The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 122: Abner Is Killed (2023)

Episode Date: May 2, 2023

In today's readings, we hear about the death of Abner, and Fr. Mike points out how David publicly mourns Abner, and instructs his people to do the same. The readings are 2 Samuel 3, 1 Chronicles 3-4, and Psalm 25. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 122. Gosh, well done, you guys. So good. We're reading from 2 Samuel chapter 3, 1 Chronicles chapter 3 and 4, two chapters of names. It's going to be great.

You're going to love it, I tell you. And we're also going to be praying Psalm 25. As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast in your podcast app by clicking subscribe, and that would make you subscribed. It'll be great. As I said, today is day 122, and we are reading today from 2 Samuel chapter 3, 1 Chronicles chapter 3 and 4 and praying Psalm 25. 2 Samuel chapter 3. Abner defects to David.

There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, and David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker. And sons were born to David at Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam of Jezreel, and his second, Chileb, of Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel, and the third, Absalom, the son of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, and the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Haggith, and the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital, and the sixth, Ethriam of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron. While there was a war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul. Now Saul had a

concubine whose name was Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah. And Ashisheth said to Abner, Why have you gone into my father's concubine? Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ashisheth and said, Am I a dog's head of Judah? This day I keep showing loyalty to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with a fault concerning a woman. God do so to Abner, and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba. And the Shibosheth could not answer Abner another word because he feared him. And Abner sent messengers to David at Hebron saying,

to whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold, my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you. And he said, Good, I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you, that is, you shall not see my face, unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face. Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, Give me my wife Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face. Then David sent messengers to Ashabosheth, Saul's son, saying, Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed at the price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines. And Ashabosheth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel, the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him,

Go, return. And he returned. And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. Now then, bring it about. For the Lord has promised David, saying, By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies. Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do. When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. And Abner said to David, I will arise and go, and will gather all Israel

to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires. So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace. Abner is killed by Joab. Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, Abner, the son of Ner, came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace. Then Joab went to the king and said, What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you sent him away, so that he is gone? You know that Abner, the son of Ner, came to you, why is it that you sent him away so that he is gone? You know that Abner,

the son of Ner, came to deceive you and to know you're going out and you're coming in and to know all that you are doing. When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner and they brought him back from the cistern of Sarai, but David did not know about it. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the belly so that he died for the blood of Asahel his brother. Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the head of Joab and upon all his father's house. And may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge or who is leprous or who holds a spindle or who is slain by the sword or who lacks bread. So Joab and Abishai, his brother, slew Abner because he had killed their brother Asahel in the battle at Gibeon.

Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner. And David followed the beer. They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner. And all the people wept. And the king lamented for Abner, saying, Should Abner die as a fool dies?

Your hands were not bound. Your feet were not fettered. As one falls before the wicked, you have fallen. And all the people wept again over him. Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, God do so to me, and more also, if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down. And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not

been the king's will to slay Abner the son of Ner. And the king said to his servants, Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zerui, are too hard for me. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness. The Versebook of Chronicles, Chapter 3. Descendants of David and Solomon. These are the sons of David that were born to him in Hebron. The firstborn Abnon by Ahinoam the Jezreelites, the second Daniel by Abigail the Carmelites, the third Absalom, whose mother was Maaka, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur, the fourth Adonijah, whose mother

was Hegeth, the fifth Shephatiah by Abital, the The sixth, Ethriam, by his wife, Eglah. Six were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned for seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. These were born to him in Jerusalem, Shemiah, Shabbab, Nathan, and Solomon. Four by Bath-Chuah, the daughter of Amiel, then Ibhar, Elishamah, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishamah, Eliadah, and Eliphelet, nine. All these were David's sons, besides the sons of the concubines, and Tamar was their sister. The descendants of Solomon, Rehoboam, Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son, Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son, Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham

his son, Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son, Amnon his son, Josiah his son. The sons of Josiah, Johanan the firstborn, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, the fourth Shalom. The descendants of Jehoiakim, Jeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son, and the sons of Jeconiah, the captive, Shealtiel his son, Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenezar, Jecomiah, Hoshamah, and Nebediah, and the sons of Pedeah, Zerubbabel, and Shemiah, and the sons of Zerubbabel, Meshulam and Hananiah. And Shalemeth was their sister. And Hashubah, Ochel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jeshub-Hesed, five. The sons of Hananiah, Pellateah and Jeshiah, his son. Rephiah, his son.

Arnon, his son. Obadiah, his son. Jeconiah. The sons of Sheconiah, Shemaiah, and the sons of Shemaiah, Hatush, Egal, Baraiah, Niaraiah, and Shaphat, six. The sons of Niaraiah, Eli-Ochanai, Hiz-Giaj, and Azrikam, three.

The sons of Eli-Onai, Hodavaiah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akub, Johanan, Deliah, and Anani. 7. Chapter 4. Descendants of Judah. The sons of Judah, Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shabal. Reiah, the son of Shabal, was the father of Jehath, and Jehath was the father of Ahumai and Lachad. These were the families of the Zorathites. These were the sons of Etam, Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. And the name of their sister was Hazalelponi. And Penuel was the father of Gidor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem. Ash-hur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Hela and Naara. Naara bore him Ahuzam, Hefer, Temeni, and Ha'ah Hashtari. These were the sons of Na'arah, the sons of Helah, Zereth, Izhar, and Ithnan.

Kaz was the father of Anub, Zobabah, and the families of Ar-Hahal, the son of Harum. Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bore him in pain. Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my border and that your hand might be with me and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not hurt me. And God granted what he asked. Jalub, the brother of Shukah, was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshtan. Eshtan was the father of Bet-Rapha, Pasiah, and Tehina, the father of Irnahash. These are the men of Rakah, the sons of Kenaz, Othniel, and Saraiah, the sons of Othniel, Hathath, and Mionothai.

Mionothai was the father of Ophrah, and Saraiah was the father of Joab, the father of Geharashim, so called because they were craftsmen. The sons of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Eru, Elah, and Naam. And the sons of Elah, Kenaz. The sons of Jehalel, Ziph, Ziphah, Tiriah, and Asarel. The sons of Ezra, Jether, Mered, Ephur, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithi'ah, theered, Ephor, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married, and she conceived and bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishba, the father

of Eshtimoah. And his Jewish wife bore Jered, the father of Gidor, Heber, the father of Soko, Jequithiel, the father of Zanoah. The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Nahum, were the fathers of Kailah, the Garmite, and Eshtimoah, the Makathite. The sons of Shimon, Amnon, Rainah, Ben-Hanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi, Zoheth, and Ben-Zoheth. The sons of Shelah, the son of Judah, Ur, the father of Lachah, La'adah, the father of Marashah, and the families of the house of linen workers at Bet-Ashbiah, and Jokim, and the men of Kozabah, and Joash, and Seraph, who ruled in Moab and returned to Lechem, now the records are ancient. These were the potters and inhabitants of Netaim and Gedera. They dwelt there with the

king for his work. Descendants of Simeon The sons of Simeon, Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul. Shalom was his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. The sons of Mishma, Hamuel, his son. Zakur, his son. Shemiah, his son. Shemiah had 16 sons and 6 daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, nor did all their family multiply like the men of Judah. They dwelt in Beersheba, Moladah, These were the cities until David reigned. And the villages were Etam, Ain, Ramon, Tokhen, and Ashan, five cities, along with all their villages, which were round about these

cities as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record. son of Asiel, Eli-o-enai, Je-akobah, Je-shahiah, Asa-iah, Adiel, Je-simimiel, Behaniah, Zisa, the son of Shifi, son of Alon, son of Jediah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah. These mentioned by name were princes in their families, and their fathers' houses increased greatly. They journeyed to the entrance of Gidor to the east side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks, where they found rich, good pasture. And the land was very broad, quiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham. These, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the Meunim who were found there, and exterminated them to this day,

and settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks. And some of them, five hundred men of the Simeonites, went to Mount Seir, having as their leaders Pelataya, Neariah, Rephiah, and Usaiah, the sons of Ishi. And they destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites that had escaped, and they have dwelt there to this day. Psalm 25. Prayer for Guidance and for Deliverance. A Psalm of David. To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust. Let me not be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me. Yes, let none that wait for you be put to shame. Let not my enemies exult over me. Yes, let none that wait for you be put to shame.

Let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. Make me to know your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation. For you I wait all the day long. Be mindful of your compassion, O Lord, and of your merciful love, for they have been from of old. Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions.

According to your mercy, remember me for your goodness' sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right. He teaches the humble his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. For your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my guilt for it is great. Who is the man that fears the Lord?

Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. He himself shall abide in prosperity and his children shall possess the land. The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. Turn to me, and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. Relieve the troubles of my heart, and bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble and forgive all my sins.

Consider how many are my foes and with what violent hatred they hate me. O guard my life and deliver me. Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for you. Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles. Father in heaven, we give you praise and we thank you. We thank you for the difficulty of these days. Honestly, God, it is difficult to get through these names. And we just have to admit that. Yes, they mean something. Yes, they're powerful, they're God, it is difficult to get through these names. And we just have to admit that. Yes,

they mean something. Yes, they're powerful. They're meaningful and they're difficult. And that is worth noting. It's worth noting that, oh gosh, Lord, thank you. Thank you for your word that is rooted in history and rooted in reality, rooted in people's actual stories. And so all of these names is a marker, is all these names is a person, all these names is an untold story. So many of the names we have here, Lord, are names of people that we don't know much about other than their name

and other than the fact that they were critical to you, they were loved by you, they were known by you, and they were part of your story to redeem the world. So in the difficulty, Lord, we ask that you please give us strength and give us patience so that we can hear the words we need to hear and we can become the people you want us to become. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Oh, brother. Yeesh. Okay, so I don't know if they were difficult for you. We have a couple more chapters with us, and it's going to be fine. It's going to be fine, my friends. It's going to be fine. But not only we had First Chronicles

with a bunch of names that are so good. In fact, I truly am saying this. It's not just I'm trying to psych myself up for this and getting more into the names, but it is a grace, a complete grace to be able to hear. Here are the stories of the people that are going to factor in to the rest of the story. For example, we have the descendants of David and of Solomon. Now, you might not know all of the stories of all these people, but David has a number of sons, obviously. We talked about Amnon and how this crossover, again, happy God incident, right? The crossover between 2 Samuel chapter 3 and 1 Chronicles chapter 3, because the list of David's children is in 2 Samuel chapter 3 and in 1 Chronicles chapter 3. It is so good because if you struggled with some of those names like Amnon

and Ahinoam and Abigail and Daniel and Absalom and Talmai, all of them, these people, these sons of David, and one daughter, they're going to talk about Tamar, are going to be very, very important as the story in 2 Samuel continues to unfold. And then when we get to Solomon, the story of kings is going to be unfolding. And that's so, so good. And Rehoboam, and all those other names. So they might not mean a ton, a ton to you right now, but they mean a ton in the larger scheme of things. In fact, not only we're going to follow this whole line of David and Solomon and Rehoboam and all the rest of them when it comes to the book of Kings, we're also going to find their stories of these guys, the stories of these kings is not necessarily the story of a lot

of really, really great kings. And so we're just praise God for the ability to hear their stories, hear their names more than once. But when it comes back to second Samuel, just one quick note on second Samuel chapter three, what do we have? We have this story, this tragic story really of how David recognizes that he can enter into a agreement of sorts, an agreement of sorts with Abner. Now, Abner was accused by a Shibosheth, right, Saul's son, for taking one of Saul's concubines as his own. I've read some commentaries, and they've indicated that there's not necessarily any reason why Abner, who seems like a pretty upstanding guy, he seems like a pretty solid individual, any reason why that would be the truth, but because

Eshbosheth would see Abner as a threat that he would have to make up some kind of accusation against him. Now, that may be the case, might not be the case. Either way, what it led to is Abner then going to David and saying, basically, hey, let's make peace. I'll be willing to fight for you and make sure that you are the king over all of Israel. David says, that sounds great. Let's him go in peace. And what happens? Remember, we talked about this yesterday. Ah, violence begets violence. And so Joab finds out that Abner was just there. Remember from the day before, from the chapter before, remember there's three brothers, Abishai, Asahel, and Joab. And Abner had killed Asahel. Now he had killed Asahel in self-defense. He killed him in battle.

It was straightforward, kind of a real thing here. There shouldn't be any desire for revenge. And yet Joab gives into his desire for revenge and he kills Abner, this highly decorated general, this person that many, many people in all of Israel would have known him. He would have been a very, very prominent figure and a respected figure. Now, what's it look like? It looks like David had invited Abner to his home, and then he called him back, and then Joab kills him. So what David does is genius, and it just shows, again, David's character. It's genius because it unites all the people, and it shows David's character because it's the right thing to do. Where David publicly mourns the death of his enemy. David publicly

mourns the death of Abner. And he actually even instructs the murderer, Joab himself, and Abishai, his brother. He instructs them both to wear sackcloth and to tear their garments. Everyone, he says, we're all going to do this, including the guys who murdered Abner. And all the people saw this and they recognized, yeah, David, he's a good leader. He's a good leader because he has his character and he's wise. And there's something so good about this.

As I said, it pleased all the people and everything that David had done. It pleased the people because David, and he showed the depth of who he is, the kind of leader he was and the kind of human he was and that's just such a gift to be able to mourn for one's enemies because it would have been wiser for David

to have made that enemy a friend and that's what he wanted to do in the first place. Anyways, for us, the same kind of thing is true. It is often more beneficial. We're called to let those enemies become friends, not because we need to trust people who aren't trustworthy, but because to have an open door to people who might be able to come back home,

might be able to be reconciled, might be able to be forgiven. And to do that, we need wisdom, right? Because we don't want to be taken for a fool. We can't trust people who aren't trustworthy. And yet Abner here seems like a trustworthy person. So there are people in our lives who I, in my life maybe, that have hurt. And so I need to be careful.

I can't just trust them because they hurt people around them, hurt me. So I can't just trust them. But there are others that maybe have hurt me, but I can grow in trust again. And the cycle of violence can maybe end with me in my heart. So we pray for each other so that that cycle of violence ends in our hearts and that forgiveness can be offered from our hearts and reconciliation can be offered from our hearts. So we need to pray. We need God's grace to do that.

So I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.