So the moment has come: Saul is dead, David is crowned king of Judah. We might suppose that life becomes markedly easier for David from this point onwards; after all, he is no longer on the run from a king who wants to kill him.
But 2 Samuel 2 shows us that fulfilment is not the bed of roses we imagine it to be when we are in the waiting stage. It would be another seven years before the other tribes of Israel acknowledged David as king; this period of his life seemed a partial victory, not a total one – and one marred even further by the machinations of Joab (the commander of David’s army and nephew) and Abner (the commander of Saul’s army, who was happy to install Ish-Bosheth, Saul’s son, as king so that he could gain power.) The two men feature more in this chapter than David: it seems David is prepared to wait patiently whereas they are intent on further war. Pointless killing. Twelve men picked for Saul’s side and twelve for David’s. All dead in the ‘field of daggers’ (Helkath Hazzurim.) Ongoing battle, with the Israelites and Abner defeated by David’s men, but Abner ended by killing Asahel, Joab’s brother – an action which would have repercussions further down the line.
Joab, Abner and Asahel represent the world’s way of doing things, the world’s way of thinking. David, on the other hand, has learnt much in the wilderness. His first act as king is to enquire of the Lord; then he seeks to reward those from Jabesh Gilead who had showed kindness to Saul in his death. He is prepared to wait and only act ‘in the course of time.’ He reminds us that the spiritual way will often seem foolish to natural eyes, but that waiting and hoping in God are never a waste of time. As Eugene Peterson puts it, ‘Hoping does not mean doing nothing. It is not fatalistic resignation. It means going about our assigned tasks, confident that God will provide the meaning and the conclusions. It is not compelled to work away at keeping up appearances with a bogus spirituality. It is the opposite of desperate and panicky manipulations, of scurrying and worrying. And hoping is not dreaming. It is not spinning an illusion or fantasy to protect us from our boredom or our pain. It means a confident, alert expectation that God will do what he said he will do. It is imagination put in the harness of faith. It is a willingness to let God do it his way and in his time. It is the opposite of making plans that we demand that God put into effect, telling him both how and when to do it. That is not hoping in God but bullying God. “I pray to GOD-my life a prayer-and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.”’