The Jebusites were descended from Noah's son Ham through Ham's son Canaan. (Genesis 10:15-18a provides a full list of the various peoples who came from Canaan's family line.) They had fallen into idolatry long ago and it has been suggested that they even participated in the heinous practice of child sacrifice which was prevalent in the region they occupied. Their city was near the Valley of Ben Hinnom which was an ancient site where such pagan religious practices were carried out.
David is zealous for the Lord and for the entire nation of Israel. The Lord has kept His promise to him to make him king and David is going to obey the Lord by taking for his people more of the land the Lord promised them when He brought them out of Egypt into the land of Canaan. Up until now Hebron has been David's capital city but, as our text told us yesterday, he will reign from Jerusalem for the last thirty-three years of his life.
"The king and his men marched to Jerusalem to attack the Jebusites, who lived there. The Jebusites said to David, 'You will not get in here; even the blind and the lame can ward you off.' They thought, 'David cannot get in here.' Nevertheless, David captured the fortress of Zion---which is the City of David." (2 Samuel 5:6-7) Jerusalem's location made it a more easily defensible city than many other cities the Israelites conquered in the promised land but the Jebusites are overconfident about the strength of their fortress. I think perhaps David and his troops surrounded the city to lay siege to it and, when called upon to surrender, the Jebusites laughed at him. They did not believe he would be successful and said something like, "Are you kidding? Do you really think you and your men will make it inside our walls alive? Go ahead and try it! This city is so impenetrable that even a blind fellow or a crippled fellow can fight you off."
But David and his men gained entrance to the city by climbing up a steep and narrow shaft by which water was brought into the city by the Gihon Springs. It is believed by a majority of scholars that this water shaft is the one known as the Warren Shaft, though some disagree and point to other locations. "On that day David had said, 'Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water shaft to reach those 'lame and blind' who are David's enemies.' That is why they say, 'The blind and the lame' will not enter the palace." (2 Samuel 5:8)
It's not clear why, "The blind and the lame will not enter the palace," became a saying or whether this is even an accurate rendition of the last sentence of verse 8. Scholars disagree on the translation and the meaning of this portion of the verse. I do not feel that there was a literal rule against someone lame or blind coming into the presence of the king. That would not be in keeping with David's character and later in the book we will find David taking in the lame Mephibosheth, son of the departed Jonathan, and treating him like one of the royal princes. Mephibosheth will live at the palace in Jerusalem and will dine at the king's table every day as if he is one of the king's sons. I've spent some time puzzling over this verse and have come to no firm conclusions about it and have found no clear answers in my background study. What it might mean is that no Jebusite is welcome in David's presence because they said, "David will never enter the city. Even a lame man or a blind man could keep him out."
The taking of the city is not described for us but coming up through the water shaft is the last thing the Jebusites expected David and his men to do. They were expecting an attack against the walls and gates and those were the areas they were standing guard to defend. A battle likely ensued and we don't know how long it took to overcome the Jebusite troops or how many of them were killed, but after taking the city David makes it his new capital. "David then took up residence in the fortress and called it the City of David. He built up the area around it, from the terraces inward. And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord Almighty was with him." (2 Samuel 5:9-10)
The king of the Phoenician city-state of Tyre is eager to make friends with the powerful king of Israel. He will also extend the hand of friendship to David's son and successor, King Solomon, in the book of 1 Kings. "Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, along with cedar logs and carpenters and stonemasons, and they built a palace for David." (2 Samuel 5:11) Hiram's name is rendered as "Huram" in the books of 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles. He is referenced as the king of Tyre in all those passages and there is no controversy, as far as I can tell, about Hiram and Huram being one and the same. It appears from what is said about King Hiram in the Old Testament that he and David (and he and Solomon) enjoyed a mutually beneficial political and economical relationship and that they respected each other and valued each other as an ally.
David had to wait so many years to be king and had to surmount so many obstacles on the path to the throne that it isn't until he's established his capital at Jerusalem and has moved into his residence that he finally feels like a real king. "Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of His people Israel." (2 Samuel 5:12) I think it's understandable that he doesn't feel truly like the leader of the nation until he's at home in the royal palace. He faced a lot of hatred from King Saul and King Saul's supporters for a very long time. He lived in exile for probably a decade or more to keep from being murdered. Then, when Saul and his three closest male heirs were killed in battle, the nation still didn't turn as a whole to David and ask him to be their king; it was only David's own tribe that wanted him to be their king. It wasn't until the other tribes had basically run out of any strong candidates for the throne that they gave in and said, "This is what the Lord said long ago that He wanted---for David to be king. Because of war with the Philistines and because of General Abner's strong influence on a lot of our people and his valuable service to the nation, we allowed him to set Ish-Bosheth over us but Abner and Ish-Bosheth are no more. It's time to make David our leader."
David moves his wives and children from Hebron to Jerusalem and then marries more women and fathers more children. "After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him. These are the names of the children born to him there: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet." (2 Samuel 5:13-16) I think perhaps he allows his role as king to go to his head. He's starting to behave like the kings of the heathen nations in disobedience to the Lord's rule that the kings of Israel are not to take many wives. (Deuteronomy 17:17) David's casual attitude toward the Lord's best plan for marriage (which He demonstrated by giving Adam only one wife, Eve) will become a snare to him later on. He commits two sins he could never have imagined himself committing. If someone had told David here in Chapter 5 that he would ever do those things, he'd have called them a liar. He wouldn't have believed a word of it. I can relate to that because I've committed some sins I never would have imagined myself committing---sins I committed after coming to the Lord for salvation. David is a child of God but when he lets down his guard and allows his fondness for women to control his thoughts and actions, he falls temporarily into a deep pit of sin. That's something that can happen to any of us if we aren't careful. I'm not bashing David or judging him (I'm not in a position to do so, having made mistakes myself) but I'm using him as an example of what can happen when we allow ourselves to dwell on worldly things more than on the things of God.
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