Reading: 2 Samuel 22-24, Psalm 93

Wrapping up the book of Samuel is a four chapter long coda that emphasizes the purpose of the whole book. This is similar to the one that closed the book of Judges which informed us that the author really believed the solution to their problems was a king. The coda of the book of Samuel leaves us with the message that the authority of the king means the actions and attitudes of the king matter a great deal and affect a great many more people than the king himself. As to David himself, it ties this narrative of his life to his other extremely important contribution to the story of Israel: the book of Psalms.

This form of writing in Hebrew emphasizes the middle by telling concentric stories around it. Here our first ring of stories are about God carrying out judgment on Israel for the actions of two kings. In the first, we have a famine due to the actions of Saul. Remember the Gibeonites from Joshua? The guys who deceived Joshua because of their fear of the God of Israel, became servants for the tabernacle, and were delivered from destruction by Joshua and the people of Israel in one of their best moments. We aren’t told why, but apparently Saul had destroyed their towns and hunted them down during his reign in violation of the covenant Joshua had made with them. God’s people are to be covenant keepers, like God himself is, and so this is a problem.

David finds out from God the source of the famine, and a fairly odd scene follows. Rather than making atonement through the covenant law or asking God what to do, David asks the surviving Gibeonites what it will take for them to forgive Israel. They try to dodge the question, saying it is not their business to exact judgment on any in Israel. David pushes, and they eventually ask for Saul’s descendants to be executed and hanged “before the God of Israel.” David agrees and executes the sons of Saul’s elder daughter Merab and his concubine Rizpah. Rizpah goes out and guards the bodies, which are left on the hills outside Gibeah, Saul’s home town, to prevent them from being desecrated. David hears about it, and then he gathers the bodies as well as the bones of Saul and Jonathan, and brings them back to Gibeah and buries them in the family tomb. We are told that it is after this that the famine ceases in Israel.

The second judgment story, which comes as the end, is about David conducting a census and God bringing a choice of judgments. The cause of the census is a strange event. Here we are told God is already angry at Israel, and so gives David a desire to do something wicked. In a second recounting of this story in 2 Chronicles, we are told it was Satan who gave David the wicked desire. This is reminiscent of the book of Job, in which we see God allowing Satan free reign to do things that suit God’s ultimate purpose. I haven’t talked much about Satan, and I won’t until we get to Job, which is where the character sort of comes into his own in the story. That a census is a wicked act is also a little odd, but less so than it would be for us today. In the ancient world, numbering something was a way of declaring dominance over it and claiming ownership. Only God was allowed to command a census of Israel because only he truly ruled them. When David ordered the census he was taking God’s rightful place.

In any event, what happens is the prophet Gad is sent to David to give him a choice of what judgment will happen to Israel. None of them are good, but the responsibility of choosing falls in the hands of the king. To avoid suffering at the hands of men, David chooses a plague. David sees the consequences of his choice and feels enormous responsibility for it, asking God to turn his wrath against the king and his house. Again the prophet Gad is sent to tell David to build an altar in a particular place. When David goes to do it, the owner of the land offers to give it to David. As king, he could certainly have accepted, but he repudiates his earlier hubris in numbering the people by insisting on purchasing it. Then God ends the plague.

So, those are the outer ring of stores. Inside them are stories about David’s warriors. The first section tells stories of how David was saved in battle due to the prowess and courage of those who follow him, and how they eventually tell him to stay home in safety, as he is getting too old and is certainly too important for this sort of thing. The second section is mostly a list of important military figures in Israel during David’s reign, but includes some fun superhero-like stories of Israel’s warriors doing heroic acts against the Philistines. The story of the three mighty men breaking through the Philistine camp, attacking their garrison, and bringing back water from a well in the middle of it for David is really grand. David’s warriors would do anything for him, and were exceptionally brave and capable.

The first ring of stories are about the king’s responsibility in matters of judgment for the actions of the king, and the consequences for the people for those actions. The second are about the lengths to which the king’s warriors go to protect him and get him what he wants, as in the story of the three mighty men. So what is all this pointing to? What is the center these stories are structured around?

Poetry. The center of the story is Psalm 18, recounted here as the centerpiece of this epilogue, along with a shorter piece that is credited as David’s final words. Both pieces focus on the supremacy of the God of Israel in all matters of authority. Psalm 18 recounts David’s time as a desperate exile through his ascendance to the throne, crediting God for all his achievements. The final words places his role as king upon a foundation of God’s blessing.

The author of the book of Samuel is closing his work with a statement about kingship and authority. The king is dependent on God and his favor. The king, as God’s favored one, is also more responsible than anyone else. His actions are magnified, good and bad. As we leave the book of Samuel and begin Kings, we will see the actions of kings defining Israel as a nation. They will rise and fall with the righteousness or wickedness of the monarch. We began Samuel needing a king, we leave it with one, but a new set of problems has come with him. The book of Kings will be making an argument of it’s own: We don’t need just any king, we need a righteous king.