Through the Bible – Day 129

₁Saul was dead.

Meanwhile, David had defeated the Amalekites and returned to Ziklag. ₂Three days later, a soldier came from Saul's army. His clothes were torn, and earth was on his head. He went to David and knelt down in front of him.

₃David asked, “Where did you come from?”

The man answered, “From Israel's army. I barely escaped with my life.”

₄“Who won the battle?” David asked.

The man said, “Our army turned and ran, but many were wounded and died. Even King Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

₅David asked, “How do you know Saul and Jonathan are dead?”

₆The young man replied:

₁₁Straight away, David and his soldiers tore their clothes in sorrow. ₁₂They cried all day long and would not eat anything. Everyone was sad because Saul, his son Jonathan, and many of the LORD's people had been killed in the battle.

₁₃David asked the young man, “Where is your home?”

The man replied, “My father is an Amalekite, but we live in Israel.”

_14-16David said to him, “Why weren't you afraid to kill the LORD's chosen king? And you even told what you did. It's your own fault that you're going to die!”

Then David told one of his soldiers, “Come here and kill this man!”

₁₇David sang a song in memory of Saul and Jonathan, ₁₈and he ordered his men to teach the song to everyone in Judah. He called it “The Song of the Bow”, and it can be found in The Book of Jashar. This is the song:

₁Later, David asked the LORD, “Should I go back to one of the towns of Judah?”

The LORD answered, “Yes.”

David asked, “Which town should I go to?”

“Go to Hebron,” the LORD replied.

₂David went to Hebron with his two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail. Ahinoam was from Jezreel, and Abigail was the widow of Nabal from Carmel. ₃David also took his men and their families to live in the villages near Hebron.

₄The people of Judah met with David at Hebron and poured olive oil on his head to show that he was their new king. Then they told David, “The people from Jabesh in Gilead buried Saul.”

₅David sent messengers to tell them:

₈Abner the son of Ner had been the general of Saul's army. He took Saul's son Ishbosheth across the River Jordan to Mahanaim ₉and made him king of Israel, including the areas of Gilead, Asher, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin. ₁₀Ishbosheth was forty years old at the time, and he ruled for two years. But the tribe of Judah made David their king, ₁₁and he ruled from Hebron for seven and a half years.

₁₂One day, Abner and the soldiers of Ishbosheth left Mahanaim and went to Gibeon. ₁₃Meanwhile, Joab the son of Zeruiah was leading David's soldiers, and the two groups met at the pool in Gibeon. Abner and his men sat down on one side of the pool, while Joab and his men sat on the other side. ₁₄Abner yelled to Joab, “Let's get some of our best soldiers to stand up and fight each other!”

Joab agreed, ₁₅and twelve of Ishbosheth's men from the tribe of Benjamin got up to fight twelve of David's men. ₁₆They grabbed each other by the hair and stabbed each other in the side with their daggers. They all died there! That's why the place in Gibeon is called “Field of Daggers”. ₁₇Then everyone started fighting. Both sides fought very hard, but David's soldiers defeated Abner and the soldiers of Israel.

₁₈Zeruiah's three sons were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel could run as fast as a deer in an open field, ₁₉and he ran straight after Abner, without looking to the right or to the left.

₂₀When Abner turned and saw him, he said, “Is that you, Asahel?”

Asahel answered, “Yes it is.”

₂₁Abner said, “There are soldiers all around. Stop chasing me and fight one of them! Kill him and take his clothes and weapons for yourself.”

But Asahel refused to stop.

₂₂Abner said, “If you don't turn back, I'll have to kill you! Then I could never face your brother Joab again.”

₂₃But Asahel would not turn back, so Abner struck him in the stomach with the back end of his spear. The spear went all the way through and came out of his back. Asahel fell down and died. Everyone who saw Asahel lying dead just stopped and stood still. ₂₄But Joab and Abishai went after Abner. Finally, about sunset, they came to the hill of Ammah, not far from Giah on the road to Gibeon Desert. ₂₅Abner brought the men of Benjamin together in one group on top of a hill, and they got ready to fight.

₂₆Abner shouted to Joab, “Aren't we ever going to stop killing each other? Don't you know that the longer we keep on doing this, the worse it's going to be when it's all over? When are you going to order your men to stop chasing their own relatives?”

₂₇Joab shouted back, “I swear by the living God, if you hadn't spoken, my men would have chased their relatives all night!” ₂₈Joab took his trumpet and blew the signal for his soldiers to stop chasing the soldiers of Israel. Straight away, the fighting stopped.

₂₉Abner and his troops marched through the Jordan valley all that night. Then they crossed the river and marched all morning until they arrived back at Mahanaim.

₃₀As soon as Joab stopped chasing Abner, he got David's troops together and counted them. There were nineteen missing besides Asahel. ₃₁But David's soldiers had killed 360 of Abner's men from the tribe of Benjamin. ₃₂Joab and his troops carried Asahel's body to Bethlehem and buried him in the family burial place. Then they marched all night and reached Hebron before sunrise.

₁This battle was the beginning of a long war between the followers of Saul and the followers of David. Saul's power grew weaker, but David's grew stronger.

_2-5Several of David's sons were born while he was living in Hebron. His eldest son was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel. David's second son was Chileab, whose mother was Abigail, who had been married to Nabal from Carmel. Absalom was the third. His mother was Maacah, the daughter of King Talmai of Geshur. The fourth was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith. The fifth was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital. The sixth was Ithream, whose mother was Eglah, another one of David's wives.

₆As the war went on between the families of David and Saul, Abner was gaining more power than ever in Saul's family. ₇He had even slept with a wife of Saul by the name of Rizpah the daughter of Aiah. But Saul's son Ishbosheth told Abner, “You shouldn't have slept with one of my father's wives!”

₈Abner was very angry at what Ishbosheth had said, and he told Ishbosheth:

₁₁Ishbosheth was so afraid of Abner that he could not even answer.

₁₂Abner sent some of his men to David with this message: “You should be the ruler of the whole nation. If you make an agreement with me, I will persuade everyone in Israel to make you their king.”

₁₃David sent this message back: “Good! I'll make an agreement with you. But before I will even talk with you about it, you must get Saul's daughter Michal back for me.”

₁₄David sent a few of his officials to Ishbosheth to give him this message: “Give me back my wife Michal! I killed a hundred Philistines so I could marry her.”

₁₅Ishbosheth sent some of his men to take Michal away from her new husband, Paltiel the son of Laish. ₁₆Paltiel followed Michal and the men all the way to Bahurim, crying as he walked. But he went back home after Abner ordered him to leave.

₁₇Abner talked with the leaders of the tribes of Israel and told them, “You've wanted to make David your king for a long time now. ₁₈So do it! After all, God said he would use his servant David to rescue his people Israel from their enemies, especially from the Philistines.”

₁₉Finally, Abner talked with the tribe of Benjamin. Then he left for Hebron to tell David everything that the tribe of Benjamin and the rest of the people of Israel wanted to do. ₂₀Abner took twenty soldiers with him, and when they got to Hebron, David gave a big feast for them.

₂₁After the feast, Abner said, “Your Majesty, let me leave now and bring Israel here to make an agreement with you. You'll be king of the whole nation, just as you've been wanting.”

David told Abner he could leave, and he left without causing any trouble.

₂₂Soon after Abner had left Hebron, Joab and some of David's soldiers came back, bringing a lot of things they had taken from an enemy village. ₂₃Just after they arrived, someone told Joab, “Abner visited the king, and the king let him go. Abner even left without causing any trouble.”

₂₄Joab went to David and said, “What have you done? Abner came to you, and you let him go. Now he's long gone! ₂₅You know Abner—he came to trick you. He wants to find out how strong your army is and to know everything you're doing.”

₂₆Joab left David, then he sent some messengers to catch up with Abner. They brought him back from the well at Sirah, but David did not know anything about it. ₂₇When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab pretended he wanted to talk privately with him. So he took Abner into one of the small rooms that were part of the town gate and stabbed him in the stomach. Joab killed him because Abner had killed Joab's brother Asahel.

₁Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices that they had prepared. ₂When they found the stone rolled away from the entrance, ₃they went in. But they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus, ₄and they did not know what to think.

Suddenly two men in shining white clothes stood beside them. ₅The women were afraid and bowed to the ground. But the men said, “Why are you looking in the place of the dead for someone who is alive? ₆Jesus isn't here! He has been raised from death. Remember that while he was still in Galilee, he told you, ₇‘The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners who will nail him to a cross. But three days later he will rise to life.’ ” ₈Then they remembered what Jesus had said.

_9-10Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and some other women were the ones who had gone to the tomb. When they returned, they told the eleven apostles and the others what had happened. ₁₁The apostles thought it was all nonsense, and they would not believe.

₁₂But Peter ran to the tomb. And when he stooped down and looked in, he saw only the burial clothes. Then he returned, wondering what had happened.

₁₃That same day two of Jesus' disciples were going to the village of Emmaus, which was about eleven kilometres from Jerusalem. ₁₄As they were talking and thinking about what had happened, ₁₅Jesus came near and started walking along beside them. ₁₆But they did not know who he was.

₁₇Jesus asked them, “What were you talking about as you walked along?”

The two of them stood there looking sad and gloomy. ₁₈Then the one named Cleopas asked Jesus, “Are you the only person from Jerusalem who didn't know what was happening there these last few days?”

₁₉“What do you mean?” Jesus asked.

They answered:

₂₅Then Jesus asked the two disciples, “Why can't you understand? How can you be so slow to believe all that the prophets said? ₂₆Didn't you know that the Messiah would have to suffer before he was given his glory?” ₂₇Jesus then explained everything written about himself in the Scriptures, beginning with the Law of Moses and the Books of the Prophets.

₂₈When the two of them came near the village where they were going, Jesus seemed to be going further. ₂₉They begged him, “Stay with us! It's already late, and the sun is going down.” So Jesus went into the house to stay with them.

₃₀After Jesus sat down to eat, he took some bread. He blessed it and broke it. Then he gave it to them. ₃₁At once they knew who he was, but he disappeared. ₃₂They said to each other, “When he talked with us along the road and explained the Scriptures to us, didn't it warm our hearts?” ₃₃So they got up at once and returned to Jerusalem.

The two disciples found the eleven apostles and the others gathered together. ₃₄And they learnt from the group that the Lord was really alive and had appeared to Peter. ₃₅Then the disciples from Emmaus told what happened on the road and how they knew he was the Lord when he broke the bread.