Show Notes
2 Samuel 23:8-39
Pastor Christopher Chelpka
View Full Transcript
Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Let's pray.
[00:00:14] Our Heavenly Father, we pray to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom every knee shall bow in heaven and earth and every tongue. Confess that he is Lord because of his great work for us on the cross.
[00:00:32] We know we are forgiven. We know we are loved. We know we are free.
[00:00:38] Thank you, Lord, for rescuing us out of that dominion of darkness. Thank you for bringing us into a kingdom of light.
[00:00:45] And, Lord, as we reflect on all these things that you have done, the way in which we have contributed nothing to this salvation except our sins and the way that we have received everything through your love, we ask that you would give us a great confidence in the victory of Jesus Christ on our behalf and the work of his love for us.
[00:01:09] We ask that you would give that to us as we consider your word. Now in Second Samuel, we pray also for our sister churches throughout Tucson and throughout the world, praying especially this morning for our missionaries serving in Asia.
[00:01:28] We ask that you, in some of these very difficult parts, where the gospel seems to hit so many rocks, we ask that you would be at work there as well as here, turning even rocks into voices that cry out and praise your name.
[00:01:51] Give us, Lord, not stony hearts, but hearts of flesh, ears to hear. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:02:00] Please be seated.
[00:02:08] Let's turn our attention again to Second Samuel, One of the books of the Bible that we sometimes refer to as the historical books, meaning they have this genre of recounting the history of God's people and of God's works.
[00:02:30] This morning we are in 2nd Samuel, chapter 23, verses 8 through 39.
[00:02:49] Now, if you've been with us over the last few weeks, you know that this is part of a kind of epilogue at the end of this great narrative. It's not an attachment at the end exactly, but the author is summing things up and tying things together, as well as telling the end of this particular story as he's framed it.
[00:03:12] And we come to a passage today that echoes something that happened at the beginning of this larger section, in which we hear about the strength of David and his people in securing peace for the kingdom.
[00:03:27] That's what we all want. Peaceful kingdom. A kingdom where we're not at war all the time with each other or with others. A kingdom where we can. The place where we can reside and worship God in freedom and love and righteousness.
[00:03:44] Well, that kingdom which will ultimately come to pass in the new heavens and the new earth and find its full expression there, has a kind of shadowy and model form here, a type that points forward to the future.
[00:03:59] And that's what we see in the conquering of the Philistines and these kind of things. And, well, today in second Samuel 23:8 through 39 or 30. Yeah, 39, we have this catalog of David's mighty men.
[00:04:14] David, of course, had his great victories personally.
[00:04:19] His story, in some ways, begins with the defeat of Goliath.
[00:04:24] But it's not just in David, but it's also in the men who he served with, the men who served under him, who were loyal to him, devoted to him.
[00:04:31] They did some amazing things.
[00:04:34] And some of those are recorded here in this. In this section.
[00:04:40] What we'll see, though, is it's not just the strength of these men, or really, it's not ultimately the strength of these men, even their amazing deeds, that secures the kingdom.
[00:04:50] It's God.
[00:04:52] God is doing the work. God is the one who's empowering them and who's creating a safe kingdom for his people.
[00:05:00] So let's hear this list of mighty men.
[00:05:04] These highlights, their power and the Lord who is behind it all.
[00:05:12] These are the names of the mighty men whom David had.
[00:05:17] Josheb b', Shebeth, a Tachemanite. He was the chief of the three.
[00:05:23] He wielded his spear against 800 whom he killed at one time.
[00:05:29] And next to him among the three mighty men was Eleazar, the son of Dodo, the son of Ahohi.
[00:05:37] He was with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there for battle. And when the men of Israel withdrew, he rose and struck down the Philistines until his hand was weary and his hand clung to the sword.
[00:05:52] And the Lord brought about a great victory that day. And the men returned after him, only to slip the sword, strip the slain.
[00:06:02] And next to him was Shammah, the son of Aiji, the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi. There was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men had fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines. And the Lord worked a great victory.
[00:06:24] The three of the 30 men went down and came about. And three of the 30 men went down and came about harvest time to David at the king of Adullam.
[00:06:35] When a band of Philistines was encamped in the valley of Rephaim, David was then in the stronghold. And the Gerasene of the Philistines was then at Bethlehem. And David said longingly, oh, that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem that is by the gate.
[00:06:53] Then the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was by the gate and carried it and brought it to David.
[00:07:02] But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the Lord and said, far be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives.
[00:07:14] Therefore he would not drink of it.
[00:07:16] These things the three mighty men did.
[00:07:20] Now Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zerariah, was chief of the 30. And he wielded his sword against 300 men and killed them and won a name beside the three.
[00:07:30] He was the most renowned of the 30, and he became their commander. But he did not attain to the three.
[00:07:37] And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds, and he struck down two Ariels of Moab.
[00:07:46] He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when the snow had fallen. And he struck down an Egyptian, a handsome man. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down to him with a staff and snatched the spear out of the Egyptian's hand and killed him with his own spear.
[00:08:04] These things did. Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada and one a name beside the three mighty men.
[00:08:11] He was renowned among the 30, but he did not attain to the three. And David set him over his bodyguard.
[00:08:19] Asahel, the brother of Joab, or Joab, was one of the 30.
[00:08:24] Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, Shema of Harod, Elicah of Herod, Helez the Palatite, Ira, the son of Ikesh of Tekoa, Ebiezer of Anathoth, Mebunai, Hushathite, Zalman the Ahohite, Mahari of Netapah, Heleb the son of Baanah of Netopah, Ittai the son of Ribi of Gibeah, the people of Benjamin, Benaiah of Pirathon, Hidai of the Brooks of Gaash, Abi Ablon the Arab, Thite, Ozmaveth of Bahurim, Eliabah of the Sha', Albonite, the sons of Jason, Jonathan, Shema the Harite, Ahyam the son of Sharar, the Haorite, Eliphet the son of Ashiba, Ahasbai of Maakah, Eliam the son of Ahithophel, the Gilonite, Hezro of Carmel, Pa Arai the Arbite, Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, Zelak the Ammonite, Nahari of Beeroth, the armor bearer of Joab the son of Zeruiah, Irai the Ithrite, Gerab the Ithrite, uriah the Hittite. 37 in all.
[00:09:51] May God bless His word to us.
[00:09:59] These are the greats.
[00:10:04] These are the greats. The stories of heroes who are willing to give it all.
[00:10:11] People who, when everyone else was running, said, I'm not going to run.
[00:10:17] I'm going to stand here and I'm going to fight.
[00:10:21] Heroes who stood and fought and won and were very great.
[00:10:30] Now, even within these heroes, we don't see that they're all exactly equal, right? There is the three, a special select group who are singled out as being particularly special.
[00:10:46] You have the 30, which is not exactly 30 people. The text says that there were 37, but it's called the 30.
[00:10:54] You know, sometimes you have groups. I think we even have groups like this.
[00:11:00] You know, in our church we call them forums of five. Sometimes they have four, sometimes they have a little more, roughly five.
[00:11:08] They are 37 in all, but they are called the 30.
[00:11:13] And they have these amazing men with them. Even within those men or even within this larger group of special elite form forces, you have people being singled out and doing special deeds. These are the elite fighting forces, the most special of the special that were with David and did these mighty things.
[00:11:36] And they're doing mighty things, not just in terms of this really strong thing or that really strong thing, you know, bench pressing a certain amount or moving a certain thing, right? They're doing things in battle for a particular purpose.
[00:11:51] The enemies of the Lord are attacking the people of the Lord.
[00:11:56] They are there to defend, protect and push out the Philistines out of the land, as God had called them to.
[00:12:04] It was an act of the Lord, using his people of judgment on the Philistines and on these people.
[00:12:13] Remarkably, among these names we have several who are not Israelites, people, Gentiles, as they would come to be called, people outside of Israel, who nevertheless had said, had we could say, cast their lot with David, or to put it in a more theological way, had put their faith in the Lord's anointed king, in this.
[00:12:40] When we can think in the context of scripture as a whole, in this mini Messiah, this warrior king whom God had anointed to lead his people and these men in the defeat of the Philistines and how successful they Were.
[00:12:59] Well, as the text emphasizes throughout, though their greatness was not because of their strength alone, but it was of course because of, of the greatness of the Lord. One example of this in verse 12, this man who defends Shema, the son of Aji the Haraite, he defends this plot of land. He strikes down the Philistines. And we read, and the Lord worked a great victory.
[00:13:25] Now, if you think that it makes these men less great because the Lord worked a great victory, you should have a little alarm bell going off in your head right now.
[00:13:39] Let me just put it that again. If you think, and I think many of us do think, this is why I'm bringing it up. I think this sometimes, if you think that their greatness is somehow less because the Lord did the victory, an alarm bell or some sort of alarm, a red flag should be going off like something's wrong. With my theology there, my way of thinking.
[00:14:02] It's tempting to think that because a lot of times self sufficiency and independence is seen as an aspect of greatness, right? Somebody who goes out and does something that other people are not able to do is considered greatness. And we see that even here in this list, so and so did not attain to the level of the three, even though these other things were done. Or this man, Shema, he defends this plot all by himself.
[00:14:29] So part of his greatness is seen in his independence or his self sufficiency.
[00:14:36] However, that's when we're talking about, when we're comparing things on a human level.
[00:14:42] There is no such thing as self sufficiency when it relates to God.
[00:14:48] There's no such thing as it. It just doesn't exist.
[00:14:52] Greatness never comes from being separated from God doing something on your own. Greatness is always and can only be in connection with him. Because greatness is not defined by independent human strength. True greatness, true greatness is defined by the Lord's work in us.
[00:15:15] Greatness comes from God and him alone.
[00:15:21] Maybe an image to think about this. If you imagine two sunflowers, right?
[00:15:27] One you put in a pot, you stick it in a corner in the dark of a closet, and we say, now go and be great.
[00:15:37] And then you take another sunflower and you plant in the full open sun, or which one is going to be the greater flower?
[00:15:46] You know, give it some growth time, obviously the one that's in the sun. Why? Because that's how it was designed. That's what it was made for. And a sunflower, amazingly, as it's growing, tracks the sun it faces the east.
[00:16:00] Yes, faces the east. And it tracks the sun across the sky throughout the day. And as long as it keeps its face toward the sun, it's an amazing flower. They're huge. They produce these seeds. You drive by them. I saw some on Campbell the other day. They're glorious. They're beautiful, beautiful flowers. Now you go to the one in the closet in the dark, that's not facing the sun, is doing things on its own. It's going to be a dead flower.
[00:16:31] You won't marvel at its greatness. You will throw it away.
[00:16:36] It is a sad thing, a pitiable thing.
[00:16:40] That's how we are with God. We don't achieve greatness. We should not define greatness in terms of self sufficiency.
[00:16:47] We define it in terms of our connection with the Lord. Because ultimately it's God who is the only one who is self sufficient.
[00:16:57] God is the only one who is self sufficient in him, who is sufficient in himself and does the great things that he does.
[00:17:07] Ultimately we are his servants. He is the one working and he wins the battles. And so that's what's happening here. Even as we see these amazing acts of these men, ultimately who gets the credit? And that's not a problem because he's the one who's making them great.
[00:17:26] And so we have this list, this list of heroes, these lists of men who are giving themselves with this self sacrificial devotion unto death.
[00:17:37] I'm here, David. I'll be your right hand man. I will do this job. I will defeat the Philistines. And you know the picture of the man with the sword who fights so hard and so long that his grasp is clapped around the sword that he just can't even let go of it.
[00:17:54] That's, that's devotion.
[00:17:57] And so we have this great list, some of them hard to read, admittedly many of them unfamiliar, but then bam. At the end, you heard it.
[00:18:06] Who was the familiar one?
[00:18:08] Uriah.
[00:18:11] We're going through Pastor's having a hard time reading these names. And then all of a sudden, uriah, we know that name.
[00:18:22] Ouch.
[00:18:24] Right. In a list of David's mighty men, the list of David's men by his right side, the list of the mighty deeds.
[00:18:31] It ends with a riot.
[00:18:35] Accident?
[00:18:36] I don't think so.
[00:18:40] No, of course it's not an accident.
[00:18:42] The narrator, guided by the Holy Spirit, composes this exactly right to help us to think about something very important when it comes to David the great anointed warrior king.
[00:18:54] As great as he is, as powerful as he is as righteous as he is.
[00:18:59] He was not perfect, was he?
[00:19:03] His men loyal and good, serving, including Uriah, whose devotion was top notch.
[00:19:15] When we think about how all this reflects with David the Anointed One, we find something coming up lacking.
[00:19:24] We find among this list of mighty deeds the strength of David exhibited, modeled even in these men, but also the sin and the weakness of David.
[00:19:39] And so as we come to the end of 2 Samuel, it brings this question.
[00:19:47] God is bringing this question to our mind. A question we need to think about.
[00:19:51] How are we going to think about 2 Samuel 7?
[00:19:55] How are we going to think about this promise that God made there to David that he would establish his throne forever, that this would be a throne of glory, of safety, of righteousness?
[00:20:06] How do we think about that when even David and even his mighty men have blots on the record?
[00:20:13] When there are unloving things that happened?
[00:20:20] How are we going to think about that?
[00:20:23] Before we get there, let's remember exactly what Uriah represents here.
[00:20:30] Uriah, one of the men of David, one of the mighty men of David. Not just one of the soldiers, an important point. Not just one of those who were fighting for him, but one of this elite force that he knew.
[00:20:47] David saw his wife Bathsheba, while Uriah was out fighting for him, wanted her, took her, and then to cover it all up, brings Ariah home. Ariah, in this sort of perfect, manly act of devotion, says, I'm not going to go with my wife. I'm going to stay here because I need to be out on the battlefield with my men and this kind of thing. David sort of flips out a little bit. And then he ends up sending Uriah back, but in a way that will see him killed.
[00:21:19] It's despicable.
[00:21:21] It's murder, it's adultery, it's covetousness, it's envy, it's giving up on the Lord. It's all kinds of things.
[00:21:31] This is what David does with this one who was perfectly devoted to him.
[00:21:36] David spent his life. He takes his wife. I'm going to rhyme. But unintentionally, he takes his wife and then takes his life.
[00:21:47] And he does it because he wants what he wants.
[00:21:52] He's willing to spill the blood of one of his devoted men to get what he wants in the moment.
[00:22:01] That is not the mark of a righteous man.
[00:22:04] Warrior king under the Lord.
[00:22:08] Now, the author is impressing this on us not only by putting Uriah's name last, but by including this little mini story in the middle of this list about the water. Do you remember that?
[00:22:23] What happens there?
[00:22:25] David has another longing.
[00:22:29] Not an unholy one, not an unrighteous one, but he's on the battlefield, he's thinking about home, and he wants some water from Bethlehem.
[00:22:41] Have you ever been out of Tucson and really wanted a chimichanga?
[00:22:47] Have you ever found you couldn't get a good taco somewhere, right?
[00:22:54] Something like that.
[00:22:56] It's not just that. The water, it's home, right? There's something he's longing for. He's a soldier. He wants to go home. The soldiers do.
[00:23:07] He wants to be at home. He wants to have peace.
[00:23:10] He wants to drink some water from Bethlehem. And he expresses this, right, a good thing, longing for the future, longing for peace, longing for home and stability.
[00:23:22] His men, they hear this, they're, we're out of here.
[00:23:26] This is this awesome act of love and devotion.
[00:23:30] And kids, you've done this, right? If you've ever seen your mom a little frustrated with how the kitchen's looking or something. And then you go, I got it. I'm gonna clean it. She doesn't ask you, you don't tell her. She just shows back and the kitchen's clean, and you're like, yeah, right. That's the kind of thing that's happening here.
[00:23:49] These guys, these men, these mighty men, they hear David's longing for home and they say, we got you. And they go. They go through the Philistine camp, many miles, probably through night, get some water, get all the way back. And they say, here you go.
[00:24:09] Well, David's sort of in this interesting moment now, right? What's is he going to say? Drink it. Be like, thanks, guys, right? In some ways you can kind of feel how dishonor. In some ways, their loyalty and their service, it's just, you know, a canteen of water.
[00:24:26] David does this amazing thing in this moment.
[00:24:29] Listen to what he says, how he frames it, what he does.
[00:24:36] Verse 17, Far he speaks to the Lord. He says, far from it. Be it from me, O Lord, that I should do this?
[00:24:45] Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?
[00:24:53] He recognizes that it's water, but it's not just water.
[00:24:59] He sees that it's representing sacrificial love, even although they didn't die, but a love unto death, a love that is willing to die.
[00:25:11] He sees this, and is he going to just drink that as though it was some kind of like a no big deal thing?
[00:25:18] And so instead he takes the drink this, this water and he turns it into an act of worship, a drink offering in which he pours it out before the Lord.
[00:25:34] So in this moment, instead of simply demanding what he wants, or even getting what he wants, and then treating and spending his men for himself, instead he honors them and worships the Lord for the kind of devotion that they just showed, for the kind of sacrifice and the kind of love that they just showed.
[00:26:06] Now that is a good thing. And it's a model of what Jesus does for us.
[00:26:12] Uriah is the flip side opposite of that.
[00:26:16] Instead of honoring their service and honoring their sacrifice, he spends Uriah just for something he longs for, just for something he wants.
[00:26:30] The contrast of these things in the midst of all of these men bring us to focus on Jesus as this warrior king, in contrast to David and what he does.
[00:26:45] The question that we're left with at the end of second Samuel is, will there ever be a king who can actually be the kind of king that God promised? A king who is truly righteous, A king who can truly bring a lasting peace. A king who will treat those whom he rules with fairness and justice and will honor them for their works?
[00:27:11] Well, the answer is yes, God will do this. And the answer is yes, because it depends not on man, but on God.
[00:27:20] If we were hoping for this promise to be filled, just waiting for the best guy to show up and finally live like he ought to live, Everyone, every man who we would hope in has always been born in sin.
[00:27:40] Jesus is different though.
[00:27:42] In Jesus God comes in the flesh.
[00:27:46] He comes without sin, but into a sinful world.
[00:27:52] He comes without sin and he comes with perfect righteousness. And then he lives a life of perfect righteousness as a man.
[00:28:01] And so God does provide a king.
[00:28:04] He provides one who would be David's son, who would overcome his enemies not by spending people's blood for his own benefit, but by what?
[00:28:15] By pouring out his own blood and his own life for us.
[00:28:23] And the blood of Christ, which He self sacrificially gives for us, not only achieves victory over the enemies, removing the sting out of death, putting Satan to shame and all the authorities and powers, but that blood also atones for all the times that we have spent other people for, for our own lusts.
[00:28:55] Jesus not only saves us from people that would do this to us, from rulers and other people with authority of us who would spend us just for their own desires. He not only saves us from that, but he also saves us from the times that we have done that to the others. The times we've been David to Uriah and to Bathsheba when we see that in Jesus, we find that there is freedom under this king that is unlike freedom we will ever experience and can ever experience anywhere else.
[00:29:33] Because Jesus allows us freedom not only from the sins that we've committed. He gives forgiveness to us as he gave it to David regarding Uriah and Bathsheba, but He also protects us from the people that would do this from do these kinds of things to us, and promises not only to save us from death itself, but to overcome these things and cast all of his enemies and our enemies into a lake of fire to burn forever totally separate from us, that we might be safe and secure, everlasting in his protective care.
[00:30:10] Jesus never took, never gave in to sinful lusts. He never took sinful shortcuts just to get even good things he wanted. And he was always fully devoted to the Lord.
[00:30:26] And so I want to finish by reading about our King From Revelation, chapter 19.
[00:30:36] Read 11 through 16 as we hear about our Divine warrior king and his righteousness and his faithfulness and his truth.
[00:30:47] Then I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and one sitting on it called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war.
[00:30:57] His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems. And he has the name written that no one knows but him.
[00:31:06] He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.
[00:31:14] Quick pause. David was the Lord of hosts, the Lord of armies, but not like Jesus.
[00:31:21] Verse 14. The armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses.
[00:31:30] From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of fury of the wrath. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
[00:31:45] On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
[00:31:56] That's your warrior King.
[00:31:59] That's why you're free.
[00:32:01] That's why you are free to love him, to serve others, free to die, and one day will freely rise from the dead into the great eternal kingdom secured for you by your King.
[00:32:16] Let's pray.
[00:32:18] Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for the great work that you did in David and his mighty men and in all the benefits your people received through that work. But we know that much more is promised for us and that these things only hint at the promises that are to come on the last day.
[00:32:38] We thank you Lord, that the work of Christ has already begun on the cross and that you have conquered our hearts. You have loved us unto life. And we ask that you would continue doing so and that you would do this forever.
[00:32:54] Lord, we ask that as we are strengthened in you, as we come to know the depths of your love and your power and your grace, that you would help us to call out onto you in every time of need.
[00:33:07] And we pray this in Jesus name, amen.
