Photo from Antelope House Photography

Updated August 9, 2014

Chapters covered: All of 1Samuel; and all of 2Samuel.

The Book of Samuel (one book in the Hebrew) is broken down into two books in the English, 1Samuel and 2Samuel. I have completed the exegesis of 1Samuel, which runs a little over 4000 pages. The entire study will be around 9,000 pages. Each chapter is a separate document, so the links below will take you to each chapter individually. The idea is, this should be everything that you need to know about this book, including the morphology of the Hebrew. Now, since some of those who read this are not interested in the Hebrew, or do not grasp the significance for including it, I have placed the Hebrew in grey tables which can be easily skipped over. If you question a translation, you may always go back to the tables to see why it is so translated. My intention was to provide one place where you could go to get every bit of information that you want on every verse from the book of Samuel.

If you have ever read either 1 or 2Samuel critically, you will have a lot of questions: (1) why did God bring in Samuel from outside the priestly line? (2) Why did God allow the Ark of God to fall into disuse during the ministry of Samuel (and kingship of Saul)? (3) God allows a medium to bring Samuel back from the dead; why did God allow that? After all, Samuel, when coming back from the dead, did not tell Saul anything that he did not already know. He certainly did not come back in order to convey new information. (4) Why do we study this odd narrative about Joab bringing an actress into the court of David in order to bring Absalom back into Jerusalem? (5) Why was the appendix added to the book of Samuel and what is its significance?

All of these questions, which have never been correctly explained before, will be thoroughly examined and explained, and with these explanations, you will develop a much firmer grasp of Scripture as well as a greater appreciation for what God has done historically. These are not simply historical incidents which some old Bible guy recorded; these are things which are recorded for a reason, and these are things which have actual application to your life as a believer in Jesus Christ. A pastor who examines this exegesis and teaches it from the pulpit will be the first pastor, to the best of my knowledge, to ever teach these things publicly.

Now, don’t get all weirded out at this point. The exegesis of these books will not put before you a bunch of brand new doctrines which are different from those already delivered by orthodox Christianity; that is, a study of this book is not going to upend your doctrinal foundation, or get you interested in joining some cult of some sort; these questions have doctrinal answers and fit in very well with the essential doctrines that we have learned and have believed in (see the Doctrinal Statement).

As an aside, even though I have attended Berachah Church for over 30 years, these are not my notes re-worked from R. B. Thieme, Jr.’s excellent study on the life of David. On most chapters, I refer back to my old notes from that class to make certain that I did not leave anything out; however the bulk of this study is original, with view toward contemporary events. There are a great many things in these chapters that Bob did not cover.

The problems with the graphics in all documents and the Hebrew characters have always displayed correctly in the PDF documents (which accurately portrays what the format should look like). From 2Samuel_07 forward, the Hebrew characters will also display correctly in the HTML documents as well (which is made possible by WordPerfect X4 and forward):

The problems noted above for 1Samuel are also true of the 2Samuel files. At this point, I have not written the introduction for 2Samuel but all of the chapters for 2Samuel have been completed.

A possible problem with the following pdf files is, they are quite large and they may not display on computers with limited memory. If that is the case, then you should be able to right-click the link, choose save as, and put the file on your hard drive and open it there using Adobe Acrobat Reader. That will give you a complete view of the graphics and the Hebrew characters.

Now and again, I have seen that I have made some mistakes in spelling as well as in the morphology (I took the information from Owen, but changed it whenever there was a mistake in his work). If you discover mistakes, then I would want to know what they are so that I could change them and update the documents. I enjoy studying the Word of God, but I so hate to proofread.

For most chapters, the original wpd (WordPerfect document) is also available online. Just go to http://kukis.org/Samuel/, right click, and choose save as. These documents will open in WordPerfect and sometimes in Word (although that is a dicey proposition). Each document (chapter) is typically around 100–250 pages.

Brief Chapter Synopses

Note: This is a new section, and I have only included recently completed chapters.

2Samuel 6 (HTML) (PDF) is all about David bringing the Ark of God from where it had been stored for the past 40 or so years into Jerusalem, the newly established capital of Israel. He failed to learn the mechanics of properly moving the Ark, and, as a result, a man died. David stopped right then and there, the Ark was put into a temporary storage, and then, a few weeks later, after studying the Bible, David figured out how to do it right. There was a great celebration in bringing the Ark successfully into Jerusalem.

There are several important topics covered in this study. Why didn’t Samuel restore Tabernacle worship when the Ark was returned? More importantly, why didn’t God cause Samuel move the Ark back to the Tabernacle and restore full Tabernacle worship? Why did David fail in bringing the Ark into Jerusalem the first time? David has sacrifices being offered up every 6 steps; what is that all about? Michal, David’s wife (Saul’s daughter), after the ceremony of the moving of the Ark, was upset—why? Even though 2Sam. 6 deals with a real, historical incident, what do the various symbols of this chapter represent? What are the offerings all about? Why does God the Holy Spirit bother to give us the list of food which David sends home with those attending this ceremony?

2Samuel 7 (HTML) (PDF) begins with David progressing logically to the idea that, since he lives in a palace, it does not seem right that the Ark of God reside in a tent, so David proposes that he build a permanent structure for God (a Temple). He asks the prophet Nathan what he thinks, and Nathan tells him, “That sounds like a great idea; go ahead and do it.” Then God appears to Nathan and tells him that David will not do this, but that his son would. Then God gives the Davidic Covenant, which is a marvelous set of promises made by God to David, which promises also make reference to the Messiah to come, Who would be in David’s line.

The first question which ought to pop into your head is, since David is said to be a man after God’s own heart, why doesn’t God allow David to build a Temple? There are some verses and portions of verses which are difficult to interpret. The phrase the law [custom] of Adam [man] is one of these phrases.

For those of you who have a weak background when it comes to the history of Israel, I have written a brief history of Israel, from Abraham to the dispersion of Judah, the southern kingdom, to the return of the Jews to the land, and all the way to the Roman attack and destruction of Jerusalem in 70 a.d. In this chapter of Samuel, I have gone into great detail about the Divine Dynasphere, the power realm within which the believer operates. This is how our lives today find their proper pattern in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. The term and concepts were originally developed by R. B. Thieme Jr. and presented in greater detail in Christian Integrity, a book available from Berachah Church.

Other important topics covered in this study: God’s exclusive nature and being—the Scripture testifies to the exclusiveness of the God of Israel. God’s redemption of Israel typifies God’s redemption of mankind. What we learn from obvious textual errors. God’s relationship with Israel is eternal (including all of God’s covenants with Israel). Links to God’s many promises on the internet. The name Jehovah is applied to all members of the Trinity.

2Samuel 8 (HTML) (PDF) is all about David at war. He goes to war against the Moabites, Aram of Zobah, Aram of Damascus, and the Edomites. This is one of the few chapters of Samuel where there is a very serious copyist error, where the text reads Syria (Aram), but it should be Edom instead. Although the book of Samuel is probably more riddled with copyist errors than any other book of the Old Testament, these errors tend to be fairly minor and have no appreciable effect upon any doctrine. However, this error is a biggie, along the lines of that great copyist error found in 1Sam. 14:18, where Saul is said to have called for the Ark of God, but he really called for the Ephod of God. There are topics in this chapter which are extremely important and timely for the believer of the 21^st century (of any century): we examine war and the concept of a righteous war (which is very applicable today) as well as the divine perspective of Israel and her enemies. There is also a fascinating organizational structure of the first half of this chapter, but I did not discover this until I got to 1Chron. 18, the parallel chapter in Chronicles (HTML) (PDF). There is a second half to this chapter where we see the men under David and we examine their various responsibilities. In this second half of 2Sam. 8, we run into several problems: the parallel priesthoods, who is the father of whom (Abiathar or Ahimelech?), and who or what exactly are the Cherethites and the Pelethites.

2Samuel 9 (HTML) (PDF) is another look into David’s downtime. What do normal kings do during their downtime (when they are not at war or presiding over governmental matters)? They may gather with their drinking buddies and drink and eat at feasts and party for weeks on end (Daniel 5:1–12). However, another might build great edifices and engrave in prominent places his name and deeds. Another might multiply possessions to himself, looking to find fulfillment in all that he owns (Eccles. 2:4–10). Another might go looking for a new wife or simply chase after women (2Sam. 11). David searches out a member of Saul’s family, the rival dynasty, in order to shower grace upon him. What he uncovers is Mephibosheth, a son of Jonathan, who is no longer living on to the property of his grandfather Saul, but being cared for by another family, while Ziba, a former servant of Saul’s, enjoys Saul’s property. This is a fascinating narrative with great spiritual implications and foreshadowing. This chapter of Samuel gives us an important look into the character of David, and better helps us to understand how Jesus Christ sees us. Some of the topics of this chapter include such things as the destruction of the spiritual life of African Americans, liberation theology, slavery, slavery in the United States (a different take on this than you have read elsewhere—for instance, every African-American living in the United States should get down on their knees and thank God for the slavery of their ancestors), God’s treatment of the helpless, handicaps, and the importance of faithfulness in the little things (even if no one is looking). However, what is most striking about this book is, its spiritual parallels. God the Holy Spirit did not just throw this chapter into the middle of 2Samuel as human interest, but this book has a clear and powerful spiritual message. One more thing: there is a slip of the pen in this chapter by the authority, which reveals to us who the authority or this chapter is.

2Samuel 10 (HTML) (PDF) documents wars between Israel, Ammon and Aram. There are 2 options with regards to this chapter and 2Sam. 8: (1) they are descriptions of the same event or (2) they are descriptions of 2 different events. The details are quite different from 2Sam. 8 (which differences will be discussed in detail in this exegesis), so we are describing different wars. However, there appears to be a fairly long period of time in between these chapters (at least a decade). One thing that is different in this chapter is, I went back and listened to the teaching of R. B. Thieme, Jr. on this chapter, to make certain that I did not miss anything in my own exegesis. Some of the topics which are covered are: Principles of Warfare, Why all of this War and Tactics in the Bible?, the historical background for this chapter, the arrogance in Hanun’s state department (Hanun is the new king of Ammon), arrogance and leadership (with several modern examples), The Principle of Offensive Action, The Principle of Mass, Thieme on Elite Forces, what exactly is a flying column, fighting from interior lines, fighting from exterior lines (and other military jargon which Thieme would toss around), and Freedom and Equality. There are examples in this chapter of how a believer can properly interpret history. I wrote this chapter during the last half of 2009 and for a couple months into 2010, and then did some extensive revision in 2011 so there are many modern-day applications (our current president and his actions make for many excellent applications). This chapter is filled with maps, so that you will be able to visualize what is happening, and which army came from where.

There’s one more thing: Joab will be trapped between 2 armies and at a tactical disadvantage; so, how was he able to prevail? There are enough textual clues which reveal not only his strategy and tactics, but exactly why he was able to defeat Aram’s mercenaries. This is exclusive to this commentary; you will not find this in any other commentary on this chapter.

2Samuel 11 (HTML) (PDF) is all about David’s great sin where he first commits adultery with the wife of one of his greatest soldiers and he then arranges for that soldier to be murdered on the battlefield. God the Holy Spirit chose to devote 9 chapters of Samuel to David’s sin and the discipline which he received for this sin. Furthermore, there were several psalms written about this same incident. There are few topics in the Word of God which are given this much coverage, so what happens here is obviously important. There are a lot of theories presented as to what was going on with David, the most recent theory being the Interlocking Systems of Arrogance, which R. B. Thieme, Jr. developed about 3 or so decades ago. Therefore, we are going to delve into this doctrine, and compare it to the other theories which help to explain David falling so far out of fellowship. Bob also developed another doctrine around this section of the Word of God, which he called Installment Discipline, which is somewhat of a misnomer, but an important facet of David’s life, which doctrine will also be introduced in this study.

Included in this rather lengthy study of 2Sam. 11 are the following subjects: Loyalty versus Integrity; the Will of God; David’s Wives and Children; Polygamy and Sexual Arrogance; Escaping Addictive Behavior; David and Sexual Arrogance; the Timing of the Death of a Believer; and Military Ethics, David and Joab. There will be several doctrines either covered in this chapter or alluded to: Sexual Arrogance, Adultery, The Ark of God, Dying Grace, Liberation Theology, Polygamy, and the Will of God. Also, 5 new gates have been added to the Interlocking Systems of Arrogance: Religious Arrogance, Sin Nature Weakness Arrogance, the Arrogance of Addictive Behavior, Manipulative Arrogance, and Compartmentalization Arrogance.

2Samuel 12 (HTML) (PDF) covers 3 topics: (1) Nathan goes to David and causes him to look at himself and his sin; (2) David’s son by Bathsheba dies; and (3) Joab calls in David for the final assaults against Rabbah’s acropolis (the intent here is to preserve David’s reputation). In this and subsequent chapters, God will apply installment discipline to David. Strictly speaking, it is not discipline throughout much of the next 10 years, which will be explained in the exegesis. As we progress, you may think that David’s punishment and public humiliation is too much. However, it will become clear why God’s punishment of David was extremely harsh and public. There are 3 reasons, each of which is important. If God did not punish David this much, these 3 things would not have come to pass. There was a lot to cover in this chapter; this exegetical treatise is nearly 275 pages long. When you are done with this chapter, you will understand nearly everything that you need to know about it.

Included in 2Samuel 12 are the following doctrines: Degeneracy Sins (Addictive Behavior); Nathan’s Objectivity in the Use of His Spiritual Gift; David’s Sin is Explained; some of the hidden literary structure of this chapter is revealed; Why God’s Prophecies May Not Seem Precise; The Law of Natural Consequence; Why God Disciplines David Publically; Why God Allows David’s Innocent Son to Die; David’s Return to Routine; David’s Leadership Function, and Why Solomon Would Built the Temple and Not David. Several doctrines are referred to in this chapter as well: The Doctrine of Sexual Arrogance; The Doctrine of the Edification Complex (updated and expanded); Fasting; the Angelic Conflict; and Revolution. This is a chapter in the Word of God which has rarely, if ever, been exegeted correctly. 2Sam. 11 and 12 both begin about 10 chapters of the Word of God which have lain fallow, for the most part, for centuries. The information and application is quite up-to-date, as is the rest of the Bible.

2Samuel 13 (HTML) (PDF) In 2Sam. 13, David continues to receive "discipline" for his sin with Bathsheba. At this point, it is more suffering for blessing. David had sex with Bathsheba and then had her husband killed in battle, so this type of behavior--a result of David's sexual addiction--plays out in such a way that it hurts him. His son Amnon rapes his daughter (Amnon's half-sister) Tamar; and David is manipulated into being a part of Amnon's scheme. Tamar's brother Absalom is extremely upset, but he holds it in, and he manipulates David so that Absalom is able to kill Amnon in revenge. It is a sordid, tit-for-tat payback that David receives. Furthermore, in both crimes, David is manipulated into being a part of the crime. Without David, there is no rape of Tamar; without David, there is no killing of Amnon.

You may be surprised, but there are a lot of modern applications of this chapter. David's wives were essentially single mothers--single mothers on the dole, if you will. David had some contact with them, but not enough to raise these boys properly. His children live off the state and his boys, for the most part, are damaged souls. We will examine the sexual obsession of Amnon, the symbiotic relationship between Amnon and his lazy layabout friend Jonadab, who will put into motion one of the most clever schemes in royal history--and almost every commentator misses just how brilliant his scheme is. It is said that we live in an entitlement society; no one is better suited to illustrate this than Amnon, who was raised to think that he is entitled to everything, and yet without work or effort. Long before there was psychiatry, there was Amnon, the perfect illustration of the psychopathic personality. His disturbing lack of empathy, along with most of the other characteristics of a psychopathic personality, are all found in this chapter.

Samuel is probably the most poorly preserved book in the entire Bible. If God is all-powerful and this is His Word, then Why Isn't the Word of God Perfectly and Supernaturally Preserved? There are several half-verses missing in your Bible that will be restored, and the other textual problems of this chapter will be resolved. And that question will be answered. You will find this one of the most fascinating chapters in the entire Bible. As an aside, let me add one point when it comes to examining a chapter which has been exegeted. The Hebrew exegesis is arranged in such a way that, you can quickly skip over it to get to the text. Do not feel like you need to read the Hebrew exegesis. Now, if you ever come to the translation of a verse and wonder, "Where does he get this from?" Then the Hebrew exegesis is right there, so that you can see why this or that verse was so translated; and the Strong's and BDB numbers are always included so that you can do further research if you believe that is necessary.

2Samuel 14 (HTML) (PDF) 2Samuel 14 is one of the most unusual chapters in the Word of God, and, insofar as I know, no one has ever pointed out why. This is a self-contained chapter, a chapter which is written like a play. It has a prologue: 2Sam. 13; it has an epilogue: 2Sam. 15–19. But it stands by itself as a literary unit, as if a play. There are two unnamed characters: the king and the woman from Tekoa; and two named characters: Absalom and Joab. Of the 33 verses in this chapter, only 6 of them lack dialogue. Three of those verses describe Absalom, as one might describe a character in a play. Interestingly enough, within this play of 4 characters, Joab hires an actress to give a performance for the king, except that, he does not know until the end that this is a performance.

2Samuel 14 explains how David accepts Absalom back into the city of Jerusalem. It is an odd narrative, which may confuse the reader at first. Joab believes that Absalom should be next in line for the throne, and that it is safer for David for Absalom to expect to be king as a matter of due course than for him to be in a nearby kingdom and contemplate military action against David. So, Joab, who has probably tried previously to talk the king into bring Absalom back; resorted to doing this through an intermediary. Joab brings an actress into the picture, who will cause David to reconsider his decision concerning Absalom. However, it is quite important that we given some thought to why this chapter is here, apart from its historical perspective. Certainly, it would be a leap to have Absalom living in a foreign kingdom in one chapter, and, in the next, be back in Jerusalem fomenting revolution. So, historically, this explains how this happened. However, the Bible is not merely an historical book. Therefore, there must be more to this chapter than simply drawing a straight line from point A to point B. This will be explained within the exegesis of this narrative.

There is a part of 2Sam. 14 which has never been correctly taught. Nearly every commentator, good and not-so-good, says that the problem at the end is, David does not fully forgive Absalom. He half-forgives Absalom, and that causes all of the trouble down the road. This is wrong, particularly because David forgives Absalom in the very last verse of this chapter. If half-forgiveness was the problem, then David “solved” that problem at the very end of the chapter. However, Absalom will rebel against David, so, quite obviously, fully forgiving Absalom is not the key. The key to their relationship ought to be justice, not love; and that helps to explain everything. You might say, this is the key that unlocks the problem of David’s relationship to Absalom in 2Sam. 14.

This is the most extensive examination of 2Sam. 14 found anywhere. There is ground plowed here which has never been explored before. There is a great deal of information hidden in the dialogue about Absalom, David and Joab. Absalom reveal some wicked brilliance at the end of this chapter. Like every chapter of the Bible that I have exegeted, this is filled with applications to our lives today, even though this incident took place 3000 years ago within a royal family. There are also great theological points which are revealed in this chapter, unearthed here for the first time. And there are things in this exposition which you may be surprised to find: the Bible and human beauty; the Phi constant, the criminal personality, the similarity of the conflicted emotions of David and Bathsheba, the psychology of being a king and making royal decisions, flattery, justice, forgiveness, human viewpoint solutions and Chick-fil-A. Also, parallels are drawn between Absalom and our current president.

2Samuel 15 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD). 2Samuel 15 is an amazing chapter. The events of this book took place early on in the 10^th century b.c., and yet have application to the 2008 and 2012 elections in the United States and to clandestine warfare.

500 years before Sun Tzu was King David of Israel; King David knew the art of warfare before Sun Tzu did, and it is recorded in the Holy Bible.

2Sam. 15 is one of the most dramatic chapters in the Bible, yet, generally ignored and unknown to the average believer. Absalom will organize a revolution against David, almost under his nose; and David and his men will leave Jerusalem, in part, to preserve the lives of those David was responsible for. Then David will organize the first intelligence network recorded in human history.

To give you an idea how up-to-date this chapter of the Bible is, note what an 1871 commentary said of 2Sam. 15, which very nearly describes the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama: This dissatisfaction was artfully fomented by Senator Obama, who addressed himself to the various suitors; and after briefly hearing their tale, he gratified everyone with a favorable opinion of his case...[he] had an air of extraordinary generosity and disinterestedness, which, together with his fawning arts in lavishing civilities on all, made him a popular favorite. Thus, by forcing a contrast between his own display of public spirit and the dilatory proceedings of the court, he created a growing disgust with the Bush administration's government, as weak, careless, or corrupt, and seduced the affections of the multitude, who neither penetrated the motive nor foresaw the tendency of his conduct. Of course, this commentator had Absalom in mind rather than Senator Obama; and King David instead of Bush. Indeed, as the Bible tells us, there is no new thing under the sun.

One of the great topics of this chapter is, covert warfare, otherwise known as, when is it legitimate for a Christian to lie, deceive, steal, betray, fornicate and murder? Got your attention? The legalistic and self-righteous Christian is going to have some difficulties with this chapter of the Word of God.

Other doctrines in this chapter include Revolution, True Leadership, God’s Plan for Believers in a Disaster, the Geographical Will of God, and Why David was a Great Man and a Great King. Topics include clandestine warfare; how the people viewed David as a king (why Absalom’s rebellion took hold); how the believer must be objective and flexible; and why there are two priests in the time of David; and how the lies of a counterinsurgent are different from the lies of the revolutionary.

This is one of the most amazing chapters in the Word of God.

2Samuel 16 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) This section of the Scriptures continues to be up-to-date, as it covers such topics as people who use war and revolution for their own profit; how does an army treat disgruntled and hostile civilians in wartime; and the low-information citizen (whose parallel today is the low-information voter).

We see David leaving Jerusalem and the people he runs into at his exit; and Absalom enters into Jerusalem, and he also interacts with the two most important people in this revolution: Hushai and Ahithophel.

There are many parallels in this study to contemporary and recent politics. However, the key is, the informed believer with doctrine can correctly interpret current events, while some of the most learned and educated people around cannot. We also compare Absalom’s ground game with President Obama’s ground game in 2012.

There are verses in this chapter which, insofar as I know, have never been fully explained. V. 20, for instance, reads: Absalom [later] asked Ahithophel, “[You all] give regarding you [all] counsel: what should we do?” This is an amazing verse and tells us a great deal about Absalom. I am not aware of any commentator who realizes this (although several translators appear to get the gist of this verse). We have both a movie parallel to this verse as well as an historical parallel.

Absalom will ask for and take Ahithophel’s advice. However, for the man behind the man, there may be personal motives attached to his advice. Therefore, we will look at how Ahithophel’s advice benefits Absalom and how it benefits Ahithophel.

2Samuel 17 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD)

These lengthy exegetical studies are done for several reasons: (1) to put you into the center of the action, so that you understand all that is going on, along with the thinking of the principals involved. (2) To give you one place to go where the material of this chapter is thoroughly laid out, with alternative texts considered. (3) Every word of the Hebrew for this chapter is found along with its morphology, and then 3 different translations are provided as well.

In 2Sam. 17, David is leaving Jerusalem as Absalom enters into Jerusalem. Absalom has asked advice of his chief advisor Ahithophel at the end of the previous chapter, and he was told to publically rape David’s mistresses. While Absalom is occupied doing this, Ahithophel forms a plan, which is to take 12,000 soldiers and pursue David immediately (presumably while Absalom is still busy with the mistresses). Although Absalom likes the plan, he called in Hushai for a second opinion, not knowing that he is David’s mole. Hushai has the difficult task of immediately coming up with another plan which is inferior to Ahithophel’s excellent plan, and then selling it to Absalom as better than Ahithophel’s plan. He succeeds. Ahithophel goes home to end his life, Hushai contacts David’s intelligence network, to tell them what Absalom is planning, and Absalom probably continues raping David’s mistresses while a larger army is raised.

Meanwhile, David’s intelligence network springs into action, bringing information to David, despite Absalom’s soldiers watching carefully for suspicious movement. Because of the intelligence report, David crosses over the Jordan River and goes to Mahanaim, as an army is gathered for Absalom and he crosses over the Jordan to look for his father David. The chapter ends with David receiving logistical support from 3 different sources.

God the Holy Spirit in this text gives us the nuts and bolts of war, including the strategy and tactics, the meetings, the decisions, the clandestine warfare which is occurring, and the way that the characters complement as well as clash with one another, which is Absalom’s downfall. In fact, this chapter sets us up for Absalom’s eventual defeat, due to being undermined through clandestine warfare, sanctioned by God.

The doctrines and charts found in this chapter include: God and Revolution; Revolution and Warfare Requires a New Set of Values for the Believer; Links to the Doctrine A Personal Sense of Destiny; David’s Line Including Abigail; the Nahash’s of Scripture; The Sharing of our Material Goods with the Servants of God; and Legitimate Lies in Scripture. 246 pages.

2Samuel 18 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) continues the most complete examination of the book of Samuel available.

2Sam. 18 is one of the most unusual chapters in the saga of David. However, this is filled with doctrines and applications. There are so many parallels which are relevant to our day: between David and Joab and President Truman and General MacArthur; between David and Absalom and Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama. Like all other chapters of the Bible which I have examined, chapter 18 is filled with modern-day applications and parallels.

Revolution against an established government is romanticized in our society; and many people believed that all of these revolutions across the Middle East would somehow result in better things for the Middle East. If they understood the Bible and many of the principles found in 2Sam. 18, they would know this is not the case. Revolution, establishment government, the United States and the current revolutions in the Middle East are all discussed in this exegetical study. This is not a political dissertation; these are simply principles taught in Scripture which are universal and timeless. Present-day applications found here will be replaced by a new set of present-day applications 20 or 30 years from now.

Other topics and doctrines found in 2Sam. 18: An Adversity Set of Values; the Doctrine of a Day at a Time; the Doctrine of Negative Emotion; The Tale of the Tape (David’s army as compared to Absalom’s army); the lack of parallels between Absalom hanging from the tree and Jesus from the cross; Attacking Certain Religious Christians or Denominations; Comparing North and South Korea; Categories of Humility (so many people have no concept of what humility actually is); Monuments; General MacArthur’s Speech at the Dedication of MacArthur Park; Authority Orientation in Life; What We Get from the Competing Runners' Narrative; The Father-Son Relationship in Scripture; and Some of the Great Lamentations in Scripture

Incidental topics will include liberal thinking and its fallacies; liberal self-righteousness; Joab as a great #2 man; God’s justice and righteousness are as important as His love; the careful organization and planning of David’s army is superior to Absalom’s superior numbers; a reasonable examination of the battle between David and Absalom’s armies; v. 14 in this chapter is mistranslated by nearly every Bible—the correct translation will be provided; the idea that the United States is an imperialistic nation is poppycock; and how support for leadership often turns on impressions rather than on facts. 277 pages.

2Samuel 19 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) continues the most complete examination of the book of Samuel available. In the previous chapter, David’s army defeated Absalom’s army and Joab killed Absalom. This chapter begins with David weeping and mourning the death of Absalom, and Joab has to brace him.

It is in this chapter that David exits the interlocking systems of arrogance through grace orientation and listening to what Joab tells him, and then doing what Joab tells him to do. A new gate is introduced in this chapter, along with the fact that David’s emotional arrogance did not interlock with that gate. This chapter tells us how David stepped out of the interlocking systems of arrogance.

David will be greeted by those from northern and southern Israel; sort of celebrating his return to Jerusalem as king. He will also speak to three men in particular; and his exit from the interlocking systems of arrogance is clear in his actions and what he says to these men.

Just as we have seen in all previous chapters of the Book of Samuel, there are applications which are just as current as today’s news. Absalom’s appeal as a possible king was very much like Barack Obama’s appeal as president. Whereas, President Obama is not a carbon copy of Absalom, there are still a great number of parallels that could be made between the two men—particularly the appeal of these two men to their constituency.

For those who know who R. B. Thieme, Jr. is, he stopped the David series suddenly, about a third of the way through this chapter, taught a psalm, and then unceremoniously ended the 600+ lesson series.

David is faced with the choice to abuse his considerable power as a king, and unlike the aides of Barack Obama and Chris Christie, David chose not to exert his power to silence a voice of dissent in his kingdom.

In studying King David, it is easy to write him off as just a good king, whereas the Bible calls him a great king (all other kings are compared to him; he becomes the gold standard for all subsequent kings). Therefore, there must be a reason why God rates David as great; and we will uncover some of those reasons in this chapter.

One of the important themes of this chapter is the generation which is passing away doing what is necessary for the next generation to take over. I think that David’s dealings with Barzillai and Hushai the Archite have got him recognizing that his age has him limited now, and that he needs to look at the next generation. I believe that this will be key in David’s legacy (something which most commentators ignore completely). At this point, David has less than 10 years to go before his death.

At the very end of this chapter, there appears to be a problem between northern Israel and Judah (southern Israel). The exact cause for this is not fully explained. A possible explanation as to what exactly happened is offered up. This is not found in any other commentary.

The Bible is not just filled with random events. What we read in the Bible is placed there for a reason. In this chapter, there are parallels between what David does in relationship to his kingdom which is in revolt and what God does in relationship to His kingdom in revolt.

Virtually every chapter of the Bible opens up discussion on a variety of topics. In this chapter, we will explore Emotional Arrogance; David’s Recovery and Joab’s part in his recovery; the Doctrine of Wealth; and Links to the Doctrine of Happiness.

Interestingly enough, most of this chapter is narrative, and few pastors have spend more than 20 minutes on this chapter, at most. In fact, most pastors have never taught this chapter. There is not a single verse which sticks out in my mind which we would quote. However, this chapter is filled with a number of principles and topics. A lot of time is spent looking behind the narrative.

What I found fascinating is, this appears to be a celebration and a re-coronation of David; but that is never clearly stated in the text. Any reporter or historian there would have described that aspect of this chapter first, as that is what was happening. But the writer of this chapter does not even mention that, except by inference. Also, a great portion of the narrative would involve David and his supporters being ferried across the Jordan River; but this chapter barely speaks of that as well. 338 pages.

2Samuel 20 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD)

2Sam. 20 is one of the bleaker chapters in the book of Samuel. Another revolution begin under the leadership of a man named Sheba; David tries to shuffle his cabinet around, and sends out an army to put down this second rebellion. Sheba is tracked to the city of Abel, where Joab leads the troops to destroy the city walls. A wise woman manages to get an audience with Joab, and dissuades him from further destruction, offering to throw the head of this revolutionary over the city wall. Joab agrees to that.

The chapter ends with a delineation of David’s cabinet after the revolutions have bene put down.

We will study rape in the ancient world, and why this was a very rare occurrence at that time. David’s 10 mistresses are mentioned on several occasions. We will study why the Bible mentions them so often and what we are to learn from them.

There are a number of applications that we make in this chapter—that the slogans that politicians use really work, no matter how meaningless they are. We learn that for many leaders, political ideologies are simply a means to an end, but not something that they necessarily prescribe to. We find out that revolutions are anti-God and that there are only 3 ways to end a revolution.

There are reasons why Joab’s actual position in the military is unclear at the end of 2Sam. 19 and at the beginning of 2Sam. 20. Furthermore, I found it much more difficult to believe that King David replaced Joab with Amasa (something which I struggled with when exegeting 2Sam. 19); however, I think that there is nearly conclusive proof that Joab was demoted hidden in 2Sam. 20.

This chapter includes the assassination of Amasa by Joab. One of the interesting facets of this chapter is, we have two incidents which are apparently related, but the Bible does not explain how they are related. A sword falls out of Joab’s sheath, as he goes to greet Amasa; and then, Joab guts Amasa. In between, there is no explanation as to how one leads to the other (although, of course, theories abound in the realm of commentators). What is unique in this exegesis of 2Sam. 20 is, I tell you why these two incidents are so recorded, but without an explanation as to how one led to the other.

Included in this chapter is a good examination of the person of Joab, with points you have not read anywhere else.

Other topics in this study: the Doctrine of Wisdom, God and Revolution, Joab—the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and the Massorah. 210 pages.

2Samuel 21 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD)

2Sam. 21 begins the appendix of Samuel. This appendix, extending from chapter 21 to 24, can be neatly divided into 6 parts—4 sets of historical incidents, a psalm, and a list. These final 6 sections also form a chiasmos, which will be given in the exegesis of this chapter.

These few miscellaneous events did occur, but, unlike the rest of Samuel, they seem to have been added to this book rather than a continuation of it. There are aspects of the style of 2Sam. 21 which are quite different from any previous chapter of Samuel, suggesting that a different author is involved at this point. Furthermore, simply the fact that they are tacked on the end of this chapter suggests a different author.

2Sam. 21 in particular is a very unusual chapter—so unusual, that there is at least one rabbi and at least one Christian commentator who both publically expressed that they wished that this chapter were not in the Bible; or gave reasons why this chapter should not be in the Bible. The narrative which was so objectionable was that of David, the Gibeonites and the descendants of Saul. Saul had persecuted and killed many Gibeonites, even though they had made a valid treaty with Joshua; and this left a divine shadow over the head of Israel—a problem which God expected David to solve. The Gibeonites asked for 7 of Saul’s descendants to hang, and David gave them over to the Gibeonites for execution. No doubt, you can see the mountain of theological problems. Furthermore, this chapter cannot be written off simply as, “David did this, and maybe he shouldn’t have.” At least 3 times in this chapter, God’s approval is implied.

As a commentator, my work is cut out for me, to explain this historical event. As a believer, you may find the first half of 2Sam. 21 to be quite frustrating. Sons and grandsons of Saul are delivered over to the Gibeonites to be executed, although nowhere is it recorded that they have committed a crime. We examine this narrative from many angles, discussing, of course, how the justice of God plays a part.

Furthermore, this historical incident, like many others in the Bible, really happened, and it plays out as it does to be illustrative. What it illustrates is exclusively presented in this exegesis. You may or may not be 100% satisfied with the examination and explanations of this incident, but you should feel better about it than you did the first time you read it.

This is followed by the grief of Rizpah (the mother of two of the men handed over to the Gibeonites) and the killing of the 4 other Philistine giants.

There is about a 99.9% chance your pastor has never done a sermon on this chapter; and for good reason.

There are two authors throughout the Bible: the human author and God the Holy Spirit. This leaves the commentator with 3 problems: (1) How does this chapter fit in with the rest of the Bible? (2) Why does the human author record this chapter? (3) Why does God the Holy Spirit include this chapter in the Word of God? When it comes to the exegesis of the book of Samuel, these questions will be most difficult to answer for this chapter.

There will be several things unique to the exegesis of this chapter. (1) An excellent theory will be presented as to the culpability of the descendants of Saul. (2) There is a reason why this information is left out of 2Sam. 21. (3) There is a parallel hidden in this chapter to the cross of Christ (one commentator, if memory serves, alludes to this idea). (4) The end of 2Sam. 21 provides a great deal of texture to 2Sam. 11; to David’s great sin involving Bathsheba. In fact, this caused me to go back to 2Sam. 11 and revise and rewrite portions of it. My guess is, you may not appreciate many of these unique observations and approaches because this might be the first time you actually study this chapter. When developing the commentary on any chapter of Scripture, I spend a great deal of time studying about 30 or so commentaries; so that I can guarantee you there are several unique takes on this chapter. 186 pages.

2Samuel 22 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) is actually a psalm written by David added in as a part of appendix to the book of Samuel.

This chapter asks and answers a number of unusual questions. Why is there a 2Sam. 22 and a Psalm 18, which are virtually identical? Does God not believe in editing? Why is God seen to be transported by a host of angels? Can’t God go from point A to point B on His Own? I don’t believe that these questions are dealt with in any other commentary of this chapter.

Doctrines covered in this chapter: The Doctrine of the Rock in the Old Testament; the Trinity in the Old Testament; the Dual Authorship of Scripture; the Doctrine of Rebound; the Essence of God; God’s Laws, Commandments, Ordinances and Statutes.

Quite frankly, I don’t think that I fully unearthed all that is in this chapter. Although I believe this to be the most thorough examination of this chapter of the Bible, I think that there is more to discover. Most of the time, I am quite satisfied with the end result; here, only so-so. 267 pages.

2Samuel 23 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) contains both David’s final psalm and a list of the great military heroes who served under him. In the previous chapter, the psalm of that chapter appeared to be a psalm that David worked on for most of his life. In this chapter, the psalm is much shorter, and very appropriate to what matter to him at the end of his life.

The Bible does not list the greatest pacifists of all time or from this era or from that era; but it does list the greatest soldiers from David’s army here and in 1Chron. 11.

Those of us who have been fortunate to have been born into freedom often lack the appreciation for those who have made us free. The second section of 2Samuel 23 is a memorial to the great men of David’s military and we may reasonably assume that these are men of great spirit as well. From the human standpoint, these men are named in this chapter for their courage and skills in war, and selflessness in providing freedom for those of Israel. However, God the Holy Spirit places these men in the Bible because they understood the laws of divine establishment and they had believed in the God of Israel, the True God of the Universe.

Much of this chapter is a list of names, and I can understand the reticence of the Bible student to embrace and study such a chapter. As a commentator, I approach a chapter like this with great trepidation. Will I find anything worthwhile in this text? Is this nothing more than just a list of names? I think that you will be quite surprised as to how packed this chapter is with spiritual information. God the Holy Spirit did not make a mistake, making this chapter a part of the canon of Scripture.

The following doctrines are introduced or referenced in this chapter: the Baptism of Fire; Light, Rock in the New Testament, Thorns; the Doctrine of Inspiration; Liberalism vs. Conservativism; Military Doctrines; the Trinity in the Old Testament and Typology.

Other short doctrines which are included in this study are: Exercising Righteousness and Justice in Israel; Jesus Christ is our Light; Catholic Bible translations; Who can be saved?; Why are their doctrinal differences between teachers?; How does one choose between so many Bible teachers?; and Why the names do not match up exactly.

There are also two important sections in this chapter: one on canonicity and why no single organization decided what the books of the Bible should be; and the second is on the man’s leadership role in marriage. 267 pages

2Samuel 24 (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) is the final chapter of Samuel, bringing nearly to an end a 13 year project for me (I began 1Sam. 1 in 2001, and this brings to completion a nearly 9000 page commentary on this book).

In this chapter, David numbers the people, which is a sin, and which is also a theological mystery to this day, with no shortage of theories as to why. David takes a military census, which is identified as a sin. Those theories will be presented along with a unique theory of why this census was a sin, as well as a unique approach to this question.

Although this chapter is part of an addendum, and certainly not the end of David’s life (which can be found in the first chapter or two of Kings), it is a fitting end to the book of Samuel, as it looks forward to the cross of Jesus Christ.

The relationship between king and prophet is cementing in this chapter; the king might be the political leader, but he is under the authority of the prophet. This sets the pattern for many kings and many prophets future from this time.

Also important and nearly unique in this chapter is the study of God’s sovereignty, our free will, and the volition of Satan.

Included in this chapter is a discussion of what is God able to do, relative to the volition of men? This is an important and nearly unique doctrine hidden in this chapter. God, through the prophet Gad, gives David three options for a penalty, and one option that God offered David, was to be pursued by men for 3 months. How can this be a real option? Whatever it is, it sounds as if God, in order for His plan to be worked out, must cause David’s enemies to chase David. Just how exactly does that happen? Does God get into their bodies and make them do this? Does God allow demons to indwell them and do this? We know that God does not take over the volition of man in general; so He would not take over the volition of David’s enemies. Therefore, what is God doing in such a case? I suspect that this topic could be the seed for a master’s thesis or a doctoral.

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As is nearly always the case, both the list of Doctrinal Terms (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) and the list of Old Testament topics which are covered (HTML) (PDF) (WPD) are both updated and posted with each new chapter of Samuel.