Chapter 1
Key themes:
- David knows about Saul’s death through the Amalekite whose sword Saul suicided with. But the Amalekite said that he killed Saul, and David killed him because of this.
- David composed a song celebrating Saul and Jonathan.
Chapter 2
Key themes:
- David is anointed as King of Judah.
- Abner, the commander of the army of Saul, makes Ishbosheth / Ishbaal as king of the rest of the tribes of Israel.
- Joab, a servant of David, meets with Abner and their armies fight. The army of David wins.
Chapter 3
Key themes:
- Ishbosheth accuses Abner of going into one of Saul’s concubines, which prompts Abner to surrender to David.
- Abner makes a covenant with David, with the exchange of Michal, David’s wife that was taken from him.
- Joab thinks Abner is deceiving David, so he kills him because of this, and because of the blood of Asahel his brother. David disapproves harshly of this action and curses Joab.
Questions:
- “Am I a dog’s head of Judah?”
- Why David has to fast until the sun goes down. Saul does a similar thing.
Chapter 4
Key themes:
- Rechab and Baanah, captains of ‘raiding bands’, kill Ishbosheth in his sleep and bring his head to David.
- David reproofs of them, and kills them.
Chapter 5
Key themes:
- David is anointed king of all Israel. He was 30 years old when he became king, and reigned for 40 years. He reigned over Judah in Hebron for 7 years (and 6 months) and Judah 33 years.
- (it says that David establishes Jerusalem as the capital, but I didn’t understand that)
- The Philistines heard that David was anointed king over Israel and went to fight with him, and David, with the help of the Lord struck them.