This is the Bible Book Club. I'm Susan and I'm Heather. And we're in the book of Second Samuel.

Welcome to the club.

Last episode, David cleared the promised land and created an empire. He defeated the Philistines in the West.

He defeated the Moabites in the east. He defeated the Moabites in the east.

He defeated the Aramaans in the north. And he defeated the Edomites in the south.

The Lord gave David victory everywhere he went.

Next, the king with a heart remembered his friend, Jonathan.

And the promise he made to show Jonathan's family kindness or

Hesed, which we've talked about so many times in this podcast. So David sent for Jonathan's

son Maphibishath and restored to him his father's inheritance and made a permanent place

for him at his own table. Okay, so this is a really great chapter. When we left our hero in the last

episode, he was all Israel had hoped for. He was the king that Israel needed to make God's name

known to the world. God was with David, and because of that, his power grew. Now, our author

made clear to us, who holds the power

by his repetitious use of the word send? In the preceding chapter, chapter 10, the one that began

with the phrase in the course of time and therefore goes with the next two chapters, King David

sends a sympathy delegation to King Hanan. King Hanan sends them back.

King David sends Joab and the army into war. The two kings do all the sending. They are engaged

in a human power struggle where the most powerful man wins. That man is David, because

he has found favor with the Lord. But David is about to learn that while power given by God,

used for God, glorifies God, that same power used for personal pleasure is a dark and deadly path of pain. Scene one, David takes a spring

break. So David next sends Joab and the army off without him. Chapter 11. In the spring, at the time when

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