2 Samuel begins with Saul’s death. Chapter one tells of his death and David’s reaction. Chapter two shows David seeking God’s advice and being anointed king over Judah, the northern kingdom. Also, we see Abner anointing Ish-bosheth, Saul’s remaining son, king over Israel, the southern kingdom.

Both armies met at the pool of Gibeon. 2 Samuel 2:14 says, “And Abner said to Joab, ‘Let the young men arise and compete before us.’ And Joab said, ‘Let them arise.’” They arose, each sending 12 men to fight. They each caught their opponent by the head and thrust their sword in their opponent’s side. All 24 died. Not the brightest way to fight! A battle broke out after this and one of Joab’s brothers, Asahel, ran after Abner; Abner ends up killing him. That brings Joab and his other brother, Abishai, pursuing Abner. Joab ends up retreating, but David’s men won the battle 20 deaths to 360 deaths. Chapter three tells of Joab and Abishai getting their revenge on Abner and of Ish-bosheth’s death.

There you have the cliff notes version of the first four chapters of 2 Samuel.

There are two stories in these chapters that show David’s moral character. If you remember, there were a couple of times when Saul was chasing David when David could have killed him and did not because Saul had been anointed by God. Even though it would have been viewed as a proper response to the situation, David didn’t do it. In 2 Samuel 1 an Amalekite man comes to David to report Saul’s death. He tells how Saul, near death already, asks to be put out of his misery and how he honors that request. David kills him. In 2 Samuel 4 we read that after Abner was killed Ish-bosheth lost his courage. Two captains of raiding bands for Ish-bosheth realized they were on the losing side and wanted to find a way to show their loyalty to David. They killed Ish-bosheth and brought his head to David. They were proud of their actions, and thought David would be as well. Just like the Amalekite man, David has them killed.