Study Desk

So they got up and went over by count, twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, and twelve from the servants of David.

So Abner said to him, "Turn aside for your own good to your right or to your left, and take hold of one of the young men for yourself, and take for yourself his equipment." But Asahel was unwilling to turn aside from following him.

Then Abner repeated again to Asahel, "Turn aside for your own good from following me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How then could I show my face to your brother Joab?"

Then Abner became very angry over Ish-bosheth's question and said, "Am I a dog's head that belongs to Judah? Today I show kindness to the house of Saul your father, to his brothers and to his friends, and have not let you fall into the hands of David; yet today you call me to account for wrongdoing with that woman?

"May God do so to me, and more so, if as the LORD has sworn to David, I do not accomplish this for him:

So David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth, Saul's son, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, to whom I was betrothed for a hundred foreskins of the Philistines."

Now Abner had a consultation with the elders of Israel, saying, "In times past you were seeking for David to be king over you.

"Now then, do it! For the LORD has spoken regarding David, saying, 'By the hand of My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from the hands of all their enemies.'"

Then Abner and twenty men with him came to David at Hebron. And David held a feast for Abner and the men who were with him.

And the king sang a song of mourning for Abner and said, "Should Abner die as a fool dies?

Then all the people came to provide food for David in his distress while it was still day; but David vowed, saying, "May God do so to me, and more so, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down."

"And I am weak today, though anointed king; and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too difficult for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer in proportion to his evil."

And Saul's son had two men who were commanders of troops: the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamin (for Beeroth is also considered part of Benjamin,

when the one who informed me, saying, 'Behold, Saul is dead,' also viewed himself as the bearer of good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.

David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years.

At Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.

And David said on that day, "Whoever strikes the Jebusites is to reach those who limp and those who are blind, who are hated by David's soul, through the water tunnel." For that reason they say, "People who are blind and people who limp shall not come into the house."

David became greater and greater, for the LORD God of armies was with him.

Then Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters, and stonemasons; and they built a house for David.

And David realized that the LORD had appointed him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel.