David sure had a strange way of fighting a civil war, didn’t he? Saul, his own father-in-law had been trying to kill him for years, and yet his first reaction when he heard Saul had died was to mourn and weep and fast (II Samuel 1:12). Instead of rejoicing that his enemy was dead and that the throne would soon be his, he wrote a song praising Saul for his military exploits and insisted that everyone in Judah learn to sing it (II Samuel 1:18-27).

And then another war broke out. This time Ishbosheth, Saul’s son, was trying to kill David to keep him from being king over Judah. But when Ishbosheth was murdered in his home (II Samuel 4:7), instead of rewarding his killers, David ordered them to be executed (II Samuel 4:12).

What was David’s problem? Didn’t he know that he was supposed to love his friends and hate his enemies? That’s what commonsense tells us. That’s the way that most of the rulers throughout world history have consolidated their power. But because David was a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14), he was living instead according to the rules that would be laid down by his greater Son: “I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:44-45).

And aren’t we all glad that Jesus chose to live that way? For He went so far as to lay down His life so that His enemies, those who betrayed and abandoned Him might be saved. After all, it was while we were still sinners, rebels against His righteous rule, that Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

So, what better way could there be to express our thanks and loyalty to the Son of David than by following David’s example? This week, let’s look for ways to be gracious to everyone, regardless of what they may have done to us.

II Samuel 4:9-12 (NASB)

9 And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from all distress,
10 when one told me, saying, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag, which was the reward I gave him for his news.
11 “How much more, when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hand, and destroy you from the earth?”
12 Then David commanded the young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet, and hung them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron.