Feel free to clap or stand or dance or whatever
you want to do with this exercise. That sounds
very corporate. All right, so a couple things
of kind of housekeeping while those are going
around. Obviously, we've been doing worksheets
and following the characters. In the days in
which David had been ousted from Jerusalem. So
David, who was God's man on the throne in Jerusalem,
had lost his kingship really to Absalom and had
to flee across the Brook Kidron and then into
what would be considered Ephraim. And then that
later precipitated a great war between those
two areas in a horrible forest called the Ephraimic
Forest. And it claimed many, many lives. We've
looked at a bunch of interesting characters.
We did not cover them all So if you want to go
through and read all through there, you're welcome
to I do believe we'll be on David a little bit
next week and then we're gonna after that we're
gonna be mopping up So this is the plan today.
We're gonna do most of David. It's gonna be this
whole sheet That's a lot of information and then
next week. We're gonna kind of review So you've
got your worksheets you've been saving in your
book, great. If you don't have your worksheets
in your notebook, then next week you're going
to get a lot of good review over the things that
we went over for the last three months. Yes,
sir? That's all right. That's the way it goes
sometimes. Okay, so we'll be doing that next
week. It is online and always on the podcast,
so you can watch it online or listen to the podcast
later. What's that? I will make sure you get
it. I will text it to you. Anybody else needs
the podcast address? I will text it to you if
you want me to. Or you can actually text the
word podcast, P -O -D -C -A -S -T, podcast, to
419 -419 -0095. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. We'll get
all that for you. Yep. We'll get all that for
you. Right, Trina? We'll make sure she has it.
Okay. Yep. I'll get your Bible before you leave
today. All right, sounds good. All right. First
impressions are everything, I suppose. Okay,
well, anyway, so here we go. So we are looking
at the second affidavit. That's why if you see
the word VID there, we put DA on the sheet last
week, and so we have VID this week. We're talking
about David. And for a location, like an address
in the Bible, we're really looking at starting
in 2 Samuel 20. We've been building up to this
period of time throughout, and we've even been
past this. when we looked at the later life of
individuals who we already looked at before,
okay? So in 2 Samuel chapter 20, we have another
problem. Now this is hot on the heels of Absalom's
revolt, okay? So they've just gotten over, they're
just kind of pulling things back together. David
hasn't even made all the decisions arising out
of that yet, and that's how far we got last week.
And it says then in 2 Samuel 20, verse 1, it
says, Now a worthless fellow happened to be there
whose name was Sheba. Not the same Sheba that
we studied before. This is another guy. Sheba,
the son of Betri, a Benjamite. And he blew the
trumpet and said, We have no portion in David,
nor do we have inheritance in the son of Jesse.
Every man to his tents, O Israel. So all the
men of Israel withdrew from following David and
followed Sheba, the son of Betri. But the men
of Judah, remains steadfast to their king from
the Jordan even to Jerusalem. All right, and
so we're going to break that down a little bit,
and then we're going to use a few verses before
it to see a contrast. The first part there, 2
Samuel 20, verse 1, to the right -hand side,
there is an attempt, the blanks are an attempt
to divide, what? To divide the kingdom. There
is an attempt to divide the kingdom. Does anybody
know why an attempt to divide the kingdom is
such a big deal? Why does that seem like a big
deal? Yeah. So they're weaker alone, right? So
as soon as you have Judah and Benjamin and ten
other tribes of two different groups, that weakens
them substantially, right? And so God's people
are not supposed to be divided. They're supposed
to be united. In fact, without getting off on
this topic at all, I want to say to you that...
One of the things Proverbs says God hates is
a person who sows dissension, a person who causes
division between God's people. It's a pretty
big deal. So God does not want to see this succeed.
David obviously doesn't want to see this succeed
because then it's going to have the divided kingdom.
After this, after Solomon, a little while later,
the kingdom will divide. And from that point
on, it'll never be fully God's people ever again
in all history. So they'll never get back to
where they're supposed to be ever. Once they
do divide. So this is an attempt to divide the
kingdom. It's interesting because in 2 Samuel
19, which would be right before this, right?
2 Samuel 19, verses 40 to 43. That's the next
reference there. You can put that in. The people
that are now kind of revolting against David.
It says, now the king went to Gilgal and Shemham.
went on with him, and all the people of Judah,
also half the people of Israel, accompanied the
king. And behold, all the men of Israel came
to the king. So who is that? When it says the
men of Israel, it's talking about the ten tribes,
right? So all those guys, they come to the king.
Verse 40, 2 Samuel 19, 40 -43 is the next reference.
And then we're reading verse 40. And then 41
says, And behold, all the men of Israel came
to the king, and said to the king, why had our
brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and
brought the king and his household and all David's
men with him over the Jordan? In other words,
why weren't you there? Then all the men of Judah
answered the men of Israel, because the king
is a close relative to us. In other words, we
protected him because he is close, David is close
to us. Why then are you angry about this matter?
Have we eaten at all at the king's expense or
has anything been taken for us? In other words,
they're saying, even though, We're family to
David. We're not getting any special blessings.
We're not getting any special benefits. But the
men of Israel answered the men of Judah and said,
We have ten parts in the king. Therefore, we
have also claim on David. We have more claim
on David than you. There we go. Why then did
you treat us with contempt? Was it not our advice
first to bring back our king? Yet the words of
the men of Judah were harsher than the words
of the men of Israel. So basically, what's happening
between the guys of the ten tribes and the guys
of the two? What are they doing? So it's an argument.
So it says they argued. And what do the guys
in Israel, our ten tribes, say? What's their
argument? Yeah. The ten of us and two of you.
We have more claim on the king than you do. That's
the argument. And so in the blanks goes, they
argued, they had more claim. But now, what we
read to start with, 2 Samuel 20, verse 2, what
happened? This is just very shortly later when
this guy raises up and he says that we have no
part with them. What happens? Yep. The ten tribes
abandoned David. They jumped ship. They ran away.
They left. And now there's going to be basically
a civil war. Now, we know this civil war. We're
not going to get deeply into it because we know
the name of a very important guy. And his name's
on your paper. Does anybody remember anything
about him? Amasa? No? Yeah, well, Amasa and Joab,
pretty big deal. What about Amasa? We actually
looked at him. What did David tell Amasa to do?
Should I give you a hint? Okay, so now he would
be in charge of the entire army. And now there's
a rebellion. Go ahead, tell me if you got it.
Nope. Go ahead, Haley, what do you got? Tell
me. Yep, he said go gather all the army and bring
it back. Gather all the army of Judah and bring
it back within three days. That's what he told
him to do. So the next blanks are go gather the
army of Judah. Very good, Haley. first treat
of the night. Okay. All right. So he said, he
told Amasa, go gather all the army. But what
happened? What was the result of that on the
next line? Amasa was late and was killed by Joab.
So he was late. He didn't make it back in the
three days. In fact, he never made it back because
then he runs into Joab on the road and Joab grabs
him by the beard, give him a kiss, runs him through
with a sword, kills him. So he was late and then
killed by Joab. Then what happens? We know this
story because we followed Amasa and Joab through
this time. So what happens in the next blanks?
There's the T -A -P -S. Yep, the army pursued
Sheba. Right, that's the guy, Sheba of Betri.
He's the one trying to raise up the revolt. He's
the one saying that the ten tribes should stand
against David. So the army pursued Sheba. Now,
we don't need a lot about him because we're studying
David, not Sheba. But the next line tells you
what happened to him. It says FF, which stands
for fast forward. Does anybody remember what
happened to him? S -H -I -I -S. I gave you the
word is. Anybody remember? Delivered. Yep. It
was also decapitated, that's true, but yes. So
she threw his head over the wall. Remember there
was that whole scene where Joab comes up and
he's going to destroy the city, the name of which
I wrote on your paper, Abel Beth Makah. And he
was going to destroy that city. And they said,
why would you destroy us? Don't destroy us. We
are God's people, right? We're part of the nation
of Israel. We don't deserve to be destroyed.
And he says, well, you're harboring Sheba, Abitri
the rebel. And she says, we'll throw you his
head over the wall. And they kill him and they
throw his head over the wall. And then he lets
the city go. Joab lets the city go. And that
result, when he comes back, David puts him in
charge of the whole army. So Joab becomes the
general over the whole army again because he
caught the rebel and he didn't have to destroy
the city to do it. All right? So now we're back
following David. So what we have so far is a
rebellion by Sheba of Betri that comes right
hot on the heels of that rebellion by Absalom.
It came right away, right after that. And we
see the result of that. Amasa was supposed to
get the army. Failed. Joab killed him. There's
that nasty scene where he kills him, leaves his
body laying on the side of the road. And then
the men are like, they're not really joining
the fight. So then they throw him in the field
and cover him up with a blanket. Now everybody's
joining the fight. That's that nasty scene. You
can read about that if you want. Okay. And then
that's done. So now Sheba's rebellion is done
and the nations are unified. All the tribes are
unified. There's 12 tribes again, all under David.
He's the king of all of them again. And then
comes a great famine in the land. Does anybody
know? I mean, you might get it right on the page
there. Does anybody know what the cause of the
famine was? Yeah, so famine means no food, right?
So they were running out of food. And you're
right, floods, fires, disasters, anything could
cause that. Yep, so famine means they didn't
have food in the land. Does anyone remember why
there's a famine? Yeah, so this is way before
Jesus that we're talking about during King David's
time. Okay, and so David, supposed to be a man
after God's own heart. Yes, it's the Gibeonites,
right? The next line says, God sent famine. And
so if anybody tries to tell you God does not
send bad things, that's not necessarily true,
right? God sent famine. And it was punishment.
So you fill in the blanks, follow right across
under the word famine. God sent famine. It was
punishment for the suffering of the Gibeonites.
Okay, so the Gibeonites were a nation of people
that were in that area during the original conquest.
Now, about a year and a half ago, we went through
the book of Joshua, and we ran into them. We
went through this text, but I'm not sure if you
would remember it or not. Does anybody remember
what the relationship between Israel and the
Gibeonites is supposed to be? Anybody remember
that story at all? So Gibeonites were supposed
to, originally God said to do what to the Gibeonites?
Take them out. Take out everybody in the land.
But what? Yep. Yeah. So they came in pretending
they were from far away. They had worn out, they
put on worn out clothes and dirty sandals, had
stale bread in their bags, everything. And they
came in and they said, well, we're from far away.
But we've heard how great you are, and we want
to make a pact with you. And we'll serve you.
We'll be your servants. And the Israelites agreed.
They said, okay, we'll make a pact. They weren't
supposed to do that. They were tricked into doing
that. So then the Gibeonites held up their end
of the bargain. They became servants of the Israelites.
And, in fact, were later living in Jerusalem
and on that surrounding land. It became pretty
common. They prospered. And they're God -fearers.
They came to follow God, right? With the Jewish
people, with the Israelites, they were following
God. But in Saul's day, Saul took it upon himself
to rectify the problem, to kill the Gibeonites.
Because that's what was supposed to be done in
the first place. Because God originally told
them to wipe them out. And he says, well, our
forefathers made this error and let the Gibeonites
live, but we're not going to do that. We're going
to fix it, finally, after all this time. And
so he took it upon himself to kill him and his
army, obviously, to kill them. And that's the
next line. Can you fill it out? The K is king.
King Saul? Had. King Saul had. Starts with a
T. It's a verb. He failed, but if you're doing
something and you fail, you tried. So King Saul
had tried to kill them. So King Saul had tried
to kill off the Gibeonites. The Israelites, the
next line is the Israelites, what? Based on the
story I just shared with you, the Israelites
had made a pact with them. So the end results
of this are kind of nasty. I'm going to read
you a few verses from, this is from chapter 21.
It's really all detailed in verse 1 to 9. It
says, Now there was a famine in the days of David
for three years, year after year. And David sought
the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said,
It is for Saul and his bloody house, because
he put the Gibeonites to death. So the king called
the Gibeonites and spoke to them. The Gibeonites
were not of the sons of Israel, but of the remnant
of the Amorites. And the son of Israel made a
covenant with them. But Saul had sought to kill
them in his zeal for the sons of Israel and Judah.
Thus David said to the Gibeonites, What should
I do for you? How can I make atonement that you
may bless the inheritance of the Lord? Then the
Gibeonites said to him, We have no concern of
silver or gold with Saul or his house, nor is
it for us to put any man to death in Israel.
And he said, I will do whatever you say. So they
said to the king, the man who consumed us and
who planned to exterminate us from remaining
within any border of Israel, let seven men from
his sons be given to us, and we will hang them
before the Lord in Gibeah of Saul, the chosen
of the Lord. And the king said, I will give them.
But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of
Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath
of the Lord which was between them, between David
and Saul's son Jonathan. So the king took two
sons of Rizpah, the daughter of Aiah, Armani,
and Mephibosheth, whom she had borne to Saul,
and the five sons of Merab, the daughter of Saul,
whom she had borne to Adriel, the son of Barzillai,
the Mahalathite. There we go. He gave them into
the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged
them in the mountain before the Lord, so that
the seven of them fell together, and they were
put to death in the first days of harvest at
the beginning of the barley harvest. Okay? And
so we're back on the page now. So we just said
the Israelites had made a pact with them. The
next line is? Yep. Seven of Saul's sons. That's
a tongue twister. Seven of Saul's sons. Can you
say it? Were given. That's correct. Seven of
Saul's sons were given. But, what? The next line.
That person you guys, one of the most difficult
names to spell. Right. But Mephibosheth, there
we go. His name is hard to say. Mephibosheth
is spared or survives. And remember he did that
because when we talked about this before, Jonathan
spared David. Jonathan, who should have been
the descendant of Saul and become king, he was
the firstborn son, he protected David when Saul
was trying to kill David. And so now, David had
promised Mephibosheth that he would be spared,
and now he spares him again. But we still have
a problem here, because there's seven people
that just got really martyred. This is not war.
It's legal, maybe, by some stretch. To punish
Saul's family for what Saul and his family did.
That's some stretch. But it's still a problem.
So in verse 10 it says, And Rizpah the daughter
of Aiah took sackcloth, that's just that dark
gray useless kind of cloth, and spread it for
herself on the rock from the beginning of harvest
until it rained on them from the sky. And she
allowed neither the birds of the sky to rest
on them by day nor the beasts of the field by
night. When it was told David that Rizpah, the
daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had
done, then David went and took the bones of Saul
and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from the
men of Jebesh Gilead, who had stolen them from
the open square of Beth -shan, where the Philistines
had hanged them on the day the Philistines struck
down Saul in Gilboa. He brought up the bones
of Saul and the bones of Jonathan, his son, from
there, and they gathered the bones of those who
had been hanged. They buried the bones of Saul
and Jonathan, his son, in the country of Benjamin
in Zillah, in the grave of Kish, his father.
Thus they did all that the king commanded. So
David is ordering all of this. And after that,
God was moved by entreaty for the land. Okay?
So we're right under where it says 10 to 14.
That was 10 to 14. And you've got S, J, W, blank.
Saul. Say again. Jonathan. Saul and Jonathan
were, they were hanged previously, but now they're
what? It starts with an H. You're buried in the
graves of your father with great ceremony. You
are honored, right? So what he does, so this
is how this happens sometimes. And when we take
justice, if you will, in our own hands, then
what we have to do is say, well, this person
was harmed. There's only one way I can make that.
I can't pay it back. There's no way of undoing
what they did. So now this other person that
harmed them has to be harmed, right? So then
the person that's harmed now, so you have the
person harmed, negative person harmed because
that person was harmed. Now the family of this
person who's harmed because that person, now
they're upset, right? It's a lose -lose situation.
Vengeance never works, right? God alone takes
vengeance, right? So David is king. He's got
to deal justice in the land. So he turns over
seven of Saul's sons to the Gibeonites. They
hang them. There was a question whether they
would. They said, we really don't want anybody's
death, right? But they did. They hung them so
that they all fell at the same time. And he takes
those bodies and the bodies of Saul and Jonathan,
which by now are bones, right? gets them properly
dealt with. And Saul and Jonathan are actually
buried in the grave of Saul's father, which is
a great honor. And remember that David really
didn't have anything against Saul. Even when
Saul was alive and trying to kill David, David
had a chance to kill him and he didn't. He had
a chance to hurt him and he didn't. And when
he died, he mourned his death. It was a terrible
thing. And so that's who David was. And now it's
probably a blessing to David to be able to honor
Saul and Jonathan. And then after Saul and Jonathan
are honored, then what? The next line. It's capital
G, not just because it's the beginning of the
sentence. It's because God. Nope. What? Yes.
You've got answers, prayers, or pleas for the
land. Good. You've got the right idea. So notice
that God does not answer the plea for the land
when David gives over the seven men to be hanged.
Some kind of justice is dealt, but God did not
answer. Everybody's praying. They haven't had
food in any quantity for three years. People
are dying of starvation, right? It's terrible.
And God does not answer their prayers when David
hands over the seven men to be punished. She
goes out and she's mourning the loss of her sons.
It's a terrible thing to have your sons taken
for crimes they didn't commit. To pay for the
crimes of their family? That's terrible. So then,
David honors Saul and Jonathan and takes the
bodies of the seven hanged men and he gets them
taken care of too. He doesn't put them in the
grave of Saul's father. They don't really belong
there. But he gets them all taken care of. And
that's when God answers the prayer for the land.
Which is interesting. So in all of that, is there
somebody special? In the seven guys who get hung,
Saul and Jonathan, there's somebody special in
there that needed to be taken care of from God's
point of view. What happened that God would now
answer the prayer? So Saul was an anointed one.
Saul was anointed by God, chosen by God to lead
Israel, right? And to have his bones improperly
dealt with, that's a pretty bad injustice. And
so also the mother who had her sons taken to
pay the price. That's a pretty bad injustice,
right? And so we see that David is mending fences
is what he's doing. He's taking care of business.
He's trying to get to the point where everybody
has received justice. And let's stop all this
vengeance. Let's get to the point where we can
have peace in the land. And these amazing choices
that he made are what create peace in the land.
And finally, food. Thank God. Okay? So we're
going to continue down. Ignore that stuff over
to the left for a minute. So we've got a W under
the box. And this is verses 15 to 22. Alright?
And this is what the Bible says in verse 15.
Now when the Philistines were at war again with
Israel, David went down and his servants with
him, and they fought against the Philistines.
David became weary. Okay? So that was verse 15.
So what do you think that first line is? War
again with the Philistines. So the Philistines
are not Israelites. In fact, no one really knows
for sure where they came from. Even historians
don't know where they came from. They were seafaring
from another nation. that came and took over
that area that became Philistia. So historically,
we don't even know where they came from. But
they took over that area, and they became all
the way back to the judges. You know, Samson.
That's who he fought, was the Philistines. And
he destroyed the Philistine lords. And after
he was blinded and got his sight back, just enough
to pull the pillars down and knock the building
down on them. That's the Philistines. So this
is all the way back. This problem has persisted,
and it's continuing now. And Gath... is in Philistia.
Which means, and if you're from, Natalie, if
you're from Gath, you're a what? Do you remember
that? What do you call it? So if you're from
America, you're an American. A what? Are you
saying Hittite? It's Gittite with a G. Right
idea though. So I couldn't tell if you were pronouncing
it right. So it's a Gittite. A Gath is a Gittite.
And who was a Gittite? Say it again? Goliath,
right? So that big battle of Goliath from Gath
and David from where? Bethlehem. And the battle
took place kind of in the middle on the border.
And that's in canon. That's in their history.
That's a huge deal, right? And what happened
with Samson when he killed all their lords? There's
never going to be peace between the Philistines
and Israel. It's too much blood, right? Too much
destruction. And so that's where we're at. They're
at war again with the Philistines. Now, an interesting
thing happens here that kind of does bring it
to a close for a while, okay? In verse 16, it
says this. It says, Then Ish -bib -nab, there
we go, Ish -bib -nab, who was among the descendants
of the giant. Who are we talking about? Goliath,
right? Among the descendants of the giant. Hold
on, I lost my thought. Here we go. The weight
of whose spear was 300 shekels of bronze in weight
was girded with a new sword. He got himself a
new sword and he intended to kill David. But
Abishai, we studied him, the son of Zariah, helped
him and struck the Philistine and killed him.
Then the men of David swore to him, saying, You
shall not go out again with us to battle, that
you may not extinguish the lamp of Israel. Now
it came about after this that there was war again
with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibachai, the
Hushethite, struck down Saph, who was among the
descendants of the giant. So here goes another
guy, another one of Goliath's kids. And there
was war with the Philistines again at Gob, and
Elhanan, the son of Jeroboam, the Bethlehemite,
which means he came from where David came from,
killed Goliath the Gittite. Now we have another
guy named Goliath. The shaft of whose spear was
like a weaver's beam. And there was war at Gath
again. So that's where they came from. Where
there was a man of great stature who had six
fingers on each hand and six toes on each feet,
24 in number, and he also had been born to the
giant. And when he defied Israel, Jonathan, the
son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down.
These four were born to the giant in Gath, and
they fell by the hand of David and by the hand
of his servants. Okay? And so now we're back
on the page. We had war again with the Philistines,
and now we have that really big, long sentence.
Go ahead. Yep. Is that far as you got? You got
more. It's perfect so far. And fell. And fell
to the hands of David and his servants. That's
perfect. Well done. So these four were born to
the giant in Gath. And fell to the hands of David
and his servants. So all the sons of Goliath
died. I kind of like the last one. I mean, the
poetic. I don't like anybody dying and whatever.
But the poetic. impact of the guy who killed
the Bethlehemite who killed one of them and then
the guy who killed what was his name I'm going
to get it take care oh it doesn't say his name
He also had been born of the giant, and when
he defied Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei,
David's brother, struck him down. So I think
it just kind of helps you remember that it was
a man named Jonathan. Before that was a Bethlehemite,
right? Which is where David is from, David's
hometown. But anyway, they killed all the sons
of Goliath. And it does start to look like the
Philistines are going to have a hard time with
the Israelites. And now we're living in a time
thousands of years later, and it's still true.
So the Israelites are... They're there again.
Let's put it that way, without getting into it.
We talk about, well, we won't get into modern
politics. All right, so 2 Samuel 22 .20 is the
next reference. Okay, so we're into chapter 22,
and almost all, is it all? Nope, there's a few
verses at the beginning. So from verse, you're
not going to read it. You can read it on your
own. But beginning in verse 2, all the way through
verse 51, is a song of David. We know David wrote
a lot of songs. And a lot of them wound up in
Psalms. And we read two of those last week that
were specifically for the period of time when
David had sinned with Bathsheba and Absalom rebelled
against him and took over. And it was Psalm 38
and Psalm 51. We read and looked at those last
week. We could see David's mindset. We could
see how his heart was. Right? During the time
of Absalom's rebellion because of those Psalms.
That's really cool that you can do that now so
many thousands of years later. Okay? But in verse
20 of this song, David writes something that
is our next sentence on the page. And it says,
and this is verse 20, then you can see if you
can fill it in. He also brought me forth into
a broad place. He rescued me because he delighted
in me. I'll read it one more time. He also brought
me forth into a broad place. He rescued me because
he delighted in me. Yep. Yep. He brought me forth
because he delighted in me. Why is that sentence
so significant? What's the first thing you notice?
We talked about this when we talked about David's
story up until the Bathsheba incident and then
into Absalom. Let me ask it this way. Why did
God bring David into Being king of Israel. Why
did he do that? It's in the verse we just read.
Because he delighted in him. Did God delight
in David when David was sinning against Bathsheba?
He didn't? No, he did. Right? And God brought
David through even that. Now, did David get punished?
Yes. But if he had ceased to delight in him,
then would he have become king? Right? He brought
him through that period of time. So this is a
recognition of God's power, God's choice, God's
calling, God's anointing. It is not because you're
smart or strong or made good decisions in the
past or making a good decision right now in this
moment. God will not stop loving you. By the
way, when the angels sing in the sky, about the
birth of Jesus. Fast forward to the New Testament
for one second. When the angels sing in the sky
about the birth of Jesus, how does it say God
feels about people? That's true. There's a specific
words there. It says he's... Yep. Absolutely.
Right. Right, so she's saying Jesus was God's
gift to mankind, that God made a way because
he loves us. All of that is true. And the angels
sing this. Yes, goodwill towards men, with whom?
Josh got it. With whom God is pleased. Do you
understand? With sinners. You have to realize
that God's love transcends our stupidity. Right?
God's love cannot make you come to heaven with
him for an eternity. Right? You have to be willing.
He's not going to force that on you. But he loves
even people who are willingly choosing to go
to hell. He loves even people who hate him. And
there were lots of people on there. In fact,
it says that Jesus came when there was found
no mediator amongst men. So there was no one
who could mediate between man and God anymore.
That's why it was time for Jesus to come. So
that means there was tons of wicked people on
the earth. People's hearts were not toward God.
Yet the angels sing goodwill towards men with
whom God is pleased. And so David understood
that God brought David into a broad place because
God delighted in him. And the truth is God wants
to do the same thing for us. If you think, well,
my situation sucks, God wants to bring you into
a place where you can work for him, you can serve
him, you can love him freely. You can be okay.
You know, you can be not harried all the time,
not hurting all the time. Like God has a plan.
And that's what, of course, the prophet says,
I know the plans I have for you, right? God delights
in people, even in the midst of their stupidity.
Now, it does not mean he will not punish. He's
still sent of famine because of the suffering
of the Gibeonites. Three years, people were starving.
You think God doesn't love us. God hates us,
right? And people say that all the time, right?
If God loves people, why would he allow earthquakes?
Why would he allow abortion? Why would he allow
murder? Why does he allow rape? Why does God
allow those things if he loves us? Well, God
loves the person doing those things too, right?
God loves the creation that has been subjected
to futility. So when tornadoes strike, God loves
the wind, right? God, his creation is good. It's
just flawed now because of sin. And it will be
ultimately redeemed. If God destroyed all tornadoes,
we would be in a way. This world would be hurting.
You couldn't breathe. If God destroyed all floods,
we wouldn't have enough water to drink. We'd
all die of thirst. If God destroyed all murderers
or everybody who was ever angry in their heart
against somebody, this would be a barren rock.
There'd be no people living on it. If he destroyed
all liars, I would have died before I turned
26. Because I was a liar and a thief, right?
And so you can't go out going, why doesn't God,
God delights in that person who is sinning against
him as well. Now, he much prefers obedient, faithful
servants. He much prefers those who love him
back. And that's what he's seeking, worshipers
in spirit and in truth. That's what he's seeking,
right? And he will draw them from those whom
he delights and some will refuse. And they'll
go to hell for eternity because they refused.
Because of what they have done with the Son of
God. Because they refused to accept Jesus. And
that's very disappointing. That is not what God
wants. God doesn't want anybody to go to hell.
Let me clarify that. God does not want any human
to go to hell. Why did I clarify that? Yeah.
Because he didn't spare the angels. The demons
are going to hell. That's settled. Right? He
doesn't want any humans to go to hell. Okay.
So I got a little bit of a pulpit there. I'm
standing in front of a pulpit. It's cool. All
right. 2 Samuel 22, 51. Then we're jumping ahead.
This is also in the song. It is the end of the
song. And it just kind of really brings home
the thought, which we had. I'll read the verse.
You see if you can fill it in. He is a tower
of deliverance to his king and shows loving kindness
to his anointed, to David and his descendants
forever. Can anybody do it? Yep. He is a tower
of deliverance. Shows loving kindness. Keep going.
To David. That's right. And I think David is
a great illustration for us in just exactly what
we're just talking about. He continued to show
loving kindness to him even when David was sinning
against him. And David gets this right because
he realizes that What God really wants is a contrite
heart, a broken and contrite heart. We talked
about that last week, a broken and contrite heart.
That's what God really wants. And David gives
God that, and then we'll be called a man after
God's own heart. Okay, we've got to go because
this is taking a minute. 2 Samuel chapter 24
now. We're skipping that 24. We're still following
David's life. Okay? And this is where it kind
of gets dark. So here's what happens. David says
this. This is 24. Now, again, the anger of the
Lord burned against Israel. And it incited David
against them to say, go number Israel and Judah.
And the king said to Joab, the commander of the
army who was with them, go about now through
all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba
and register the people that I may know the number
of the people. So what's the first part? Go register
the people. That's pretty directly from verse
2. Now, jumping ahead a little bit. We're following
David's actions. Ultimately, Joab does do it.
You can get a number of how many warriors there
were in the land, which is a pretty big number,
but it's ultimately not big enough to deal with
something like what Mesopotamia can produce,
and they will later, or the Egyptian forces become
so huge. And of course, they have chariots, so
that's another problem altogether. So in verse
10, it says this, same chapter. Now David's heart
troubled him after he had numbered the people.
So David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly
in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please
take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I
have acted very foolishly. So no, God did not
command him not to do that. In fact, God had
commanded counts before. So you hear that said
sometimes that God said you can't count the people,
but that really... So the book of Numbers is...
God counting the people. I mean, that's what
it was all about. Every tribe is counted and
like that. So let's ask that question real quick.
Go off the worksheet for a second. Why do you
think it's a problem that David counts the people
now? There's two reasons right away. One's from
the text and one you kind of have to kind of
think broadly to maybe come up with it. So what's
the first problem? Counting the people. Say it
again. What's that? Well, okay, so you could
count the people and determine that there isn't
enough people. That's one possibility. Or you
could count the people and determine that there
is enough people. For what? What's enough people?
Yeah, so that's the problem. It only leads you
to a problem if you have enough people, that's
arrogance. You don't have enough people, that's
insecurity. See what I'm saying? So the problem
is God didn't want him to count the people because
God is the one who fights the battles. It's not
the 1 .2 million soldiers that win the wars.
This is really stretching your minds now, but
if you remember when we studied the book of Joshua
a year and a half ago, there was a battle in
which they were pursuing. In fact, I think they
were saving the Gibeonites in that battle. I'm
not sure. That might have been the case. But
anyway, the point is they were pursuing the enemy
forces, and the enemy forces were outrunning
them, and rocks, meteors, flew down from the
sky and destroyed the runaway army. How many
people do you need to destroy an army with meteors?
Not very many. Two guys and enough meteors and
it's done. So what he's saying is, You don't
need to count the people because what do you
gain? We have enough people. Okay, now you're
going to have a problem with arrogance. We don't
have enough people. Now you're going to have
a problem with insecurity. So either way, it
was not God's idea to count the people at this
time because there's no good outcome. There's
no good outcome counting the people. The other
problem we'll talk about in a minute because
it's on the page. I don't want to run ahead of
myself, okay? So go register the people. Then
David said, go to the right from there, I have
sinned in what I did. Perfect. Now, from that
line, if you go all the way over to the left
next to go register, you'll see that there's
an arrow. Follow the arrow up to the kind of
funky box right there. The funky box has another
reference in it. Under the crown. Does everybody
find it? Okay. And so the reference is 2 Chronicles.
If you don't know this, most of these events
are detailed in Chronicles as well. The book
Chronicles and Kings kind of both kind of detail
the history of Israel. But rather than being
like this, it's a little bit more of an overview
of the events, like a history. So 2 Chronicles
21. The reference is 21 .1. So put in that box.
I'm sorry, 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles 21 .1.
1 Chronicles 21 .1. And this is what it says.
Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved
David to number Israel. And then it goes on to
tell the story. So David said, go number everybody.
And Joab resists at first, but then goes and
numbers everybody. And then the Lord spoke to
the seer. Told David what the punishment would
be and all that right, so that's all the same
story, but it starts with Satan Same words are
in the blank stood up against Israel Amazing
yeah, yeah, so he was at work during that period
of time And it's very very clear the word there
is the it's in Hebrew or you know once it was
brought in Septuagint Septuagint was in Greek
right But it means accuser. It's a proper name.
He's a bad dude. And he stood up against Israel.
I do think it's interesting that the writer,
and I'd have to study this more. I can't answer
this for you, but I'll just point it out to you
so you can see it. The writer of Chronicles here
calls it Israel. Is he talking about the 12 tribes
and all of God's people? Or is he talking about
the 10 tribes that... had previously tried to
distance themselves from David's two tribes,
I'd have to look into Chronicles and figure out,
when he says Israel, does he mean the twelve
tribes? If he does, then this is a real attempt
to destroy Israel. And it almost works, as we're
about to see. Okay, so now we're back on the
page. Go register the people. I have sinned in
what I saw. Follow that arrow back down. We're
back on that line. I have sinned in what I did.
Okay, now... The prophet, God sends the prophet
Gad to David, and he gives him three choices.
Because of what David has done, he's going to
have three choices to choose from. And they are,
choice A, seven years famine. Seven years famine.
They're going to go without food for seven years,
or lack food for seven years. Or, three months,
Running from your enemies. Is David any stranger
from running from his enemies? They had three
years of famine. It was terrible, but they made
it through. God might turn it around at some
point. They could buy food from other countries.
That's probably what they were doing a lot of.
David's no stranger from running from his enemies,
right? He's been doing it most of his life. What's
the problem with this now? What's the problem
with running three months from your enemies now?
He's old. Yeah. They don't even let him go to
war anymore, so he's up there in years now. And
then the last one is three days pestilence. Pestilence.
Pestilence is basically disease. Okay? In verse
14, this is what we get. So the Lord, let me
go back to 13. And David said to Gad, I am in
great distress. Please let me fall into the hand
of the Lord. for his mercies are very great.
But do not let me fall into the hand of men.
So in other words, he did not want to deal with
being chased. He wanted to give himself over
to whatever God decides, basically. So then it
says, So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel.
Seventy thousand men of Israel fell. God sent
an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he
was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and was
sorry over the calamity and said to the destroying
angel, It is enough. Now relax your hand. And
the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing
floor of Ornan, the Jebusite. And David lifted
up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing
between the earth and heaven with his drawn sword
in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. David
and the elders covered with sackcloth fell on
their faces. David said to God, Is it not I who
commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the
one who has sinned and done very wickedly. But
these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God,
please let... thy hand be against me and my father's
household, but not against thy people, that they
should be plagued. Okay? And so, we got the three
choices, and then David chose, it's on the next
line, next to where it says B14, which of the
three choices did he choose? Say it again? The
hands of the Lord. That's what he chose. And
the result of that was, go to the right, I gave
you just blanks. What was the result? You want
to give me a four -word summary? God sent the
angel, and then God stopped the angel. Both,
right? So it's kind of sent slash stop. So the
result was God stopped the angel before it could
wipe out Israel, and God sent the angel. Both
of those things are true. Then there was, on
the next line, I'm moving faster now because
we're finishing up, a plea. There was a plea,
not a prayer. It's talking to God, but it doesn't
say it's a prayer. It's a plea. And notice that
David saw the angel. Okay. Say again. Yes, it
would. Especially after the angel already killed
70 ,000 people. Okay. A plea. Then mercy given.
That's the next line there. M -G. Mercy given.
And the thing that we've been headed for, the
stopping point, we're almost there. In verse
19, it said, we read it. No, we didn't. Then
the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to
David that David should go up and build an altar
to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad,
which he spoke in the name of the Lord. Okay,
so... Yep, erect an altar. That's the command.
Erect an altar. An altar is a place of worship
to God. We're going to erect an altar. Then David
is going up to build the altar. Ornan turned
back and saw the angel and his four sons who
were with him hid themselves and Ornan was threshing
wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked
and saw David and went out from the threshing
floor and prostrated himself before David with
his face to the ground. He threw himself flat
on the ground. David said to Ornan, give me the
site of this threshing floor that I may build
on it an altar to the Lord Full price you shall
give it to me. So he's an eminent domain. He's
going to give you the full price. That the plague
may be restrained from the people. Ornan said
to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord
the king do what is good in his sight. See, I
will give the oxen for burnt offerings, and the
threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for
the grain offering. I will give it all. But King
David said to Ornan, No, but I will surely buy
it for the full price. For I will not take what
is yours for the Lord. or offer a burnt offering
which costs me nothing. So the next one there
in the bottom left -hand corner, D -R. David,
what did he do? Ornan offered him everything
for free, and he refused. David refuses. There's
the price. Say again. But he paid. Yes. He requisitioned
it, but he paid for it. And the price was 50
shekels. And then you finish it with David. Builds
an altar. That's right. Okay. Now, real quick,
if you haven't already looked, put your thumb
over the bottom right -hand corner of your page
where there's that writing there. If you just
looked at it when I said put your thumb over
it, don't answer. What eventually gets built
on the site of Ornan's threshing floor where
David builds the altar? If you looked, don't
answer. Somebody take a stab at it if you didn't
look. Anybody not look? Statularity. It's not
statularity. What? Yeah, the temple. It's where
the temple gets built. David bought that ground,
and he takes that ground, and he dedicates it.
You can see it. You know where it's at today.
It's on the map. The temple's not there anymore.
It was torn down in AD 70, and never rebuilt
in the same way ever again. But that's where
the temple site would be. Yes, the one that Solomon
will build. And so this point forward, David
will live his life for a couple of initiatives,
one of which will be to gather the supplies so
that Solomon can build that temple to honor God.
Where? On the threshing floor of Ornan, where
he was told to sacrifice. Why? In honor of God
turning back the angel who was destroying Israel
and had already killed 70 ,000 men. And why was
he doing that? Why was the angel destroying Israel?
Because, yeah, because David chose the hand of
God. And he had to choose from one of the three
things because he registered the people. And
he registered the people for one of two reasons,
both of which are bad. One is Satan inspired
it. We read that in 1 Chronicles. Satan inspired
it. And the other is because Because he was king.
It is good to be the king. Right? Because he
could. Outside the will of God, he did it in
his own strength or he did it to know what he
had to work with or whatever. Okay. All right.
So a couple of teenagers only for a minute here
to answer a couple questions. You ready? Not
necessarily on the page. Okay. I'm going to give
you a tricky one first. Tricky one first. Whose
idea Was it originally to register the people?
Jason. Incorrect. It was not the king in this
case. Whose idea was it originally? You already
answered. Let somebody else try. Otherwise, you
just go through a list and you'll get it right
eventually. Whose idea was it originally? Going
once? Okay, any adult can answer. Satan. That's
correct. It was Satan's idea. It says Satan rose
up against Israel and inspired David to do it.
Not on the page. David had this person head up
the effort to register all the people. Jason?
Joab is correct. One out of two ain't bad. Okay.
I'll give you candy before we're done. Alright.
Let's see. The Gibeonites were in great suffering
because of an event that happened before David
was in charge. What was this event? Anybody else?
Other than Jason, I'm going to give it to him.
What? It's all being a but? Okay, Jason, give
it to me. Yes, he tried to kill them off. I'm
short. All right. Natalie, what was the length
of the famine? Say it again. Not the one that
was potentially promised, the one that was potentially...
could have happened, that David could have chose
was seven years, but the one that actually happened
before that. Three years is correct. Very good.
That is correct. Got them both there. Amazing.
Okay. All right. Haley, what was the number of
sons of Goliath who were slain by David and his
friends? That's correct. Four. Very good. You
guys could be on Jeopardy. They're not even looking.
They're doing it from memory. Okay. Okay, this
is on your page. It's a harder one. What was
the name of the town that threw Sheba's head
over the wall? If you can get close to the pronunciation,
I'll give it to you. Hannah, you got it? No?
Need a magnifying glass? All right, Haley, go.
Yep. Yep. Yes. Good enough. That's right. And
it's about how well I pronounce it, so you did
good. Okay. All right. For this reason... God
brought David into a broad place because he delighted
in him. That's correct. I'm going to start giving
candy to other people. I use this candy up anyway.
Okay. Of the three choices that David could have
chosen for punishment, which one would have been
the shortest? Jason? Say it again. Three days
of pestilence. Which coincidentally was the one
that he chose, but it cost him 70 ,000 people.
We kind of understand that, don't we, with COVID.
We see how that could be. Okay. All right, Hannah,
are you ready? How many of Saul's sons were given
over to the Gibeonites? Say it again. Seven is
correct. Very good. Okay. That was very well
aimed. You could have caught it. Okay, I have
a tiny poppet. The next question is for a tiny
poppet. Adults can answer, so be on your game.
Be ready. Okay. Find my spot here. Okay. In what
might be the strangest description of a Gittite
ever, a man had this many fingers and toes, first
hand I saw. He had this many fingers and toes
in his first hand. How many fingers and toes
did he have? 24, correct. Nice try. Have a tiny
slinky. This was Amasa's last mission. Chris
McCrory. Say it again. Sorry, that was terrible.
Okay. I got a bag of gummies. This is the last
bag of gummies I've got. Get rid of these gummies.
All right. Okay. So when the mother of some of
Saul's sons was mourning, David dealt justice
by honoring these two individuals. Jason. Okay.
All right. We're going to go ahead and close
in prayer at this time. Lord, I thank you for
this day. You know, we gather here and have a
building that we're safe from bad weather or
conditions outdoors, stress, persecution. You
know, I can't deal with any of that as it is
today. And if we did, Lord, we'd be grateful
and happy to be here praising you and learning
about you together regardless.