Walk Through the Bible: II Samuel
Text for Sermon: II Samuel 7:16-17; 22:2-4
This is our tenth book of the OT. We will pause until Sept. 15.
As I mentioned last week we have come to the three double books of the OT that cover the entire history of the rise and fall of the Israelite monarchy, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles. These six books cover about 500 years of the kings of Israel (1095 -586 BC) and almost all the rest of the history of the OT, all the prophets, all the writings, all the poetry, except the three minor post-exilic prophets (Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi).
I Samuel introduced the beginning of the monarchy in Israel. II Samuel introduces the establishment of the Davidic dynasty and the reign of David over all twelve tribes of Israel, a period of about 40 years from 1011 to 971BC.
But having said II Samuel chronicles the reign of King David, II Samuel is not just about David. We have to fight against a People magazine reading of II Samuel, and indeed of all these historical books. We must keep telling ourselves this is not about David, or the covenant kings, this is all about a covenant God who makes covenant promises to a covenant king through whom God will preserve His covenant people and accomplish His covenant purposes.
A danger in reading the books of the history of Israel is that you will read them as histories, or just as histories. They are histories that are to be read spiritually and theologically. This is God’s history, and God’s history is always redemptive. Keep reminding yourself of that.
These are written for our spiritual benefit, speaking to our hearts and souls as well as to our minds.