That's all right. Thank you. Do you have a seat,
please? Thank you. Oh, no! It's Tuesday night.
Whacked out simple stuff. We're going to talk
very briefly about something important. A set
of terms, if you will. We're going to talk about
keys. I got this little cool little cable key
thing for Christmas. It's got a whole bunch of
keys on it. It's got keys to the light bulb.
It's not hard to use anymore because we have
a fingerprint over there. Keys to this building.
Keys to the house. Keys to my lockbox. Keys to
my safe deposit box. Keys, keys, keys. But not
this kind of keys. We're going to talk about
keys to the kingdom. Can anybody explain to me
why the Bible says that the church has the keys
to the kingdom? Give me a basic explanation.
Go ahead. Because the church knows what God asks
them to do in order to go to heaven and go towards
heaven. I think that's a real good start. Okay.
Do you know in the Bible where the idea of the
keys to the kingdom come from? Anybody? Probably
it's Jesus. Jesus, yeah. Jesus is speaking. Okay.
So it's Matthew, Matthew 16, verse 19. Matthew
16, verse 19. Okay, and I'm going to go to my
Bible here. I was on the wrong page, but I'll
get back to you in one second. And I'll read
it to you. Matthew 16. There it is, 16. Where's
my Bible? Where's my paper Bible at? Okay, here
we go. We're going to do it the old -fashioned
way. Yep, 19. This is the old gate. It's the
second half of the old gate crash reverse, actually.
Matthew 16, 19. And it says, this is Jesus speaking,
and he says, he's talking to Peter, he's talking
about the church, and how the church would be
built upon a profession of faith in Jesus Christ
as Lord and Savior. And he says, and I will give
unto thee the kingdom, the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven. And if it stopped right
there, that'd be good enough, wouldn't it? We've
got the keys to the kingdom of heaven. So you
can get in, right? Wouldn't that be good? That
would be good enough. But he goes on to explain
that. He says, and whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven. Or it shall
have already been bound in heaven. And he agrees
with what he says. So whatsoever thou shalt bind
on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatsoever
thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven. So what does it mean to bind something?
Tie it up. Tie it up. That's right. Lock it up.
Tie it up. Capture it. Right? So the animal,
you put a leash on it. Say it again. Yeah. You
wrap it up. Falling apart. Put it together. Keep
it together. Right? And to loose something. What
do you mean to loose something? Go ahead. Not
to loose it like you can't find it. But to loose
it like to let it loose. Right? Like you let
your dog loose. Or you just left the door open
for a little too long and the dog takes off,
right? So that's loose. In fact, the dog getting
out and running away is a really good example
of that loose. Because you've got to go track
it down and get it under control, right? And
so, listen now, listen now. And so when we were
given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, whatever
we as the church... Based upon our profession
of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of the community
and being called out in the assembly of God,
whatever we find on earth shall have already
been found in heaven. So we're going to do what
God wants us to do. And as Arianna says, we know
how to get where we're going. And we know what
kind of things will get us where we're going
and what kind of things won't. We're not going
to have anything to do with the kind of things
that won't get us where we're going. We are going
to have a lot to do with the kind of things that
will get us where we're going. God knows what
those things are. And if you stop and think about
it when you're in your right mind, you know what
they are too, right? And then when we are dealing
with other people, so we're dealing with, let's
say, someone who does not know Jesus, and you
tell them about Jesus, you can set them free,
right? Now, truly, it's Jesus who does the setting
free, but we deliver the truth. And if they believe
and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, then they
become free. That's how that works. And so that's
what we're talking about. We're talking about
the keys, the kingdom of heaven. We're talking
about the keys that the church has. And though
each one of these keys will only work one lock,
but here's the amazing thing about the keys to
the kingdom of heaven. They work all locks. It
works all locks, not the physical locks that
open your house. Although I have stood in front
of a locked door before and prayed. Oh, Lord,
I forgot my keys inside. I'm locked out. What
am I going to do? And a solution came up, and
I managed to get in, right? So I do believe that
sometimes prayer does open locked doors, start
stuck vehicles, and things like that. With that
being said, it's not this kind of physical key
that's limited to one lock. It's the kind of
key that you can go into life, you can face problems
and difficulties, and you can still be who you're
supposed to be, and God will still be with you
through that, and you can overcome. So there's
a lot more to that. We could break it down more,
but I just want you to understand that we're
talking about the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
It's not a physical key. It is a key and it's
an ability to do what's right, to overcome difficulty,
to set people free. Be aware it is not our job
to set free on earth things that don't belong.
We are not liars or thieves. They're not liars
or thieves. We're focused on doing what it is
that God would have us to do. Alright, we're
going to pray together at this time. Then we
have one more song of worship. And then we're
going to let the children go to the classroom.
Alright, so we're going to sing together. We'll
focus on the words after what this time is about.
Father in heaven, we praise you and thank you
that you're working in our midst. That you brought
us together this evening to look into your word.
We hope, Lord, that we come away after looking
into your word with a fresh new understanding.
Something that we can put. into practice in our
lives. The study of your word is like that. It
helps us know how we can use the keys of heaven
that we've been blessed with. It helps us know
how to put them to work and how to bind things
and how to set things loose that are appropriate
in this world. We are free in Christ because
Christ sets us free indeed. Lord, help us be
the church. Help us look into your word and grow.
We do have, as we look around, a number of people
who are hurting today, couldn't make it because
they're sick or whatever. So we pray for them,
Lord. Lord, we pray for Rose just now. She's
having pain in her hand. Lord, we pray that she's
able to have some comfort, that you would ease
her at a cellular level, that you would make
the nerves not inflamed, Lord, that she'd be
able to have the medicine that she needs, whatever
that is. You take care of each one of us as you
take care of her. We pray it all in Jesus' name.
Amen. Amen. All right. This next song is Lord,
Lift My Name on High. So I need some kids who
think they know the motions with a little bit
of help to join me on the stage, please. Everyone
else, you can stand up in the front. Come on.
All right. If you want to be on the stage, I
will do motions in the aisles. You can watch
me. Okay worksheets are coming around All right,
so last week we began looking at a particular
character. You just have the second half of his
name What is his name? It is Joe Abba. Don't
forget that and there that makes it a completely
different person Joe Abba Okay, so we're looking
at Joe Abba. We're looking at him in the context
of the time when David was out from Jerusalem.
So all of this has been about people who were
present with David, present during that time,
present with Absalom, whatever, during that time
when Absalom came and became the king, and David
fled out of Jerusalem down across the Kidron,
through the Kidron Valley, and over across the
Jordan River. And then later there is a huge
battle there, and David comes back and becomes
king again. But we started with folks that were
during that period of time when David lost his
kingship. And Joab was there. You know a little
bit about Joab already. Before we start this
worksheet, let's see if we can just kind of test
ourselves a little bit. If you need to look back
at last week's worksheet, you can. But if you
can just do some from memory, that would be good.
Joab is related to David. How? Does anybody remember?
Okay, David's sisters. Son. So he's his nephew.
That's right. So he's David's sister's son. And
what was Joab's job? He was the leader of the
army, right? So he had been a general. So you
can look elsewhere and see that he was sort of
one of the mighty men, but he wasn't one of the
three mighty men. He was one of the bigger group
of heroes, basically, and became the general.
Interestingly enough, both of his sons, become
mighty men as well. So this is a heck of a family.
And we may look at them a little bit. One of
them is mentioned in that period of time, but
not very much. So we may or may not. I don't
know. As the Lord leads, we may look at them.
So last week, we looked at Joab all the way back
kind of to his beginning. We saw that David's
sister had him as a child, raised him. He became
David's kind of like right -hand man, general
of the armies and so on. During the time when
Absalom had come in and taken control, though,
Joab was not fully in charge of the army, right?
He was only in charge of a portion of it. You
remember the portion? Anybody? Going once? Okay,
one -third. So he was in charge of one -third
of the army during that period of time. And then...
There are sort of like two kingships for a little
while as Absalom is the king, right? And then
Absalom puts another guy in charge of the army.
He's got to do that because Joab is off with
David. And that's where we're going to kind of
pick up the story is Joab's interactions with
this other guy. And so the first text, the upper
right -hand corner, but with the number one,
is from 2 Samuel 19. And the verses are 13 and
14. So what happens is this is right about the
period of time. Remember that you got to see
that dangling guy with the fishing pole and it's
dangling down. You see the clock there and the
arrow winds clockwise. It means we're going forward
from the occupation, going forward from when
Absalom was in charge. So we're now going to
look at the outcome for Joab. Okay, so in 2 Samuel
19, 13 to 14, we read these verses. David is
speaking to the leaders of Israel and he says,
Say to Amasa, are you not my bone and my flesh?
May God do so to me and more also if you will
not be commander of the army before me continually
in place of Joab. Then he turned the hearts of
all the men of Judah as one man so that they
sent word to the king saying, return you and
all your servants. And so basically what's happening
is Amasa, and does anybody know Amasa? It's not
a common name. He doesn't last long really in
the story. So Amasa is actually one of David's
sons by somebody that you might know if you've
been around for the last couple of months, right?
David picks up a very wise woman as a wife. Does
anybody remember her name? Abigail, very good.
And with her, he has a son named Amasa. So this
is sort of his son from one of his wives. But
he stayed with Absalom, and Absalom made him
the leader over the army, and he was extremely
popular. Extremely popular. So what's going on
here is David is sending a message through the
priests back to all the leaders who were still
in Jerusalem, basically saying, take me back
as king. And so, first of all, David is saying
that Amasa would, so it's Amasa would what? Lead
the army. Keep going. Nope, not Judah. In Joab's
place. That's correct. Although, actually, geographically,
Holly, you are correct. It is in Judah. But it's
in Joab's place. Okay, so Absalom first installed
Amasa as the leader, and now David is saying,
well, you'll be the leader of everybody. You'll
be the leader of the full army, right? So even
though he was with Absalom, even though he was
with Absalom, he would be the, thank you very
much for that. I'll take that. He would be the
leader of the full army. Now, what happens when
you make a very popular general the leader of
the army? Say it again. He's appreciated, right?
Say it again. I can't hear you. Yeah, he's going
to be in charge and they want him in charge.
And so now the people that were kind of questioning
about David coming back, they're all like, oh
yeah, hey, that sounds good. Remember back when
we studied the first part of Joab's life and
David put Joab in charge of the army? Do you
remember when that happened? We talked about
that last week. And he put him in charge of the
army and then he had problems with him, right?
He said, I'm intimidated by Joab. That Joab and
the sons of my... sister, are so powerful. What
am I going to do with them? You follow? So now
he's doing the same thing with Amasa. By putting
Amasa in charge, the bigger army is there already.
All the tribesmen didn't come up to fight. A
lot of people did, but not everybody did, right?
So there's hundreds of thousands of warriors
that are loyal to Amasa. And so he's getting
their loyalty by putting Amasa in charge. It's
a tactic that David has used before. But who
do you suppose is not very happy about that?
Joab. Because Joab used to be the leader of all
the army. Now he went into exile with David and
became the leader of only one -third of David's
exile army, but found a great victory. They found
a great victory for David, and now David gets
to come back. And this would be a time where
he could be in charge of the whole army again,
but he's not going to be. It's going to be Amasa.
Okay? All right. So then the next phrase says,
this was part of David's plea. Okay, so what's
happening right now is David is sending a message
through the priest. Can anybody name a priest
that he's using without me going to look it up?
Zadok is one. No, Samuel's not there. Zadok is
one. Abiathar, remember him? Okay, so good. I'm
impressed you got Zadok. He was the big guy.
He's the front name, right? He was the guy who
came out to David and said, hey, I'll go with
you into the wilderness. I'll bring the Ark of
the Covenant. We studied that. Zadok was one
of the guys that we looked at, right? And so,
yeah, so through Zadok and Abiathar and the others,
he's sending this message back in there, and
that's part of his plea for them to take him
back as their unified king. And so then the TPW
is what? If this was part of David's plea, then
the plea worked, and all were devoted. So now
all the leaders and all the soldiers and lieutenants
and majors and colonels, if they even had those,
I doubt they had them, but all the heroes that
were already there, now not the ones necessarily
that were with Joab, right? But all of them that
were already there are now going to be loyal
to David, okay? Going to number two, moving right
along. Now we're in 2 Samuel chapter 20. So if
you're following along in your Bibles or making
notes, you can look it up later, whatever. In
chapter 20, And we're going to begin in verse
4. Now this will be a little longer. So you're
going to have to listen to pick out the details.
There's been a revolt. All were devoted. All
the people of Jerusalem became devoted to David
being their king again. Okay? Alright, so now
here we are. There's been another revolt. There's
a guy, we'll get his name here in a minute, who's
setting himself up to revolt against David to
be king. Verse 4 says, Then the king said to
Amasa, Call out the men of Judah for me within
three days and be present here yourself. So he
wants them to go all throughout the area of Judah
in three days and call up a whole big old army
and be ready to lead it. Seems like a completely
reasonable demand of the person who's in charge
of the entire army, right? Sounds good. So Amasa
went to call out the men of Judah. but he delayed
longer than the set time which he had appointed
him. Whoops. Supposed to get the army in three
days. Three days comes and goes. The king doesn't
have an army. That's a problem. Verse 6. And
David said to Abishai, Now Sheba, the son of
Betri, will do us more harm than Absalom did.
Okay? So now this guy's being likened to the
next Absalom, Sheba, the son of Betri. He's the
betrayer. And because of Amasa taking too long
to get the army together, it's going to be a
problem. That's what David is saying. He says,
take your Lord's servants, so David's servants,
and pursue him so that he does not find for himself
fortified cities and escape from our sight. So
David says to Abishai, by the way, does anybody
know who Abishai is? He's famous of Joab. He's
one of the mighty men. He's one of the big guys.
David's nephew, grandnephew? What does that make
him? I don't know. I don't even know what you
are if you're a nephew, if you're the son of
a nephew. Like a cousin, I guess. I don't know.
Anyway, the point is, he's a big dude. Important.
But then guess what? If Abishai is going to go
out, who else do you think is going to go out?
If Abishai is going to take all the remaining
men and go out after him, Joab is going to go
out, right? Okay, so here we go. Joab is back
on the scene. Verse 7. So Joab's men went out
after him. along with the Cherethites and the
Pelethites and all the mighty men. And they went
out from Jerusalem to pursue Sheba the son of
Betri. When they were at the large stone, which
is in Gibeon, Amasa came to meet them. So now
Amasa was supposed to be going out to summon
the whole army, and he is the guy who's supposed
to be in charge of the whole thing. But David
now has given over some authority to Abishai,
and Abishai has shared that authority with his
father Joab. Now Joab was dressed in military
attire. So he's got his kind of military officer's
robe on. And over it was a belt with a sword
in its sheath fashioned at the waist. So he's
got a military robe on ready to fight. And he's
got a nice belt with the sword in it laying horizontally
usually is how they would have wore them. And
as he went out forward to meet Amasa, the sword
fell out. Now that doesn't usually happen, okay?
But the sword fell out of the sheath. Joab said
to Amasa, is it well with you, my brother? So
it's a positive greeting, but do you hear the
sarcasm or the sort of, what's he saying? It's
a passive -aggressive question. What's he saying?
Say it again. Yeah, what? Can you handle this?
You went out to get an army, you didn't come
back. What happened? Now, he didn't come up to
him and just say, in front of everybody or whatever,
you're a piece of dirt, you screwed up. You know,
David didn't say anything like that. So he doesn't
have any, Joab doesn't have any authority really,
right? But it's sort of like that passive aggressive
statement. Like when somebody shows up to your
party 10 minutes late and you walk up to them
and you say, hey, is everything okay? What are
you really saying? You're saying, why are you
late? Right? Or whatever. Yeah, so that's what's
going on there. Joab said to Amasa, is it well
with you, my brother? It's kind of an accusation.
And Joab took Amasa by the beard. Uh -oh, we
know what's coming, don't we? With his right
hand to kiss him. This is pattern behavior for
Joab, isn't it? But Amasa was not on guard against
the sword which was in Joab's hand. So he struck
him in the belly with it and poured out his inward
parts on the ground and did not strike him again
and he died. That's interesting. Kind of contrasted
with Absalom. He got three spears in the heart
and still didn't die. And this guy, Amasa, he
takes one sword to the belly and dies. Yeah.
Then Joab and Abishai, his brother, pursued Sheba,
the son of Betri. Now there stood by him one
of Joab's young men and said, Whoever favors
Joab and whoever is for David, let him follow
Joab. But Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in
the middle of the highway. So he's dying. He's
not quite dead yet. His guts are pouring out.
His blood's all over the place. He's wallowing
around in the middle of the highway. And they're
asking people right there, Come follow us. Now
remember, Amasa is a popular guy, or was. Now
he's gutted, so that's not popular. But right
up until there, he's a pretty popular guy. Now
they see Amasa laying there, and they're recruiting
men right there where he's laying. Amasa lay
wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway,
and when the man saw that all the people stood
still, he removed Amasa from the highway into
the field and threw a garment over him when he
saw that everyone who came by him stood still.
So people basically came there, and they said,
We might want to go fight, but what's the story
here? Why is there a guy with his guts hanging
out on the road and you're recruiting? Is this
a symbol? You know, like, this doesn't look like
it's going to go well. I mean, a lot of questions
that could be raised, right? So they just drag
him off to the side. By now he's probably mostly
dead or unconscious or whatever, and they throw
a blanket over him and leave him off the road.
Not a very nice scene, okay? So let's pick up
the text under 2 Samuel 20, verses 4 to 13. And
it first says that David, what? The capital A
is probably a clue. Sent Amasa. Keep going. The
next three words are part of the same sentence.
To, nope. To gather. And the J is Judah. Okay?
So they were going to gather all the army of
Judah. He's not getting all the tribe's armies,
just Judah's army. Okay? David sent Amasa to
gather Judah, but Amasa was late. Amasa was late.
In fact, he kind of never gets the job done.
He never went back to David. So he really never
got the job done. Okay? But that's no reason
to murder a guy, by the way. Okay? Amasa was
late. Joab, Murdered him. That's right. Murdered
him. So Abner murdered him. This is murder, by
the way. They are not at war. He killed him in
cold blood. Same as he did Abner. Yeah. He grabbed
him by the beard, pulled him in to kiss him,
and gutted him. That's pretty wicked. His heart
had to be something. All right. So he murdered
him. The next line says, Amassas. It's an apostrophe
S at the end. Amassas. What? It goes, includes
all the way to the little castle picture there,
if you can do it. What do you think of this?
Amassas what? Not blood. Say it again, Holly.
Nope, not brother. So Joab murdered him. And
Amassas, after you're dead, you're a what? There
you go. Amassas' body. This is strange language
because it's the way I talk, so I'll just give
it to you. Amass's body wound up, or you can
put ended up, but I gave you a W. I say that
phrase quite a bit. You wound up doing this,
wound up doing that. Yep. On the side of the
road. Keep going. Three more. You got the A already.
On the side of the road. Under a cover. Under
a cover. That's right. That's all you did. Now
remember this guy. So the day before, no, let's
say the hour before this event. This guy is the
leader of the entire nation of Israel's army,
12 tribes. Now he's dead under a cover on the
side of the road, laying in somebody's field.
That's a real turn of events right there. He
lost his life. Okay, so now Joab kind of steps
in, and they're going to go try to get the problem,
because you know how David is. David's a results
guy, right? When David arranged for Uriah the
Hittite to get killed, Joab sent the message
back. And he said, tell him some of your servants
got too close to the wall and some guys got killed.
And then if he says, well, what did you get so
close to the wall for? Then say to him, well,
Uriah the Hittite died and everything will be
fine. Joab recognizes that David is a results
guy. So Joab is going to go try to get the job
done. They go after Betri, after Sheba the son
of Betri. When they were at the large stone,
which is Gibeon, a mass came to meet them. He
killed him, left him laying under a cover in
the road. First he was wallowing around in his
own blood while they were still trying to recruit
the army. That's just terrible. Rated R, basically.
Yeah. Alright, so now we're at... So he's removed
from the highway. All the men passed on after
Joab to pursue Sheba the son of Betri. He went
through all the tribes of Israel to Abel. Even
Beth -Makah. Okay, so there's a place called
Abel -Beth -Makah. Abel's a region. Beth -Makah
is the city in the regions to capital, basically,
of that small area. And all the Berites, and
they were gathered together and also went after
him. They came and besieged him in Abel -Beth
-Makah. And they cast up a siege ramp against
the city. Does everybody know what a siege ramp
is? So basically, one of the many ways that you
overcome a walled city, there's several, in this
day it was the most popular way, is to build
a ramp up to the wall. So literally you just
keep dumping dirt or rock or whatever you can
get closer and closer and closer. You keep hauling
it up and dumping it closer until you have a
ramp up to the wall. Then if the ramp goes to
the top of the wall, then when you're ready,
all the men charge up the ramp, go over the wall,
take the city. If it doesn't go to the top of
the wall, use the ramp for protection and the
men charge up and bust up the wall so that they
can get in. So a siege ramp is a relatively common
method of overcoming a siege. And the city's
locked up. They won't let them in. So it says,
they came and besieged him in Abel Beth -Makah.
And they cast up a siege ramp against the city.
It stood by the ramparts. In other words, it
went all the way up to the top, pretty much.
And all the people who were with Joab were wreaking
destruction in order to topple the wall. So they
were busting up the city's walls. Then a wise
woman called from the city, Here! Hear, that's
H -E -A -R as in hear me. Hear, hear. Please
tell Joab, come here that I may speak with you.
So he approached her and the woman said, are
you Joab? And he answered, I am. Then she said
to him, listen to the words of your maidservant.
And he answered, I am listening. Then she spoke
saying, formerly they used to say they will surely
ask advice at Abel. And thus they ended the dispute.
In other words, they used to come here all the
time seeking wisdom. They always came to us for
wisdom. I am of those who are peaceable and faithful
in Israel. You are seeking to destroy a city,
even a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow
up the inheritance of the Lord? Joab replied,
Far be it, far be it from me that I should swallow
up or destroy. Such is not the case. But a man
from the hill country of Ephraim, Sheba the son
of Betri by name, has lifted up his hand against
King David. Only hand him over and I will depart
from the city. And the woman said to Joab, Behold,
his head will be thrown to you over the wall.
Then the woman wisely came to all the people,
they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Betri,
and they threw it to Joab. So he blew the trumpet,
and they were dispersed from the city each to
his tent. And Joab also returned to the king
at Jerusalem. Listen to number 23. Now Joab was
over the whole army of Israel. And Benaiah, the
son of Jehoiada, was over the Cherethites and
the Pelethites. And Adarim was over the forced
labor. And Jehoshaphat, the son of Ahalud, was
the recorder. Sheba was the scribe. Zadok and
Abiathar were the priests. And Ira, the Jerite,
was also a priest to David. Okay? So he got it
back, didn't he? Because he realized one very
key important thing about David, which was, not
on the paper, but I said it. David was a king
who what? Who expected results. He was looking
for results. And Joab got results. But he knows
he killed Amasa, right? But he also knows he
killed Abner. Did he do anything about that?
Okay, so here we go. After Amasa winds up, right
there, after he winds up his body on the side
of the road under a cover, the next J is Joab.
And Joab what? It's a verb, but it's kind of
a big verb. Kind of a long one. Starts with an
N. What did he do? Him and the lady entered into
a discussion. He negotiated. Yep. He negotiated.
Joab negotiated. He didn't kill. He didn't destroy
the city. He was close. He proved that he could
do it, but he didn't do it. He negotiated for
the head of Sheba, of Betri. Don't confuse that
Sheba. There are more than one. We did discuss
one before. It's not the same Sheba, obviously.
Okay? So Joab negotiated for the head of Sheba,
which showed tact. The killing of Amasa did not
show tact. That's not tact. But this shows tact,
okay? All right, we're moving over to number
three. Before we go to number three, we're going
to take a little vacation. If you look right
up above there on the A and the B, look in the
circle of the A. You see a little sketch in there.
Does that look familiar? Inside the A, in the
circle or oval. What does it look like? Yeah,
it looks like a map. That's right. So what we've
got here is a map and we're going to learn something
about our little study that we just did. All
right. So that you see the number one, the big
blob on the bottom. If you look on the right
side over here in the B, you can match them up.
So what is that number one on the bottom? Oh,
yeah, I got it right. What is that number one
on the bottom in the map of the promised land?
What's the big blob on the bottom? Come on. Oh,
no, it's water. What water is it? It's the Dead
Sea. Right? So L. One is L, the Dead Sea. Okay?
Now, go to number two, right up there to the
left. I even gave you a J for it, but that's
not the letter for the right side. But if it
starts with a J and it's right there by the Dead
Sea, what is it? It is Jerusalem. That is correct.
Okay? So that gives you an idea of where we're
at on the map. Then the line going up there is
the Jordan River. You don't have to get that
one. Then the body of water at the top up there
is the Sea of Galilee. And if you look way at
the top of the map, you'll see a dot with a little
arrow pointing to it. And it says ABM above it.
And that is what? That is correct. Good job,
sir. That is Abel. I forgot how you say it. Beth
McCaw. Abel Beth McCaw. That is O. So it's L,
M, and O, right in order. I did them right in
order. Okay. All right. So now we're done with
our little vacation to the map, and we're going
back to number three, and we're over halfway
done. The story's going to get even darker for
Joab. It already got really dark. Okay. Number
three. So we've got a new thing going on. In
fact, We've got a new book of the Bible. If I'm
leaving 2 Samuel and I'm going to the new book
of the Bible, where will I be? 1 Kings. That's
correct. Good job. Okay, 1 Kings is next, and
we're in chapter 1. If you'll look in the parentheses
in the middle of the paragraph there, you'll
see that's where that 1 goes. So the question
here is about kingship again, but we're getting
late on in David's life. So during this period
of time, David's got him a hot babe to keep himself
warm. It's absolutely literal. It's absolutely
literal. So he was having trouble staying warm,
even they put him under all the covers. Even
the bed warmers don't help. So they search the
kingdom and they find him a hot chick, a hot
young woman, as they literally describe that
way in the text. And she will now sleep with
him every night to keep him warm. No sex. There's
no sex. It very specifically says that. But she
will be his bed warmer. So we're now in the time
of David's life at which he requires a woman
in his bed to keep him warm. He's old. He's past
his prime. He's not fighting anymore. He hasn't
gone out with the army in a long time. In fact,
the last time he went out, he ran into a descendant
of a guy who was a Gittite, which means he was
from where? If you're a Gittite, you're from
where? Starts with a G. Gath. Nailed it. Well
done, sir. And who was from Gath? Goliath. And
so David ran into one of Goliath's sons a whole
generation later. On the battlefield. And guess
what happened? He almost got killed. David almost
got killed. In fact, he was on the verge of being
killed. Guess who saved him? Not Joab. But close.
Somebody else we just mentioned. Abiathar. Abiathar
saved him. Interesting how it all comes together,
right? Okay, so here we go. We're on number three,
and we've got an aged king. So if you've got
an aged king, that means you probably need what?
Well, yeah, definitely. But right after an aged
king comes a dead king. If you've got a dead
king, you need a new king, a successor. You need
an heir, right? Okay, so that's what we're going
to talk about is who's going to be the heir.
So there's this problem. There's this woman that
David... fell in love with when he saw her bathing,
and then later took her as his wife. The first
baby died, but the second baby lived. And he
becomes a very famous man, Solomon. Now you and
I know that Solomon is supposed to be the heir.
He's the guy who becomes king. But at this part
of the story, we don't have that yet. And so
remember the prophet Nathan? How's the prophet
Nathan famous? What did he do? Yeah, he's the
one who confronted David for having the affair
and getting Uriah the Hittite killed. Right?
Yeah, right. Okay, so now you got Nathan, and
he spoke to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon.
That's in verse 11. So basically what's happening
is Bathsheba's worried that Solomon's not going
to get to be king, but David promised her that
he would be king, and so they're having this
little powwow. Nathan spoke to Bathsheba, the
mother of Solomon, saying, have you not heard
that Adonijah, the son of Haggath, has become
king? And David, our Lord, does not know it.
So now come, please let me give you counsel and
save your life and the life of your son Solomon.
So Nathan, the prophet, is advising Bathsheba
on how to save herself and Solomon because Adonijah
is going to be king. And if Adonijah is going
to be king, he's surely going to kill Solomon
and Bathsheba because they have a rightful claim
to the throne. And so Nathan's saying, protect
yourself. He says, Go at once to King David and
say to him, Have you not, my lord, O king, sworn
to your maidservant, saying, Surely Solomon your
son shall be king after me, and he shall sit
on my throne? Which he had promised that, by
the way. Why then has Adonijah become king? Behold,
while you are still there speaking with the king,
I will come in after you and confirm your words.
So Nathan's going to back her up. So Bathsheba
went into the king in the bedroom. Now the king
was very old. It doesn't say whether, oh yes
it does. And Abishag the Shunammite was ministering
to the king. So there's the woman sleeping with,
so this is Bathsheba's husband, David. She's
not keeping him warm. The hot chick is keeping
David warm. when Bathsheba comes in there to
entreat him, right? Bathsheba bowed and prostrated
herself before the king, and the king said, what
do you wish? And she said to him, my lord, you
swore to your maidservant by the lord your god,
saying, surely your son Solomon shall be king
after me, and he shall sit on my throne. Now
behold, Adonijah is king, and now my lord the
king, you do not know it. He has sacrificed oxen
and fatlings and sheep in abundance and has invited
all the sons of the king and Abiathar the priest
and Joab the commander of the army. but he has
not invited Solomon your servant. As for you
now, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel
are on you to tell them who shall sit on the
throne of my lord the king after him. Otherwise
it will come about as soon as my lord the king
sleeps with his fathers that I and my son Solomon
will be considered offenders. Behold, while she
was still speaking with the king, Nathan the
prophet came in. They told the king, saying,
Here is Nathan the prophet. And when he came
in before the king, he prostrated himself before
the king with his face to the ground. Nathan
said, My lord, the king, have you said Adonijah
shall be king after me? And he shall sit on my
throne? For he's gone down today and has sacrificed
oxen, fatling, sheep in abundance, has invited
all the king's son and the commander of the army.
There's Joab again. He's in there. He's definitely
getting credit. And Abiathar the priest. And
behold, they are eating and drinking before him.
And they say, Long live King Adonijah. But me,
even me, your servant, and Zadok the priest,
and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and your servant
Solomon, he has not invited. So basically he's
saying he's not invited anybody that's loyal
to you. Has this thing been done by my lord the
king, and you have not shown to your servants
who should sit on the throne of my lord the king
after him? Then King David said, Call Bathsheba
to me. And she came into the king's presence
and stood before the king. The king bowed and
said, As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my
life from all distress, surely as I bow to you
by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, Your
son Solomon shall be king after me, and he shall
sit on my throne in my place, I will indeed do
this day. I will indeed do so this day. Then
Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground,
prostrated herself before the king and said,
May my Lord, the king David, live forever. King
David said, Call me Zadok the priest, Nathan
the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.
They came into the king's presence. The king
said to them, take with you. I'm going to skip
ahead for expediency. The priest, Nathan, they
take Solomon. They blow the trumpet and they
say, long live King Solomon. That's what David
tells them to do. They tell everyone that David
has appointed Solomon to rule over Israel and
Judah. Benaiah, verse 36, Benaiah, the son of
Jehoiada, answered the king and said, amen. Thus
may the Lord, the God of my Lord, the king say.
As the Lord has been with my Lord the King, so
may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater
than the throne of his father, greater than the
throne of my Lord King David. Zadok the priest,
Nathan, Benaiah, they take him down. The Cherethites,
the Pelethites went down. They had Solomon ride
on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon.
Zadok took the horn of oil from the tent that
anointed, and then anointed Solomon. They blew
the trumpet. All the people said, Long live King
Solomon. All the people went out after him, and
the people were playing on flutes, rejoicing
with great joy, so that the earth shook at their
noise. Here we go. This is where it gets to be
Joab in trouble. Now Adonijah and all the guests
were with him, heard it as they finished eating.
When Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he
said, Why is the city making such an uproar?
While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan
the son of Abiathar the priest came. Then Adonijah
said, Come in, for you are a valiant man, and
bring good news. But Jonathan replied to Adonijah,
No, our lord king David has made Solomon king.
The king has also sent with him Zadok the priest,
Nathan the prophet, Benaiah the son of Jehoiada,
the Cherethites, the Pelethites, and they have
made him ride on the king's mule. Zadok the priest
and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king
in Gihon, and they have come up with their rejoicing
so that the city is an uproar. This is the noise
which you have heard. Besides, Solomon has even
taken his seat on the throne of the kingdom.
Okay, so that was a lot, I know, but here we
go. The question is, will Adonijah or Solomon
be king? Very good. And J. Joab. Was with Adonijah.
Perfect. Okay. And the, I'll give you the T -H
-E, the, the men were, you have the D, you don't
have anything on the last blank, but you shouldn't
need it. What were the men doing? All around,
what were they doing? Go ahead. No, they were
drinking, but that's not the D. They were declaring,
it's not Solomon. It's Adonijah. They were declaring
Adonijah king. The men were declaring Adonijah
king. And who was there when all of the men were
declaring Adonijah king? It's not on your paper,
but I read it. Who was there? Joab. The person
in charge of all the armies standing by while
they're declaring Adonijah king. Not so loyal
to David now, huh? I'll try to break it down
to help you understand. Okay, so Adonijah wants
to be king. He has a claim. He's another son
of David. He has a claim. But David had said
Solomon would be king. Alright? The men were
declaring Adonijah king. While they were doing
that, capital D, David chose Solomon. David chose
Solomon. Okay, so... This is a long kind of run
-on sentence, not kind of two run together. All
right. That capital A is probably Adonijah. So
it says, those with Adonijah knew or know. I
guess it would be know. What? Want to finish
it? The next word starts with a T. Those with
Adonijah knew they. Say it again. They are in
trouble. Okay. Knowing that they are in trouble.
What? All. Okay. So let me go ahead and let me
read it for you because I think I stopped at
46 anyway. So here we go. The king's servants
came to bless our Lord the king. That's 47. The
king has also said this. Blessed be the Lord,
the God of Israel, who has granted one to sit
on my throne today while my own eyes see it.
Then 49. Then all the guests of Adonijah were
terrified and they arose. And each went on his
way. In other words, they went home, basically.
They went to wherever they're doing their business.
So it's all go home in fear. They're terrified.
Now the scene is set. I submit to you at this
point in time, Joab's public career as a leader
is over. Because what does David care about?
We already said, David's the kind of king who
cares about what? Results. Who got results today?
In this day, who got the results? David. Nathan,
Zadok, right? They all got through. Not Joab.
He's on the losing side today. Adonijah will
not be king. In fact, Adonijah's in big trouble.
What happens is, and we don't have to study that
because we're not studying Adonijah, what happens
is he runs, takes hold of the horns of the temple,
and he says, I don't want to die. I won't leave
here unless Solomon promises me I won't die.
And they make a pact, and Solomon doesn't kill
him, at least not then. He's done. His goose
is cooked. Alright, now we're on number four.
And we go to another chapter. We're all the way
into 1 Kings chapter 2. That's a 2 at the top.
It's Kings 2. And verses 5 and 6. So now, in
this part, we already had him really old. He
couldn't keep himself warm, right? So now we're
at the very end of his life. And so the top of
that is David is dying. He's actually dying.
And then watch what happens. He says in verse
5, Now you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah
did to me, what he did to the two commanders
of the army of Israel, to Abner the son of Ner,
and to Amasa the son of Jether, whom he killed.
He also shed the blood of war in peace about
his waist and on his sandals on his feet. This
is what David is saying to Solomon. He says,
So act according to your wisdom, and do not let
his gray hair go down to Sheol. in peace. So
David gives this entreaty to his son. All right.
So the first thing, David is dying. We're under
first Kings two, five to six, the number four.
We'll go back over, make sure we understand what
happened. Okay. David is dying. And he, what
he recites, that's a word you might not normally
use. He recites Joab's apostrophe S Joab's M
murders. His martyrs. He recites Joab's murders.
Remember, in his lifetime, he didn't punish him
for Abner. Yeah, so basically he just tells Solomon,
those were murders. That's not in the war, right?
And he goes, we're not going to go on and read
it, but David goes on to make an argument that
when Solomon does this, he'll be doing it because
everyone needs to know that David did not order
Abner's death. David did not want Amasa dead,
right? He didn't do that for David. Because it
looks kind of like that, right? Joab murdered
them and then came back and got to be king of
the army. It kind of looks like David supported
him doing that. But you'll remember the one time
when he murdered Abner, he even made Joab mourn.
And they walked behind the funeral pyre, you
know, or funeral byre, which is like where they
were... It's a thing that men carry with poles
on it. They carry the body. Okay? Anyway, so
he recites Joab's murders. And then what? That
was a little blunt here. This is a verb that
means he asks him. You could use encourage, but
it's a little more than that. It's entreats.
Did you hear that word before? To entreat someone
is to basically strongly push them to do what
you want or to answer your question. Yep, Solomon.
Perfect. He entreats Solomon to end Joab. Okay,
so we are really at the end now for Joab, aren't
we? He doesn't have much left. So later in that
same chapter of the Bible, in verses 28 to 34,
We could play funeral music or something sorrowful.
Here we go. Now the news came to Joab, for Joab
had followed Adonijah, although he had not followed
Absalom. And Joab fled to the tent of the Lord,
and he took hold of the horns of the altar. It
was told King Solomon that Joab had fled to the
tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the
altar. Now I just gave you a little hint there,
right? Remember what I said Adonijah did? He
did the same thing. And he said, I'm not coming
out of here unless Solomon promises me I can
live. And it worked. He lived, at least for a
while. He gets in trouble again later, right?
But for a while, he's allowed to live. So Joab's
trying the same stunt. He's told King Solomon
that Joab had fled to the tent of the Lord. And
behold, he is beside the altar. Then Solomon
sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, saying, go
fall upon him. So Benaiah came to the tent of
the Lord and said to him, thus the king has said,
come out. But he said, No, for I will die here.
And Benaiah brought the king word again, saying,
Thus spoke Joab, and thus he answered me. The
king said to him, Do as he has spoken, and fall
upon him and bury him, that you may remove from
me and from my father's house the blood which
Joab shed without cause. He goes on to say, The
Lord will return his blood on his own head, because
he fell upon two men more righteous and better
than he, and killed them with the sword. While
my father David did not know it, Abner the son
of Ner, the commander of the army of Israel,
and Amasa the son of Jethro, the commander of
the army of Judah, so shall their blood return
on the head of Joab and on the head of his descendants
forever. But to David and his descendants and
his house and his throne, may there be peace
from the Lord forever. Then Benaiah the son of
Jehoiada went up and fell upon him and put him
to death, and he was buried at his own house
in the wilderness. Interestingly enough, I hadn't
planned on reading this, but I'm going to anyway.
The king appointed Benaiah the son of Jehoiada
over the army in his place, and the king appointed
Zadok the priest in the place of Abiathar. Interesting,
isn't it? Okay, here we go. Joab ran or runs
to the tent. Solomon sends Benaiah. Benaiah is
B -E -N -A -I -A -H. Benaiah. B -E -N. A -I -A
-H. He is an interesting character, but he is
not in our time period. Joab. What did he do?
Starts with an R. He refuses to come out. And
then the last one, the very end of Joab. Perfect.
Solomon sends Benaiah to kill Joab. And that
is what happened. So we're going to go back and
just recap it briefly just so you understand.
Because as Sola was pointing out, the many names
involved can be kind of confusing. So we've got
Amasa. Under Absalom, Amasa was named the leader
of the army. So when Absalom took over, pretty
boy, built like a tank. When he's ruling, David's
across the river in Ephraim. He puts Amasa in
charge of the armies of Judah. in the surrounding
area. Then when David comes back, and Absalom
is killed by Joab in the tree, and now David's
probably not too happy with Joab. We know that
there was sorrow involved with that. David says,
okay, Amasa stays. Then he gets a request to
go out and get an army together for David, and
he basically fails to get it back in time. He
fails to show up in time. And then Joab takes
that initiative to murder him. I don't use the
word kill. He murdered him. No doubt about it.
He killed him in cold blood. No reason to kill
him. The results of which is Joab is in charge
of the army again. He negotiates to deal with
the guy, Sheba of Betri. And that's how he becomes
in charge of the army again. That's a huge victory.
They didn't have to destroy the city. They didn't
have to finish tearing down the wall. The guy
got what he deserved. Tens of thousands of men
didn't die. So that really shows Joab still knows
his stuff. He's still, as we said before, good
at his job. And so David lets him be in charge
again. As David gets old, he's going to have
to name a successor. He's been delaying in doing
so. Now, he's privately done so. He's told people
it's going to be Solomon, but he's not publicly
done so. Adonijah has a claim to the throne,
and he makes it. And maybe he would have been
a good king in some ways. The betrayal makes
you think maybe not morally, but militarily and
bureaucratically maybe, right? He's got good
connections. And Abiathar goes with them, one
of the acting high priests at the time. Joab
goes with them in charge of all the armies at
the time. So he's got good backing, got all the
political connections he really needs to pull
it off. Except David acts quickly. He assigns
the kingship to Solomon, which he does because
he is entreated by two very interesting characters.
Bathsheba, his wife that he stole, right? And
Nathan, the prophet who confronted him over stealing
her. And David is brought to the point of naming
Solomon as king. Then when David is dying, he's
got some unfinished business. There are some
other unfinished business in there that needed
to be taken care of, but we only looked at Joab
today because he's our guy. Essentially, yes.
Yeah, you could call him, what do they call that?
Serial killer. Yeah, you can call him a serial
killer. But only for his purposes. Only when
it benefits him. Okay? Politically. Yeah. Okay?
So then he gives him some other things that he
needs to do, one of which is building the temple.
Right? So he gives Solomon the job of building
the temple. But he tells him he needs to deal
with Joab. And Joab is dealt with. That's the
end of it. So that sorts out your bad guys. So
the good guys in the story... Give me somebody's
name in this that never goes wrong. Can you come
up with one? In this whole mess, can you come
up with somebody that we don't see them ever
go wrong? Nathan the prophet. He doesn't go wrong.
He doesn't betray David. He doesn't betray God.
So that's a good one. Benaiah doesn't go wrong.
Zadok doesn't go wrong. It's starting to sound
like a certain list. So all the guys that don't
go wrong, where do they wind up? Not priests.
Zadok's a priest. They get the jobs. They get
all the top jobs in the kingdom. Solomon uses
the people that never went wrong to be his cabinet,
if you will. right in modern terms and he's wise
and that's a wise thing to do you got you take
people who show over the track record over the
time right yeah so yeah because there's a whole
encounter where god asks solomon you're going
to leave my people what do you want and instead
of asking for wealth he asks for wisdom and god
says because you chose wisdom to rule my people
i'll give you the greatest wisdom and of course
we believe that he wrote proverbs right and probably
ecclesiastes and of course song of solomon Okay,
good stuff. All right, we're going to ask some
questions real quick, and I'll throw some candy,
and then we'll be through. Does anybody have
any questions of me before I ask you questions?
Okay, my questions will be from both today's
worksheet and last week's worksheet, because
we're going to be questions on Joanne. Yes, sir,
go ahead. Uh -oh, well, you'll have to go back.
I don't know. I did most of what I'm going to
ask. I think I covered today. I don't know if
you can do it or not. Give it a shot. You were
teaching last week, so we certainly won't hold
it against you. Because we appreciate teachers
in this room very much. Okay? All right. So here
we go. Name two leaders in charge of the armies
of Judah. Hard and go. Joe Evan Amasa. Is that
what you were going to say? All right. I'm going
to give you candy because you had it. Oh, right
over his head, I think. Okay, very good. Okay,
here we go. Ready for this one? Tell me the location
of Abner's wound that killed him. Caleb. No,
that was the location of Amass's wound. You stole
my next question. Go ahead. Nope, that's Absalom.
Okay, nope. Abner. Yep, it's on the paper, isn't
it? Let me see. No, it's not. We studied it,
but it's not on the paper. Which means there's
a tiny chance I got it wrong. If I say it, will
you know it? In his fifth rib? Does that sound
familiar? Okay, we're just going to go with that.
I don't eat candy, so you're not in any danger.
Okay. After Joab murdered this person, he was
forced to mourn him. Solo. First hand I saw.
Go. Correct. Okay. Also, this one is not on the
paper. Okay. Joab was very successfully politically
in David's court because he understood that David
desired this. Results is the correct answer.
If you don't eat them, you can share them. Okay.
Alright. Okay. When David was old and dying,
this was... prescribed for his inability to stay
warm. Caleb, go. Another girl? Okay, I'll give
you that. Yes, a young woman for his bed. You're
right. Okay. All right. So when David came back
after Absalom and took over, He made Amasa, or
Masa, the boss of the army. This was part of
a larger plan, which would lead to all of the
people doing what? Caleb? Going once? Okay, so
he made Amasa in charge of the army, which was
part of a larger plan, which would lead to all
of the people doing what? It is on your paper.
Say it again. Nope. They were devoted. They would
become devoted. That's correct. Sorry. Pretty
bad toss there. Okay. These two people asked
David to make good on his promise to make Solomon
king. And you have to get both people to get
the answer correct. Solo, you got it? Yes. Yes.
And the other was? Going once. Going twice. Finish
it, Caleb. That's correct. Sorry, Solo. Bathsheba,
Solomon's mother. The one that David fell in
love with while she was bathing on the roof.
Well, that's a certain kind of love. Not a really
biblical love, but... That's not my fault. I'm
supposed to catch him. If it's going behind the
garbage can, it's close enough you can catch
it. Alright. Okay. This is how David felt with
regards to Joab and the sons of Zariah. Hold
on, I'm going to see if somebody else... Go ahead,
Chris. Intimidated. Good word. I like that word.
I think I killed it. Both in the area. Okay.
Early on in our study of Joab, Joab became a
victim exactly one time. Name the crime that
was perpetrated against him. He became a victim
one time. Name the crime that was perpetrated
against him. It's on the paper. Say it again.
No, it's not murder. If murder was perpetrated
against him, he'd be dead. You're close. I need
the crime that was perpetrated against him. He
was a victim of... No. Also probably not a crime
in his day, I'm thinking. You got it, Caleb?
Nope. Wrong answer. I'll give you one clue and
you'll nail it. What's that? Okay, I'll repeat
the question. Raya's death. Nope. He did arrange
Raya's death, but we're looking for the crime
that was perpetrated against him. Early in our
studies of Joab, a crime was perpetrated against
him. What was the crime? The clue is it was used
to get his attention so that he would bring Absalom
to David. One wants. Tim? That crime is called
what? Arson. That's the crime we were looking
for. Very good, Mr. Tim. Come on. Action. All
right. Yeah, he set his field on fire to get
his attention so he'd bring him back to David.
Yes, it is. It is. Oh, it's on last week's paper.
Sorry. If you're looking at last week's paper,
it is on there. It is under where it says two
years. 2 Samuel 14, 28 to 33 is the reference.
Okay. Last question. Anybody could get this if
you were paying attention. The story of Joab.
as we studied it, because it can appear elsewhere,
occurs across two books of the Bible.