37: DAVID: KING - WARTS & ALL
Based on the 2nd Book of Samuel (2SAM, 2S)... Read more there...

2 SAM begins with a different version of Saul's death (N1) then focuses on David, who in keeping with the musical skills mentioned in Ep.36 sings a moving lament for Saul despite the history between them! Later, David will become known as a leader among those who compose the Psalms, but for now we're in a time of rival politics & civil war. A pro-house-of-Saul 'party' led by Abner, an ambitious general instals one of Saul's sons, Ishbaal, as puppet king reflecting Abner's own ambitions & Israelite (Northern) interests. For now the men (!) of Judah anoint David as their king either to confirm, or in ignorance of Samuel's earlier secret anointing of David [1SAM Ch.16]. After some nasty goings-on Abner & Ishbaal are both murdered (not by David) & not long after [Ch. 5: 1-5] we hear David being acknowledged & anointed king of Israel as well. Soon after David makes Jerusalem his capital, & in Ch.6, in a calculated move to consolidate his position David has the Ark of the Covenant (N2) moved from Shiloh to Jerusalem, recently captured from the Jebusites. Jerusalem now becomes both the religious & political capital of the emerging nation. In Ch. 7 David tells the Prophet Nathan that he wants to build a Temple for YHWH. However God makes it clear through Nathan that it is He, YHWH who will build David a 'house', i.e. a dynasty, & not vice-versa! Chs. 8-10 are about more warfaring except that in Ch. 9 David makes compassionate provision for Jonathan's disabled son Meribbaal.

Ch. 11 marks a turning point - for the bad - for David. Maybe seduced by Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, one of his best & loyalest troops, David commits adultery with her. But worse is to come! When Bathsheba becomes pregnant David compounds their evil by deviously trying to arrange 'home-leave' for Uriah to make it look as though the child to be born is his, Uriah's. But Uriah's loyalty thwarts him. In desperation David then treacherously arranges for Uriah to be killed in battle so he can marry Bathsheba. Not only is this a treacherous & murderous act on David's part, it is a total failure on his part to live up to his responsibilities as king to govern justly in God's name! Ch. 12 brings an example of the role of a true Prophet having little to do with fore-telling the future & everything to do with tackling the present! Nathan fronts David who repents & is forgiven, however the child born to Bathsheba & David dies. But then another child, Solomon, is born who will be the next king & renowned for his wisdom. But all that's a long way off yet.

Chs. 13-19: 9 are a litany of family & internal strife centring on one of David's sons, Absalom, who leads a revolt against his father. In the end, Absalom is killed, but David has to snap out of mourning him or risk losing the support of those who've remained loyal to him. There come more strife & revolts. For one revered as a great king, David is certainly a shaky one! After the strife has died down, in Ch. 22 David celebrates his deliverance from the clutches of all his enemies with a great Psalm (N3). In CH. 23 we read what are said to be David's 'last words', but a less pleasant alternative version of his 'last words' appears at [1K2:5-9] (N4). These 'last words' are followed by a kind of 'Honour Roll' of 'heroes' (N5). The book ends with a strange story of a census in which God seemingly sets both David & the people up (!) & David buying a threshing floor adjacent to Jerusalem. He has an altar built there, & this will later become the site for Solomon's Temple. But that's another story...38...The Wisdom of Solomon
 
(N1) An illustration of how conflicting texts of some books can be. (N2) Recovered from the Philistines years before [1SAM 7:1]. (N3) Almost identical with PS 118 q.v. (N4) Perhaps this first represents the better side of David & the second the other side of him, though some scholars think the first is not genuinely Davidic. (N5) This roll, like Ch.24 that follows it, probably originally came after Ch.21.    

Question: What do we make of God 'using' bad things people do to bring good out of it / them?