2 Sam 4.1-12 tells us about the diminishing position of the house of Saul. Ishboshet (Eshbaal) hears about the death of Abner and was disturbed over it, as well as all Israel. This is because they were weak and they trusted in man. Jonathan had a son who was crippled named Mephiboshet (“mouth of shame”). He is the last male descendant of Saul and he had a claim to the throne. He was five years old when he heard about the death of Saul and Jonathan, and his nurse took him and fled. As she was hurrying, he fell and became lame. As a result, he was considered unfit. He is also called Meribaal (“the Lord contends”) in 1 Chr 8.34.
Ishboshet is assassinated by two people from Benjamin, Baanah (“son of response”) and Rechab (“driver”). They came into his house while he was napping and stabbed him in the stomach, and then beheaded him, and brought the head to David to prove that he was dead. They said they were serving God by doing this, and that God would approve. However, David didn’t and said that when he was told that Saul was dead, and the Amalekite messenger thought he was bringing David good news, David had him killed in Ziklag. How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man by comparison in his own house. So David commanded his “ne’arim” (elite warriors) who were with him to kill them, and they cut their hands and feet off and hung them by the pool at Hebron. They also took the head of Ishboshet and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron. By doing this he was showing all Israel that he was opposed to the destruction of the house of Saul.
In 2 Sam 5.1-25 David is recognized as king over all of Israel at Hebron (Communion), and we have the capture of Jerusalem. This will cause a war with their old enemy, the Philistines. The people came to David to anoint him and said, “We are your bone and your flesh.” This is because they all came from Jacob and they were conveying the concept of being “echad” (one). David had the first and only qualification to be king, the anointing of God. Prior to this, only one tribe recognized David as king. The other tribes recognized the pretender Ishboshet. Now that he was dead, the other tribes come over to David.
They accept David because he was the one who “led Israel out and in” in battle. They knew that the Lord had said to David, “You will shepherd my people Israel, and you shall be a ruler over Israel.” Then they anointed David as king, which was the third time. He reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned for thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah. This coronation alludes to Yeshua’s coronation in heaven (Rev 4-5). At Hebron, David reigned seven years. Hebron is a type of heaven in Scripture, and called Abraham’s Bosom because Abraham is buried there, It was also a priestly city and a city of refuge, like heaven is.
Yeshua reigns in heaven (Hebron) for seven years of the birth-pains, and then he returns to Jerusalem like David to reign over all of Israel. Yeshua also reigns for the seven thousand year history of man, and at the end he returns everything that has been restored back the the Father (1 Cor 15.20-27). David will reign thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah, and Yeshua died at thirty-three. David will reign forty years in total (2 Sam 5.4) and David is thirty years old when he begins, the same age Yeshua was when he started his ministry.
In 2 Sam 5.6-10 we learn about the capture of the eastern half of Jerusalem, and David and his men go up against the Jebusites, a name given to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. At the time, Jerusalem was a small, Canaanite city. The Jebusites said to David, “You shall not come in here, but the blind and lame shall turn you away.” They thought David was too weak to take the city.
Hittite documents record a curse upon the soldier who broke their oath to the king. They would become blind and deaf if they violated it. In addition to this, their vigor and vitality would leave them. The Jebusites may be doing the same thing here, and this was the beginning of a curse (v 6). David’s men were concerned because he will offer a reward for whoever went up first (1 Chr 11.4-7). It seems they entered the city through a water tunnel, and the city fell to David. This teaches us in our warfare, we may be in a spiritual “siege” and someone or something is trying to take our city. We must remember that we must always protect our water source (the Word of God and good teaching) or the enemy will use it to capture us by false teaching. Our enemy can take the same verses that can give us life, pervert them through bad teaching and a lack of knowledge, and leads us into spiritual captivity by making those Scriptures seem to say something that just isn’t true.
So David lived in the stronghold (of Zion), and called it the city of David. It will be the capital city because God has directed him to do so, and it will be the site of the coming Temple. As we have mentioned before, the three valleys around the city made it easy to defend. The only side that was vulnerable was the north side. He also built up all around it, from the Millo and inward. The Millo was a ditch around a fort, full of water, like moat. It was a hollow space between the fort and the lower city where the Jebusites were. Solomon filled in this area between the two summits and made it level (1 Kings 11.27). And David became greater and greater, for Yehovah was with him.
Then King Hiram (the father of the King Hiram in Solomon’s day) knew how to build political alliances, so he sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a house for David. David realized that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that the Lord had strengthened his kingdom on behalf of the people.
In the meantime, David took more wives and concubines (secondary wives, and under the wives) from Jerusalem after he came from Hebron. As a result, he had more sons and daughters, and one of them will be the future king of Israel after David. Now, these could be seen as blessings from the Lord, but we also know that most of the trouble David will have will come from his wives and children. The names of those born to him in Jerusalem were Shammua (“renowned” also called Shimea in 1 Chr 3.5), Shobah (“rebellious”), Nathan (“giver”), Solomon (“peace”), Ibhan (“Yehovah chooses”), Elishua (“my God is salvation” and also called Elishama in 1 Chr 3.6), Nepheg (“sprout”), Japhia (“Shining”), Elishama (“my God has heard”), Eliad (“God knows”) and Eliphelet (“God delivers me”).
In order to understand why Jerusalem (Jebus-1 Chr 11.4) was so important to David, we will need to go back and spend some time picking up some additional information. Jerusalem was going to be the capital of Israel and the site of the coming Temple. So, in Part 5 we will pick up here with an explanation as to why David took Jerusalem and made it his capital, and how he knew to do so.
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