The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 124: King David Rules (2026)

Episode Date: May 4, 2026

Today we read about the moment David is made king over all Israel. Fr. Mike reveals that as David begins his rule, he has both strengths and weaknesses. Today we read 2 Samuel 5, 1 Chronicles 7-8, and Psalm 27. 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 124. We're reading from 2nd Samuel chapter 5, as well as First Chronicles, chapters 7 and 8. We're also praying from Psalm 27.

As always, I am reading from 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. And you can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe. Simple as that. As I said, it is day 124, reading 2 Samuel, Chapter 5 and 1st Chronicles 7 and 8 and Psalm 27. 2 Samuel chapter 5, David anointed king of all Israel.

Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, behold, we are your bone and flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you that led out and brought in Israel, and the Lord said to you, you shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel. So, all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. David was 30 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 40 years. At Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and Judah 33 years. Jerusalem is made capital of the kingdom.

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land who said to David, you will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off, thinking, David cannot come in here. Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David, and And David said on that day, whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind who are hated by David's soul. Therefore it is said, the blind and the lame shall not come into the house. And David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the city of David.

And David built the city roundabout from the mellow inward. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him. And Hiram, King of Tyre, sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters. and masons who built David a house. And David perceived that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron, and more sons and daughters were born to David. And these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem. Shemua, Shabab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibar, Elisheuah, Yveshah, Yerhah, Yishima, Eliehah,

and Elephilat. Philistine attack repulsed. When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David, but David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the valley of Refam, and David inquired of the Lord, shall I go up against the Philistines?

Will you give them into my hand? And the Lord said to David, go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand. And David came to Baalusathe. Pahrazim, and David defeated them there, and he said, The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a bursting flood. Therefore, the name of that place is called Baal Parazim. And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.

And the Philistines came up yet again and spread out in the valley of Raffaim. And when David inquired of the Lord, he said, You shall not go up, go around to their rear, and come upon them opposite the balsam trees. And when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then bestir yourself, for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike the army of the Philistines. And David did as the Lord commanded him, and struck the Philistines from Giba to Gezer. The first book of Chronicles, Chapter 7. Descendants of Isakar.

The sons of Isakar, Tolla, Pua, Jasub, and Shimran, four. The sons of Tolla, Uzi, Raffa, Jeriel, Jemai, Ibsam, and. Shemuel, heads of their father's houses, namely of Tolla, mighty warriors of their generations. Their number in the days of David being 22,600. The sons of Uzi, Israhaiah, and the sons of Israhaiah, Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Ishaya, five, all of them chief men. And along with them, by their generations, according to their father's houses, were units of the army for war, 36,000, for they had many wives and sons.

Their kinsmen belonging to all the families of Isakar were in all 87,000 mighty warriors, enrolled by genealogy. Descendants of Benjamin The sons of Benjamin, Belah, Becker, and Jedael, 3. The sons of Bella, Espan, Uzi, Uziel, Jeromoth, and Erie, 5. Heads of Father's houses, Mighty Warriors, and their enrollment by genealogies was 22,034. The sons of Becker, Zemira, Joash, Eliazar, Elie Omeri, Jiramath, Abijah, Anathoth, and Elameth. All these were the sons of Becker, and their enrollment by genealogies, according to their generations, as heads of their father's houses, mighty warriors, was 20,000 and 200. The sons of Jadai'el, Bilhan, and the sons of Bilhan, Jayush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenna,ana, Zetan,

Tarshish and Ahishahar. All these were the sons of Jadayael, according to the heads of their father's houses, mighty warriors 17,200, ready for service in war. And Shupim and Hupim were the sons of Er, Hushim, the sons of Aher. Descendants of Naftali. The sons of Naftali, Jazeel, Guni, Jazeer, and Shalom, the offspring of Bilhah. Descendants of Manasa, the sons of Manasah. Asri-El, whom his Aramean concubine bore. She bore Makir, the father of Gilead,

and Makir took a wife for Hupim and for Shupim. The name of his sister was Maaka, and the name of the second was Zalofahad, and Zalofahad had daughters. And Maaka, the wife of Makir, bore a son, and she called his name Peresh, and the name of his brother was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rachem, the sons of Ulam, Badan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Makhir, son of Manasa, and his sister, Hamulicheth, bore Ishbud, Abiyazar, and Malah. The sons of Shamaida were Achim, Lyki, and Anayam. Descendants of Ephraim.

The sons of Ephraim, Shulatha, and Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleada his son, Tahath his son, Zabad his son, Shutala, his son, and Ezor and Elehah. whom the men of Gath, who were born in the land, slew because they came down to raid their cattle. And Ephraim, their father, mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. And Ephraim went into his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Beriah, because evil had befallen his house. His daughter was Sheera, who built both lower and upper Betharon, and Uzen Shira.

Rafa was his son, Rachev, his son, Tla, his son, T'han, his, son. Le Dan his son, Amihud his son, Elishima, his son. Nun, his son, Joshua, his son. Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer in its towns, Shechem and its towns, Ayah and its towns, also along the borders of the Manassites, Betshan and its towns, Te'anak and its towns, Megito in its towns, Dor and its towns, in these dwelt the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel. Descendants of Asher. The sons of Asher, Imna, Ishva, Ishvi, Beraya, and their sister, Sarah. The sons of Baraya, Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Beersait. Heber was the father of Jafflet,

Shomer, Hotham, and their sister, Shua. The sons of Jafflet, Pesak, Bimchal, and Ashvath. These are the sons of Jafflet. The sons of Shimer, his brother, Rocha, Jehuba, and Aram. The sons of Helem, his brother. Zofa, Imna, Shalesh, and Amal. The sons of Zofa, Harnifer, Shual, Berri, Imra, Beezer, Hod, Shama, Shalh, Ithran, and Beira. The sons of Jethyr, Jepuna, Pispa, and Arra. The sons of Ula, Arra Haniel, and Rizzi.

All of these were men of Asher, heads of father's houses, approved, mighty warriors, chief of the princes. Their number enrolled by genealogies for service and war was 26,000 men. Chapter 8. Descendants of Benjamin in detail. Benjamin was the father of Bella his firstborn, Ashbell the second, Ahara the third, Noha, the fourth, and Rafaa the fifth. And Bella had sons, Adar, Gira, Abihud, Abishua, Neiman, Achoa, Gira, Shafafan, and Huram. These are the sons of Ehud. They were heads of father's houses of the inhabitants of Giba, and they were carried into exile to Menahath. Neiman, Ahijah, and Gira, that is, Heglam, who was the father of Uza and Ahihud.

And Shaharim had sons in the country of Moab after he had sent away Hushim and Baara, his wives. He had sons by Hodesh, his wife, Jobab, Sabia, Misha, Malcolm, Jehuz, Sakiya, and Mirma. These were his sons, heads of father's houses. He also had sons by Hushim, Abitub, and El Paal. The sons of El Paal, Iber, Misham, and Shamed, who built Ono and Lod with its towns, and Beriah and Shima. They were heads of father's houses of the inhabitants of Aijalan, who put to flight the inhabitants of Gath. and Aheo, Shashak and Yeramath.

Zabedaya, Erad, Eder, Michael, Ishpah, and Joha were sons of Baraya. Zabadiah, Mishulam, Hizki, Heber, Ishmaerai, Islea, and Jobab were the sons of El-paal. Jaikim, Zikri, Zabdi, Elie, Eli, Elie, Adaya, Baraya, and Shimrath were the sons of Shimae. Ishpan, Iber, Eliel. Abdon, Zikri, Hanan, Hananaya, Elam, and Tho Dajah, and Penuel were the sons of Shashak, Shemsharay, Shacharaya, Atalaya, Jara Shai, Elijah, and Zikri were the sons of Jeroham. These were the heads of father's houses, according to their generation's chief men. These dwelt in Jerusalem.

Chi Ael, the father of Gibbon, dwelt in Gibbon, and the name of his wife was Maaka, His firstborn son, Abdan, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, Gador, Ahayo, Zekhar, and Mikloth. He was the father of Shemiah. Now these also dwelt opposite their kinsmen in Jerusalem, with their kinsmen. Nir was the father of Kish, Kish of Saul, Saul of Jonathan, Malkeshua, Abedab, and Eshbaal. And the son of Jonathan was Meribbaal, and Merbaal, the father of Micah. And the sons of Micah, Pithon, Melech, Terran. and Ahaz.

Ahaz was the father of Jehoeda, and Jehoeda was the father of Alameth, Asmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri was the father of Moza. Moza was the father of Benia. Rafa was his son. Eliasa, his son. Azel, his son.

Azel had six sons, and these are their names. Azraqam, Bocharu, Ishmael, Shiriya, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel. The sons of Eshek, his brother, Ulam, his firstborn, Jeush the second, Eliphelet, the third. The sons of Ulam were men who were mighty warriors, bowmen, having many sons and grandsons,

150. All these were Benjaminites. Psalm 27. Triumphant Song of Confidence, a Psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid.

When evildoers assail me to devour my salvation to devour my salvation. my flesh, my adversaries and foes, they shall stumble and fall. Though a host encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war arise against me, yet will I be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will set me high upon a rock. And now, my head shall be lifted up above my enemies round about me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Here, O Lord, when I cry aloud,

be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek? Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. You who have have been my help. Cast me not off. For sake me not, O God of my salvation. For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord, be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord.

Father in heaven, we give you praise. We thank you, we give you honor and glory. My gosh, Lord, God, thank you. Thank you for your word and thank you for letting us see in chapters 1 through chapter 8 of the book of chronicles. The ways in which you have unfolded this family. You've gone back and helped us review, Lord God. You've helped us review the lives of your family, the lives of the Jewish people, those fathers and sons, those sisters. those sisters and daughters, those people that you have called out of nothingness to be yours,

to be a people peculiarly your own, Lord God. And so we ask you please help us, help us to be yours as well, because you've called us from obscurity, Lord God, you've called us from nothingness into being. You've called us from being into being your children. We're so grateful for you, Lord God. Please receive our praise. Receive our thanks. And please be with us this day.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son. Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, we're coming to an end of the names. I promise. We're going to get back to the story. We're going to get back to the story in First Chronicles. But first, here we are in Second Samuel. A couple of things happened. Now, you might have caught this, but there might have been something that slipped past you. David has been king now for about seven years or so, seven and a half years, but he's been king only over Judah, the one tribe, his own tribe, right?

The family that he's from, the tribe he's from. It's now that Ishibesheth, right, yesterday. He was murdered. He was assassinated. And so now the other tribe, of Israel are coming to David. And finally, when he's 30 years old, remember, he was anointed to be the king of Israel by Samuel amongst his brothers when he was maybe 15 years old. Now, this is 15 years later. And David, after having been a soldier and or general even in Saul's army, leading people into battle when he was but a youth, then he was a guy on the run. He was kind of part of leader of bandits. Then, you know, he went to live with the Philistines for a while. Now he's back in Hebron. And he's the king of Judah. And now finally, he's the king of the 12

tribes of Israel. He was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 40 years, right? In Hebron, he reigned over Judah seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned 33 years over all Israel and Judah. And there's a couple of things just want to highlight. One is that when David then became the king of all Israel, he decided to make Jerusalem the capital city. And so at the time, there were Jebusites living in that city that he wanted to be his capital. And so they taunted him by saying, oh, yeah, you know, the blind and the lame are going to drive you out, David. So then David basically busts in there and takes over the city of Jerusalem. And apparently it's relatively simple, but maybe it wasn't.

It seems very simple because we got like three verses where it seemed very, very simple for David and his Ben to make Jerusalem his stronghold and call it the city of David. And so David became great. And not only was David great, but Hiram, it says, Hiram the king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters, Masons, basically, they built David a house. And so there's this king who lives on the sea coast in the region of Tyre, and he sends resources to build this other king a palace, essentially. Basically, you know, there's something remarkable when one king recognizes the power and the

greatness of another king. And David immediately, as soon as he's taking rule over these 12 tribes of Israel, the people around him are noticing this. Now, in this chapter, this one chapter, chapter five David does two things. One is great and one is not great. The one that's great is that the Philistines heard that the Israel had anointed David King overall Israel. And so they decided they wanted to fight the new king. And David does what? He does what he is consistently done up until this point. He asks of the Lord. He inquires of the Lord. Shall I go up against them? And God says yes. And so they go to fight. Then they have another battle. And David asks again, do I go up to fight them? And God says, no, do not go up to fight them, but instead basically go to their rear and defeat them that way.

But the consistent thing that we've seen when it comes to David is he consistently, when he does something right, he's always asking God first. And this is one of those things that, gosh, so many of us, you know, we just, we have our days, right? We just, I know what to do. I get up, I brush my teeth. I do my whole thing and I get to work and I get to school, like wherever it is, I have to go. and I just go do that thing because, you know, I've already decided that's what I'm going to do, which is fine.

I mean, it's kind of efficient, I guess. But do we ever stop and ask, God, is this where you want me to go? We've talked about it before, you know, days and days ago when it was, you know, God, you want me to fight this battle or not? Do you want me to fight a different battle? Do you want me to just lay low? Do you want me to avoid this fight? All those things we can pray and ask God for direction.

But even when it comes to the daily movements of our lives, you know, we see that person. And we just ask, God, do you want me to reach out to that person, right? now. We see that family. Okay, God, are you calling me to reach out to this family right now? And it's one of those things where, you know, God doesn't always speak in that clear, clear voice, but sometimes he just gives us an opening as long as we give him the question, as long as we give him the room for grace. And David does that consistently. That's one of David's keys to greatness. But on the other hand, on the other hand, we see that David is going to also start descending into disobedience as well. In verses 13 and 16, remember in chapter 5 here, it talks about David's

many wives. He took more wives and concubines from Jerusalem after he had come from Hebron and has a bunch of kids from them, but this is so important. This is in direct disobedience to Deuteronomy 17, verse 17. In Deuteronomy 1717, God had said, through Moses, the king shall neither multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. And so, we recognize. We recognize. that many people would have seen this as being David being blessed. To have many kids is to be blessed. I mean, that is. That was true then. It is true now. So David and others might see this like, wow, so many blessings, so many children, so great. And yet what we are going to see in the following chapters after this, as David gets more and more established, is we're going to find that most of David's

problems don't just come from his enemies outside of Israel. Most of his problems come from this family, this family that he has been building now through all of these different wives and all of these different concubines. And we're going to see that here is just this seed for David's destruction, the seed for David's downfall. Yes, he is still a great king. He is still doing well when he inquires of the Lord, but he also is not perfect. And we're going to see that on display so very clearly. Now, obviously, you and I are called to be even greater than King David. David was not a child of God. He was not baptized.

He didn't have the Holy Spirit of God dwelling inside of him in the same way. Yes, the Spirit of God came upon him in the anointing, but he did not have the same Spirit of God that we have in our baptism. And so, in fact, in many ways, we are greater than King David. In God's eyes in some of you know this mysterious way. How do you say that? I'm not sure how to completely convey it. But we are now God's adopted children.

What we shall later be has not yet been revealed. First John says. but that means that we too have our strengths and we too have our weaknesses. And just like David was not one monolithic greatness and not was just one monolithic, you know, broken person, we also are a mixture. And the big, big decision we're all going to have is do we continually come before the Lord and say, okay, God, what battle do you want me to fight? God, where do you want me to help?

God, where do you want me to serve? God, where do you want me to repent? God, where do you want me to move forward? God, where do you want me to stand still? Because it's when we ask God those questions, just like David, that things are blessed. And it's when we just say, I know what you said, God, but I'm going to do my own thing. That's when things are no longer blessed. That's when things get dire.

I know. Here we are. So that's why we need to pray for each other because all of us are a mixture of both the strength and the weakness of grace and of the fallen human nature. And so we pray for each other. Please pray for me. I am praying for you. My name is Father Mike.

I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. Thank you.