that? It's not easy. It's easier to hate your enemy, to feel smug when they fail, to pretend like you get to be the arbiter of justice. It's easier to think about me, to focus on me, to make decisions and be guided by my own personal narrative. But there's freedom in realizing. that God's story is better, that his story is the one that brings about ultimate flourishing for all of creation, all of humanity. There's freedom in realizing it isn't up to you to secure victory, to defeat the enemy to craft the perfect narrative for your life so that you can feel fulfillment and purpose in this life. Your real enemy, Satan, has been defeated by Jesus' death and resurrection

on the cross. You have victory in his life. Your story has purpose because it is grafted into the story of all creation. A moment of smug satisfaction of the demise of your enemy is nothing in comparison to the everlasting joy that comes from living for God's story. When you see yourself rightfully within the narrative that God is writing in all of creation throughout all of history, it frees you. Frees you to see every other human being as a person to love, to know, to care for. Frees you to not scramble to win in this life, be that through a successful career, a comfortable life, a nation on top, but to make choices in line with God's vision of love, justice, and mercy. it frees you to be different, to not be like the world, to not see people who hurt you or disagree

with you or cut you off in traffic as the enemy, but as children of God, worthy of love and dignity and in need of compassion and mercy just as you are. Ultimately, it will free you up to cast yourself at the feet of Jesus and rest securely, knowing your place in His place in His His grand narrative is guaranteed by his blood. Amen.