Restraining Vengeance

When I was a kid, I used to watch soap operas. Not all the time. I just remember them for that one hour during lunch time when I was at home sick. My mom had an hour lunch break and would come home to eat, and every day she would turn on a soap opera. The two I remember are “Days of Our Lives” and “All My Children.” Let me tell you, that is what you call drama. Now, I don’t mean that in terms of acting drama. I don’t think you could qualify any of that as acting. But the drama is in the storylines. Today’s text reminds me of that. David is the main character, but there is drama all around him. It’s a lot like a soap opera.

Throughout this soap opera today, I want us to see a contrast. We will see a contrast between a few different men in Saul and David’s courts and King David himself. We’re covering three chapters (2 Samuel 2-4), so we can’t hit every verse here. We’ll have to look at the story as a whole. Let me give you the JAV (Jacob Abridged Version), then.

Abner is commander of Saul’s army, and he makes the only remaining son of Saul, Ish-bosheth, king over Israel. Abner is a haughty and self-serving person. He just wants power and will do whatever it takes, working whatever system, to get it. He has no true loyalty and is just an opportunist.

Another character, Joab, is commander of David’s army, the army of Judah. Abner and Joab met each other at the pool of Gibeon and each had twelve of their men compete against each other kind of like some sort of games. But each one ended up grabbing their heads and thrusting their swords in their opponents’ sides, and all of them died. What followed that was the soap opera drama.

Joab, the commander of David’s army, and two of his brothers were there, and one of his brothers chased after Abner, the commander of Saul’s army. And Abner ends up killing him through the stomach with the butt of his spear. Now the remaining two brothers start pursuing Abner. But Abner made it to the people of Benjamin and they gathered behind him as a large group. Chapter 2 verses 26-31 say,

“26 Then Abner called to Joab, “Shall the sword devour forever? Do you not know that the end will be bitter? How long will it be before you tell your people to turn from the pursuit of their brothers?” 27 And Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, surely the men would not have given up the pursuit of their brothers until the morning.” 28 So Joab blew the trumpet, and all the men stopped and pursued Israel no more, nor did they fight anymore.

29 And Abner and his men went all that night through the Arabah. They crossed the Jordan, and marching the whole morning, they came to Mahanaim. 30 Joab returned from the pursuit of Abner. And when he had gathered all the people together, there were missing from David's servants nineteen men besides Asahel. 31 But the servants of David had struck down of Benjamin 360 of Abner's men.

You would think that’s enough soap opera. But it’s not. Abner was growing stronger in Saul’s kingdom, and even the king, Ish-bosheth feared him. But Saul’s kingdom was growing weaker and weaker. We’ve already seen that Abner has no loyalty and just wants power. Since David is growing in power, Abner seeks to jump ship and go with David, giving the whole kingdom to him. Look at chapter 3 verses 17-19:

17 And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. 18 Now then bring it about, for the Lord has promised David, saying, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hand of all their enemies.’” 19 Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do.

Abner then came with his men to David and David threw him a big feast. But, again, soap opera, you do remember who is commander of David’s army right? Joab. And Abner killed Joab’s brother. That’s not something you forget. And that’s not something you forgive. Verses 24-25 say,

24 Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? 25 You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.

Joab then sends messengers to bring back Abner, and then he takes him aside, and, well, let’s just read verse 27: “And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, and there he struck him in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother.” Joab killed Abner the same way he killed his brother in 2:23. When David heard it, he was grieved and said his kingdom is guiltless but essentially called down a curse upon Joab for generations. Revenge, vengeance comes at a cost. David then mourns and laments the death of Abner. We see his heart through all of this, I think especially in chapter 3 verses 37b-39:

37 …it had not been the king's will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. 38 And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? 39 And I was gentle today, though anointed king. These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!” 

If all that bloodshed isn’t enough, two men then sneak in and kill Ish-bosheth, the king of Israel, cut off his head and bring it to David, thinking it will make him happy. And no, you know the character of David. It didn’t make him happy. He said in chapter 4 verses 10-11,

10 when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. 11 How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?”

And that is how David was given the throne of Israel. How’s that for a soap opera? You may be worried now that we haven’t even made it to point one yet. We are now going to briefly draw some application from the text. Though there are many things we could draw from the text, these are some things that stood out to me as I studied and prayed this week. I pray they will be an encouragement to you as well.

We must seek God in the valleys and on the mountaintops.

Right away, in verse 1, we see David seek the Lord. It says, “After this David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah?” How often have you, in life, forgotten the Lord once you weren’t in the valley anymore? Once things were easy? Once you were no longer struggling? That’s not what David does here. David is still seeking God even though Saul isn’t chasing him anymore. He learned from his past mistakes (at least for now).

But then you look at verses 8 and 9, and you see a contrast with the word “but.”

8 But Abner the son of Ner, commander of Saul's army, took Ish-bosheth the son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim, 9 and he made him king over Gilead and the Ashurites and Jezreel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all Israel.

Do you think this was God’s will? We know it’s not. We know God’s will is for David to be king over all of Israel. But here Abner, the commander of Saul’s army, isn’t even seeking whether it’s God’s will or not. There’s no way for him to even know. And so, we have the same problems we had with Saul, even though Saul is now dead.

The kingdom is divided. And this divided kingdom lasted seven and a half years verse 11 tells us.

In Matthew 12, the people were seeing Jesus for who He was and asking if He was the promised one who was to come from David, but the Pharisees were saying that he had a demon instead. It’s then that Jesus said these words in Matthew 12:25: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand.” That’s fitting in more ways than one in this context. We must seek God, always. Don’t forget God when things are good. Lean on God when things are hard. God’s wisdom is wiser than our wisdom, and His strength is stronger than our strength.

The presence of the Lord is our strength—not our might, our wits, or any other means.

Another contrast we see in this text is made clear in verse 1 of chapter 3. It says, “There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.”

Why do you think this is? It’s the presence of the Lord. The rest of this narrative, we see the inner workings and behind the scenes maneuverings of Abner and Joab. They are doing whatever they can to get ahead, especially Abner. They are doing things in their own strength and wits. But is it working? No. They are only getting weaker. And it’s leading them towards destruction. Every time. Left to our own devices, we always tend toward destruction.

Here's what the Bible teaches us—and it’s backwards from the world. When we are weak, then we are strong. That’s how God works. Because it is Him working, not us. The Apostle Paul said it most clearly in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

The contrast in our David narrative is made evident in verse 6 when it says, “While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.” Think about this. Abner is making himself strong in the house of Saul while, if you remember from verse 1, Saul’s house is growing weaker and weaker.  So, that’s not saying very much, is it? He’s heading to the captain’s deck of a sinking ship. That’s the wisdom of the world, y’all. It’s foolishness. It’s folly. 1 Corinthians 3:19-20 says,

19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” 20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.

Or how about this from 1 Corinthians 1:25: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” The richest, most powerful, and most intelligent people in this whole world who have ever existed and will ever exist will all stand before God one day and give an account of their life. God is the only omnipotent one. He is the only omniscient one. He is the only one in control. He is the only one to be trusted. He is the only one to be feared. He is the only one to be revered. He is the only one to be bowed down to and followed. He is the only one where life is to be found. So, each one of us must entrust our lives to him completely.

God is still at work in the background, even amidst chaos.

I pointed out that God is in control, but when you look at the story we’ve been looking at today, it can look like everything’s out of control. I know that your life can feel the same as well.

Eugene Peterson says it well:

“Abner and Joab, with little or no sense of God and God’s providential presence, seize power and attempt to manipulate affairs to their own interests. They make so much noise and their arrogant pride so hogs the show that the story of David is pushed, if not off the page, at least into the footnotes.

In the footnotes we still detect David at his characteristic kingwork: acting generously (with Jabesh-gilead, 2 Sam. 2:5-7), raising a family (2 Sam. 3:2-5), enacting a covenant (2 Sam. 3:12-16), writing poetry, and grieving honestly (2 Sam. 3:31-37).”[1]

David seems to not be at the center of this story even though he should be. But you know what? God was still working. David was king of Judah. He was living his godward life that we have so often seen him live, even if we have to see him live it in the margins of messiness. And God calls us to do the same. God calls us to faithfulness amidst the margins of the messiness of life. And God is still at work there. And often that is where God does some of His deepest work in us and through us.

God works out our salvation amidst grievous brokenness.

Eugene Peterson says, “It’s time to take a step back and recall the underlying plot of this story: God’s salvation is being established; God’s people are being formed into God’s kingdom.”[2] He later says,

“We read page after page of this kind of thing and think, What’s this doing in the Bible? I don’t want to read about jerks like Abner and Joab. I get enough of their kind in the newspapers and on television. I want good news. I want the David story. I want to read about Jesus. What the Bible needs is a good editor. Why waste good gospel ink on Abner and Joab?

Why does the Bible have this stuff in it? If God is working here, speaking here, why don’t things work out better? Why don’t people behave better? Why are boneheads like Joab and Abner allowed to take up so much space? If God is at the center of things, why does history get so messed up?

The answer is quite obvious, even if uncongenial. This is the context and company in which God chooses to work out our salvation.”[3]

Through all of this, David doesn’t rely on his own strength or might. He knows who it is who saves. In verse 9 of chapter 4, he says, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed me from every adversity…” He knows it has been God who has brought about his redemption every step of the way. God delivered him from the hand of Saul, even if it took ten years of running. God delivered all of Israel for David to rule over, even if it was by wrong means. God works all things for the good of those who love him.

I can’t help but think of the patience David experienced and the difficulty David faced through all of this. But it pales in comparison with the redemption that was brought for us through the One that would come from David, King Jesus.

Think of the patience through the ages before Jesus would finally come. Think of the horrible nature by which Jesus would die, not so much unlike the men of this story today died. But He died for evil men just like this. But the thing is, those evil men aren’t some people far off, written on a page. They are you and me. We are the Abners and the Joabs. We seek position and acknowledgment. We seek revenge and vengeance. We seek pleasure and prestige. We get bitter and angry. We make stupid decisions. We don’t pursue the Lord and pursue our own way far more often that we pursue the Lord. And that’s who Jesus died for. And we can say, just like David, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed me from every adversity…”

But we can say it from the other side of the cross and the empty tomb. Only if we have placed our faith in Jesus and received the free gift of His grace.

[1] Eugene H. Peterson, Leap Over a Wall: Earthy Spirituality for Everyday Christians (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), 128.

[2] Peterson, Leap Over a Wall, 127.

[3] Peterson, Leap Over a Wall, 128-129.