II Samuel 2:1-7 – David Publicly Anointed
The Living Word With Chuck Davis
II Samuel 2:1-7 – David Publicly Anointed
2 Samuel 2 1-7 David publicly anointed. After this David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?" And the Lord said to him, "Go up." David said to which shall I go up and he said to him, "So David went up there and his two wives also, Ahenomam of Jezreel and Abigail the widow of Nabal of Carmel. And David brought up his men who were with him, everyone with his household, and they lived in the towns of Hebron. And the men of Judah came and there they anointed David King over the house of Judah. When they told David it was the men of Gabbesh Gilead who buried Saul, David sent messengers to the men of Gabbesh Gilead and said to them, "May you be blessed by the Lord because you showed this loyalty to Saul, your Lord, and buried him. Now may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you. And I will do good to you because you have done this thing. Now therefore let your hands be strong and be valiant. For Saul, your Lord is dead and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them." David finds himself in a space of needing direction once again. And we see the first step of David is always to inquire of the Lord. He has a God focus. This explains so much of him being one who has a heart after God. It's not about perfection but it's about orientation where we're headed. Should he go to the cities of Judah? Yes. Which one? Hebron. See David laments and then he moves on. Later he's going to lament the death of his illegitimate son. And we're going to see the minute that lament is not answered, he moves on. And others would be expected to continue to lament. David becomes king in public eyes. He's anointed publicly for the first time. Now he's had favor in Judah all along. It's going to take seven and a half years before the Northern tribes, which will become known as Israel in the future. Come on to him and enjoy his leadership. So it's interesting, if we estimate that David was chased around the Engedi for eighteen years and now seven and a half, it's going to be twenty-five years between the original anointing and now the first public anointing. David's first act is to bless the men of Jebesh Gilead. Remember, they're the ones who cared for Saul's body. And David blesses them with Hased and Emet, steadfast love and the faithfulness of Yahweh to them. David blesses what could be potentially enemy peoples. Remember, they were highly loyal to Saul. This is political wisdom, but I think it's simply the overflow of a man who valued honor and loyalty. And David honors them and sends blessing to them. This is the way to respond in all situations in life. So what of this passage is we get to see David continuing to do the right thing. What is the greatest commandment to love Lord your God with all your being and what comes after it to love your neighbor as yourself. David loves the Lord God with all of his being. Even in his rebellion, we're going to find that he quickly turns back to God and begs God not to take his presence away from him. But David not only loves the Lord as God, but he lives that out on this earth by loving his neighbor as himself. The now what of this passage is just a reminder to me that I need to keep inquiring of the Lord. Never grow tired of it. David knew direction. He knew what he was to do, but he also knew the right thing to do because his ear was tuned to the Lord. And I may want this to be the strongest overlay of the David story in my life. Yes, fruitfulness in life as a result of God's anointing, but we maintain that anointing by keeping ourselves attuned to what God is saying. And so Lord today, we inquire of you. What are the big stroke things that you have for us in life that we will follow that direction? But what are the immediate things that we need to be alert to that we would walk out your way? We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]