2 Samuel: the kingdom of David

About the book

2 Samuel is the second half of the one book of Samuel and runs straight on from 1 Samuel, where its authorship is set out. Jewish tradition, in the Babylonian Talmud, says that Gad the seer and Nathan the prophet finished Samuel's book after his death Babylonian Talmud, Bava Batra, so on that tradition this half is theirs. Chronicles too says David's acts were written in "the Chronicles of Nathan the Prophet, and the Chronicles of Gad the Seer" (1 Chronicles 29:29), and both men appear in this book. Many scholars see older accounts, such as the close-up portrait of David's court in chapters 9–20, gathered into the Deuteronomistic History.

David reigned over Judah in Hebron seven and a half years, then over all Israel and Judah in Jerusalem thirty-three (2 Samuel 5:5). That is the heart of the era the map under the Jesus tab calls the united monarchy (c. 1050–930 BC); David's reign is usually dated about 1010–970 BC.

How it unfolds

Key passages

David longed to build a house, a temple, for the ark (2 Samuel 7:2). Instead God promised that "He Himself will establish a house for you" (2 Samuel 7:11): a royal line.

I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom. … Your house and kingdom will endure forever before Me, and your throne will be established forever.

2 Samuel 7:12-16

"My loving devotion will never be removed from him," God said, "as I removed it from Saul" (2 Samuel 7:15): the chesed met in Ruth.

Yet Scripture does not hide this king's sin. At the time when kings march out to war, "David remained in Jerusalem" (2 Samuel 11:1). He sent for Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, and slept with her. When she conceived, he tried to cover it up, and at last had Uriah killed in battle. "But the thing that David had done was evil in the sight of the LORD" (2 Samuel 11:27). God sent Nathan, who told of a rich man who took a poor man's one lamb, and then said, "You are that man!" (2 Samuel 12:7). God laid the guilt on David: he had put Uriah to the sword and taken his wife (2 Samuel 12:9).

Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." "The LORD has taken away your sin," Nathan replied. "You will not die."

2 Samuel 12:13

As Matthew Henry notes, "David says not a word to excuse himself or make light of his sin, but freely owns it" Matthew Henry. The sin was forgiven, but its fruit remained: "the sword will never depart from your house" (2 Samuel 12:10). Violence broke out among his sons, and Absalom died in revolt against his father. Still, near the end David sings, "The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer" (2 Samuel 22:2).

The book and Christ

The angel Gabriel told Mary of her son, "The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end!" (Luke 1:32-33). The New Testament opens by naming Jesus "the son of David" (Matthew 1:1), and at Pentecost Peter said that David knew God's oath and foresaw the resurrection of the Christ (Acts 2:30-31). Matthew Henry writes that this everlasting house, throne and kingdom "can be applied to no other than to Christ and his kingdom" Matthew Henry.

David's sin and repentance shine a light on the gospel too. Psalm 51, whose title ties it to Nathan's visit, prays, "Create in me a clean heart, O God" (Psalm 51:10). The king God loved fell deeply, and when he confessed his sin instead of hiding it, he was forgiven. That forgiveness is open to every sinner in Christ, the son of David who died for sinners. See Sin, repentance, forgiveness, in the New Believers course.

Reading it

Two chapters a day takes twelve days; begin with 2 Samuel 1. On the day you read chapters 11–12, read Psalm 51 too, and beside chapter 22 its twin, Psalm 18. Watch whether the promise of chapter 7 holds through the darkness of 13–20. Then go on to 1 Kings, which opens with David's last days.

Practice