Ecclesiastes 4

The Hebrew word is sakar. It can mean money, value, or reward. The point is that two people help each other. One person’s weakness can benefit from the strength of a partner. When one needs recovery time, the other can temporarily pick up the slack. Then, of course, in negotiations there’s the good cop, bad cop, though it might be hard to imagine Jesus encouraging that strategy. Instead, perhaps, good cop, good cop. Perhaps not much money in it, but you know Jesus. It’s not about the money.

There is no mention of names, but the storyline tracks a bit with King David’s rise to power. He started out as a shepherd in the little burg of Bethlehem—the least important shepherd in his family, by his father’s gauge. He rose to replace King Saul, who foolishly spent his resources trying to capture David instead of preparing for the coming war against the Philistines. Saul and most of his sons died in that fight with the Philistines. King David, as an old man, grew unpopular enough that his son Absalom was able to launch a coup that initially drove David out of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15). Absalom died in the fighting.