David Becomes King

So Saul was cut off. When the news of his death was brought to David in the land of the Philistines, we are told that he wept and gave a wonderful proof of his love. Then he went to Hebron, a town of Judea, and there he was anointed again with the royal oil and received the title of king. But Abner, who had been commander of King Saul’s army, scorned David and made Ish-bosheth, King Saul’s son, king. Several battles then took place between the two kings’ generals. Abner was usually beaten, yet as he fled he killed the brother of Joab, who commanded David’s army. Grieving over this, Joab later had Abner murdered, after Abner had gone over to King David. The king was sorry for it, since Joab had stained his honor by it. [a]

At the same time nearly all the elders of the Hebrews, by common consent, gave him the rule of the whole nation, for during seven years he had reigned only in Hebron. So he was anointed king for the third time, when he was about thirty years old. When the Philistines raided his kingdom, he drove them back in successful battles. At that time he moved the ark of God to Zion; as I said above, it had been in the town of Kiriath-jearim. And when he had decided to build a temple to God, the divine answer came to him that this was reserved for his son. Then he conquered the Philistines in war, subdued the Moabites, and brought Syria under him, making it pay tribute. He brought back with him a vast amount of plunder in gold and bronze. Next a war broke out against the Ammonites because of the wrong their king Hanun had done. And when the Syrians rebelled again and joined the Ammonites in an alliance for war, David gave the supreme command of the war to Joab, the commander of his army, and stayed in Jerusalem himself, far from the fighting.