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If you want to take your Bible and turn, we're going to be in Genesis chapter 26 this morning, Genesis 26. If you need a colored pencil, there's a few on the floor now.

Do the promises of God depend upon the worthiness of the recipient? Do the promises of God depend upon upon the worthiness of the recipient. Do you need to check certain boxes before God is willing or able to work through you or for you? Those are important questions. Think about the things that are promises from God. Salvation is a promise. Forgiveness of sins is a promise. Eternity with Christ is a promise. Do those promises ultimately depend upon God, or do they ultimately depend upon you? That's a crucial question to answer, and Genesis 26 is going to help us answer those questions this morning.

Genesis 26, we'll read the first five verses. We'll just move section by section through. We won't go all the way to the end of the chapter. We'll stop at verse 33, but we're just going to read the first five verses here. Genesis 26, verses 1 through 5.

Now there was a famine in the land besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar, to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. And the Lord appeared to him and said, Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land. and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and I will give to your offspring all these lands, and in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

Cade, can you do me a big favor? Could you go turn the AC off for a minute? I don't think I'll preach long enough for it to get hot in here. But I'm going to roach my voice trying to yell over the top of it.

Before we get going, we should just like re-situate where we are in the book of Genesis. So chapter 25 introduces us to Isaac. And we had met his wife, Rebecca, in chapter 24. Okay. And then here, after the end of chapter 25, where we meet Isaac's sons, Jacob and Esau. Thank you. Here we come into chapter 26, and the focus pulls off of the sons and goes back onto Isaac. And probably... It actually goes back in time. So a lot of times these Old Testament narratives aren't necessarily given to us in chronological order. And so when we get the generations of Isaac and then it starts telling us about his sons, that's a normal narrative pattern in the book of Genesis, the generations of Isaac. Now we're going to talk about his sons. But then there's this story from Isaac's life that Moses wants us to know about. And so he pulls us back in time, probably back before Isaac, Jacob and Esau were born. And he tells us there was a famine in the land.

And in the story that we're about to read, there's two stories that are very similar to it in the life of Abraham. And so a lot of times critical scholars will say, well, these are all just various legends of the same story. You know, there's these two stories with Abraham where he goes into a foreign land and tells the ruler that his wife is actually his sister. And now the same thing's happening with Isaac. It's all really just one event. These are just three versions of it. I think that's utter nonsense. And Moses points out to us that this is a distinct event. Verse one, he says, now there was a famine in the land besides the former famine in the days of Abraham. So he's making a clear distinction between this event and what happened in Genesis chapter 13. There's also a distinction between what happened here and when Abraham also interacts with a Philistine king named Abimelech in Genesis chapter 20. These are unique situations.

Now, it's interesting that the time frame, this is before Isaac's children are born, but it's still a long time after the incident with Abraham and with Sarah. But the king's name is still Abimelech. So it could be that this is a family name. And so this is Abimelech from chapter 20. This is his son or his grandson. Or it could be just a royal name like Caesar or Pharaoh. It could function in the same way for them. We don't know for sure. But this guy has the same name as the one whom Abraham interacted with in chapter 20.

It's also interesting, like, if you're reading... like secular history, and they talk about the Philistines, they'll point out that the Philistines don't come to inhabit this region. They came from another part of the Mediterranean and they were a seafaring people. They don't settle permanently in this region for another 700 years. So what's going on? Why is Moses telling us that Abimelech is a Philistine king? And probably what is going on is something similar to like when the Vikings, who were a seafaring people, went to iceland and then a couple of them got kicked out of iceland and keep going west and you get a settlement of vikings in newfoundland you know 600 years before there are permanent european settlements in the new world you still have colony there and that's probably what this is like the philistines are probably a very small group in the land of canaan at this time they're not they're not fully moved to the area yet that's still several centuries in the future so let's just come some of the historical background here but what's happening in verses two and following

After this famine comes, Isaac is obviously considering moving down to Egypt. His dad had done that in the face of a famine again in chapter 13. But the Lord appears to Isaac and he says, do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land of which I shall tell you, which sounds very similar to what God said to Abraham in chapter 12. Go to the land that I shall show you. Verse three says sojourn in this land. So dwell here, even though you're not a permanent resident, even though he's not going to build houses, he's not going to live in any fixed place. He says sojourn in this land and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and to your offspring, I will give all these lands and will establish the oath that I swore to your father, Abraham. And what is happening here is that God is reiterating the promise promises that he had made to Abraham. He's now promising those things to his son, Isaac.

So if you remember the whole story with Ishmael earlier in Abraham's life in chapter 15, uh, Abraham and Sarah had tried to help God along with his promises. And God said, no, I am not going to bless you through Ishmael. I will give Ishmael blessings, but you are going to have a son by Sarah. And so then when... They do have a son. God says, I will bless you through Isaac. Isaac is the one through whom your offspring are going to be named. And now God comes to Isaac himself and says, here are the blessings, the blessings that God promised in chapter 12, that you're going to become a great nation, that you're going to multiply, that you're going to bless the nation. The nations are going to be blessed through your family. God is giving that promise to Isaac here.

These aren't new promises. The promise for his descendants to be as numerous as the stars in the sky. God says that to Abraham in chapter 15 and verse 5. He's not giving him a new promise about all nations of the earth being blessed through him. Again, that was in chapter 12. He's... He's saying, Isaac, you are the child of promise and you can rest secure in the fact that everything that I promised to Abraham is going to be yours.

Why did God pass on these promises to Isaac? That's a very interesting question. The way that God puts this in verse five is interesting to me. God promised to bless Isaac because of Abraham's obedience. That's what verse five says. Chapter 26, verse five. Because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, my rules. How does that work? That the promises of God come to Isaac because of Abraham's obedience.

God came to Abraham before Abraham believed in him. God gives promises to Abraham before Abraham obeys. And yet God says to Isaac that the fulfillment, that the continuation of the promise is because Abraham did obey him. God's gifts are unmerited. We're gonna see that again shortly. Nonetheless, they are conditionally received. And what is the condition of receiving the promises of God? That condition, according to chapter 15 and verse 6, is faith. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. But what does faith look like? Faith is not in the Bible. Now, the way we think about faith as modern Western people is totally different than how the Bible portrays faith. Faith is not just a hope, like a feeling inside where you're, yeah, I feel pretty confident about that. Or I think that's probably right. It's not just an intellectual agreement to a set of factual statements. Yes, I believe in the words on the page that Jesus is God, that he died for my sins. To just nod your head with that is not faith, as the Bible talks about faith. Faith always leads to action. Faith is a commitment of your whole self. And so Abraham had faith, and that's counted to him as righteousness, but how did it live out in his life? Abraham obeyed my voice. He kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Real faith always follows out with obedience. This is what James is talking about in his letter when he says, you say you have faith and I have works. Well, I'm going to show you my faith by my works. They're not in opposition to one another. Good works, obedience should always follow faith. And obedience brings blessings. Obedience brings blessings. How obedient then was Isaac? We'll see that in verses 6 through 16.

So Isaac settled in Gerar, like God told him to. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, She is my sister, for he feared to say my wife, thinking lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah, because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebecca, his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say she is my sister? Isaac said, Because I thought lest I should die because of her. Abimelech said, What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us. So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.

So how obedient was Isaac? Well, when Isaac is in this land and he sees that the king has power, he probably has a harem of other women. And he goes, you know what? Rebecca is a beautiful woman. I am terrified that they are going to kill me. Now, remember, he's just received God's promise that God is going to give him offspring, that God is going to bless the nations through him. And yet his first response to this difficult situation is fear. He's afraid of what might happen, and so he lies. He follows in the footsteps of his father, Abraham. He doesn't obey what God would say. Instead, he... He doesn't literally run from the situation, but he's running away from the danger by putting on this pretense for, we don't know how long the long time is, but it kind of makes you wonder. So like back in the previous chapter, you know, for a long time, 20 years, Rebecca is barren. They don't have any children. And it might have something to do with the fact that they were in Gerar for a long time, pretending to not be married. Like, how long is this? We don't know. But they're spending a long time not being visibly, apparently, with one another.

Isaac... Isaac shared the fear of his father, repeated the failure of his father. And I think this is an important principle for us that like living out of fear is always going to lead you to sin. Living out of fear is a shortcut to sin. When Paul is writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 7, he is encouraging him to continue in his ministry, to live into the calling that God has given him. And he says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of sound mind. God does not desire his children to live out of fear. He's just given Isaac a promise. Now, God... is not waiting for Isaac to get it right in order to protect his family. God supernaturally protects Isaac here in spite of himself and protects Abimelech from sin. He protects him by Abimelech overseeing something.

Now, you read verse 8 and the king looks out his window and sees Isaac laughing with Rebecca and calls Abimelech. Isaac in and says, well, she must be your wife. Now it's possible, possible that you didn't ever laugh with someone of the opposite gender in the ancient world. I think that's probably pretty unlikely. A lot of English translations will bring this word into English, not as laughing, but as something like caressing. They're obviously acting in a way that's married. And Abimelech is able to look at how they're acting and go, he's a liar. That's not his sister. And so he calls Isaac into his presence and says, why did you lie to us? Why did you put us in this position? Isaac, by his fear, not only was putting himself in sin, but he was putting his wife in danger of sin. He was putting his host country in danger of sin. Living out of fear had put him in position to bring great shame and sin upon all of those around him. But God protected him. God protected him from his foolishness. He protected him from his fear and he protected him from himself.

In verse 12, Isaac then sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord blessed him and the man became rich and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants so that the Philistines envied him. Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father. And Abimelech said to Isaac, go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.

I wonder when you read Isaac's temptation here, obviously it's very easy to go, wow, what a loser. To pretend your wife isn't your wife just to save your own skin and then put everybody else in danger. Like, duh, you shouldn't do that. But where are you tempted to try to just blend in, to fit in with the people around you, whether it's friends or family or others to, as Jesus says, hide your lamp under a bushel in order to... just to save your own skin, whether that's probably in our society, not a literal thing. You're not literally worried about being put to death for standing up for Christ. But people might think you're weird. People might think you're strange. If you don't participate in the sinful things that they participate in, or if you openly express your faith, if you question their actions based on the standards of God's word, Where are you tempted to hide those things in order to just make life smoother and easier? Basically, that's living out of fear rather than out of confidence in God's promises. And what that does is, obviously, it inhibits your ability to experience God's blessing because you're actually moving away from him, not towards him.

I was just talking to some high school kids this week, and the point I was trying to make to them was like, there's really no neutral in the Christian life. There's no place you can go and just kind of, like if you have a stick shift, you understand this. You put the car in neutral, and if you're at the top of the hill, you don't actually stay there. You're rolling one direction or the other. Neutral isn't really a thing. If you're, because the world actually isn't the top of the hill where you can go either way, we live on a hill headed down to destruction because of sin. And so either you are in gear trying to get up the hill, the hard road towards life, or you're Yeah, trying to just coast, while coasting takes you the opposite direction of where you need to go. And living out of fear is almost like putting it in gear going down the hill, faster than you really even were going on your own, right? That analogy kind of broke down, because going in gear can actually make you go slower down the hill. But anyway, you understand what I'm saying?

The road towards Christ, the road towards Christ, honoring God is up a difficult road that where Isaac in this situation could have said, I am going to tell them who she is. She's a beautiful woman. I don't have any power here. They might kill me. I'm afraid of that, but I'm going to tell the truth. I'm going to protect my wife to the best of my abilities. He could have done that, but instead he acted out of fear and he put other people at risk. God protected him from his own selfishness, his own fearfulness. He overcame Isaac's lying. And God is also capable of handling enemies, not just inside of us, not just our own folly, is also capable of handling the enemies outside of us.

So. In verses 14 and following, the Philistines start to envy Isaac, and they are filling in the wells that Abraham had made, and they tell him in verse 16, go away. Verse 17, Isaac departed from there and encamped in the valley of Gerar and settled there, and Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. Amen. And he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a spring of water, the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen saying, the water is ours. So he called the name of the well Essek because they contended with him. Then they dug another well and they quarreled over that one also. So he called its name Sitna. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called his name Rehoboth, saying, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

So the Philistines get jealous of Isaac and say, get out of here. Let's create some distance. Now, we don't know exactly where this city of Gerar, where Abimelech was king. That's disputed where that is. The best suggestion I heard is that it's the same city as what becomes Ziklag in the days of David. So it's in the southern region of Judah, what would become Judah. And then they drive him out from there to the valley of Gerar, it says. So probably this is the Negev. So again, this is a river valley in the southern part of what would become the kingdom of Judah. And then he moves down there and the Lord continues to prosper him. And this is an area where Abraham had spent quite a bit of time, had dug wells to water his flocks. But after he had left, the Philistines had filled those in. And so as Isaac is down there, he starts to dig them out. He starts to remove whatever earth they'd filled those wells in with and to access the springs of water. But he encounters this problem. The herdsmen who live in that area say, ah, that's actually, that's our water. You can't have it.

And so the first place that they dig this well, Essek, its name means contention. It means a place where there is tension and fighting over these wells. The next one, the Sitna, it means enmity. So you've got these two places. peoples who are at war with one another over this water. And Isaac, I can't tell what Moses is trying to tell us about Isaac here. Like is Isaac being too passive? He's not contending for those things that God has given to him. I don't know. Maybe he's just trying to be a good neighbor as he just keeps moving, keeps moving, keeps looking for another well. And finally, third time's a charm. He comes to Rehoboth, which means broad places or room. There's expansive. There's enough room for us here. They quit fighting me for this region. Now I can have a well. Now I have a place where I can water my flocks.

Isaac, when he leaves this region, God continues to provide for him, even in the face of tension, even in the face of difficulties. So Isaac's moved from trying to lie to preserve himself to now he's trying to be peaceable and he's living faithfully in the land. As we move into the next section, God is going to reveal himself to Isaac. But just because God has revealed himself to him does not mean all of the earthly problems disappear. Just because God has given him the promise that all of the blessings that were to flow to Abraham are going to come through his family, that does not mean his life is easy and free of toil, free of trouble. Following the Lord does not mean a smooth path with no roadblocks. It means that he will provide even when roadblocks and quarrels and fighting and difficulty come.

Walking by faith requires in the face of those roadblocks, in the face of the people fighting over the well, confidence in the character and the competence of God. And what I mean by that is, is that when we are facing difficulties, when either the difficulty is caused by our own sin or the difficulties that are caused by sin in the world around us, by people we interact with, not honoring God with their choices, not being for us in the way that they live. We need to have confidence in God's character, that he is the kind of God who actually keeps his promises, that he hasn't told us one thing and he's pulling a bait and switch on us. He's actually, he's told us he's going to lead us into green pastures besides still waters, but actually he just wants our life to be hard and awful. I think it's easy to think that about God. I've spent years of my life thinking that about God. that he really doesn't have my best interests at heart. But we need to have confidence in God's character, that he really does have what's best for us in mind all the time. And then we need to have confidence in his competence. We need to trust that he actually knows what he's doing, that his ways are higher than our ways, that he, in fact, as God, knows what he's doing.

We see in verses 23 to 25, God come to Isaac again. From there, he went up to Beersheba. Beersheba is the place that Abraham names at the end of chapter 21, I believe it is. Yeah, at the end of chapter 21, where Abraham had made an oath with the Abimelech of his time. They had made an oath together, uh, At that time, Abimelech and Phicol, commander of his army, come out and they say to Abraham, let's make a treaty. And Abraham is not so sure he really wants to, but then he does. He starts sacrificing animals and says, we're going to make this treaty, but we're going to make it in the sight of God. And then he names the place where they do this, Beersheba, which means well of an oath. And so Isaac comes here to this place where his father had a history and the Lord appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of Abraham, your father. Fear not. He's about to reiterate the promise, but he adds those two words in the front end. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham's sake. So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the Lord and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac's servants dug a well. Again, they're excavating where Abraham had first built a well, but now they're re-digging that well.

God comes and he reiterates to Isaac that he's going to bless him. He's going to pass on the gifts of the promises to Abraham. And he tells him to fear not. And he tells him this because we've just seen where fear led Isaac. Fear led Isaac away from obedience to the Lord. Fear led Isaac into endangering his wife. Fear led Isaac into giving opportunities... for the people around him to sin rather than opportunities for them to turn towards the one true God. And the second time that God comes to Isaac, Isaac responds by offering worship. He builds an altar there and he calls upon the name of the Lord. And that language of calling upon the name of the Lord in the book of Genesis refers to true worship of the one true God. And so that's what Isaac does.

It's... The story that follows is a near repeat of the end of chapter 21, where Abimelech comes to Abraham. Here, Abimelech recognizes Isaac's wealth and his status and his power, and he comes and wants to make a treaty. Verse 26, when Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzath, his advisor, and Phicol, the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you? They said, we see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you that you will do us no harm just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the Lord. So they recognize that as God had blessed Abraham in the past, now God is pouring out his blessing upon his son, Isaac.

There's a temptation... When you're in a situation like Isaac's, Isaac has been asked by these people to leave them. They started to see his wealth grow and they said, hey, get out of our land. And Simon, they've basically said, you're not welcome among us. And the Lord has continued to prosper him. He's grown more and more wealthy, more and more visibly powerful to the world. and now that they see he's gotten really powerful they come to him and say hey make a treaty with us and i think there would be a temptation in isaac's position to say no why would i do that why why would i trust you You who have sent me away. I mean, you see, he is suspicious. Why have you come to me seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you? There would be a temptation even to be petty here and to just say, I can't trust you. I won't let you trust me. But instead, he responds not out of fear, not out of that initial suspicion. He responds out of faith. He welcomes them. He made them a feast and they ate and they drank.

I was just listening to a book this morning and they're talking about it's a biblical theology of the city of God. But he was quoting from Exodus chapter 24 and pointed out that same language there where after God gives the Ten Commandments and he calls the 70 elders of Israel up on to Mount Sinai. Their God hosts a feast for the elders of Israel, and they sat down and they ate and they drank with God in Exodus 24. And here in Genesis chapter 26, Isaac is hosting the nations. And that idea of table fellowship in the scripture is tightly tied to the idea of welcome and of blessing. The idea that we as Christians are welcomed to the table of the Lord at communion is a symbol of our welcome into his family. We remember what he did for us so that we could become part of his family. The end of the scriptures, Revelation chapter 19, the Lord Jesus is hosting the wedding supper of the Lamb. And so it's the same idea in Exodus 24 where God is hosting the elders of Israel. They are welcomed into the blessing of God's presence, and he hosts them at a meal. And here, I think what we see in verse 30 is God starting to fulfill his promise to Abraham and Isaac to bless the nations. Here these ungodly Philistine rulers come to Isaac and he, the prophet, the one through whom God is working in the world at that time, he welcomes them to the table. I think this is a little indicator to us, just this one sentence in the text that Moses is giving us, that God is starting to bless the nations through the family of Isaac.

We also see Just a principle of when Isaac is living in faith, when he's living in a pattern of worship, instead of potentially bringing sin on the nations around him, like he did earlier, by lying about Rebekah, he put Abimelech in danger. Here, when he's walking in a pattern of worshiping the Lord, the Lord blesses him and is bringing peace to the nations through him. it makes me, just on a personal application level, think about Proverbs 16 and verse 7, which says, when a man's ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

There is so often, I think this is especially true in our modern American world, where Christians aren't popular, right? To actually follow the Lord isn't isn't the most popular thing to do. But there is a world of difference between being persecuted for righteousness' sake, like Matthew chapter 5 talks about, and being of such a character that nobody just likes you because you're a jerk. Sure, you hold to the truth in some form or fashion, but you're not a very loving person. You're not a very agreeable person. Well, Proverbs 16, 7 says if you're actually living in a way that's righteous, yeah, there's still going to be persecution that comes. All who desire to live godly and righteous will be persecuted. But the majority of the time, actually, you'll be at peace even with your enemies, even with people who don't like what you stand for because they won't be able to question your character. still are going to have some measure of respect and want to be at peace with you. And I think that's what we see here in Isaac's life. He's standing for something completely different than what the Philistines are standing for. And yet they want to be at peace with him because they see the blessing of God on his life. If we are walking in a way that honors the Lord, it will be visible to the world around us. It will be visible to the world around us. That's my last point here is that God's promise to bless becomes visible to others.

So was there anything in Isaac that deserved the promise of God? No, on his own, Isaac is the kind of guy who is willing to put his wife in danger of being taken into someone else's harem. Like Isaac doesn't have native to himself merit that deserves the blessing of God. Nonetheless, God pours out his grace. He pours out his promise. He pours out his unmerited favor. But Isaac, like his father, was responsible to receive that promise by faith. And that is true for us as well. God holds out the promise of his blessing, the promise of salvation freely. Not because anybody deserves it. None of us do. But we are responsible to receive Have faith in him. We are responsible to respond with trust. And faith works its way out through worship and obedience. Blessing follows obedience, not because obedience earns God's favor. We can't ever put God into our debt. But because God is a God who keeps his promises and he's promised to bless those who trust in him.

So we don't live a life based on fear of like, oh no, have I obeyed enough? Have I trusted enough? We live a life based on, I trust that God keeps his promises. And I am going to order my thoughts and my affections and my actions towards the God who keeps his promises. I want to live in line with him. So don't live a life based on fear. Live an obedient life, a life that displays confidence and the competence and the character of God.

Father God, we need your help in this. We naturally are fearful. We do wander far from you. All the time. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. But Lord, we do pray with the words of that song. Take my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Give us hearts that trust you and that seek to obey you in all that we do, all that we say, all that we think. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Genesis 25:12-34 (ESV)

12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s servant, bore to Abraham. 13 These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, named in the order of their birth: Nebaioth, the firstborn of Ishmael; and Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, 14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, 15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. 16 These are the sons of Ishmael and these are their names, by their villages and by their encampments, twelve princes according to their tribes. 17 (These are the years of the life of Ishmael: 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.) 18 They settled from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled over against all his kinsmen.

19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham fathered Isaac, 20 and Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to be his wife. 21 And Isaac prayed to the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. And the LORD granted his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived. 22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD. 23 And the LORD said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples from within you shall be divided;

the one shall be stronger than the other,

the older shall serve the younger.”

24 When her days to give birth were completed, behold, there were twins in her womb. 25 The first came out red, all his body like a hairy cloak, so they called his name Esau. 26 Afterward his brother came out with his hand holding Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when she bore them.

27 When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents. 28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew, and he ate and drank and rose and went his way. Thus Esau despised his birthright.

Following sermon transcript was generated by AI. The sermon was not. Please comment if you notice any errors.

So we've got basically three chunks of text here. The first is verses 12 to 18, the generations of Ishmael. And why would we care if Ishmael is not the son of promise?

So Abraham has these sons. He actually has a number of other sons later by his second wife, Keturah. But earlier on in Genesis, we saw where God had promised to Abraham that he was going to become a great nation. But at that point, he was 75 and he didn't have any children. So after about a dozen years, his wife, who is only 10 years younger than him, is now at this point, she's also well into her 70s, says, hey, you know what? How about I give you my servant and you have a child with her and that child will be counted mine. And Abraham says, okay, sounds fine. And they decide to do that. That's a common practice in the ancient Near East. The children of the maidservant would have been considered the wife's children. And they do that. And Ishmael is born. Abraham has a child with Hagar. And God says, no, this was not my plan. It is not through Ishmael that your children will be named. I'm going to give a child to Sarah. And it's still then another 13 years before that promise comes to fruition. And God does give a child to Sarah. And this child's name is Isaac.

And as Isaac is growing and he starts to get a little older, Ishmael starts to make fun of him and is poking fun at him. And Sarah, remember this was all her idea. Sarah says, get that woman and her child out of here. Send them away. And Abraham doesn't want to. Abraham doesn't want to send away his son, his firstborn son. He loves him. He cares about him. He cares about Hagar too. And he does not want to send them away. But God comes and he says, no, listen to Sarah. Send them away, and then in chapter 17 and verse 20, God promises that he is going to make Ishmael into a great people as well. Twelve princes are going to come from him. And here in chapter 25, we see that God is fulfilling his promise to Abraham. God is making Ishmael into a great nation, and these twelve princes, twelve tribes that become the people that today we would consider Arabs, they are descendants of Ishmael. So this is significant because we see God's faithfulness to the promise that he gave to Abraham to bless Ishmael, but at the same time we also see that this isn't the line of promise, these are not God's chosen people, and so we see a theme recurring that starts in Genesis all the way back in chapter four.

And that's the theme of tension between brothers, between those who are the chosen people of God and those who are not. There is a tension, a division between them. And that happens with Cain and Abel. And we know how that results. And then it happens again here with this tension between Ishmael and Isaac. And Ishmael is blessed, but he's not the chosen one. And it's going to recur with Isaac's own children.

So the second section we see are the children of Isaac. And if you remember it, here the text reminds us that Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, the Aramean of Paddan Aram, sister of Laban, the Aramean to be his wife. The longest chapter in Genesis was one of the last ones we looked at, and that's chapter 24. And chapter 24 of Genesis is this great, big, long narrative of Abraham realizing my son needs a wife. And he should not be taking a wife from among the people of the nations, the Canaanites, who would lead him away from God. Lot did that. Lot moved into the same area. He followed Abram into the promised land. But then he took a wife from among the people of the land and raised his family the way that everybody else in that area did. And it was a disaster for Lot. It undid his life and he eventually loses his wife and things don't go well with his daughters.

Abraham doesn't want that for his son. And so he sends a servant back to his home country and says, find a wife for my son. And so in chapter 24, you get the story of the servant coming and meeting Rebekah. And then the whole story is repeated as the servant repeats it back to Laban and his father. And it's kind of a head scratcher. Why does the author spend so much time informing us of how Isaac got a wife? But the point of the story is that God is providing miraculously for the people of God. He's miraculously providing for the line of promise to continue. Even though Abraham was so old when his child came, and now his son is getting old to be getting married for the first time, 40 years old. God is providing for him.

So Isaac has this wife, Rebekah, but then she too, verse 21 tells us, is barren. She's barren just like her mother-in-law was. And so it's another 20 years of waiting for the promise of God. Waiting for what is going to happen here. And Jacob, Isaac rather, Isaac prays for his wife. And he prays for her to conceive. And she does conceive, which again, this is like a really important theme in the biblical narrative. If someone who is barren or someone who we don't expect to get pregnant gets pregnant, something important is about to happen in salvation history. It's true with Sarah, it's true with Rebecca, it'll be true later on with Rachel and then Ruth and then Hannah and then most importantly with Mary. All these people you don't expect to be pregnant either because they're old or they're barren or with the case of Mary, a virgin, like something significant is happening when the unexpected happens concerning a birth.

And here, Rebecca conceives, but then she's miserable, and it seems more miserable than the typical pregnant woman. She's to the point where she goes to inquire of the Lord. And we don't know what that means specifically. I think it's entirely possible that she actually goes to her husband, Isaac, who we'll see later on in Genesis, seems to function as a prophet. Like, it seems that she probably goes to him and inquires, says, okay, ask the Lord for me. Why? Why is this struggle taking place within me? And she receives this prophecy. The Lord said to her, two nations are in your womb. And two peoples from within you shall be divided. One shall be stronger than the other and the older shall serve the younger. So she receives a prophecy concerning her children that they both will turn into nations and they will be at enmity with one another. One's going to be stronger and the younger is going to be the one who is the head. He's going to be the one who receives the blessing. He's going to be the chosen of God and the older will serve him.

So then the boys are born. And the first one, we're told, comes out all red. And so he's all hairy and his name is then given to him. His name is Esau. And the second one, his name is really significant because as he comes out, he grabs hold of the heel of his brother. And the name Jacob means like a heel grabber, but it can also be taken to mean a deceiver or a trickster. And that, as we walk through the Jacob story, is going to be very indicative of the kind of man that Jacob is. Jacob is a deceiver. He is a trickster. He's a schemer. Even this word here in verse 27, where it says, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man. Could be taken to mean that he's a contemplative man, that he's sitting here, he's thinking. He's thinking about things and he's scheming how to get ahead.

So you see these two brothers, they're different kinds of men. Esau is a man of action. Every time I say man of action, I think of the line from the Princess Bride where the man in black says to the six-fingered man, we are men of action, lies do not become us. Esau doesn't really seem to have a lying bone. He doesn't have a thinking bone in his body. He's just a man of action. Whereas Jacob is the schemer. These two brothers have very different trajectories, but those trajectories bring them into conflict.

Again, we see in this section of verses 19 to 26 that God has been faithful to his promise. God is bringing about children to keep the line of promise going on, that God had promised that he was going to bless the world through Abraham's family, and against all odds, his family continues. Even though these old men and old women are having children, well, through the fact that they are having children, God is continuing to bring his promise to fruition.

But then we start to get into the narrative proper of Jacob's life with his first story, which is, it's really a sad story. Verses 27 to 34. When the boys grew up, Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, while Jacob was a quiet man dwelling in tents. You see the start of the tension here. Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Not a good deal. It's clear to everyone including the narrator that there's two kids and mom loves one and dad loves the other. This is not a good setup.

Once when Jacob was cooking stew Esau came in from the field and he was exhausted. And Esau said to Jacob let me eat some of that red stew for I'm exhausted. Now I don't know if you've watched brothers interact. They often speak to one another in this sort of way, this rough, confrontational, not very kind way. Now, nonetheless, you are reading the story and you're thinking, okay, if you know how the story goes and you know Jacob's the chosen one, Jacob's the one who's supposed to be like God's servant, how should he respond? How should he love his neighbor as himself here? How should he love his brother as himself? Maybe he should like throw some insult back at him about what a jerk he is and then give him a bowl of stew, right? Like he's... That's what you would expect a brother to do. Yeah, maybe he's going to throw an insult back and say, wow, maybe you could go out to the manor's tree and pick something but but he's gonna give him a little stew but that's not what happens instead the first thing on the tip of Jacob's tongue is sell me your birthright you're reading that you're like wait how did we go from stew because I'm hungry to birthright.

And what is obvious as you're reading this text is Jacob's been thinking about this. Jacob has been scheming. I have got to find a way to get the birthright. Now, we don't know for sure whether Jacob knows the prophecy that was given to his mom, that the older is going to serve the younger. But I think it's entirely possible because Jacob is the one that Rachel loves, that Rachel has told Jacob this prophecy that you know someday that your brother is going to be serving you. And just bide your time. I know he's bigger than you and he beats you up sometimes, but someday he's going to serve you. And Jacob's sitting here scheming, going, how am I going to make that happen? How can I make him the heel that I take hold of and bring into submission to me? Here I am making this stew and in comes my brother and I have an opportunity. I have an opportunity to exercise my will in this situation and put him in his place.

Jacob said, sell me your birthright now. And Esau said, I'm about to die. What good is a birthright to me? Why do I care about a birthright? And Jacob is not happy with the, well, I don't care answer. He says, no, swear to me, swear to me that you will give me your birthright now. So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew and he ate, and he drank, and he rose, and he went his way. Thus, Esau despised his birthright.

You read that story, and you walk away going, I don't really think God could use either one of these guys. They're both kind of losers. One of them is absolutely unthinking. I mean, the chapter concludes with a negative reflection on Esau. The text does not say, oh, poor Esau, he got tricked. It doesn't say, oh a bummer thing for him. It says he despised his birthright. The birthright was everything. To be the oldest son means you would inherit your father's household, either the entirety of the household or at least a double portion over what everyone else would receive. And he looks at that and says, yeah, it doesn't matter. I'm just hungry. He's driven by his stomach. And the text holds him guilty for that. He is not well reflected on here.

On the other hand, you have Jacob who's, he's a little bit more of a long-term thinker. He's driven by selfish interest, but not the selfish interest of right now, but he's driven by the selfish interest of, I'm gonna get mine out here in the future. I'm gonna lay things in place so that I can have what is coming to me or what I want to be coming to me, whether it should be or not. And that's really the point of this story is to introduce us to these two characters, both of whom are undeserving of anything from God. Both of whom are undeserving of God's mercy and his grace. Neither one deserves God's involvement in their life in any way except for judgment.

But the point, longer term, thinking theologically, thinking through the whole of Scripture, that the Apostle Paul draws from this text is that though neither one of these two men deserves God's mercy, salvation does not ultimately depend upon our worthiness of God's mercy. We all deserve God's judgment, and yet God chooses to pour out mercy and grace. In the book of Malachi, God is bringing an indictment against the people of Israel because they have rejected him. He has poured out his love and his mercy on the people of Israel, the people who descend from Jacob over and over again. And they have chosen to reject him. They've acted like Esau and they've said, Paul, what good is it for us that we're God's chosen people? Oh, well, what good does that do us? They just keep rejecting him. And in Jesus, Malachi chapter 1, verses 2 and 3. God says, you say, what does it matter? You say, what good is it? Is it not written that Jacob I have loved and Esau I have hated? He has loved Jacob so much that his treatment of Esau seems like hatred in comparison.

I have loved you, says the Lord. But you say, how have you loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother, declares the Lord? Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I hated. I have laid waste to his hill country. I have left his heritage to the jackals of the desert. If Edom says, We are shattered, but we will rebuild the ruins, the Lord of hosts says, They may build, but I will tear down. They will be called the wicked country and people with whom the Lord is angry forever. Your own eyes shall see this, and you shall say, Great is the Lord beyond the border of Israel.

So God holds both of these brothers accountable, and Esau is ultimately held accountable for his rejection of God. When it says the people of Edom, these are the people who descend from Esau. We saw there in chapter 25 of Genesis, Esau asked for this red stew, and God changes his name to Edom, which means red. His descendants are called the people of Edom. who like red stew, like, I don't know, the association there. And they live to the south of Israel and become a thorn in the people of Israel's side for centuries to come. And God ultimately says, but I'm bringing judgment on them in a way that he does bring judgment to Israel, but not in the same way, not in the ultimate way that Edom is destroyed. And that's not because of anything inherent in either one of them.

The apostle Paul picks this language up in Romans chapter 9. beginning in verse 6. It is not as though the word of God has failed, for not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all who are children of Abraham, not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but through Isaac shall your offspring be named. This means that it is not the children of the flesh or the children of God, but the children of the promise who are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing good or bad, in order that God's promise of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told the older will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.

I think when we see this story, we see Paul uses it as an illustration here of the fact that salvation does not ultimately depend on us. We are responsible for how we respond to God. Esau is held guilty because he despised that which was most important, the salvation, the blessing that was held out to him. He despised it. He didn't care about it. And God holds him guilty. But Jacob is the same kind of man. Jacob is just as sinful as his brother. And the fact that he will ultimately come to faith, that he will come to salvation, is because of the initiating love of God. The love of God that was determined for him before he was ever born.

And so the truth I think that we should draw from this text is that we each are responsible for how we respond to God. But if we respond to him rightly with faith and obedience, it is not because we're smarter than our brother. It's not because we just know so much better and we're so much more enlightened. It's because God and his mercy has been gracious to us when we did not deserve it. Romans 9 there, Paul said, before they had done anything good or bad... God determined to show his love to Jacob. And if you have trusted in Christ, it's not because you are better than anybody else. It's because you, like Jacob, are an undeserving recipient of the love of God. And that's good news. Because if we look to ourselves as the basis of our salvation... and we look to our good works as the basis of our salvation or our wisdom as the basis of our salvation, we will rightly come to the conclusion that I don't have enough. I don't have enough wisdom. I don't have enough good works. I've got too much of a mess still going on either out in my life or inside in my head and in my heart, which Jesus says is just as culpable as the things that you do outside of you. If you sin in your heart, you've done it.

You need a salvation that comes from the outside. And you need a God who is desiring to save you despite you. Despite your inclinations. Despite your unworthiness. And that's what we have in Scripture. A God who initiates. A God who sends. We're going to see that in Jacob's life where God will initiate with him over and over again. And we see it in the history of the world as God, the son himself enters into human history, takes on flesh and dwells among us. And in him, we have beheld the glory of the eternal father. And in him, the wrath of God is poured out and satisfied so that we might have a relationship with him so that we can respond to him in faith. But that's all a gift. It's not anything we deserve.

And so as we jump back into the narrative of Genesis, we jump back into Jacob's story, jump into Jacob's story for the first time, we need to realize nothing that is good in our lives is because we deserve it. It's because God is gracious. God is going to pour out his love in Jacob's life, not because Jacob is good, but because God is loving. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you. that you are a good God, that you are a gracious God. And we ask that you would give us the grace and the mercy to respond rightly to you. We need your help in this. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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Men for the Fight

2 Samuel 21:15-22, 23:8-39; Remsen Bible Fellowship; 11/20/2022

Introduction

Societies need men. Churches need men. Families need men. Those three statements, hopefully, seem like common sense to you. But you are also well aware that in many parts of our society those statements would need a trigger warning attached. We hear frequent drumbeats of the dangers of patriarchy and toxic masculinity. Is masculinity a dangerous thing? Is it something to steer boys away from, and to protect women from?

The Bible doesn’t seem to think so. Which, given that the Bible is God’s word, means that God doesn’t seem to think so. He created us male and female in His image. There is something about the distinctions between, and the resultant fitting together of men and women, that expresses God’s likeness in a way that androgynous humanity simply wouldn’t.

We can all think of texts which celebrate various aspects of femininity and female strength. The stories of Ruth and Esther, the woman of Proverbs 31, and many of the women in the Gospels and Paul’s letters shine forth showing the way to what competent, beautiful, female, image bearing looks like. Where do the men turn?

One answer would be our two passages from 2 Samuel this morning. We begin with 2 Samuel 21:15ff.

15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But Abishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.”

18 After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 20 And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. 21 And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 22 These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants. (2 Samuel 21:15-22)

Rather than slowly walk through each detail of our two passages, I want to highlight the obvious theology of these texts, and then spend the end of the sermon meditating on potential applications for us today.

God’s Preservation

We have to remember where these texts are situated - in the epilogue of 2 Samuel, the conclusion of the narrative about David’s years as king. Though much of what takes place in these texts is from earlier in David’s reign, and some even before he becomes king, the author places the material here for us to see God’s hand at work preserving his anointed ruler, and preserving his chosen people. This is especially clear in 21:17-18, where David’s life is on the line. He is tired from fighting, and Ishbi-benob, a giant, takes notice. This mountain of a man, who wields a spear with an eight pound point on the end and who had some form of new weapon (the Hebrew is unclear if it was a new sword or new armor or new something else - but it was new and shiny and ready for a test against David) is about to slay the king. Until Abishai steps in and saves the day.

In this section of chapter 21 there are four different giants who fall by the hand of David and his men, and the material here is to help us see that the promise made by God (quoted in 2 Samuel 3:18) that Israel would be saved from the Philistines through David, has come true. God has delivered. Just like 1 Samuel 17, a giant once again comes out in v21 to taunt Israel. And just like in 1 Samuel 17, a descendant of Jesse once again slays the loud-mouthed giant. Standing against Yahweh never pays off, and taunting him certainly doesn’t. God will not be mocked. God will destroy his enemies and preserve his people.

Sometimes God does this through miraculous intervention (giant hailstones, splitting the red sea in two, bringing down the walls of Jericho), but very often he is at work through more ordinary means. Like preserving a nation through brave warriors.

At Work Through Men

8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite; he was chief of the three. He wielded his spear against eight hundred whom he killed at one time.

9 And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar the son of Dodo, son of Ahohi. He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle, and the men of Israel withdrew. 10 He rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary, and his hand clung to the sword. And the LORD brought about a great victory that day, and the men returned after him only to strip the slain.

11 And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. 12 But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the LORD worked a great victory.

While the focus of 2 Samuel never shifts from how the nation and Davidic dynasty are preserved - the Providental working of God - the author is clear about how God worked. “The Lord brought about a great victory that day” (v10). “The Lord worked a great victory” (v12). How? He delivered his people from fearsome and brutal enemies by means of fearsome and brutal warriors.

Jeshob-basshebeth wielded his sword against 800(!) men. That’s the sort of man you put in charge of the elite forces.

Eleazer, son of Dodo, was a man of great bravery, so much so that when all Israel fled, he was among the three who stood with David against an entire Philistine host. He fought until his hand literally froze to the sword. When the rest of the army came back, it was only to strip the bodies of the slain.

And then there was Shammah, defending the lentil field. Lentils were a staple crop, and it appears the Philistines had come to raid Israel’s food. Again the troops fled, but Shammah took his stand, and struck down the enemies of God’s people.

Then there were the three unnamed men of verses 13-17,

13 And three of the thirty chief men went down and came about harvest time to David at the cave of Adullam, when a band of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim. 14 David was then in the stronghold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. 15 And David said longingly, “Oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate!” 16 Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried and brought it to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the LORD 17 and said, “Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.

This seems to be before David’s time as king, during the wilderness years. David’s hometown of Bethlehem is under occupation, and he longingly wishes things were back to normal. “Oh that I could grab a drink in my hometown” might be a modern paraphrase. But three of his men take him literally, and sneak behind enemy lines to get him a glass of water. What devotion! Joyce Baldwin gives a helpful comment here, explaining why it made sense for David to pour this water out before the Lord: “The story of such devotion to a leader became part of Israel’s literary heritage, especially as the leader was humble enough to admit that only the Lord was worthy of such sacrifice. That is why he poured it out to the Lord as a libation: it represented the life-blood of three brave men.”

And then the author goes back to naming names:

18 Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he wielded his spear against three hundred men and killed them and won a name beside the three. 19 He was the most renowned of the thirty and became their commander, but he did not attain to the three.

20 And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two ariels of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen. 21 And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22 These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and won a name beside the three mighty men. 23 He was renowned among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.

Abishai, Joab’s brother, wielded his spear against 300 - and though he was not listed among the three, his name was right up there. For a time he even led David’s army.

And then there is Benaiah. The ultimate man’s man. He struck down “two Ariels of Moab” - we don’t know if these were sons of a man named Ariel, or if Ariel was a special name for Moabite elite warriors. We do know that this must have been impressive, because of the feats which follow in the list. He crawled into a pit, with a lion, on a day when snow had fallen. The rocks were slippery, the lion was hungry. Why is he going down there? Did the men need a sheltered place to get out of the weather, and was this lion in the way? We don’t know. We do know that Benaiah walked out of the pit, and the lion didn’t. He didn’t just “go down” into pits to chase lions. He “went down” to an Egyptian, a man whom 1 Chronicles tells us was over 7 feet tall. Handsome, impressive, a lot of man. And he held a spear, while Benaiah carried only a staff. But Benaiah used his staff to disarm the Egyptian, and then ran him through with his own spear. David had an eye for talent, and said, “that’s who should be in charge of my bodyguards.”

There is an unflinching celebration of the men in these verses as warriors. And while we will discuss later that this is not how the kingdom of God advances in the church age, we nonetheless should see the nobility in mighty men standing up for their people and their nation. These men were loyal to the leader whom God had ordained. And so today, we should not fail to thank God for those who volunteer to fight for the country we live in, nor should we be squeamish about celebrating those who do so in an extraordinary way. We need to make a distinction between the kingdom then and now, but we don’t need to be ashamed of violence in its proper place. In a fallen world, where evil abounds, God has given the sword to the state. And that sword is intended to be carried by valiant men.

24 Asahel the brother of Joab was one of the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25 Shammah of Harod, Elika of Harod, 26 Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh of Tekoa, 27 Abiezer of Anathoth, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28 Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai of Netophah, 29 Heleb the son of Baanah of Netophah, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the people of Benjamin, 30 Benaiah of Pirathon, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, 31 Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth of Bahurim, 32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33 Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Hararite, 34 Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai of Maacah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35 Hezro of Carmel, Paarai the Arbite, 36 Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37 Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai of Beeroth, the armor-bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38 Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

It’s worth noting before we turn to applying the text to our day, what an interesting and varied group this is. Men of Judah, as we would expect, David’s kinsmen. But also men of Benjamin, in fact Ittai is from Saul’s hometown. Several of these men we don’t know where to place geographically, but a bare minimum of three (and perhaps several more) are Gentiles, not of the people of Israel. Eliphelet is of Maacah, Zelek is an Ammonite, and Uriah is a Hittite. And by concluding with Uraiah, the author draws our mind back to the incident with Bethsheba, Uriah’s wife. Remember, that though the central human character of 1-2 Samuel is David, David is not the hero. God is the only hero in this book.

What Can We Learn?

So, what can we learn from a text like this? There are the twin temptations, the first to read this in shock and horror at what an uncivilized time this was, and wonder how God could speak so approvingly of such awfully violent men. That would be wrong because it would suggest that we know better than God.

The flip side, the opposite temptation, is just to meditate on the gore and glorify a pagan-like warrior culture. Maybe start watching Braveheart for bible study. This is increasingly popular in many circles - to point out how demonized men have been, and to respond by living up to all of the negative stereotypes. “They want to call me a meat-eating Neanderthal? Well, I’ll show them how really uncivilized I can be! Nanny nanny boo boo!” And this type of masculinity, which might well be described as toxic, really misses the point. David was, after all, the warrior poet, the “sweet psalmist of Israel” (2 Samuel 23:1). He was a man of many layers. He was not afraid of battle, and neither were his men. Their confidence in God gave them the strength they needed to accomplish great feats. But David, rightly, also rebukes bloodthirstiness.

So if, “go sharpen your swords,” or “buy more reloading gear,” isn’t the right lesson to draw from the text, what is? I think what we see here is that God works through men. And so, if we want to see God work here, we need to be the sort of men he’ll work through. This is not to deny how frequently and powerfully he uses ladies as well! - but that isn’t the point in this text. When I speak here of God working through men, I’m talking about XY chromosome men. Males.

David’s kingdom was built and defended in no small part because these faithful men sacrificed themselves for the good of the kingdom. Some lived long lives of service, others gave their lives in service. But all sacrificed for God’s anointed.

In the New Testament era, this side of Jesus coming to earth, living a perfect life, dying for our sins, rising from the dead, and ascending to the Father’s right hand, the kingdom is not tied to a political nation or leader in the same way it was in Jesus’ day. Rather, Jesus promised in Matthew 16 that he would build his church. And in Matthew 28 he makes clear that the way he intends to do this is by sending his followers into the nations, proclaiming his authority over everyone and everything. So what does this have to do with men?

Well, the charge is to be led by men. When Jesus chose his 12 apostles, he chose men. When the apostles were laying out the requirements for pastors and elders, both the assumption and explicit teaching of Paul and Peter are that such persons would be male. While there is definitely debate about the office of deacon, there is no question that the first deacons were themselves male.

Moving backward in time to the creation order, in the home God gives the man the role and responsibility - the duty - of leadership, of headship. This is not some special privilege where he gets to act like a big baby demanding his way. It means that the buck stops with him. How his wife is doing spiritually is his responsibility. How his kids behave and respond to authority is his responsibility. It is, in fact, the shouldering of this responsibility in the home that Paul uses as the primary indicator for how a man displays fitness for the office of pastor, or elder, or even deacon.

Again, none of this is to diminish what women do or are capable of. To draw a specific analogy from our text, we know that women were the ones primarily responsible for harvesting grain in Israel (at least in the time of the Judges, see the book of Ruth). But when Philistines are at the field, those ladies can’t go to work. It takes a Shammah to make a stand, clearing the field of enemies, to make it a safe place to work. For women to flourish and reach their full spiritual potential in our homes and church, then we as men must step up to carry our share of the load.

This is true right now, even as a small church. It’s also true for the future. This is a truth for me, for Scott, for Thomas; but it’s also a truth for Owen and Calvin and Wesley. If we pursue the Lord with our whole hearts, not being content to coast through life, but looking for opportunities to grow, and then not only grow, but to help lead others toward maturity in Christ, that will not diminish the ladies in our midst - it will enable them to be all that God has meant for them to be. Leaning into this kind of spiritual leadership - taking initiative in prayer, diligently searching the Scriptures in order to know the Lord, seeking to understand and serve our wives, discipling our children in godliness, setting an example in our workplace of diligence, excellence, and integrity, coming to church and joining voices in song as we proclaim Jesus’ Lordship over all - these things are profoundly counter-cultural. And they are exactly the need of the hour.

They’re probably not the sort of thing that will get your name in a history book. Getting up, reading your Bible and praying, going to work and doing your best, and then coming home and finding ways to serve your wife probably won’t sit alongside slaughtering 800 Philistines in most people’s minds. Showing up to church every Sunday might not seem as impressive as jumping in a snowy pit with a lion. But this is the very sort of faithfulness the Lord Jesus calls us to, and in places like Ephesians 6, he calls it warfare.

I’ve often thought over the years of the old Steve Green song, “Find us Faithful.” And I think that’s the testimony David’s mighty men left, more than anything else. God was pleased to do remarkable things through them, to be sure. But sometimes preserving David and took such big miracles because so few of the faithful were left. We have no idea what God will do through us, big or small. But if we remain steadfast and faithful, available to him, then we can be sure he will accomplish everything he wants through us, whether it looks big in our eyes or not. It’s his perspective that matters. So, in closing, let me encourage you with the words of 1 Corinthians 16:13-14,

13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.

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Transcript generated by AI. Please comment if you notice any errors.

Good morning, everybody. I will say at the gospel mission, they had a nice big podium for me to spread out on down there. Oh, it was custom made for me, don’t know, nice. Alright, good morning, everybody. Good morning. Again, you know who I am. It’s an honor to be here again preaching to you guys and teaching you the word of God. This week was a little bit of a challenge as Will always does. He’s getting me to make different types of sermons, challenging me in ways that I have not been challenged before. As it was said earlier, luckily, we have the Holy Spirit to lead us through these things. But he gave me one sentence to make a sermon off of, and that’ll be in Proverbs 10 verse one. Don’t dive too far deep because that’s where we’re stopping. And the text is: a wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

I had the honor of going to the gospel mission last night and preaching this, and I feel like there’s more that can relate to this as far as the children go in this room. But the rest of you, you might be thinking, I’m not a child. Why does this even apply to me? So this was written by King Solomon. He was speaking to his child, to his son, and he’s giving him advice, and we’ll dive through more of that advice as we go through this. But I want you to kind of think about if you hear that you are a child, oftentimes, we can automatically go to that I’m a child of God. That’s who I am in this world. But Ephesians tells us that that’s not how we’re originally created, that we are naturally children of wrath. We don’t naturally follow God. We don’t naturally seek after him, but Ephesians 2:1-3, it says, and we were dead in our trespasses and sins in which we once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince and the power of the air. That is Satan. You guys, naturally, we follow him and not God. The spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

Each and every one of us, we are a child, so we can relate to this. But when we first read it, we might think for that first son that is bringing gladness to his father, naturally, that’s not the case. We are born as the second son who is bringing the sorrow to his mother. So as you’re sitting here today, any of you, do you have one that you think you more relate with? Are you that one that makes your father glad or the one that brings sorrow to your mother? Sadly, we are all the second one originally. Romans tells us that because we are naturally that child of wrath, we don’t seek God, but not only don’t we seek him, we can’t. There’s no way on our own that we can earn our righteousness by ourselves. I’ll read it, Romans 3: “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No at all.” So none of us have any upper hand on anyone else in this world. We are all, so no one has a better hand. “Are Jews any better off? No. Not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jew and Greeks, are under sin as it is written. No one is righteous. No. Not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. We’ve all turned aside together and have become worthless. No one does good. No. Not even one.”

I want you to start to listen to, think, does this describe who you used to be or who you still are today? Their throats are like an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is on their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, and their paths are ruined in misery. In the way of peace, they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. I can think of my life before becoming a child of God that this sadly described me. When I spoke to people, it was not love and kindness that came out. It was bitterness, curses. When you would look at me, what came out of my mouth revealed what was inside of me. We are naturally looked at, and you can see the death and the lack of life that is within us. So, again, I asked, which one do you relate to sitting here today? Are you the first or second child? Do you relate more to this child of wrath or to a child of God?

The Bible is full of examples. Even when I ask you this question, you can naturally think, of course, I’m this first child. Of course, I bring honor and glory to my father, but there’s countless examples in the Bible of people who would answer that question that they are wise and they have understanding. One is found in the book of Matthew. We have three different cities run by these Jewish leaders. Jesus went and did most of his works in these three towns. And, again, these are people who devoted their life to the scribes and the Sadducees. They would say, yes, I’m righteous. I’m holy. I’m wise. I have this understanding. Yet Jesus himself, he denounces them. He went there. He showed them who he was, and they rejected him. He says, woe to you, Chorazin. Woe to you, Bethsaida. He says, woe to you, Capernaum. Capernaum is where he was raised. Like, he went back to that town to where he was raised with Joseph and Mary. He says, do you think you’ll be exalted to heaven? I came here and I told you who I am and yet you deny me. Do you think you’ll be exalted to heaven? He says, no. You will be brought down to Hades.

Oftentimes, we can think that we are righteous. We can think that we are wise. We can think that we have this understanding, and we can fool ourselves just like they did. They thought they were the best. The townsmen would look to them as something to aim for as being righteous and holy and wise, but yet they are being cast down to Hades. They too were naturally this child of wrath. Jesus goes on to describe them with the very words that we’re speaking of. He called them wise and understanding. But what he’s doing here is either being a little sarcastic because they think they are or they have the earthly wisdom, not wisdom that is from above. Do you go about your life today thinking you are wise, but yet knowing the word of God and rejecting it, thinking just like they did? I don’t need this repentance thing that you’re talking about. I don’t need to turn away from my sins. I can do it better on my own, God. That’s exactly how they were thinking, but I plead with you. You are being that second child who is bringing sorrow instead of that gladness.

You may ask, okay, you’ve covered the children aspect of this. Why did the father even get brought in? Why did the mother get brought into this passage today? We did cover that it is a literal father writing to literal children, his literal son. Another thing that we have to think about is as parents, as kids, that there are roles that we have to do when we are in those positions. God tells us we have jobs to do as we are in those roles, and King Solomon was fulfilling that, and we’ll dive through some other proverbs that he has written to us showing that he fulfilled this. But as fathers, if you’re sitting here in this room, we’re told not to just make our kids angry for no reason. Don’t just provoke them, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord. This is what we see King Solomon doing as he’s writing these proverbs. He’s instructing. He is disciplining his child. Mothers, on the other hand, if you notice, the father is glad, but there’s sorrow in the mother’s heart. If you’re a mother sitting here today, Proverbs has a great example of what you seek in your life, how you live out your life to your kids if you’re following what the Bible says. It says the mothers, when they open their mouths, what comes out of her should be wisdom and kindness. When you look at her tongue, it’s not that death that we saw, but it’s wisdom and kindness that’s on her tongue. And when she looks at her household, she has gladness in it. Mothers, at least the mother of my children and maybe you too, there’s a lot more emotional connection to our children, and so they take it more personally. When their children are not wise, when they are this foolish child, it hurts them even more to the core. To see a child who they brought up in this instruction, they did everything that God said. When we see them just throw it away, that brings real sorrow to her.

So how can you and I not be this second child? Because we are. How can we not be it anymore? One, we can listen to the instruction of our parents if they are biblically foundational. If they follow these rules, then we should listen to them, children in the front row. If you are not living at home with your family, there’s good news that we do have another father and he has instructed us and has given us the key to how to be wise, to have this understanding. But we also have other passages that Solomon wrote that we can look at. Did I say King Saul at some point? Solomon wrote these. I apologize. Sorry. Solomon is writing this to his children. But I do wanna read something that gives us hope. Ephesians 2, we read it where we were children of wrath, but we don’t have to stay that way. Verse 4 in Ephesians 2 says that, but God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love in which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, even though we’re those children of wrath, he has made us alive together with Christ. By grace, we have been saved and raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. It is by grace that we have been saved. We don’t have to stay this child of wrath. It is by grace that God has chosen us to adopt us as his children; we can live our life for him. It is a gift. Nothing that we did. These scribes and Pharisees, they tried on their own, but all they could do is boast on themselves. A true relationship for God to be your father, for you to be a child of him is for you to put your trust in him, and it’s nothing that we did to deserve that.

So how again can we not be this child of wrath? We know that we need to put our faith in God. We need to be submitted under him, but we need to not have this earthly wisdom. We can’t be set in stone thinking the fact that we have wisdom when in fact it might not be the right wisdom. So how can we know? Am I fooling myself, or am I truly having godly wisdom, wisdom that is from above? The book of James tells us a little bit about this. He asks you straight to your face, who is wise and understanding among you? The same exact words that Jesus used to describe those leaders. He says, by his good conduct, let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. You can see it through your good works. Works don’t save you, but if you have this wisdom, you will do good works. But here’s how you can tell. But if you, again, sitting here today with this wisdom that you think you have, but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not wisdom that comes down from above, but it is earthly, it is unspiritual, and it is demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exists, there will be disorder in every vile practice.

I can think of the time when I was not saved. I thought I was. I was going to church for a good year before God actually saved me. If you ask me, yes, I was a believer. Yes, I was wise. Yes, I knew some scripture. That’s not what showed in my life. It was unspiritual. It was earthly. There was definitely jealousy in my life. Everything I did was out of selfish ambition. Even going to church, I selfishly went so that I could be seen. They saw me there so they wouldn’t question if I truly was saved or not. The chaos that ensued in my marriage showed the true disaster in every vile practice that was truly there. I was fooling those around me and fooling myself into thinking that I was wise and had understanding. So how do we know if what we have truly is? How do I know standing here today that I’m not fooling myself anymore? And James tells us, but this wisdom that is first pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and sincere. That is the wisdom that we want. That is the wisdom that is from above.

So when you think, when you are wise, challenge yourself. Am I doing the things I’m doing for God or am I doing them for me? Am I doing them to better my own life or to glorify him? The rest of our time will be in Proverbs. So if you do want to open up there, we will look at Proverbs 9:10. This is talking about how do we gain this wisdom. So we talked about what is it? How do I know if it’s earthly? How do I know if it’s from above? How do I get this wisdom and stop being this child of wrath? Proverbs 9:10 tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. We cannot have this truly biblical wisdom if we don’t have a right perception of God. That right perception of God comes with fearing him. That doesn’t mean I should be scared to open up my Bible or scared to talk to him, but it’s having this awe and reverence of the true power of the creator of this universe and putting him in the place that he should be in our lives. I can say all day long, Jesus is Lord of my life, but if I don’t listen to him, is he truly?

So Solomon, does he say any more about this? I do apologize. I hope last night I did not just say Saul the whole time, but Proverbs 1, if you wanna flip there, we see him instructing his son even more. We see him doing that duty as a father to bring up his son in the instruction and the discipline of the Lord so that his son is not the second son anymore, but instead can move into that place of the first one that’ll bring him gladness and fulfill the roles and duties that he has as a father in this world. Proverbs 1:8-9 says, hear my son, your father’s instructions, and forsake not your mother’s teachings for they are a graceful garland for your head and a pendant around your neck. When I first read this, I was thinking, like, why is she decorating me? Why is my mother supposed to be putting this onto me? When you think about the fact that when you are a child of God, when you are out in this world, you’re supposed to be representing something beautiful. You’re supposed to be representing Christ and God’s handiwork. And so we read earlier the mother’s job was to instruct and to give you knowledge and information, and she was going to make you beautiful to this world. When people look at you, they should see Christ. And so she decorates you with these graceful garlands, puts a pendant around your neck. When people see you, they will see that you are different.

My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say come with us, let us lie in wait for blood. Let us ambush the innocent without reason. Like Sheol, let us swallow them alive and whole. Like those who go down to the pit, we shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder, throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purse. He’s saying, son, please listen to me. There will be people in your life who will try to entice you. They will promise you gifts. They will promise you a purse filled with this money. They will promise you these things that they have no right to promise you. But they don’t care who gets in their way. We need to be careful who we are around. Son, listen to my words. Do not even consent to be with them. He continues on, my son, do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths for their feet. They run to evil. They make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. It takes away the life of its possessors. These people that will come into your lives don’t just not consent to go with them. Don’t even be on the same path that they are on. They don’t care who gets caught in the net. It says for in vain, they spread a net in the sight of any bird. They don’t care what the catch is. They just want to have gain from it. They will go through anyone and do anything to get what they want in their lives for this unjust gain. So don’t consent to be with them. Don’t even go on the same path they were on. We have people in our own lives today that will try to drag us down these paths, and we have to be cautious and wise about who we are with.

Proverbs 4, you can turn there if you’d like. He continues to instruct his son. This is his duty. It is his job to make sure his son is wise so he continues to do so. He says, hear, oh, son, a father’s instruction and be attentive that you might gain insight. This word insight is the same as the understanding that we’ve seen. So pay attention, son, so you might gain this understanding for I give you good precepts. Do not forsake my teaching. He speaks about how his father did the same. When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, let your heart hold fast to my words. Keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom. Get insight. Do not forget and do not turn away from the words of my mouth. Again, he is pleading, son, don’t go with those people, but also get this wisdom and insight so that you can know better. Don’t turn away from my commandments. He now starts to talk about wisdom as a her. He says, do not forsake her, and she will keep you. Love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom. I always chuckled at that, but as if you’re looking and waiting for a place to start, you just need to jump in. If you want wisdom, you need to just go and get it. But whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you. She will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland. She will bestow on you a beautiful crown.

There’s many passages to choose from, but I wanted to tie this one in for this graceful garland. We read that that’s what the mother did when you were underneath her care. Children, she will bestow this upon you. It comes with the wisdom. But now you keeping this wisdom that you should have will continue to do so. This wisdom in your life will continue to adorn you in these things. He says, hear my son and accept my words that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the ways of wisdom. I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered. And if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction and do not let go. Guard her for she is your life. Do not enter into the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil. Avoid it. Do not go into it. Turn away and pass on. Again, even in this separate proverb, he is warning against those around you, those that are evil who are trying to drag you down.

What’s interesting is how he describes them here next. These people that are in your lives even today that try to drag you back into the sins of which you once lived, it says they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong. They are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat of the bread of wickedness and they drink of the wine of violence. But the path of righteousness is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until a full day. The way of the wicked is like the deep darkness, and they do not know over what they stumble. A fun experience I was pleased to have last Wednesday at Lamar’s Bible Church is the youth group does this thing called underground church. You get middle schoolers, I think, did it last night. High schoolers is the group I was involved in. We got to do it Wednesday night. It is pitch black. You turn off all the lights in the church. The leaders lovingly get to walk around with pool noodles and try to smack tag them. We were wearing bells to entice them, and, there’s different levels to this game. At first, we could only be in the hallways of the church, but the whole church was for a game. And you could just jingle that bell, and you would hear people tripping and falling and stumbling. That was a great example of the image of what is said here. It was pretty dark, wasn’t it? Yeah. But the amount of blindness that we have when we are in this darkness, we can be in a room that you could normally traverse perfectly fine. But when you’re blinded by this darkness, you don’t know the path of which you’re on. It says the way of the wicked is like this deep darkness. They do not even know what they stumble on. But what he does say is that the righteous is like the light of dawn. So you could have that same very room right after hearing these kids stumble. Could turn on the light, and they could walk out perfectly fine. If you’re living your life in the light, you can see the path of which you’re walking on.

So he continues on. My son, be attentive to my words and incline your ears to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight. Keep them in your heart. For they are a life to those who find them and a healing to all the flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance. From it flows the springs of life. Remember, the light is stronger than the darkness. Even the sun makes the night scatter. So how much more will the wisdom of God make these second child’s wisdom flee? He says, put away from you crooked speech and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet, then all of your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left or turn your foot away from evil. Being a Christian or at least walking in the path of how God tells us to is purposeful. You don’t wake up one day and accidentally follow God. It is a purposeful path that in the light you can perfectly see, contrasted to the darkness where we trip and we stumble and we fall.

So how do we get there? Again, you and I were born this child of wrath. How do we get there? How do we get this wisdom? It’s not easy. Satan is alive, and he is strong, and he is out there. He will try to stop you every single step of the way. He did it in the Garden of Eden. He went there when they had this perfect environment. They walked with God himself, and yet he came and tempted them away. The opposition to this wisdom that we want is described in Proverbs 9 as woman folly. And when you read this description of what this foolishness or this folly is, it really brings it to light. It says that she stands in the city and she yells out. If you’ve ever had a sin or a vice that keeps drawing you back, you know it whispers in your ear. It tells you, come back to me. I am better. She is loud. She will catch your attention. Says that she is seductive, and she will draw you in. The devil knows your weaknesses. He knows what will try to lead you astray. But if you follow her, Proverbs 9 tells us that the guests in her house are in Sheol. If you follow this seductive woman, this woman of folly, it will only lead you to your own grave.

So we need something stronger than this opposition that we are up against. That is Christ. Today, sitting here today, we need Christ Jesus to be the Lord of our lives and to shine the light so that we can see the path that we walk on. We don’t wanna continue to be the second child bringing sorrow to our mother. We want to be this one making our father glad. We’re told that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead, that you will be saved. The words that I just uttered are not my own. They are promised from God himself that if you make Jesus your Lord and believe those things, you will be saved. God loved us so much that he sent his son into this world because we cannot do it on our own. We’re told if we fail at one single point of the law, we failed at it all. We don’t just kind of miss the mark a little bit. We completely flunk this test of life. That’s why Jesus had to come for us. We are naturally the second son. But he sent him, and he can keep us. Nothing can take us from the hands of God if you put your trust into him. Not angels, not demons, not other humans. Nothing can snatch you from the hands of God.

But are you in the hands of God sitting here today? Do you trust him enough for you to actually make that step into his hands? Are you just kinda sorta hanging out next to him? There’s a difference of him being the Lord of your life and you knowing a lot about him. Even the demons know a lot about God. Remember that we all were this foolish child. We all started out as this wrath. Nothing can take us from him if we make that leap of faith into his hands. But also remember that just because you say you’re wise doesn’t mean you are. Just because you say you’re a child of God doesn’t mean you are. There are countless people like the scribes and the Pharisees. Maybe even people in this room that when the day of judgment comes, we’ll hear the words I never knew you. We need to be in his hands, secure in him, not just kind of hanging out around him and around his children.

The one thing that we do have and that we know we can rely on is that we have a loving God. But what that means is that we have a God that’s not gonna force us to be with him. We have a God that gives you this opportunity. We have free will down here on this Earth. But if you don’t wanna be with him here, he’s not gonna force you to be with him in eternity. He loves you too much to then force you to come kicking and screaming into his kingdom. So have you made this leap of faith? He will not force you to. But if you love him and you go into his hands, he will keep you. Do not separate yourselves from him. Instead, run towards him. I plead with you that if you are still this child of wrath, even hiding like I was in the church pews, cry out to him. He will accept you. He loves you.

I pray that as we continue out our weeks, as madam Folly, day in and day out, entices us, calls to us that we walk in the paths of Christ and not towards her house. Well, thank you guys for your time. Dear God, I wanna thank you for this opportunity to dive into what wisdom truly looks like when it’s from you, Lord. I pray that we don’t rely on our own understandings, our own thought of what wisdom is. I pray that we look towards you, that we are not falling into the paths of those around us that try to drag us into our graves, Lord. I pray that we turn to you, the only one who can bring life to us. You don’t just say that we’re lost. You say that we are a pile of dead and dry bones. Without you, we cannot have the life that we need to be with you eternally, Lord. I pray that if there’s anyone here today that has not made you truly the Lord of their lives, that they take that step and they step into your hands, Lord. I know that you will take care of them and you will love them until eternity. In your name, amen.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remsenbible.substack.com

Have You Bent the Knee?

2 Samuel 20, 11/06/2022, Remsen Bible Fellowship

Introduction

Death, power plays, political intrigue, and kingdom and covenant in crisis. Folks often think of the Old Testament as a boring collection of books with meaningless history and lots of lists of people and names. And while there are plenty of lists, even those lists are set in place to help us understand the background of the intense drama which unfolds before us in the pages of the text. When you read the Bible, it is helpful to do so imaginatively. Remember that the stories are real stories that take place in the lives of real people. Try to set yourself there and start asking questions. What would it be like to be part of a kingdom in political turmoil? How would you feel if your son had rebelled against you, and was now dead? These kinds of questions help us get into the skin of a story, and then spark our interest as we ask more objective questions, like: what is the message the author is trying to communicate? What lessons should a reader 30 centuries removed take away from this narrative?

This morning we need to remember where we are in David’s story. He is a man approaching 70 years old, very near the end of his life. His son Solomon is the intended next king, but nothing has been formalized yet. In the presence of David’s weakness, and with a plausible claim to the throne himself, his son Absalom stages a coup, in which many high ranking officials, including David’s closest counselor, Ahithophel, take part.

By the end of chapter 19 that rebellion has been put down. After Joab led the military victory, and then disregarded David’s orders by slaying Absalom, there needed to again be a king. David sends messengers to the people of Judah, and they bring him back to Jerusalem. Things are back on level footing, right?

Well, maybe. The problem is that David’s move with the people of Judah created more narrative tension - he displaced Joab as commander of his army with the rebel leader Amasa. And he further exacerbated the division between Judah and the rest of the nation. And so we come into chapter 20.

A Sad and Familiar Situation, v1-3

Now there happened to be there a worthless man, whose name was Sheba, the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. And he blew the trumpet and said,

“We have no portion in David, and we have no inheritance in the son of Jesse;

every man to his tents, O Israel!”

2 So all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri. But the men of Judah followed their king steadfastly from the Jordan to Jerusalem.

3 And David came to his house at Jerusalem. And the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to care for the house and put them in a house under guard and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.

This feels like another verse of the same song, doesn’t it? A worthless man rises up and calls the people of Israel to himself. In 19:43, the people of Israel are contending with the people of Judah, saying “we have ten shares in David!” But, having lost that argument, Sheba’s rallying cry becomes, “we have no share in David!” Every man to his tents, this is the time for war.

And the text tells us that “all the men of Israel withdrew from David and followed Sheba the son of Bichri.” Now all Israel withdrew probably doesn’t mean that he pulled the entire army of Israel together, given what follows. But their loyalties again shifted away from David and to a challenger. They would be happy for Sheba’s rebellion to be successful, they would not remain loyal to David.

The effect of this upon David’s household can be seen in verse three. This verse is loaded with a sad irony. David, who had left these ten concubines in Jerusalem to take care of the house when he fled, now returns. As we remember from chapter 16:20-23, Absalom had violated each of these women in broad daylight in order to lay claim to the king’s household. Now David has returned, and with the renewed threat against the kingdom, he ensures that from now on these women are safe. But ironically, this means that they will be shut away, left to mourn the rest of their days. If you remember, this whole saga with Absalom began when his sister Tamar was violated, and she then lived, a desolate woman, in Absalom’s house for the rest of her days. He was so furious about that sin that he murdered his brother. But now he has committed the same sin against 10 women. It’s a brief detail in the story, but worth pausing simply to mourn with these women. Again we cry with the Psalmist, “how long oh Lord?” Will you forget the down cast forever?

Who’s In Charge Here?, v4-13

The drama keeps moving, though, as this rebellion of Sheba must be dealt with.

4 Then the king said to Amasa, “Call the men of Judah together to me within three days, and be here yourself.” 5 So Amasa went to summon Judah, but he delayed beyond the set time that had been appointed him. 6 And David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba the son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, lest he get himself to fortified cities and escape from us.” 7 And there went out after him Joab’s men and the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and all the mighty men. They went out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri. 8 When they were at the great stone that is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. Now Joab was wearing a soldier’s garment, and over it was a belt with a sword in its sheath fastened on his thigh, and as he went forward it fell out. 9 And Joab said to Amasa, “Is it well with you, my brother?” And Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him. 10 But Amasa did not observe the sword that was in Joab’s hand. So Joab struck him with it in the stomach and spilled his entrails to the ground without striking a second blow, and he died.

Then Joab and Abishai his brother pursued Sheba the son of Bichri. 11 And one of Joab’s young men took his stand by Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” 12 And Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the highway. And anyone who came by, seeing him, stopped. And when the man saw that all the people stopped, he carried Amasa out of the highway into the field and threw a garment over him. 13 When he was taken out of the highway, all the people went on after Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Bichri.

David is giving orders - but David is clearly not in charge in this situation. In v4, David calls Amasa (the new military leader) to himself and says “gather the army in three days.” However, we see in v5 that Amasa either cannot or simply does not do as David says. I think what we’re supposed to draw from that delay is not poor intention on Amasa’s part, but rather an implied contrast with Joab - Joab is a man of action, effective in getting things done and leading the army. Amasa couldn’t even pull them together in three days. Then in v6, David tells Abishai to call together “your Lord’s men”. Notice that David does not call Joab back, he needs the sons of Zeruiah, but he will only deal directly with Abishai. But notice in v7 that the first reference is not to “David’s men”, but to “Joab’s men.” David has no control in this situation at all.

So Joab and Abishai take off after Shaeba, and when they come to Gibeon, just to the north of Jerusalem, Amasa meets up with them - presumably with his army now in tow. Joab, ever the sly fox, heads over to greet Amasa. But for some reason the belt on his soldier’s garment was a little loose. As he hurries to greet the leader of the army, his sword falls from his sheath. But as he bends over, he picks it up not with his right hand - the dominant hand, the hand of war - but with his left. He uses the right hand to extend a greeting, taking hold of Amasa’s beard to give him a kiss, which was the standard cultural “hello” for those to whom you were close. Amasa, thinking nothing of the sword in the left hand of Joab, is then taken completely by surprise when that sword is buried to the hilt in his belly.

Joab, ever the opportunist, has struck again. It reminds us of how he executed Abner in 2 Samuel 3:27. It calls to mind the death of Ehud executing Eglon the king of Moab in Judges 3:21-23. And the betrayal with a kiss takes us to the garden of Gethsemane on the night Jesus was betrayed.

Back in charge of the whole army, Joab and Abishai lead the pursuit of Sheba, and one of his soldiers stands in the road and calls for loyalty - loyalty above all. “Whoever favors Joab, and whoever is for David, let him follow Joab.” We hear many such calls today from modern Joabs. If you’re a real Christian, you have to…fill in the blank with something the Bible doesn’t say. Beware of teachers who tell you that you have a Christian duty to do anything that isn’t in the Bible. We certainly can exercise wisdom and be informed by biblical principles far beyond the explicit black and white statements of Scripture. But when questionable deductions or pet projects get lifted to the status of “litmus test for faithfulness”, what you have isn’t real Christianity - not real loyalty to David’s Son - what you have is a false gospel.

Beheaded Rebellion, v14-22

For all Joab’s faults, though, we should give credit where it is due: he was effective at his job.

14 And Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah, and all the Bichrites assembled and followed him in. 15 And all the men who were with Joab came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah. They cast up a mound against the city, and it stood against the rampart, and they were battering the wall to throw it down. 16 Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here, that I may speak to you.’ ” 17 And he came near her, and the woman said, “Are you Joab?” He answered, “I am.” Then she said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” And he answered, “I am listening.” 18 Then she said, “They used to say in former times, ‘Let them but ask counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled a matter. 19 I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?” 20 Joab answered, “Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not true. But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba the son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David. Give up him alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” And the woman said to Joab, “Behold, his head shall be thrown to you over the wall.” 22 Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, every man to his home. And Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

The army pursues Sheba, and it seems that his actual fighting force ends up being not much more than his own family, the clan of the Bichrites from the tribe of Benjamin. They head for a fortified city in the north, the very thing David feared, and they go all the way to Abel of Beth-Maacah. If you have maps in the back of your Bible they probably don’t show Abel of Beth-Maacah, but they will almost certainly have Dan in the very north of Israel. This city is to the west of Dan, in the far reaches of the kingdom.

Joab and co. set up siege works in order to destroy the city and get to that traitor Sheba. Then a wise woman comes to the wall. As we saw with the woman of Tekoa in chapter 14, it seems like the title “wise” wasn’t just a descriptive adjective, but was perhaps some form of formal title whereby she was able to speak on behalf of the city and/or enter into negotiations with Joab. She argues that the city of Abel has been a faithful mother to Israel, a fount of wisdom, and that Joab and his men are seeking to swallow up the Lord’s heritage by destroying this peaceful and faithful place.

Joab, ironically, protests that he’s not the swallowing up or destroying type. All they want is Sheba. The woman says, “how about his head?” And she then convinces the other townspeople of the prudence of one man dying, rather than the whole city. At this point the rebellion ceases, and Joab and the troops are able to return to the king.

All’s Well that Ends Well?, v23-26

23 Now Joab was in command of all the army of Israel; and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the Cherethites and the Pelethites; 24 and Adoram was in charge of the forced labor; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was the recorder; 25 and Sheva was secretary; and Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 26 and Ira the Jairite was also David’s priest.

These concluding verses place a bookend to the portion of 2 Samuel beginning in chapter 9. Starting next week we’ll see some summary information that is presented not in chronological order, but meant to tie up a number of loose ends and prepare the reader for the narrative of 1 & 2 Kings.

What should we take from this list of names? It seems like everything is “back to normal” and maybe the kingdom can breathe easy. But if you keep reading in 1 Kings this is not so. There is yet another rebellion before David’s death, but that time Joab will not be on his side. I think the big overarching point of the text is that God is working out his ends in the people of Israel and the life of David in spite of the human characters in the story, who seem to do everything then can to get in the way. But as we close, I want to spend a little time pondering how to think about Joab and apply the lessons of his life to our own.

In his fiction book, The Great Divorce, CS Lewis takes his readers on a bus ride. This bus ride begins in hell, where it collects a number of passengers and then begins flying. The final destination? The outskirts of heaven. Now, if you had just been in hell and were dropped off in heaven you might think that was a pretty good deal. But what these characters find as they disembark the bus and begin to move around is that the world they have entered is too solid for them to enjoy - or even tolerate. Some complain, and head straight back for the bus. Others try, slowly, painfully, to explore. The grass is more solid than their ghostly feet. The water, though moving, is impenetrable to their shadowy forms. Messengers are then sent to each of these visitors, inviting them to abandon the bus and hell, and to come further into heaven. Yes, it will be painful now, but as you grow more solid your joy will likewise increase.

But for the most part, the ghosts decline this invitation. They can’t stand what they’re experiencing and hearing about the place. Why, they allowed a known murderer in! One woman is invited to stay and be reunited with her husband, but she can’t stand the thought because he didn’t appreciate all of her nagging in life seeking to “improve” him. On second thought, perhaps she will stay - but only if allowed to really have free reign in how she “handles” him. One scholarly Anglican priest thinks it could potentially be okay if he is “allowed to make some contributions” morally and intellectually.

No, heaven will not apologize for allowing repentant murderers. No, you will not be engaged in manipulating or controlling anyone. No, you won’t be making any contributions to the God who is already complete.

Now, in that book Lewis isn’t suggesting that people actually get a second chance after they die. Not indeed, is he suggesting that anyone experiencing hell thinking they would prefer it to heaven. What he does through that fictional story, though, is lay bare the problem of the human heart here on earth. We’ll say yes to heaven - to God - on our own terms. You may be happy to wear the “team Jesus” jersey, and even be fiercely loyal to the cause, but you want to call your own plays. You want Jesus as your savior, but you struggle to submit to him as your Lord.

As we read the Samuel narratives, we time again run into Joab. And Joab is David’s most fiercely loyal servant. And Joab will always do what he thinks is right for the kingdom and Davidic dynasty. But Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 - verses with a message so important that it’s a word-for-word repetition - say “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” Are you walking the road to death this morning? You cannot love, follow, and serve Jesus in a way that he accepts without this crucial component: obedience.

Jesus makes that about as clear as possible in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

And he puts it in stark terms in Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

Allegiance to Jesus - verbalized and even felt, is not enough. You must obey him. This has applications for us both as individuals and as a church. As individuals, we each ought to take stock of our lives. Is there a particular passage of Scripture you really don’t like? Is there a sin in your life that makes you really offended when people point it out? When you cherish your sin it will destroy you. Be willing to put your sin to death. Obey Jesus, no matter what it costs you. Don’t cling to your lust, or your pride, or your own definition of love, or your bitterness. Cling to Jesus, and follow him.

As a church, we can face the same temptations. To do “what works.” To look for someone with the shrewdness and effectiveness of Joab. What does it take to draw a crowd? You can go the way of the seeker-sensitive model, watering things down and not talking about the hard edges of the Christian faith or expecting commitment. Just come as you are, and stay that way! Or in our day, you can draw a crowd by doing the opposite. Take strong stands on controversial issues, that way everyone will know what side you’re on! That can draw a crowd in 2022.

Or we can do what faithful churches have done for close to 2,000 years. Preach the Bible. Pray together. Eat together. Baptize new believers and regularly remember Jesus’ death for us in communion. Pursue holiness and obedience to him in every area of life. We can refuse to be carried around by the winds of the moment, and remain firmly fixed to the foundation of our faith, the anchor of our soul, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In another of his books, Lewis makes the statement that God will surely use you in his plan - but it matters a great deal to you if you play the part of Judas or John. We might alter that and put it this way - don’t imitate Joab. Don’t justify your disobedience by thinking that, “at least I’m on the right team.” Spend your life obeying Jesus.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remsenbible.substack.com

How to Pray When You’ve Sinned

Remsen Bible Fellowship, Psalm 51, 09/04/2022

The following is an AI generated transcript, not a manuscript.

And Father, again, as we turn to your word now, would you open our eyes to behold both the horrific things we would see in ourselves and the beauty of what were revealed of you, what was shown of you in your word. We ask these things in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

If you want to take your Bibles and turn, we’re going to be in Psalm 51 this morning. Psalm 51.

One of the great dangers as a human being is to want to hide our sin. We love living in the darkness, John 3 says, because our deeds are evil. And Satan, who is the prince of darkness, and Ephesians 2 says he is the prince of the power of the air, thus he’s the god of this world, He loves that. He loves the darkness and those who are born into his reign, which is all of us. We love the darkness rather than the light because our deeds are evil. But God sometimes in his mercy will shine a spotlight into the darkness. He’ll shine a spotlight on our sin so that even if we’re trying to run, even if we’re trying to hide it, He makes it unmistakably clear that this is who we are and this is where we’re at. We are sinners without hope. We are sinners lost in our sin. We are sinners condemned under his righteous decree.

That’s what God did for David in 2 Samuel. We’ve looked the last two weeks at 2 Samuel 11 and 12, and in chapter 11, David says, sees Bathsheba he lusts after her he inquires after her he brings her to himself he takes advantage of her then he tries to get her husband to cover it up unknowingly that doesn’t work so he has him killed and he takes Bathsheba to himself And we’re told at the end of 2 Samuel 11 that the thing David had done displeased the Lord. But God did not just leave David in that dark place. He sent Nathan the prophet to him, and the word of God was spoken to David. And Nathan tells the story of the rich man who had many, many things, and the poor man who had one little lamb. But the rich man wasn’t satisfied with what he had, and so he stole from the poor man to satisfy his own desires. And David, rightly, is indignant. He’s angry at that man. And the prophet Nathan speaks the word of God to David and says, You are that man. You are the man who deserves to die, David. King, anointed of the Lord, you deserve to die.

And David has an option there. He’s the king. He’s the supreme judge. He could do what kings often did in Israel and say, get this prophet out of my sight. Kill him. Throw him in a well. Get him out of here. I don’t want to listen. He could try to keep hiding his sin. Or he could do what he did and say, I have sinned against the Lord. We have that same option anytime God, in his gracious mercy, reveals our sin to us. Whether it’s like David and someone lovingly comes and confronts us with our sin. Or God just mercifully as we’re reading his word or as we hear a sermon opens up to us. This is an area that needs change. This is an area where you fall short and you’re walking in sin. God mercifully confronts us. And we have the option in that instance whether to keep hiding in the darkness or to walk in the light as he is in the light. 1 John 1.

How do you do that? How? When we know that God is holy and we are not, how do you walk towards him? How do you pray when you’ve sinned? That’s what David shows us here in Psalm 51. Psalm 51, the heading gives us the setting. To the choir master, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. And in the first four verses here, we’re going to see that the first step in praying when you’ve sinned is to repent. To repent of your sins, to agree with God about what your sin is. And to have a change of mind, that’s literally what repent means, is a change of mind where you agree with God about what you’ve done, and you ask him for your forgiveness.

Repentance... 2 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 10 tells us that there’s a godly grief that leads to repentance. Repentance is not just feeling bad about what you’ve done. We’ll talk about this more in a few minutes. But in 2 Corinthians 7.10, Paul says there’s a godly grief that leads to repentance that leads to life. And there’s a worldly sorrow that leads to death. So don’t get confused when we talk about repentance as just feeling bad about what you’ve done. Everybody at some level feels bad about what they’ve done. The question is going to be what we do with that. But true repentance has some characteristics. And in verse 1, we see that the first characteristic of true repentance... is that he cries out to God for mercy. This is fascinating to me as I read this psalm this week and was reading commentaries that David, after this grievous, grievous sin, does not, when he goes to God, start by saying, here’s what I did wrong. Here’s how I need help. Please take this out of my life. The first thing he does is he starts talking to God about God. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.

The first thing he comes to God with is the character of God. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love. According to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. That phrase, steadfast love, is a phrase that’s translated one Hebrew word, chesed, which occurs 245 times in the Old Testament. It’s often translated steadfast love or loving kindness or merciful love. But that Hebrew word is one of the dominant, if not the dominant, descriptions of God in the Old Testament. That God, as 1 John tells us, is love. He is the God who keeps covenant love with his people. And so when David goes to God and asks for mercy, he does so not on the basis of anything in himself. but on the basis of God’s own character. He’s not saying, God, I deserve you to forgive me. Here’s all the things I’ve done for you in the past. He comes to God and says, you are a loving God. You are a merciful God. Please have mercy on me.

In the New Testament, Jesus talks about two different kinds of men. There’s a Pharisee who goes and he prays three times a day. And he says, Lord, thank you that I’m not like that guy over there. I give my tithes. I do my good works. Pray three times a day. I do all of the right things. Thank you. And thank you, God. I’m not going to take any of the credit for this. But thank you that I’m not like that. Thank you that I’m good. And then there’s a tax collector who beats his breast, won’t even look to heaven, and says, have mercy on me, a sinner. And only one of those men went to his house justified. David here is acting like that tax collector. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.

Verse 2, he says, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. And that language that he uses there, wash me and cleanse me, is the language of Leviticus. It’s the language of... ceremonial cleanness to be able to approach god you had to have all of the proper washings all of the proper your clothes had to be washed in the right way you had to be washed in the right way you were a woman you couldn’t be there at a certain time of month there’s all these ceremonial laws and David’s saying i by my sin am made unclean and two words they’re used for sin iniquity is not talking about his actions so much as it’s talking about his person He, by his very nature, and we’ll look at this more in a second, but by his very nature, he is full of, stained by, covered in sinfulness. But then he talks about his action as well. That word sin at the end of verse 2, cleanse me from my sin, is the word that’s often used in the Old Testament. It means to miss the mark. Like God’s got a standard and it’s up here. It’s perfection. And David says, I fell short of that. Please cleanse me.

That sin, it’s not just a bad thing, it’s not just a slip-up, it’s not just a oops to heiress human. He’s saying there’s a moral deficiency that’s already present in me, I have iniquity, and that expresses itself in the fact that my actions and my words and my thoughts fall short of the glory of God. Verse 3 says, I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. And I can’t help but wonder here. David has had Uriah killed and brought Bathsheba to himself. I wonder if just every time he looks at her, he thinks about everything he did wrong that created the situation. Every time he sees this woman whom maybe he really loves, And this child growing, a child whom he will love, and thinks all of the things he did wrong. He hasn’t wanted to admit it. He missed when Nathan was calling him out until Nathan spelled it out in black and white. But David is a man after God’s heart. David knows the word of the Lord. And there’s just got to be this slow burn where even if he’s tried to sear and callous his conscience, God’s just working at him in the background. And he knows his transgression is ever before him, whether he wants to admit it or not in the moment.

And then we come to verse 4, which to our modern ears is probably somewhat offensive. Because he says against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. Against you and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight. And we might read that and think... Well, David, I think you’re forgetting the story. Remember Uriah? He’s dead now. Bathsheba? The whole nation of Israel who will face the consequences of your sin? I think you’ve sinned against more than just God. And David actually, by the end, we’re going to see here, he understands that his relationship with God affects a lot more than just himself. So David’s not saying that none of those other people were affected. None of them matter.

But ultimately... Why is what he did to Bathsheba or Uriah or as the leader of a nation, why is that wrong? By what standard is it wrong? By this standard, it is wrong. By the word of the Lord, by the word of God, it is judged as wrong. If David doesn’t have that external standard, that authority over him that tells he, the king, what is right and wrong he can do whatever he wants you see that in the ancient world so a man who gets sent out to battle dies David says to Joab the sword devours one and then another so a king the most powerful man in his nation takes somebody else’s wife that’s what we expect that’s what the Egyptians do it’s what the Canaanites do what is the big deal It’s only by the authority of God’s word that we can look at these things and say right or wrong. To look at how he treated these other people and say he shouldn’t treat them that way.

So ultimately, it’s only if sin is ultimately against God that it can be wrong against someone else. Because God’s the only one with authority to tell you how to act in the end. He sets up other structures of authority that he tells us to obey. But again, we know that as he reveals it in his word. And this is going to be important as we look at the next section. This is one of the differences between godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. Worldly sorrow will feel bad. that this person was upset or hurt, and that that’s having bad consequences for me, and so I’m gonna try to patch this up as best as I can. And either that’s going to fail, you won’t be able to patch it up, and you’ll still be devastated and it will lead you down a spiral. Or you will patch it up and think, whew, I got away with it, got past it. That sin, though it was never atoned for, I’m not having to deal with the consequences, so it’s okay.

But if sin is ultimately against God, and I go to Him and receive His forgiveness, then I can approach the horizontal relationship where I’ve failed, and I can own my responsibility, and I can say, I’ve sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, and there may be consequences, and I will have to deal with them. But I’ve got the vertical thing figured out, and it’s going to be okay. I can do that not with any self-interest at heart, but actually go in love towards those who have hurt and say, I’m sorry. Would you please forgive me? That’s the other thing we see here is that David is asking God to forgive him. He’s not just saying, I’m sorry. He’s not just acknowledging that he did something wrong. But he’s going that next step and asking for forgiveness. He’s putting himself at God’s mercy.

So he begins with repentance. And that’s where we have to start. If we want to approach a holy God as those who are sinners, we must repent of our sins, agree with God that what we have done is wrong, that who we are in some sense is wrong, and that we need him to forgive us. And the next thing we see is David asking God to fix him, to renew him, to make him new by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I’ll just read verses 5 through 12. You delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.

David, in verse 5, acknowledges that from the womb, he was a sinner. We sometimes have this backwards idea that what makes us sinners is that we sin. But the fact of the matter, as Scripture reveals it, is that we are born sinners. Everyone after Adam and Eve is born a sinner, Therefore, we sin. We have the capacity to choose between right and wrong, just like Adam and Eve did. But we are born with a bent towards evil. And so we choose over and over again to rebel against God. We are born that way from the tiniest little child all the way up. That’s what we do. That’s who we are. He’s not saying, when he says, in sin did my mother conceive me, he’s not saying his mother was in sin in that moment, but rather he’s saying that from that point of conception, I am a sinner.

Now this is a totally parenthetical comment here, but I think that also should point for us to say, God considers that unborn child from the point of conception a human being. that he’s held guilty as a sinner before God from that point. It sounds kind of negative that he’s a sinner from that point, but God doesn’t call animals sinners. He doesn’t call trees sinners, rocks sinners. Random clumps of cells that exist in the world aren’t sinners. Only human beings with full dignity made in the image of God, who are rebels against him, are called sinners.

Verse 6, he says, Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. And that’s just set in contrast, really, with verse 5. From the point of conception, we are born into this world as those who are sinners. God delights to teach us wisdom, though. We’re reading through Proverbs with the kids right now, and it’s just so striking over and over. Wisdom is calling out. God wants to teach us his ways. He wants to show us wisdom. And yet we as rebels reject it over and over again.

He returns to the language of Leviticus here when he says, Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. And in Leviticus, I think it’s chapter 14, it talks about the cleansing rituals that there are for lepers. And when someone is infected with leprosy, which was just like a... It’s not necessarily talking about Hansen’s disease, which is what we call leprosy today, but just the broad range of transmissible skin diseases were called leprosy in the Old Testament. And you had a whole series of things you had to do if you had had leprosy or if somebody in your house had had leprosy, not just for you as that person to be declared clean, But for the different items in your house, some things that were permeable just had to be burned or gotten rid of. But then things that weren’t had to be cleansed. They had to be washed and then sprinkled with the blood of a sacrifice. And these birds would be killed and their bodies ripped open. And then a scarlet thread and a piece of cedar wood and a branch of hyssop would be dipped in that blood and sprinkled over those things to be declared clean.

For... We often think of sin, again, just as stuff that we do. But especially in the Old Testament, the idea of sin is broader than that. It’s like this contagion that goes out everywhere. Everything that’s touched by a sinner becomes tainted by that sin. And God says the only way for that to get fixed is to be sprinkled with blood, to be cleansed. And David here, he’s like, I am a man. And this is exactly what God promises to do for those who will trust in him. Isaiah chapter 1 and verse 18 says, are like crimson i will wash them white as snow though they are like scarlet i will make them like wool god will cleanse away the sins of those who trust in him that’s what David’s asking for purge me as we who are on this side of the cross we know that that final blood sacrifice is Christ and in first peter chapter one and verse two it’s talking about and he’s addressing those to whom he’s writing that letter in the region of Asia Minor, and he calls them those who have been sprinkled with the blood of Christ Jesus.

And if you are in Christ, you’ve trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, and he has sprinkled you with Christ’s blood and cleansed you, it’s as if that red garment, that stain, the red of Christ’s blood, and that his blood’s more powerful than your sin. And it outsoaks to the point where your garment becomes white as snow. Verse 80 says, let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me. Just asking over and over again, God, would you cleanse me? Would you purify me? This sin goes all the way down, and I can’t get it out. I need you to do it.

Do you recognize that in yourself? That in the end, no matter how hard you try, you can’t clean you up. You can’t fix your problems. Only God can. And here we have a great advantage over David. Verses 11 and 12, he says, Cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit. That verse 11 causes a lot of people to trip up. Well, if we’re given the Holy Spirit, he doesn’t take the Spirit away, does he? Like once saved, always saved, right? But in the Old Testament, they didn’t have the continuous indwelling of the Spirit. That’s a new thing in the New Testament, starting in the book of Acts. Jesus promised it in the upper room to the disciples that when he went away, it would actually be better for them because the Spirit would come upon them and he would indwell them.

But for saints in the Old Testament, though the Spirit was at work, he’s the one who gave them new life to be able to trust in Christ. He was still working in them. But he didn’t dwell with them in the same way. And the Spirit would come upon people for particular purposes. And so we see Saul, David’s predecessor, who is probably in David’s mind right now. The Spirit of God came upon Saul, rushed upon Saul, so that he could lead the people, so that he could guide the nation of Israel in holiness and in battle and to direct them underneath God. But then when Saul rejected the word of the Lord and would not repent when confronted with his sin, God took the spirit away, and Saul went crazy. It said God took his Holy Spirit away, and then a couple chapters later, God is sending a tormenting spirit upon him. Things go very bad for Saul when he refuses to repent for his sin, and David has got that in his head to be sure, and is saying, God, I don’t want to go that same way. Do not make me like Saul. Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me, O Lord.

And as we who are believers, we know that God won’t take his spirit from us. He gives his spirit irrevocably. If you’ve trusted in Christ, the spirit has come upon you and he makes your body his temple. He lives there. But this prayer can still be instructive for us because even with the spirit living in you, still grieve the spirit you can still get out of step from where the spirit wants you to be walking that’s why the apostle Paul in Galatians 5 says keep in step with the spirit because we can still harden our hearts against god and say i don’t want to listen i don’t want to do things your way and stamp our foot like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum And we can lose the joy of salvation by acting that way.

We should be instructed here by David, who desires deeply to have the joy of salvation, restore to me the joy of salvation. He contrasts that with the breaking of bones that he’s felt from having this sin stuffed inside. When you’re confronted with your sin i think we’ve basically got three roads in front of us when that happens the first is to try to stuff it behind us and pretend it doesn’t exist to and i think this is probably like one of the biggest temptations for believers is to pretend that we’re okay when we’re not okay to pretend that What we’re doing that’s wrong or bad or the thoughts that we’re having that are dishonoring to God to pretend they don’t exist and try to paste them over with our good works. To be like that Pharisee who said, I’m not like that guy over there. Look at all the good things about me. And we do that towards one another. We try to put a good front up. And we try to do it to God, which is stupid because he sees everything. But we still try to do it.

But the other temptation is a temptation that our world has bought fully into at this point, which is to say, wrong. I’m proud of this. This is not wrong. There’s nothing wrong with how I live. There’s nothing wrong with what I want to do. In the book of Isaiah chapter 5, it says, woe unto those who call good evil and evil good. But that’s an option that we have in front of us. When we’re confronted with our sins, sometimes we just say, wow, that’s who I am. If you don’t like it, that’s your problem, not mine. But woe unto a culture that calls killing life health care. Woe unto a culture that calls the denial of the gift of male and female good to say those things don’t exist. who say acting like the culture in how we speak is just how you get things done rather than being different.

Chapter 6 of Isaiah, Woe unto me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I come from a people of unclean lips. We can try to stuff it and hide it, but God sees everything. We can try to just embrace it and say, well, this is who I am and it’s okay. And God will say, no, it’s not. Or we can humbly submit to him and say, Lord, please forgive me. Please renew me. Make me like Christ.

Finally, we see that David understands this isn’t just about him. This is about the renown of God in the world. god’s fame his glory verse 13 then i will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you David understands like i don’t deserve this grace god but if you give it to me i will tell others that there is grace to be found in you i will teach transgressors your ways and it starts with repentance that’s where god the beginning of wisdom and that that David says if you save me forgive me lord i will spread that message abroad and i wonder how many thousands or millions of people since David wrote that have read psalm 51 and been turned to the Lord if God can forgive David if he can forgive David he can forgive anybody

Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. You sing to the Lord with the joy that he has forgiven you. I’ve always been puzzled in church when you look around and you see people who just don’t sing. They’re so self-conscious about their voice or something. I understand not feeling comfortable singing where people can hear you. I’ve heard people where I understand the discomfort come from. But it isn’t about you. It’s about singing to the Lord over what he’s done for you so that others can hear you and hear, who cares if they’re four octaves off or couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, We’ve got the joy of God’s salvation, and they’re encouraged too. We sing to the Lord, not to put on a show, but because of what he’s done for us.

Open, O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise, verse 15. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Now, David’s not disparaging the system of sacrifice that God set up in the Old Testament. He’s about to talk about, at the end of the psalm, God accepting those things again. But what he’s saying is, those things on their own don’t do anything. The sacrifices didn’t matter as a course of going through the motions. Check that box, check that box, check that box. Okay, God, you good with me now? It only mattered if it came from a heart that was broken and contrite and by faith decided I’m going to obey God in this matter of sacrifice so that this temporary covering of animal blood is there for my sins. The broken and contrite heart is what made the sacrifices matter.

He says finally in verses 18 to 19, Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem, then you will delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bowls will be offered on your altar. David understood that as the king of the nation, his sin affected everybody underneath of him. Everybody in the nation was affected by David’s sin. And if he was out of whack with God, in some sense, everybody else was in a bad situation because of that. Because God was dealing with the nation of Israel primarily through their king.

And we know, we talked about this when we looked at 2 Samuel 7, the only way Through the Davidic king who makes us right with God. Through Christ and the sacrifice that he made on the cross that was perfectly acceptable to God. Which God put his seal of approval on, Romans 1 says, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead. It’s only through being identified with him that we can receive forgiveness, that we receive the gift of the Spirit who will renew us from the inside out, and that we can be right with him forever.

And so what do you do when you sin? How do you pray? You turn to the Lord and you repent of your sin. And you repent. And you know that because God is concerned with his glory being made known, his character being shown in the world, that he will be happy to answer that prayer. Those who would seek God must believe that he exists, the book of Hebrews said, and that he rewards those who seek him. He rewards them with answers to prayers like this.

Would you pray with me? Father God, we thank you that you are a God who loves sinners like us. You so love the world that you gave your only son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. Lord, would you graciously, mercifully reveal our sin to us? Little by little, we can’t handle it all at once. Lord, we thank you that Jesus paid for it all at once. As we turn to communion now and think about what he did for us on that cross, allowing his body to be broken and his blood to be shed, would you give us joy in the salvation that we’ve been given through Christ? In his precious name we pray.

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No White Hats

2 Samuel 19; Remsen Bible Fellowship; 10/30/2022

Introduction

I grew up watching a lot of B-movie cowboy films from the 1930s. We were huge John Wayne fans in our house, and while most people know him from roles in movies like McLintock!, The Searchers, or True Grit, we were familiar with a whole extra section of his catalog. Randy Rides Alone, Blue Steel, and Riders of Destiny were some of the ones we matched time and again. One of the interesting things about those John Waybe movies is that they often broke the mold of 1930s cowboy movies in this important respect: the good guy often wears a black hat. If you turn on a Gene Autry or Roy Rogers film from the next decade you’ll notice that all the good guys wear white hats and the bad guys wear black hats. This simple costume device removed all question of who was a good guy and who was a bad guy. Just look at the hat.

And while movies don’t use that particular device anymore, our society still does. We want to split people into two groups. Good and Evil. There’s a sense in which God does divide people in such a way. Except the grouping goes like this: Evil (this includes everyone, including you and your team) and Good (which includes the Triune God. That’s it.). So good and evil actually aren’t the most helpful distinctions when trying to discern people. Rather, instead of trying to throw a label on a person and pretending to then know everything about them, we ought to try and understand people in our lives, and the characters in the stories we read, based on the actions and the fruit of their lives. And those actions and fruit can change from situation to situation, and they can change over time. What we find out in the Bible is that there really aren’t a bunch or white hats and black hats. Or maybe we could put it another way - there are white hats and black hats, but the characters seem to make a lot of wardrobe changes.

David is a character we traditionally think of in a white hat. But this far into 2 Samuel, we know that that hat doesn’t always fit his head very well. How about in chapter 19? Well, that’s complicated.

Overcome

In the opening verses of chapter 19, we find David right where we left him - sitting in Mahanaim, weeping over the death of his third-born son, Absalom.

19:1 It was told Joab, “Behold, the king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” 2 So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the people, for the people heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.” 3 And the people stole into the city that day as people steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. 4 The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

In these verses, we find David giving himself over to his emotions. And we can have a lot of sympathy with that, can’t we? Just at a base level, we need to acknowledge that emotions, even very strong emotions, are a positive good; they are not something to be afraid of or run from. God gives us emotions as creatures made in his image. The book of Psalms - largely written by this emotional man, David - has been called the songbook of the soul.

And we can even see the justification in the particular sadness he is feeling at this juncture. His third born son has just been killed, his firstborn we know is already dead, and the second born has disappeared from the story, presumably dead as well. David is right to lament the tragedy of Absalom’s life and rebellion, he’s right to lament his death, and he’s even right to feel these things compounded in magnitude by his own failings as a father. David is right to weep. So when you weep, know that God does not condemn your tears. David writes in Psalm 56:8, “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”

Now, I say all of that so that you hear where I’m coming from when I say this: these public tears, in this time and place, do not reflect well on David. David’s public weeping and mourning for his son, in a time when the army should be returning with joy, is way out of line. He has taken a moment of great joy for Israel - a rebellion against the Lord’s anointed king has been squashed, the army of David has won a great victory! - and turned it into the equivalent of a funeral procession, or worse, a shameful retreat. At a time when the people would be right to rejoice and sing for praise, David has set the tone of sorrow and mourning. David’s self-absorption is causing him to fail as a king.

What David is doing in this case is not merely feeling the emotions which we might naturally expect. He is not merely expressing what’s going on inside in an “authentic” way. He’s making this whole battle all about him and his personal life, and failing to see how God is at work in preserving his people Israel. David is not just Absalom’s father. As the king, he functioned as a figurative leader and father for the entire nation of Israel, and he’s acting as if the lives of all his other children are of no importance to him. He’s allowing his emotions to run amok, cloud his thinking, and drop the ball when it comes to setting the proper emotional tone for the people as they return in triumph. If David can’t be happy, he at least ought to be grateful.

And Joab sees this failure. Now, as we’ll spend some time on next week, Joab definitely isn’t wearing a white hat most of the time, either. But for all his failures, Joab can always be counted on to call a spade a spade, and sometimes he’s the only one who will do so with David.

19:5 Then Joab came into the house to the king and said, “You have today covered with shame the faces of all your servants, who have this day saved your life and the lives of your sons and your daughters and the lives of your wives and your concubines, 6 because you love those who hate you and hate those who love you. For you have made it clear today that commanders and servants are nothing to you, for today I know that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead today, then you would be pleased. 7 Now therefore arise, go out and speak kindly to your servants, for I swear by the LORD, if you do not go, not a man will stay with you this night, and this will be worse for you than all the evil that has come upon you from your youth until now.”

Joab is not as cold and heartless as you might first think in this text. He acknowledges David’s hardship-scarred life (v7). He knows that David has had trouble since his youth. But he also points out that in this case, the worst evil yet could happen, and it would be his own doing. He had best pull himself together and go greet his men, thanking them for their service and bravery and loyalty, or he can forget about their protection in the future. Is this a veiled threat from Joab? It could be. Or it may simply be an acknowledgement of the situation.

Before we move on with the narrative, I want to stop and linger over this application question: what are areas of your life where you’re allowing your feelings to ride roughshod over your responsibilities? Where is what you want to do and feel like doing in conflict with what is necessary and required of you? There are countless ways this comes up, but here are two potential scenarios.

Maybe you have some conflict at work. You feel disrespected or looked down upon or left out. A very typical response in our day is to just say how you feel in that moment, throw a fit, and leave the job. No thought to the need to keep employed, or earn an income, or maintain stability. It feels uncomfortable, so we express displeasure and flee. We emphasize how we feel over the objective realities and needs of a given situation. And we prioritize self-expression over self-control. Yet Proverbs 16:32 says, “whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.” You have a spirit, you have emotions - maturity is marked by ruling your spirit.

Another situation, more pertinent to the life of David, is in parenting. Oftentimes our emotions get in the way of good parenting. This can take the obvious forms of losing control of your anger and screaming, or even physical violence in some homes. We know those things are bad. But there is a flip side to that coin, also. Not disciplining your children can also be a case of letting your emotions get in the way of godly child-rearing. David is said in 1 Kings 1:6 to have ‘never at any time displeased [his son Adonijah] by asking, “Why have you done thus and so?’ He never even asked “what are you doing?” I can guarantee that the young man never received a spanking.

Yet what do the scriptures say is the duty of parents, especially fathers?

* Proverbs 13:24, Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

* Proverbs 19:18, Discipline your son, for there is hope; do not set your heart on putting him to death.

The clear teaching of the Bible is that withholding discipline is not an act of love or kindness - it is setting that child up for death. And it expresses no hope for better behavior and growth. We have this conversation with our kids fairly frequently: mom and dad have rules and expectations - and consequences for falling short - because we love you and believe in you.

But that requires diligence, Proverbs 13:24 says, and it means in a given situation I may have to ignore my own emotions, or my guilt because “I’m not perfect, so is it fair for me to expect my children to always obey me?” Sometimes life requires you, frankly, to stuff your feelings and do the right thing. This is part of what is meant in Scripture by “self-control.”

We need to process our emotions in healthy and God-honoring ways. But we ought to express them with wisdom, self-control, and an eye not simply to “authenticity” or “showing my true self”, but to how those things will impact your duties and responsibilities.

Again, hear me: I’m not calling for a blank, stiff-upper-lip, kind of life. I am saying that you can always tell God how you feel - you should be discerning about how you express that to or in front of others. Wearing your heart on your sleeve is seen as a value in our culture, but not in the Bible.

How do you evaluate these things? How do I know in a given situation if it’s appropriate to express a particular emotion, or allow a decision to be driven by how I feel about it? I think a helpful contrast in David’s life is between this incident and when the ark is brought back to Jerusalem in chapter 6. You could also say in that case that David is freely expressing himself before the people. But in that case it is an expression which does not center on him, it’s joy over what the Lord has done for his people. Set that against his weeping in chapter 19, where the focus is drawn away from the nation, and away from God and his work, and centered on David and his sorrow. Are you seeking to center the attention of others on God and his work, or are you looking to be the center of the story?

Thankfully, David got the message. He receives Joab’s rebuke, and in v8, he goes back out and sits at the gate. He appears before the people as their king and judge. And it seems, for a while, like he puts his white hat back on.

David, Good and Kind

As David crosses the Jordan and heads back toward Jerusalem in v16 he is met by a familiar figure - Shimei, who in chapter 16 had chased David, throwing dust and stones and cursing him all the way. Now he shows up with Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, and begs for forgiveness (v19-20). And though Joab’s brother Abishai would again like to put Shimei to death for his treasonous words, David forgives his enemy. He recognizes that a day of victory need not be a day for vengeance (v22-23). In this way, as he heads back to Jerusalem in triumph, he points forward to another king who forgives his enemies when they repent.

David’s wisdom is also on display in verses 24-30. Mephibosheth comes down to meet David (worth a note that though it says Saul’s son, son didn’t always mean direct descendant, and it is clear here that we are discussing Jonathan’s son, Saul’s grandson), and David asks why he didn’t come with David come to start with. In 26-28, Mephibosheth explains that Ziba deceived David. Who is lying, Ziba or Mephibosheth? Peter Liethart notes in his commentary the description of Mephibosheth in v24. This is a description of someone in mourning, so it would seem that Mephibosheth really has mourned David’s absence. David either realizes that he can’t discern between the two, or simply wants to test Mephibosheth’s loyalty, but in v29 he takes all of the land that he had just given to Ziba, and divides it between the two. If it is a test, Mephibosheth (like the mother in 1 Kings 3) passes with flying colors (v30). He doesn’t want the land, he is just happy to have David back on the throne.

In v31-40, David sets out to bless the old man Barzillai who had abundantly provided for him at Mahanaim (17:24-29). Though Barzillai is an old man who would rather stick close to home than travel to Jerusalem with the king, the king blesses him and fulfills his requests. David writes in Psalm 68 of God ascending on high and receiving gifts from men. But when Paul quotes that verse in Ephesians 4, he inverts it and says that God gives gifts to men (in that case speaking of the spiritual gifts given with the Holy Spirit’s presence). David foreshadows that here as he blesses and gives, not merely receiving.

Left Wanting

But even with this fairly positive return, we find David making a tactical error. From verses 8-10 we read of the Israelites arguing about when or if to bring back David. Instead of allowing a broad consensus to play out, David sends directly to his relatives in Judah who have tended to remain more faithful to him (v11-15). This seems like a logical enough move, except that when we come to the end of the chapter we find that this has exacerbated the already present tensions in the nation. This tactical flaw on David’s part sets up the rebellion of Sheba (and the murder of Amasa) that occupy chapter 20, which we’ll look at next week.

As we read the story of David, we come to a familiar conclusion. If we are looking for straightforward “good guys” and “bad guys”, “black hats” and “white hats”, we’re going to miss the ultimate point. The Lord Jesus said all of the Scriptures bear witness to him. And we see that even in these chapters. One day a Davidic king will return to Jerusalem, and though that will be followed by a rebellion and bloodshed (see Revelation 19), when that rebellion is quashed and cast into the lake of fire there will be no repeat cycle. We long for the return of our king. He is a king who wept over Jerusalem - who felt deeply the tragedy of his own rejection - and who yet unflinchingly will exercise judgment over all his enemies.

Jesus is a king, though, who in his first coming did not come for the purpose of judging his enemies. He came not into the world to condemn the world, John 3:17 says, but in order that the world might be saved through him. He will return in judgment. But Jesus is a king who not only is willing to pardon and give gifts of land to his enemies, but who laid down his own life in their place, and gives the abundant gifts of the Holy Spirit and eternal life to all who, like Shimei, will bow before him and give up their rebellion. In Revelation Jesus is pictured not in a white hat, but a white robe, representing his righteousness. He is the only one who has such a garmet by nature, but he will give his righteousness to you if you will trust in him. Do you know him? Have you laid down your spit and your rocks and rebellion and asked for his forgiveness? He will gladly give you forgiveness - and his whole kingdom. Trust in him.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit remsenbible.substack.com

10/16/2022, Remsen Bible Fellowship

Introduction:

Do you long for a just world? Justice is a word which gets a bad wrap, depending upon who is using it. If someone on the left cries out for social justice, half of our society assumes they mean Marxism. If someone cries out for criminal justice, the other half of the society assumes they mean a strategy to maintain structures of power and privilege. We are very suspicious of the word justice, and the people who use it.

Nevertheless, it remains a word with an enormous amount of purchase in our society. Despite our rampant skepticism and perhaps even cynicism regarding justice, we still want it. We want a world that is fair, where good is rewarded and wickedness punished. This desire is good, and it’s right. It’s a reflection of our being made in the image of a just God. If you remember back to our sermon about a month ago, we asked the question, “how can God forgive?” Given God’s justice, for him to forgive our sins required there to be a mechanism by which sin was atoned for in order for we sinners to live in God’s presence. God’s justice will not be mocked or compromised.

So when we come to a text like 2 Samuel 13, we are right to cry out with the Psalmist, “how long oh Lord?” How long will God allow sin to run rampant, how long will God permit terrible abuse like Amnon’s rape of Tamar? And how long will he allow indolent kings like David to sit on the throne?

All of this longing for justice makes someone like Absalom a sympathetic character in our eyes. He, too, saw the injustice. He saw the evil committed against his sister, and the king’s refusal to act. But Absalom was a man with a plan. He seethed in bitterness, and he schemed. 13:22 reads, “22 But Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had violated his sister Tamar.”

Trusting Himself for Justice

Absalom trusted himself. He trusted his own wisdom, his own cunning, his own charm and good looks. And when you have a great deal of cunning, wisdom, charn and good looks, that may well seem like a reasonable plan of action. But as we read this text, the perspective the author wants us to have is that of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:35, where we hear these words from the Lord, “Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.” The Lord is the one who brings justice, and he is not slow as some count slowness. But he’s too slow for Absalom.

Which says something, because Absalom is a patient man. He refuses to speak to Amnon, but we read that two years later, as those who work for him shearing sheep are hard at labor, he invites David and all the brothers up to a party. If you remember the story of David and Nabal in 1 Samuel 25, there seems to be a great deal of festivity attached to this time of year. That connection should also put us on alert to potential parallels in the story. A time of sheepshearing, and an enemy of David.

David doesn’t want to go though, “lest we be burdensome to you,” v25. Nonetheless, he gives leave for the other brothers to attend. And so Absalom has Amnon right where he wants him - once Amnon is drunk and can’t defend himself, Absalom has his servants murder him, v28-29. This, understandably, makes the rest of David’s sons feel like the party is over, and it’s time to saddle up the mules and head home. Which is where that old snake Jonadab comes back into the story. While David has heard news that his sons have all been killed, Jonadab offers the comfort that, “it’s only Amnon, and of course Absalom has been planning this a long time - so don’t take it to heart.” The cold and ruthless calculation of Jonadab is obvious here. Of course Amnon wouldn’t be dead if he hadn’t raped his sister, which wouldn’t have crossed his mind as an option unless Jonadab basically told him “if you want something, go get it.” Now Amnon is dead, and Jonadab says to David, “no big deal. It was only one son, and he kind of asked for it, right?” Beware of people like Jonadab who always are concerned with weaseling their way into power and manipulating events to their advantage.

Of course, Absalom’s actions are not only an act of violence against his brother. Because Amnon was the eldest son and heir apparent, it could well have been construed as an attempted coup in and of itself. And so while David and his servant are filled with sorrow, Absalom flees to the city of Geshur (v37), which was a city in Syria - and where Absalom’s mother, Maacah, was from. He stayed there three years.

Let’s pause for a moment and think about this human pursuit of justice apart from God. Absalom is rightly furious about the treatment of his sister and Amnon’s seeming to get away with it. Yet when he takes matters into his own hand, what purpose is this serving? How is Tamar ministered to? She remains a desolate woman in Absalom’s house (13:20). When justice is served by the state there is, in a sense, a community statement that “we will not tolerate such behavior in our bounds.” When we outlaw something we define ourselves as “the people who will not indulge or allow x.” But, of course, vigilante justice manifestly does not serve that same communal purpose of corporate condemnation and vindicating the righteous, in this case a righteous victim like Tamar. Instead, vigilante justice in the end always turns in on itself, looking to exert one’s own will on the world. If you’re familiar with the John Wayne movie, The Searchers, you see an example of this. I won’t go into the plot here, but the character Ethan Edwards, played by Wayne, is seen at first to be looking to avenge some family members who were murdered and perhaps even save the life of one. But over time the pursuit of that vengeance destroys him and he transforms from being a potentially heroic character into the clear villain of the story. But, of course, he doesn’t see that transition himself.

Patient Conspiracy

Remember what I said about Absalom’s patience. Throughout our narrative we have time stamps, and I think one of the purposes is to help us see how drawn out it all was. After three years in Geshur, though, Absalom is probably tired of living in hiding. And though it is never clearly stated, it seems likely he has maintained some connection with people in the kingdom, notably Joab, the commander of David’s army. So Joab hatches this plan, by recruiting a “wise woman” from the city of Tekoa (v2). We0 might well wonder if Joab had attempted to convince David to forgive Absalom and bring him back to the royal court, and 13:39 had said that David’s heart went out to Absalom. But this apparently hadn’t worked, and so Joab resorts to deceit. The woman is recruited to tell David the story of two brothers who quarrel, and one is killed, and the rest of the family drives him away. Of course, as in the story of the rich man stealing the sheep of the poor man in chapter 12, this story is meant to spin back on David. When he promises in v11 that, “not one hair of your son shall be destroyed,” the woman turns around and asks why he won’t show this kind of kindness toward his own son, and why is he keeping him in exile?

Commentator David Payne notes that Absalom’s concern in this seems to be the good of the nation and the peaceful transfer of power. David is aging, Amnon the firstborn is dead, and Chileab the second born has seemingly disappeared from the story. And so Absalom seems like the logical next king, and wouldn’t it be better for him to be nearby? This would explain the statement of the woman in v13, that David keeping Absalom in exile is an action “against the people of God.”

David gives in to this line of attack - but only partially. Absalom is allowed to come to Jerusalem - but not all the way home. He is not to be allowed into the presence of the king. But this is an enormous mistake on David’s part. 14:25-26 lingers over the beauty of Absalom, the absence of any visible blemish, the majesty of his hair. And apparently the beauty was hereditary, because his daughter Tamar was beautiful as well.

But after two more years, Absalom is tired of being in Jerusalem, this near to power, and having none of it for himself. Surely he could be running things better than David could. So he sends for Joab, telling him of his desire of an audience with himself and then the king (v29). When Joab doesn’t come, Absalom resorts to vandalism, and has his workers light Joab’s barley fields on fire. That gets Joab’s attention. When Joab cries out, in 14:31, “why have your servants set my fields on fire!” you can almost hear him add, “you lunatic!” But while Absalom may have resorted to crazy tactics, he got exactly what he wanted. Welcomed into David’s presence, as the king whose heart went out to Absalom in 13:39, now kisses his son in 14:33.

But Absalom being this close to power is now very bad news. He acquires a chariot and a crew of men to go before him (15:1). He then sets up shop at the city gate, stirring up and appealing to those who felt justice was not rightly administered in their land. And there is no quicker way to build a political coalition than to say that the current administration is dead set on hurting you or simply doesn’t hear cases like yours. Absalom is able to parlay this combination of discontent with the status quo with his own charm and promise to do better by these citizens, were he the king, and 15:6 tells us he “stole the hearts of the men of Israel.”

For four years this goes on. You might say Absalom spends four years on the campaign trail, before he decides he’s actually ready to challenge his father. But by this time, Absalom was very strong, and he was continuing to increase in strength (v12). Absalom continued to play his father, and asked for permission to go to Hebron to worship. This is a suspicious place to go for worship, and of course the reader remembers that David’s own reign began with seven years in Hebron. But David seems oblivious to all that is going on.

That happy ignorance is shattered in v13. Messengers come to David with news of the conspiracy. And by this point things have gotten so out of hand that David thinks the best option is to flee. Absalom has been proclaimed king at Hebron (14:10), and apparently has a sufficient force that David doesn’t want to risk battle, at least not at the potential cost of the city. And so he gathers his household and servants, and they leave (14:16-17).

Now we need to pause here again and consider Absalom’s actions. Back in chapter 13, we meet Absalom as a man whose sister has been wronged and who is harboring some anger which he has every right to feel. But that anger because a determination for vengeance, which morphed into a lust for his own power, power to be wielded rightly, for the good of the people!, in contrast to the rule of his father which would let such egregious sin go unpunished. So he makes a plan to grab for that power.

Absalom’s objections to how David ruled were not wrong. David was not exercising his authority wisely or well, the back end of David’s life is filled with all sorts of folly and failure and outright sin. And yet, he was the Lord’s anointed. And remember all the lessons David himself taught us during the reign of Saul - one ought not reach out his hand against God’s anointed king.

And while we certainly have no such king in our model of government - no king at all, and no covenant with God where he uses a prophet to anoint - nonetheless, Romans tells us that all governments are such up by God’s righteous decree. And thus, while human governments are always full of and run by humans, therefore being at times unjust, insufficiently just, corrupt, or simply incompetent, I think we are right to infer from our text, alongside the entire witness of scripture, that we are never to pick up arms against and forcefully rebel against human authority. There are times to disobey, there are times to refuse to doing that which is wrong, no matter who tells us to do it - but Absalom could have addressed any of these matters with the king in a direct and humble way, but instead chose to seek justice for himself. What a contrast with his father.

Trusting in the Lord for Justice

David, for all his imperfections, knows where to go in trouble. Indeed, as you read the story of his life, it’s times of ease and peace that seem to cause him the most trouble. When times are tough, David knows where to turn.

After stopping in 15:16 at the last house out of town, David’s servants all pass by. When Abiathar and Zadok come leading the Levites with the ark of the covenant out of town, David stops them. And in verse 25 he says, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. 26 But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.” David doesn’t feel the need, like the Israelites in 1 Samuel 4, to treat the ark like a google luck charm that you take into battle in order to win. David knows that God is in control of all things, and if he wants David on the throne (and David has the promise of 2 Samuel 7 in his mind), God will bring him back to town. So he sends the priests back.

David sends all kinds of friends back. Zadok and Abiathar are sent back because David doesn’t need the ark as a trinket. They will also serve as helpful spies for gathering intelligence. The chapter closes with his friend, Hushai, coming out, dressed for mourning, to accompany David. But David sends him back as well, to also serve as a spy. David doesn’t eschew any human means of wisdom or intelligence. But he knows that in the end, these things don’t matter a hill of beans if God is not on your side.

As we come into chapter 16, there are two characters who present contrasting responses to the retreating king. The first is Ziba, servant of Jonathan and then Mephibosheth. And while Mephibosheth thinks that David’s exit from Jerusalem is his chance to finally become king of Israel, his servant Ziba brings a massive load of supplies to David, an extraordinary act of kindness - and an example, even in a dark time, of the Lord’s provision for his servant. The second man is also from the household of Saul, and his name is Shimei. He comes out cursing the sky blue (v5), and hurling rocks at David (v6). And rather than allow Abishai, one of Zeruiah’s violent sons, to do him in, David simply accepts this cursing and abuse as from the Lord. Verse 11 reads, “Behold, my own son seeks my life; how much more may this Benjaminite! Leave him alone, and let him curse, for the Lord has told him to do it.”

David seems to accept that the cursing he receives is of the Lord. And if it is unjust, well, then surely the Lord will repay (v12). And so he endures this taunting and cursing, and marches on. Finally, exhausted, David and his men reach the river Jordan. Heading into exile, leaving the promised land.

As I read of David absorbing that ridicule and abuse, my mind cannot help but be drawn to the description of Jesus in 1 Peter 2:21-23, “For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.” David was not stoic or fatalistic in the sense of saying, “well, that’s just the way things are.” But he knew the one who was ultimately in control, and, like his Greater Son, entrusted himself to his faithful God.

But how do you do that? Do you just form a stiff upper lip and march on? I think we can be helped by looking at the words David writes while on the run from Absalom. For those, turn over to Psalm 3. (read the text)

Very briefly, consider three ways David addresses himself to God in Ps 3.

* First, David addresses God honestly (1-2). He tells God that there are many foes, and that they mock his dependence upon God. (v1-2). Do you take your concerns, worries, and enemies to the Lord? We so often are caught up in wanting to say that we don’t have enemies on the one hand, or hating them on the other, that we’re afraid to just come to God and say, “here’s who my enemies are. They are bothering me. Their words and actions are damaging me. Could you do something? Where are you?” Those statements and questions sound almost sacrilegious to us, yet they are modeled for us over and over in the Psalms. And while David is confident in the Lord, his upper lip is emphatically not stiff. Back in our text, 15:30 reads, “But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went.” Weeping up the Mount of Olives.

* He remembers that God has helped him in the past and helps him right now(v3-6). David has many times to draw upon - God delivered him from the lion, the bear, Goliath, Saul, Ish-Bosheth, the list could continue. He answers from his holy hill. For the believer, remembering how God has helped us in the past can take multiple forms. We can certainly draw on those individual experiences. The time you were out of money and a check for just what you needed to pay rent or buy groceries came at the last minute. The time you were incredibly discouraged and someone gave you an encouraging word at just the right moment. Or maybe like verses 5-6, you simply recognize that each morning you wake up is an act of his grace. But as we remember God’s work for us, our minds ought to be drawn to another man, crying up the Mount of Olives. Jesus, who wept on that mountain with such ferocity that his capillaries burst and he started sweating blood, then went the next day to the cross and bore the weight of all our sins. 1 Peter 2:24 reads, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” If you have trusted in Jesus, then you can remember that he purchased you with his own blood. And if you haven’t trusted in Jesus, then none of this can really make any sense to you.

* He trusts the Lord for future salvation (v7-8). Again, the forthrightness here may take us aback. “Strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.”

David is able to entrust himself to the Lord because he acknowledges to God what his concerns, worries, and fears really are. He isn’t putting on his Sunday morning face and heading to prayer “put-together.” He then remembers that God has helped him before, and indeed helps him every day. David need not take his own vengeance. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and he will repay Absalom, and Shimei, and everyone else who needs it.

Conclusion

We are told in texts like Deuteronomy 32 that vengeance belongs to the Lord, that taking revenge is wrong, and that we ought not do it. What we see played out in the life of Absalom is how devastating it is to your soul when you let bitterness and revenge become a driving force. It morphs into a form of self-seeking pride that ends up as ugly as the original injustice it sought to avenge. But in David we see a man who refused to take that same kind of revenge. And this is an example we can follow. Not because we’re some sort of goody-two-shoes and let people walk on us. But because we have confidence that the God of all the universe is the only one who is truly just. And he will punish all sin. Sin has real consequences in this life, and we’ll see that for Absalom next week. But sin also has eternal consequences. Every injustice in this world will be paid for. Those responsible will either perish in hell forever for what they have done, or they will trust in Christ. And friends, if you would be saved from all of the sin in your life, you must trust in Christ. You have committed injustices against others. In all likelihood, you have sought vengeance at one time or another. These are sins which deserve God’s wrath. But Jesus bore that wrath in his body on the tree, that you might die to sin, and live to righteousness. He entrusted himself to his Father, the just judge. You should do the same.

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This has to be one of the hardest texts in scripture, and I had a hard time just like, one of the things you wanna do as you’re preparing to understand something, let alone to teach it, is to read it over and over. And I had a hard time reading this passage over and over. It was just, what the greatest privilege in my life is, is being able to—that might be a slight exaggeration. I do like being married and having kids too. But one of the greatest privileges in my life is getting to study and teach God’s word. And this week, this text was hard for me. It’s just not fun.

First Timothy chapter four verse 16. Paul tells Timothy to watch your life and your doctrine closely. Now that has a direct application. Obviously, he’s speaking to a pastor. He’s telling him to watch his life and doctrine closely for in doing so, he’ll save both himself and his hearers. But it has a secondary application, I think, to all of us as Christians that we all should be watching our lives. It’s not just what we believe that matters. It’s how we live that matters.

Sin is ugly. And the apostle Peter says Satan is there prowling around, creeping at the door, wanting to tempt us to sin. In the book of Genesis chapter four, God says to Cain, Sin is crouching at your door. And it’s crouching at all of our doors. Here in second Samuel chapter 13, we’re going to be lingering over some evil, and we’ll see three negative examples. There’s actually four negative examples in this text, but we don’t have time to get to the fourth one today. We’ll look at three negative examples, and then we’ll stop to listen to one cry for help.

The first negative example we see is the godless lust of Amnon.

Second Samuel 13, beginning in verse one, says,

Now Absalom, David’s son, had a beautiful sister whose name was Tamar. And after a time, Amnon, David’s son, loved her. And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeya, David’s brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. And he said to him, O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me? Amnon said to him, I love Tamar, my brother Absalom’s sister.

Jonadab said to him, Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight that I may see it and eat from her hand. So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, Please let my sister Tamar come and make a couple of cakes in my sight that I may eat from her hand. Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, Go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare food for him. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, where he was lying down. And she took dough and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes. And she took the pan and emptied it out before him, but he refused to eat.

And Amnon said, Send everyone out for me. So everyone went out from him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, Bring the food into the chamber that I may eat from your hand. Then Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. When she brought them near him to eat, he took hold of her and said, Come, lie with me, my sister. She answered him, no, my brother. Do not violate me for such a thing is not done in Israel. Do not do this outrageous thing. And as for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. Now, therefore, please speak to the king for he will not withhold me from you. But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he loved her. And Amnon said to her, get up. Go. But she said to him, no, my brother, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me. But he would not listen to her. He called the young man who served him and said, put this woman out of my presence and bolt the door after her.

Who is Amnon? Amnon is the oldest son of David. He’s the heir apparent to the throne, and he’s also a very weak man. He’s a man who the apostle Paul might say is governed by his passions, governed by his belly, like Paul says in Philippians three nineteen, those who are godless and governed by their lusts. And he’s filled with lust for his half sister, Tamar, who is a beautiful young woman, apparently single, doesn’t have a husband. But Amnon can’t do anything about that. The law in Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20, Deuteronomy, I think it’s 27 maybe, specifically forbid the marrying of your sister or your half sister. These things, though they took place in the times of the patriarchs, like Abraham and Sarah were half siblings. By the time God is giving the law, he is banning these kind of close relationships.

And so Amnon sees no way that he can play out his lust, that he can do anything to her. And even the language here is just frankly, it’s grotesque. It seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. There’s hints even in the way that the author is talking that the love here is not what we should be thinking of in terms of like godly love. It’s a passionate desire for something, but it’s not putting her interests first. He doesn’t actually care about her. He cares about his hormones being satisfied.

But he’s also a weak man, doesn’t have a lot of a plan for himself. He just because he thinks he can’t do anything, he sits around and he pouts. He sits around and he makes himself look ill to the point where Jonadab, his cousin and a close adviser comes to him and says, what is wrong with you? Like, why do you look haggard? What’s going on in your life that you can’t even get a grip on yourself and act normal? And when Amnon tells him, Jonadab says, Well, here. I’ll give you a plan. Since you can’t come up with one for yourself, I’ll come up with a plan for you. And Amnon drinks it up. He does exactly as Jonadab tells him.

But again, he’s not acting out of love. He’s acting in entire self centeredness. He feigns illness in order to be served. And apparently David has a habit of visiting his children when they’re sick. He doesn’t seem to know them very well. And so, like, maybe this is like his olive branch. I’m going to be present when they’re sick, and I’ll go visit. And he goes to see Amnon, and Amnon says, well, send Tamar to me. I need her to stand where I can see her and have her make cakes and then have her bring them to me and feed me. This is a strange request. You would think, man, David ought to smell a rat, but he doesn’t. Amnon is given just whatever he wants.

But when she comes to him and she does everything that’s asked of her, right? She serves him, she makes these cakes, she’s a hard worker, she brings them to him, he seizes her and demands that she sleep with him. In Scripture, true love is a gift from God. It’s a capacity that God gives to human beings to reflect what He is like by pursuing the good of others. It’s the chief of the spiritual virtues. These three remain faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. To lay down our lives in pursuit of the good of someone else is the greatest gift that God gives to human beings.

Lust, in contrast, is the desire to take and have that to which we have no claim. To take what isn’t ours in order to satisfy our lusts, which is to say lust is a form of theft. And here that lust moves from being a theft of the mind to being a violent theft where he takes Tamar’s body for himself. Tamar calls this an outrageous thing in verse 12. She would call it an outrageous thing because, as we said, in Leviticus 18, incest was forbidden. That phrase there, such a thing is not done in Israel, calls to mind both Genesis 34 where the sons of Israel are outraged over something that should not be done in Israel. They’re referring to the rape of their sister, Dinah. Also in Judges chapter 20, there was an outrageous thing done in Israel when the Levites concubine was gang raped by the people of Benjamin the point where she actually died. That same phrase, such a thing should not be done in Israel. An outrageous thing was done in Israel. Same phrase is used there.

Lust is a lot more serious than we usually take it to be. It also turns and transforms what feels like what might even be able to be papered over and called, yeah, maybe there’s some lust there, but it’s tied to this love. That’s what the guy in Genesis 34 says about Dinah. Right? He takes her because he loves her. Here, Amnon says, well, I love Tamar. But it turns immediately once the lust is satisfied. It turns to hate. Verse 15. He violated her and lay with her into fourteen fifteen. Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her.

Are you indulging lust in your life? Maybe letting your eyes linger where they shouldn’t viewing pornography, indulging fantasies that honor neither god nor those made in his image. This would be a lot easier, determined to preach, if there were, like, 400 people in here. You just, like, totally disconnect from everybody that’s here. For me, very practically, Andy and I were just talking about this a couple weeks ago. Like, one of the things that most helped me in my battle with these kind of thoughts was consciously thinking about every person to the extent that I’m able to as an image bearer of God.

Like, you can put up all the rules and all the whatever you want in your life. And if you’re driven by lust, you’ll just work around the rules. You’ll out reason yourself. We’ll talk about that in a second. You’ll reason your way around it. But you can’t get around being conscious that that person is an image bearer of almighty God, That God Himself cares about exactly how I think and act towards that person. And that would solve so many problems, not just in our lives but in society, not just in this area of sexuality, but in so much of our lives. If we would just look at other people as image bearers of God, not as people who are objects for our own gratification or roadblocks in the way of us getting to our own gratification and happiness, but human beings that God made in his image and that he cares about and that he wants us to treat as if they are reflecting him.

How we this is the very reasoning of murder being wrong in Genesis chapter nine is that God made man in his image. And so to violently act against an image bearer of God to take their life is in a sense a form of treason against God, like you’re trying to kill God. That that’s what murder is. So the first thing we see, the first thing we need to watch for is the godless lust of people like Amnon that can take place in our own hearts.

The second thing we see in the text is the godless cunning of Jonadab verses four and five or verses three, four, and five. Amnon had a friend whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeh, David’s brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. Now relatively few people in scripture are given, like, a description of this sort for us. I mean, it happens, but it’s not like not every person is getting a description of this is what this person was like. Sometimes they just pop up and they disappear from the story and they’re here and gone and we don’t know that much about them. Jonadab, we’re told who he is. He’s a close relative. He’s Shimiya, David’s brother’s son. And he is a very crafty man, which means he knows how to get what he wants.

So he tells Amnon, here is a very simple solution to getting what you want. He’s also a man we see at the end of the chapter. We’ll maybe look at this a little bit next week, but he’s a man who knows what’s going on in the world. He’s David’s freaking out when he thinks that all of his sons have been killed, and Jonadab says to him, oh, don’t worry. It’s only one. Amnon’s the only one that’s dead. You don’t have to worry. He has a kind of craftiness or cunning that is something that is fallen human beings we naturally admire. He is what we look for when we look for a winner. When we are thinking things like winning is a virtue or we just need to do whatever it takes or the ends justify the means.

If that’s your line of thinking, like doing whatever it takes to get what you want or to get to the end result that you want, Jonadab is the kind of guy you want on your side because he’s crafty, he understands how the world works, and he knows how to manipulate people to get at where he’s going. But the first person in Scripture who’s called crafty isn’t actually a person. It’s in Genesis chapter three where it says, Now the serpent was more crafty than all the other creatures of the garden. We can think of craftiness and the ability to get where you want to go, and that isn’t bad in and of itself. Jesus actually tells us to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. He says that the people of this world are shrewder with unrighteous mammon than the children of righteousness are. And he seems to be saying that as a compliment, like they’re better at using their goods to get where they’re going than Christians are. But if that craftiness is unhitched from submission to God and what He actually wants, then it is a very dangerous place to be. Beware of using craftily manipulated plans for your own benefit, and beware of hitching your bandwagon to those that do.

I’ve got more. I could probably go on with that, but I think we’ll move on to the godless anger of David. This is where I wanna spend some time. Actually, this is where I thought the whole sermon was gonna go to start with. David makes me mad at this passage so much. The godless anger of David. We see this down in verse 21. He hears what’s going on. He’s been manipulated in this situation. Remember, Tamar gets to Amnon because David sent her there. So David’s been manipulated by this plan of Jonadab and Amnon. And when David heard of all these things, verse 21, he was very angry, and that’s it. He was just mad.

Some older translations follow the Dead Sea Scrolls or the Septuagint, which have a longer reading. It says he would not punish Amnon, his son, because he loved him since he was his firstborn. And whether that actually should be part of the text or not, it’s obviously what’s happening here. He won’t punish Amnon. He’s just mad about it. David is right to be mad. These are the sort of things that should make us angry. If we read this text and we don’t feel some sense of anger or rage at this situation, there’s something wrong in our hearts. But David isn’t just an outside observer hearing about something that’s really bad. David is both the father of both of these people, and he is the king, which means he has the authority and the duty to act, not just to be mad.

That’s, again, that’s why we have the original title of the sermon in the bulletin, Why Fathers Matter. Don’t simmer and stew about situations where you have a duty to take action. I hear this from parents our age all the time. They’ll talk about how some there’s some problem with their child, and you just think you know you created that situation. Right? Like, you don’t discipline. You don’t correct them, and you’re surprised that they act like little terrorists. That’s you’re responsible for creating the situation in which they live. You’re not responsible for their actions. They are. But you are responsible for dealing with their actions and for correcting them.

And here, David is not just the father, but he is the judge. He is the supreme judge in Israel. And when a crime of this magnitude is committed, he has a duty to act and to punish Amnon. And instead he just sits on his hands and is angry. He stews. This is dangerous, first of all, in our own hearts, to stew on things because it causes bitterness. It doesn’t actually accomplish anything to just sit with your anger. It just makes you bitter. And out in the world to sit on your hands when you have a duty to act is the seedbed of chaos. David takes action here against Amnon, all of the tragic things that happen in the next five, six, seven chapters don’t happen. David could have cut it off at the pass. He wouldn’t have saved his daughter, wouldn’t have saved her from what had happened, but he could punish Amnon here and save all of the negative consequences for the kingdom, but he doesn’t do it.

Paul says, Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. And we think about that being about forgiveness. And it largely, that is the right application of that text to forgive things. But anger can and at times very much should be a motivation to righteous action. Here David should have punished Amnon, this wicked son and wicked servant to the king. And instead, he just sits and is angry and watches disaster unfold before him.

But so far in this sermon, we’ve done what most of the other characters in this chapter do. We haven’t listened to Tamar. Amnon doesn’t listen to her pleas to reconsider his actions either before or after the rape. David doesn’t listen to her case. And even Absalom, who is furious with his brother and does take action, not good action, but action, he doesn’t seem to actually be listening to her. We see that in verse 20. Her brother Absalom said to her, has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother. Do not take it to heart. So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom’s house. Verse 20. Now Absalom spoke to Amnon neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar. Absalom is angry, as he should be, about what’s happened to his sister, but he doesn’t actually seem focused on trying to help her. He’s just focused on getting revenge, and that’s what will unfold as we look at it next week.

In verses seven through 11, we find Tamar hard at work, obeying her father, kindly serving her supposedly ill brother, making him cakes and bringing them to him. David said to Tamar, verse seven, go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare food for him. So Tamar went to her brother Amnon’s house, where he was lying down. And she took dough and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes. She took the pan and emptied it out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, send everyone out from me. So everyone went out from him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, bring the food into the chamber that I may eat from your hand. And Tamar took the cake she had made and brought them into the chamber to Amnon, her brother. When she brought them near him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, come, lie with me, my sister.

When she’s seized, she doesn’t have a defense. She’s a woman. She’s weaker than he is. I don’t remember who I was listening to recently, but they observed, you know, we our society kicks against the idea of a male dominated world. But in a world where men are stronger than women, which is the world all the time, the world is going to be dominated by men, and it’s a question of will that domination be used to take advantage of women or to serve? And Amnon is bent on taking advantage of Tamar.

All she has left to defend herself are words. She has no recourse. The servants have all been sent out. They she has no way to cry for help. All she has are her words to him. So let’s listen to her plea. Verse 12, she says, No, my brother. Do not violate me. And that word violate could also be translated humiliate. He would be bringing great shame upon her. And in those passages in Leviticus 18, there’s a punishment for the man. There’s also a recognition that even though she wouldn’t be at fault, there would be a great deal of shame brought upon her. He would be humiliating her and in a way essentially taking away her future. Because if she’s been violated by him, then no other man in Israel is going to want to have her for a wife. So he is, for a moment of his own pleasure, robbing her entire future. He’s humiliating her. He’s bringing her low.

As we talked about briefly earlier, she said that this is not a thing to be done in Israel. It would be an outrage. And as she says these words structurally between verses one and twenty two, these are like the center of if the author’s making an argument, these verses, her pleas in verses twelve and thirteen and then down in verse 16, these are like the center of the argument. This is what the author wants us to focus on. He wants us to hear her out, and she says, This is not the sort of thing that ought to be done. And when you think of your sin, do you think in those terms? An outrageous thing, a thing that should not be done among the people of God. Is that how you view your sin? Or do you use pet language like a lust issue or an anger problem? Or do you see your sin? Like, Tamar sees this sin as an affront to God and to His people.

In verse 13, Tamar asks the most heartbreaking question. As for me, where could I carry my shame? Where could I carry my shame? I just said we tend to think that if you can’t help it, if you didn’t do anything wrong, then you don’t need to have any shame. Like, you shouldn’t be ashamed of that. But the Bible has a category for shame that is born not from our own sin, but from things that have been done to us. And I wonder if any of you are carrying that kind of shame this morning.

Amnon closes his ears to her cry, and he violates her, and then he compounds his crime. We see that when it says he hates her in verse 15. Amnon hated her with a very great hatred, so the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he loved her. And Amnon said to her, get up. Go. That’s just two words in Hebrew. It’s like, up, out. But she said to him, no, my brother, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me. And I think this is tied to what she said earlier in verse 13, that if you would just speak to the king first, he would give me to you as a wife. Even though that was prohibited by law, we see that David is exceptionally indulgent of his children. He’ll let them do basically whatever if they just ask him.

And so she’s saying, don’t rape me like this. Don’t treat me as nothing. Ask our father and he’ll give me to you as a wife and then at least I will not be as humiliated and ashamed and brought low before everyone. But he won’t do that. He’s not interested. Again, he’s not interested in what’s good for her. He’s not motivated by love. She says, This wrong in sending me away, sending me essentially to be a desolate woman, it says in verse 20, for the rest of her life because of what he’s done. He sends her away to that. He would not listen to her. Verse 16.

When we read stories like this, I think not just in scripture, but people that we know, we talk to them, that’s part of your experience. A fair question is why would God allow such things to happen? And I don’t know. And I think most of the time when we try to answer that question, we create more problems than we solve. I think I don’t know is probably about as good an answer as there is. God, in his wisdom, allows a lot of awful, awful things to happen in this world.

What we can say is what Isaiah 53 says. Jesus joined in that sorrow and in that shame and in that humiliation. When we think of Isaiah 53, we think of all of the that it says about Jesus carrying our sins and carrying our iniquities, carrying the wrong things that we’ve done and the guilt that we have and bearing God’s punishment for those things. And that’s exactly right. Isaiah 53 is full of that. Verse five, He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. Back in verse three, it says he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, as one from whom men hide their faces up out. He was despised, and we esteemed him not we listened to him not.

The Bible doesn’t tell us why God lets things happen like they happened to Tamar, but it does tell us that his response to it is to enter into that pain and that grief right alongside. So that even in our darkest moments, we can know that God is not far. And that He cares. And that He takes that sin so seriously that either the sinner will turn and repent, we should pray for the repentance of sinners, that they would trust in Christ who bore the wrath of God for their sin. Or if they don’t, it will be punished forever in hell. And we have no indication that Amnon ever turns from his sin before Absalom murders him. And so we know that Amnon pays for his sin eternally. Justice is served. Even if in this life it seems like the guilty get away with it, they never actually get away with it. It’s part of the hope of the book of Revelation, is the promise that God’s judgment is coming on sin.

God cares about our pain even more than we do. We’re told in the Psalms, all over the place in the Psalms, that God is a refuge for those who turn to Him. Psalm nine verse nine says, the Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, oh Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sermons are supposed to have one point, but I couldn’t get down to one point. Okay. I think there’s two main things we see as we look at this first part of second Samuel 13. The first is that we have to beware of sin in our own lives because it will destroy us. We’ve been reading Proverbs seven, we get the end of Proverbs seven, it talks about what happens to those who follow the woman folly. The way to her house is the way to shield, the way to death, the grave. And you look at Jonadab, and you look at Amnon, and their way led to death. And David, had he not repented of his many, many sins, too would have gone to death.

But the other thing we see that I think we need to know from second Samuel 13 is that God cares about those who have been humiliated in this life. He cares about the weak and the powerless and those who have been trampled on by others. And we need to hear the promises of scripture that God will be with those who even in those dark times will turn to him because Jesus is not a savior who’s distant from those things. One of my great frustrations sometimes is I hear people talk about the gospel as if it’s a way to get rid of the pain in your life. But Hebrews four tells us that Jesus is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses. I think we could say He’s able to sympathize with us and empathize with us in our humiliation. He’s happy to join us there.

Let’s pray. Father, As I pray that you would help us to be at a church that is welcome and open and sensitive to those who have experienced that kind of pain and shame and humiliation. And, Lord, would you help us to be watchful over our own lives, to hate our sin as you hate our sin so that we would not be those who perpetuate such humiliation and devastation against others? Lord, you hate sin not just because of it of the fact that it affronts you and your holiness, but because of the havoc that it wreaks against your creatures, against your people that you love. Lord, help us to hate sin that same way and to comfort those who have been wounded. We ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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Transcript generated by AI. The sermon was not. Please comment if you notice any errors.

If you want to take your Bibles and turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12, the book of Romans chapter 6 verse 23, it tells us that the wages of sin are The wages of sin is death. And as we looked at last week in 2 Samuel 11, David had sinned grievously. So much so that this narrator, who's usually happy to just tell us the story, just tell us what happened without casting judgment on it, just lets us interpret what's going on, and by the way that he shades things or the words that he uses, figure out, okay, are we supposed to see this positively, negatively, or is he just telling us what happened? But here in 2 Samuel chapter 11, David has sinned in such a severe way that the author inserts himself and says, God is upset about this. The thing that David had done displeased the Lord.

He's committed at least—he's broken at least four of the Ten Commandments. I mean, if we start getting nitty-gritty about how we parse it, probably more than that, but at least—Clearly four. He's coveted Uriah's wife. He's committed adultery then with Uriah's wife. He's lied to try and cover it up, and then he murders Uriah. At least four of the Ten Commandments David breaks just in chapter 11. Have you ever been in a spin cycle of sin? It seems like you do one thing and that leads to committing another sin and another sin. This is especially true once you start getting into lying to cover it up. It just compounds and builds on itself and spins over and over. And you feel like sometimes you can't even get off of that roller coaster.

One of the most precious and terrifying truths in the Bible is that if you are a child of God, When you are in that cycle of sin, he will chase you down. He will chase you down. That's the first thing that we see here in 2 Samuel chapter 12, the first six and a half verses, is that God's grace will pursue you in your sin. God's grace will pursue you in your sin. And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

Now there came a traveler to the rich man. He was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herds to prepare for the guest who had come to him. But he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him. Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives and the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had no pity. And Nathan said to David, You are the man. You are the man.

Verse 1, that word sent is a word we saw several times. I think it's 11 times total in chapter 11 that the word sent is used. It's usually David sending messengers to do this or to do that. David never leaves his home in chapter 11 of 2 Samuel. He's sending messengers back and forth with Bathsheba and with Joab. The action in chapter 11 is driven by sending. The actions all take place, and there's very little notice of God given at all in that chapter until the very end where the narrator tells us that God's not happy about what's been going on. But as we come into chapter 12, God himself decides to do some sending. He sends Nathan. He sends a messenger, a prophet, to David.

I think we should observe the wisdom of how he does this, though. God sends Nathan to pursue David, but Nathan doesn't come with a full frontal assault. He comes with a story, and the story isn't, now once there was a king who had a loyal servant who had a wife who was bathing on a rooftop. That's not the story Nathan tells. Instead, Nathan comes with a story about sheep, about a rich man and a poor man. One guy who had a lot of sheep, one guy who didn't have anything. Just one little ewe lamb who was like one of his children. I think there's a lot of wisdom in there for us in a day and age in which people are judged by how boldface and all caps, they clearly state everything that they think about every single thing that happens in the world and every person that's in the news. You have to have your opinion and it has to be out there loud and clear. And God's word very often isn't like that. It's clear, it's true, and the truth is unchanging. But the way the truth is presented is often a lot more subversive than that.

Because if the full frontal assault comes, often our response is just to shut it out. If Nathan had come to David, guns a-blazing, as it were, like, you have sinned, you have done this and this wrong, David might have thrown up the defenses and gotten like, hey, hey, hey, get out of here. But instead, Nathan tells a story, which is the story of David, but David doesn't see it, and gets David on his side. And he goes, David sees the injustice of the situation. He sees the lack of pity. He sees that what is going on here is absolutely wrong. And then Nathan's able to turn it and say, Now you know that that's you, David. You know that you are the one who has stolen the lamb.

Conviction is ultimately the work of the Holy Spirit. But we as his messengers, we should be winsomely wise as serpents and harmless as doves in how we confront others. Notice the details of this story. The lamb ate the lamb. The poor man's food. It drank his drink. It lay in his arms or in his bosom, it says. And these are the very actions that Uriah had actually chosen not to do with Bathsheba because out of his loyalty to David, when David calls Uriah home from the battlefront, thinks I'll just send him to his house and we'll take care of this issue. We'll cover it up. Uriah, out of his loyalty to David, won't take, as it were, his sheep into his arms. Won't go drink and eat with her. But the rich man, who had more than enough, robs from the poor man. And David, he sees this. He bursts out at the injustice. And he's so passionately angry, he swears by the Lord, saying that the rich man deserves death.

Now, you've got to remember, David doesn't necessarily know that this is a parable, right? David, as the king, they didn't have the same separation of powers like our government does. David is the king. He's also the supreme judge in the land. And so Nathan's bringing this case to him and David may well think, well, he's bringing a case for me to judge. And David's so caught up in what Nathan is saying that he says, this man deserves to die. But then he pauses, like reels himself back in, his emotions, and says, okay, well, legally, what should happen is he pays him back fourfold. Exodus 22 and verse 1 says if somebody steals an ox, you pay him back five oxen. If somebody steals a sheep, you pay him back four sheep. And so David makes a legal judgment here saying, well, he needs to pay back fourfold what's been taken. But he understands that That even though the letter of the law is fourfold restoration, there's something going on here deep down, like spiritually, morally, this man deserves death. The wages of sin should be death in this case. And then Nathan turns it right back against him and says, you're the one who deserves that condemnation, David. You are the one who stole, though having much. David is the man who took Uriah, took everything from Uriah, from his wife to his life. David is the man who, under the law, deserved to die.

Every single one of his actions that he takes in that whole process, adultery deserved death. Murder deserved death. Lying under oath deserved death. The second point we see here is that just like David, your sin is senseless in view of God's kindness. Second half of verse seven through verse nine says, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with a sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

In verses 7 and 8, we see that the focus is four I statements. God says, let's pull the attention off of you for a second, David, and let's look at what I, the Lord God, have done for you. I anointed you king over Israel. Did David do anything to deserve that? No. God went and chose him from the flock, pulled him out of the field, and anointed him king over Israel. I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. Multiple times, David's life is hanging by a thread. Saul is about to capture him, and God preserves his life. And I gave to you your master's house and your master's wives into your arms and gave the house of Israel and Judah. God just says, I poured out all of these blessings upon you. All of these things that Saul had were transferred to David. David took possession of everything that was owned by Saul. He didn't earn any of it. God gave it to him. And then fourth, if this were too little... It's like God takes a knife and twists here. I've given you all of this, and if that were too little, I would have given you more.

Is there anything more, I don't know what the right word is, crushing? When you sneakily, maybe you remember doing this when you were a kid. And you try to sneak something, you take it, you get caught, you get in huge trouble for stealing it. And your parents come back to you and they say, you know, if you would have asked, I would have given you that and then some. But now you've tried to take it, you don't get it. God says, I would have given you much more if what I had already poured out upon you graciously and abundantly were not enough. I would have given you much more. Think of James 4.2. You do not have because you do not ask. Matthew 7.7, Jesus says, Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.

If David's eyes had been fixed on God, first of all, he would have seen the blessings that God had already poured out on him. Number two, if he really felt he needed more, he could have just asked. But he didn't. He wasn't looking at God. He was looking at his circumstances, and he thought, boy, she looks nice. And he reached out to take for himself. God had given David everything he could have asked for, and then some. Why is David selfishly and senselessly grabbing for his own satisfaction? God lays the blame for this squarely at David's feet again. Nowhere is Bathsheba blamed. Nowhere is even Joab blamed for sending Uriah to the front. This is all laid at the feet of David. And God calls it the sin that God calls out here. I mean, there's the individual sins, but the big overarching sin is that David has despised the word of the Lord. He has despised the word of the Lord. And that phrase in the scriptures is the exact same thing as despising God himself.

Now that might be a little bit of a hard bridge for us to get to. Like, how is it despising God if I just ignore some of what he says? Like, I'm still going to listen to most of what he says. I just despise this a little bit over here. How is that despising God? I think, hopefully a helpful analogy... My analogies is kind of a toss-up if they'll ever be helpful or not. But hopefully this will help us again. Andy and I, when we were dating, used to write letters back and forth to one another. And we still have these letters, I think all of them, probably all of them, in boxes or in binders, and hopefully hidden from the children to where they won't find them until after we're dead, because it's kind of sappy and very sappy. But if I were to take those letters, and say hey and you come out here i want i want to do something and then i lit a bonfire with them would i just be burning up some old papers or would i be making a statement about this is what i think about our love this is what i think about all these emotions this is what i think about you by despising her words and all those letters that she wrote to me i would be saying something about what i thought about her And so when God gives us his word, when God gave David his word, he's not just saying, yeah, I want you to write it down and read it, David, although he's supposed to do that. He's also supposed to obey it and live in a way that honors the word of God. And when David ignores that, and when David despises the word of the Lord, he's despising God himself.

And when you look back at what God has done for David, It's utterly senseless. It makes no sense at all for him to do this. God has been incredibly kind to him. But not only is it senseless, it is dangerous in view of God's holiness. Third point is, your sin has consequences because God is holy. Beginning in verse 10, it says, Now therefore, this is still Nathan speaking on behalf of God. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife. Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this son. For you did it secretly. But I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin. You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. Then Nathan went to his house.

And the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah's wife bore to David, and he became sick. David therefore sought God on behalf of the child. And David fasted and went in and lay all that night on the ground. And the elders of his house stood beside him to raise him from the ground, but he would not, nor did he eat food with them. And on the seventh day the child died. And the servants of David were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold, while the child was dead alive, we spoke to him, and he did not listen to us. How then can we say to him, The child is dead? He may do himself some harm. But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David understood that the child was dead. And David said to his servants, Is the child dead? They said, He is dead.

And David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshipped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him and he ate. And his servants said to him, What is this thing you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive? When the child died, you arose and ate food. He said, While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who knows whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live? But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.

God reveals here to David four consequences for his sin. It's interesting because David has, in his judgment against the fictional rich man, said he needs to pay four times over. Well, God gives David four consequences for his sin. The first, in verse 10, is that the sword will not depart. And within this, we see a fourfold consequence as four of David's own sons will die. The first son is the son that we just read about here in verses 15 through 23. But then Amnon will die, Absalom will die, and Adonijah will die. Four of David's sons will perish. And it all flows from David's sin. Chapters 13 through 20 of 2 Samuel are defined by the reality that the sword will not depart from David's house. And then it continues on all through the history of Israel. All of the wars, all of the intrigues, all of the jostling for power in Judah and in Israel stems back to David's sin with Bathsheba.

The second point we see here is that God says, I will raise up a challenger. I will raise up evil from within your house. And that's what we begin to see in the chapters that follow. Absalom would for a time depose David, kick him off of his throne, and chase him out of Jerusalem. The third thing that we see is that after Absalom does this, He will take this sin that David has committed in secret by taking another man's wife, and Absalom's going to do it in public. He takes David's throne, chases him out of Jerusalem, and he goes to Ahithophel, the counselor, and says to him, What should I do to really establish myself? And Ahithophel says, Take your father's concubines and go into them. Have sex with all of your father's concubines. So they build a tent for Absalom on the roof of his house so that all of Israel can see what's going on. And Ahithophel's advice is heeded by Absalom as he brings all of these concubines to himself.

The fourth consequence that we see is that the child who will be born to Bathsheba will die. The baby will die. There is no getting around, as we read these consequences, how devastating sin is. And we have to remember that there's really no such thing as a private sin. David thought he had sinned in private. He thought he had covered it up. But no sin stays private. The consequences of sin are never limited to just yourself. David's sin obviously affected Bathsheba, Uriah, this child who had died. But the consequences flow into the whole kingdom through all the following history of Israel as affected by this decision of David, these decisions of David.

What sins are in your heart that you're telling yourself aren't a big deal? They aren't hurting anyone else, or at least you can keep it quiet. A holy God will not leave your sin undealt with because he loves you. He's not just holy, he's loving. It's important to note here as we look at Nathan's confrontation of David, here's the big difference between David and Saul. It's not that Saul was bad and David was good. David's sins are objectively worse than Saul's by far. David's sins are worse than Saul's. But when in 1 Samuel, chapter 15, the prophet Samuel comes to Saul to confront him, all we hear from Saul is excuse, excuse, justification, excuse. And here, Nathan comes to David, and David's statement is so short and direct. Six words, I have sinned against the Lord.

And we might be reading this and think, boy, shouldn't there be some groveling, long, extensive public apology? Instead, we just get this simple statement, accepting responsibility, acknowledging before whom he had sinned. David says, I have sinned against the Lord. We'll look, Lord willing, next week at Psalm 51, which is a longer meditation of David's prayer of repentance before the Lord after this had happened. We'll look at how do you pray when you've sinned, when God has confronted you with the evil inside of you? How do you respond to him in those times?

For now, I think we should be instructed by what brought him to repentance. He was brought to repentance by hearing someone else speak the word of God to him. David had the law, and if he's been obedient to Deuteronomy chapter 17, he has a copy of the law that he has copied down with his own hand that's been approved by the priests and that he reads day by day. David has the word of the Lord. He meditates on it day and night. I think we should be fairly confident of that. But the heart, Jeremiah 17, 9 tells us, is deceitful and desperately sick. It's desperately wicked. And so even if we are personally reading the word of God by ourselves, we can trick ourselves into thinking that we're obeying it. Which is why we need to gather with other believers in small groups and in public worship to hear the word read and to hear the word taught so that we can be confronted with God's word from outside of us. We need it privately. We also need the gathering to hear the word together so that we can together be confronted with God's word, both its comforts and its harder edges that call us to repentance.

David's heart was exposed and he repented. And the Lord spares his life, we see in verse 13. But the consequences remain. Though the Lord forgave him, though the Lord spared him, the child died. And this might make David's actions in verses 15 to 23 confusing to us. Hadn't God already proclaimed that the child was going to die, and yet as the child gets sick, David... loses it he is he's on his face on the ground pouring out his heart he won't eat he won't sleep they're begging him come on get some rest eat some food and he says no i'm going to pray i'm going to ask the lord that he would be merciful and that he would spare this child and we might read that after god's already said the child's going to die we might read that as well david's just like fighting with god here But I think what we should see in David's actions are actually that he has turned back to the Lord and that he knows God is a gracious God and he may well spare this child. He may well be gracious in that way. And so he turns and he desperately pleads with God for the life of his son.

But then the servants are even more confused when the child dies. They're afraid to tell David. They say, if he's going to act like this while the baby's still alive, what's going to happen if he finds out he's dead? He might hurt himself. He might commit suicide. But David sees that they're whispering to themselves. He sees what's going on, and he says, he's dead, isn't he? And when they say yes, when he gets a straight answer in verse 19, he does what they totally don't expect. He bathes? Puts lotion on himself, which, I mean, those actions for someone who was in mourning in that day would have signified that he was at the end of his mourning period. He's cleaning up. He says, okay, I'd like to eat now.

As the child dies, it seems he comes out of his period of mourning. and they're confused they ask him what what's going on and he tells he gives them the reason in verse 22 while the child was alive i fasted and wept for who knows i said who knows whether the lord will be gracious to me that the child may live but now he is dead god god's fulfilled his word to david god told him this was going to happen and now it's happened And David says, there's no reason for me to fast now. I can't bring him back from the dead. David's confronted here even with his own mortality. He says, I will go to him. David knows that one day he will die. He will join the place of the dead, the child. I will go to him, but he will not return to me.

David's sin has horrific consequences, up to and including the death of his own son. The fourth thing we see, though, is that God's grace provides. Beginning in verse 24, Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and called his name Solomon. And the Lord loved him, and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah because of the Lord. Jedidiah means beloved by the Lord. Now Joab fought against Reba of the Ammonites and took the royal city. And Joab sent messengers to David and said, I have fought against Reba. Moreover, I have taken the city of waters. Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name. So David gathered all the people together and went to Reba, fought against it and took it. And he took the crown of their king from his head. And the weight of it was a talent of gold. And in it was a precious stone. It was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city a very great amount. And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at the brick kilns. Thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

So we see in verses 24 and 25 that God's grace provides a beloved heir. And I think we see grace here especially to Bathsheba. As much as to David, after this child has died, David comforts his wife and went in and lay with her and she bore a son and they called his name Solomon. Now Solomon obviously does not replace, doesn't replace the child who died. Can't replace a child. But I do think it is a grace of God to Bathsheba that she who has been on the receiving end of a lot of sin in this story, She's taken from her husband. Her husband's murdered. Now her child dies. It's through her, of all David's wives, that God chooses to give the chosen king, the chosen son, the son who is to follow in David's throne and expand the kingdom and build the temple and be in the line of Christ, the Messiah. It's through Bathsheba that God chooses to bring forth the chosen son, the fulfillment of 2 Samuel 7, the son who would be loved into the world. God's grace provided a beloved heir.

Verses 26 through 31, we kind of see the wrapping up of the story that we almost lose sight of this war with Ammon. And chapters 10 through 12 begin and end with this war with the Ammonites, and at the start of chapter 10, David had sent Joab out, and then we read at the beginning of chapter 11, where we have the whole narrative with Bathsheba, that David had remained in Jerusalem at the time when kings go out to war, and he sent his men out. But here, at the end of chapter 12, Instead of David sitting back in the city, now he has gone out. Joab's called him out and he's gone out and actually acted like a king. He's remembered his role. Joab has captured most of the city. Rabah was a very strategic city in that it had the headwaters of the Jabbok River there. And Joab has captured the part of the city with the water supply. So he says, hey, I know that we're about to topple them. We're about to take them. You need to come out and finish this off, David. Otherwise, I'm going to get credit and we'll name the city after me. So David comes out. They conquer the Ammonites. The king's crown weighs a talent. It's like 65 to 75 pounds of gold. This is an enormous... He probably didn't wear this around in his spare time. This is an enormous crown that's given to David. God graciously provides victory in this battle that set the backdrop for all of these events.

But I think the final thing we see In conclusion, is that God's grace provides a substitute. Look back just very briefly at verses 13 through 14. David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord has put away your sin. You shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die. In these verses we see David forgiven. We see the death sentence that he deserved commuted. It's removed. And thus we can understand the joy that he would have in a place like Psalm 32, verse 6, where he writes, You forgave the iniquity of my sin. My plan, my hope in a couple weeks is to look at Psalm 32 and the joy that there is in being forgiven.

But David's son still dies. And without wanting to stretch the analogy too far, I think it's important for us to see that even though God is slow to anger, quick to forgive, abounding in steadfast love, the wages for sin is always death. Someone has to pay. A son of David has to pay. Romans 6.23 that we open with says, The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if, like David, we want to experience the forgiveness of God when we repent, when we acknowledge our sin, when we pray for forgiveness, someone has to take that punishment of death that we deserve. And that's exactly what Jesus did on the cross. That's what Romans 6.23 means. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We don't get eternal life as God just like passing it out like candy. Someone died so that we could have forgiveness. The greater son of David died so that we could be forgiven. David's sin and my sin, your sin, the sins of everyone who will repent of their sins and trust on Jesus for salvation, was taken by him on the cross so that they could receive his righteousness and be covered, be clean, be white as snow. Will this wash away the earthly consequences of our sin? Not necessarily. But you can face the consequences in faith. David's son died and he rose up and he clothed himself and he went into the tabernacle and he worshipped. Knowing we can be like that. We can rise up in the face of even when we're facing the consequences of our own sin. We can rise up and worship, knowing that because of Jesus, we are no longer condemned. We have eternity with him. Hebrews 12 calls those consequences for our sin in this life. If we're God's children, it's like his fatherly loving correction of us. We can see every trial that comes from his hand as part of him loving us, shepherding us towards him.

Would you pray for me? Father God, we thank you that you are a loving God who pursues us even in our sin. What marvelous kindness and love you have poured out towards us. You sent your son into this world to seek and to save that which was lost. You send the son, the good shepherd, he'll leave the 99 to go chase down the one wandering sheep. Lord, when we wander, would you make us quick to sense that we have wandered away? Would you make us receptive to the voice of your Son? My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. When we are in sin, Lord, would you help us to be quick to say, I have sinned against the Lord, and to turn to you, knowing that because of your Son, Jesus, we can have forgiveness, and that for those who are in him, there is therefore now no condemnation. We are safe eternally because of Christ. What a precious gift. We thank you for it.

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