The King Made A Compact With Them...Before The Lord

2 Samuel 4:9-5:3 – But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news. How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron. Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’” So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel.

Genesis 4:10 – And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground.

1 Samuel 12:12 – And when you saw that Nahash the king of the Ammonites came against you, you said to me, ‘No, but a king shall reign over us,’ when the Lord your God was your king.

1 Kings 12:7,15 – And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”… So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Application:

• ·         Abel, in one sense a prophet, “still speaks, even though he is dead”, for his spilled blood continues to cry out to God against all those who do violence to their human brothers. But the blood of Christ “speaks a better word”.
• ·         The Israelite desire for and trust in a human leader constituted a rejection of the kingship of the Lord and betrayed a loss of confidence in his care, in spite of his faithfulness during the time of the exodus, conquest and judges.
• ·         Authority in the kingdom of God is for service, not for personal glorification.
• ·         David and Israel entered into a covenant in which both the king and the people obligated themselves before the Lord to carry out their mutual responsibilities.

All Scripture verses taken from ESV