Flies in the Ointment

Flies in the Ointment

September 14, 2025

In 2 Samuel 5 we see both the beginning of and an overview of King David’s glorious reign. The author of Samuel shows God’s blessing upon David. But, we also see signs of trouble. They are, as I titled this sermon, the Flies In the Ointment. 

The phrase “a fly in the ointment” or “flies in the ointment” come from David’s son Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. There Solomon says Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, And cause it to give off a foul odor; So does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.  (Ecclesiastes 1:10) The picture you have is something beautiful and wonderful like an ointment. In ancient days the ointment was not merely a skin moisturizer but also probably acted like a perfume. If you get some dead bugs in there that start to fester and rot and suddenly, no woman gets up in the morning and looks in that jar and says, “I want to rub that on my face!” 

But initially, if there were some flies that were underneath the top layers of the ointment, you might not notice them. It would probably seem to be fine. Or to switch the image, it’s apple season around here. You know the old adage, the only thing worse than biting into an apple and seeing a worm is biting into an apple and seeing half a worm. You can look at an apple and think it looks great and not notice that one spot where that pesky pest has burrowed in and corrupted it. 

Now, what we have going on in 2 Samuel 5 is in fact largely something beautiful. In fact, what we see in 2 Samuel is that from chapter 5 down to the end of chapter 10 is largely glorious. We are going to see a king who is ruling in Jerusalem and who does so with glory. David’s reign fulfills God’s promises. But, there are going to be some flies in the ointment that we are going to see that are going to putrefy the perfumer’s ointment. 

So, what we are going to do is to first observe the beauty and glory in this chapter. We are then going to look at the flies in the ointment. Then we will consider how this text fits into the themes of Scripture and when we are done, it will force us to ask of ourselves – “are there some flies in the ointment of my life that are going to lead to trouble?” 

5. The beauty and glory of 2 Samuel 5.

It is not hard to find the beauty and glory mentioned in this Scripture. We read in verse 1 that David was approached by the leaders of the tribes of Israel. Remember, that David had been king in the tribe of Judah for about 7 years. Ishbosheth, last surviving son of Saul, had been king in the northern tribes. He is now dead having been assassinated. The leaders in Northern Israel recognize that they need to come and make David their king as well. 

As they come, they give three reasons why they are going to make David their king. First, in verse 1, David was an Israelite. He was their bone and flesh. Second, in verse 2, David had been a good military leader under Saul. He led Israel out and brought them in. That is to say that his military conquests were successful. Third, in verse 2, the leaders of the northern tribes of Israel knew that God had promised to David – that You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel. Because of these three reasons they anoint David as King. They make a covenant together which would have laid out what each would do for each other. David is now king over all Israel. 

We get a summary of his reign in verses 4-5. He started his reign as king in Judah at age 30 and did not finish until he was 70. He had a 40-year reign. 

Now, at this point, it is worth noting that the chronology of 2 Samuel is not in perfect order. We know that for certain for a number of reasons and several of them are seen right in this text. Notice down in verse 9 that we have David building and expanding his capital in Jerusalem. Also, in verse 11, we have the building of his palace aided by the king of Tyre. In verse 13 we have David adding concubines and wives to his household and some of his sons are mentioned. These are all things that took a long time. Yet, in verse 17 we read this – Now when the Philistines heard that they had anointed David king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. That clearly happened before at least several of the references in the first half of 2 Samuel 5. 

The reason why I point this out is not to shake your confidence in the Bible. In fact, the author of 2 Samuel is making it very clear that he knows that he is arranging this historical material out of order. He is not hiding it. Rather, it is to alert us that there is a purposeful arrangement of this true material to help us as readers see some truths not just about David but also about God. 

So, back to verses 3-4, David had a glorious and long reign. That reign begins with challenges but also blessings. The challenge was that immediately, when the Philistines heard that David had been made king over all Israel, they wanted to strike David at a weak point. That is true even today. When there is a transition in government, it is a dangerous time in that an attack could prove difficult to deal with because you are in initial organization mode. That was the Philistines’ thinking. That is what we read of in verse 17. Notice at the end of verse 17 that it says, And David heard of it and went down to the stronghold. Well, the stronghold is Jerusalem before it was David’s capital. In fact in verse 7, Jerusalem is specifically called the stronghold. 

So, the timeline of events here is that David is made king over all Israel. Word gets to the Philistines and they set out to find where David is at. That is what verse 17 says. David moves from Hebron and goes to Jerusalem. He is going to conquer Jerusalem because it gives him two great advantages. First, it is a very difficult city to attack. Second, it moves him into the territory of Benjamin which would help the northern tribes recognize that David was serious in his commitment to them. It was a more central location in all of Israel. From this strong position in Jerusalem, David could go and defeat the Philistine attacks that happen at the end of 2 Samuel 5. 

That means that David is in a bit of a pinch here to take Jerusalem. So, he goes to the city and it is settled by people known as the Jebusites in verse 6. They see David’s men coming and they say – “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.” That is like the people who built the Titanic who said that the ship could not be sunk. There is no way they were going to get into this defensive position. 

Actually, the Jebusites’ thinking was not far-fetched. If you know your Bible history, you may recall that about 400 years earlier, Joshua led the people into Israel to conquer the promised land. The people were to take hold of the promised land and were to drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan. That was supposed to take some time. But they didn’t do it at all. God had specifically said in Deuteronomy 7:1-2 and in Deuteronomy 20:16-17 that the people of Israel were not only to drive them out of the land but were to utterly destroy them. But, the early Israelites didn’t do it. Joshua 15:63 records that they were unable to drive them out. Specifically, one of the peoples that they did not drive out were the Jebusites. Judges 1:21 also confirms this. So, for 400 years they were sitting in Jerusalem and people had just quit trying to get to them! So, they can jeer and say, “look, blind people can defend this city! You are not getting in here David.” 

David is not only going to make a wise military and political move here, David is also going to claim the promises of God. God had promised that his angel would go before the people of Israel in fulfillment of God’s promise to drive out the inhabitants. David is claiming that. So, David says to his men in verse 8 – Whoever climbs up by the way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites…he shall be chief and captain. The reference to the lame and blind who are hated by David’s soul is probably a sarcastic response to the Jebusites. It’s like, “you say a blind person can defend the city, well, you blind and lame people will be beaten.” This is not David throwing shade on handicapped people. We know that because later David will welcome Jonathan’s son Mephibosheth, who was lame, into his house. 

Well the water shaft is what they used. They climbed through it to get into the city. We cannot be certain, but there have been excavations that have been done in Jerusalem and there is a water tunnel that is connected to what is known as Warren’s shaft that may have the way they got into the city. They snuck into the city and took it from the inside out. 

David made Jerusalem his capital city and this city was a special place. This city is referenced in the Bible all the way back to the time of Abraham when Melchizedek, priest of the most high God and king of Salem – later ‘Jeru salem’ – blessed Abraham. This city was a special place that God intended for his worship and honor and glory. David conquers it around 1000 b.c., but Abraham stretches back closer to around 1700 b.c. This makes this city at least three thousand seven hundred years old. God still has intentions for that city to be the centerpiece of his worship in the future when the Messiah comes to reign. 

David, over time, builds in that city. That is what is emphasized in verses 9-12. First, David expanded the city in verse 9. Verse 10 talks about how David became great in this city. Verse 11 speaks of a later time when Hiram, the king of Tyre, allied with David and helped him build a palace. He sent cedar to help with its construction. Cedar was a very expensive wood at that time and it was a common export for Tyre. We have found Assyrian reliefs that depict this as well as they would later export cedars to Nineveh for special construction projects there. Tyre was a trading powerhouse. David was engaged with rich and mutual trade between these two nations. The building of David’s house – his palace – probably occurred about 13 years after his reign began over all Israel. David looks at this we read this summary statement in 2 Samuel 5:12 – So David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel, and that He had exalted His kingdom for the sake of His people Israel. 

He knew that because the elders made him king, and because of his military conquests, and he knew that because he was experiencing the blessing of kings from afar. 

Now, when we get down to verse 17, we are going to see more evidences that God had established him as king. The first is that David had immediate and early successes against the Philistines. There are two different conflicts that are mentioned. The first is in verses 17-21. There David defeats the Philistines. But notice how much the text emphasizes that God was the real victor. David, in verse 19, inquires of the Lord. God told David to go and God granted the victory. 

David in verse 20, after defeating them, says, The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like a breakthrough of water. He utterly crushes them and even takes their false gods away. According to 1 Chronicles 14:12, David did not toy with those false gods but burned them to ashes. 

Well, the Philistines were not happy with their first drubbing, so they decided to embark on a second attack. Again, in verse 23, David inquired of the LORD! God delivered specific battle plans that involved hiding in trees so they could defeat the Philistines. David and his army do exactly what God had said, and they drive back the Philistines. God blessed David immensely. In fact, both the overview of David’s reign in this chapter and the beginnings of it that are mentioned in this chapter here demonstrate a beautiful reign of God as he promised through his servant David. 

But that is not all that is happening. This leads us to the second part of our lesson, the flies in the ointment. 

1. The flies in the ointment. 

If you look at 2 Samuel 5, it is structured carefully. The first 16 verses are largely an overview of David’s reign. Beginning in verse 17, there are sequential events that are given that show the beginning of David’s reign. But at the end of the overview section, something is mentioned here that would have been very noticeable for the original readers and it is pretty noticeable for us too. Look at verses 13-15. And David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, after he had come from Hebron. Also more sons and daughters were born to David. 14 Now these are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, 15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, 16 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. 

Right here are the flies in the ointment. The problem is not the children that are mentioned but how they came about. The first thing I want you to note is the beginning of verse 13 – And David took more concubines and wives. You will notice there that it is kind of weird that the order is concubines and wives and not wives and concubines. If you look all through the Old Testament, those terms are never mentioned in that order. I do not think this was by accident and most Bible commentators agree. It is kind of jarring when you see it. The author was pointing out that this was a problem for David. A concubine was sort of like a wife. She would be used for increasing strength in the number of sons in a palace or in a wealthy person’s household. If you go back into 1 Samuel and into the beginning of 2 Samuel, there is a growing harem that David has. This is going to bring about serious problems for the reign of King David. 

He starts by marrying Michal, but after she is taken away by Saul he marries another woman – Ahinoam. Then he marries Abigail, the wife of the deceased fool Nabal. This might be justified in that she could be married as a redeemed or levirate marriage. But that is really questionable. Then after he is enthroned as king in Judah he marries the daughter of a foreign king. After this, in 2 Samuel 3:4, three other women are mentioned and only one of them is identified as his wife. The other two may have been additional wives but they may also have been concubines. 

Here in chapter 5 he takes more concubines and wives. This action was not only against God’s original design for marriage to be between one man and one woman.  David is also going against what God commanded for kings in Israel. Hold your place here in 2 Samuel and turn back to Deuteronomy 17. Beginning in verse 14, Moses instructs the people of Israel in what they should look for in a king. He also explains what a king should do when the time came that they should have a king. David is now the second king in Israel. This king could not be a foreigner. We read this in verses 16-17 – But he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, “You shall not return that way again. (17) Neither shall he multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away. 

 

The text of scripture specifically says to people like David “Don’t do this.” 

Now, you might argue, “well the 2 Samuel 5 doesn’t say that David was sinning when he took those wives.” Actually, the way Samuel is structured, it is pointing this out in an obvious way. The concubines and wives statement is designed to show that this was a violation of Deuteronomy. 

Even more than that, notice where David got those wives from. It says in 2 Samuel 5:13 that they were from Jerusalem. Today, we might think, “that is good! This is the city of God.” But that would be wrong because this seems to indicate that David took wives from about the Jebusites that he had just conquered. That is who possessed Jerusalem. Here is the trouble with this. The Jebusites were people condemned by God. 

If you are still in Deuteronomy, Go to Deuteronomy 20:16-18. I made mention of this earlier, but it is worth looking at this here. Moses told the people what God’s expectation of them was when they came into the promised land: But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, (17) but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, (18) lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God. It appears that while David did finally after 400 years conquer the last of the Jebusites, he didn’t do what God had said. A careful reader of Samuel would have seen this. 

There is another clue given by the author of Samuel that shows the coming trouble that will be in David’s life. In 2 Samuel 5:14 we have the names of some of the sons that were born to David in Jerusalem. We know that this list was not an exhaustive list as 2 Chronicles 3 shows that there were more. That means that the author of Samuel is giving us a selected list and it seems he did so for a purpose. That purpose is probably seen in the first four that were listed – Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon. Most of us know the name Solomon as he is the king who reigns after David. But what most of us don’t see is that these first four sons listed are all sons of Bathsheba. She was the woman that David took, as we will see later in 2 Samuel and committed adultery with. For the first readers, this would have leapt off the page. 

So we have a number of flies in the ointment here. The order of the phrase “concubines and wives,” the violation of the command for kings to not possess multiple wives, where David got these wives, and then a reference to the illicit relationship David had with Bathsheba, and David’s incomplete action in defeating the Jebusites. 

These things are the seeds that will sprout and cause David the greatest grief in his reign. Among his children there will be jealousy and rivalries that will result in all sorts of sins. Of course his sin with Bathsheba brings all sorts of tragic results. David’s reign was glorious but it was not perfect. The flies are going to putrefy the perfumer’s ointment as Solomon would later say. 

III. How this text fits into the themes of Scripture. 

Now, it is obvious that this passage of Scripture fits well into the transition from First Samuel to Second Samuel. In these books, David is pictured as a greater king than Saul – and he was a greater king. We will see later that the chief differences between Saul and David are two. First, David consistently sought the Lord for his guidance throughout his life while Saul did not. Second, while both Saul and David sinned, David repented before the Lord while Saul hardened his heart. So, this passage shows in miniature the flow of First and Second Samuel. 

But this text does something more too. It fits into the broader theme of Scripture of the Messiah or the Christ. I am going to do for a moment a bit of what we call “Biblical Theology.” Biblical Theology is where we trace a theme through scripture. I am going to do this very briefly though as we work through 2 Samuel we will see more of this. The theme that I want to trace for you is the Messiah. 

Now, as we think about the idea of the Messiah, we think about things after the birth of Jesus the Christ, the death of Jesus the Christ and the assertion of him and of his promise of coming again. Further, we look at all the prophets and their glorious claims about what he will do for Israel, his people and for the world. 

But we need to remember that when David was living and even when 1 and 2 Samuel were written, they did not have all the prophets like we do. There was no Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel or any of the 12 minor prophets. 

In the Old Testament, the Messiah or the Christ was talked about by using the term “anointed” or “anointed one.” In the Bible those terms were used only for things like a place or for the priests and their ministry early in the Bible. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua and Judges all use the term that way. 

We don’t get the term anointed or anointed one applied to a king until the book of 1 Samuel. In fact, in Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2, we have the concept of the anointed one applied to a king for the first time. 1 and 2 Samuel are the beginnings of the idea of the Messiah or the Christ in a very real sense. The prophet Samuel who was born in a supernatural way himself is the one who anointed the first kings. There is this real hope that the anointed one will bring the righteousness and justice and peace and prosperity that the covenant promises of God to Israel. 

The first anointed one, proves to not be that guy. Saul was mostly a failure. The second king, David, was far superior. He demonstrates in his life a beautiful sense of justice and wisdom and strength as he ruled in the fear of God. In fact, every single king from here on forward in the Bible over Israel is always compared against David. So, when you read in Kings or Chronicles they will say things like “he walked in the way of David” or “he walked not in the way of David.” All the kings from here on are compared to David. David proved to be a far greater king. 

But hear this carefully. As the theme of the Messiah is growing and developing in the Old Testament, what becomes clear is that we need a greater king than David. David was great but they needed a greater king. David was great but he was not a perfect king. The people of Israel and the prophets began to look for a better king. That idea is actually sewn into the very first chapter that we see David as the anointed one. He is AN Anointed One, but he is not THE Anointed One.   

1. Flies in the ointment. 

I’ve given you a lot of history and a lot of theology and not a lot of stories and not a lot of human interest. What does this all mean for our lives? First of all, the text reminds us that we need the greater king ourselves. King David was like all of us. He was an imperfect man. As Christians, when we use a word like “imperfect,” we mean that we lack the ability to know everything so as to make perfect decisions. But we also mean that he was imperfect as we are imperfect in the second sense. We are sinners. It is not just that we make mistakes or sometimes don’t have all the right information to make the best informed decisions. It means that we rebel against God and do what he tells us not to do or we don’t do what he tells us to do.

The New Testament sums it up this way: For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23) King David was just like us. The people of Bible times recognized that they needed a perfect king, and so do we. We all have fallen short of God’s glory. We are thankful that God justifies the ungodly – he declares them righteous – through faith in God’s promise to rescue us from our sins. That rescue was provided in the Messiah that has come. David and his descendants looked forward to that King. We have seen him appear already once. If you do not know Christ Jesus as your savior, repent of your sins today and find mercy in him.  

This week we witnessed the assignation of Charlie Kirk. Kirk was, by all accounts, a great man. In his short 31 years he did more than what we would do in a lifetime or even several lifetimes. By all accounts, he was also a Christian. He is worthy of our respect and worthy of mourning. However, Kirk himself is not our Savior. A great example, yes. But a Savior? No. A great spokesman for many truths but he was not the way, the truth, and the life. He was a great husband and head of his home but he is not the head of the church. He never claimed to be. He would want people to look to Jesus, who is the Savior, who is the way, the truth, and the life, and who is the head of the church. No doubt, Kirk was a great man but he had flaws and he himself openly has admitted that he was a sinner. 

In this story of King David, we are reminded that we need the Messiah and not just a Messiah. No pastor, no activist, no politician, no friend, and no relative could ever replace our Jesus – Lord, Savior and Christ. So, this text points us to Jesus. David was a great king but he was not THE King. 

But this text also causes us to have a hard look into the mirror of our own lives. Because, we are reminded that no matter how great of achievements or spiritual mountains we may climb, there is the danger of a little fly or two in the ointment of our lives. If they are not dealt with, they can fester or grow and cause a great loss. 

I want to tell you about a friend of mine. You have never met him. Not a single person, outside of my wife, knows who this individual is. But he is a longtime friend. When I knew him as a young man, I valued him for many reasons. He was and is a good friend. But there were some problems in his life that began to develop. He was dating a lovely girl and they began to be serious. But he didn’t treat her well. He was kind of crude and crass. He began to more and more in his life say things that were not dirty but not good either. Something was not right. He was confronted about these things but he was not responsive to them. 

Then, unbeknownst to people, he started to dabble in pornography. Then he started to spend time with a girl at work who was not a Christian. That began to include time away with her outside of work. One thing led to another and soon he was in bed with her. Through all of that, he damaged his soul, hurt deeply that lovely Christian girl he was dating, and wrecked his testimony in his city for Christ. Now, I am thankful that today he is married and is serving the Lord in his local church and in his community and at his workplace. I am so thankful that these issues didn’t define his whole life. But, there were flies there that began to rot and putrefy and caused great damage. 

Friends, we ought to be careful about little sins that turn into greater sins. That can happen as a young person or an old person or a middle aged person. The New Testament warns us in Hebrews to lay aside the sins that so easily beset us. The imagery is about running a race with weights upon you that slow you down and cause you to potentially lose the race. Lay those weights aside. Instead, the author of Hebrews tells us to look to Jesus. 

I am thankful that David’s sin didn’t define his whole life. The primary difference, as we will see, between David and Saul was that David repented of his sins whereas Saul didn’t. But the hurt that was caused was still great. 

So, as we look into the mirror of our hearts, let us look to Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith. Let us look away and put away the sins that are like flies in the ointment of our lives. So, what we are going to do is to first observe the beauty and glory in this chapter. Then we are going to look at the flies in the ointment. Then we will consider how this text fits into the themes of Scripture and when we are done, it will force us to ask of ourselves – “are there some flies in the ointment of my life that are going to lead to trouble?”