2 Samuel 3-5: David, King!

After a bumpy start, the beginning of David's kingship finally is able to flourish in these chapters.  Ish-bosheth, Saul's son and rival claimant to the throne, is killed in chapter 4.  In chapter 5 there are no more hurdles for David to clear; God's anointed one can finally assume his destined position as king of all of Israel.  And chapter 5 just feels different.  There is something grandiose about it.  It's the first time Solomon's name is mentioned; there is a prevalent theme of unity; the Philistines are soundly defeated over and over; Israel's power as a nation grows; and the Holy City of Jerusalem, after hundreds of years of being occupied, is finally taken away from the Jebusites.  This last event seems to be the most dramatic and significant.  When King David takes Jerusalem, he is quick to make it his capital.  He begins designs for a great temple atop Jerusalem's commanding hill.  In every sense, symbolically and actually, Israelite power is growing and consolidating throughout this chapter and I'd imagine in the many chapters to come.  In many ways it is the culmination of events started back in Joshua's days -- Israel's enemies, within and without, are being swept aside and God's promise that the land of Canaan will be theirs seems to finally be becoming a reality in the fullest sense.  Although, as a side note, there is a subtle notion in this chapter that all may not be well for long.  Moses had foreseen that God would one day permit a king to rule over His people, even though it wasn't what He ideally wanted, and he had written in Deuteronomy 17:17, "[the king] shall not have many wives, that may allure his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold."  Yet, in 2 Samuel 5:13 it is written, "And David took more concubines and wives of Jerusalem, after he was come from Hebron: and there were born to David other sons also and daughters."  (One of those sons was of course Solomon, who infamously followed in his father's footsteps in this area.)  The point is that David wasn't perfect and this aspect of his kingship, which went against the Mosaic covenant, displeased God.  While David's reign may have been full of glory and triumph, it would not last forever.  Israel's golden years would be thus short-lived.