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2nd
Samuel 10:1-19 “And
it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon died, and
Hanun his son reigned in his stead. 2
Then said David, I will shew kindness
unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness unto me. And David sent to comfort him by the hand of
his servants for his father. And David’s
servants came into the land of the children of Ammon. 3
And the princes of the children of Ammon
said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father,
that he hath sent comforters unto thee?
hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the
city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it? 4
Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants,
and shaved off the one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the
middle, even to their buttocks, and sent them away. 5
When they told it unto David, he
sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed: and the king said, Tarry at Jericho until
your beards be grown, and then return. 6
And when the children of Ammon saw that
they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of
Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king
Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men. 7
And when David heard of it, he
sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men. 8
And the children of Ammon came out, and
put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and Ishtob,
and Maacah, were by themselves in the field. 9
When Joab saw that the front of the
battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men
of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians: 10
and the rest of the people he delivered
into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them in array
against the children of Ammon. 11 And
he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help me: but if
the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help thee. 12
Be of good courage, and let us play the
men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD
do that which seemeth him good. 13
And Joab drew nigh, and the people were
with him, unto the battle against the Syrians:
and they fled before him. 14
And when the children of Ammon saw that
the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the
city. So Joab returned from the children
of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem. 15
And when the Syrians saw that they were
smitten before Israel, they gathered themselves together. 16
And Hadarezer sent, and brought out the
Syrians that were beyond the river:
and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the host of Hadarezer
went before them. 17 And
when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed over
Jordan, and came to Helam. And the
Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him. 18
And the Syrians fled before Israel; and
David slew the men of seven hundred chariots of the Syrians, and forty
thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the captain of their host, who died there.
19 And
when all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer saw that they were
smitten before Israel, they made peace with Israel, and served them. So the Syrians feared to help the children of
Ammon any more.” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED670] “Chapter
10 is as far as we’ve come in 2nd Samuel. Chapter 8 described a number of victories
that David was having militarily…David’s having a number of victories,
militarily. And we were given this
pause, this intermission, to look at his gracious treatment of Mephibosheth,
and to look at the lessons. And then
chapter 10 again picks up with some military encounters, some of these not
wanted but drawn into. And there are
things in all of our lives that I know sometimes we don’t want that we get
drawn into, and I think there are lessons there. I think all of us, week by week, we’re drawn
into something that we don’t want to be involved in. Through
A Diplomatic Insult David Gets Drawn Into A Battle With The Ammonites &
Syrians Don’t
Surround Yourself With Critical, Suspicious People, But With Gracious,
Spiritual People It
says “And it came to pass after this, that the king of the children of Ammon
died, and Hanun his son reigned in his stead.
Then said David, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as
his father shewed kindness unto me. And
David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David’s servants came into the land of
the children of Ammon.” (verses 1-2) Evidently
Nahash the title of the king of the Ammonites, Jordan today [Jordan is made up
of the Moabites and Ammonites, descendents of Moab and Ben-Ammi, the sons of
Lot by Lot’s daughters]. “I will shew
kindness” now David had said that back in chapter 9, verse 1, ‘Are
there any of the line of Saul that are still alive, that I might show kindness
to them.’ David hears that
Nahash the king of Ammon died. Somehow,
David has some type of a friendly relationship with this king, no doubt,
probably forged when he was driven out of Israel by Saul, David then forging
some alliances with foreign kings and other nobilities, and at this point in
time he decides he’s going to show kindness, his motives are good, his motives
are right, a measure of kindness to the son of this king that has died. “Then said David, I will shew kindness
unto Hanun the son of Nahash, as his father shewed kindness unto me.” I
have a question mark in my Bible, because we’re not specifically told anywhere
where Nahash had shown kindness to David.
Again, we’re going to assume that probably took place when David was
fleeing. This man had been kind to him,
David is not the kind of man that would forget that, he wants to reciprocate
now and show kindness to his son. “And
David sent to comfort him by the hand of his servants for his father. And David’s servants came into the land of
the children of Ammon.” we’ll hear of them, “his servants,” four times in
three verses. David being diplomatic,
he’s being wise, no doubt the stature of these men is to be noted, they were
ambassadors. David now has great
standing armies, he has Special Forces, he has a cabinet in place, and no doubt
the men he sends there are close to him.
They’re men of stature, no doubt they go with royal dress to Hanun, now
that his father has died, the new king of Ammon. “And the princes of the children of Ammon
said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father,
that he hath sent comforters unto thee?
hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the
city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?
Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off the one half of
their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, even to their
buttocks, and sent them away.” (verses 3-4)
Look at this, here are these counselors and they’re wrong, they’re
wrong. How many wars have been started
by critical, suspicious individuals who made judgments before they had the
information? I would encourage you to
surround yourself with gracious people, spiritual people. Don’t surround yourself, if you’re surrounded
with critical, suspicious people that are always dragging you into something
you don’t want to be drug into, you know people like that, so do I, and then
sometimes you end up committed to something, or you open your mouth and say
something, only to find out it wasn’t that way at all. Don’t surround yourself with critical,
suspicious people. Now look, by the way,
in this day and age, they didn’t have television, they didn’t have periodicals,
they didn’t have radio. You see, we’re
in more trouble, because we can surround ourselves with suspicious and critical
counselors on the airwaves all day, on the television, in periodicals and
articles and magazines. And let me tell
you the truth, sometimes when something’s
going on somewhere, and maybe it’s bugging me a little bit, and I can turn and
listen to the people and all they are is critical all the time, and almost
rejoice in that, instead of praying for people in authority, praying for our
government, praying for our leaders, having the heart that the Lord asks us to
have in his Word. So we’re in double
indemnity here. We can surround
ourselves with human beings that don’t stop, you know what it’s like with
somebody that’s critical, you can’t enjoy anything. ‘Oh man, it’s a beautiful day,’ ‘Look out, you’re going to get
sunburned.’ ‘Maybe we should go
inside,’ ‘Now you have to look out for
toxins in the air, inside of corporate buildings,’ sometimes you’re around
people you can’t enjoy anything around them, and they’re suspicious, ‘You
see the way that guy looked at you?’ Don’t surround yourselves with those kind of
people, because we get in personal wars sometimes. Have gracious people around you, have
spiritual people around you, and look out for the stuff that you constantly let
bombard your mind and your heart. We’re
going to find it’s important, as we go along here. Hanun listens to ze-knuckleheads, “Wherefore
Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved off the one half of their beards, and
cut off their garments in the middle, even to their buttocks,” God
gives us the details, “and sent them away.” (verse 4) Listen, in that culture, only slaves,
servants were shaved. I don’t mind that,
because I am one, I’m his servant. But
free men, in that culture, wore beards, and the beards were a sign of honour,
of their masculinity. Sometimes they
even made oaths by their beard, they swore by their beard. Imagine that.
I don’t think any of them swore by their head, you could go bald, then
you’d be in trouble. But you don’t lose
your beard. It was a sign of honour,
only slaves were shaven. So he takes
these men, to insult them, and he shaves off half their beards, and he cuts off
their robes, and they were royal garments, to their waists, so that they’re
exposed, and sends them off in mockery, humiliating them, and basically
spitting in the face of David, mocking him.
And it’s a declaration of war. “When
they told it unto David, he sent to meet them, because the men were
greatly ashamed: and the king said,
Tarry at Jericho until your beards be grown, and then return.” (verse 5)
it was easier for them to get clothes, but he said ‘Stay down in Jericho
till your beards are grown in again, so then you can even them up,’ David
having no desire to humiliate them, and David refusing to look into the insult
that was hurled at him, ‘Stay there, when your beard is grown in, then
return.’ “And when the children of Ammon saw that they
stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of
Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king
Maacah a thousand men, and of Ishtob twelve thousand men.” (verse 6) I love
the King James, they were stanky and knew it.
It gives us several centers in Syria.
They hire 33,000 men when they realize that they have insulted David and
there’s about to be a problem, 33,000. “And
when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty
men. And the children of Ammon came out,
and put the battle in array at the entering in of the gate: and the Syrians of Zoba, and of Rehob, and
Ishtob, and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.” (verses 7-8) So Joab realizes that he’s flanked on
either side, kind of in a pincer move, and he comes into the battle and
realizes he has the Ammonites on one side and the Syrians on the other
side. “When Joab saw that the front
of the battle was against him before and behind, he chose of all the choice men
of Israel, and put them in array against the Syrians:” (verse 9) because
the Syrians were the more notable force, “and the rest of the people he
delivered into the hand of Abishai his brother, that he might put them
in array against the children of Ammon.
And he said, If the Syrians be too strong for me, then thou shalt help
me: but if the children of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and
help thee.” (verses 10-11) And this
is great, verse 12, to hear the spiritual things coming from Joab, we’re glad
whenever we hear something spiritual from Joab.
“Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for
the cities of our God: and the LORD
do that which seemeth him good.” (verse 12) Whatever seems good to God, let it fall
out. Because Joab, they’re not going to
set up a defensive position, they all know they’re in a pincer move here, not
Joab, he said ‘You go at those guys, I’ll go at these guys, we’re gonna
attack!’ That’s just Joab, he’s
got to attack, that’s who he’s always got to be for the rest of his life, God
made him when he was born, he was a little baby in diapers, and he had a sword
and shield, and he was playing with it, just God made the man that way. You know people like that. So he says ““Be of good courage, and let
us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD
do that which seemeth him good. And Joab
drew nigh, and the people were with him, unto the battle against the
Syrians: and they fled before him. And when the children of Ammon saw that the
Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and entered into the
city. So Joab returned from the children
of Ammon, and came to Jerusalem.” (verses 12-14) So as Joab
attacks, no doubt it becomes evident very quickly that with David’s mighty men,
these guys are seasoned warriors, and they’re just smacking down the
Syrians. And David had defeated some of
the Syrians in the past, so right away they’re spooked and they just take off,
they start to run. And the children of
Ammon, when they see the 33,000 soldiers they had hired, and it tells us in 1st
Chronicles, they paid 1,000 talents of silver to hire them for the battle, they
see their silver and their soldiers headed for the hills, they turn around and
hightail it back into Rabah, into the city, and shut the gate where they can
hold up. “And when the children of
Ammon saw that the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abishai, and
entered into the city.” of Rabah, we’re going to find out “So Joab returned from the children of Ammon,
and came to Jerusalem.” (verse 14) As
If The Syrians Hadn’t Had Enough Of Joab & Abishai, They Come Back For More “And
when the Syrians saw that they were smitten before Israel, they gathered
themselves together. And Hadarezer sent,
and brought out the Syrians that were beyond the river:” Euphrates,
much further north, “and they came to Helam; and Shobach the captain of the
host of Hadarezer went before them.
And when it was told David, he gathered all Israel together, and passed
over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the
Syrians set themselves in array against David, and fought with him.” (verses
15-17) Now David had sent Joab and
the armies out before. Joab returns
without complete victory, because we’re going to find out it’s the fall of the
year, and the children of Ammon have retreated into Rabah, where they would normally
set up a perimeter, and they would starve them out, cut off their water and so
forth, set up a siege, but in the culture, because winter was muddy and cold
and wet, they took a time-out. It was a
cultural thing, ‘’Ah, it’s too cold to fight now, see you guys in the
spring.’ Everybody accepted it. So when it was told David that it was not a
complete victory, he hears that the Ammonites are hold up in the city of Rabah,
he hears that the Syrians are regathering, then David realizes ‘I need to
get involved here in the battle myself, I need to step into this.’ “And when it was told David, he gathered
all Israel together, and passed over Jordan, and came to Helam. And the Syrians set themselves in array
against David, and fought with him. And
the Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred
chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the
captain of their host, who died there.” (verses 17-18) “And the Syrians fled before Israel;” now
listen, we kind of read that, and let it go by rather quickly. This no doubt is the most severe of all of
David’s campaigns, and this is the greatest military victory that he has. And it just kind of gives it to us in a
verse. Realize the scene on the
battlefield, when you get some of the statistics here, it says “And the
Syrians fled before Israel; and David slew the men of seven hundred
chariots of the Syrians, and forty thousand horsemen, and smote Shobach the
captain of their host, who died there.” So he captured 700 chariots and
slew the men in them, that was probably drivers and archers, there was more
than one in each chariot, he’s killed at least 1,400 men in regards to taking
the chariots, and 40,000 horsemen, it says, and he smote Shobach the general,
the captain of their host who died there.
So David in this battle, there’s over 41,000 soldiers that are
slaughtered on the battlefield. Don’t
take that for granted, just imagine again, this is with swords and shields,
this is not with Apache helicopters and long-range missiles. A long range missile then was a bow and
arrow. So this is a remarkable battle, a
remarkable victory, and one of the things that David should have realized by
now, is that he had sent Joab out to battle.
All of the battles David had been in, it says God preserved him, God
never let him face defeat. Everywhere
David went God was with him, and the armies of Israel had great victory, and
their king was on the frontline of battle with them, where our King is. And he was to be a reflection of his greater
Son, the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He should have been in battle. So
he goes out, God gives him this object lesson now, Joab returns, there’s still
trouble, they haven’t had complete victory, the Syrians are reconverging with
more troops. So David realizes he needs
to go out, he gets in the front of the battle, he goes out with the troops, and
this is the greatest victory of his career to date over these forces. “And when all the kings that were
servants to Hadarezer saw that they were smitten before Israel, they made peace
with Israel, and served them. So the
Syrians feared to help the children of Ammon any more.” (verse 19) they never came, they never allied themselves
as Israel’s enemies again after this, and David now has subdued all the
territory from the River of Egypt, which is not the Nile, in the southern part
of Israel, all the way to the Euphrates, all the way to the western fronts of
Jordan, parts of Iraq, he’s expanded the territory about to over 65,000 square
miles. He’s the greatest king that
Israel’s seen to date, he has the greatest victories militarily, and it’s all
setting the stage for chapter 11. 2nd
Samuel 11:1-5 “And
it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to
battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel;
and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. 2
And it came to pass in an eveningtide,
that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s
house: and from the roof he saw a woman
washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. 3
And David sent and enquired after the
woman. And one said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of
Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? 4
And David sent messengers, and took her;
and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was purified from her
uncleanness: and she returned unto her
house. 5 And
the woman conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with
child.” Introduction: God’s Warning In Scripture To Us “As
we come to chapter 11, we come to the lesson of David and Bathsheba. Listen, this chapter is one of the evidences
of Divine origin. No human chronicler
would ever have included the moral failure, the adultery and murder committed
by their king. It would never had made
it into the annals of a monarch with this much power. Just the fact that this failure of David is
placed in front of us is one of the evidences of the inspiration of Scripture,
because God doesn’t cover the sins of his people. Listen, then or now. Now that is the lesson for us. As we come to this situation of David and
Bathsheba, it’s sobering, because it’s contemporary. It’s sobering because it’s contemporary. We are surrounded with a culture, with a
media that glorifies sexual sin, adultery, and parades it in front of us
without consequences. And the truth is,
there are consequences. It is because of
this sin, Bathsheba conceives with an illegal child who then dies, her husband
Uriah is murdered by David, the respect of his family is removed from him. His daughter is raped, his son Amnon is
murdered, Absolom leads a rebellion and drives David out of the kingdom,
defiles all of his wives. David’s
actions here have repercussions that go on and go on and go on and go on. Did David repent? Yes David repented. Was that accepted of God? Miraculously that was accepted of God. Because David, in Psalm 51, we’re going to
hear the cry of a fallen king. He’s
going to say at the end of the Psalm ‘Sacrifice and offering thou hast
not desired.’ In other words, in
the Law there was no sacrifice or offering for adultery or murder. If you committed adultery you were put to
death, there was no sacrifice. There
were sin offerings for other sins, there was no sacrifice for murder, there was
no offering for adultery. If you
committed those things you were put to death.
And David would say ‘Sacrifice and offering thou hast not desired,
but a broken and contrite spirit thou wilt not despise.’ And he realizes God’s grace. David becomes a much deeper man before his
God. David writes some of the Psalms
that have ministered to generations of God’s people in his brokenness and his
failure. But David was never the king
that he was before, he was never the husband that he was before, he was never
the father that he had been before, David loses a tremendous amount of vitality
and authority in his life. And for us to
say there are not consequences is to be deluded. We’re in a culture that wants to tell us
that. The culture is going to show us on
television all the time, all of these sexual things, all of these pleasurable
things, they are not going to show you the consequences. They’re not going to have the next week in
the episode, it’s not going to show you the wife or the husband that’s weeping,
it’s not going to show you the lives of the children that are driven, you’re
not going to see the alcoholism or the drug addiction or suicide that’s
sometimes attached to those things. The
truth is, this is current, and it’s very sobering. And God puts it in as a warning to us. In the Old Testament, we have Joseph, who faces
under much greater temptation in some ways, the same circumstance, and he runs
away from it. He flees. And there God shows us how to do it. David here, shows us how not to do it, the
way not to do it. And sometimes we don’t
like, look, listen, once in a while around here in the building we have these
fire drills. And you don’t mind that if
your kids are here, because you want to make sure if a fire starts we get ‘em
out of the building. I hate fire
drills. First of all, the sound, aaa!
aaa! aaa! aaa! hurts your ears you know, and you know there’s not a fire, just
a fire drill, but I hate it. I just
don’t like to listen to it. But if
somebody said to you ‘I hate that warning, I hate that warning, why is that
warning there,’ and you say ‘Because if you don’t listen to that
warning, you’re gonna burn.’ We say,
‘alright, ok.’ Let me tell you
something, this is what this chapter’s saying, AAA! AAA! AAA! AAA! and if you don’t listen
you’re gonna burn. I’m not saying you’re
going to hell, I’m saying you don’t play with fire without getting burnt. There are consequences. And we raise children, and we warn them,
because we love them, because we love them.
I don’t want my kids to do what I did before I was saved, and live the
way I lived. I don’t want them to
encounter the things that I encountered or indulge their lives in the things
that I indulged myself in, because I love them, because I love them. And God puts this record in front of us
because he loves us. He’s not trying us,
he’s not trying to hold out on something.
God designed sexual intimacy, God designed every nerve ending, every
part of the human experience of pleasure that’s to be in marriage that’s
there. He is the wise Master-Builder. He knows exactly what he’s doing. But it’s to be contained, it’s to be within a
certain parameter, and there is where it is to be experienced and enjoyed. God didn’t make it to tease us and frustrate
us. It’s to be mortified until we’re
married, then it’s to be enjoyed. But
to indulge in things that God has said ‘Don’t do that, push it aside,’ and live
our lives like we don’t believe there’s a Kingdom coming is to deceive
ourselves. His Kingdom is
coming, and he is the King, he’s the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, and
he saved us, and he’s washed us in the blood of his Son [his own blood, because
Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords] and to live our lives like we don’t
believe that Kingdom is coming is to be deluded. It’s coming, and he cares for us, and he
cares for our eternal condition, not just for the pain and ramifications of
things that we do that are stupid in this life, that he would spare us of
because we’re his children because he loves us, but because there are eternal
consequences in regards to our rewards, in regards to how we live. We should live our lives now like we believe
Jesus is coming. [And Jesus will come,
but not until 9/10ths of World War III has taken place, and you don’t want to
have to go through that coming world war, which Bible prophecy shows is coming
real soon (see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm).]
Like we’re going to stand with him on that Sea of Glass in glory, and that he’s
going to reward us for our service, and that our enjoyment of eternity, and our
enjoyment of the resurrection is relative to our service for him now. Wherever you are, in school, in a retirement
home, whatever you’re doing, you should be giving part of your life away to
some degree or another, for the things of the Kingdom. And when this kind of thing comes up, listen,
this is David. ok? This is not Samson, this is David, this is
the giant-killer, this is David who wrote beautiful psalms before a lion and a
bear, this is David who defeated God’s enemies, this is David who wanted to
bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem so God’s presence would be there,
this is David who wanted to show kindness to Mephibosheth, and to the son of
Nahash. This is David who loves God, who
blows it. This is not some wimp, so
there’s warning in that for us. And
look, there are some very practical things about it, too. There are no secrets here as we begin to look
at it. So, the lessons are laying on the
surface, they’re there for our benefit, and God wants us to take hold of those
things. David
Was In The Wrong Place At The Wrong Time David
Saw & He Sent It
says, “And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when
kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with
him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged
Rabbah. But David tarried still at
Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an
eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the
king’s house: and from the roof he saw a
woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look
upon.” King James says “washing
herself” the Hebrew words say “she was bathing herself.” “And David sent and
enquired after the woman. And one
said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah
the Hittite? And David sent messengers,
and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for she was
purified from her uncleanness: and she
returned unto her house. And the woman
conceived, and sent and told David, and said, I am with child.” (verses
1-5) “I’m pregnant, Baby, I am with
child.” David saw, he sent, he took, he
lay. Those facts are laid right on the
surface, there’s not a lot of extra detail, it’s very clear. And the only words we have from Bathsheba
through this whole scene is “I’m pregnant.” First
of all, David was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And most of us know when we’re at the wrong
place, it’s not a mystery. You’re
standing in front of a magazine rack and you’re tempted with that guy, you
shouldn’t be there. It’s no
mystery. If you’re sitting in front of
your computer and you’re looking at pornography, you’re in the wrong place at
the wrong time. If you’re in someone
else’s house, or you’re with someone alone, you’re in a wrong situation, wrong
place and wrong time, God made David a warrior, it was the time of the year
when kings go forth to battle, he had just learned the important lesson that
victory came when he was with the troops, and instead David stayed back at the
time of the year when kings go forth to battle. And David stays in Jerusalem. Listen, David would have been way safer in
that battle than the battle he found himself in. The warfare on the battlefield was the
warfare he was used to, and he would have stood up under it, it was way
different from the warfare that he had back there in Jerusalem. Guys, David is over 50 years old when this
happens. My point is, this is a battle
that goes on for a long time. This is a
battle that goes on for a long time. I
heard Alistair Begg say “If David was having a midlife crisis, he should
have got a Harley [laughter].” He’d
have been way safer on a Harley, driving around somewhere in Jerusalem. Of course he says it with a British accent
[no, Scottish accent, Alistair is Scottish], and says “David’s Triumph was
heard throughout the whole land.”
David was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was made for the battlefield, he was made
to fight the battles of the LORD,
and he should have been there, and he stays back. Look, I don’t know if it’s believing his own
press clippings, or you get to the place where most of the major things in your
life are knocked down and you’re able to breathe and things seem a little
easier and you’re relaxed, you tend to let down your guard. Sometimes even getting a sense of
entitlement, like David’s important enough now that the laws that apply to
everybody else don’t apply to him. He’s
in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there’s no pass on our lives on the
will of God. There’s no pass. If we know the will of God, if it was the
time of the year when kings went forth to battle, if David knew that was the
right place for him to be, there is no pass in our lives on the will of
God. If we know what the will of God is,
that is where our feet should be, that’s where we should be, that’s what we
should be giving ourselves to. David
wrote himself a pass on that, somehow.
It says in verse 2, “And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that
David arose from off his bed,” so he was taking a siesta, eventide is
anytime after noon, is it before it get’s dark, in the heat of the day, which
is common in the culture, David’s taking a siesta, meantime, Joab and his
mighty men, Uriah, the rest of them are out on the battlefield, the Ark of the
Covenant is out on the battlefield, the Honour of Israel and the Honour of the
God of Israel are out on the battlefield where David should have been, and he’s
taking a nap, back in the palace, siesta. “And it came to pass in an
eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the
king’s house:” which is typical in the culture, people today still go on
the roof of their homes, just it’s cool, the winds change in the evening over
there, and it’s wonderful, it’s beautiful, ah, he’s walking on the roof of the
king’s house, “and from the roof he saw a woman washing “bathing” herself;
and the woman” the Holy Spirit tells us, “was very beautiful to
look upon.” If the Holy Spirit tells
us the woman was beautiful your eyebrows go up, but here the Holy Spirit says “was
very beautiful to look upon.” You
know, if this is Ma Kettle, there’s no problem here, David’s grossed out, he
turns away, walks away. This woman is very
beautiful to look upon, it says. Is she
implicated in this. Listen, not by
God. Our lesson as we go through this,
God holds David responsible for this. Is
she part and parcel to it? I personally
believe she is. She knows who her next
door neighbour is. She’s not sitting
around saying ‘Boy, who built that great big cedar palace next door? That’s a nice place. Wonder if we can tour through it, is it for
sale? Are they in yet, who moved in
there?’ She knows exactly whose
there. And she’s out taking a bath,
Bathsheba, she’s taking a bath where the king can see her. He looks down and sees her, when he looks
down at that point they’re both in hot water, without a doubt. I think she’s implicit in this. But the Holy Spirit does not hold her
responsible. The lesson is that David
had the means to turn away, David could have made the decision, that David knew
what God’s will was, and he could have turned away from it. She’s washing herself, bathing, literally,
the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
Guy’s, you turn around and see something, and you know you’re not
supposed to be looking at, you turn the other way. When you take the second look and the third
look and you sit there staring at it, you’re hooked, you’re in trouble. Martin Luther used to say, even with
thoughts, he said “You can’t keep a bird from flying over your head, but you
can keep him from making a nest in your hair.”
David stood there, and just watched as she bathed. David saw, and then David sent. David
Enquires After The Woman--Who Was Bathsheba? Look
in verse 3, “And David sent and enquired after the woman. And one
said, Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah
the Hittite?” Now how did he do
that? Did he call on one of his
servants, ‘Come here, come here, see the girl over there in the bath
tub? Go find out who she is, will
ya?’ I mean, we may be giving him
the benefit of the doubt, is he thinking ‘Is she single, maybe she’s
somebody’s servant.’ I doubt he’s
thinking she’s somebody’s servant, she’s taking a bath in the owner’s back
yard. He calls his servant and says, ‘Go
on, find out who she is,’ “And one said, Is not this
Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” Now there’s two words there, to me at least,
that should have turned David right away, she’s the daughter of, she’s the wife
of. Do not mess with my daughters, I
have daughters. Do not mess with my
daughters. There’s enough Rambo left in
me to do some damage if somebody messes with my daughter. Not only that, she’s the daughter of Eliam,
who is one of David’s mighty men. She is
the daughter of one of David’s mighty men, whose on the battlefield, and this
man, this warrior, Eliam, whose her father, Eliam is the son of Ahithophel, who
is one of David’s main counselors. An
older man in the life of David, who has been a stalwart counselor to him. We’re going to see him embittered, we’re
going to see him aiding Absolom in his rebellion, and no doubt it’s because
David thought he could take his granddaughter to bed and got her pregnant and then
had her husband killed. And Ahithophel
will never get over the infection of that bitterness, and ends up committing
suicide, because of David. As soon as he
hears ‘this is the daughter of Eliam,’ that should have been
enough for him. Then he hears she’s the
wife of Uriah the Hittite, Uriah the Hittite is also one of David’s mighty
men. We’re going to hear of David’s
mighty men, we’re going to hear about the one who kills 800 soldiers by
himself, another one who kills 300 by himself, another one who kills a lion in
a pit on a cold day and kills a giant Egyptian.
We’re going to hear of the tales of David’s mighty men. Well both Eliam and Uriah are two of David’s
mighty men. Listen, you’re tempted,
you’re going through this, you’re going through that, but when you hear ‘Hey,
that girl you’re staring at is the daughter of one of your officers, your best,
you know, Eliam, that’s Ahithophel’s granddaughter, one of your closest
counselors that you look up to, a mentor.’
[Comment: Sin always has a
history, Pastor Joe may be missing this important point, David already knew
Bathsheba, Bathsheba was the granddaughter of Ahithophel, David’s most trusted
counselor. David must have been watching
Bathsheba grow up as a cute little girl, into her teenage years, and then when
as an older teen, she marries Uriah. She
may have even been in and out of David’s palace tagging along with Ahithophel
her granddaddy for years, as she grew up.
David probably already had his eye on her, and maybe she had her eye on
David, sin here most definitely had a history.]
“the wife” when you hear the word “wife” you’re outa
there man. That’s adultery. It’s a death sentence in the Old
Testament. She’s somebody’s wife. Not only is she somebody’s wife, she’s the
wife of Uriah the Hittite, who is one of your mighty men, whose out fighting
the battle right now while you’re wandering around on your roof after a siesta. David saw, David sent. And he gets the information now. Next,
David Sent & David Took And
then David sent messengers, and he took her, verse 4, “And David sent
messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with her; for
she was purified from her uncleanness:
and she returned unto her house.”
He saw, he sent, he took.
Listen, same temptations Satan used against Eve, she saw, she reached
out, she took. Nothing new. He saw, and he stared at it, he lusted after
it. Then he enquired, then he sent and
he took to himself. How can this happen,
look, this is David. We ask ourselves ‘How
can this happen?’ Listen, let me tell
you how it happened, because in the last three or four weeks we’ve been going
through the life of David. We saw David,
married, and then he took Abigail, the widow of a man, then we see David in
chapter 3 of 2nd Samuel, more wives listed, six wives and six
sons. Then we move on to the 5th
chapter we have more wives listed, and a number of you come up to me and say ‘How
can he get away with that? How can he be
God’s man and get away with that? How’s
he getting away with that?’ Your
answer is here, he wasn’t getting away with it, at all. He was sowing the seeds of his own demise, he
was sowing the seeds of his own failure.
Yes, he’s a man after God’s own heart, he’s a warrior, but he’s a
man. God’s best men are men at
best. And this guy had been sowing the
seeds of this and playing with something, and no doubt God had been warning
him, and he had not listened. And he had
this idea, ‘Well ya, I shouldn’t be taking wives, two’s cool, but they pray,
that’s why LORD,
because when I go to battle I know there’s nine of ‘em praying for me when I’m
on the battlefield.’ But
I’m sure David said ‘I would never commit adultery, and I would never commit
murder, maybe I’m a little soft here and need to get this together in my life,
but I would never…’ Let me tell you
something, “Never say never,” ok? That’s
the rule for every man in this room, never say never, when you say “never,” you
just move up in line to 1st place.
[Some idiot said “Not even God could sink this ship” about the Titanic,
now she’s sitting 2 or 3 miles down on the bottom of the cold Atlantic
Ocean.] You’re the next one going
down. Paul tells us that we need to take
heed when we stand, lest we fall. And
David wasn’t getting anywhere in that area.
Sad thing, it was a chink in his armour, it was a weakness in his life,
and somehow he thought he had some entitlement.
You know, we do that spiritually, we do good in this, and somehow we
allow ourself, ‘Well I do this, and nobody sees it, I do this in the privacy
of my home.’ You know, David’s going
to finally write, ‘That we should not let any evil thing come before our
eyes, even in our own home, our own house.’ Job is going to say ‘I made a covenant
with my eyes, why should I look upon a maid.’ Because we can do this spiritually, be
involved in church and do all these things, but then we make some allowance, we
think we have some entitlement. Maybe we
think ‘I’m strong enough spiritually, I can mess with this, they are never
going to take me down.’ You are
wrong. And I am wrong if I do that. Because it will take us right down, it’ll
take us right down. And look, for us,
this is a no-brainer. Does God want us
to live in sexual sin? I have people in
church come up to me and say ‘Well, God knows my heart, we love each other,
and we’re married in God’s eyes,’ ya, you’ve been married and divorced a
couple times in God’s eyes since you came around here. ‘Well it’s just a piece of paper,’ well
let me tell you something, if it’s just a piece of paper before you get
married, it’s just a piece of paper after you get married, and don’t you ever
marry somebody who says it’s just a piece of paper, because that’s all it’s
gonna be. And we somehow make, we think
we have these entitlements. No, no,
look, God loves us, he’s our Father, he knows the end from the beginning, he
knows our propensity to sin, he knows our weaknesses, and he lays these things
out in front of us. And he takes the
lives of men that he loves, Samson and David, and so forth, and he puts them
out in front of us, he doesn’t hide the sins of his people. And Paul says ‘The things that were
written aforetime were written for our instruction, our learning, upon whom the
ends of the age will come.’
These lessons are here for us.
You know, I look at David, he finds out not only should he be in battle,
but he stays back, not only then is he lollygagging around when he has lots to
do, he should be busy, not only then does he look at this woman taking a bath
and can’t turn away from her, then he sends and he finds out that she’s the
daughter of one of his mighty men, she’s married to one of his mighty men, and
he still moves forward, I don’t know what he’s thinking by this time [I
honestly believe he knew who she was, like I said before, this sin has a
history, going back aways]. But he has
these other women in his coral, and he feels like ‘Hey, God hasn’t dealt
with me, he understands, God’s put up with that.’ No, no, God wasn’t at all endorsing any
of that the whole time. [After Abigail,
that should have been it]. And
David Lay With Her “And
David sent messengers, and took her; and she came in unto him, and he lay with
her; for she was purified from her uncleanness:
and she returned unto her house.” (verse 4) Hebrew
scholars say there’s no evidence here she was raped, no evidence here that she
fought off David, it says he “took her; and she came in unto him,” it
seems willingly, “and he lay with her; for she was purified from her
uncleanness:” she was spiritual, it means after her menstrual cycle was
over she went through the days of purification, according the Law of
Moses. Well what that proves to us is
she wasn’t pregnant through Uriah because she had gone through her menstrual
cycle, but now she has the guts to go through the ritual of cleansing and then
go sleep with a man while her husband’s on the battlefield. People are funny, aren’t they? They can be really spiritual and really
sinful. “for she was purified from
her uncleanness: and she returned unto
her house. And the woman conceived, and
sent and told David, and said, I am with child.” (verses 4b-5) Now to me that seems like a time for David to
call on Nathan, to call on some of his guys and say ‘Man, I blew it, what do
I do? Where do we go from here, what do
I do now?’ But he contrives his own
plan. ‘I’m gonna get Uriah to come
home from the battlefield, and then I’m going to send him home and let him
sleep with his wife, and we’ll just tell him it was his baby when the war’s
over.’ Let’s lie, that always fixes
things, doesn’t it? All adulterers are
liers. Carve it on your forehead and
look at it in the mirror in the morning.
All adulterers are liers, because they have lied to themselves against
the Word, and against the Holy Spirit, and against the will of God, to the
point where every other lie is a lesser lie.
And yet, understand, if you’re in sexual sin this evening, the Bible
says if we confess our sins, we go to him, he’s faithful and just to forgive us
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, he loves us. If we confess, “homologao,” “homo”
is “the same thing,” “logao” is “to speak.” It isn’t just ‘God, I’m sorry,’ that
doesn’t mean anything at all. Confession
is not “I’m sorry,” confession is “forgive me.”
If you offend a brother or sister, parent or child, it’s not enough to
say “I’m sorry,” if you’ve sinned you need to say “forgive me,” that means
you’re acknowledging your sin. To
confess our sin to God, homologao is “to say the same thing.” It’s not to go do God and say ‘Hey Lord, I
was sleeping with my boyfriend, my girlfriend, I know it’s cool with you,
because the hammer hasn’t come down yet, you understand,’ that’s not
confession. Confession is ‘Lord, this
is wrong, and I know it because of your Word and because of the conviction of
the Holy Spirit, and I’m involved in it.’ that’s confession. If we confess our sins, ‘Lord, help me
here, I’m sinning against you, you’re a Holy God, you’ve given me the means to
stay out of this, and I’ve indulged myself in it, and Lord I know that it’s
wrong,’ homologao, you’re saying the same thing as him, is the idea. If we do that, he’s faithful to forgive us
(cf. 1st John 2:1-6). Listen
to this, he’s faithful and just, and he’s just because the blood of Jesus
Christ has paid for all of our sin, all of our confessed sin. He is faithful and just to forgive us, and
then to cleanse, to catheterize, hopefully you’ve never had that experience and
you’ll never know what I’m talking about.
It’s a means of drawing poison out of your system that you can’t get rid
of yourself. If we confess our sins,
we’re genuine with him, then he is faithful and just to forgive and to catheterize,
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
David doesn’t do that. David
decides to lie. He gets Uriah home, sends
Uriah ‘Hey, go on home,’ and he wakes up in the morning and Uriah’s
sleeping on his doorstep. He said ‘Man,
what is wrong with you?’ and he said, ‘How could I go home and enjoy my
wife, isn’t the Ark of the Covenant on the battlefield? Aren’t the men of the army, my comrades, how
can I do this, how can I enjoy any pleasure, how can I live that way when the
glory of God is at stake?’ Uriah’s way more of a man than David at that
point in time. So then David’s got a
better plan, ‘Not only will I lie, I’ll get him drunk,’ David’s stooping
way down, and gets him plastered the next night, and it says Uriah goes out, he
sends him home, he figures ‘I got him drunk now, I’ll send him home to his
wife,’ I think he may have been so drunk he could only make it back to
where he slept the night before, he goes out and collapses, and when David
wakes up he’s still there. And David
says ‘You know what, I got to murder him, can’t get anywhere with this
guy.’ And we see David, layer after
layer, getting deeper and deeper into this mess, and we’ll see the
repercussions of it for the rest of his life.
So, are you, and I know no one’s here, just saying it for the tape, because
somebody out there on the radio is going to listen to it. Are you this close to making a decision that
could effect the rest of your life, layer after layer, your family, your kids,
your parents, classmates, relatives?
There’s no reeling it back in once it’s out. Are you that close? Listen, just listen, listen just quietly,
tell me if you here this, AAA! AAA!
AAA! AAA! AAA! you know, it’s a fire alarm, he loves you, he loves
you. And we can say the same thing ‘I
hate that sound, I hate that sound!’ I understand, but it saves lives, it
saves lives. And we’re all made of the
same stuff, every one of us. And we’re
all tempted, Jesus himself was tempted, he came and he walked in this stuff
[sound of Pastor Joe patting his chest] so he could be our High Priest, and was
tempted, without sin. But, we have a
High Priest that we can go to, who knows the feeling, the weakness of the heart
and our infirmities. And this evening if
you’re hearing that fire alarm, get out before you burn up. Run to him, you can come boldly to his throne
of grace, and this chapter is written you for the same reason it’s written to
me, because I am made of the same stuff you’re made of. And I could make allowances in my life that
would put me in a situation where I am in the wrong place at the wrong
time. And if I grieve the Holy Spirit,
and grieve the Holy Spirit, I personally could end up in a place where I’m so
desensitized to the Holy Spirit that I can step across the line. We all have that potential, I have it. But God is gracious, he’s our Saviour, he’s
our Lord, he will hold us up if we flee to him, he would add his strength to
our battle, and when we are on the battlelines, where he asks us to be on the
battlelines, we are much safer than being in some other battleline where we
shouldn’t even be. The safest place for
you to be is where Jesus wants you to be.
Find out where that’s at, and be there.
Because you are blood-bought and bulletproof when you’re in that
place. Amen? Read ahead, you can’t stop here, Alistair
Begg will be here next week, but read ahead, you don’t even want a commercial
at this place in the story, because we’re out of time that’s where we are. Let’s do this, we’re going to have the
musicians come, we’ll sing a last song. If
you’re here tonight, and you want prayer you can come up for prayer. And I know what you’re thinking ‘I can’t
go up there, they’ll all think that I got six wives and a woman on the side,’ no,
no, that’s not what we’re saying. Just,
so you want the Lord’s strength. If
you’re here tonight and you don’t know Christ and you want to be saved, you
come up, we want to pray with you, give you a Bible, some literature to
read. But let’s stand. Look, I need you to be strong, you want me to
be strong, you don’t want to hear that I’m involved in any of that. But every joint and every ligament supplies
in a healthy body, every joint and every ligament supplies. I need you to be strong. I need you to be filled with the Holy Spirit,
walking with the Lord. I need you to be
able to walk up to me ‘Pastor Joe, I’d look out for that if I was you.’ If I turn red, purple, orange and green you
know you got me there. ok? You need to be able to say it to a brother or
sister, to the person next to you, ‘Hey, I’m praying for you, are you ok?
what’s going on?’ I need you, and we
need each other in this day that we’re living in, to be spiritual, to be on
fire, to be walking with the Lord. And
the warnings are very clear, very evident, nothing hidden, no mystery to it,
God lays them on the surface, lays them on the surface, to trip over them,
they’re there for us, because he loves us…[transcript of a connective
expository sermon on 2nd Samuel 10:1-19 and 2nd Samuel
11:1-5, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500
Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116] related
links: And
Jesus will come, but not until 9/10ths of World War III has taken place, and
you don’t want to have to go through that coming world war, which Bible
prophecy shows is coming real soon (see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED670 |