2 Samuel 2:12-23

Sword-Play to the Death

2 Samuel 2:12

For seven and a half years David reigned over the house of Judah. He was in the prime of life, thirty years of age, and seems to have given himself to the consolidation of his kingdom and the quiet sanctities of the home. He maintained throughout those years that spirit of quiet expectancy of which his psalms so often speak. In this, he reminds us of our Lord, who is depicted as sitting at His Father's side till His foes become His footstool.

From Hebron, the city of fellowship, bands of mighty men went forth to fight with Ishbosheth, just as the warriors of the Cross have, in every age, gone forth to engage in deadly conflict with unbelief and sin. Asahel's death reminds us of Stephen's martyrdom. But the end is not yet! The Church's warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against the wicked spirits that rule the darkness of the world. Her weapons, therefore, are not carnal but spiritual, and particularly that of “all-prayer,” Ephesians 6:10.