Introduction
The books of Samuel are two parts of the same work. What has been said in
the intro duction to the first book holds true for the second.
In this second part, the deeds of King David are narrated. No history as
sincere as this was ever written in ancient times ¨C a story written by a man
of God who could unearth David¡¯s real greatness. Thus, what is exceptional
about King David can be noted in a series of small things that perhaps
seemed insignificant or even stupid to his contemporaries (see how different
David is from Joab, the ¡°achiever¡± and ¡°effective¡± man). But these things
did not pass unnoticed by the one who narrated the story. Then, Israel
understood that if they had had several outstanding kings, only David
provided them with an anticipated image of the true King, Christ.
To better understand the events that follow, let us bear in mind that even
before David, the tribe of Judah which settled in southern Palestine felt
different from the tribes of Israel situated more to the north. Saul had
more allies in the north; while David was a Bethlehemite from the tribe of
Judah and found his support there.