II Samuel 19:40-20:26 Dear RTB’ers, More unrest and rebellion… Will it never end for David??!! Today’s reading begins with tribal infighting – the tribe of Judah (David’s home) against the ?ten? other tribes. Confusion here. There are twelve tribes (twelve sons of Jacob), counting Levi and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh as one tribe). Furthermore, if …
Category Archives: RTB 2025 – Search the Scriptures, Part 2
August 12 / II Samuel 19:9-39
II Samuel 19:9-39 Dear RTB’ers, Although David had never actually stopped being king, much of Israel had chosen to follow Absalom. Now that Absalom is dead, his followers need to reverse their loyalties and bring David back to Jerusalem as the king over all the tribes of Israel. His coming back begins with his own …
August 11 / II Samuel 18:1-19:8
II Samuel 18:1-19:8 Dear RTB’ers, Today we see the end of Absalom and his rebellion. Now King David has lost both his first- and second-born sons. And neither one was a credit to his lineage. Carol and I watched a movie last night where a father had lost one of his sons to cancer. Very …
August 10 / II Samuel 16:15-17:29
II Samuel 16:15-17:29 Dear RTB’ers, David’s flight from Absalom is different than when he was on the run from Saul. Earlier he was just a shepherd boy, now he is a king. Earlier he had only a small group with him (up to 600, I Samuel 27:2, 30:9), now he has the king’s entourage and …
August 9 / II Samuel 15:1-16:14
II Samuel 15:1-16:14 Dear RTB’ers, I said yesterday that Absalom was not looking good. Today we see an even worse side of his behavior. And tomorrow we’ll see that there are no real limits to his bad behavior. Day by day for us, Absalom goes from bad to worse to worst. But I’m getting ahead… …
August 8 / II Samuel 13:38-14:33
II Samuel 13:38-14:33 Dear RTB’ers, Joab is looking good. (That won’t always be so…!) Yesterday we saw him bringing David to the fight against Rabbah so that David would get credit for the victory, not himself (II Samuel 12:26-28). And today Joab is all about reconciliation between David and Absalom, first enlisting the woman of …
August 7 / II Samuel 12:1-13:37
II Samuel 12:1-13:37 Dear RTB’ers, I really liked Sean’s comment from yesterday, essentially “DON’T GO THERE!!” After that first wrong step, the next steps are even harder to avoid. Just skip that first step! Sounds easy, huh…??!! What a sad couple of chapters! First, adultery and its aftermath, then rape and its consequences. As for …
August 6 / II Samuel 10-11
II Samuel 10-11 Dear RTB’ers, Yesterday I noted that in II Samuel 8 we saw the height of David’s geographic power to the north as far as Damascus and to the east as far as the Euphrates River. Today’s battle does not dispute that statement. The Ammonites lived to the east of the Jordan River, …
August 5 / II Samuel 8-9
II Samuel 8-9 Dear RTB’ers, Today we see two sides of David’s life – his military prowess and his compassion. First, his military victories: And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went. (v. 8:6b, repeated verbatim in 14b) In chapter 8 we see the height of David’s geographic power, to the north, with …
August 4 / II Samuel 7
II Samuel 7 Dear RTB’ers, King David is living in his cedar house and he looks over and sees the Ark of God residing in a tent. So he resolves to build a “house” for a dwelling place for the Ark. A nice thought. He even has his prophet’s approval. However, God is not interested …