2 SAMUEL 2 - TRUE PEACE
2 Samuel 2
At this point in David’s life, it had been 15-20 years since he had been selected by God to be the next King over God’s people. He was delayed in becoming King by the jealous and power hungry King Saul, who would not give up the throne. Now, Saul has been killed, and the roadblock posed by Saul seemed to be out of the way. To become King, David must go up to Judah. Yet, David does not presumptuously take the throne. Instead, we see in Vs. 1 that he inquires of the Lord as to what he should do. This was a fairly consistent pattern in David’s life, and one that we would do well to learn from. Most of the time, David also sought to live his life in accordance with God’s will, so he seeks the Lord here to make sure that he was doing what God wanted him to do.
As we face any particular situation, we never have all the facts because of our finite and fallen nature. Yet, God who is perfect, Holy, and all knowing, knows all the facts before they even occur. So, He is the one we should consult in every situation in life, even when the door may seem wide open to us and the path ahead seems easy. Also, only His will is perfect, so that is what we should seek and follow. God tells David to go to the City of Hebron in Judah, and then we see in Vs. 4 that he is finally made King over Judah. However, since God’s people are at this time divided into Israel and Judah, there is a challenge to David’s kingship over Israel by the son of Saul. A battle ensues between men who supported David and those who supported Saul’s son. David’s men prevail in the battle, but the fighting and division between Judah and Israel will continue on for some time, until David and Solomon eventually unite the two kingdoms into one nation. In the meantime, it is a horrible picture of infighting and disunity amongst God’s people, which greatly grieves Him. The peace brought by David and Solomon is an enforced peace which does not last long, as the nation splits in two again after Solomon’s death.
In Vs. 26, one of the leaders of the men loyal to Saul’s son, cries out “Shall the sword devour forever?” This poignant cry is emblematic of mankind’s longing for peace. While a temporary forced peace may be possible for a time by means of the sword, there can be no true lasting peace except under the Kingship of Jesus, who is the Prince of Peace. He brings us peace with God, which then makes peace possible between individuals who submit to Him as King. The Bible tells us that one day, when every knee bows to Him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, then swords shall be beaten into plowshares, war shall be no more, and the lion will lie down with the lamb. Even as believers on this side of Heaven, there is a war going on inside of us between the Spirit and the flesh. Gal. 5:17 tells us that the desires of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh are opposed to each other. This is true for all Christians. Even the great Apostle Paul wrestled with the realization of this in the second half of Romans 7 to the point of calling himself a “wretched man.” But then he declares the glorious good news in Rom. 8:1 that,
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
In the original Greek language that this was written in, the sense being conveyed is that there is no way and it would be absolutely impossible for there to ever be any condemnation from God for someone who is in Christ Jesus. If you are a Christian, aren’t you thankful for that? If you are not a Christian, don’t you want that? It can all be yours if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Rom. 5:1 says that by faith in Jesus, we can have peace with God. No one should leave this world without it. This is the true peace upon which all other types of based are based. Until we come to that point where we say yes to Jesus, we will never know true peace. He promised His followers in John 14:27 that He would give them a peace that was unlike any other that the world could possibly give us.