2 Samuel 1:1-2:7 – Good grief

Discussion notes based on the sermon preached the morning of 23-04-23

STUDY MATERIAL

Read the passage again and don’t forget to start your meeting in prayer.

Particularly ask that the Holy Spirit would guide your discussion and help you to apply what is said in Scripture to your lives today. Sermons are available on the St John’s website or YouTube channel.

Sermon Outline

David respected God’s sovereign choice of authority, lamented the death of the anointed one and sought God’s will for guidance.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

Starter question: What do you remember or know about the story of 1 Samuel? What has been happening to David?

Read 2 Samuel 1:1 – 16

  1. How do verses 1-10 summarise what has just happened? (Is the Amalekite telling the truth?)
  2. Why does David kill the Amalekite? (See verse 16, how is the King described?)
  3. In what way does David point us to Jesus here? (How does Jesus execute God’s judgment?)
  4. We are not God’s anointed one, Jesus is. How does this affect how we relate to authorities (both good and bad) and how we relate to God’s justice and judgment?

Read 2 Samuel 1:17 – 27

  1. Given what Saul had been trying to do to David, how would you expect David to take the news the Saul had died?
  2. What does David do instead in these verses? (What does it mean to lament?)
  3. In what way does David point us to Jesus here? (How does Jesus lament?)
  4. When was the last time you lamented? What things should we lament? How does knowing Jesus help us lament rightly?

Read 2 Samuel 2:1 – 7

  1. How do David’s actions seem odd here given that he already knows he will be king? (He was anointed back in 1 Samuel 16, see 2 Sam 2:7)
  2. In what way does David point us to Jesus here? How does Jesus not grasp for power? (Think of his temptations in the gospels or Philippians 2)
  3. We are not God’s anointed one, Jesus is. Why is it good to have a king like Jesus given what we’ve read?

Prayer

Praise God for Jesus Christ the true anointed one, the messiah!

Pray that you would trust him in every circumstance of life.