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One-sentence summary: David mourns for Saul and Jonathan, David is made king of Judah, Saul's son is made king of the rest of Israel but is killed, and we learn of Jonathan's son, a man named Mephibosheth- who was crippled in childhood.
After Saul's death, when David return from the slaughter of the Amalekites, a man comes to him from Saul's camp, and he falls before David, and he brings him the news of Israel's defeat and Saul and Jonathan's death. David asks how he knows this, and the man says Saul was leaning on his spear and that Saul asked him to kill him and that he did. (He hopes in saying this, he will be rewarded by David.) He shows David Saul's crown and bracelet. David tears his own clothes along with all his men, and they mourn and weep and fast until evening for Saul, Jonathan, and all Israel. Then, David asks the young man why he was not afraid to kill the Lord's anointed, and he has one of his men kill him. And David says, "Your blood is on your own head." And David speaks a lamentation over Saul and Jonathan called "The Song of the Bow" to teach all Judah. He says three times, "Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" He talks of how beloved Saul and Jonathan were. And in his lamentation, is clear how much he loved Saul and Jonathan. He says Jonathan's love "surpassed the love of women."
After this, David asks the Lord if he should go to the cities of Judah, and the Lord tells him to go to Hebron, so he goes with his wives and his men and their households, and they all dwell there. The men of Judah come and anoint David king over the house of Judah, and they tell him Jabesh Gilead buried Saul, so David sends messengers to them to bless them for this and says he will repay them for their kindness. So he encourages them and tells them to have courage and tells then he has been made king. However, Abner, commander of Saul's army, takes one of Saul's sons and makes him king over Israel. So he begins to reign over Israel, and he reigns two years. Only Judah follows David. And David is king in Hebron for about seven years. Abner and Saul's son's servants meet David's servants by the pool of Gibeah. And the men fight with swords and are killed, and the field is called "the field of sharp swords," and David's servants win. And one of David's men- whose feet are described as being like a gazelle- pursues Abner, but Abner kills him with a spear. His two brothers also pursue Abner. The tribe of Benjamin unites on a hill behind Abner, so Abner calls out and tells the people to stop "pursuing their brethren." So a trumpet is blown, and the people stand still and stop fighting. Then, Abner and his men cross over the Jordan, and the other men return from pursuing them. Only 19 men of David's servants are missing, but they have killed 360 of Abner's men. David's men go to Hebron.
There is a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, but David "[grows] stronger and stronger,} and {the house of Saul [grows] weaker and weaker." And Davis has sons, six total. One of them is named Absolom. During the war, Abner is strengthening his hold on Saul's household. Saul had had a concubine, and Saul's son asks why Abner took his father's concubine, and he becomes angry at this, basically saying it is his right since he is fighting against David. So, he vows that he will fight to transfer the kingdom to David. And Saul's son doesn't respond because he fears him. Then, Abner sends messengers to David to ask him to make a covenant with him and that he will help bring all Israel to you. David says he must first bring Michal to him, so he sends messengers to Saul's son asking for Michal. So she is taken from her husband, and he goes with her, weeping behind her, but Abner tells him to return. Abner tells the elders of Israel to make David king because the Lord has spoken it. Then, he and 20 men go to David at Hebron, and David holds a feast for them. Then, Abner says he will gather Israel to make a covenant with David, so David sends him away in peace. The servants of David come from a raid with much spoil, and Joab- one of the two brothers of the man Abner killed in war- is told about Abner, how David sent him away in peace. So Joab comes to David and says, "What have you done?" He says Abner has come to deceive him. Then, Joab sends messengers to bring Abner back without David's knowledge. When Abner comes to Hebron, Joab brings him to the gate to speak with him quietly, and then he stabs him with a sword and kills him for the blood of his brother. When David hears, he declares he is guiltless and that Abner's blood is on Joab and his father's house, and he basically places a curse on their household, cursing it with leprosy, cripple-ness, untimely death, and lack of bread. Then, David says to Joab and all the people to tear their clothes and gird themselves with sackcloth to mourn for Abner, and they bury him. And King David weeps and grieves with the people. And David sings a lament over him. David refuses to eat all that day, and the people are pleased, since everything he does please then (he has favor with all the people.) And it says that all Israel understands that day that it was not David's intent to kill Abner. The king says to his servants that a great man and a prince has fallen in Israel, and that he is weak, though anointed king. He says the men (referring to Joab and his brother) are too harsh for him and that the Lord will repay all evildoers according to their wickedness.
When Saul's son hears Abner has died, he loses heart, and all Israel is troubled. He has two captains of troops. It says that Jonathan had a son named Mephibosheth. He was five years old when the news of Saul and. Jonathan's deaths reached his house. When his nurse heard the news, she had fled with him and dropped him, and he became crippled. Some of David's men kill Saul's son while he is sleeping in his bed, and his head is brought to David. David tells the men how he killed the man who had brought him the news of Saul's death- how the man thought he would be rewarded- and he says how much more shall he doe to them. He is furious at them for killing a righteous person in his own house in his own bed, so he commands his young men to kill them, cutting off their hands and feet and hanging them, and then they bury Saul's son's head.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
David is close to God's heart, I believe, because he remained humble, and he always thought of the Lord and His heart.