David Becomes King

Even though Saul had been killed, David did not become king over all of Israel right away. No, at first there were two kings in Israel! Why was this?

Do you remember Abner, Saul’s general, who guarded him in the caves on the mountains? This Abner, who was David’s uncle, still wanted Saul’s family on the throne, so when Saul died, he made Saul’s son, Ishbosheth, king over most of Israel. However, the other part of the country, called Judah, wanted David for their king.

Abner didn’t like it that David was also king. No, Ishbosheth should be king over ALL of Israel! So, Abner marched into Judah with his army. He would make David leave.

As soon as David heard of this, he sent out his army. He himself didn’t go, but he sent his own general, Joab. Then Abner had an idea, and he said to Joab, “Instead of having our whole armies fight, why don’t just a few of my men fight with a few of yours?”

Joab liked this idea, so twelve of Joab’s men went to battle against twelve of Abner’s men. What happened? All the men, both Joab’s and Abner’s, were killed. Then a great battle began between the two armies. David’s army was victorious, and Abner had to run for his life.

One of David’s men, Asahel, who was Joab’s brother, saw Abner running away, and he ran after him. Asahel was one of the best runners in Israel, and it wasn’t long before he caught up to Abner. Abner heard someone’s footsteps behind him and called out, “Are you Asahel?”

“Yes, I am” cried Asahel, as he got closer and closer to his enemy.

“You’d better turn around, turn to the right or to the left,” Abner cried. “Go after someone else!”

“No! I won’t” cried Asahel, coming closer and closer.

“Yes, I mean it” called Abner. “If you attack me, you’ll be killed, and I don’t want that. Your brother Joab would be angry at me.”

Asahel wouldn’t listen, and then—Abner used his spear and killed Asahel.

The war between David and Ishbosheth lasted for many years. David grew stronger and stronger, but Ishbosheth grew weaker and weaker.

Then one day Abner and Ishbosheth had an argument. Abner was very angry, and he cried, “Do you think I’m a dog or something? Look at all I’ve done for you, I’ve made you king, and I could easily have let David capture you, I’m leaving you! God promised that David would be king, and now I’m going to help that happen.”

Ishbosheth was too afraid of Abner to say a word, so Abner left him and went to David.

“Let me be your friend,” Abner told David. “I now want to be on your side and help you out.”

“I will make an agreement with you,” said David, “but first I want you to get my wife Michal back.” Saul had taken her away from David.

Of course, Michal’s new husband was not happy when Abner came to take away his dear wife, but Abner didn’t care. “Go away; Go, return home,” he said to the crying man. Then Abner went back to David.

Abner really wanted to help David. He told all the people in Israel to do whatever David wanted and to listen to him as their king. For a little while all was peace, but then Joab came back from a trip. when he heard that Abner was now David’s FRIEND, he was not happy.

“Why did you ever make friends with Abner?” he cried out at David. “Don’t you know better? He’s only tricking you! He’s just here to spy on you.”

Really, Joab shouldn’t have talked to David so disrespectfully. We must never talk back to those who are in authority, like our parents or our teachers.

Joab thought about how Abner had killed his brother Asahel. Then a wicked idea came to Joab’s mind. He sent some men after Abner, and when Abner came to see what he wanted, Joab killed him.

When David heard of it, he was displeased. “I had nothing to do with it,” he cried. He wanted to let the people know that he had not ordered Abner’s death. He told Joab and the other people with him, “Put on your mourning clothes, and go to Abner’s grave and mourn there.” David himself would not eat anything until the next day.

The people liked it that David was displeased with the death of Abner. David even told them, “Today a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel.” They knew that he had had nothing to do with Abner’s murder. Abner had been a hero in Israel during all the battles with the Philistines and Israel’s enemies.

When Ishbosheth heard that Abner was dead, he was afraid! Saul and his three sons were dead, Abner was dead—maybe Saul’s whole family was now going to be destroyed! Was he going to be next?

Actually, yes, he was. One day Ishbosheth was lying down for a rest. Two men came in, pretending that they were coming to get some wheat. Instead, they went into King Ishbosheth’s room—and killed him. Then they ran to David.

“Look what we have” they cried happily, thinking that David would be pleased with them. “Here is the head of Ishbosheth, your enemy. Today the Lord has given him to you”

On the contrary, David was not happy. “The man who killed Saul thought I was going to give him a reward, but I had him killed,” David said. “Now what have you done? You killed a good man when he was just lying on his bed doing nothing wrong. You are guilty for killing him, and you shall be killed, too,” and David commanded his servants to slay them.

Do you know what David did with those men? He cut off their hands and feet and hung them outside the city, but he buried Ishbosheth in the same place where he had buried Abner.

After the death of Ishbosheth, all the tribes of Israel paid David a special visit. They said, “We are all your family. We want you to be king over ALL of Israel. You have always been our leader, even when Saul was king, and we need you. God told you that you would be over us, and we want that, too.”

So, David finally was Israel’s only king.

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