Study Desk

Joab and his troops came and surrounded Abel, so that no one could go in or come out. They made a dirt ramp up to the town wall and then started to use a battering ram to knock the wall down.

That's not it at all. There's a man in your town from the hill country of Ephraim. His name is Sheba, and he is the leader of a rebellion against King David. Turn him over to me, and we will leave your town alone." The woman told Joab, "We will throw his head over the wall."

She went to the people of the town and talked them into doing it. They cut off Sheba's head and threw it to Joab. Joab blew a signal on his trumpet, and the soldiers returned to their homes. Joab went back to David in Jerusalem.

While David was king, there were three years in a row when the nation of Israel could not grow enough food. So David asked the Lord for help, and the Lord answered, "Saul and his family are guilty of murder, because he had the Gibeonites killed."

He said, "What can I do to make up for what Saul did, so that you'll ask the Lord to be kind to his people again?"

The Gibeonites answered, "Silver and gold from Saul and his family are not enough. On the other hand, we don't have the right to put any Israelite to death." David said, "I'll do whatever you ask."

Give us seven of his descendants. We will hang these men near the place where the Lord is worshiped in Gibeah, the hometown of Saul, the Lord 's chosen king." "I'll give them to you," David said.

David had made a promise to Jonathan with the Lord as his witness, so he spared Jonathan's son Mephibosheth, the grandson of Saul.

Earlier the Philistines had killed Saul and Jonathan on Mount Gilboa and had hung their bodies in the town square at Beth-Shan. The people of Jabesh in Gilead had secretly taken the bodies away, but David found out what Saul's wife Rizpah had done, and he went to the leaders of Jabesh to get the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan.

One time David got very tired when he and his soldiers were fighting the Philistines.

One of the Philistine warriors was Ishbibenob, who was a descendant of the Rephaim, and he tried to kill David. Ishbibenob was armed with a new sword, and his bronze spearhead alone weighed seven and a half pounds.

David and his soldiers killed these four men who were descendants of the Rephaim from Gath.

David sang a song to the Lord after the Lord had rescued him from his enemies, especially Saul. These are the words to David's song:

You give glorious victories to your chosen king. Your faithful love for David and for his descendants will never end.

I have ruled this way, and God will never break his promise to me. God's promise is complete and unchanging; he will always help me and give me what I hope for.

These are the names of David's warriors: Ishbosheth the son of Hachmon was the leader of the Three Warriors. In one battle, he killed eight hundred men with his spear.

except Eleazar. He killed Philistines until his hand was cramped, and he couldn't let go of his sword. When Eleazar finished, all the Israelite troops had to do was come back and take the enemies' weapons and armor. The Lord gave Israel a great victory that day.

and had taken over Bethlehem. David was in his fortress,

Joab's brother Abishai was the leader of the Thirty Warriors, and in one battle he killed three hundred men with his spear. He was as famous as the Three Warriors

Benaiah did these things. He never became one of the Three Warriors, but he was just as famous as they were and certainly just as famous as the rest of the Thirty Warriors. David made him the leader of his bodyguard.