The tables turn a bit in this chapter. We could say they do a complete 180! I thought Abner was going to be trouble for David because of his loyalty to Saul in the last chapter, but because of a woman, circumstances changed drastically! Ahhh, the women of the Bible. They get so little credit for the battles fought over them. The only reason Abner abandoned Ishbosheth is because he’d slept with Saul’s concubine. He doesn’t deny sleeping with her, but he does get extremely huffy when he’s told he shouldn’t have. He gets so bent out of shape, in fact, that he switches sides and vows his loyalty to David. We will never know if Abner was being honest, but I’m guessing that if David felt ok about his loyalty, then we should, too. Joab and Abishai should have trusted their boss, but I can see why they wouldn’t have. Unfortunately for them, their need for revenge may cost them their lives.
Since we mentioned the women of the Bible already, I can’t resist having a look-see at all David’s women! Good grief! The beginning of the chapter lists six sons, all from different women, four of whom we’ve never even heard of, and then after that, we see that David gets his first wife Michal back, even after she was married to another man, who obviously loved her because he followed her like a puppy dog and wept when she was gone. Strange behaviors, I know. And don’t ask me to explain why it was ok for David to have a houseful of wives. I can’t. But like I said in previous posts, we can definitely see the problems that may result from having multiple women, and we’re just going to have to use that as the lesson here.
Writing prompt: darn women
Write about a woman, whether it’s someone you know or someone we all know, who has wreaked havoc for a big, strong man.
jugglingfire.com 