There happened to be a man named Sheba who showed up and did not want to follow David. So all the men of Israel left David and followed Sheba, except for Judah who remained loyal to David.
David told his army to go out to pursue Sheba. He was found in a city. A woman there told Joab, the commander of the army, not to destroy the city and they would deliver Sheba to them. In fact, they would cut off his head and throw it to Joab over the city wall.
That was exactly what happened and Joab blew the trumpet, and they left the city. Everyone returned to their homes, and Joab went back to Jerusalem to his king.
Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. David sought the Lord. The Lord responded by saying David needed to resolve the issues with the Gibeonites because of the bloodguilt on Saul and his house for putting the Gibeonites to death.
They told David that for him to make atonement, he would need to take seven of the sons of Saul and give them to him. He did, except for Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth was spared.
The seven were given and hung on the mountain before the Lord, and they all perished together. Then they went and took the bones of Saul and Jonathan and brought them back to be buried with the seven. After that God responded to the plea for the land.
Then there was a war again between the Philistines and Israel. David went to fight and he grew weary and was almost killed by one of the descendants of the giants. He was protected, but was told he couldn’t go with them anymore, “lest he quench the lamp of Israel.”
There continued to be war in different places. David spoke the words of a song to the Lord for his deliverance from the hand of his enemies.
[…] song of David occurs also (with minor variations) in 2Samuel 22. In its structure, apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the song is composed of three […]