The second book of Samuel is mostly about the reign of King David. The book recounts what was the high point of the nation/kingdom of Israel. For the rest of the Biblical narrative, the people of Israel harken back the reign of King David as the time when they were the most blessed. David comes to be viewed as the personification of the nation in the same way that Moses is the personification of the law and Elijah is the personification of the prophets.
This week we have the first 12 chapters of the book.
We pick up with David mourning for Saul and for his friend Jonathan we quickly move on to David's anointing as King of Judah and his battle with Gibeon to hold on to his throne.
By chapter 6, David is King over all Israel and has made Jerusalem his capital and he brings the ark of the Covenant to reside in Jerusalem. He wants to build a temple for the ark - but God sends the prophet Nathan to tell him that he is not worthy to build the house of the Lord, but that his son will do that.
This highlights one of the points of the story of David - that while God makes great and powerful use of him, he is not perfect. One of the comforting threads that runs through Scripture is that we don't have to be perfect, or even very holy, for God to be able to use us.
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