THE MANDATE AND THE MENACE

Now there was long war between the house of Saul and the house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker – 2 Samuel 3:1

“For a moment let me take you back to David. He has been anointed king over Israel. However, Saul would not let him reign. For about fourteen years, David was on the run from Saul, who was hard bent on killing him. David had received a great vision – to ascend the throne of Israel.

He had God’s mandate for it but could not actualise it because of the menace of Saul. Then Saul died.

2 Samuel 2:1-4 reads:
“And it came to pass after this, that David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron… And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah…”

Verses ten and eleven state:
“…But the house of Judah followed David. And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months”.

…Samuel had anointed David king over Israel and not just Judah. After the death of Saul, most of Israel remained loyal to his family. David sought access to the rulership of Israel and God directed him to Hebron. When David went to Hebron the tribe of Judah (one out of twelve tribes) turned to him and submitted to him. David started ruling over Judah. He actually ruled over Judah from Hebron for seven and half years while there was war between his camp and Saul’s loyalists.

…If David had insisted on having all the tribes submit to him before assuming rulership, he would have failed woefully. Rather he enquired of the Lord an access to the vision which God showed him to be Hebron. He embraced it.

Child of God, having possession of Judah is enough to give you the whole of Israel. Archimedes the scientist said, “Give me a place to stand on and I will move the earth.”