2 samuel 19 and 20

Read 2 Samuel 19 and 20 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions:

2 Sam 18:33-19:4 {s} King David mourned for his son Absalom
2 Sam 19:5-7a {s} Joab rebukes the king for loving he who hated him, and for hating they who loved him
2 Sam 19:7b {s} Joab: If you do not go out to your servants, not one will stay with you
2 Sam 19:8 {s} The king sat in the gate, and all the people came before him, but Israel fled to his tent
2 Sam 19:9-10 {s} The dispute in Israel whether to bring back David as king over them
2 Sam 19:11-20 {s} Judah the last, Joseph the first to bring back the king
2 Sam 19:21 {s} Abishai: Shall not Shimei be put to death, because he cursed the Lord’s anointed?
2 Sam 19:22-23 {s} David: No man shall be put to death today, for today I am king over Israel
2 Sam 19:24-28 {p} Mephibosheth meets the king + explains Ziba’s slander
2 Sam 19:29-30 {s} David’s judgment that he and Ziba divide the land, but Mephibosheth yields it all to him
2 Sam 19:31-37 {s} David repays Barzillai the Gileadite’s kindness
2 Sam 19:38-39 {s} The king crossed the Jordan with Barzillai + Chimham, then Barzillai returned to his home
2 Sam 19:40-41 {s} All Judah + half Israel escorted the king, but Israel complained of Judah’s escort
2 Sam 19:42 {s} Judah to Israel: the king is our relative, but why are you angry?
2 Sam 19:43 {s} Israel: We have ten shares in the king and were first to suggest bringing him back!
2 Sam 20:1-3 {s} Israel rejects the king/ the king rejects his ten concubines
2 Sam 20:4-5 {s} David charged Amasa to assemble Judah, but Amasa delayed
2 Sam 20:6-8 {s} As David could not delay longer, he set Abishai over Judah to pursue Sheba
2 Sam 20:9-14a {s} Joab murdered Amasa and continued the pursuit of Sheba
2 Sam 20:14b-19 {p} Joab besieged Abel, where Sheba had taken refuge
2 Sam 20:20-22 {s} Abel delivers Sheba to Joab, and he returned to the king at Jerusalem
2 Sam 20:23-26 {s} David’s ministers in Jerusalem

The strong themes:

2 Sam 17:14a-19:28 {sx21+p} Absalom’s rebellion brought to naught/ all Judah + Israel (even the house of Saul) restored King David as king
2 Sam 19:29-20:19 {sx10+p} Jealousy over the king, between Israel and Judah, and Joab and Amasa

This is the most interesting paragraph in today’s reading:

2 Sam 19:11-20 {s} Judah the last, Joseph the first to bring back the king

As I was meditating on this paragraph, and why it would be that God considered this group of verses to be stating a single topic, and what it might be, I realized that it opened with Judah being the last to restore King David to his kingship, and closed with Shimei’s statement that he is the first of the house of Joseph to restore King David to his kingship.

2 Sam 19:11-15, Judah, the last to receive David as king:

1a) 2 Sam 19:11, King David sent to the elders of Judah: Why are you the last to bring the king back to his house?

1b) 2 Sam 19:12a, You are my brethren, you are my bone and my flesh;

central axis) 2 Sam 19:12b, Why then are you the last to bring back the king?

2b) 2 Sam 19:13, Say to Amasa, You are my bone and my flesh, and you will be commander in place of Joab;

2a) 2 Sam 19:14-15, David swayed the hearts of the men of Judah so that they received him back as king;

2 Sam 19:16-20 {s} Joseph, the first to receive David as king:

1a) 2 Sam 19:16-17, Shimei hurried to meet King David with 1000 Benjamites + Ziba the servant of the house of Saul;

central axis) 2 Sam 19:18a, A ferryboat carried over the king’s household + to do what he thought good;

2a) 2 Sam 19:18b-20 {s} Shimei confessed his sin + repented before David as the first of Joseph to restore the king;

1a) 2 Sam 19:18b, Shimei fell down before the king when he had crossed the Jordan;
1b) 2 Sam 19:19a, Shimei: Do not let my lord impute iniquity to me;
central axis) 2 Sam 19:19b, That the king should take it to heart;
2b) 2 Sam 19:20a, Shimei: For I, your servant, know that I have sinned;
2a) 2 Sam 19:20b {s} Shimei: I am the first of the house of Joseph to restore the king in his kingship.

It is interesting that Shimei, of the tribe of Benjamin, identified himself with the house of Joseph, a connection obviously through Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. Benjamin’s identity with Israel/ Joseph continues with Sheba’s rebellion in 2 Sam 20.

But here are Judah, and Joseph – the two witnesses, who continue to appear together and be highlighted throughout Scripture. If we consider that David is a type of Messiah, and his life is prophetic of Messiah Yeshua, the Scripture is revealing that the house of Joseph is the first to recognize His kingship, and the house of Judah is last to recognize His kingship, as Paul confirms:

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written. Rom 11:25-26

And as Yeshua confirms:

But many who are first will be last, and the last first. Mat 19:30

But Christine, Paul says the Gentiles will be first to recognize Messiah Yeshua (who is the the Root and Branch of David, Isa 11:1) with Israel being last. Yes:

“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” Zec 8:23

Zechariah prophesied after the return from Babylon. By that time, the ten tribes of the house of Ephraim or Israel (as they are called interchangeably in the prophets) had been taken captive by Assyria, removed from the Land, and dispersed among the Gentiles, where, Hosea prophesies of them, they will forget their identity as Israel and become fully integrated with the Gentiles (fulfilling Jacob’s prophesy over Ephraim, that he will become a fullness of Gentiles, Gen 48:19). Zechariah’s ten men of the nations is the ten shares of Israel/ Ephraim (fast forwarded several hundred years) from today’s reading.

In Zechariah’s day, the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin (‘the house of Judah,’ as they are called in the prophets) had been restored to the Land. From the time of the Babylonian captivity, the house of Judah had become known as Jews. So Paul’s present day Israel, is the prophets’ ‘house of Judah,’ Zechariah’s Jews.

The jealousy between Israel and Judah over the king, i.e., over Messiah Yeshua, Paul brings out in Rom 11, and Yeshua brings out in Luk 15;11-32, in the parable of the prodigal son. For the younger son who departs from the father’s house to squander his inheritance among the Gentiles, represents Ephraim (Joseph), while the older son who remains with his father always, represents Judah.