Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - There's No Moral to This Story | Historical Books | 2 Samuel 2:12-32

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

Do you read the Bible like it's Aesop's Fables? Do you trust that God will keep his promises? Are you comfortable living in the gray? In today's episode, Keith shares how the tension in 2 Samuel 2:12-32 points us to the ultimate resolution found in King Jesus. 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 2:12-32

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. Some Christians treat the Bible like it's a book of inspirational stories, little life lessons, short tales with tidy morals, sort of like Asop's fables, except with a spiritual twist. If that's how you read the Bible, then you're probably going to be confused by 2 Samuel chapter 2. Because this chapter has no obvious moral example. There's no memory verse in it. to tape to your mirror. No simple nugget of wisdom, no obvious takeaway. I mean, in some sense, 2 Samuel 2 is a pretty dark chapter. But honestly, that's pretty comforting. Because life doesn't

always come with a tidy moral lesson at the end of every day. I mean, most days, I don't lie in bed thinking, wow, I learned a little helpful lesson today. No, I'm just trying to get through my day. Sometimes it feels like I'm just trying to make it through chaos. I make decisions and I don't always understand why I made them or even if they were the best decisions. I say things that I regret. I try to do the right thing and wondering if I actually ended up making things worse. Life isn't usually black and white. It's not crystal clear. Oftentimes, it's kind of muddled. It's gray. Are you comfortable living your life in the gray? If not, you're not going to enjoy today's passage. But here's the good news. The gray is often where God does his best work.

And before we jump in, let's pray. Father, as we open your word, give us eyes to see what you're doing. Even when we can't make sense of it. Teach us to trust your hand in the gray areas of life. Shape us through your word. Make us more like Jesus. Amen. By the start of 2nd Samuel, Saul is dead, and so is Saul's son and David's friend Jonathan.

We pick up in verse 4. Then the men of Judah came to Hebron. And there they anointed David King over the tribe of Judah. Now you might remember all the way back when David was a young man, he was promised that he would one day be king over Israel. But up to this moment in the story, that hasn't happened. Now he's finally made king, but only over the tribe of Judah. He won't be king over the whole nation for a few more chapters.

I think there's some takeaways in there for us. The first is this. The kingdom of God starts small, but it continues to grow. Jesus said the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that eventually grows into a huge tree. Don't get discouraged by the current circumstances. David waited patiently on God's promises. He knew that one day he would be king, that one day he would rule over a great kingdom, but that didn't happen instantly.

He had to wait patiently on God for many, many years to see that become a reality. And of course, we have to be willing to wait on God, wait on his timing. I think the second takeaway is this. God keeps his promises. You and I need to believe that deep in our heart that God always keeps his promises. I'm sure it would have been easy for David to doubt God's promise that he would one day be king. It would have been easy for him to think, oh, I misunderstood what God said, or maybe God changed his mind. But God always keeps his promises to us. Joshua says that not one promise of God has ever failed. You can believe that God will keep every promise to you. Lord, I pray that you would give us faith to believe your promises that are true for us in Jesus. Amen. Once David becomes King of Judah, what's the first thing he does? Well, what we find in this chapter is that he reaches out with kindness to his enemies.

He blesses the men who buried Saul. That's the same Saul who spent years trying to kill David. but David shows honor to his enemy. Here's verse five. David says, The Lord bless you for showing this kindness to Saul your master by burying him. May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor.

David is magnanimous in victory. But not everyone is ready to move on so quickly. Saul's former military commander, Abner, grabs Saul's sons. His name is Ishbochev. And he installs, him as the rival king over the other tribes. This is a power play by Abner, and it sets the stage for a big conflict. Here's verse 8. Abner took Ishbochev, son of Saul, and brought him and made him king over

Gilead, Ephraim, Benjamin, and all Israel. So you see the problem here, right? There are two kings, but only one throne. The tension is back. And notice the author's subtle jab. The name Ishboshen death? Well, it literally means man of shame. Most scholars believe that the man's actual name was Isch Ba'el, which means man of Baal. But the biblical writers intentionally change it to make a point. What's the point? Well, it's that Israel isn't just holding onto Saul's legacy. They're now installing shame in the place where God's anointed king should be. David is God's anointed king. He represents what God is doing in the world. Saul's son Ishposheth represents a rival kingdom. In this world, God's kingdom always faces opposition. Paul says that when a person becomes a Christian,

they are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his son. It's important to note that Abner made Ishbosheh king. Abner was Saul's chief military commander. He knew that God had anointed David the next king. Abner sets up Ishbocheth as a rival king. It's not just rebellion against David. This is rebellion against God. I think what you and I need to learn is that we shouldn't get discouraged when we see the spiritual battle that takes place in this world. We should know that God's kingdom has always had enemies, that there are always dark kingdoms

trying to bring down what God is doing. What we must do is pledge our allegiance to King Jesus. What we must do is align ourselves. with God's kingdom to live by His kingdom's ethics. God, I pray that your kingdom would come and that your will would be done in our heart as it is in heaven. Your will would be done in our family, in our community as it is in heaven. We align ourselves with your kingdom.

We pledge allegiance to King Jesus. Amen. Now we pick up in verse 12. And I'm going to simplify some of the names just to make it easy. year to follow. It says this. Abner, together with the men of Ishboschath, who was Saul's son, left and went to Gibbon. Joab and David's men went out and met them at the pool of Gibbon. One group set down on one side of the pool and the other group on the other side. So this scene is pretty tense. The enemy armies have come up to a pool of water and there's a standoff. It's kind of like an old western where each side is staring down the other

waiting for someone to make the first move. Then in verse 14, Abner says, Let's have some of the young men fight hand to hand in front of us. While this might sound confusing to us, it was a common practice back in their day. To avoid larger bloodshed, two armies would send a handful of troops to represent them in the battle, and the winner would take everything.

This is what happened back in 1st Samuel when David fought Goliath. But back to this story, Joab agrees to Abner's request for a representative ballot, battle. So 12 men from each side step forward. Verse 16. Then each man grabbed his opponent by the head and thrust his dagger into the opponent's side and they fell down together. So all die, all 24 of them. There's no resolution. It's just a field of dead bodies. But this battle is only beginning. Because there was no winner of the smaller battle, the larger battle breaks out and men are killed everywhere. And in the middle of it, Joab's brother, Eschiel starts chasing Abner. Now, Eschiel is fast. Verse 18 says he was as swift as a gazelle.

But Abner is a veteran warrior and he sees Eschiel coming and he warns him, turn aside, stop chasing me, pick on someone else. But Aschiel doesn't stop. He's determined to take out Abner and the rival kingdom. So finally, Abner turns around and drives the butt of his spear through Ashiel's stomach and Ashfield dies on the spot. When his brother Joab finds out he's furious. The chase continues, more bloodshed, more loss, until finally Abner calls for a ceasefire. He says in verse 26, must the sword devour forever? Don't you realize this will end in bitterness? Joab agrees to Abner's request and everyone walks away, but nobody wins. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is 2 Samuel chapter 2. What's the point? What do we do with the chapter like this?

Well, here's what I take away. This is what life under rival kings looks like. Confusion, division, violence, people grasping for power, people caught in the middle. No one exactly knows what to do or how it's going to turn out. This is what it feels like for us when our life is caught between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. But then we can take this down to a more personal level. Sometimes we're in a marriage that feels like it's hanging on by a thread, or maybe we have a secret addiction that no one really knows about, or maybe we live in constant tension at work or unresolved conflict with a friend. Sometimes family relationships feel more like landmines than safe havens. Or maybe it's just that quiet ache that follows you around, a sense that somehow things are not right in your life.

That's what it's like to live life in between rival kingdoms. That's what it's like to live life in the gray. And because we live there, we can't rely on ourselves to sort it all out. We need something or someone outside of us. We need the wisdom of God's word. We need to keep talking to him in prayer. We need to have people around us, brothers and sisters in the faith who remind us what's true when everything feels uncertain. We need to confess our sins so we don't end up anointing the wrong king in our hearts. Kings like comfort and pride, fear, control.

We live in a messy world, but our hope is in a faithful king. and our hope is that his kingdom will triumph. See, David will eventually become king over Israel, all of Israel, and one day a greater king will come, Jesus, the son of David, and when Jesus reigns, there will be no more rival kingdoms, no more civil war, no more tribalism, or factions, or death. The Bible doesn't give us a tidy takeaway in every chapter, because life isn't tidy. But even when there's no clear moral, there's always a clear direction. And in 2 Samuel 2, the direction is this, keep moving toward the king God has chosen, keep investing your life in his kingdom, keep living by his kingdom's ethics. You may not understand today, you may not have a lesson today

that you can tweet or something you can post on Instagram, but you're in a bigger story, a real story, and your king is still on the throne, even when your life feels like it's in the gray. Let's pray. God, thank you for reminding us that your word speaks to us in the messiness of life. Thank you that even when we don't see the moral, we can trust the author. Thank you that when life is gray, you can help us lean into your word, lean into your wisdom and your people. Help us to repent of the false kings that we have anointed in our hearts and give us patient hope as we wait for Jesus, the king who will make all things new. Amen.