The challenge of living with plenty (2 Samuel 5)

When I got married, a dear friend made me a hanging ornament that had the seven produce of the Promised Land (Deut 8:8) on it. In Deuteronomy, God’s people leave behind the desert to enter a land of abundant fruit and crops and are told to remember that even in the days of plenty, it is God who provides (Deut 8:10). It was a good reminder for me, too, as I left behind my student days with their financial uncertainties and entered a time of greater stability with marriage and eventually with earning a salary. Living in good health and having a job may give us a sense of self-sufficiency which makes it harder to recognise our ongoing dependence on the Lord. David, too, is experiencing a transition in our reading, as he is acknowledged as the king of all Israel at last (2 Sam 5:3). He has finally arrived, but how will he handle power and plenty as king? This is the question that the rest of David’s story is especially concerned about.

Acknowledging responsibilities

David’s first response to the elders’ approach is to make a covenant with them (v.3) and such an agreement involves obligations. David is not taking power for granted as something to be used for his own advantage but recognises that he has commitments to his people. As the elders remind him, God has chosen him to be a shepherd to Israel (2 Sam 5:2), a common metaphor for kings in the ancient Near East, which indicates responsibility and care for the needs of the flock. David also shows sensitivity and wisdom in choosing Jebus (renamed Jerusalem after the king captures it) as his power base (2 Sam 5:6-7). As a foreign enclave that Israel was unable to capture in the conquest (Josh 15:63), close to the border between north and south (Judah), it was neutral ground not tainted by prior allegiances. David was able to take the city, possibly through an access point to Jerusalem’s water supply (2 Sam 5:8), despite the Jebusites’ boast that even the blind and lame could defend it as it was so impregnable (v.6).[1] David’s recognition that his growing greatness (whether it is his power, prestige or both) is from God is not simply a smug acknowledgement but is based on the understanding that such exaltation is for a purpose, ‘for the sake of His people’ (2 Sam 5:12).

Dissonance and faithfulness

The brief note on more wives and concubines and further sons and daughters born to the king may simply indicate David’s established status, but as readers we are aware of later developments and may feel a slight dissonance in this otherwise very positive chapter. However, the rest of the chapter affirms David’s faithfulness as he fights the Philistines and does what Saul was unable to achieve by breaking the Philistines’ power (2 Sam 3:18). He also continues to ask the Lord for directions as he goes into battle and does not assume that the same strategy of an earlier victory is automatically God’s will (2 Sam 5:19 cf. 2 Sam 5:23-24).

When we are given much

David’s attitude teaches us the importance of holding onto trusting God even when things are going well. Our need for dependence may be less obvious but it is no less necessary. The temptation in times of plenty is to attribute our success to our own efforts, something that Deuteronomy warns against (Deut 8:17). More subtly perhaps, we might think of God’s blessings as a reward, as nothing less than what we deserve, which affirms what special people we are. However, David’s understanding teaches us that blessings may be given for a purpose so that others may benefit. Or, as Jesus puts it, ‘From everyone who has been given much, much will be required’ (Luke 12:48). Whether our ‘much’ are financial or material advantages, intellectual abilities or practical skills, we can pay it forward to benefit others.

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[1] The exact location of entry is uncertain. It may have been through Warren’s Shaft, a water tunnel that predates David (discovered in the 19^th century), or through the Gihon cave. David G. Firth, 1 & 2 Samuel (Nottingham: Apollos, 2009), 364. The Gihon Spring outside Jerusalem used to be the main water supply for the city in antiquity and a point of weakness in Jerusalem’s defences. David’s retort about the lame and blind ‘hated’ by him is a sarcastic reference to the Jebusites (v.8). The saying about barring the lame and blind from ‘the house’ (possible the later temple?) is obscure.

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