10/26 Reading (2 Samuel 19-21; 2 Corinthians 9)

2 Samuel 19: David mourns Absalom. His general, Joab, confronts David telling him he better focus on his soldiers who were willing to die to save him instead of his enemy who did die trying to defeat him. He then returns to Jerusalem. We see some division emerging between Judah and the rest of Israel at the end of this chapter.

41 Then everyone in Israel came and said to the king, “Why did our relatives the people of Judah steal you away, and bring the king and his household across the Jordan River, along with all of his soldiers?” 42 Then all the people of Judah answered the Israelites, “Because the king is our relative! Why are you angry at us about this? Have we taken any of the king’s food? Has he given us any gifts?” 43 But the Israelites answered the people of Judah, “We have ten shares in the monarchy! What’s more, we are the oldest offspring, not you So why have you disrespected us? Weren’t we the first to talk about bringing back our king?” But the words of the people of Judah were even harsher than the words of the Israelites. (CEB Study Bible; 2 Sam. 19.41-43)

2 Samuel 20: A man from Benjamin, Sheba, declares that Israel shouldn’t follow David and they all leave. David gets his army together and Joab leads them out to find and kill Sheba. Sheba does indeed die.

It’s clear that everything is falling apart for David because of his earlier sin.

2 Samuel 21: David avenges the Gibeonites by allowing them to hang 7 of Saul’s male descendants in order to appease God and bring glory back to them. This is done because there was so much famine that was directly related to Saul’s earlier actions against the Gibeonites. The hanging worked.

The last bit of the chapter addressed yet another war with the Philistines. David almost died, so the soldiers agreed he wasn’t allowed to fight anymore. David’s armies won each time.

2 Corinthians 9: More on the importance of giving to help those in need in Jerusalem. I do wonder about the effectiveness of Paul’s efforts.