Show Notes
2 Samuel 21:15-18
Pastor Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Let's pray and ask God to bless the reading and preaching of his word now.
[00:00:04] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your mighty strength and your goodness and all that you do.
[00:00:10] We thank you both for your commands and for your forgiveness for the ways in which we sin against you.
[00:00:21] Lord, we thank you not only that you have forgiven us, but that you have lifted us out of our shame, out of the darkness and struggles that are in our own hearts. You bring victory and the same is true.
[00:00:35] Lord, in the things that are to come.
[00:00:40] Through the cross of Christ we have success and are victorious over even such great enemies as death Hell.
[00:00:51] Lord, on the day of your final judgment, when you come and bring all things into consummated glory, we know that the things which we sing of in the psalms, of your might, of your power, of your peace, for your peoples, of the light, that all that will shine on all these things will be revealed before our eyes.
[00:01:19] For now, Lord, we partake of them and take hold of them by faith, believing and knowing that your promise is true and that you have done what you have said you will do in our Savior, our King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:01:35] We ask that you would help us to hear of him today, that you would strengthen our faith in not only his strength, executed injustice and in power, but also in grace as you subdue our hearts to yourself.
[00:01:52] We pray this all in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:01:57] Let's remain standing and turn our attention to Second Samuel, Chapter 21.
[00:02:08] We are in the prologue or not prologue, epilogue of 2nd Samuel 1st and 2nd Samuel.
[00:02:22] Next time we are going to hear this great song of deliverance that David will sing and is recorded here for us about many things, including what we're about to read this morning. Victory over the enemies of Israel, the Philistines and their mighty warriors.
[00:02:41] Let's hear God's word this morning.
[00:02:44] 2 Samuel 21:15, There was war again between the Philistines and Israel.
[00:02:54] And David went down together with his servants and they fought against the Philistines.
[00:02:58] And David grew weary.
[00:03:00] And Ishbi Benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed 300 shekels of bronze, and, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David.
[00:03:11] But Abishai the son of Zeruiah, came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him.
[00:03:17] Then David's men swore to him, you shall not go out with us to battle, lest you quench the lamp of Israel.
[00:03:25] After this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbechai the Hushathite struck down Zaph, who was one of the descendants of the giants.
[00:03:36] And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. And Elhanan, the son of Ja' Arreh. Origim, the Bethlehemite, struck down Goliath the Gittite, whose shaft or the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.
[00:03:53] And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature who had six fingers on each hand and. And six toes on each foot, 24 in number. And he also was descended from the giants.
[00:04:06] And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan, the son of Shimei, David's brother, struck him down.
[00:04:11] These four were descended from the giants in Gath. And they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
[00:04:19] May God bless his word. To us you may be separated.
[00:04:43] We human beings are funny creatures in that in one way, we're really weak, very fragile.
[00:04:51] We get cut easily.
[00:04:55] When alone, we can find ourselves in great danger. We often put each other in danger.
[00:05:02] Our babies have to be protected for long periods of time.
[00:05:07] Usually 22 years or so.
[00:05:11] Lots of amens on that one.
[00:05:14] I'm kidding, sort of.
[00:05:18] There's a lot, right, that goes in. There's a kind of weakness. But there's this other side, right? There is this strength that we have, right? Kings over all of creation, accomplishing and doing amazing things.
[00:05:35] If you've ever been out to the mine at Morenci and seen for yourself basically a man made Grand Canyon, you know, the kinds of things I'm talking about. Even the trucks, right, that operate there. Or if you fly maybe over a city and you realize how big even a relatively small city like Tucson is, how many houses there are and cars and all the asphalt that's been laid and the plane that you're flying in. And you can wonder and go, how, how do we do this?
[00:06:14] Human beings can be quite strong in our intellectual abilities, in our manufacturing abilities, in our ability to take down other human beings, to raise up kingdoms, to destroy them.
[00:06:27] And of course, that's manifested in individual people as well.
[00:06:32] Sometimes, as in the case of these giants, There are very, very strong people.
[00:06:39] These great warriors descended from the Rephaim.
[00:06:47] These men were in some ways the best right that the Philistines had to offer. And they were certainly remarkable.
[00:07:00] The beginning of David's journey, the beginning of his call and God's work in his life. We, of course, have the famous story between him and one of these giants, Goliath, who was threatening God's people.
[00:07:16] Saul and his armies were afraid of Goliath, were paralyzed because of him, struggling to know what to do.
[00:07:26] One of the giants mentioned here, one of these great warriors, these gigantic men, it says his spear weighed 300 shekels of bronze.
[00:07:37] Likely not speaking of the spear itself, but of the spearhead. Usually spears weren't made out of bronze, but the spearhead was and it would parallel a Goliath's spearhead, which weighed actually double this.
[00:07:52] The amount here of this spearhead was probably about seven and a half pounds a little under.
[00:07:59] It's a heavy thing to have on the tip of a spear. And this was big, right. Another one of these mentioned, it was as large as a weaver's beam. Goliath's was like that too. Six to eight feet long, massive thing.
[00:08:13] And that's just one of the ways of describing the size of these men.
[00:08:21] Goliath possibly likely around 9 1/2ft tall.
[00:08:27] OG, one of the kings that was defeated, was also related to these, these men.
[00:08:33] It doesn't describe his height in Deuteronomy, I believe, but it does describe the size of his bed.
[00:08:41] Six feet wide and thirteen and a half feet long.
[00:08:46] Most of our standard sized bedrooms wouldn't fit a bed that's 13 1/2ft feet long. If you've got a 10 by 10 or 12 by 12 bedroom.
[00:08:57] OG's bed was big. Goliath's bed was likely big as well. And same with these other men, powerful, remarkable, sent out to do the fighting of the Philistines. It's one of the reasons that Israel refused to even go into the land in the first place.
[00:09:17] They looked and they saw gigantic people that they were supposed to fight against and said, I don't know, not doing that.
[00:09:26] Why? Because it's terrifying. And they didn't want to experience the same thing none of us want to experience, which is defeat, shame, embarrassment, bodily harm and of course, death.
[00:09:41] But what these Philistine warriors forgot, what Goliath forgot as he taunted Israel and Israel's God and what Israel even forgot from time to time is that God's no giant.
[00:09:59] He's God.
[00:10:01] He's not the best that men can offer.
[00:10:05] He's the one who created all men, including these men.
[00:10:12] This is not just, it's, I think, an interesting fact. These men are not, and women are not mentioned only in the Bible.
[00:10:23] We have an Egyptian letter in the 13th century that describes Canaanite warriors seven to nine feet tall. And there have been a couple skeletons of some women in the Transjordan region that were 7ft tall, large people, large time.
[00:10:42] And so Israel was going into this land and was called to defeat these people.
[00:10:50] But they were scared.
[00:10:53] Then God did something.
[00:10:55] They didn't just stop being scared.
[00:10:59] God worked in them and worked through, as he often does, what is weak. To shame the strong, to teach us a lesson, to put our faith in him and not our own strength.
[00:11:12] To put our fear in him and not the strength of others.
[00:11:19] And so that's what's happening here.
[00:11:22] As this epic of David began here it is ending with a reminder of the work that God is doing through his chosen one.
[00:11:31] David was no giant, mighty warrior working in his own strength. He was a mighty warrior because God had anointed him to be one.
[00:11:44] And so David and his relatives here go to battle with the Philistines. Several battles are mentioned, several men are mentioned, and every single one of them is killed. Every single Philistine warrior, the greatest of the great, the strongest of the strong.
[00:12:04] We are human beings, are strong people, collectively, individually, and some exceptionally so.
[00:12:14] But one of the things that this book teaches us and one of the things that this passage teaches us that is so important is this question.
[00:12:26] What if even our strongest efforts, our strongest men are vulnerable before God?
[00:12:36] And it's not just a hypothetical or an interesting question to wonder. It's a rhetorical question that tells us that even our strongest, our mightiest, our most, our best efforts are vulnerable before God.
[00:12:53] When God decides to do his work, he does his work and nothing stops him.
[00:12:58] We are vulnerable to death, to shame, to defeat, to destruction, to enemies.
[00:13:05] All the things that terrify us in our lives, the day to day lives, all the things in which we take safety precautions for all the ways in which our vulnerability is marked, it's there and it's real. It's not pretend.
[00:13:21] And it's because of one thing, it's because of sin.
[00:13:28] We're vulnerable before God not just because we're creatures, but because born in our sinfulness and in our sin, we are at enmity against God.
[00:13:44] Earlier we read the psalm, right?
[00:13:46] We heard about how in the protection of God there is safety and peace.
[00:13:53] He's described like a bird. We're described like chicks, right under his wings, he hidden, comfortable, warm, safe, protected.
[00:14:06] When we are in the comfort of God's care, we're in the protection of God's care. When we are under his power and authority, as he is our king and protector. God is not a threat to us in that way because of how he's relating to us.
[00:14:25] But when we decide to Go to war against him or his people, his chicks, we will not survive. We become incredibly vulnerable. When the Philistines decided to go to war against Israel, against God, the Lord and his Anointed One, they never stood a chance.
[00:14:47] Not because David was particularly strong or stronger than them, not because of these other men, but because God had decided to do this work and to light a lamp in Israel.
[00:15:01] He had decided to create light in the darkness.
[00:15:07] And darkness cannot overcome light.
[00:15:11] You bring a candle, a tiny little flashlight, into the darkest space and it is immediately conquered instantly.
[00:15:22] The darkness in which all that light touches is gone.
[00:15:27] Light has a way of both revealing but also a way of overcoming, of victory. In a way.
[00:15:37] God was bringing light into the world through his people, through David, in particular.
[00:15:44] David's kingship. And that's something that was never going to be snuffed out.
[00:15:51] A life, a kingdom, a power, a throne that would one day be eternal, an eternal light.
[00:16:02] No man, no matter how much he can lift, no matter how strong his sword is, no matter how many people he's got behind him, no man can overcome the power of God's light in the world.
[00:16:18] That's how David is described here. We, of course, know David did die.
[00:16:24] But God promises that that light, that lamp, would continue and that through David he would establish a throne that is forever.
[00:16:37] And that gets fulfilled in Jesus, right?
[00:16:39] Gets fulfilled in Jesus, who is called in John, the true light, the light which comes into the world and the darkness does not overcome it. John says at the beginning of his Gospel, and as we are related to that light, as that light shines in the world, Colossians tells us, Paul tells us in Colossians that we are delivered out of a dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of his beloved Son.
[00:17:07] This light that comes into the world is a powerful light. It is called. John calls Jesus the light of life.
[00:17:17] Not the light, not the darkness of death, but the light of light, the true light.
[00:17:24] And David understood this.
[00:17:27] He'll say, as we'll see next time in. In 2nd Samuel 22, that the reason he shines is because God is his light.
[00:17:38] He is empowered by God. He is reflecting the light of God. And we sang of that in Psalm 27. If you want to turn there real quick with me again, we'll look at a few verses there just to remind ourselves of some of these things.
[00:18:03] This is where David's confidence comes from.
[00:18:05] His hope, his joy.
[00:18:09] Psalm 27:1.
[00:18:16] The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear, dear? The language of victory?
[00:18:25] Well, fear and strength of victory and defeat all tied up in the light of the Lord. The Lord is my light and my salvation Whom shall I fear? The Lord is my stronghold of my light of whom shall I be afraid? So you've got six toes, so you're nine feet tall so your. Your spear weighs a lot.
[00:18:49] I belong to the Lord the Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I be afraid? Of whom shall I fear?
[00:18:59] When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and my foes, it's they who stumble and fall as indeed Goliath did, and as indeed these other warriors did. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war rise against me, yet I will be confident.
[00:19:20] One thing I have asked of the Lord, that I may seek that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
[00:19:36] David is looking forward to something that is more than just right here, right now.
[00:19:41] He doesn't just want another little piece of Canaan to establish the kingdom that God has given him. As important as that was at the time.
[00:19:50] David is looking past those things to the things that they pointed to, to a relationship and a presence with God that is forever to dwell in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the Almighty Creator, this powerful God who can instantly destroy us, but instead loves us.
[00:20:10] God, who is not vulnerable to death and enemies and defeat and destruction and shame, but who is invincible to all of those things, to dwell with him, under his protection, under his lings, all the days of his life.
[00:20:28] If you Skip to verse 13, the end of this psalm, David says, I believe. It's a confession of faith, right? I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
[00:20:44] And then he speaks to us.
[00:20:47] Wait for the Lord.
[00:20:49] Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.
[00:20:56] And the reason we can wait for the Lord is because the Lord demonstrates this power not only in the defeat of the strongest that man can bring, which is nothing to him, but he also demonstrates his power not only in the destruction of his enemies, but also in the work of his love and his grace.
[00:21:20] He demonstrates his power by sending his own Son to take this throne, but to take it by way of the cross, to take it by way of suffering and weakness, to take all that mankind could bring, all that mankind can bring, and to take all, even that God would bring injustice against injustice. For sin, in wrath against our sin.
[00:21:49] He takes it. He takes it on himself.
[00:21:53] And he rises victorious.
[00:21:56] He rises from the dead. He rises victorious over sin, over death, over the devil, putting all of the Lord's enemies to shame and all of ours as well.
[00:22:09] And so when we look to Christ, we are looking not only to his power to save us, but also the power of his life and the work on the cross to forgive us.
[00:22:22] So that instead of being enemies against him, instead of fighting against him, instead of being at war with God, we are coming under his love, coming under his power and coming under his grace.
[00:22:37] Waiting for the Lord is faith.
[00:22:40] Trusting in the Lord for His promises and the fulfillment of his kingdom is faith.
[00:22:47] And when we put our faith in him, we will not be disappointed. Our faith is not in vain because the Lord has risen and the Lord is coming again.
[00:23:01] We know that the lamp of Israel shines brightly in Jesus.
[00:23:10] And in Revelation it talks about him as the light which fills it up, fills up the new Jerusalem and the new heavens and the new earth so much that there isn't even any need of a sun.
[00:23:23] The powerful, redeeming, revealing, protecting, overcoming, light that shines in the darkness is a light that is our salvation. When we put our faith in him and his work for us on the cross.
[00:23:40] Jesus transfers us from darkness to light.
[00:23:44] And so we can be strong, we can be courageous, because we wait for the Lord.
[00:23:53] Let's pray and ask for his help in doing that.
[00:23:57] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great revelation of Jesus Christ. And we ask that you would help us to put our faith in him and in him alone. Let us fear not the people and the powers of this world, as strong as they are and stronger than us.
[00:24:14] Let us not fear of them, but fear and love. Only you is our chief end.
[00:24:22] And Lord, teach us to fear not in the terror of enemies, Lord, but in the reverence and awe of worshipers, of those who recognize who you are and all of your mighty attributes, who recognize what you have done in entering into the world, of humbling yourself and of saving us, even through the work and the suffering on the cross.
[00:24:47] Lord, we confess our sins right now.
[00:24:50] We confess all the ways in which we are not waiting for you, the ways in which we are not being strong, and the ways in which we are not letting our heart take courage.
[00:24:59] We confess the ways in which we have not gone to you in prayer, in which we have feared man over fearing you, in which in which we have been caught up in our own troubles and trials and forgotten to look to you, who will hide us in your shelter?
[00:25:19] Who will lift us high upon a rock?
[00:25:23] Lord, we ask that as we come to you in prayer now and confession and repentance, that you would indeed forgive our sins. And that you would change our hearts. Change our hearts.
[00:25:33] So that instead of trembling and fear, we would sing and make melody to the Lord our God, with our hearts.
[00:25:45] Lord, let us not be afraid of the evils of this world, the powers that would seek to destroy us and separate us from you.
[00:25:56] But instead, let us look to you and put all our faith in Jesus Christ, our perfect and only salvation.
[00:26:04] We pray all this in his name. Amen.
