Sermon Tone Analysis

David Becomes King

David becomes king of all of Israel, this time all of the tribes of Israel have come out to make him king.

Was it because he was the only option left?

The work of Abner in speaking to the elders obviously helped to play a part.

But notice what they say:

Abner would have known of this and possibly reminded Israel of this fact.

Jebus (Jerusalem)

So what’s with these Jebusites?

Here they are making a claim that the city of Jerusalem was so well defended that even the blind and the lame could defeat his army.

Could you imagine being defeated by blind and lame men?

It would be very humiliating!

Yet these Jebusites prided themselves on the fact that they could easily ward off any attack - regardless of who it might be.

David’s Challenge

We would recall from a previous study regarding Joab at how Joab had been cursed by David because of what he had done in slaying Abner.

Here we recall David’s challenge to his men by asking:

And as we know previously strangely Joab isn’t mentioned, although helps to fill in the detail by adding:

1

God’s Blessing

I guess the lack of detail perhaps shows just at how easy it was.

How did David perceive that the Lord had established him king over Israel?

Was it a moment of reflection?

How could we perceive that the Lord had established him king over Israel?

Samuel’s anointing -

David’s conquest of Goliath -

David’s position in the palace and as captain -

David’s deliverance out of King Saul’s hand -

David’s help from Jonathan -

David’s basic provisions met with Ahimelech -

David learning to lead (Adullum) -

David’s deliverance from the hand of King Saul -

And another time -

David’s heart being prepared (it would have been easy for him to have destroyed Nabal, but this would have been more of a blight against his name) -

David’s deliverance from King Saul (again) -

David’s conquest of the Philistines in Ziklag -

David keeping him from siding with the enemy, it would have been very difficult to be king over a territory which you yourself warred against, in fact it wouldn’t have been a good precedent if David had killed King Saul - the sword would never have left his throne, there would likely have never been a day of peace, especially against the house of Benjamin -

David’s deliverance from his friends and return of his possessions -

David instructed by the Lord to go to Hebron where he was anointed king of Judah -

David waxed stronger and Abner sides with David -

Death of Ishbosheth -

There was much that David could see directly related to the hand of God and was evident in David’s life - such as the conquest of Goliath, being saved from the hand of King Saul.

Whereas there were others where God’s moved them to get David to where he needed to be, for example, Achish (Philistine lord preventing David from battle) and Abner.

Note also that the price of greatness wasn’t an easy and direct road - much like Joseph.

But perhaps what was more evident in David’s life at this point, was what was happening in the short-time span since his coronation as king over Israel.

Let’s have a read of .

We can see from this passage that David is amassing a huge amount of men.

What was once only 600 now amassed into the size of 340,000!

While we are here in 1 Chronicles notice the ending: “there was joy in Israel” - why?

We may say because of the great celebration going on, and this would have been a reason that helped to facilitate the festivities of the occasion, but what were they celebrating?

This rings so true to another verse regarding unity in Scripture:

So we can see from at how David’s army continually grew and how he was able to command these mighty men.

And we read back in our passage at why the elders of Israel made David king:

From these two opening verses what qualities mark a good leader of God’s people?

especially since the elders were the ones who mentioned this fact - he had already exhibited leadership and was honourable to the Lord in his duties: "wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel.”

What qualities mark a good leader of God’s people?

Must belong to God

Demonstrated capacity to lead

Must have an evident calling from God

Why did David choose Jerusalem as his capital?

It had no prior association with the tribes of Israel, obviously the Benjamites did not capture it, and therefore was good for unifying Israel.

The geography of the city made it easy to defend against a hostile army.

What 3 things did David know about God’s hand in making him great?

David knew God had called him and established him ()

David knew it was God’s kingdom ()

David knew it was God’s people ()

How do you know the Lord is working in your life?

Some times we don’t know until after the fact.

My boss and the CEO of the organisation I work for just celebrated his 50th birthday during the week.

He gave a short speech looking back over the last 21 years working and building up the organisation to where it is today and remarked at seeing the Lord work in his life.

We even joked back at some of the requirements he had to meet as a CEO, they were quite laughable, but it goes to show that they were small little guide rails that helped keep him on the path where God wanted him and the organisation to go.

So how do we know if God is working in our life?

We follow what God has commanded us to do.

How will we know what to do if we don’t know what God has asked of us?

If we are straying off course as we being chastised by the Lord to get back on the right track?

Are we recognising the chastening or are we accepting it as a difficulty to overcome?