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Category: Group Study
Thread: Significant Battles and their Impact on God’s Plan
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Scripture: 2 Samuel 5:6-10; I Chronicles 11:4-9
Key Verses:
2 Samuel 5:6-7
6 The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, “You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.” They thought, “David cannot get in here.” 7 Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion—which is the City of David.
Note – This post is adapted for a small group study from a post in the Game of Thrones Personal Study series entitled Game of Thrones – Battle for Jerusalem. If you’ve already read that study, you’ll notice many similarities.
Backstory
After the Exodus from Egypt, the 12 tribes wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before Joshua led them into the promised land of Israel, where they met resistance from ungodly inhabitants. For hundreds of years, God would raise judges in various locations to liberate the people from their oppressors. Finally, the people had enough, and asked for a king. The first king was Saul, whose rebellion caused God to declare that his line would not continue, and instead would run through David.
After Saul was killed in battle by the Philistines, David was declared the king of Judah, in the south. He reigned from the city Hebron. But Saul’s military leaders didn’t give up so easily. The northern tribes of Israel united under the puppet king Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s remaining son. After a protracted civil war, the house of David finally prevailed, and David sought to unite all the tribes under his leadership.
Observations
Context
- Saul is dead, the civil war is over, Saul’s son Ish-Bosheth has been killed, and David anointed king over a united kingdom.
- The fortress of Jebus (which would become Jerusalem) was inhabited by the Jebusites. It sat in the territory of the tribe Benjamin, which had previously been under the house of Saul.
- Now that the tribes were united under his jurisdiction, David could march on Jebus, a strategic city near the border of Judah and Israel.
- Going back to the time of Joshua and the judges, the Israelites had never been able to wrestle control of the city away from the Jebusites.
The Invasion
- When the Jebusites saw David’s forces aligned against them, they hurled down insults from their walls.
- “We could post our lame and our blind on these walls, and they would repel you,” they taunted David.
- But David had a plan – he’d access the city via the water shafts that supplied the city from the Gihon spring.
- He offered to make the man who achieved this feat the commander of his forces, a position that had belonged to Joab during the civil war.
- Naturally, the ever-bold and ambitious Joab took on the challenge, and successfully breached the city.
- David moved his capital and his home from Hebron to Jerusalem.
- Jerusalem became known as the city of David.
Discussion
- Why do you think David offered the commander position to the person who could go up first and capture the city (I Chronicles 11:6)? The position already belonged to Joab.
- What mistakes did the Jebusites make in defending their city?
Interpretation
Setting
Jebus/Jerusalem was of such strategic importance because it was the highest and safest point around. With its natural springs, a protracted siege would be difficult. There were many natural tunnels and caves. A 45-foot shaft was discovered in the 1800s that might have been scaled by Joab, but most scholars believe it would have been too difficult. Joab likely found a way into the passageways the Jebusites used to access water from the cisterns.
Genre
Narrative description.
Author
The author is unknown, but they had access to the records of the kings and possessed a thorough knowledge of the life and times of Samuel and the events surrounding the first kings of Israel.
Takeaways
- King David chose wisely moving the capital to Jerusalem. Because he captured it from the Jebusites, it had not belonged to either the north or the south during the civil war. Making this neutral site his new home must have had a uniting effect.
- Also uniting – the Jebusites had never been defeated. Now the tribes had done it together.
- The haughty Jebusites were caught with their pants down, so to speak.
Discussion
A vertical shaft was discovered in this section of the city in the 1800s by a guy named Warren. There’s speculation that this is the very shaft used by Joab, although modern-day Israeli special forces tried the climb with much difficulty. However Joab got into the city, how do you envision that played out? Did he bring a team of commandoes with him, or did he go it alone, and then open the city gates from the inside?
If you had been a member of one of the northern tribes who’d been ruled by the house of Saul, how would you feel now about the united kingdom under David? What would the capture of Jerusalem have done for the national spirit of the tribes?
Correlation
- Judges 1:8; Judges 1:21 – Joshua’s forces attacked Jerusalem and set it afire, but the Benjamites did not drive out the Jebusites as they had been instructed.
- Psalm 115:2-8 – The psalmist mocks other nations’ carved idols as having feet, but unable to walk, having eyes, but unable to see, and so forth.
- The author of this Psalm might not have been David, but surely he quoted it.
- The Jebusites’ taunts from the walls might have been a reference to this. The taunts were certainly slander toward the one true God.
- Matthew 21:14-15 – Jesus heals the blind and the lame inside the temple courts in Jerusalem.
- After David’s victory, tradition held that he was against the lame and blind ever entering the temple grounds.
- Discussion question: The chief priests and officials became indignant at the ruckus of Jesus’ healing in the temple courts. Was it because of this tradition?
Application
Generic Applications
- This is one small story, but it plays an important role in God’s massive plan for humanity through the holy city of Jerusalem. Below is a history of important events that happened throughout history at this location:
- Melchizedek served as king and priest here during the time of Abraham (prior to the Jebusites) in what would become Jerusalem. Biblical scholars refer to Melchizedek as an illustration of Christ’s role as priest and king.
- Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac on Mt. Moriah, one of the two high places of Jerusalem today.
- David liberated Jerusalem and declared it the city of David.
- Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem. It was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and later rebuilt on the same location.
- Jesus predicted the ultimate destruction of the temple before he died. His prophecy came true in 70AD.
- Jesus died just outside the city walls.
- He will return and rule from here one day.
Group Discussion
Does this history of Jerusalem help you appreciate how God carries out his plan over time, in a way that we can’t comprehend when we’re in the middle of it?
Personalize it
- The fortress of the Jebusites seemed impervious to attack. Centuries had passed without the Israelites mounting a serious threat. They would have scoffed at the idea of this location playing such an important role in the history of humanity. They scoffed at David when his army approached.
- But God had a plan, and was patient and faithful to execute that plan.
- We face scoffers when we proclaim the gospel. We must trust God’s plan to play out on his timing.
Group Discussion
- Can you share a time when you had to remain patient and wait on the Lord to execute his plan for you (or someone you know)?
- Is it hard to remain patient while waiting for God’s plan to unfold in our lives? Our country? Our world?
Historical Significance
This battle was significant in a number of ways:
- Finally eliminated the Jebusite stronghold. They’d been a thorny people group that served as a reminder that God’s promises for his chosen people had not yet been fulfilled.
- Established a new capital city for the united kingdom. Previously David’s capital had been Hebron, to the south. Saul’s capital had been Gibeah, just north of Jerusalem, and his son Ish-Bosheth’s capital had been Mahanaim on the east of the Jordan (See map above).
- Like Gibeah, Jerusalem was a centralized location that would better unite the tribes.
- It provided the perfect place to build the temple for all to worship.
- The city’s elevation provided a strategic stronghold militarily.
- Because it had belonged to the Jebusites, it hadn’t been a city of Judah or Israel prior to this battle. Therefore, making it the capital would have been like choosing a neutral location.
- Paved the way for the Messiah, the savior of the world, to fulfill his purposes at this holy place.
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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