Show Notes
2 Samuel 3
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Let's pray.
[00:00:07] O great and almighty King, we ask that you would continue to speak to us this morning through your word as we come to it in the Old Testament, in Second Samuel.
[00:00:20] As you speak to us of your.
[00:00:24] The great, of your great great ancestor grandfather, the great King David, of the beginnings of his kingdom, we ask that you would help us to better understand that which he foreshadowed. Help us to better understand your kingdom, the kingdom to which we now belong, which you rule over.
[00:00:46] And we ask that you would increase our strength of our wills, that you would increase our faith as we trust in you and walk in you.
[00:00:58] And that we might not lose heart amidst all the trials and the difficulties of this world.
[00:01:05] Lord, we also pray not only for the reading and preaching of your word here at Covenant, but throughout our city and throughout the world.
[00:01:15] We pray for our home missionaries throughout the United States and all the different places where we are seeking to plant new churches and establish new congregations.
[00:01:27] We ask that you would take the money that has been donated and that you would use it for the building up of these new houses of worship.
[00:01:35] Lord, we ask that you would encourage the ministers and their families who are at work, that you would strengthen the overseeing sessions, the provisional sessions rather, that are borrowed from other congregations, that you would bless these elders who are taking on extra work, that you would strengthen and encourage them.
[00:01:58] Lord, we pray that your congregations would be knit together in unity, that people would come from various parts of the communities in which these mission works are planted and that they would.
[00:02:12] That new believers would be born by the work of your spirit, through the preaching of your word, through the work that is done, Lord, that they would confess your name and that we would rejoice at having new brothers and sisters throughout our country.
[00:02:34] We also pray, Lord, for other countries throughout the world. We ask that the work of foreign missions would be strengthened in all the various places it's going on. We pray for our missionaries and their families and we pray also, Lord, for the.
[00:02:50] For the addition of new missionaries of co laborers and workers to come alongside.
[00:02:57] Alongside those who are already in the field.
[00:03:00] Lord, we ask that you would raise up workers who would go to places that are perhaps unfamiliar, new, riskier in some ways, and that you would help your people not to be afraid of any difficulties, but just to trust in you and the work of your spirit throughout the world.
[00:03:27] Lord, we thank you for all these things and we ask that you would be at work here among us that we might shine brightly in your name. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:03:41] You May be seated. Let's turn our attention to 2nd Samuel chapter 3.
[00:03:56] It 2nd Samuel 3 after Abner's setting up of a rival king, a rival king over and against David, one of Saul's sons, a man by the name of Ish Bosheth, Abner has a change of heart.
[00:04:43] He breaks with Ish Bosheth and decides to pledge his allegiance and the allegiance of all the northern tribes who are currently under this rival king. He promises to pledge his allegiance to David to make a covenant with him.
[00:05:01] This is a great moment. All the tribes are going to be united together under David, just as the Lord had intended.
[00:05:09] But then something tragic happens. Abner is assassinated and this shocking betrayal threatens to undo all the things that have just been set up.
[00:05:23] The chapter ends with David mourning Abner.
[00:05:28] There is an emphasis in the passage on David's innocence in all of this, and we see David's righteousness and his trusting in the Lord despite these circumstances and despite his own weakness and weaknesses.
[00:05:44] So let's give our attention now to 2 Samuel 3 with that quick overview and here are all the details. 2nd Samuel 3 There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David, and David grew stronger and stronger while the house of Saul became weaker and weaker, and sons were born to David at Hebron. The firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam of Jezreel, the second, Kiliab of Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel and the third, Absalom the son of Maakah, the daughter of Tomai, king of Geshur and the fourth, Adonijah the son of Haggith and the fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital and the sixth, Ithream of Egla, David's wife.
[00:06:39] These were born to David in Hebron.
[00:06:42] While there was war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was making himself strong in the house of Saul.
[00:06:50] Now Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah and a daughter Ayah. And Ishboseth said to Abner, why have you gone in to my father's concubine?
[00:07:00] Then Abner was very angry over the words of Ish Bosheth and said, am I a dog's head of Judah? To this day I keep showing steadfast love to the house of Saul, your father, to his brothers, and to his friends, and have not given you into the hand of David. And yet you charge me today with fault concerning a woman.
[00:07:19] God do so to Abner, and more also if I do not accomplish For David what the Lord has sworn to him, to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah from Dan to Beersheba.
[00:07:35] And Ish Boseth could not answer Abner another word because he feared him.
[00:07:42] And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying, to whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and behold my hand shall be with you to bring over all Israel to you.
[00:07:53] And he said, good, I will make a covenant with you, but one thing I require of you, that is, you shall not see my face unless you first bring Michal, Saul's daughter, when you come to see my face.
[00:08:08] Then David sent messengers to Ishbosheth, Saul's son, saying, give me my wife Michal, for whom I paid the bridal price of a hundred foreskins of the Philistines.
[00:08:19] And Ishboseth sent and took her from her husband Paltiel, the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping after her, all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, go, return.
[00:08:31] And he returned.
[00:08:34] And Abner conferred with the elders of Israel, saying, for some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. Now then bring it about, for the Lord has promised David, saying, by the hand of my servant David, I will save my people Israel. And from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.
[00:08:51] Abner also spoke to Benjamin. And then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all the Israel and the whole house of Tell. Let me start again. And then Abner went to David at Hebron, went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin thought good to do.
[00:09:11] When abner came with 20 men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. And Abner said to David, I will arise and go and gather all Israel to my Lord the King, and they will make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all your heart desires. So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
[00:09:33] Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them.
[00:09:39] But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. And when Joab and all the army that was with him, when Joab and all the army was with him came, it was told Joab, Abner the son of ner, came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.
[00:10:00] Then Joab went to the king and said, what have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away? So that he is gone.
[00:10:09] You know that Abner the son of NER came to deceive you and to know you're going out and you're coming in, and. And to know all that you're doing.
[00:10:16] When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern at Sirah.
[00:10:24] But David did not know about it. And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately. And there he struck him in the stomach so that he died for the blood of Asahel his brother.
[00:10:39] Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord. For the blood of Abner the son of Aner, may it fall upon the head of Joab and all his father's house. And may the house of Joab never be without one who has a discharge, or who is leprous, or who holds a spindle, or who falls by the sword, or who lacks bread.
[00:11:01] So Joab and Abishai, his brother, killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle of Gibeon.
[00:11:10] Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, tear your clothes and put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.
[00:11:17] Then King David followed the bier.
[00:11:20] They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner. And all the people wept. And the king lamented for Abner, saying, should Abner die as a fool dies, your hands were not bound, your feet were not fettered as one falls before the wicked. You have fallen.
[00:11:40] And all the people wept again over him.
[00:11:43] Then all the people came to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, God, do so to me, and more also if I taste bread or anything else till the sun goes down.
[00:11:55] And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people.
[00:12:03] So all the people and all Israel understood that day that. That it had not been the king's will to put Abner the son to put king's will to put to death Abner the son of ner.
[00:12:16] And the king said to his servants, do you not know that a prince, a great man, has fallen this day in Israel? And I was gentle today, though anointed King, these months, these sons.
[00:12:30] I'm sorry, these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I.
[00:12:35] The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness.
[00:12:41] May God bless his word to us.
[00:12:48] There's a lot to think about here, and we'll have to think about some of it outside of the sermon in our.
[00:12:56] Perhaps in our fellowship time, thinking about particular details of the text with one another.
[00:13:03] For this morning, I want you to think particularly about how God is preserving his king and his kingdom through this huge mess and how God continues to do that throughout time.
[00:13:21] Not only in David's kingdom, but still today under the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
[00:13:27] There would be a lot of things that would seek to undo the kingdom of God. All kinds of chaos, all kinds of sin and problems, People manipulating various things, trying to destroy the realm of the king.
[00:13:43] But God is the ruler of the realm. God will not be put to shame. God will not be undone. He will do all his holy will. And we get a sense for that here in 2 Samuel 3.
[00:14:00] This is really important for us when we think about different aspects of the kingdom of God.
[00:14:05] One aspect which I'll highlight now is just thinking about the way in which the kingdom, the people of the kingdom are brought in, the way in which the kingdom expands. As the number of people in the kingdom of God expand, it can be easy for us to feel really anxious about how it is that the kingdom will grow, how is it that people will come to Christ and come to be part of this unified work that God is doing, ultimately creating a people like a body or a temple, all put together perfectly as this dwelling place for God.
[00:14:46] But what about all the chaos? What about all the problems? What about all the sin in ourselves and the world? What about all our weaknesses? There's various reasons to be afraid.
[00:14:57] Imagine a fisherman who puts his hook on his line. He puts a little piece of bait on the hook, puts it into the water, lowers the line into the water, and then instantly gets scared, starts thinking about other animals coming to take away the bait. Thinks about storm clouds rolling in overhead, thinks about maybe his boat's not really staky. And so he starts thrashing around, pulling his line all over the place, right? As an attempt to sort of mitigate all his risks that he's about to face.
[00:15:30] This is not a man who's going to catch any fish.
[00:15:32] This is just a man who's scared and who's reacting against. Reacting to these perhaps some legitimate fears. But he's not trusting the process.
[00:15:44] He's not trusting the way that God has ordered the world and the way that fish are typically caught.
[00:15:52] We do the same thing when we are fishers of men.
[00:15:57] We want to see God's people brought into his church. We want to see the kingdom established with peace and unity in all its fullness. We want the gospel to go out into the world for God's glory.
[00:16:12] But instead of trusting Jesus to fill our nets, instead of trusting Jesus to use the means of grace that he gives to us, instead of trusting Jesus to work even through our suffering and our persecution, we get spooked. We think about our own internal weaknesses. We think about these pressures from outside. We start thrashing around, and sometimes we scare the fish away.
[00:16:36] At least we don't represent Christ very well in that moment. We don't exhibit a kind of faith that we are called to have in him when we do things. This thrashing looks like controlling people, manipulating them, hiding who we really are as sinners, saved by Grace.
[00:16:56] But 2 Samuel 3, this story reminds us, though, through a different time and a different kingdom, that God is in control.
[00:17:04] That despite all the things that are going on and can go on in the midst of a kingdom, even as it's being established, even as it's being fulfilled, that God is in control and he's working through his king and will establish his kingdom of peace.
[00:17:24] So to think about that this morning, let's first review again a little the chapter.
[00:17:30] And then I want to look at four ways in which David foreshadows Christ so that our confidence can be built up in our King.
[00:17:41] Well, as I mentioned before, the chapter unfolds in these scenes.
[00:17:50] It starts with a summary of not only this chapter, but a bunch of things that are going to happen. So verse one is something you're going to want to keep in mind for a while. It's very simple, very important.
[00:18:02] I'll read it. There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul became weaker and weaker.
[00:18:13] This note is not just a note about, you know, this is just something that happened. Just kind of an interesting thing to report. But this is the fulfillment of the things that God had already promised to do.
[00:18:25] This should not be a surprise to anyone because God had promised to take away the kingdom from Saul and give it to the king, give it into the hand of David.
[00:18:35] And so this is an expression not just of what is happening in history, but it's an expression of what God is doing in history. When we remember that, it's God, who promised these things and has moved everything to this point in verses 2 through 5.
[00:18:52] It gives somewhat of an expression of that when it lists all of these sons of David. It's showing us how David's house is becoming stronger and stronger. It's growing greater and greater, even as Saul's is getting less and less.
[00:19:08] We've seen that many of his sons were killed on the battlefield, including Jonathan.
[00:19:15] Here we see one son, Ish Bosheth, who was established as king, who is weak in the face of Abner, who is not ruling well, and who ultimately will be removed. That's our next chapter, Murdered. Actually, there are a few notes which I'm going to just highlight here, although it won't be the focus of my message today.
[00:19:41] But there are these little things throughout the chapter which show us, we could say cracks in the kingdom, things that make us go.
[00:19:50] That seems odd and remind us that this Davidic kingdom is ultimately not going to be fulfilled in David. But as God will promise in chapter seven, in a son of David, God's promises to David ultimately fulfilled in him. One of those cracks that we see in chap. In verses 2 through 5 are all the wives. This is a lot of wives. And Deuteronomy 17:17 is one of many places we could think about why this is a bad idea.
[00:20:25] But there we are reminded that kings are not to accumulate to themselves many wives. This is many wives. David is not being wise here.
[00:20:35] God knows how to produce children. And if God wants to make David's house strong through many children, he can do that. He doesn't need to do that through many women. Abraham made similar mistakes, not trusting in the Lord and his providence.
[00:20:51] David is doing the same here, and it will come to bite him in the back side.
[00:20:59] All right.
[00:21:01] Another crack we see here is Absalom, the third son, Absalom of Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur. This is a minor Syrian kingdom a little bit up north and to the right. If you're looking at a map of Israel.
[00:21:22] Why is David marrying wives outside of women, outside of Israel?
[00:21:29] This is typically a political move as a way to establish strength in a kingdom, as a way to secure protection.
[00:21:39] Perhaps David was afraid. We could guess this not just from what we know of the world, but this happens a lot in Scripture. When kings get afraid of other enemies, they make alliances through marriage with other countries so that they have a more unified force against fighting a common enemy. Right. It's a political, practical move to secure your power.
[00:22:04] But it's unnecessary when Yahweh is your king and it is against God's word.
[00:22:12] And so we have these things here which, as I said before, will become problematic for David.
[00:22:20] Nevertheless, God is being faithful even in the midst of David's sin here, as God does with your sin and mine. Always steadfast as our Lord, always loving, always true, always fulfilling his promises.
[00:22:37] With that summary and this reminder of the rise of the house of David in this particular way, we then come to several scenes. On the first scene, in verses 6 through 11, in this scene we see Abner taking one of Saul's concubines, which you could kind of think of as a lower status wife, although it can vary in different times and places. But he takes Rizbah to himself and Ish Bosheth notices, because this is very likely a way of Abner showing his power and his strength and maybe even declaring himself to be the true the king.
[00:23:23] Ishboseth is very angry. We read about this in verse 8, and Abner does not back down.
[00:23:32] Abner says, am I a dog's head of Judah?
[00:23:38] The fact that he says Judah, I think tells us a little bit about his heart when he comes to David, when he comes to David, when he seeks to unite Israel and Judah.
[00:23:50] It seems to be a political move on Abner's part.
[00:23:54] It doesn't seem to be as of heart of love for Judah. Out of a heart of love for David, he will say true things about who David is and God's covenant with him. But Abner, when he uses Judah as a negative way to express Abner's opinion of him, am I a dog's head of Judah? It doesn't seem to think he thinks very well of Judah, of God's people, of his brothers, of David, of the kingdom, of the Lord.
[00:24:25] Among other things that he says as well, he says to Abner, I've shown steadfast love to you. I've done these various things. I've not given you into the hand of David.
[00:24:36] Now he'll go on to say that it's a what the Lord has sworn for David. But Abner seems to have in his head that ultimately this is going to be under his control, that he's the one that gets to decide whether Ish Bosheth reigns or David reigns. He's the one who has the army. He is the one who has the power. Ish Bosheth fears him. David needs him. He's feeling kind of on top of the world.
[00:25:03] And so out of anger to Abner, he swears to him and says, God, do so to Abner. He speaks here in the third person and more also, if I do not accomplish for David what the Lord has sworn to him, he's going to transfer of the kingdom. And Ish Bosheth doesn't do anything.
[00:25:23] Not because he's so loyal to David, not because he's trusting in the Lord, but because he's afraid of Abner.
[00:25:33] Wonder what would have happened if he hadn't been afraid of Abner. And he gave himself over to David and gave his loyalty to David.
[00:25:43] It's an interesting thing to think about.
[00:25:45] So that's what happens. Abner is mad. He's really mad. He breaks loyalty. He's disloyal with Ish Bosheth. And he goes to David in verses 12 through 21, first sending messengers and then various dialogue happens and. And he says, hey, I'm ready.
[00:26:03] My hand shall be with you. I will bring all Israel over to you. And David, amazingly, which we'll focus on in a minute, he says, good, I'll make a covenant with you.
[00:26:15] I'll make a covenant with you. And so this man who has just set up a rival king, this man who is in control over Saul's army, this man who has persecuted David, pursued him in the wilderness, comes to David and says, I'm done. I want to give it all up over to you. And David says, let's make a deal, let's do it.
[00:26:39] And he does. But he wants one thing.
[00:26:41] He wants his wife back.
[00:26:43] But this is a sad thing.
[00:26:46] This is a sad thing. And you see it. I can't help but my heart breaks for paltiel for verse 16. Her husband, our so called husband, we might say, went with her, weeping after her all the way to Bahurim.
[00:27:01] Then Abner won't let him go any further and says, go back home, return. And he does.
[00:27:07] We don't know much about him except that without any work on his part, as far as we know, Saul takes David's wife, David's legitimate wife that David, that Saul had promised to David after this great battle. You can go back and listen to my sermon on that. There's some interesting things there.
[00:27:31] This is legitimately David's wife. And Saul, out of another kind of political maneuvering thing, just takes her away from David and gives her to this other man.
[00:27:44] And now this other man, Paltiel, loses her in the same way. This poor guy, he just as she just, here's a wife. And now all of a sudden they lose your life, right It's a mark of the ways in which these large, big level political maneuvering and manipulations and all these sort of things can affect people at their individual lives.
[00:28:11] It can be really hard and heartbreaking. And we see that and experience that in our world as well.
[00:28:17] Well, David wants his wife back, perhaps for political reasons of his own. He calls her.
[00:28:29] He says, give me my wife McCall, for whom I paid the bridal price.
[00:28:36] This is a test of loyalty for Abner, right? This is a strengthening of David's house, a weakening of Saul's house as his daughter Michal is given back to David.
[00:28:49] Well, Abner agrees. He does this.
[00:28:53] He also confers with the elders of Israel. They get on board.
[00:28:58] They agree to align themselves with David. He even speaks to the tribe of Benjamin in particular. Important because. Because where's Saul from the tribe of Benjamin? He.
[00:29:10] He obtains their loyalty. This is a. This is a massive sort of diplomatic work that he's doing. He secures the loyalty of all of these leaders. He secures David's wife. He comes back to David. He comes to David at Hebron and they have a feast.
[00:29:28] Now, hopefully you remember that this is what happens when covenants are made in the Bible. When the Lord makes a covenant with his people, he often includes a feast, a communal meal, just as we have in the Lord's Supper. Something similar is happening here.
[00:29:46] Abner and David make this covenant. And so now there is a feast to celebrate that, to unify that, to seal that covenant together.
[00:29:56] After the meal, Abner says, I'm going to go and gather all of Israel, all the people of Israel, that they may make a covenant with you. In other words, another inauguration ceremony, we might say, up in the north, as the people pledge their allegiance to David, not just the leaders, and he goes away in peace.
[00:30:18] That word, peace then appears two more times. He goes in peace. He goes in peace.
[00:30:23] Things seem to be going awesome, right? Here's the former enemy of David pledging his allegiance. He's done legitimate hard work to get all of Israel under the authority of David. It's all happening. It's all coming together. Joab comes back and says, what is going on here?
[00:30:44] Abner was here and you let him go.
[00:30:48] Remember how Joab is thinking about Abner?
[00:30:53] Joab is thinking about Abner as the one who killed his brother in battle on the battlefield.
[00:31:01] And he's not happy about this.
[00:31:03] He wants vengeance. He accuses Abner. Joab accuses Abner of being a spy. In verse 25, he says, you know that Abner, the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know you're going out and you're coming in, to know all that you're doing. He's not here to pledge his allegiance. Joab says he's here to spy on you, to figure these things, figure out what you're doing, who your commanders are, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:31:29] That's presumably to undo you.
[00:31:33] Well, Joab leaves David's presence in verse 26. He sends messengers to catch up with Abner.
[00:31:40] Abner looks behind him, says, what? What's going on? He says, we want to meet with you. Come on back. He starts coming back. He meets at the entrance of the city gate, which is kind of a elaborate structure. And there Joab assassinates Abner.
[00:31:59] Despite the king's will, despite the king's covenant, despite the promises, despite many things that this should not have happened. He assassinates Abner and strikes him in the stomach.
[00:32:18] Now, can you imagine for a second being King David at this moment, one of your chief enemies, maybe your chief enemy at this point, has just pledged his allegiance to you. He's gathered all of these rebelling people and he's brought them to you. He's brought back your wife, all of these things. Everything is coming together. And. And then your number one, your right hand man, your general, Joab, just ruined the whole thing.
[00:32:47] What are the elders of Israel gonna say now that Abner is dead?
[00:32:51] What are the people gonna think about David and his honesty and his integrity and his promises now that the one who just led them through this whole diplomatic process has been killed, kill, killed by David's.
[00:33:07] By David's general and a relative of David as well?
[00:33:13] Well, here's how David responds strongly in verse 28. I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord. For the blood of Abner and the son of ner, may it fall on the head of Joab and upon all his father's house, and may the house of Joab never be without. And then he lists a bunch of curses. Curses.
[00:33:33] It is very important at this moment for David to be known throughout the land that he was innocent in this matter. And from this point through the end of the chapter, that's emphasized over and over and over again.
[00:33:46] And this is important not just for this moment, but for the future people of God as they read and reflect and think, why is it that Abner died? Was that David's fault? You know, are there reasons that we should see him as coming into his united kingdom because of evil and because of murder?
[00:34:09] The scripture Records for us here that that wasn't the case.
[00:34:13] David was righteous.
[00:34:14] He did not assassinate a Joab or I'm sorry, Abner, but this was the work of Joab and Abishai his brother. Verse verse 30.
[00:34:26] Not only does David declare this and declare a curse on Joab, then in verse 31, he says to Joab and all the people who were with him, tear your clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.
[00:34:42] He commands him to go into a period of public mourning and humiliation for the one that he just killed.
[00:34:51] They bury Abner at Hebron.
[00:34:55] An honorable thing to give to Abner.
[00:34:59] The king lifts up his voice, he weeps. There is all the people weep and he laments, he proclaims, he allows people to hear.
[00:35:09] And then we have should Abner die as a fool dies?
[00:35:15] We have more description of David's mourning through the fasting that he does. And what happens is that people notice all this.
[00:35:27] The Scripture records for us in verse 36 that all the people took notice of it and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people.
[00:35:39] So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's will to put to death Abner the son Nir.
[00:35:49] And then we have finally, in verse 39, an expression of David regarding his weakness.
[00:35:57] Despite the strength that he shows, despite being able to get through this situation by being honorable, he senses in himself something that is difficult.
[00:36:08] He senses something. David senses something in his situation that. That recognizes this riddle is really tough. He says, these men, Joab, Abishai, others, these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I or stronger than I.
[00:36:26] It doesn't say he feared them in the same way that it says Abner feared Ish Bosheth, or sorry, Ish Bosheth feared Abner. But you get a little bit of a sense of that, a little bit of a sense that David is concerned here about these men and what's going on.
[00:36:44] But he puts his trust in the Lord, which is the wise thing to do. As he says, the last thing he says here, the Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness.
[00:36:57] So I hope that helps us to understand what's going on here.
[00:37:03] As we have these details in our minds, we think about through the things that David is doing here. How do these point forward to our Lord and Savior?
[00:37:14] How do these reveal to us Jesus and the kingdom that he brings?
[00:37:20] The first thing we see is patience, David's patience and our Lord's patience.
[00:37:27] When Abner defects when Abner first goes and sets up Ish Bosheth. What do we see David doing?
[00:37:35] Waiting.
[00:37:37] He waits on the Lord. He waits for the Lord to deliver the kingdom into his hands.
[00:37:44] David, at various moments has had opportunity to kill Saul, to take what has been promised to him.
[00:37:53] But he never is willing, or I shouldn't say never. But at various times that we've seen so far, David has not been willing to take these sinful shortcuts, but instead to trust in the Lord, to wait on the Lord.
[00:38:08] Jesus does this as well, particularly seen in his patience with his enemies.
[00:38:16] Second Peter 3, 9 says this.
[00:38:19] We think of David to Abner, and we think of the Lord Jesus to His enemies.
[00:38:23] 2nd Peter 3. 9 says, the Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
[00:38:37] When we think about the kingdom of heaven and all that God has promised to us in Christ, we can look at the past 2000 years and even the time before that as the kingdom was coming and anticipated. And we can say, why is God being so slow?
[00:38:56] Why is he not taking care of evildoers? Why is he not punishing those who have hurt his people and hurt his church and seek to undo all this?
[00:39:06] And it can be tempting to accuse Yahweh, to accuse our covenant Lord and keeper of being evil, of being immoral or unrighteous. But 2 Peter 3:9 tells us the Lord is not slow.
[00:39:24] If you think he's slow, you're wrong.
[00:39:27] He's not slow.
[00:39:29] The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness.
[00:39:36] What is he doing? Peter tells us he is patient toward you.
[00:39:42] Why is he patient, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance?
[00:39:51] Jesus washes Judas feet right before Judas betrays him.
[00:39:58] You can think about the Lord's patience with Peter, denying him three times, waiting for him to come and to repent. You can think of Thomas Doubt, Paul's persecution of the Church.
[00:40:12] The Lord is so patient.
[00:40:15] He allows us to do terrible things. He allows us to do things against his kingdom. Why?
[00:40:23] Because he's patient.
[00:40:25] And he doesn't wish that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
[00:40:30] You can think about this personally and ask, how is the Lord Jesus being patient with you?
[00:40:36] How is he demonstrating his patience with you? How can we give him praise for that patience?
[00:40:44] When Jesus comes to his kingdom like David, he doesn't panic when people don't Obey him right away or delay in turning to him.
[00:40:55] Just as David was patient, so also is Abner. And knowing that justice will be done eventually and finally and completely, Jesus is still long suffering and slow to anger.
[00:41:10] Praise God.
[00:41:12] Number two.
[00:41:14] David's graciousness towards Abner's return shows us Jesus's graciousness toward us.
[00:41:22] This is, as I mentioned when we went through the exposition of the chapter, really amazing how David receives Abner with peace. Joab wants to kill him on the spot. How did you let him go?
[00:41:35] David makes a covenant with him. Joab comes as one, repenting. And David says, great, this is just what we want.
[00:41:43] He asks only for Michael.
[00:41:46] He wants covenant restoration. He wants his wife back. He's not looking for revenge. He seals the whole thing with a meal, feeding and hosting his his servant Abner and looking forward to the the strengthening of the kingdom.
[00:42:05] Jesus does this for us as well.
[00:42:10] Jesus, when we come to him, when we repent. No matter how terrible we've been, no matter how rebellious we've been, no matter how awful we've been, no matter how long we've been apart from him, no matter how much we've persecuted the kingdom God, Jesus.
[00:42:29] Jesus receives his enemies.
[00:42:33] When Jesus says, come unto me all who are weak and heavy laden, he includes the rebellious ones, not just the brokenhearted ones.
[00:42:44] He includes the tax collectors, the sinners.
[00:42:47] He includes the persecutors of his church.
[00:42:50] Jesus dies for us while we were still ungodly. Romans 5 says this while we were still weak. At the right time, Christ died for the ungodly, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would even dare to die.
[00:43:07] But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
[00:43:14] Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved from him, saved by him from the wrath of God.
[00:43:24] Jesus receives us and then at the Lord's Supper, he eats with us.
[00:43:31] He takes those who have been baptized in his name, who have professed his faith, who are walking in him, and he says, let's have a meal together so I can remind you of my steadfast love for you.
[00:43:42] David shows grace when vengeance was an option, and Jesus does even more.
[00:43:49] He doesn't just receive us into his kingdom, but he makes us a vibrant and important part of it.
[00:43:57] There are stories in war of soldiers who defect from one side, come to the other, expect annihilation, expect to be killed, but instead receive medical care.
[00:44:10] Instead receive humanitarian care who are Fed and given opportunities to repent.
[00:44:23] This is an amazing thing that can happen even sometimes among humans. Imagine when the God of all grace and all love and all mercy extends himself to us when we come into Him. He binds up our broken hearts, he heals our wounds. He saves us for an eternal kingdom. This is how God builds his kingdom.
[00:44:45] And number three, David's righteousness in mourning. Abner, reminds us of Jesus and his righteousness in mourning over the griefs and sadnesses that come Joab.
[00:45:04] You can imagine a different scenario if David's heart had been in a different place.
[00:45:11] Joab could have done this and David could have said, all right, now we don't have to worry about that, and it's not my problem, right? He could have pinned this on Joab because Joab did it. Sort of distance himself, sort of allowed Joab to do his dirty work, so to speak. Abner's so quote, unquote, taken care of. A potential threat has been eliminated, and he still gets to enjoy the loyalty of Joab. And Joab, of course, would be super happy with David when they, you know, enjoy some cigars at the end of the day over all this, right?
[00:45:47] But that's not what he does.
[00:45:50] Instead, he declares Joab guilty.
[00:45:53] He pronounces a curse on him. He forces him into a state of mourning along with all the people. He. He distances himself from sin. He curses the injustice, and he weeps over the whole mess this is honoring to the Lord.
[00:46:15] Jesus also weeps over the trials and difficulties and things that happen, over the brokenness that happens even, even in all of God's providence.
[00:46:30] We see him mourning over Jerusalem, a city that betrayed him.
[00:46:35] We see his forgiveness for his enemies on the cross.
[00:46:40] David didn't minimize sin. Jesus doesn't either.
[00:46:45] What does Jesus do when he comes face to face with sin? He doesn't say, oh, great, we can kind of work on this and use this as part of building my kingdom. Instead, he distances himself from it in one way, in judging it, but he also comes intimately close with it, not by being unrighteous, but by becoming the one who takes on our sin.
[00:47:08] Jesus mourns over sin, hates sin, but then also atones for it on the cross and ultimately heals us.
[00:47:19] Finally, we see Jesus and David.
[00:47:24] We see Jesus and David in his faith, putting his faith in God instead of the power of man.
[00:47:32] He's putting his faith in God even amidst all the weakness. Remember Jesus, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, who is equal with God in power and glory.
[00:47:43] He humbles Himself.
[00:47:48] He comes into the world, Philippians says, takes on the form of a servant, becomes one who is homeless, becomes one who doesn't have money, who becomes one who is often hungry, becomes one who is is weak, and ultimately put to death on a cross by people physically more powerful than he is.
[00:48:13] Jesus chose weakness.
[00:48:16] Jesus chose humility. And in all this he trusted the Lord. And because of that, Philippians 2, 5, 8 says that the Lord God exalted him so that he would be above every name and that every tongue would confess that Jesus is Lord.
[00:48:34] What do we hear Jesus saying in the garden before he's put to death? He says, not my will, but yours on the cross. He says, into your hands I commit my spirit.
[00:48:47] David is doing something similar to that here at the end of the chapter. He sees the weakness in himself. He sees the danger of Joab. He sees all the way in which his kingdom can easily fall apart at any moment. And he puts his trust in the Lord. He commits his spirit, his kingdom, all to God.
[00:49:08] Jesus does this as well, but of course he does it in a way that David doesn't do it. And that's he also does it as God.
[00:49:18] He does it as the one who is divine and can do nothing but secure all that he has promised to give his people.
[00:49:29] Sometimes people think of weakness as being the opposite of faith, but it's not.
[00:49:36] Faith is trust.
[00:49:38] And trust should happen in times of strength and in times of weakness.
[00:49:44] When we are facing hospital situations, when we are facing difficult relationship situations, when we're facing economic difficulties, political difficulties, persecution in the church, that's not a lack of faith.
[00:50:02] Those are moments in which we exercise our faith and we trust the Lord to repay the evildoers according to their works, to give us the life that he has promised to give us to bring about the kingdom despite all this weakness. And in fact to use the weaknesses and trials of this world to prove himself to be the eternally strong one, Jesus did this, and he did this for us.
[00:50:31] And so in these various ways in which David shows himself to be patient and gracious, he shows himself to be righteous and faithful, we begin to get a taste, or we get a taste here of who Jesus ultimately is for us.
[00:50:48] So when you think about the kingdom of God, when you think about the work God is doing in this world, when about you think. When you think about the work he is doing as he gathers in his elect, remember who it is that does this work. Remember the king who was put on the throne, that in the small ways in which David was patient and gracious and these sort of things. The Lord is so much more, infinitely more.
[00:51:15] And it means that we don't need to be scared of the things that happen in our lives or the things that would threaten to undo the work of God.
[00:51:25] It means that we can be people who have hope and certain hope in our King.
[00:51:30] When we desire unity and peace and a great kingdom of God, we can look to Jesus and be strong.
[00:51:39] We can look to Jesus and know that he will bring these things to be.
[00:51:43] And when we see betrayals and injustice, when we see sin surrounding the church, sin in the church, when we see apostasy, even in the kingdom of God, or even in the visible church, you can know that Jesus is still the Lord, that Jesus will maintain his people, and we can trust him.
[00:52:06] Sin and chaos cannot hold back our King.
[00:52:10] And so we can trust him for that and for everything that we need.
[00:52:15] Let's pray.
[00:52:17] Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would bless us now as we commit ourselves to you, guide us in all these things. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen.
