Today we begin 2nd Samuel Chapter Three
For the Complete Jewish Bible, click HERE.
For the King James version, click HERE.
“The war between the house of Sha’ul and the house of David dragged on, but David grew stronger, while the house of Sha’ul became weaker.”-2 Samuel 3:1
Some commentators, when they read the opening verses of 2 Samuel Chapter 3, will say this was a civil war going on here.
Honestly, that’s a bit of a stretch.
Yes, there was tension between those who supported David and those who supported Ishboshesh, but it wasn’t a full-blown war with huge armies duking it out against each other.
Even the fight between Avner and Yo’av’s men at the Pool of Gibeon was more of a reckless competition – like gladiators – that got hogwild out of control.
Now having said that, there WAS a cold war of sorts happening between the North and the South.
Instead of large-scale warfare, what really went on were raids to steal food, supplies, or valuables from other tribes.
People did get hurt or killed, but the real fight was for the people’s hearts and minds.
Now here’s the thing.
Even these raids were conducted according to the unspoken limits on what actions could or could not be taken.
This leads us to our takeaway for today.
Unless you possess intimate knowledge of Middle Eastern tribalism, you ain’t gonna have a clue about what’s going on.
Keep in mind, in the end, the Israelites were one big tribal family.
That’s why they could kill and pillage each other on one day, and the next day be singing kumbaya together.
Ya, feel me?
Also, when Yeshua was criticizing the Pharisees and Sadducees, you gotta understand this was in-house fighting – brothers arguing among brothers.
The church likes to portray Yeshua as pitting himself against the Jews.
That wasn’t the case at all.
It was brotherly infighting that was going on.
We’ll talk about this some more the next time we meet.
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