2 Samuel 4:1 - 5:25: Waiting on God

2 Samuel 4:1 - 5:25: Waiting on God

We’ve been working our way passage by passage through the book of 2 Samuel, and today the next passage we come to is 2 Samuel chapter 4 verse 1 through chapter 5 verse 25, so I’ll be reading a selection of verses from that passage. Hear now the words of the Living and True God:

¹ When Ish-bosheth, Saul’s son, heard that Abner had died at Hebron, his courage failed, and all Israel was dismayed. ² Now Saul’s son had two men who were captains of raiding bands; the name of the one was Baanah, and the name of the other Rechab….  ⁵ Now the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, set out, and about the heat of the day they came to the house of Ish-bosheth as he was taking his noonday rest. ⁶ And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and Baanah his brother escaped. ⁷ When they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedroom, they struck him and put him to death and beheaded him. They took his head and went by the way of the Arabah all night, ⁸ and brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David at Hebron. And they said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.” ⁹ But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, ¹⁰ when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at 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 at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” ¹² And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron. ¹ Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. ² In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ ” ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. ⁵ At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years. ⁶ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” ⁷ Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. ⁸ And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” ⁹ And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. ¹⁰ And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.…

May God bless the reading of his Word.

Let’s pray: Father, what a blessing it is to be gathered together around your Word with the opportunity to immerse ourselves in it this morning. We pray that your Spirit would be present and at work in our midst, causing the truths and teachings we encounter to find a place in our hearts. It’s in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

One of the things that we often find most difficult to do is to wait. We really don’t like waiting. For example, even if I’m driving somewhere locally and know perfectly well how to get there, I’ll still often put the destination into my GPS in order to see what the fastest route is with current traffic data. That’s because I don’t want to be stuck waiting in traffic for even a minute longer than I have to. I also lose patience very quickly if I ever have to wait for something to load on my phone. I mean, aren’t we living in 2026? Waiting for something to load might have been okay in, like, 2006, but not in 2026—c’mon.

Furthermore, I went into Panera not too long ago and was pleased to see that there was only one couple in line ahead of me. However, they proceeded to take what must have been at least 5 minutes to order their food—maybe even closer to 10 minutes. I mean, they were at the register pretty much reading through the entire menu out loud and trying to figure out—at the register—what they wanted to get. The suffering I had to endure was nearly unbearable. So, suffice it to say that I really don’t like to wait.

And I think the vast majority of people in our society are right there with me. Our culture is one that’s quickly frustrated by waiting. In fact, I recently read that many airports have started to move their baggage claim areas farther from the terminals because customers would actually prefer to walk a longer distance to get to the baggage claim rather than have to wait longer at the baggage claim carousel. So, we as a society don’t like waiting.

However, despite our ever-increasing aversion to waiting, it’s still necessary to wait for a lot of things in our lives. Even in our age of 5G internet and same-day Amazon delivery, we’re still quite often forced to wait.

Yet the Bible actually speaks of waiting in a very positive way—especially when it comes to waiting on God to do things. You see, in his infinite wisdom, God often deems it best to have us wait for various blessings rather than allowing us to experience those blessings immediately. This is because he knows that we learn certain things through waiting that we wouldn’t be able to learn any other way. And this morning, we’ll explore what some of those are.

And as we look at today’s main passage of 2 Samuel 4-5, we see that God required David to wait quite a long time—approximately 15-20 years, in fact—before he fulfilled his promise to David of making him king of Israel. That’s actually the main idea of this passage. David became king of Israel after a long period of waiting. Again, David became king of Israel after a long period of waiting.

God had originally commanded the prophet Samuel to anoint David as king way back in 1 Samuel 16 when David was still a teenager. Yet Saul had continued to be king for numerous years even after that anointing. Then, as we’ve already seen in the first few chapters of 2 Samuel, Saul’s death resulted in David becoming king of Judah but still not king of all Israel. Instead, Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was king of Israel.

Yet that situation changes here in 2 Samuel 4-5. The first several verses of chapter 4 tell us about Ish-bosheth being assassinated by two of his own captains—Rechab and Baanah. These two men go to Ish-bosheth’s house one day while Ish-bosheth is taking his “noonday rest.” And biblical text describes how they enter the house rather nonchalantly, as if they’re just getting some wheat, it says. It kind of reminds me of hungry teenagers always checking the kitchen cabinets to see what their snack options are. Apparently, Ish-bosheth had all the best snacks—since he was king, after all—so it didn’t arouse any suspicion when Rechab and Baanah entered his house under the pretense of just wanting a snack.

Yet instead of getting a snack, Rechab and Baanah stab Ish-bosheth in the stomach as he’s sleeping, cut off his head, and make their escape with his head out of town. They then bring Ish-bosheth’s head to David and say to him in verse 8, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, your enemy, who sought your life. The Lord has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring.”

But, as verses 9-12 make clear, things don’t go quite the way Rechab and Baanah planned: ⁹ But David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my life out of every adversity, ¹⁰ when one told me, ‘Behold, Saul is dead,’ and thought he was bringing good news, I seized him and killed him at 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 at your hand and destroy you from the earth?” ¹² And David commanded his young men, and they killed them and cut off their hands and feet and hanged them beside the pool at Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron.

So, as David points out, Rechab and Baanah are even worse than the man who had claimed to have killed Saul. According to that man’s story, at least Saul was mortally wounded and was begging to die. But Rechab and Baanah murdered Ish-bosheth in cold blood. Apparently, they hadn’t heard about the way David liked to “reward” murders, but they find out soon enough.

And David’s behavior in this passage reminds us of the honorable way he’s conducted himself throughout the time he’s been waiting to become Israel’s king. In 1 Samuel 24, David was on the run from Saul since Saul was trying to kill him. Yet Saul entered a cave in order to “relieve himself”—as the ESV so politely renders it—without knowing that he was entering the very cave in which David was hiding. So, of course, David’s men encourage him to kill Saul right then and there—since he’s just been given a golden opportunity to do so and thereby seize the kingship for himself. Yet David tells them in verse 7, “The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed.”

David then has another golden opportunity to kill Saul in 1 Samuel 26. This time, Saul’s sleeping in a field, surrounded by his army. Yet David and one of his men named Abishai are able to sneak through Saul’s camp at night to the place where Saul was laying, with Saul’s own spear stuck in the ground right next to his head. And of course, Abishai thinks they should kill Saul. Yet David responds to Abishai in verses 10-11, ¹⁰ …“As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. ¹¹ The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But take now the spear that is at his head and the jar of water, and let us go.”

So, on two separate occasions, David could have easily killed Saul and become king himself. And he could have also very easily justified such an action in his own mind because, after all, God had promised David that he’d be king. Yet David steadfastly stood by his convictions. He refused to do what he knew to be wrong to accomplish what he thought to be right. Instead of taking matters into his own hands in order to become king, David demonstrated remarkable faith in waiting on God to make him king at the proper time and in a righteous way.

Likewise, in our main passage, David responds in an honorable way to Ish-bosheth’s assassination. Surely, David must have experienced at least some temptation to order his men to do what Rechab and Baanah had done and kill Ish-bosheth—if not through assassination than at least by waging war against Ish-bosheth and defeating him in battle. After all, Ish-bosheth was an incredibly weak king and was undoubtedly no match for David. Yet, instead of taking matters into his own hands, David waited on God’s timing. And we see in these verses that David was so committed to acting honorably and waiting on God that he even ordered the execution of the two men who had killed Ish-bosheth.

And I find David’s example to be so remarkable because this is the exact opposite of the way we’re so often tempted to live. Our natural tendency is to want to take matters into our own hands instead of waiting on God. As I’ve said, we don’t at all like waiting and much prefer to do whatever seems necessary to get what we want. And I believe this stems not only from a desire for instant gratification but also from a desire for control. We have trouble waiting on God because we want to be in control of our circumstances.

Now, of course, we’re much too feeble and fragile to actually be in control. But we nevertheless like to at least feel like we’re in control of our lives. Kind of like one of those shopping carts at Giant Eagle with the plastic car attached to the front. When my kids were younger, they loved sitting in that car with the steering wheel in their hands and pretending to drive around the grocery store. And just like kids like to feel like they’re driving, we like to feel like we’re in control.

Yet the Bible repeatedly emphasizes that God’s in control and that it’s quite often his will that we wait for him to work. One of the most famous examples of this is Abraham, who had to wait approximately 25 years for the son God had promised to be born. Moreover, Joseph had to wait for years while he was first enslaved and eventually imprisoned for God to fulfill his promise of exalting him in Egypt. We also read about Moses, Joshua, and Elijah all having to wait for God to grant them the blessings he had promised or deliver them from their sufferings.

Waiting on God is a recurring theme found throughout the Bible. And the key reason God so often makes his people wait is because that’s how we learn to trust him. God frequently uses delay to teach us dependence.

And as we’re about to see in our main passage, these delays don’t last forever. Ish-bosheth’s death paves the way for David to finally become king of Israel. For 15-20 years, David had steadfastly refused to take the throne through violence. So, God now simply gives him the throne.

Look at chapter 5, verses 1-5: ¹ Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Behold, we are your bone and flesh. ² In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led out and brought in Israel. And the Lord said to you, ‘You shall be shepherd of my people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel.’ ” ³ So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. ⁴ David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. ⁵ At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.

So, after years of waiting, we finally see David become king not just of Judah but of all Israel. And God blesses him with an exceptionally long reign—7 years as king of Judah and then 33 years as king of all Israel. This is a wonderful reminder that God always keeps his promises. And he does so quite often not according to our preferred timetable but always according to his perfect timetable.

It reminds me of what Gandalf says to Frodo in the Lord of the Rings. When Frodo accuses Gandalf of being late, Gandalf replies, “A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.” Similarly, God causes things to happen in our lives not a moment too soon or a moment too late but always at exactly the right time.

We then read about how God blessed David abundantly in his royal endeavors. Verses 6-10 tell us, ⁶ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.” ⁷ Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David. ⁸ And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.” ⁹ And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward. ¹⁰ And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

So, when the pagan inhabitants of Jerusalem taunt David and his men by telling them, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off,” David gladly accepts the challenge. He orders his men to infiltrate the city by means of an insufficiently guarded water shaft and attack “the lame and the blind”—referring, of course, not to people who were literally lame and blind, since that would be kind of messed up, but to the men who were defending Jerusalem. So, David was effectively turning their own insult back on them.

And that’s how David conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital. Verse 10 then gives us an important summary of how “David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.”

We then see an example of this in verses 11-12: ¹¹ And Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, also carpenters and masons who built David a house. ¹² And David knew that the Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel. So, this is yet another example of how abundantly God blessed David’s reign.

All of this reminds me of what God says through Peter in 1 Peter 5:6: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” Isn’t that such a perfect summary of David’s life up to this point? “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you.” David humbled himself for many years under God’s mighty hand by waiting on God’s timing. And because of that, God exalted him at the proper time.

So, I believe the main way we should apply this passage to our lives is, quite simply, to wait on God’s timing. Just as David waited on God’s timing to become king of Israel, we need to wait on God’s timing for a variety of things in our lives. And I’d actually like to briefly highlight six of them—six situations in which we need to wait on God’s timing.

The first is the provision of a godly spouse. It can be difficult to wait for God to bring the right person into our lives. And because of that, it’s not uncommon for Christians who are single to want so badly to be married that they’re tempted to settle for someone who isn’t all that devoted to Jesus. Yet let me encourage you not to do that. Don’t settle for someone who isn’t pursuing God just as passionately as you are. That doesn’t mean they have to be as mature of a Christian as you are, but they do at least need to be pursing Jesus just as passionately. A godly spouse is absolutely worth the wait.

Then, secondly, we sometimes have to wait on God’s timing for the blessing of children. There are many couples—even within our church—who have had difficulty getting pregnant. That also is one of the more difficult situations in which we have to wait for God to bless us.

Third, we often have to wait on God’s timing for deliverance from our suffering. Our cry is often comparable to that of David in Psalm 13:1-2, where he asks God, ¹ How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? ² How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? Yet the reason God doesn’t immediately deliver us from our suffering is because he knows that we experience more spiritual growth through suffering than through just about anything else.

George Mueller once said that “The only way to learn strong faith is to endure great trials.” It’s similar to the way our muscles are strengthened. In order to strengthen our muscles, we have to exercise them in such a way that our muscles undergo modest tearing—which we experience simply as soreness. Our bodies then repair the muscles with the result that they become stronger afterwards. Similarly, it’s only as our faith is tested—sometimes rather severely—that it grows stronger and more durable. And God knows this, which is why he allows us to continue in our suffering for as long as is necessary for us to become the people he wants us to be. So, wait on God’s timing for deliverance from your suffering, and understand that he won’t let you suffer for even a moment longer than is needed to accomplish his good purposes within you.

Fourth, it’s often necessary to wait on God’s timing for the conversion of a loved one. I imagine that just about every Christian in this room has loved ones who aren’t yet Christians even though we’ve been praying for their salvation for years. That too is something we have to give to the Lord—with the understanding God loves them even more than we do. So, keep praying for them and sharing the gospel with them as you have opportunity.

Fifth, we often have to wait on God’s timing for justice for those who wrong us. It’s quite common in our fallen world for bad people to do bad things and seemingly get away with it. In fact, they often seem to have better lives than the rest of us. And either we ourselves or someone we care about deeply are often the victims of their wickedness. Of course, God’s instituted civil governments to punish those who break the law, but that can take years—and even then, it’s still quite common for people to escape true justice.

Yet, as Christians, we know that the day’s coming when true justice will be administered. Justice may presently be delayed, but it won’t ultimately be denied. So, instead of taking matters into our own hands and trying to get revenge, we have to wait on God’s timing and leave justice to him.

Then, sixth, we often have to wait on God’s timing for the ministry or vocation we desire. Even though God might ultimately be calling us to a particular ministry or vocation, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s his will for us to be doing that now. In almost every situation, God calls us to a period of preparation—and sometimes a very lengthy period of preparation—prior to us being given the opportunity to serve in a certain ministry or work in a certain vocation.

So, what situations in your life right now require that you wait for something you deeply desire? Maybe it’s something I’ve mentioned or something else entirely. Whatever it is, let me encourage you with David’s own words in Psalm 27:14: “Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” Instead of allowing yourself to become anxious or frustrated or depressed, wait for the Lord. Surrender your situation to God. Let it be in his hands rather than yours.

Of course, this requires that we trust God’s character and believe that he really is good and wise and powerful—just as the Bible says he is. Charles Spurgeon once wrote that, “God is too good to be unkind, too wise to be mistaken; and when you cannot trace His hand, you can trust His heart.” Do you really believe that? And are you willing to trust him in that way?

In addition, in his book entitled Waiting Isn’t a Waste, Mark Vroegop suggests a four-part approach to waiting that’s drawn from Psalm 25 and that I believe can be very helpful. Ironically, it’s structured according to the acronym “F.A.S.T.”, which stands for “Focus,” “Adore,” “Seek,” and “Trust.” The first step is to “focus” on God instead of focusing on your circumstances. Just as someone who’s cold might step out into the sunshine in order to be warmed by the sun, let yourself be warmed by the light of who God is.

After that, the second step is to “adore” God by rehearsing specific characteristics you know to be true about him. Then the third step is to “seek” God’s help through prayer. Lay your burdens and requests at his feet and, in that way, let your waiting be active rather than passive. And finally, the fourth step is to “trust.” Choose to rely on who God is and what he’s promised. As Corrie Ten Boom once observed, “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.” That’s what we have to do through the dark tunnels of our lives. So, hopefully you find that helpful in the midst of whatever situations you might find yourself in either now or in the future.

And turning our attention once again to our main passage of 2 Samuel 4-5, hopefully it’s now apparent that David’s experience isn’t fundamentally different than ours. Although we might not waiting to be enthroned as king of Israel, we still often find ourselves waiting on God to bless us or fulfill his promises to us in various ways. And God calls us to wait faithfully and patiently as David did.

Yet, even though David’s example is commendable in many ways, this passage also records some very significant flaws in David character. First, as we observed last week, David had multiple wives. And he takes even more wives and concubines here in 2 Samuel 5:13. In addition, after David defeated the Philistines in battle, 2 Samuel 5:21 records that “the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.”

So, David certainly had some significant character deficiencies. Therefore, even though 2 Samuel 5:2 refers to David as the “shepherd” of God’s people in his new role as king, the reality is that God’s people would have to continue waiting on God for the ultimate shepherd they needed. That shepherd actually wouldn’t come until hundreds of years later. Yet he did eventually come, and his name was Jesus.

In John 10:11, Jesus states, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” David was only a temporary shepherd of God’s people who anticipated the arrival of the ultimate shepherd God would send to care for his people’s welfare, protect them from danger, and provide for their needs.

And the key way Jesus would do that—as he himself makes clear—is by laying down his life for the sheep. You see, we were in a desperate situation. Our sinful rebellion had alienated us from God and made us deserving of suffering his wrath for all eternity. That’s what justice required. Yet Jesus entered this world as a man, lived a perfectly righteous life, and then eventually allowed himself to be crucified in order to pay for our sins. Our sins had to be punished; justice had to be satisfied. Yet Jesus suffered that punishment as our substitute and thereby evened out the scales of divine justice. He was then triumphantly raised from the dead three days later in order to demonstrate that his teachings were true and that his sacrifice was accepted.

As a result, Jesus now offers to save everyone who will put their trust exclusively in him for rescue. That’s the response required on our part to experience the salvation Jesus offers, and it’s the exact opposite of what most people naturally assume. It seems that our hearts are conditioned to view salvation as something we can achieve through our own human efforts—as if we could earn God’s favor through our moral accomplishments or religious observances. Yet that’s the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches.

We’re told in Isaiah 64:4, “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” Isn’t that an interesting description of God? He’s a God “who acts for those who wait for him.” God does the acting, while we do the waiting.

You know, this morning, we’ve talked extensively about waiting on God for various things in our lives that we’re hoping—or, at times, expecting—will happen. Just as David had to wait on God for the kingship, we often have to wait on God for various blessings. Yet, as Isaiah 64:4 makes clear, the central and most foundational way we wait on God is for the salvation he grants us through Christ.

We’re saved not by working but by waiting—in the sense of ceasing our misguided attempts to earn God’s favor and instead looking to Jesus as our all-sufficient Savior. It’s sometimes said that “God helps those who help themselves,” but when it comes to being saved from our sins, the reality is that God helps those who realize that they can never help themselves and instead put their trust in Jesus. It’s in this sense that God “acts for those who wait for him.”