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Category: Personal Study
Thread: Game of Thrones
Post Topic: The First Civil War (Three-day Study)
Post in Thread: #12
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Scripture: 2 Samuel 2-3
Background
For centuries, the children of Israel had lived a fragmented existence in the Promised Land during the era of the judges, who stepped in to provide military leadership during times of oppression, and to rule various regions of the land. As the people clamored for a king and a centralized government, God finally relented and installed Saul as their first king. In previous installments of Game of Thrones, without dragons, we tracked Saul’s disobedience and the anointing of a new line through king David. Now Saul and most of his sons have been killed in battle, and David is finally ready to step up and claim the throne.
One figurehead son of Saul remained, however, named Ish-Bosheth. He and the commander of Saul’s forces, Abner, were not ready to cede power so easily.
Part I – Shots Fired (so to speak)
Note – this is part I of a three-part study on the war that broke out between the house of David and the House of Saul after King Saul’s death. North vs. South. It was truly the first civil war.
We suggest reading each part as a single day’s Bible study.
Scripture:
Passage: 2 Samuel 2:8-32
Key Verses:
2 Samuel 2:12-14
12 Abner son of Ner, together with the men of Ish-Bosheth son of Saul, left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. 13 Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s men went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. One group sat down on one side of the pool and one group on the other side.
14 Then Abner said to Joab, “Let’s have some of the young men get up and fight hand to hand in front of us.”
“All right, let them do it,” Joab said.
Observations
Context
- Abner was the head of Saul’s forces of the tribes of Israel, in the North.
- Joab was in charge of David’s forces. David had officially been named king of the tribe of Judah, in the South.
- With King Saul’s death, the only remaining heir was Ish-Bosheth, who Abner had propped up as the next king.
- There’s no way this could end easily.
Events – Battle of the Champions
- David’s man Joab and his forces marched north.
- Abner’s men marched across the Jordan and south.
- The two sides met at the pool of Gibeon.
- Abner and Joab agreed to choose some of their best men to fight each other.
- Sadly, it ended with most of these champions simply killing each other.
Events – A fierce battle, a dead brother, and the pursuit
- With no resolution from the champions, tensions quickly escalated, and the two sides fought each other.
- David’s men got the better of it, and Abner’s forces fled to the west. The route back to the east and Mahanaim was likely blocked by David’s men.
- Joab’s forces pursued the enemy relentlessly.
- Joab’s brother Asahel was especially determined, chasing after Abner in particular.
- Abner warned Asahel several times before finally turning to take on his pursuer. Abner speared Asahel in the stomach, killing him.
- Abner was clearly the more seasoned fighter. He gave Asahel several chances to back down, at one point saying “How can I face your brother if I kill you?”
- The death blow was actually struck with the butt end of the spear (2 Samuel 2:23). Was it a spinning back-thrust of some sort? We can only imagine. But it was struck with such force that the spear went through the stomach and out the back.
- Joab and Abishai came upon their brother’s dead body. Other men were with them. Joab and Abishai continued after Abner.
- The men of Israel rallied around Abner.
- From a hilltop, Abner called for a halt to the fighting. “How long shall brother fight against brother? We are all children of Israel.”
- Joab agreed to the end of the fighting, and allowed Abner and his men to return to Mahanaim.
- 360 men of Israel died; 19 for Judah.
Interpretation
Author/Genre
Samuel wrote the history of Israel’s monarchies in his books. Portions written after his death were likely written by other prophets like Nathan.
Setting
The wilderness of Gibeon – a sparsely-populated hill country northwest of Jerusalem, with the final stand of Abner likely near a town that eventually became Emmaus.
Imagine
What would it have been like to be one of these soldiers, loyal to either the house of Saul or the house of David, but squaring off across the pool of Gibeon against your fellow Israelites? Would there be honor in fighting someone from a bordering state who happened to follow a different leader than you?
Takeaways
- You can see some respect between the two sides – the first fight between champions seemed a gentlemanly approach.
- However, this was the perfect opportunity to settle the dispute peacefully. The men are sitting across from each other at this pool.
- But the two leaders’ solution? Send out our best fighters.
- Joab and Abner, with their own deceitful ambitions, were not the right people to be negotiating at the pool of Gibeon.
- Shocker – the initial fight didn’t resolve matters. So the conflict escalated, and soon the house of Saul was on the run.
- Abner didn’t want to kill Joab’s brother. Foreshadowing for part III of this study…
- Joab and his men pursued Abner after finding Asahel dead, probably in anger or spirit of revenge.
- Abner makes a reasonable statement about brother vs brother and the need to avoid a civil war. This ended the present conflict, but the simmering hostilities didn’t end, we learn in the next chapter.
- Spoiler alert – in part III of this study, we find treachery in Joab. So why did Joab agree to Abner’s request for an end to the pursuit?
- Joab knew how David despised bloodshed of his countrymen. Joab craved the approval of the king, his uncle, David.
- Joab hoped Abner and the house of Saul would fall in line, uniting under David as king. Surely then Joab would have the highest rank. The mighty Abner would have to fall in line under Joab after being granted this reprieve.
- Perhaps Joab wanted to take time to mourn his brother.
- Maybe Joab was simply tired and wanted to return home to his wife and a hot meal. 😏
- More than likely, Joab knew no permanent resolution could be achieved by continuing this particular day’s fight. So why not relent and achieve the appearance of being the bigger man?
Correlation
Matthew 20:20-26 – The disciples James and John ask to be seated on the right and left side of Jesus in his coming kingdom.
- Jesus denied the request, but the other disciples were indignant when they learned about it.
- James and John were the only ones with the gall to ask for the positions of importance, but all the disciples were hoping for the same thing.
- Their ambitions did not allow them to listen to Jesus’ words. All this time, he had been teaching them to be servant-leaders.
- Jesus patiently gathered them together and implored them not to be like the Gentile leaders, who lord it over their subjects. We are supposed to be different.
Application
Generic Applications
- Abner’s ambition got the better of him. Instead of listening to the Lord’s plan of installing David as king, he propped up Ish-Bosheth. Just think of the bloodshed that could have been averted after Saul’s death if he’d listened to the Lord.
- Although the end of the battle didn’t prevent the war, Abner’s appeal surely saved a lot of lives on this day. To resolve the conflict, he appealed to the common ground these men shared.
- Their heritage – they were children of Israel.
- Their God and their religion.
- Their mutual respect for each other as fighting men.
Personalize it
- Does my ambition prevent me from hearing something from God? Or at least stopping to listen?
- God wants us to have ambitions and goals. But are they kingdom-building? Are they pursued with the humble spirit of a servant-leader?
- Is there a conflict in my life that needs resolution? Do I share common ground with the person I am in conflict with? Could an appeal to that common ground be a first step to reconciliation?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
Part II – The Defection
Note – this is part II of a three-part study on the war that broke out between the house of David and the House of Saul after King Saul’s death. It was truly the first North vs. South civil war.
Scripture
Passage: 2 Samuel 3:6-21
Key Verses:
8 Abner was very angry because of what Ish-Bosheth said. So he answered, “Am I a dog’s head—on Judah’s side? This very day I am loyal to the house of your father Saul and to his family and friends. I haven’t handed you over to David. Yet now you accuse me of an offense involving this woman! 9 May God deal with Abner, be it ever so severely, if I do not do for David what the Lord promised him on oath 10 and transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah from Dan to Beersheba.”
2 Samuel 3:8-10
Observations
Context
- The civil war did not end after the Gilead conflict. It raged for a long time, according to the beginning of chapter 3.
- The house of David, Judah, seemed to grow in power, while the house of Saul declined.
- The south was winning the war.
Events – False Accusations
- Abner had been growing in power in the house of Saul (v6) and was probably the real man in charge of Israel.
- Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth, who was afraid of Abner, accused him of sleeping with his father’s concubine.
- Enraged, Abner had had enough. He swore an oath to the king to transfer all power to David.
Events – Abner switches sides
- Abner reached out to David and proposed a union.
- David demanded that Michal be returned to him, and that it be an official act by the king.
- Many years earlier, Saul had promised the hand of his daughter Michal to David for killing hundreds of Philistines.
- David wanted her back, even though he’d already borne children with other women.
- Ish-Bosheth complied – he was clearly weak and not really in charge.
- Abner convinced the elders of Israel to get on board with the plan to consolidate under David.
Interpretation
Imagine
Ambition and loyalty. These qualities meant everything to Abner. He’d stayed loyal to Saul, even when Saul seemed to lose it. After Saul was killed by the Philistines, loyalty and ambition converged around his only heir, Ish-Bosheth. Abner saw the opportunity to prop up this son and manipulate him, all the while maintaining his loyalty to the house of Saul.
Abner might be the effective king, but the king of what? A crumbling empire? The prophet had chosen David as the next king. False prophets abounded, but Samuel was the real deal. And now David’s forces seemed to win victory after victory. Ish-Bosheth was struggling to keep it together. But there was that pesky loyalty quality… Abner couldn’t turn his back on King Saul’s legacy, could he?
Takeaways
- Ish-Bosheth’s jealousy got the best of him. He’d never stood up to Abner, and now he made the mistake of doing so.
- Standing up to Abner with a false or unsubstantiated accusation proved to be an especially poor lapse in judgment.
- Abner knew that the Lord had appointed David to replace Saul, and was realizing that the time had come to abandon his own quest for power.
- Perhaps Abner had justified his loyalty to Saul’s house as the right thing to do. But with Saul’s house growing weaker and Ish-Bosheth not a man he could respect, he realized it was time.
- Abner went all in. He didn’t just switch sides. He convinced the tribes to unite under David.
- Ish-Bosheth folded. He even facilitated the taking of Michal from her despondent husband.
- This would not be the last time David stole a woman from a man. It was a symbol of his power. It was something a heathen king would do.
Correlation
- Proverbs 25:18 – Compares false accusations to a war club, a sword, a sharp arrow.
Is there anything worse than having a false accusation levied against you? This proverb compares it to a physical attack with a weapon – practically an act of war. No wonder Abner turned on Ish-Bosheth.
Application
Generic Applications
- We need to be careful of our facts before we accuse someone. It will come back to bite us if we’re wrong.
- Loyalty is a good thing. But not if it is outside the will of God.
- David probably justified his actions with taking Michal back with various rationalizations. We humans tend to do that.
- “She was mine first.”
- “This is the best way to consolidate power. I’m carrying out God’s plans.”
Personalize it
- Food for thought regarding loyalty to a friend – What would you do if a good friend asked you to lie for him to keep him out of trouble with the dean of students? With the police? To hide him from the Nazis?
- Can you see some justification of David’s actions with Michal? Or was he taking things into his own hands rather than trusting God?
- If he had claimed his right to Michal, but then decided to allow her to remain with her husband, would that compassion have been more or less effective way of uniting the northern tribes?
- Is there an opportunity in my life to be winsome with grace and compassion?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
Part III – Deception and Murder
Note – this is part III of a three-part study on the war that broke out between the house of David and the House of Saul after King Saul’s death. It was truly the first North vs. South civil war.
Scripture
Passage: 2 Samuel 3:22-38
Key Verses:
26 Joab then left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern at Sirah. But David did not know it. 27 Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into an inner chamber, as if to speak with him privately. And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach, and he died.
2 Samuel 3:26-27
Observations
Events
- After returning from a raid, Joab was not happy to learn of David’s agreement with Abner.
- Joab accused Abner of treachery, saying that it was a ruse to spy on David’s forces.
- Behind David’s back, Joab called for Abner to return.
- Joab turned out to be the true deceiver.
- He told Abner he needed a private meeting.
- Abner agreed, thinking Joab had been sent by David.
- Joab ran a spear through Abner’s stomach, killing him the same way Abner had killed Joab’s brother, years earlier during the Gibeon conflict.
- Big difference, however. This was murder, in cold blood.
- A distraught David cursed Joab.
- David ordered an official period of deep mourning for Abner, and openly wept for the man.
- David’s contrition seemed to pacify the Israelites.
- David expressed openly his fear of the powerful Joab and his brothers.
Interpretation
Imagine
David just made a great deal with Abner to unify the kingdom. Abner convinced the northern tribes, and even Ish-Bosheth, to agree. Then Joab comes along and kills Abner in an open act of defiance. Joab’s actions threatened to destroy that alliance. David was not happy.
Why did he not deal with Joab’s treachery immediately? What happened to the mighty men of David? What happened to David’s great faith? His excuse was a fear of Joab, but perhaps he also felt he needed a man like this on his side. A fixer, we would call him today. Somebody to do David’s dirty work.
How would you have handled Joab in David’s shoes?
Takeaways
- There were no signs of Abner being deceitful. Joab’s accusation didn’t hold water.
- Joab’s actions revealed who the real man of dishonor was.
- Joab had harbored resentment in his heart all this time for his brother’s death.
- His desire for revenge caused great distress to his king, and a curse upon Joab’s descendants.
Correlation
Romans 12:17-20
- Do not repay evil for evil.
- Do not take revenge – leave it up to God to exact vengeance if He chooses.
- On the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. Joab should have provided Abner with food.
- In doing so, you will heap burning coals on his head.
Application
Generic Applications
- Actions speak louder than words.
- Resentment can fester inside of us; change us. The same Joab who agreed to the end of the Gibeon conflict in Part I of our study committed this heinous act of revenge years later.
Personalize it
- Am I harboring resentment in my heart for a pain someone caused me?
- Do I tell the truth about that person?
- Is revenge ever worth it?
- Think about Romans 12:20. Treating our enemies with kindness will heap burning coals on their head. Have you ever wronged someone, only to be treated with kindness in return?
Bible study methodology adapted from Searching the Scriptures with permission from Tyndale House:
Swindoll, Charles, Searching the Scriptures. Tyndale House Publishers, 2016.
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