2 SAMUEL : David moved to Hebron and became king of the Judean
groups (this lasted for 7.5 years). King Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth,
became king of the rest of Israel. There was constant warring
between these groups, until Ish-Bosheth's general Abner was
killed. Then, two of Ish-Bosheth's captains killed him, hoping to
gain favor with king David. Neither of the deaths of Abner or
Ish-Bosheth pleased king David. He had Ish-Bosheth's captains
killed for their deed. David was then crowned king of all Israel
(2 Samuel 5:3) at the age of 37; he reigned for 30 more years.
David led troops to Jerusalem, captured the fortress of Zion,
and it became known as the "City of David" (2
Samuel 5:7). The prophet Nathan told David that the Lord was
pleased with David and would make his name famous and that one of
his sons would build the Lord a temple.
DAVID AND BATHSHEBA (2 Samuel 11):
King David admired a beautiful married woman, Bathsheba
, and got her pregnant. Then, king David instructed his army
general Joab to place her husband, "Uriah the Hittite,"
in the "front line where the fighting is fiercest" and
to pull the men back to let him be killed. After Uriah's death,
king David married Bathsheba (he already had 7 wives before her).
The Lord, through the prophet Nathan, told king David that the
Lord forgave him, but that his wives would be given openly to
another man and that his son by Bathsheba would die. Thus, the
son of Bathsheba died. She soon had another son -- Solomon (2
Samuel 12:24), named also Jedidiah which means "loved by the
Lord" (or "Beloved of Jehovah").
One of David's sons, Absalom, became powerful and eventually
challenged king David for the kingdom. King David had to leave
Jerusalem and went to the Mount of Olives (2 Samuel 15:30)
to mourn. Absalom arrived at Jerusalem and fulfilled the prophesy
of Nathan by insulting his father by going into a tent to be
"with his father's concubines" (2 Samuel 16:22) --
actually ten of his young wives (thus king David had many
wives now); king David later placed these wives into
"virtual widowhood" until their deaths. Absalom and
king David continued to fight this civil war, until the army
leader Joab killed Absalom. King David took a census and found
800,000 men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. The census was not
God's wishes, so David selected plague as his punishment, hoping
that God would be merciful; and (2 Samuel 24:16), when the death
angel was ready to destroy Jerusalem, God stopped it.