God had requirements regarding the leadership of Israel. One of those requirements was that the king was to be one that the Lord chooses. David is that King. God had sent Samuel to find and anoint David as king some two decades before he actually got to the throne. Now the time has come for God’s choice to rule over God’s people.
Almost instantly, we begin to see victory over mortal enemies, unity among the nations, and the return of the Ark of the Covenant (a symbol of God’s presence).
Look how fast things change when we follow God’s ways! Are there areas in your life that seem to be chaotic, dysfunctional, and consistently lacking? Are those areas fully submitted to God? Are you following His ways?
What would change if you were?
2 Samuel 5:1–7:29 (MEV)
1 All of the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your bone and flesh.
2 Previously, when Saul was king over us, you were the one leading Israel out and in. Also, the Lord said to you: You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.”
3 So all of the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them before the Lord at Hebron. They anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5 He reigned over Judah from Hebron for seven years and six months, and he reigned over all of Israel and Judah from Jerusalem for thirty-three years.
6 The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, who were living in the land. They said to David, “You will not enter here; even the blind and the lame will turn you away”—thinking, “David cannot enter here.”
7 Nevertheless, David overthrew the stronghold of Zion, which is now the City of David.
8 David said on that day, “Whoever defeats the Jebusites, let him go through the water shaft to reach the lame and the blind, who are despised by David.” Therefore, it is said, “The blind and lame shall not come into the house.”
9 So David occupied the stronghold, and he called it the City of David. He built on all sides from the terraces inward.
10 David went on and became great, because the Lord, the God of Hosts, was with him.
11 King Hiram of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar wood, carpenters, and stonemasons, and they built a house for David.
12 Then David understood that the Lord had appointed him king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.
13 David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, after having come from Hebron, and they bore him more sons and daughters.
14 These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia,
16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
17 When the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all of the Philistines went up to search for David, but David heard about this and went down to the stronghold.
18 Now the Philistines had come and were spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
19 So David asked the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You give them into my hand?” The Lord said to David, “Go up, because I will certainly give them into your hand.”
20 So David came to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there. He said, “The Lord has breached my enemies before me like bursting tides.” Therefore, he named that place Baal Perazim.
21 The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
22 Once again, the Philistines went up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
23 When David inquired of the Lord, He said, “You shall not go up. Circle around behind them and come against them opposite the trees.
24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, pay attention, because at that point the Lord is going before you to defeat the army of the Philistines.”
25 So David did just as the Lord commanded, and he defeated the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.
1 Again David gathered all of the chosen men in Israel, thirty thousand.
2 David and all of the people who were with him arose and went from Baalah of Judah to bring up the ark of God, so named for the name of the Lord of Hosts who sits enthroned among the cherubim that are upon it.
3 They loaded the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab were driving the new cart.
4 They brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab on the hill, and Ahio was walking in front of the ark.
5 Meanwhile, David and the entire house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all sorts of instruments made of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled.
7 The Lord became angry against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence. He died there beside the ark of God.
8 David became angry because of the outburst of the Lord against Uzzah; that place is called Perez Uzzah to this day.
9 David feared the Lord that day, and he thought, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?”
10 So David did not allow the ark of the Lord to be brought to him in the City of David. Instead, David redirected it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
11 The ark of the Lord remained at the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and his entire household.
12 When it was reported to King David, “The Lord has blessed Obed-Edom and everything that belongs to him, for the sake of the ark of God,” David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing.
13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, David would sacrifice an ox and a fattened steer.
14 David danced before the Lord with all of his might, and he wore a linen ephod.
15 So David and the whole house of Israel escorted the ark of the Lord with shouting and the sound of the horn.
16 When the ark of the Lord entered the City of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked down from the window, and upon seeing King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she thought contemptuously of him in her mind.
17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had erected for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.
18 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people before the Lord of Hosts.
19 He distributed to all of the people, the entire multitude of Israel, both men and women, one bread cake, one date cake, and one raisin cake to each one. Then all of the people left, each to his house.
20 David returned to bless his household, but Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet him. She said, “How the king of Israel has dignified himself today, exposing himself this day in the sight of his servant’s slave girls like one of the rabble might shamelessly expose himself.”
21 Then David responded to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me over your father and over everyone in his household, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. I was celebrating before the Lord.
22 I will humble myself even more than this and be abased in my own eyes. But by the maidservants, of whom you have spoken, I will be held in honor.”
23 Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
1 Now when the king settled into his house and the Lord had given him rest from all of his enemies on all sides,
2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “I am dwelling in a cedar house, but the ark of God is sitting in a tent.”
3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart because the Lord is with you.”
4 That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan:
5 Go and say to My servant David: Thus says the Lord: Do you intend to build a house for Me in which I will dwell?
6 I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought the sons of Israel from Egypt until this day. I have been moving about with a tent as My dwelling.
7 Wherever I have moved with all the sons of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?”
8 Now therefore, you will say to My servant David: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following after the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel.
9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all of your enemies before you. I will make your name great, like the great ones across the land.
10 Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel. I will plant them, and they will dwell in that very place. They will be restless no longer, and the unjust will no longer oppress them, as in former times,
11 ever since the day in which I appointed judges over My people Israel. I will give you rest from all of your enemies. The Lord declares to you that He will instead bring about a house for you.
12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up after you an offspring from your body, and I will establish his rule.
13 He will build a house for My name, and I will establish his royal throne forever.
14 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to Me. When he goes astray, I will correct him with the rod of men and afflictions of the sons of men.
15 My commitment will not abandon him, as I removed it from Saul, whom I deposed before you.
16 Your house and dominion will endure before Me forever, and your throne will be established by the Lord forever.
17 So Nathan spoke to David in accordance with all of these words and the entirety of this vision.
18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. He said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far?
19 Yet this was comparatively insignificant in Your sight, Lord God, for You have also spoken about Your servant’s house into the distant future. Is this Your manner with man, Lord God?
20 “What more can David say to You? You know Your servant, Lord God.
21 Because of Your word, according to Your will, You have done all of this greatness to inform Your servant.
22 “Therefore You are great, Lord God. There is none like You, and there is no God except You, according to everything that we have heard with our ears.
23 And who is like Your people, like Israel—a single nation in the land, whom God went to redeem as a people for Himself, making a name for Himself by doing great and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods.
24 You established Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, Lord, became their God.
25 “Now, Lord God, confirm forever the word that You spoke regarding Your servant and his house and do as You have spoken.
26 May Your name be magnified forever by saying, ‘The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel,’ and may the house of Your servant David be established before You.
27 “For You, O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed a word to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore, Your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to You.
28 Now, Lord God, You are God, and Your words are true. You have spoken this good message to Your servant.
29 Now, be resolved and bless Your servant’s dynastic house, so that it may stand before You forever. You, Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing, the house of Your servant will be blessed forever.”