Step into the Role: Part 2

    David took time to mourn the loss of the King Saul and all the princes, especially Jonathan.  He was respectful.  However, it was time to step into the role he had been preparing for for so long.  The metamorphosis process was almost complete.  He knew that the nation needed a leader and that he had been anointed.  He also knew that Saul's family would not accept that as fact.

    David prayed to God for direction.  God sent him and his men with their families to Hebron where he had been anointed.  There is a simplicity in going back where it all began to help a person gather their thoughts and to regroup.  David was anointed by Judah as their king.  He began his reign with Saul.  He blessed the caretakers of Saul's body.

    This is where the nation divides.  While David was turning to God and showing his respect to the late king, Saul's commander, Abner, was working.  Abner declared that Saul's son, Ish-Bosheth, whom was not at the battle, as the new king.  By the way that royalty works, that made sense.  However, he did not know God's plan.  Ish-Bosheth was 40 and he reigned two years over Israel, but never over Judah.  Judah was always loyal to David.

    King David ruled in Judah for seven years and six months when the two houses finally got to a fighting point.  David ultimately won because it was God's will.  The odds were always against him, but when God is for something, then it will happen.  

    One of David's might warriors, Asahel, chased after Abner.  Asahel was fast, confident, and focused. Abner did ask him to step away from that fight or he would be forced to kill the young man.  Asahel did not listen, so Abner took his life.  This stopped the fighting except for Asahel's brothers, Joab and Abishai.  They would not let that go and would have their revenge one day.  Joab was David's commander.  When that battle finally ended, 19 of David's men had died and 360 of Abner's men had died.  Civil war is never pretty.

2 Samuel 2