This will be a brief description for a few reasons. One, there is not a whole lot besides history in this book. Two, I read it like five days ago. Three, the whole book was just hard to get through. It was gut-wrenching to watch David's life fall apart before my eyes and I really just don't want to dwell on it that much. But it is still the Word of God so it demands my attention. So here I go.
The book begins with David finally taking over as king on the heals of Saul's death at the end of 1 Samuel. It takes him about 5 chapters before he is actually anointed king. Immediately you can tell that God is working through him. He defeats the Philistines and brings the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem. Chapter 7 is God's covenant with David and David's response to that. The next few chapters tell of all the victories that the Lord gave David over his enemies. Then, comes chapter 11, Davids sin with Bathsheba. Immediately after, Nathan rebukes him and tells him the Lord's punishment because of his sin, namely the unrest and evil out of his own house and the death of the son that was conceived in the sin. After that everything turns south. The next twelve chapters were hard to read. It was like watching a house burn and not being able to do anything about it. The book ends with David's last words and the Lord's anger then being kindled against Israel.
The most important thing I saw was the Davidic covenant in chapter 7. I believe that verses 12-16 are supposed to be about Jesus. His kingdom will last forever. Oh how I love when there are hints of the Gospel in the Old Testament.
Fear of the Lord and the Lord's control show up here and there. The Lord's control is most obvious (and confusing) in chapter 17. Absalom seeks the advice of Ahithophel, of whom it is said, "the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God (16:23)." Basically, to make a long story short, Absalom doesn't follow his advice but does what Hushai, David's friend, tells him to do. Absalom ends up dying because he followed Hushai's advice. The kicker, though is what it says in 17:14, "For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom." So the Lord made Absalom trust Hushai, so that He could kill him. That is not what I would have expected.
The fear of the Lord shows up in David's last words in chapter 23. Verses 3-4, "The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, He dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth." Basically, when you rule over men in the fear of God, He smiles on them.
Like I said there wasn't a whole lot. There was some good stuff about God's glory in David's song in chapter 22. It just gave me a taste of what the Psalms will be like (2 Samuel 22 is a paraphrase of some of Psalm 18). I'll gladly move on from 2 Samuel. While I know it is the word of God, it still is painful to watch him punish someone. Maybe God is teaching me something about His wrath. Let me know if you have anything about this book.
All for His glory,
Mitchell
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