It’s not easy to understand the events recounted in today’s reading. I’ll just point out that Israel’s monarchy was in its early stages and still weak. The first dynasty lasted little more than the first king before David became king. That transition had been lengthy and somewhat violent, which made the next transition uncertain. The nation wasn’t firmly united, but still had more of a tribe mentality carrying over from the days of the judges. The people were not fully behind David. All of these factors combined to make David’s situation tricky. If he were too soft, his kingdom would be vulnerable to a coup attempt, as seen in Sheba’s actions. If he were too strong, he risked losing some of the tribes, as his grandson eventually would. Despite the tumult, David did rather well at finding a good balance and keeping the nation together at this very vulnerable time.
It couldn’t have been easy for him, suffering humiliation by the rebellion of his own son, the devastation of his son’s traitorous intentions, and uncertainty over whom he could trust after such an experience. Further, he was grieving the loss of his son. Over all of this would have been the understanding that his own actions had caused these awful events. We see in his resumption of leadership that his psalms were more than just words; he found in God the strength and other resources he needed.
The sad tale of the justice required of Saul’s family reminds us how God values keeping one’s word, and how harsh justice can be at times. As we have seen in other stories, our culture and our enemy may try to convince us from this account that God is mean and bloodthirsty; their viewpoints must not keep us from grasping the point of the story, that God expects us to keep our words even when it hurts, and He will see justice done not only on behalf of His people but also on the part of His people.