Show Notes
2 Samuel 19:18b-40
Pastor Chelpka
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] For the work that you have done in Christ and establishing him, your Christ, your Messiah, on the throne of David. That the things that are anticipated in this psalm would come one day to a full consummation and realization in which the joy and gladness we will have will be overflowing and perfect in every way.
[00:00:26] Lord, we thank you that we get to enjoy a foretaste of these heavenly things here and now as we hear a word of peace from our brothers and sisters. As we experience the peace that you create in our hearts through your Holy Spirit, Lord, we ask that you would help us to recognize these things for what they are, not merely earthly things, but the fruit of the Spirit of God that is at work in us in fulfilling the promises that have been made and secured for us in Christ.
[00:01:02] Help us to understand these things more deeply, to believe them more firmly, and to live our lives accordingly.
[00:01:10] Especially now as we come to hear your word read and preached from 2 Samuel.
[00:01:15] Strengthen us, Lord, in.
[00:01:19] In the will of the King and his love for us. May we abide in him forever. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[00:01:29] You may be seated. And let's turn, as I mentioned, to 2 Samuel, chapter 19, verse 8.
[00:02:07] So in my Bible, verse eight is split into two parts.
[00:02:12] The first part of the verse ending the previous section and the second part of the verse beginning the next section. And that's where I'm going to read with the words, starting with the words now. Israel had fled, so we'll start there, second Samuel 19, eight, the second half of that.
[00:02:33] I'll remind you briefly of the context in which we are hearing this, where we're at in the story, this history of God's people, our own family history, right recorded here for us, David as God's chosen servant.
[00:02:50] God brought him from the shepherding the flocks of his father to shepherding the people of Israel under the authority and anointing of God.
[00:03:01] That was a long journey in a way.
[00:03:05] He arrived and then we saw how his son tried to depose him, kick him out of his own kingdom, of his own throne, and was successful in a way. That son Absalom, Absalom seemed to have a lot of success, achieved it very quickly.
[00:03:26] David was gone, even out of Jerusalem, across the Jordan, even where we find him today. However, what we've seen and what we've heard is that Absalom's great plans and all his charm, his charisma, his power, his political maneuvering was only surface level, deep.
[00:03:49] It could not come even close to contending or to contending with the power of God, who had chosen David to be on the throne.
[00:04:04] Absalom is now dead and David is about to return to Jerusalem.
[00:04:13] But there is a question, though, because on his way out there were a number of people who were not very friendly towards David and some who were. David is re meeting these people as he returns back to Jerusalem. And the whole kingdom has this question to answer.
[00:04:32] What do we do now? Right, we deposed the king wrongly. We followed after Absalom wrongly. Not everyone, but many.
[00:04:43] What do we do now?
[00:04:45] How do we bring him back? What does that look like?
[00:04:49] So with that in mind, now we're in 2 Samuel 19, verse 8, and I'm going to read through verse 40.
[00:05:01] Let's give our attention to God's word now. Israel had fled every man to his own home.
[00:05:08] And all the people were arguing throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, the king delivered us from the hand of our enemies and saved us from the hand of the Philistines. And now he has fled out of the land from Absalom.
[00:05:21] But Absalom, whom we anointed over us, is dead in battle.
[00:05:28] Now, therefore, why do you say nothing about bringing the king back?
[00:05:33] And King David sent this message to Zadok and Abiathar. The priests say to the elders of Judah, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house when the word of all Israel has come to the king?
[00:05:47] You are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. Why then should you be the last to bring back the king and say to Amasa, are you not the bone? Are you not my bone and my flesh? God do so to me, and more also if you are not commander of my army from now on in replace of Joab.
[00:06:07] And he swayed the heart of all the men of Judah as one man. So they sent word to the king, return both you and all your servants.
[00:06:18] So the king came back to the Jordan and and Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and to bring the king over the Jordan.
[00:06:28] And Shimei, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried to come down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
[00:06:37] And with him were a thousand men from Benjamin.
[00:06:41] And Ziba, the servant of the house of Saul, with his 15 sons and his 20 servants rushed down to the Jordan before the king and and they crossed the ford to bring over the king's household and to do his pleasure.
[00:06:53] And Shimei the son of Gera, fell down before the king as he was about to cross the Jordan and said to the King, let not my lord hold me guilty or remember how your servant did wrong on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart, for your servant knows that I have sinned. Therefore behold, I have come this day, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down to meet my lord. The K.
[00:07:21] Abishai, the son of Zerariah answered, shall not Shimei be put to death for this? Because he cursed the Lord's anointed?
[00:07:31] But David said, what have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be as an adversary to me? Shall anyone be put to death in Israel this day? For do I not know that I am this day king over Israel?
[00:07:46] And the king said to Shimei, you shall not die.
[00:07:50] And the king gave him his oath.
[00:07:53] And Mephibosheth the son of Saul, came down to meet the king.
[00:07:57] He had neither taken care of his feet, nor trimmed his beard, nor washed his clothes, from the day the king departed until the day he came back in safety.
[00:08:06] And when he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?
[00:08:13] He answered, my lord, O King, my servant deceived me. For your servant said to him, I will saddle a donkey for myself that I may ride on it and go with the king.
[00:08:24] For your servant is lame.
[00:08:26] He has slandered your servant to my lord the king. But my lord the king is like an angel of God. Do therefore what seems good to you.
[00:08:35] For all my father's house were but men doomed to death before my lord the king. But you sent your servant among those who eat at your table.
[00:08:43] What further right have I then to cry to the king?
[00:08:47] And the king said to him, why do you speak any more of your affairs? I have decided you and Ziba shall divide the land.
[00:08:53] And Mephibosheth said to the king, well, let him take it all, since my lord the king has come safely home.
[00:09:02] Now Barzillai the Gileadite had come down from Regalim and he went on with the king to the Jordan to escort him over the Jordan.
[00:09:12] Barzillai was a very aged man, 80 years old, and he had provided the king with food while he stayed in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.
[00:09:23] And the king said to Barzillai, come over with me, and I will provide for you with me in Jerusalem.
[00:09:29] But Barzillai said to the king, how many years have I still to live that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem. I am this day 80 years old. Can I discern what is pleasant and what is not? Can your servant taste what he eats or what he drinks? Can I still listen to the voice of singing men and singing women? Why then should your servant be an added burden to my lord the king?
[00:09:53] Your servant will go a little way over the Jordan with the king.
[00:09:57] Why should the king repay me with such a reward?
[00:10:00] Please let your servant return that I may die in my own city near the grave of my father and mother. But here is your servant Kimham.
[00:10:09] Let him go over with my lord the king and do for him what seems good to you.
[00:10:14] And the king answered, kimham shall go over with me and I will do for him whatever seems good to you. And all that you desire of me, I will do for you.
[00:10:24] Then all the people went over the Jordan and the king went over and the king kissed Barzillai and blessed him. And he returned to his own home.
[00:10:33] The king went on to Gilgal and Kimham went on with him. All the people of Judah and also half the people of Israel brought the king on his way.
[00:10:44] Sends a reading of God's word. May he bless it to us.
[00:10:50] Well, here we have as our situation, the king, king David, restoring order.
[00:10:58] And finally, what a mess things have been for some time. So much drama, so much difficulty, so much danger and every person, really, every person, every man, every woman having to make a decision about who are they going to follow?
[00:11:16] Are they going to follow the anti Messiah, the antichrist, the anti king Absalom, as some did? They said we anointed him as king but now he's dead. Right difficult situation.
[00:11:30] Or would they follow as some did, David?
[00:11:37] Now if you haven't been following along or if the history is new to you, it might feel a little overwhelming, all of these names and people.
[00:11:45] And we don't have time to go through it all in depth. But I will highlight a few things to remind you of some of these people and what's going on here as David comes to return and restore order. And then we'll think about whether or not deep and lasting reconciliation and unity is actually happening at this moment.
[00:12:08] It's not.
[00:12:10] And how it is. The Lord actually brings out real unity and real reconciliation and hope in his kingdom.
[00:12:21] So first, what's going on here?
[00:12:26] First we have a conversation, a national conversation given to us at a high level of the people of Israel.
[00:12:34] Now, when it says Israel here, it's referring to those 10 tribes and not to Judah. Judah is going to be dealt with as a kind of separate group. So there's this, this public conversation that's happening. We don't have the details of how this is happening. If it was in our own time, it would be happening on social media, it would be happening in the newspapers, it would be happening in our conversations in person. Right. What are we going to do?
[00:13:03] We anointed Absalom, the false king, as king. He's now dead in battle by the true king.
[00:13:12] And what they decide to do, or at least half of them, they decide we need to basically bow down to the king and bring him back. We need to go to him and tell him that we have sinned against you and we are receiving you back into the kingdom.
[00:13:33] And so that's what they do. Now, interestingly, Judah has to be convinced Israel's having this kind of conversation on their own.
[00:13:43] But Judah doesn't seem to be a part of this, and David knows it. So he sends Zadok and Abiathar to basically go persuade Judah to get on board.
[00:13:53] And so they go and they say, why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house?
[00:14:00] Because for Judah, not only was David their rightful king, he's also more connected to them in a family sense. He says, you are my brothers. You are my bone and my flesh. He's from their tribe.
[00:14:13] Why then should you be the last to bring back the king?
[00:14:17] He's appealing to various aspects of his relationship with them, his authority over them. And then he even adds this other thing about Amasa.
[00:14:29] Amasa was the leader under Absalom, a commander of the army. He was on the wrong side in a really big way.
[00:14:41] He also happens to be David's nephew.
[00:14:44] And he says to this man in particular, are you not my bone and my flesh? And he promises to make him this big time enemy, the general or the commander of his army, even demoting Joab.
[00:15:03] That's a big move.
[00:15:05] That's a big move.
[00:15:07] And what is, why is David doing it? He's doing it to bring reconciliation among the people. And it works. He sways the heart of the men of Judah as one man. It says in verse 14, this amazing act of unity of heart which they have. And so they go to the king. This is in verse 14. Return both you and all your servants.
[00:15:33] Okay? So that's what's happening at this high level.
[00:15:37] Meanwhile, there are these certain individuals who interacted with the king on his way out of town.
[00:15:45] And one of them is Shimei.
[00:15:47] Shimei. As he departs, as David departed Jerusalem on the run, basically fleeing with him and his servants. Shimei is yelling at him and cursing him and making fun of of him. And as he's leaving, well, Shimei has a couple options. He could just hope it blows over, or he can approach the problem head on. And that's what he decides to do. He rushes, he goes fast to be one of the first people there as David comes back. And he isn't just going to be there to welcome David back and hope that David doesn't remember, because he obviously does. He is going to repent.
[00:16:34] And he does.
[00:16:36] He goes to David and he says in verse 19, let not my Lord hold me guilty, or remember how your servant did wrong on the day when my lord the king left Jerusalem. Do not let the king take it to heart, for your servant knows that I have sinned.
[00:16:54] He's begging for mercy, he's confessing his sin, he's repenting on what he did.
[00:17:02] Now, is this true repentance or is he just trying to get out of trouble? And that's another conversation which we might return to at a future time.
[00:17:12] But this is what he's saying.
[00:17:14] And David grants it.
[00:17:18] This one, who he was, who he was encouraged to kill even as he was leaving Jerusalem and is encouraged to kill him now in judge judgment for his sins, for cursing the Lord's anointed.
[00:17:32] He says, he says no to Abishai.
[00:17:37] He's sensing that Abishai and Joab, his brother, these sons of Zeruiah, although they speak so strongly on the side of David, right, attacking his enemies, wanting to put to death Shimei and others, he also sensed that these sons of Zerayah are something of a problem.
[00:17:57] We know that in part because Joab just disobeyed David in a major way and killed his son Absalom, despite specifically telling Joab publicly, among other people with witnesses not to do that.
[00:18:14] These sons of Zerariah are aggressive warriors.
[00:18:18] They want to win, win, win.
[00:18:22] And David, of course, wants to win as well. David wants to be back on his throne. David wants God to win.
[00:18:29] But David understands that the power that he has is not through military power alone. In fact, it's not even primarily that. The power that he has comes from God working in his life and doing as he pleases, when he pleases.
[00:18:47] Abishai and Zoab, even though they're on David's side, in a way, they. They don't seem to understand this.
[00:18:54] They don't have that. They don't seem to have that same kind of faith in the Lord.
[00:18:59] They only seem to have faith in their power and their ability to get things done.
[00:19:07] Well, within this tension, David senses it. He pushes Abishai off. He allows Shimei to live.
[00:19:15] And as we read in verse 23, he even gives him an oath that he will fulfill that promise.
[00:19:25] Now David meets a second person.
[00:19:27] There's three in total, which we'll talk about. The second one is Ziba. Who's Ziba?
[00:19:33] You remember? Ziba is Mephibosheth's servant.
[00:19:38] Mephibosheth being the son of Jonathan, the grandson of Saul.
[00:19:46] So Mephibosheth in some ways is the remnants of this old kingdom that has passed away and that David was also merciful during that time of transition when God took Saul out, away from the throne and established David. At that time, David was kind to Mephibosheth and established him as one of the privileged people at his table.
[00:20:12] Mephibosheth would come, even living in Jerusalem would have this privileged place. And as we are reminded here, he was lame in his feet because during the battles he was dropped as a baby by his nurse and was injured.
[00:20:31] So he has this disability.
[00:20:35] He is under the mercy and protection of David.
[00:20:40] And Ziba is his servant.
[00:20:42] Ziba was called by David, commanded by David to take care of this man, to take care of this, of Mephibosheth, and to treat him well, to be a steward over his lands and over his food and all these sort of things. And Ziba did that for a while until the day David left.
[00:21:01] When David left, Ziba came and pretended that Mephibosheth was.
[00:21:07] Was being a traitor to David, that Mephibosheth was not leaving with David, and that Ziba was the loyal one. He threw Ziba, threw his master under the bus, so to speak, throws him under the bus, pretends to be loyal to David. And as a result of that, David gives everything that was Mephibosheth's to Ziba.
[00:21:29] So Ziba gains all of these lands and extra power and all these sort of things.
[00:21:35] Well, now David's on his way back, and who does he see?
[00:21:39] He sees Ziba, but he also comes into contact with Mephibosheth, who's like, I didn't even know what was happening.
[00:21:48] I couldn't go.
[00:21:49] Ziba tricked me.
[00:21:53] And what does David do?
[00:21:55] David finds himself in a difficult situation where he's like, who do I believe?
[00:22:00] What do I do?
[00:22:02] I think David feels guilty.
[00:22:05] He recognizes that what he's done is wrong, and he made a decision without having the full facts before and that he did not fulfill his promise in protecting Mephibosheth. And so as Mephibosheth is talking and laying out his case and explaining, David hears enough to know that he's made a mistake, a very serious one. And then he just cuts off Mephibosheth and says, why speak to me any more of your affairs? I've decided.
[00:22:35] I think David just is embarrassed and wants out of this situation. And so he makes another quick decision.
[00:22:43] And he just says half to both of you.
[00:22:48] It's kind of a sad moment.
[00:22:51] On the one hand, Mephibosheth is protected. David comes around, but Ziba kind of gets away with it.
[00:22:58] David makes this quick judgment. David, instead of apologizing, instead of repenting, instead of doing the fully right thing, he cuts him off and comes up with this compromise.
[00:23:13] It's sort of similar to the situation Solomon, David's son, will be in later on, where these two women come to him, one claiming that the son is hers and the other claiming that the son is hers. And Solomon says, divided in half, right? Now, in that moment, many people see Solomon's wisdom in his ability to detect who the real mother is.
[00:23:37] And in a way, we see that here, too, in that what is. What does the mother say with Solomon? She says, let the other woman have the child. Mephibosheth says something similar here. He says, just let Ziba have it.
[00:23:52] Just let him have it.
[00:23:53] He says, let him take it all. This is verse 30. Since my Lord the king has come home safely, you hear Mephibosheth's heart.
[00:24:04] Why does David not react to this?
[00:24:07] Why does not David give the baby? Why does not David give these things that he has promised to Mephibosheth? I don't know, but he doesn't.
[00:24:20] Finally, we come to Barzillai.
[00:24:23] Barzillai was one who wasn't tricking David or cursing David, but he blessed David. As David was leaving Jerusalem, Barzillai came to him, gave him food, gave him support.
[00:24:36] He took the resources and the wealth that God had given him, and he gave it to the king. In this moment, need. It was an act of faith, an act of faith in God, an act of loyalty, an act of sacrifice. And so he greets the king on his way back in, and David is grateful. David says, maybe what he should have said to Mephibosheth, but he says to Barzillai, come, be a part of my household, be a part of. Be at my table. And this man Barzillai says, I wouldn't even enjoy it.
[00:25:12] I'm too old. I can't taste, I can't hear, I can't smell.
[00:25:17] Just let me be in my home with my people.
[00:25:21] But here you can take if you want to bless me, bless me through by blessing Kimham, which was perhaps his son.
[00:25:32] And so David agrees to that and this man goes with him.
[00:25:39] So this is what happens. And David crosses over the Jordan, he comes back towards the kingdom.
[00:25:47] And so in this we see a whole bunch of things happening.
[00:25:51] We see David restoring order. But as I mentioned at the beginning, this is not perfect. In fact, you sense tension still in various places.
[00:26:03] Not all of Israel is going out.
[00:26:05] Some of Judah had to be convinced even to do this.
[00:26:09] The repentance of some of these people seems half hearted or potentially is half hearted.
[00:26:20] David's own actions, while in some ways, like in the case of Amasa, extremely generous in other cases, like with Mephibosheth, seem partial and inadequate.
[00:26:35] And we see that justice isn't fully done, that men like Abishai and Joab are kind of on the right side, but also are a danger and a problem.
[00:26:47] Other people who, who were on the right, wrong side seem to be improving and getting better. In all of this we see unity and reconciliation and order being restored. Yes, the king is returning. But, but, but there's weaknesses, there's cracks.
[00:27:08] We can see that this is definitely not the fulfillment of God's promises to David, not the final fulfillment of God's promises of David to establish a king on a throne that would bring peace and, and unity forever.
[00:27:27] Where would that come from if not here, not through Solomon or the other kings following David?
[00:27:36] Well, the answer of course is it comes through David's greatest son, Jesus, whom in the fullness of time God brought forth, who was born a woman born under the law to become the king that was promised.
[00:27:53] And in Jesus actions we see the fulfillment and the perfection of the things that are partial and temporary here.
[00:28:03] And this is worth dwelling on because what we see is in the, in the ways in which this world and ways in which even the church struggles and, and struggles and suffers under these various problems, both internal and external.
[00:28:25] Our hope is that God is at work and that the kingdom of God is ultimately not dependent on David or you or me or anyone else other than God himself, to establish us forever with the kind of unity we want and need, with the kind of perfection and communion and reconciliation. Jesus does that.
[00:28:51] How does he do it?
[00:28:53] I'll mention three things as we close.
[00:28:56] Number one, he does it with full knowledge Jesus is not guessing at the motives of every single person who has ever lived. He's not guessing, he's not trying to discern. Is this person on my side? Is that person not on my side? Is this repentance real? Is it not real? Am I hearing the full story?
[00:29:22] Jesus acts with full knowledge.
[00:29:27] Matthew 9 tells us that, tells us of a story in which some scribes were saying to themselves, and he's blaspheming about Jesus. And then Matthew tells us that Jesus, knowing their thoughts, says to them, and then he says to them some, some things.
[00:29:48] John 4.
[00:29:49] When Jesus comes to the woman at the well and they kind of had this sort of dancing around the issues, theology, conversation, and then he reveals to her what she already knows, that, that she has been married multiple times and is currently living with someone who's not her husband. She then goes and tells the people in her city, come see a man who told me all I ever did. Can this be the Christ?
[00:30:19] And then also in the Gospel of John, in chapter 2:25, and we are told that Jesus knew and knows what is in man.
[00:30:30] Jesus is not exercising the power of his kingdom or the power of his kingship in the way that you and I tend to exercise and make most decisions with this kind of temporary partial knowledge. Jesus knows everything.
[00:30:50] He knows exactly how evil my heart is.
[00:30:56] He knows exactly all the wickedness in your hearts and the ways that you've given yourselves over to temptation and the ways that you have desired sin, and the ways that you have heard his word and not responded. He knows it all to the most detailed level better than you and I know our own hearts. Jesus knows our own hearts. And he acts with full and complete knowledge.
[00:31:26] He knows not only the sins of our hearts, but he knows where there is brokenness. He knows where there is suffering. He knows where there is struggle and sadness.
[00:31:37] It's in a perfect knowledge of our hearts that he comes and then he does the second thing David was unable to do. And that's he fixes the real problem.
[00:31:50] Just as David's surface level knowledge is surface level, so is his power to fix the problem.
[00:31:58] Jesus knows that the problem is not ultimately this or that action or this or that moment, but he knows that the problem is our hearts.
[00:32:10] That's the source of the problem. The source of the problem, of the.
[00:32:15] The source of the problems, all the problems that we face is enmity with God.
[00:32:22] That's the deep problem.
[00:32:25] And Jesus knowing that, then exercises his power in a way that solves that.
[00:32:32] David can't change My heart, because he's just another man.
[00:32:37] He can't change your heart or the heart of Shimei or Abishai or himself.
[00:32:44] The only one who can regenerate a heart is God himself.
[00:32:50] And that's what God does. And he does that through the work of His Word and Spirit.
[00:32:58] Jesus does it by reconciling us to God through His work on the cross.
[00:33:06] Jesus solves the problem of our enmity with God by taking all of the sins that he knows we've committed and taking it on Himself and becoming a sacrifice for our sins so that God's wrath would be turned away from us.
[00:33:26] And no one can do that except for him, because he's perfect.
[00:33:33] No one can do that. No king, no earthly king can do that except for him, because he's perfect. No one can reconcile us to God because of the great chasm of our sin, except for God.
[00:33:47] And so God does this. God does this great works. Which is why, of course, Paul then says things like, it's not me, it's God. This is a gift of God that no one would boast. And so our boasting is in King Jesus, who reconciles us to God. He solves the problem by taking on the judgment that is owed to us.
[00:34:14] He takes it on Himself, and He goes to the cross so that we can be forgiven of our sins. He solves our heart problem. He sends the Spirit, he regenerates our hearts so that now we come in true faith, with true love and true joy, saying, lord, forgive me.
[00:34:35] Lord, be merciful to me.
[00:34:38] And finally, the thing that Jesus does, not only does he know the real problem, and not only does he fix the real problem by fixing our enmity with God by reconciling us to him.
[00:34:49] But he brings the transformation that's necessary in us to completion this work that he begins in us.
[00:34:58] He. He finishes.
[00:35:01] He promises that one day all of this wickedness in us, all the flesh that fights against the works of the Spirit and the life of the Spirit in us will be totally eradicated and removed from us. We'll be perfectly glorified.
[00:35:16] And not only us individually, but collectively.
[00:35:22] The Scriptures tell us in Ephesians, chapter 2, that Jesus in His own body breaks down dividing wall that exist among the people of the world and the people of God. Jew, Gentile, male, female, these things. The Lord takes us and he brings us together and he unites us so that not only are we reconciled to him, but to one another.
[00:35:48] There's not this tribe over here saying this thing, and that tribe over there saying that thing and these people sort of kind of getting along with one another. The Lord is working, working, working and is bringing one day his church to a perfect communion with him and with one another.
[00:36:07] This is a good kingdom and it's a kingdom that we are hoping for and have in Jesus because he is the fulfillment of God's promises to David.
[00:36:20] Let's put our faith in him and do that even now as we pray.
[00:36:25] Our Heavenly Father, we ask that you would humble our hearts that we might rejoice in the work of our King.
[00:36:32] Help us to see more clearly and with more certainty and to have more assurance in who Jesus is.
[00:36:39] Thank you, Lord. Even though we were on the wrong side. Children of wrath, born in sin and in sinfulness, that you have rescued us out of a dominion of darkness, a kingdom of our own making and brought us in to the kingdom of your Son.
[00:36:59] Our hearts are filled with gratitude and faith.
[00:37:04] Help us to walk in that faith that we have, that faith that we have received from you. And we pray this in Jesus name, our only Savior and only King. Amen.
[00:37:17] Let's stand together.
