The Book of 2 Samuel

2 Samuel continues the prophetic history of Israel's theocratic monarchy. The account of David's kingship and personal life clearly illustrates the terms of God's covenant with Israel as written by Moses in Deuteronomy: obeying God brings blessings; forsaking God's law brings curses and judgment.


2 Samuel begins with King Saul's death and David's anointing at Hebron as king over Judah. David reigned over that portion of the kingdom for seven and a half years. The rest of the book focuses on David's next 33 years as king over all Israel with Jerusalem as its capital city. The dividing line, or main turning point of the book and of David's life is his adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, her husband. Before this tragic instance, David clearly represented many of the ideals of a godly king.


After David's tragic sins of adultery and murder, moral decline and rebellion plagued his family and the entire nation for years to come. Although David seriously repented and experienced God's mercy and forgiveness, the results of his sin lingered throughout his lifetime and even beyond. However, God did not reject David as king like He had rejected Saul. That is because David's failures, in the end, did not cause him to turn from God. David's passion for the Lord and hatred of anything that took away from true godly worship made him the example by which all other kings of Israel were measured. 2 Samuel ends with David purchasing the plot of land that became the future site of the temple.


Five major features characterize 2 Samuel. 1. It records key events in King David's forty year reign, including how he captured Jerusalem and completely changed it into Israel's political and religious center. David's life falls right in the middle of the time frame between Abraham and Jesus Christ. 2. The turning point of the book is the record of David's tragic sins. The prophetic historian of this book emphasizes that though David committed adultery and murder in secret, God judged these sins openly. Every level of David's life was affected - personal, family and national. 3. The book teaches as important and lasting principle of leadership in God's kingdom: the more favor, power, responsibility and opportunity God places within a leader's life, the more harshly God will judge that leader if he or she morally or ethically violates God's trust. Scripture speaks highly of David as a man after God's own heart. But it also reveals that God's favor changed to judgment and His blessings to curses after David sinned. This was just as Moses had warned Israel. 4. The chapters describing the far-reaching effect of David's sin on his family and the entire nation show us how the well-being of an entire nation is connected directly to the spiritual and moral condition of its leadership. 5. It highlights the moral lesson that success and prosperity can lead to moral carelessness, which in turn lead to spiritual failure.


David's righteous rule as king described in chapters 1-10 is a type, or prophetic representation of the Messianic King, the Messiah, Christ. David' establishment of Jerusalem as the holy city and the prophetic promise of an everlasting kingdom all point ahead to the greatest "Son of David", Jesus Christ, and to Christ's present and future kingdom as revealed in the New Testament.