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2nd
Samuel 18:1-33 “And
David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of
thousands and captains of hundreds over them. 2
And David sent forth a third part of the
people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the
son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the
Gittite. And the king said unto the
people, I will surely go forth with you myself also. 3
But the people answered, Thou shalt not
go forth: for if we flee away, they will
not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now thou art worth ten thousand of
us: therefore now it is better
that thou succour us out of the city. 4
And the king said unto them, What
seemeth you best I will do. And the king
stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by
thousands. 5 And
the king commanded Joab and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for
my sake with the young man, even with Absalom. And all the people heard when the king gave
all the captains charge concerning Absalom. 6
So the people went out into the field
against Israel: and the battle was in
the wood of Ephraim; 7 where
the people of Israel were slain before the servants of David, and there was
there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men. 8
For the battle was there scattered over
the face of all the country: and the
wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured. 9
And Absalom met the servants of David. And
Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule went under the thick boughs of a great
oak, and his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between heaven
and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away. 10
And a certain man saw it, and
told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom hanged in an oak. 11
And Joab said unto the man that told
him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not smite him
there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels of silver,
and a girdle. 12 And
the man said unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of
silver in mine hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the
king’s son: for in our hearing the king
charged thee and Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the
young man Absalom. 13 Otherwise
I should have wrought falsehood against mine own life: for there is no matter hid from the king, and
thou thyself wouldest have set thyself against me. 14
Then said Joab, I may not tarry thus with
thee. And he took three darts in his
hand, and thrust them through he heart of Absalom, while he was yet
alive in the midst of the oak. 15 And
ten young men that bare Joab’s armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and
slew him. 16 And
Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned from pursuing after Israel: for Joab held back the people. 17
And they took Absalom, and cast him into
a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him: and all Israel fled every one to his tent. 18
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken
and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in
remembrance: and he called the pillar
after his own name: and it is called
unto this day, Absalom’s place. 19
Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let
me now run, and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD
hath avenged him of his enemies. 20
And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not
bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings,
because the king’s son is dead. 21
Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the
king what thou hast seen. And Cushi
bowed himself unto Joab, and ran.
22 Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet
again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my
son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? 23
But howsoever, said he, let me
run. And he said unto him, Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain, and
overran Cushi. 24 And
David sat between the two gates: and the
watchman went up to the roof over the gate unto the wall, and lifted up his
eyes, and looked, and behold a man running alone. 25
And the watchman cried, and told the
king. And the king said, If he be
alone, there is tidings in his mouth.
And he came apace, and drew near. 26
And the watchman saw another man
running: and the watchman called unto
the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. 27
And the watchman said, Me thinketh the
running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man,
and cometh with good tidings. 28 And
Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face
before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD
thy God, which hath delivered up the men
that’s lifted up their hand against my lord the king. 29
And the king said, Is the young man
Absalom safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When
Joab sent the king’s servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult,
but I knew not what it was. 30
And the king said unto him, Turn
aside, and stand here. And he
turned aside, and stood still. 31 And,
behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings my lord the king: for the LORD
hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. 32
And the king said unto Cushi, Is
the young man Absalom safe? And Cushi
answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do
thee hurt, be as that young man is. 33
And the king was much moved, and went up
to the chamber over the gate, and wept:
and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” Introduction [Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED676] “We
are in the middle of Absalom’s rebellion, David has been driven out of
Jerusalem, rather than allowing the city to come under the sword of Absalom,
knowing his son he withdrew willingly, left the city, he’s gone evidently
across the Jordan and seems to be somewhere in the area of Jabok over on the
other side of Jordan towards the area of Gilead. You remember when he left the city Shimei of
the household of Saul came out and cursed him and threw stones at him and threw
dust in the air, and David just leaving, hearing one stroke after another, that
Ahithophel had turned, that Absalom’s doing this and that, David just leaving
the city, broken, bowing under the chastening hand of God no doubt, wishing he
had never touched Bathsheba, wishing he had never got himself involved in those
circumstances in the first place. We
hear much of his heart in the Psalms, just bowing under all of this, but
finally saying this, let the LORD do
to me as he wills, ‘If he is pleased with me he will bring me back to
Jerusalem again, and if not, I yield under his hand. He is sovereign, he is God, let him do in my
life what he would.’ And as he
ends up in the wilderness it tells us that there are three men, in the end of
chapter 17, that come to him. Shobi,
Machir and Barzillai, and they come with supplies for him and for his men. David
Preps His Army For Battle Chapter
18 begins by saying “And David
numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands
and captains of hundreds over them. And
David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab,” the
chief commander, “and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of
Zeruiah,” Joab’s brother, David’s cousins, “Joab’s brother, and a third
part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite.
And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you
myself also.” (verses 1-2) So,
interesting picture. Thousands, captains
over thousands, wait, David you left the city with 600, what’s happened? Now he’s setting men over thousands, and
evidently what’s happened as David has made his journey out of Jerusalem, down
the hills towards the Jordan, across the Jordan, up into the area of Jabok and
Gilead, person after person after person had turned and known in their heart
that David had been their king, that David had delivered them, there are now
thousands that have gathered to David.
Joab set over one third, Abishai his brother set over another third, and
Ittai the Gittite, who David told a few chapters ago ‘Hey, you’re newly
come, you’ve newly joined yourself to me, you don’t have to come under this,’ and
Ittai said ‘David, in life or in death, I’m joined to you,’ no doubt he
had seen God’s hand on the life of David, and had decided that was the place he
should be. And now here he is over
thousands, it says, David understanding who the man is and how he had joined
himself. And we wonder, David now is
over 60 years old, and says “And the king said unto the people, I will
surely go forth with you myself also.” (verse 2c) he’s at Mahanaim where
we’re told in Genesis 32, Jacob returned from Padam Aram, and when he came
there it says God opened his eyes and he saw the company of angels that were
with him, and he named the place Mahanaim, which means “two hosts,” Jacob saw those
that he had with him, and there was a whole secondary host of God’s angels
around him, caring for him. And I wonder
if David has a sense of it at this point in time. Tired, weary, leaving the city, now there are
thousands joined to him, now there are those bringing supplies, and David must
think ‘Truly, there is more than just a physical host here, LORD,
I am back in your camp where I should have been, LORD
I left when I sinned, where I should have been, LORD
I left when I went into sin, I caused then the husband of Bathsheba to die, LORD
I haven’t ruled my own house. But truly
LORD,
now I am back amongst your host, I am back in your camp, I have no agenda here
LORD.’ He had tried to
be gracious even to the city by withdrawing before Absalom could besiege
Jerusalem. And now David says ‘Surely,
I’m going to go with you guys, I’m going to join in,’ “I will surely go
forth with you myself also.” (verse 2c)
Now we’re not sure what’s on his heart, I think the Mahanaim thing is
something he’s thinking about. No doubt
he also remembers, it tells us in chapter 11, it was the time of the year when
kings go forth to battle, and David had remained in Jerusalem, it was what got
him into this mess in the first place.
Now maybe he’s thinking ‘Maybe my place is to go forth, that’s the
place of a king, to go forth into battle with his men.’ He’s going to ask them to be gracious to
Absalom, maybe he’s thinking ‘If I’m there among them, they won’t kill
Absalom,’ though Absalom has betrayed him, Absalom has caused unimaginable
confusion in the kingdom, it’s David’s son, he still loves his son, he says ‘I’m
going to go with you.’ “But the
people answered, Thou shalt not go forth:
for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us
die, will they care for us: but now thou
art worth ten thousand of us:
therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city.”
(verse 3) ‘David, you’re a
national treasure, you’re the one they’re after here.’ “succour us out of the city” the idea
is you encourage us just from here, you stay here, and we know where you are,
David, and we know what’s going on in your life. David then says “And the king said unto
them, What seemeth you best I will do.
And the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by
hundreds and by thousands.” (verse 4) there’s a little bit of a brokenness
here that I think we hadn’t seen before, “whatever seems best to you” David
says, that’s what I will do.” “And
the king stood by the gate side, and all the people came out by hundreds and by
thousands.
And the king commanded Joab and Abishai
and Ittai, saying, Deal gently for my sake with the young man, even
with Absalom.” and it says, notice, “And all
the people heard when the king gave all the captains charge concerning
Absalom.” (verses 4b-5) He doesn’t
say deal gently with Absalom for Absalom’s sake, he says ‘deal gently
with Absalom for my sake, guys.’
Joab and Abishai, you know, these are rough and tumble guys, and Ittai
the Gittite, he says ‘Look, for my sake would you do this, this is my
son, remember, in the final analysis, deal gently with him, and do it for my
sake.’ A
Very Strange & Costly Battle “So
the people went out into the field against Israel: and the battle was in the wood of Ephraim;”
(verse 6) at “the forest of Ephraim,” now here’s
the problem, this Ephraim being talked about is on the other side of Jordan
(from the actual tribe of Ephraim). So
if you go back to Judges chapter 12, you find out there are Ephraimites there,
that came to that side, there were in a battle there, some of them evidently
stayed there. Remember the ones
that wanted to come back, they couldn’t say Shibboleth the right way, so the
ones that tried to say Shibboleth got killed at the river, and evidently there
were a number that stayed in that area and lived in that area. So the way this describes the wood and the
forest, it was thick, and we find that right in the area of Mahanaim and Jabok,
as a matter of fact. So it seems that
this was still called in the days of Judges the wood or the forest of Ephraim,
though it was on the other or eastern side there of the Jordan. It says they came into the forest there of Ephraim. Now, of course the problem is, this young
whippersnapper, Absalom, is coming up against Joab, Abishai and Ittai, he’s
coming up against his old stupid dad who doesn’t know anything, who happens to
be one of most seasoned warriors and field generals that the nation has ever
seen, who fled for 20 years almost from Saul, and survived these kinds of
environments, and won incredible battles in these kinds of environments. And it seems like, as we look at the scene
here, that these seasoned warriors in fact set up the battle so that it takes
place in this thicket in this wood, rather than in an open field, because
that’s where they would definitely have the advantage. That’s where any of the forces of Israel who
wanted to desert, they wanted to be deserters if they saw they were getting
beaten, they could under cover flee and get away, all the advantages were on
the side of David, besides the fact there was a secondary force there like
there was in Mahanaim. So Absalom and
the armies of Israel come right into the situation that the LORD
had set up, they come into the wood, into the forest, the thickets here of
Ephraim, “where the people of Israel were slain before the servants of
David, and there was there a great slaughter that day of twenty thousand men.”
(verse 7) Now you just have to
imagine that, when was the last time you saw 20,000 dead bodies, that’s
something of Revelation, it’s something of the future [Actually, in 2022-2023
in the war in Ukraine, over that one year, 150,000 Russian troops were
slaughtered by the Ukrainian forces who were fighting for their homeland, so
this is what I’d term a pre-Revelation war being fought currently in the
Ukraine between Ukrainians and Russians].
And it’s something certainly we saw in World War II, when there were
some horrendous scenes that had come before our eyes in the Holocaust and some
of the death camps and so forth. But you
just have to imagine, it just says this in a sentence, 20,000, for 20,000 to be
dead you have to imagine the length of the battle, you have to imagine the
strength of these men with swords and shields, it’s unimaginable for us to sit
here. If you’ve ever fought a three
minute round, you’re dead at the end of it.
Just imagine a battle that goes on and on and on like this, so sadly an
incredible tragedy here, at the end of this day there are 20,000 Israelites
dead. “For the battle was there
scattered over the face of all the country:
and the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.”
(verse 8) so the second host of Mahanaim did more work that day than the
army did, the LORD allowing
the forest, the circumstances to take place where God has joined the battle and
the forest devoured more people that day than the sword. The
Death Of Absalom “And
Absalom met the servants of David.” doesn’t
give us much detail, so evidently if there’s 20,000 dead, we get the impression
he must be retreating, comes around some bend, and he comes right face to face
with the servants of David here, “Absalom met the servants of David. And Absalom rode upon a mule, and the mule
went under the thick boughs of a great oak, and his head caught hold of the
oak, and he was taken up between heaven and the earth; and the mule that was
under him went away.” (verse 9) Josephus
tells us he was caught by the hair, the text doesn’t tell us that, somehow his
head was caught it says, Josephus tells us in fact that his hair was caught up
in one of the branches of this great oak, where God had caused an acorn to fall
about a hundred years before this, saying, ‘Ya, right about here, that’s
where I’m gonna need a branch a hundred years from now.’ And this is probably one month before
Absalom’s haircut, so he’s got about five and a half pounds on his head, it
told us earlier he trimmed about six pounds of hair off every year. Can’t believe he weighs it. But anyhow Absalom comes under this branch,
the mule is running, his hair gets caught up in the tree, and he’s pulled off
the mule, and it says he’s hanging between the heaven and the earth, what an
interesting picture of Absalom. “And
a certain man saw it, and told Joab, and said, Behold, I saw Absalom
hanged in an oak. And Joab said unto the
man that told him, And, behold, thou sawest him, and why didst thou not
smite him there to the ground? and I would have given thee ten shekels
of silver, and a girdle.” (verses 10-11)
Wow! really! And listen to
the man, he’s been around too, he’s also a seasoned warrior with a head on his
shoulders. He says, “And the man said
unto Joab, Though I should receive a thousand shekels of silver in mine
hand, yet would I not put forth mine hand against the king’s son: for in our hearing the king charged thee and
Abishai and Ittai, saying, Beware that none touch the young man
Absalom. Otherwise I should have wrought
falsehood against mine own life: for
there is no matter hid from the king, and thou thyself wouldest have set
thyself against me.” (verses 12-13) he said, ‘Are you kidding
me, if I’d have killed him, we’d have gone back to the camp, and the king would
have said ‘Who killed my son Absalom?’ and then they’d have found out it was
me, and the king would have said to you ‘Slay him,’ and you’d have come and
killed me. What good would my ten
shekels of silver done me at that point in time? You got to be kidding me, great reward that
is.’ “Then said Joab, I may
not tarry thus with thee. And he took
three darts” javelins “in his hand, and thrust them through he heart of
Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the oak.” (verse
14) Now look, David lost control of
Joab long before this. When David asked
Joab to be a conspirator in the death of Uriah, and he sent a note and said ‘Send
him to the front of the battle,’ Uriah being one of his mighty men, one
of his Special Forces, Joab coming back and finding out David was in sin with
Bathsheba, the granddaughter of Ahithophel, David’s closest counselor, Joab
took a step back, I believe he loved David, but he looked at all this, and Joab
determined evidently, he was going to make some decisions on his own. And maybe he feels responsible, remember he
sent that woman, a wise woman of Tekoa, to David to say ‘Thus and thus has
happened to my son and they’re going to kill him,’ and David said ‘That’s
not going to happen to your son,’ and then the woman said ‘Well why is
it you’ve got this stick in your eye, and you can’t see what’s going on with
your own son?’ And David said ‘Joab
put you up to this, didn’t he,’ he said ‘I smell Joab all over this,’ she
said ‘Ya.’ And it says through
that then, Joab’s maneuvering, David allows Absalom to come back to the city,
and perhaps Joab feels responsible for that.
We’re not sure. But Joab
specifically defies the word of the king here, and knows what he’s doing, no
doubt. He defies the word of the king,
and Absalom’s hanging in the tree, and Joab approaches, he hits him with these
three javelins, and it says “And ten young men that bare Joab’s armour
compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew him.” (verse 15) so I don’t know, I guess the darts, I don’t
know what happened there. Maybe this is
the “make sure he’s dead” crew, evidently after you are dead, this is the crew
that makes sure that you’re dead. They
surrounded him, they killed him [look, these ten guys are Joab’s armourbearers,
bodyguards, real tough guys]. Look,
there’s over 20,000 people dead, from David’s sin, Absalom’s rebellion,
Ahithophel’s bitterness, Joab’s anger, over 20,000 people dead. You know, look, God placing this in front of
us, immorality bears no good fruit. Rebellion
bears no good fruit, rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. Bitterness bears no good fruit, it defiles
others, and it can consume itself. Anger
bears no good fruit. Whatever the
circumstances, whatever environment those things are in, God placing this in
front of us in great detail, stooping down, showing us the humanness of a man
he loves, of men with great character, some of them, and yet in their
humanness, in their unwillingness at each turn where they won’t submit to the
authority of God, to God’s king in this situation, there’s nothing but bad
fruit through all of this. So Joab, at
least then in verse 16, “And Joab blew the trumpet, and the people returned
from pursuing after Israel: for Joab
held back the people.” he stops the bloodshed before there’s any more,
there’s over 20,000 dead at this point in time, “the people returned from
pursuing after Israel: for Joab held
back the people.” There’s some admirable things about this guy’s
character. “And they took Absalom,
and cast him into a great pit in the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones
upon him: and all Israel fled every one
to his tent.” (verse 17) It tells us
in the Book of Deuteronomy, it says ‘If a man have a
stubborn and rebellious son which will not obey the voice of his father or the
voice of his mother, that when they have chastened him he will not hearken unto
them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out
unto the elders of the city, unto the gate of his place, and they shall say
unto the elders of the city, This our son is stubborn, he is rebellious, he
will not obey our voice, he is a glutton, he is a drunkard, and all the men of
the city shall stone him with stones that he die, so shalt thou put away evil from
among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.”
So there is a measure of justice in this man being buried under
this heap of stones. It is in the
wilderness, it is a pit, which was the typical way to bury a criminal, somebody
you despised, I think it’s a commentary on the attitude that Joab had finally
come to towards Absalom. He had done his
best to restore him, bring him back to the kingdom, and he turned his back on
his father, on Joab, he throws his body into a pit, and they bury him under a
heap of stones, and I think it’s an interesting commentary on the death of the
man. Now, look what the Holy Spirit
tells us here, it’s interesting, it says “Now Absalom in his lifetime had
taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king’s
dale: for he said, I have no son to keep
my name in remembrance: and he called
the pillar after his own name: and it is
called unto this day, Absalom’s place.” (verse 18) Now when we go to Israel, there is in the
Kidron Valley a stone structure called Absalom’s tomb. Truth is, it’s probably dated 400 to 500
years after Absalom was there. And the
irony is here, Absalom, it says he had no son.
Well we’re told back in chapter 14 Absalom had three sons and a
daughter. Absalom it says had no sons,
were they killed in the battle with their father in rebellion? The rebellion of a father, the bitterness of
a father is infectious and destructive to the lives of his sons. It tells us clearly Absalom had three sons,
chapter 14. It says “And unto Absalom
there were born three sons and one daughter, whose name was Tamar,” he
named her after his sister, who had been wronged by his brother. Very interesting here, he has no son, “to
keep my name in remembrance.” He
realizes children are the heritage of the LORD. So he built himself a pillar and he called it
after his own name, and unto this day it is called Absalom’s place. Look, the only real monument that we leave is
the memory of a godly life and godly offspring.
I’ve dedicated a lot of babies here, and I have not dedicated a
Jezebel. All the years I’ve been
dedicating babies, don’t get any ideas, don’t name your daughter Jezebel, my
point is, there’s a monument, without stone, without being carved by hands,
there’s a monument there, and I’ve never dedicated a Jezebel. And the point is, Absalom here, trying to put
something in place for his own memorial, but we all remember that he rebelled
against his father, we all remember he hung in a tree by his hair, he was so vain,
we all remember he was killed by Joab, but he has no lineage, he has no
children. The real monument you want to
leave in place is a godly life. You want
your kids and your grandkids and your friends to say ‘Man, they knew the
Lord, they walked with the Lord.’ If
all you leave your kid is something that a lawyer can settle, you haven’t left
them anything at all. But if there is a
legacy, you know it, if you guys have had godly parents, you know what that
means. And then for the testimony of
your relationship with the Lord and your faithfulness to be reproduced in their
lives, that’s a monument to be left, that’s a legacy to be left. Here sadly, it gives us this contrast, here’s
a guy who ends up under a pile of stones, and yet he went to all of this labour
to build himself a monument in the Kidron Valley that’s there to this day, and
he did it because he said “I have no son,” he had three, they’re gone also,
probably victims of his own rebellion, and it’s there it says, “unto this
day.” A
Messenger Running Without A Message, Some Christians Run Like That--Bottom
Line: If You’re Not Going To Tell The Truth, Don’t Be A Runner “Then
said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok, Let me now run,” he
says to Joab, “and bear the king tidings, how that the LORD
hath avenged him of his enemies.” (verse 19) ‘Let me run, Joab, let me tell David
there’s been victory, let me do this.’ He
seems to be a fairly good man, he’s the son of Zadok. “And Joab said unto him, Thou shalt not
bear tidings this day, but thou shalt bear tidings another day: but this day thou shalt bear no tidings,
because the king’s son is dead.” (verse 20)
Notice he tells him specifically, Absalom is dead. “Then said Joab to Cushi, Go tell the king
what thou hast seen. And Cushi bowed
himself unto Joab, and ran.” (verse 21) “Cushi”
is a foreign name, probably a foreigner that’s joined himself to the army. When Joab says run, you run. You don’t want javelins coming down behind
you saying ‘Faster!’ When Joab
says run, you run. So he takes off. “Then said Ahimaaz the son of Zadok yet
again to Joab, But howsoever, let me, I pray thee, also run after Cushi. And Joab said, Wherefore wilt thou run, my
son, seeing that thou hast no tidings ready? (verse 22) and I imagine you can put there “yet
again, and again, and again.” ‘I haven’t
even given you a message, you’re a runner without a message,’ that’s
always a frustrating thing, a runner without a message, there’s people that do
that. ‘You don’t have anything
ready, I haven’t given you anything to say, what do you mean, just let you
run?’ “But howsoever, said he,
let me run. And he said unto him,
Run. Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the
plain, and overran Cushi.” (verse 23) You’ve
had kids like that ‘Let me run, come on, why not, come on,’ then you finally say ‘Ooooh, run.’ So he said “howsoever, let me run,” and
he said unto him, “Run, Oye Vey.” “Then Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain,
and overran Cushi.” (verse 23b) He
took a shortcut, and he beat him, got ahead of him. “And David sat between the two gates: and the watchman went up to the roof over the
gate unto the wall, and lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold a man
running” important, “alone. And
the watchman cried, and told the king.
And the king said, If he be alone, there is tidings in his
mouth. And he came apace, and drew
near.” (verses 24-25) David says ‘if
he’s alone, that’s good news.’ Because
when you see somebody running alone that means they’re a messenger. If you see thousands running, that’s bad
news. That means the enemy’s right
behind them. So he says if he’s running
alone he’s got tidings, that’s good.
David’s been around a long time, he understands. “And he came apace, and drew near. And the watchman saw another man
running: and the watchman called unto
the porter, and said, Behold another man running alone. And the king said, He also bringeth tidings. And the watchman said, Me thinketh the
running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok. And the king said, He is a good man,
and cometh with good tidings.” (verses 26-27) King James says “me thinketh” and we have to
read it, and I think it’s just great, because I talk like that the older I
get. I don’t know, this guy had such a
strange run that people recognized him miles away, ‘Look at that guy, that’s
gotta be Ahimaaz, nobody else runs like that.’
He said “Me thinketh” nobody
talketh like that either. “Me
thinketh the running of the foremost is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of
Zadok. And the king said, He is a
good man, and cometh with good tidings.
And Ahimaaz called, and said unto the king, All is well. And he fell down to the earth upon his face
before the king, and said, Blessed be the LORD
thy God, which hath delivered up the men
that’s lifted up their hand against my lord the king. And the king said, Is the young man Absalom
safe? And Ahimaaz answered, When Joab
sent the king’s servant, and me thy servant, I saw a great tumult, but I
knew not what it was.” (verses 27-29) Now look, over in the end of verse 20,
Joab said ‘You’re not gonna go bear tidings today, because the king’s son
is dead.’ And now Ahimaaz is
probably wishing he hadn’t outrun Cushi, because he gets there first to give
the king tidings of victory, and all the king wants to know about is his son
Absalom, and it puts Ahimaaz in a position where he says ‘Well, I saw a
great tumult, but I don’t know what it was about.’ He’s skirting the issue. Truth is not always popular. But if you’re not going to tell the truth,
don’t be a runner. He said to him, ‘Why
should I send you, you don’t have a message.’
Truth is very much not popular in our culture today. That there is one name given among men
whereby we must be saved, that the name of Jesus is not a popular message in
our culture. And if you ain’t going to
take it, don’t run, because it is The Truth whereby men may be saved. And there are people in pulpits
today, who don’t, who want to say ‘Well I see a tumult, I only bring
positive messages, I don’t want to talk about this sin, blood, cross stuff,’ that’s
the center of everything we believe.
When we go to heaven it says in the midst of the elders and the midst of
the cherubim and the midst of the angels, there’s a Lamb with the marks of
slaughter upon him, that’s the center of everything. [Comment:
and our “going to heaven” will be for the Wedding Feast of the Lamb,
Revelation 19:7-10, when we’ll see that Lamb with the marks of slaughter on
him, and then after that Wedding Feast we’ll all come back down to earth to
rule with Jesus over the world, Revelation 19:11-21, 20:1-6] And it’s the simple message that transforms
lives and sets men free, and if we’re not going to tell the truth, because it
isn’t always popular to do that, then don’t run. Don’t get ahead of the other guy, let him get
there first. ‘I saw there was a
big commotion, king, but I don’t know what that was all about,’ and the
king said to him, ‘Well stand over here, stand over here on the side, and
he turned aside and he stood still,’ (verse 30) “And, behold, Cushi came;
and Cushi said, Tidings my lord the king:
for the LORD
hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the
young man Absalom safe? And Cushi
answered, The enemies of my lord the king, and all that rise against thee to do
thee hurt, be as that young man is.” (verses 31-32)
‘now he’s dead as a doornail, and I pray all of your enemies will end up
the same way.’ Cushi here didn’t
take tact 101, be careful when you tell a parent that their child has passed,
he says ‘Hey, may all the enemies of the lord the king that rise up
against thee to do thee hurt be as that young man.’ “And the king was much moved, and went up
to the chamber over the gate, and wept:
and as he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (verse 33) aware
of the results, no doubt, of his own sin, he said in the Psalms ‘my sin
is ever before me.’ You know,
his son is gone, Nathan had said to David ‘the sword will never depart
from your house.’ No doubt David
is bearing that at this point in time, he said ‘I wish I had died for
thee,’ so hard sometimes to remove guilt from our lives, when we’re
guilty about something, so hard. Again,
I had a first cousin, when he was 17, committed murder-1, and ended up in
prison for years, and I was just a kid, so we would say ‘What happened to
Johny, what happened to Johny?’ they’d say ‘Ah, he went to college,’ and
as I got older I thought ‘Man, he’s been in college a loong time,’ and
finally they told me, I was 15 years old, 14, 15, he was in prison and what had
happened. And I remember the first time
going up to see him, it was a strange experience going through those gates,
hearing those things slam and lock behind you, and saw him, he looked old, he
looked warn, and they finally let him out, and he got out on parole after 20
years or something, and in those 20 years the world had changed, his world had
not. And within a year and a half was
back in for something, got involved with a girl, a minor, and then he was back
out again, we kind of lost track, the last I heard of him he had lived with a
family in Jersey, and found out years later they were Christians, and I’m
hoping they got to him, because he finally drove to the place where he had shot
his friend, had been his best friend, fighting over a girl, shot him with a 22
rifle, fighting over the weapon it went off, killed his best friend, he went
back to the place where that happened, and gassed himself in the trunk of his
car, killed himself, 30 years later, still guilty, still guilty. And guilt is a terrible, terrible, terrible
burden to bear. And look, you know
that’s why the apostle Peter says ‘Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of
the Lord Jesus Christ.’ Think of
Saul of Tarsus, those he had killed and hauled off to prison, those he had
caused to blaspheme the name of Jesus at the point of a sword, think of his
conscience, what he had to take hold of.
You know it’s interesting, John the apostle, again you would think he
would be the man of grace in the New Testament, you know he only uses the word
“grace” seven times, listen seven times, if you add up his Gospel, 1st,
2nd, 3rd John and the Book of Revelation, you read all
five of those books, you’ll only find the word “grace” seven times. Peter uses the word of “grace” several times,
Paul uses the word “grace” over a hundred and twenty times. Because of what he had done and what he had
lived, he took hold of it with all of his heart, and becomes the great apostle
to speak about redemption, justification, propitiation, he gives us the
vocabulary of Salvation in such a powerful way, a powerful way. David here without the light that we have,
without knowing everything of the New Testament we do, David a man after God’s
own heart, but David here broken down to the ground, no doubt, I can’t imagine
loosing my son, having someone come and saying ‘Your son is dead.’ 2nd
Samuel 19:1-23 “And
it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom. 2
And the victory that day was turned
into mourning unto all the people: for
the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. 3
And the people gat them by stealth that
day into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.
4 But
the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son
Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son! 5
And Joab came into the house to the
king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of all thy servants, which
this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons and of thy daughters,
and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy concubines; 6
in that thou lovest thine enemies, and
hatest thy friends. For thou hast
declared this day, that thou regardest neither princes nor servants: for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had
lived, and all we had died this day, then it had pleased thee well. 7
Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak
comfortably unto thy servants: for I
swear by the LORD,
if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the
evil that befell thee from thy youth until now. 8
Then the king arose, and sat in the
gate. And they told unto all the people,
saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate.
And all the people came before the king:
for Israel had fled every man to his tent. 9
And all the people were at strife
throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The king saved us out of the hand
of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the hand of the Philistines; and now
he is fled out of the land for Absalom. 10
And Absalom, whom we anointed over us,
is dead in battle. Now therefore why
speak ye not a word of bringing the king back? 11
And king David sent to Zadok and to
Abiathar the priests, saying, Speak unto the elders of Judah, saying, Why are
ye the last to bring the king back to his house? seeing the speech of all
Israel is come to the king, even to his house. 12
Ye are my brethren, ye are
my bones and my flesh: wherefore then
are ye the last to bring back the king? 13
And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not
of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so
to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually
in the room of Joab. 14 And
he bowed the heart of all men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so
that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy
servants. 15 So
the king returned, and came to Jordan.
And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king
over Jordan. 16 And
Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and
came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. 17
And there were a thousand men of
Benjamin with him, and Ziba the servant of the house of Saul, and his fifteen
sons and his twenty servants with him; and they went over Jordan before the
king. 18 And
there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king’s household, and to do what
he thought good. And Shimei the son of
Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; 19
and said unto the king, Let not my lord
impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that which thy servant did
perversely the day that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king
should take it to his heart. 20 For
thy servant doth know that I have sinned:
therefore behold, I am come the first this day of all the house of
Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. 21
But Abishai the son of Zeruiah answered
and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s
anointed? 22 And
David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this
day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in
Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel? 23
Therefore the king said unto Shimei,
Thou shalt not die. And the king sware
unto him.” The
Pain Of A King verses The Pain Of A Father “And
it was told Joab, Behold, the king weepeth and mourneth for Absalom.” (verse 1)
look, understand too, this is a very difficult situation, he’s king, and he’s a
father. He’s got to function in both
realms. The pain that he feels is not
the pain of a king, it’s the pain of a father.
But God has called him to the position of king. You remember when Nadab and Abihu died there
at the Tabernacle, because of strange fire and they were consumed, and God says
to Aaron, ‘weep not for them,’ very interesting. In his official role as a priest, they had
defiled something, he wasn’t allowed to mourn that way. But I’m sure when he was alone, not in front
of the people, you know the brokenness as a father. And I just look at David here in this great
pain as a dad, and yet he’s also a king.
Joab hears that he is weeping, “And the victory that day was turned
into mourning unto all the people: for
the people heard say that day how the king was grieved for his son. And the people gat them by stealth that day
into the city, as people being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle.”
(verses 2-3) instead of a day of rejoicing because of the victory they had,
they thought David would be pleased, David is so broken over Absalom that the
people who loved David so deeply, the thousands that were with him, it says
they quietly go away as though they had been defeated, as though they were
fleeing from the battle. “But the
king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, O my son Absalom,
O Absalom, my son, my son! And Joab came
into the house to the king, and said, Thou hast shamed this day the faces of
all thy servants, which this day have saved thy life, and the lives of thy sons
and of thy daughters, and the lives of thy wives, and the lives of thy
concubines; in
that thou lovest thine enemies, and hatest thy friends. For thou hast declared this day, that thou
regardest neither princes nor servants:
for this day I perceive, that if Absalom had lived, and all we had died
this day, then it had pleased thee well.” (verse 4-6) ‘David, you are wrong,’
and Joab is no yes-man in this situation, Joab is coming, and I believe his
advice is really for the best of David and for the best of the kingdom, he says
‘David, what you’re doing is wrong, this is the situation you’ve created,
and in everybody’s minds you’d have been happier if we’d all been dead and all
killed and Absalom had survived,’ “Now therefore arise, go forth, and speak
comfortably unto thy servants: for I
swear by the LORD,
if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the
evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.” (verse 7) He’s telling
David to encourage those who had their lives on the line all day, ‘they
have wives, they have sons, should they have died in battle and you would only
have been happy if your son lived?’
“for I swear by the LORD,
if thou go not forth, there will not tarry one with thee this night: and that will be worse unto thee than all the
evil that befell thee from thy youth until now.” (verse 7b) ‘You’re
gonna loose your entire army, they’re going to go, you’re not going to have
them. Things will get worse than you can
imagine.’ “Then”
at Joab’s counsel “the king arose,
and sat in the gate. And they told unto
all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.”
(verse 8) “sat in the gate” that’s
the place of the king, if you go to Israel with us, and you see some of the
gates for the ancient city, it’s where the elders or the king would sit to give
counsel. Jesus said “the gates of
hell shall not prevail against the Church,” it doesn’t mean the gates
would be chasing the Church around the street, it means that the stratagems of
hell, the counsels of hell, the gates of hell will not prevail against the
Church. And David took his place in the
gate, it was the place of the king, though this is not Jerusalem, it is a city
on the other side of Jordan, he takes his place there, which is the right place
for him to take. ““the king arose,
and sat in the gate. And they told unto
all the people, saying, Behold, the king doth sit in the gate. And all the people came before the king: for Israel had fled every man to his tent.”
(verse 8) and it doesn’t say, but
I’m sure the king thanked them, he blessed them as they came, he looked in
their faces and thanked them for their valour and so forth. There
Is Always Strife When The Right King Is Not On The Throne “And
all the people were at strife throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, The
king saved us out of the hand of our enemies, and he delivered us out of the
hand of the Philistines; and now he is fled out of the land for Absalom.”
(verse 9) ‘We’ve
made the wrong choice, we chose Absalom,’
listen, there is strife throughout all the land. There is always strife when the right king is
not on the throne. When you and I decide
who we want to be king, or if you and I decide that we’re king, there’s always
strife between the people. When the
right king is not there, there is always strife between the people. There is only one Throne, and we learn over
and over all through our lives, it ain’t ours.
There’s only One that’s on the Throne, and to the degree that you and I
bow our knee to that Throne, that’s the authority that we’ll walk in. Jesus has a man come to him, and say to him,
a Centurion, ‘My servant is sick, at the point of death. And I know that if you just speak the word,
he’ll live, because I also am a man under authority, I say to one Go and he
goes, to another Come, and he comes, you need only speak the word, and my
servant will be healed.’ And
it’s only two places in four Gospels where it tells us that Jesus marvelled,
and you got to do something to make Jesus marvel. Jesus marvelled at this man’s faith, because
he understood. What he said to Jesus is
the knee you bow the throne to, is the authority you walk in, ‘and
because I bow my knee to Caesar, all the authority of Rome is behind me, and I
say unto one Go, and he goes, I say to another Come, and he comes, and I see
your life, and I realize that you have bowed your knee in your life before a
Greater Throne than I understand, and you need only speak the word, and my
servant will be healed, you need only speak the word.’ And the people here in this scene have not
bowed before the right throne, they have not bowed before God’s king, it’s a
picture of course of the strife that we end up in. If two people are arguing, I guarantee you,
if people are arguing and fighting with each other, if Jesus would stand right
in the room with them, and say the verse we all know, ‘By this shall all
men know that you’re my disciples by the love that you have one for another,’ they
would all break down in tears and hug each other. When we’re standing in a room arguing and
fighting and want to strangle each other, if the apostle John came hobbling in
at 90 years old, and said ‘Little children, love one another,’ it
would reduce us to tears. And that
strife is only able to survive as long as the right king is off the throne,
when he is on the throne, it ceases. It
says there was strife through all of the land.
It says ‘We followed Absalom, now look at the pickle we’re in,’ verse
10 says, “And Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle. Now therefore why speak ye not a word of
bringing the king back?” ‘David’s the
one who delivered us, David’s the one who saved our hides all along, what are
we doing?’ and like Jesus, David isn’t going to force himself, he’s got
the thousands, he’s got military leaders, he’s not going to force himself. “And king David sent to Zadok and to
Abiathar the priests,” which are back in Jerusalem, “saying, Speak unto
the elders of Judah, saying, Why are ye the last to bring the king back to his
house? seeing the speech of all Israel is come to the king, even to his
house.” (verse 11) now this is David’s tribe. And it’s interesting, because Absalom’s
rebellion found it’s epicenter in Hebron, which is in Judah, the very tribe of
David, it’s so sad, it’s where the rebellion took root and spread. And David now says to the elders of Judah, he
sends word through the priests, ‘Why are you the last ones, the rest of
Israel’s murmuring, saying, ‘We need to bring back the king, why are you the
last ones to say Bring the king back to his house?’ “seeing the speech of
all Israel is come to the king, even to his house. Ye are my brethren, ye are my
bones and my flesh: wherefore then are
ye the last to bring back the king? ”
(verses 11b-12) Now if you go
back to chapter 5, verse 1, when they made David king in Hebron, they said ‘We
will obey you, you will be our king, you are our bones and our flesh,’
that’s what they said to him when they put him on the throne. Now David is saying back to them, ‘You’re
my brethren, you are my bones and my flesh,’ “wherefore then are ye the
last to bring back the king? ” “And say
ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be
not captain of the host before me continually in the room of Joab.”
(verse 13) So, by this time, David
knows that Joab had not listened to him, and that Joab had in fact killed
Absalom. We’re not given an indicator
before that. David realizes it at this
time, that Joab had been defiant and Joab had killed Absalom. The tribes of Israel are worried, because his
own tribe, that’s treason, if you received Absalom in this culture, you were
guilty of treason, your head came off.
And David is tired of it all. He
says ‘Why aren’t you bringing me back?’ he said, ‘I’ll
tell you this, if you bring me back, I’m going to make Amasa, who is one of the
cousins of Joab, I’m going to make him commander in chief,’ Amasa
just lost the war, he was on the other side, he was in the troops that came
against David. Some military commander
he is. But David says, ‘I’ll tell
you the truth,’ and he’s trying to remove the burden of guilt from
them, he’s saying ‘I don’t want revenge, if you bring me back I’ll take
up Amasa, who is of my tribe, and I will make him commander in chief, and
you’ll understand that I don’t want revenge, in the place of Joab.’ David now, no doubt, burning a bit
that Joab had killed Absalom. “And he
bowed the heart of all men of Judah, even as the heart of one man; so
that they sent this word unto the king, Return thou, and all thy
servants.” (verse 14) Now listen, we
have the same problem. We get saved, we
walk with the Lord, we grow. If at some
point in that journey, we backslide or we rebel, we let some other thing be the
king, whether it be substance or whether it be sexual, whatever, we let some other
king take the throne, for some reason it’s always hard to bring back the King
the second time. When we get saved, we
get saved out of the world, we’re excited, we hear about Christ’s love [and we
experience it], we embrace him, and something wonderful happens. But then when we blow it, and we know we’ve
sinned against Light, we read in our Bible that he forgives us, but it’s so
hard for us to forgive ourselves. It’s
so hard for us to bring him back the second time. But the thing is, when he saved you the first
time, he knew what he was getting. He
ain’t surprised, you’re surprised, because you thought he got something
special, ‘He knew what he was doing when he saved me, man, I’ll tell you, he
is wise.’ And then we blow
it, and we’re the ones who are surprised, he’s not surprised at all. And he’s waiting, he’s waiting. And it tells us when that prodigal returns,
the father runs and weeps and embraces and restores. It seems it’s always harder, isn’t it? It’s just because of us, it’s not because of
him. David wanted them to ask him, it
wasn’t because of David, it was because of them. As
David Gets Ready To Head Back To Jerusalem Shimei Comes Trying To Sucker Up To
David And
they finally sent word, they said “Return thou, and all thy servants.” “So
the king returned, and came to Jordan.
And Judah came to Gilgal, to go to meet the king, to conduct the king
over Jordan. And Shimei” we knew
he’d show up, don’t we, you guys remember who Shimei is, look interested, just
tell me you know who Shimei is, it’s Wednesday night, it’s hot, the air
conditioner’s on, you should be awake.
Remember Shimei, he’s the guy when David left Jerusalem, was cursing at
him and throwing stones at him and yelling at him. So Shimei hears that the king’s coming back,
he’s got a different problem from the rest of the people hearing the king’s
going to come back, so he’s already scheming, ‘I’m going to get down there
first and tell him how glad I am, how stupid I was and how glad I am,’ because
he’s got himself in a Jewish pickle is what he’s done here, Shimei, “And
Shimei the son of Gera, a Benjamite, which was of Bahurim, hasted and
came down with the men of Judah to meet king David. And there were a thousand men of
Benjamin with him,” so he’s influential, “and Ziba the servant of the
house of Saul, and his fifteen sons and his twenty servants with him; and they
went over Jordan before the king. And
there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king’s household, and to do what
he thought good. And Shimei the son of
Gera fell down before the king, as he was come over Jordan; and said unto the
king, Let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember that
which thy servant did perversely the day that my lord the king went out of
Jerusalem, that the king should take it to his heart.” (verses 15-19) he’s
saying ‘can you kind of just forget the cussing and the hitting you on
the noggin with the stones, can you just forget that?’ he says ‘don’t
impute my stupidity, my iniquity to me, and I don’t want you to remember what I
did either. I hope you didn’t take all
that cussing and spitting and stone-throwing to heart, when I was calling you a
bloody man, can we kind of just forget all that, I’m so glad to see ya, I’m
glad my lord the king has come back again.’
“For thy servant doth know
that I have sinned: therefore behold, I
am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to go down to meet my
lord the king.” (verse 20) Now look,
here’s genuine, Shimei’s not genuine.
Genuine goes to the king before he comes back. OK?
Genuine goes to the King before he returns. Once the King comes back, I guarantee you
there’s going to ba a lot of people saying ‘Hey, Lord, don’t remember all
that stuff I said and all that stuff I did,’ that’s going to be going on
all over the planet. Genuine repentance,
genuine asking for forgiveness is going to the King before he returns, going to
the King that’s not received by the rest of the world. Shimei says ‘Hey, try not to remember all
that stuff, all that stuff I did on the day you left, don’t take all that stuff
to heart, naw, I was just messing,’ and Abishai knows how much he was
messing, and Abishai the son of Zeruiah we know what he’s going to say. He said “But Abishai the son of Zeruiah
answered and said, Shall not Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed
the LORD’s
anointed?” (verse 21) ‘Hey,
one more dead, 20,000 down, what’s the difference, whose going to count this
one.’ “And
David said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that ye should this
day be adversaries unto me? shall there any man be put to death this day in
Israel? for do not I know that I am this day king over Israel?” (verse
22) ‘You guys, I am not insecure, this old
stone-throwing cussing fool is not dethroning me, I have no reservation or
insecurity about who I am and what God has done,’ and
David is thinking inside ‘I am the man that committed adultery and should
have been put to death, I’m the man that committed murder and should have been
put to death. And in those sins I was
able to say Sacrifice and offering thou hast not desired, but a broken and
contrite spirit thou wilt not despise.
No death today, there’s been enough killing. I know who I am, I know the position God’s
put me in, I’m not insecure with this fool.’
“Therefore the king said unto Shimei, Thou shalt not die. And the king sware unto him.” (verse 23) David buried the ax, he just left the
handle sticking out of the ground. Ah,
we’re going to find out as we follow along, that David will instruct his son
Solomon, before he leaves the throne to him, ‘Look, here’s this guy, this is
what he did, he’s not trustworthy, when the deck is stacked against him he says
anything people want to hear,’ and they set up some parameters, they say ‘OK,
Shimei you’ll live as long as you stay within the parameters of Jerusalem, the
day you leave, you will be put to death.’
And the king receives him but puts some parameters on his life, and
as we come into 1st Kings we’re going to see that Shimei, he finds
himself in that circumstance. The
Truth Comes Out About Ziba’s Lies About Mephibosheth Now
Mephibosheth is here, you need to read ahead, because we want to come to
Mephibosheth and Barzillai. You guys
love Mephibosheth, right? You remember
Ziba was lying about him. It says “And
Mephibosheth the son of Saul came down to meet the king, and had neither
dressed his feet,” he was crippled, they were full of sores, “nor
trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until
the day he came again in peace.” (verse 24) so he’s Mephibo-mess at
this point in time. So, this guy is
funky. And he’s going to say, ‘Hey,
David, I wanted to go, but Ziba lied, I was going to get a mule and follow you,
but they took it away, I’m crippled, what could I do? I couldn’t come, he lied about the whole
thing.’ And we’re going to see a
wonderful process that follows down from that.
But look, remember this too, Mephibosheth put on himself the appearance
of mourning, he didn’t wash his feet, he didn’t trim his beard, he didn’t wash
his clothes, he put on an outward appearance that jeopardized his own
life. Because he said by his appearance ‘I
do not agree with this rebellion of Absalom.
I am mourning because the true king is not here.’ And he was willing, though he was
crippled as it were, to put his life in jeopardy for the true king. And look, we’re all crippled, remember he was
crippled “by the fall,” remember that, this man fell, it says he was crippled
by a fall. That’s how we’ve all been
crippled. We’re all cripples from the
fall. But remember, the king made a
covenant before Mephibosheth was born, that covered his fall. And it was because of the covenant that was
made before he was born that Mephibosheth was received at the king’s table, and
received the king’s grace. And it was a
Covenant that was made before we were born, though we were injured by the Fall,
that procured our place at the King’s table.
You and I are waiting now, and our appearance, our, we shouldn’t be
funky in a bad way, but as far as the world is concerned, we should be
different. We should be unsatisfied with
so many things the world is satisfied with.
We should be dissatisfied with the rebellion that we see around us. We should be bearing the marks, in a sense,
of our own loyalty to the King of kings and Lord of lords, and there’s a cost
sometimes attached to that, isn’t there.
There’s a cost sometimes. But you
know what, he’s coming. Let me tell you
something, news flash, Jesus is coming, he’s coming, watch the news, just watch
the news. You know when we stood last
Saturday with Moshe El Yon, the vice prime minister of Israel, you know, you
stand there and think ‘Here’s the second most powerful man in the restored
nation of God’s ancient people Israel [actually the House of Judah], and you
think this is Joseph, this is Daniel, this is a Bible story, God has been so
gracious to us, to tell us the truth about the days that we live in, God has
been so gracious to us to fore-warn us.’ [Comment:
this was given on June 30, 2010, it is now around the end of May 2023,
where the Russian Federation has been in a knockdown, drag-out war with the
Ukraine, involving all of Europe, NATO and the United States in supplying the
Ukraine with armaments, which war is a precursor to the formation of the coming
United States of Europe, the prophecied Beast power just before the coming of
World War III, which will bring on the 2nd coming of Jesus Christ to
stop this coming worldwide genocide (see https://unityinchrist.com/prophecies/2ndcoming_4.htm). We’re getting really close, world alliances
are changing, now there’s the Russia-China-Iran (and the Iranians just signed a
peace treaty with Saudi Arabia), and the US-NATO-European-Ukrainian alliance,
both alliances opposed to each other, and Europe driven into being very much
more dependent on Middle East oil and natural gas. Do the math, prophetically speaking, we’re
close folks.] I drive down 95 and I look out across the city of
Philadelphia, and I see steeple after steeple after steeple after steeple, in
largely an unchurched city, I see row home after row home after row home after
row home of people who do not know that they need forgiveness, and that Jesus
Christ is coming, and he has lavished so much grace upon you and I. The amount of grace represented in this room,
and you look around and you know a few stories…[transcript of a connective
expository sermon on 2nd Samuel 18:1-33 and 2nd Samuel
19:1-23, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500
Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116] related
link: Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED676 |