Question of the Day: What do you like about your family?
Good morning Class. I am sorry I will not be there in class with you. I want to let you know how much I have appreciated this class. Coming together and studying His word together is always the highlight of the week! As we said last week His word is not just words but His word is HIM! Spending time studying and reading His word together is, together spending time with HIM! There is nothing better than that! We are a small group and in our small group is God himself! How cool! What a privilege!
Today we are continuing in chapter seventeen of second Samuel. We will also do most of chapter eighteen. In this story there are lots of interesting points, but I want our focus to be on David. Today I want us to answer what David did, and how David felt. This is a great lesson where we see once again how David is a man after God's own heart! With that in mind let's read together.
READ: 2 Samuel 17:24-29 and 2 Samuel 18: 1-18
Absalom’s Death
24 David went to Mahanaim, and Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel. 25 Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of Jether,[d] an Ishmaelite[e] who had married Abigail,[f] the daughter of Nahash and sister of Zeruiah the mother of Joab. 26 The Israelites and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, and Makir son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillaithe Gileadite from Rogelim 28 brought bedding and bowls and articles of pottery. They also brought wheat and barley, flour and roasted grain, beans and lentils,[g] 29 honey and curds, sheep, and cheese from cows’ milk for David and his people to eat. For they said, “The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness.”
Now before we go on I think it is important to up pack this little section. This past August I heard Mark Witas in a sermon say that genealogy in the bible is not about the public record. Genealogy in the bible is there to tell the readers something. Usually we miss it because we don't know the stories behind the various people mentioned. When we read, "so in so begat so in so begat so in so" we laugh or fall asleep. Yet when there are lists of people it is for a reason. The author was saying something.
This is one of those times when I wish I knew more. What is the author trying to tell us? I am sure I am missing a lot, however one thing did stand out. Amasa, the appointed general of his army, is the first cousin to Joab, the general of David's army. What does this tell us?
This was a family war!
Not only was Absalom picking a general to go and fight his own father but he chose a general who was the first cousin of his fathers general and both were relatives to Absalom and David. This was a family war.
I started to call it a civil war, and I suppose it was, but this was even closer than that.
Can you imagine, the 1st cousin you played with as a child is leading the opposing army. Can you imagine. This was personal and that is putting it mildly.
18 David mustered the men who were with him and appointed over them commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 David sent out his troops, a third under the command of Joab, a third under Joab’s brother Abishai son of Zeruiah, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king told the troops, “I myself will surely march out with you.”
3 But the men said, “You must not go out; if we are forced to flee, they won’t care about us. Even if half of us die, they won’t care; but you are worth ten thousand of us. It would be better now for you to give us support from the city.”
4 The king answered, “I will do whatever seems best to you.”
So the king stood beside the gate while all his men marched out in units of hundreds and of thousands. 5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.” And all the troops heard the king giving orders concerning Absalom to each of the commanders.
So David was once again taking charge like the David of old. He is organizing a group of men, creating the army that he needs to go into battle. He is ready for action, and once again the leader he was called to be, or was he?
It is looking good until the men object to him going into battle. The he just caves!
He just gives in and sits waiting.
How must David have been feeling?
Have you ever lost your will or your drive, tried to get it back and then something knocks you down and you doubt your decision and cave to what people are saying?
Have you ever been in this kind of place?
What do we see in David that is different from the young David who was at war with Saul?
It is as if we see David trying to be who God called him to be, but then.... he just can't do it all the way.
What must David be feeling as he watches his men leave and he sits at the gate?
Where is his mind? Or what is first and foremost on his mind?
Continue reading:
6 David’s army marched out of the city to fight Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim. 7 There Israel’s troops were routed by David’s men, and the casualties that day were great—twenty thousand men. 8 The battle spread out over the whole countryside, and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.
9 Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going.
10 When one of the men saw what had happened, he told Joab, “I just saw Absalom hanging in an oak tree.”
11 Joab said to the man who had told him this, “What! You saw him? Why didn’t you strike him to the ground right there? Then I would have had to give you ten shekels[b] of silver and a warrior’s belt.”
12 But the man replied, “Even if a thousand shekels[c] were weighed out into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you and Abishai and Ittai, ‘Protect the young man Absalom for my sake.[d]’ 13 And if I had put my life in jeopardy[e]—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have kept your distance from me.”
14 Joab said, “I’m not going to wait like this for you.” So he took three javelins in his hand and plunged them into Absalom’s heart while Absalom was still alive in the oak tree. 15 And ten of Joab’s armor-bearers surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.
16 Then Joab sounded the trumpet, and the troops stopped pursuing Israel, for Joab halted them. 17 They took Absalom, threw him into a big pit in the forest and piled up a large heap of rocks over him. Meanwhile, all the Israelites fled to their homes.
18 During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
The last thing David says to his men, is be kind to my boy. Everyone heard it. This wasn't a quiet request. It was a pleading, and yet, he wasn't treated kindly, or even honorably killed, and buried. This was humiliating and brutal.
David Mourns
19 Now Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and take the news to the king that the Lord has vindicated him by delivering him from the hand of his enemies.”
20 “You are not the one to take the news today,” Joab told him. “You may take the news another time, but you must not do so today, because the king’s son is dead.”
21 Then Joab said to a Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed down before Joab and ran off.
22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok again said to Joab, “Come what may, please let me run behind the Cushite.”
But Joab replied, “My son, why do you want to go? You don’t have any news that will bring you a reward.”
23 He said, “Come what may, I want to run.”
So Joab said, “Run!” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain[f] and outran the Cushite.
24 While David was sitting between the inner and outer gates, the watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall. As he looked out, he saw a man running alone. 25 The watchman called out to the king and reported it.
The king said, “If he is alone, he must have good news.” And the runner came closer and closer.
26 Then the watchman saw another runner, and he called down to the gatekeeper, “Look, another man running alone!”
The king said, “He must be bringing good news, too.”
27 The watchman said, “It seems to me that the first one runs likeAhimaaz son of Zadok.”
“He’s a good man,” the king said. “He comes with good news.”
28 Then Ahimaaz called out to the king, “All is well!” He bowed down before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Praise be to the Lord your God! He has delivered up those who lifted their hands against my lord the king.”
29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
Ahimaaz answered, “I saw great confusion just as Joab was about to send the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I don’t know what it was.”
30 The king said, “Stand aside and wait here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.
31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “My lord the king, hear the good news! The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”
32 The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”
The Cushite replied, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”
33 The king was shaken. He went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said: “O my son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you—O Absalom, my son, my son!”
My son, my son.
What do we hear in Davids cry?
Grief
Regret
"If only I had...."
Have you ever cried out, "If only I had...."?
Once again David is faced with what he didn't do. What he wished he had done. What he had done that he shouldn't have done. Once again the consequences of his action or inaction has hurt others, others whom he dearly loved.
Too often we think that our sin, our lusts, only affect ourselves. We don't think about how it will affect those around us.
In looking at all that has happened since Bathsheba, wow can you imagine what the story might have been like if that had never happened. If that evening when David started lusting after her, if he had turned to God, and done what he knew to be right instead of just what he wanted. Can you imagine how different this would have been.
Absalom was a remarkable being, imagine if his father had been who God wanted him to be, how different Absalom would have been. Can you imagine?
That seemingly personal sin, turned into the death of his son's, a war within the family and the nation, huge numbers of men gave their lives, all because of what?
Your private sin, is never just a private sin!
I want to shift gears here. I said at the beginning that this would be an opportunity for us to understand how David is a man after God's own heart.
How do we see that in this story?
What part of this story, let's us see similarities between the heart of David and the heart of God?
If you just look at how David felt about Absalom there are some beautiful parallels.
Can you imagine God being willing to give up his son for you and me when we have hurt him, when we would kill him, when we don't deserve it?
David didn't give his life for his son, but he wished he had.
David in spite of what his son had done, greatly loved him!
His son rejected him, and was trying to over throw him, and yet... David loved him and asked his men to treat him kindly.
It doesn't matter how great your sin, you heavenly father loves you! Weeps for you! Desperately wants a different outcome and has made provisions for you to come home and be part of his house! Do you really believe that?
God is begging for you to come into his arms of safety!
Will you?
I know most of us around this table have given our hearts to God. I know I have!
But what does it really mean to come into His arms of safety?
It means to trust him. To be willing to wait for his guidance, his timing. Remember David always being asked by God to wait. Are you willing to wait on God?
It means to turn to him when temptation strikes! It means believing that He will give you the strength to fight and the battle plan to defeat the enemy. You have to turn to him, ask for his help. Seek out his will and surrender to His plan!
It means to accept His forgiveness and believe that you have been forgiven. To live like you have been forgiven!
What else does it mean?
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