1 00:00:00,840 --> 00:00:05,160 #211 is a song of invitation and we're so thankful for everybody 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,400 who has made it here this morning to worship God. 3 00:00:07,760 --> 00:00:09,360 We have a lot to be thankful for. 4 00:00:09,360 --> 00:00:10,920 We have a lot of answered prayers. 5 00:00:11,600 --> 00:00:14,200 There's people here that are back with us that haven't been 6 00:00:14,200 --> 00:00:16,800 with us in a in some time. We're so thankful that they were 7 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,920 able to make it back with us. And it's as Frank mentioned also 8 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:22,440 as well. It's so thankful to see the 9 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:25,080 visitors that we have with us. And you're welcome back each and 10 00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:26,680 every time you have the opportunity. 11 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:31,480 I invite you to open the Second Samuel, chapter 15. 12 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:33,960 If you want to follow along in your Bible, I'll have the 13 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:36,280 scriptures up here on the screen as well. 14 00:00:36,280 --> 00:00:39,720 If you want to follow along, I'm going to read the entire 15 00:00:39,760 --> 00:00:43,240 chapter, but we're not going to get through the whole chapter, 16 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:44,840 but I want to go ahead and read it. 17 00:00:44,880 --> 00:00:48,520 And we're actually in our reading in the afternoons. 18 00:00:49,080 --> 00:00:53,120 We're in Second Samuel or few couple chapters behind this. 19 00:00:53,560 --> 00:01:00,400 So it's some really intriguing stories that we can see in the 20 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:06,120 life of David and his sons. So beginning in verse one of 21 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:10,320 second Samuel 15, it says there after this it happened that 22 00:01:10,320 --> 00:01:15,280 Absalom provided himself with Chariots and horses and 50 men 23 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,760 to run before him. Now Absalom would rise early and 24 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:20,600 stand beside the way of the gate. 25 00:01:21,040 --> 00:01:24,760 So it was when everyone, when anyone who had a lawsuit came to 26 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,560 the king for a decision that Absalom would call him to him 27 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,920 and say, what city are you from? And he would say your servant is 28 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:34,920 from such and such tribe of Israel. 29 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:39,280 Then Absalom would say to him, look, your case is good and 30 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,360 right, but there's no deputy of the king to hear you. 31 00:01:42,960 --> 00:01:47,200 Moreover, Absalom would say, Oh, that I were made judge in the 32 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:50,640 land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me. 33 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:55,120 Then I would give him justice. And so it was when anyone, so it 34 00:01:55,120 --> 00:01:58,320 was whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, that he would 35 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,720 put out his hand and take him and kiss him. 36 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,480 In this manner Absalom acted toward all Israel who came to 37 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:08,639 the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of 38 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,080 the men of Israel. Now a messenger came to David, 39 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:14,880 saying, The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom. 40 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,720 So David said to all his servants who were with him at 41 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:21,640 Jerusalem, Arise, let us flee, or we shall not escape from 42 00:02:21,640 --> 00:02:25,280 Absalom. Make haste to depart, lest he 43 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:28,880 overtake us suddenly and bring disaster upon us, and strike the 44 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,200 city with the edge of the sword. And the King's servant said to 45 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:35,760 the king, We are your servants, ready to do whatever, my Lord, 46 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:38,720 the king commands. Then the king went out with all 47 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:40,760 his household after him, but left. 48 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:45,320 But but the king left ten women concubines to keep the house. 49 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:49,240 And the king went out with all the people after him and stopped 50 00:02:49,240 --> 00:02:52,200 at the outskirts. Then all the servants, all his 51 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,840 servants passed before him, and all the Cherithites, and all the 52 00:02:56,080 --> 00:03:00,080 Pelathites and all the Gaitites. 600 men who had followed him 53 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:02,360 from Gath passed before the king. 54 00:03:02,920 --> 00:03:07,320 Then the king said to Itaya the Gaitite, why are you also going 55 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,840 with us? Return and remain with the king, 56 00:03:10,320 --> 00:03:14,080 for you are a foreigner and also in exile from your own place. 57 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,200 In fact, you came only yesterday. 58 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:18,680 Should I make you wander up and down with us today? 59 00:03:18,680 --> 00:03:21,360 Since I go, so I go and I know not where. 60 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:23,560 Return and take your brethren back. 61 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:27,320 Mercy and truth be with you. But it's I answered the king and 62 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:32,040 said, as the Lord lives and as my Lord the King lives, surely 63 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:36,640 in whatever place my Lord the King shall be, whether in death 64 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:39,640 or in life, even there also your servant will be. 65 00:03:40,200 --> 00:03:44,480 So David said to Itaya, Go and crossover, then it's higher to 66 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:46,600 get tight. And all his men and all the 67 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,960 little ones who were with him crossed over, and all the 68 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,480 country wept with a loud voice. And all the people crossed over. 69 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:56,520 And the king himself also crossed over the book Brooke 70 00:03:56,520 --> 00:03:59,080 Kidron. And all the people crossed over 71 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:03,920 the way of the wilderness. There was Zadok also, and all 72 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,240 the Levites with him bearing the ark of the Covenant of God, and 73 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,600 they set down the ark of God, and Avatar went up until all the 74 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:13,880 people had finished crossing over from the city. 75 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,040 Then the king said to Zadok, Carry the Ark of God back into 76 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:20,519 the city. If I find favour in the eyes of 77 00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:23,640 the Lord, he will bring me back and show me both it and his 78 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:27,040 dwelling place. But if he says thus, I have no 79 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,840 delight in you, here I am. Let him do to me as seems good 80 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:35,240 to him. The king also said to Zadok the 81 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,600 priest, Are you not a seer? Return to the city in peace, and 82 00:04:39,600 --> 00:04:43,920 your two sons with you, Amas your son, and Jonathan the son 83 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:47,080 of Abathar. See, I will wait in the plains 84 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:51,600 of the wilderness until until word comes back from you in the 85 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:55,880 form to inform me. Therefore Zadok and Abathar 86 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:59,520 carry the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and it remained 87 00:04:59,520 --> 00:05:02,960 there. So David went up by the ascent 88 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,800 of the Mount of Olives and wept as he went up, and he had his 89 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,160 head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with 90 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:14,040 him covered their heads and went up weeping as they went up. 91 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:19,880 Then someone told David saying, A Hippothel is among the 92 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,600 conspirators with Absalom. And David said, Oh Lord, I pray 93 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:26,480 turn the counsel of the Hippothel into foolishness. 94 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,440 Now it happened when David had come to the top of the mountain 95 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,640 where he worshipped God, there was there was Hushai, the 96 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:38,640 archive coming to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his 97 00:05:38,640 --> 00:05:40,800 head. David said to him, If you go on 98 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,320 with me, then you will become a burden to me. 99 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:47,440 But if you return to the city, say and say to Absalom, I will 100 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:51,160 be your servant, O King, as I, as I was your father's servant 101 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,760 previously, so I will now be also be your servant. 102 00:05:55,760 --> 00:06:01,640 Then you may defeat the counsel of a Hippothel and do not have 103 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,440 Zadok and Avatar the priest with you there. 104 00:06:04,680 --> 00:06:07,680 Therefore it will be that whenever you hear the from the 105 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:11,080 King's house, you shall tell Zadok and Avatar the priests. 106 00:06:11,560 --> 00:06:15,440 Indeed, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimas, 107 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:18,520 Zadok's son, and Jonathan, Avatar's son. 108 00:06:19,040 --> 00:06:21,560 And by them you shall send me everything you hear. 109 00:06:21,880 --> 00:06:26,600 So Hushai, David's friend, went into the city and Absalom came 110 00:06:26,680 --> 00:06:33,760 to Jerusalem. So as we have been reading 111 00:06:34,160 --> 00:06:38,400 recently of the king, of the story of King David and learning 112 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:42,600 of his journey to the king of Israel after a man, after God's 113 00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:45,720 heart, as he's described, the story we've been reading 114 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:47,800 together is also the story of God, kind of. 115 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:51,920 He's really setting King David in place, setting him on a holy 116 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:52,840 hill. If you want to say as a 117 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:58,720 psalmist, put it in IN26 Psalm 26, I put the House of David 118 00:06:58,720 --> 00:07:00,760 here, the family tree. I was trying to wrap my head 119 00:07:00,760 --> 00:07:03,640 around just reading the scripture of everybody that's 120 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,880 associated with David and I needed something on paper if you 121 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:09,680 want to say to look at it. So it's going to be up there 122 00:07:09,680 --> 00:07:12,640 just for a couple minutes so you can kind of just look at it. 123 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,240 But along the journey of David's life, they've begun, you know, 124 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,480 things have become to start Creek and crumble. 125 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,680 If you want to say, now we've discovered that his Kingdom that 126 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:27,400 has been promised to David is at least on shaky ground and a 127 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:29,520 collapse seems almost inevitable. 128 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:32,680 And not simply a collapse because of result of what's 129 00:07:32,680 --> 00:07:35,000 going on outside of the king, but really what's going on 130 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,000 inside of his Kingdom is where the collapse is really going to 131 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,000 happen. And Amnon has been killed by 132 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:45,320 Absalom and Absalom has been away for a while in hiding, and 133 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,080 now he has returned to Jerusalem. 134 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:53,800 The Bible takes really a slight shift here on the focus of who's 135 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,280 who they're talking about here in Second Samuel. 136 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,120 The focus has shifted really from David and now it's shifting 137 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:01,800 over towards Absalom a little bit. 138 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:04,440 And so Absalom is now the focus of things. 139 00:08:04,440 --> 00:08:08,040 He's actually made the focus if we read back in chapter 13 one, 140 00:08:08,640 --> 00:08:11,400 but it begins, it says now Absalom, David's son had a 141 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,320 beautiful sister. And that's really the 142 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:18,360 introduction for a long section where it's kind of focused on 143 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:20,720 Absalom. And it of course it was. 144 00:08:20,720 --> 00:08:25,040 We'll get through our study ends in the tragic death of Absalom 145 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:30,400 himself. He had been her. 146 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:37,280 Absalom had himself actually is really quite a patient man in 147 00:08:37,280 --> 00:08:40,120 some respects. He had waited for two years to 148 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:45,880 avenge the rape of his of Tamar, his sister, and then he had 149 00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:49,560 managed to spend three years in the company of his maternal 150 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,080 grandfather. And he returned then to 151 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:57,480 Jerusalem and he was able to wait for two years before he got 152 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:00,040 to meet back with David, his father. 153 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:06,160 And although that at the end of chapter 14 and Second Samuel, 154 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,760 you'll see that it ended with a kiss from David to his son 155 00:09:09,760 --> 00:09:13,600 Absalom. And even though it ended with 156 00:09:13,600 --> 00:09:17,560 that kiss, I think we can see that there is a large, large gap 157 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:23,680 between David the king, and Absalom, his son trying to be a 158 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:26,280 pretender to the throne. There's a significant gap there, 159 00:09:26,280 --> 00:09:28,360 even though they had that kiss at the end of, you know, 160 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,920 basically David was welcoming back into Jerusalem. 161 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,240 And if you go back into chapters 13 and 14, if you read those, 162 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:39,560 they're really a prelude to what we now discover, of course, in 163 00:09:39,560 --> 00:09:42,880 chapter 15. And so now the focus is really 164 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:44,680 entirely on Absalom at this point. 165 00:09:45,680 --> 00:09:49,160 And as about we're about to discover, that's exactly the way 166 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,200 Absalom wanted it. He wanted all the attention, he 167 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,880 wanted all the focus, and he's going to go ahead and get it. 168 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:56,960 It was going to suit his purpose. 169 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,560 So there's three points that I want to make that help me guide 170 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,080 through these first 12/12/13 verses we're going to cover this 171 00:10:05,080 --> 00:10:09,560 morning. Absalom's persona, Absalom is 172 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:14,880 his politics and Absalom's plot. So I want to see if I can do 173 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:16,960 this chapter some justice. Like I said, we're only going to 174 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,400 get through half of this chapter, and my intent is to to 175 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,880 continue this study all the way through Absalom's death in the 176 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:31,200 upcoming months. So Absalom's persona we're 177 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:36,920 given, his public image is really distinct from his private 178 00:10:36,920 --> 00:10:40,200 character. His public image is distinctly 179 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:41,880 different from his private character. 180 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,360 And that ought to give us an immediate cause for concern, 181 00:10:45,360 --> 00:10:51,280 because back in Samuel 1425, it says that there wasn't a man and 182 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,040 all of Israel who was talked about as Absalom when it came to 183 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:56,760 being handsome, when it came to having good looks, when it came 184 00:10:56,760 --> 00:10:59,240 to be having a striking personality, Absalom was that 185 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:02,640 guy. In fact, the the the writer of, 186 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,040 of Samuel tells us that there wasn't a blemish on him from 187 00:11:06,040 --> 00:11:09,720 head to toe. Everything apparently was as 188 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:14,200 perfect as it could be. And he had a peculiarly 189 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:16,480 peculiar, Well, I'm going to say the word 1. 190 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:22,400 He, his hair was very distinct that he had very distinct. 191 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:24,720 And it's so much, it was a feature of him that a 192 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:27,600 description that they say that every once a year he would cut 193 00:11:27,600 --> 00:11:31,280 his hair. And there was, they said 200 194 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,840 shekels of hair. And if you weigh that out to 195 00:11:35,000 --> 00:11:38,120 pounds, that's 5 lbs of hair they would cut off every year 196 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:42,640 off of his head. That's a lot of hair. 197 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,640 I, I, I asked Lizzy, I said, how much do you think of 5 lbs of 198 00:11:45,640 --> 00:11:47,560 hair issues? That is a lot of hair. 199 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:50,560 A lot. I mean, I can't imagine this 200 00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:56,560 picture, that this is an AI produced picture and there's a 201 00:11:56,560 --> 00:12:01,520 lot of hair on that guy's head and but you can imagine how that 202 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,760 would be 5 lbs of hair. Now with that as a description 203 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:10,720 of his physical frame, when you read and look at 15, the first 204 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:17,080 verse in chapter 15, it says after this, after this, well, 205 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,920 after what? After what? 206 00:12:20,840 --> 00:12:23,320 I don't that doesn't give us a time frame which, you know, 207 00:12:23,600 --> 00:12:27,120 something happened before. So after at least some measure 208 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:31,600 maybe of reconciliation with his father, after he had met up with 209 00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,960 David, after there had been a kiss as a symbol of that 210 00:12:33,960 --> 00:12:37,320 reconciliation. After that it says then he got 211 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:41,720 himself a chariot. And I thought that was kind of 212 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:43,960 amazing. You know, it almost seems kind 213 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:46,160 of funny or comical. You know, Absalom got himself a 214 00:12:46,160 --> 00:12:47,200 chariot. Well, why is that? 215 00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:50,800 OK, the King's son got himself some Chariots. 216 00:12:52,040 --> 00:12:54,040 You know, you you can see Absalom saying, you know what 217 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:55,160 I'm going to do? I'm going to go get some 218 00:12:55,160 --> 00:12:56,640 Chariots. I'm going to go ahead and do 219 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:58,080 that. And I'm going to go ahead and 220 00:12:58,080 --> 00:13:01,240 get 50 men to run before me. You know, I'm going to go ahead 221 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,840 and try try riding a chariot. I want to be that guy. 222 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:06,800 I want to be, I want to look like the king and ride on that 223 00:13:06,800 --> 00:13:09,480 chariot and and think high of myself. 224 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:10,800 You know, that would look really good. 225 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,400 And we'll have maybe we'll get some horses, you know, and let's 226 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,360 have 50 men right out before me. And then everybody could kind of 227 00:13:17,360 --> 00:13:20,000 say, you know, here comes Absalom on his Chariots. 228 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:24,960 You know what he is doing? He's really absolute. 229 00:13:25,240 --> 00:13:27,120 Absalom is building in his own image. 230 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:30,520 He's establishing his brand. If you want to say he is making 231 00:13:30,520 --> 00:13:33,600 sure that he has style in the way that he looks, in the way 232 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:36,600 that he is. So the Chariots, what were the 233 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:38,120 Chariots for? The Chariots were for style. 234 00:13:38,120 --> 00:13:41,440 If you want to say he was flexing, if you will, you know, 235 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:45,040 as the King's son. So we're not too far from this. 236 00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:46,880 You know, we see the cult of celebrity. 237 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,320 It's not something that is just out there in the social media 238 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:51,720 world. You know, the cult of celebrity 239 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,840 we can see actually in in is out there. 240 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:59,600 You know, we see false preachers and false doctrines being taught 241 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,520 where they want the spotlight on the preacher, not on the word of 242 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,640 God, you know, so that celebratism is out there. 243 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,440 And in chapter 8 of First Samuel, Samuel's response to the 244 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,720 desire of the on the part of the people for a king, you remember 245 00:14:12,720 --> 00:14:16,320 that Samuel was not crazy on that idea of the people wanting 246 00:14:16,320 --> 00:14:18,800 their own king. He didn't like that idea. 247 00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:22,760 He was a judge and so on. And and on that occasion, he 248 00:14:22,760 --> 00:14:25,640 issues a warning to the people. He says, you know, if you want 249 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,720 to follow through on this key and have a king like all the 250 00:14:28,760 --> 00:14:30,920 other nations, because that's what they wanted, that's the 251 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:32,720 key. They wanted a king just like 252 00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:37,280 everybody else. They wanted to be like the other 253 00:14:37,280 --> 00:14:39,320 nations of the world. He said if you get a king like 254 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:43,280 the other nations, and if you read First Samuel 8 verse 11, it 255 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:46,360 says then you will need to know this, that he will have Chariots 256 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:51,120 and horsemen to run before him. And the Chariots that Absalom 257 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,640 was taking was actually came from King David's spoils of war 258 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:59,160 earlier in. He was, David was just setting 259 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:06,480 those aside for the time being. There was actually no specific 260 00:15:06,480 --> 00:15:10,040 use for Chariots in that, in that area that we're at in the 261 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:12,640 area of Jerusalem, it's really hilly, really rocky. 262 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:17,840 You know, riding a chariot was really not a good thing to do 263 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,120 and couldn't be done in that area. 264 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:26,880 But Samuel issued the warning and we find that Absalom is on 265 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,800 the wrong side of We can read in Psalm 27 it says some trust in 266 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,000 Chariots and some trust in horses, but we trust in the name 267 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,200 of the Lord our God. And Absalom is on the wrong side 268 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,360 of that fence, building his persona. 269 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:47,240 And really we get to Absalom's politics because he is a 270 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:50,880 politician at the core. He really is a good politician, 271 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:52,640 some may say. There's no question about it. 272 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,400 And depending on the perspective that we look, and there's more 273 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:59,160 to him than just simply creating news about him, if you want to 274 00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:01,600 say. And his his, his main objective 275 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,160 was to assert the role and the rule of his father. 276 00:16:06,880 --> 00:16:09,480 He wanted to take over that and be the king himself. 277 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:12,440 He wanted to see him in the position of king of Israel. 278 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:16,560 And we'll notice that in verse 7, we're told again of his 279 00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:21,560 patients that it was displayed because for 40 years he had been 280 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,800 working to build this case. And that doesn't just pop out of 281 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,200 nowhere where he gets a chariot and decides it's time to go. 282 00:16:28,320 --> 00:16:32,280 It's over a period of time of 40 years that he was working the 283 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:36,000 crowd, laying the foundation, putting people in place, if you 284 00:16:36,000 --> 00:16:39,840 want to say he was preparing for this opportunity. 285 00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:44,800 And we're told what he does in verse 2, whenever the people 286 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:49,160 came out to the city gate, which was the place where the king 287 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:53,960 would execute judgments, as we learn in the Old Testament, he 288 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,000 would deal with matters of justice and so on. 289 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,040 Absalom decides, well, you know, I'm going to go ahead and do 290 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:00,080 that. I'm going to sit at the city 291 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:04,680 gates and I'll position myself there and I'll, they'll have to 292 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:06,319 come through me. And so when that people are 293 00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:09,359 coming looking for judgment, looking for a king, I'm going to 294 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:10,960 intercept those people coming in. 295 00:17:12,839 --> 00:17:17,280 And that's exactly what he does. He says them, he says to them, 296 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,480 from what city are you? And that's in verse 2 that we 297 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:23,319 can read. And when they answered that he 298 00:17:23,319 --> 00:17:26,200 would say to them, well, you know, you have a very strong 299 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:29,840 case, but you know what, you only have a slim chance of 300 00:17:29,840 --> 00:17:32,640 getting any any resolution to it because there's nobody here. 301 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:35,200 There's no deputy. The Bible says that can hear 302 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:37,040 your case that can give you resolution. 303 00:17:37,720 --> 00:17:44,320 And he says, however, if only I were to become now I want to 304 00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:48,800 notice very carefully. He doesn't say, oh, if if only I 305 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:51,640 were to become the king. He doesn't say that. 306 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:56,200 He says only that I were made judge in the land. 307 00:17:57,520 --> 00:18:00,280 Well, the only one judge that it is the king. 308 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:02,680 So he knows what he's exactly saying. 309 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:06,040 He's saying if only I were to become judge and I'd be able to 310 00:18:06,040 --> 00:18:07,880 settle all matters fair and square. 311 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,840 And so we can understand what what's going on here. 312 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:16,240 We don't you know, we you can you can breed a seed of 313 00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,880 discontent and then you can offer your hand to resolve that 314 00:18:19,880 --> 00:18:22,320 discontent at the same time. And that's exactly what Absalom 315 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:27,640 was doing. Well, some people love this so 316 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:29,400 much that we're coming through the gate. 317 00:18:30,040 --> 00:18:34,200 They began to pay him homage. And whenever a man in verse 5, 318 00:18:34,200 --> 00:18:37,200 it says, whenever a man came near to pay homage to him, he 319 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:40,040 would say, oh, don't do that. Let me, he says. 320 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:45,160 I'm going to, I'm going to. I'm going to go to you, he says. 321 00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:47,760 Now I'm going to be, he wants to be a man of the people. 322 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,280 If you want to say you don't need to be, bow down before me. 323 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,520 Come and shake my hand. Let me give you a kiss and a hug 324 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,320 instead. And the people begin to say, 325 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,960 well, this is a nice guy coming to us, shaking our hand, giving 326 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:02,480 us hugs and kisses. He's not like the other ones. 327 00:19:02,640 --> 00:19:05,200 We can never actually see the other guy who's supposed to be 328 00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:06,520 doing this. The King's never here. 329 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:08,720 King David's never here. I don't know where he is, but 330 00:19:08,720 --> 00:19:11,600 he's always out. And, you know, but he's, we're 331 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:13,360 actually, we're told what's really going on. 332 00:19:13,360 --> 00:19:17,040 In the final sentence of verse 6, it says Absalom stole the 333 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,200 hearts of men in Israel, of Israel. 334 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:22,720 That's what he set out to do. And that's what happened. 335 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:25,680 And he's successfully doing that. 336 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:30,360 So as the persona is established, his politics are 337 00:19:30,360 --> 00:19:32,840 fairly straightforward and not unusual. 338 00:19:33,120 --> 00:19:35,880 And the plot is then given to us in verse 7 and following. 339 00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:42,440 And we'll notice that it's at the end of 40 years, 40 years 340 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:47,640 which time he's been able to sow seeds of discord and discontent. 341 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:51,600 40 years during which he's had enough time, if you like, to 342 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:55,400 turn his resentment, if you want to say, into courage. 343 00:19:55,960 --> 00:20:00,520 Previously had he had waited 2 full years in Second Samuel, 14 344 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:05,880 and 28 to to finally finagle a situation to where he got into 345 00:20:05,880 --> 00:20:10,120 the presence of King David. And now 40 years have elapsed. 346 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,160 And now he comes to tell David, the king, that he made a promise 347 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:17,920 to God and he made a vow. And it's really quite 348 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:21,920 surprising. You know, if if I were David and 349 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,120 my son came to me and said, you know, I made a vow to God 40 350 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:28,320 years ago that I'm going to do such and such, well, I think I 351 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:31,200 would have said, or any parent would have said 40 years ago, 352 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:34,760 why in the world are you taking so long to do what you made a 353 00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:37,560 vow to do? You know, I would think there'd 354 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:42,600 be some resistance from David or some, some sort of lashing from 355 00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,000 words or correction or something like that, that that David would 356 00:20:46,000 --> 00:20:51,160 have done to Absalom. But you know, 40 years before 357 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:54,880 you fulfill a vow. But we as we read, there's no 358 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:57,760 pushback from David, none at all. 359 00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:03,400 And it's interesting actually, because back in the sheep 360 00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:06,920 shearer's incident, where where if you read back in chapter 13, 361 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,600 David kind of holds him back a little bit and says, now wait a 362 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,840 minute, you know, hang on, if we can read that in Second Samuel 363 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:15,320 1326. But in this case, David didn't 364 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:17,520 say much of any questioning at all to Absalom. 365 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:22,760 So why Hebron? He had to go back to Hebron. 366 00:21:23,360 --> 00:21:25,920 That's where he said, well, Hebron had a history. 367 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,400 Hebron was the royal city before Jerusalem. 368 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:34,320 Hebron is the Abraham's base. Hebron is where David was first 369 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:38,760 anointed king. It's where Caleb's inheritance 370 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:41,680 was the city of refuge. There's many things that 371 00:21:41,680 --> 00:21:45,320 happened in Hebron and Absalom knows exactly what he's doing 372 00:21:45,520 --> 00:21:47,920 back in Hebron. He can make an approach and 373 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:52,760 establish a base in a way that he desperately wants to do and 374 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:56,160 what he's actually going to do. In verses 8 and 9 where he says 375 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,040 For your servant took a vow while I dwelt in Gesher and 376 00:21:59,040 --> 00:22:03,920 Syria saying if the Lord indeed brings me back to Jerusalem, he 377 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:09,000 says he says then I will serve the Lord. 378 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:15,120 And what he's actually doing here, he's actually taking the 379 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,360 the the name of the Lord in vain is what he's doing. 380 00:22:22,360 --> 00:22:26,080 If I'm correct. And I've read a couple scholars 381 00:22:26,080 --> 00:22:27,680 on that so you guys can check if you want. 382 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:31,880 But I believe this is the last time he ever mentions God for 383 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:36,560 the rest of his life. And unfortunately he does it so 384 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:39,760 deviously. He takes the name, his name in 385 00:22:39,760 --> 00:22:41,640 vain. Now the response of David is 386 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:46,160 striking. Verse 9, he says it says go in 387 00:22:46,160 --> 00:22:52,280 peace, go in peace. And this is either an expression 388 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:56,560 of a trusting father to his son, the trusting nature of David's 389 00:22:56,560 --> 00:23:00,080 character, or perhaps he's just weary of the whole procedure, if 390 00:23:00,080 --> 00:23:03,120 you want to say, or that he's supremely confident in his 391 00:23:03,120 --> 00:23:07,360 position. I think either reason, you know, 392 00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:08,600 maybe you could say is acceptable. 393 00:23:08,600 --> 00:23:11,560 But he says go in peace. Something else that's 394 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:16,240 interesting is these are the last record of words of David to 395 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:21,760 his son Absalom. Last record of words says go in 396 00:23:21,760 --> 00:23:23,760 peace. And how ironic that he would be 397 00:23:23,760 --> 00:23:27,960 invited to go on peace when actually he was going to do what 398 00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:30,520 he was going to make war and not love. 399 00:23:32,120 --> 00:23:35,200 And we'll notice that he is strategically strategic in what 400 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:39,240 he's doing in verse 10, Absalom sent spies throughout all the 401 00:23:39,240 --> 00:23:44,400 tribes of Israel. So he's working the system. 402 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:47,800 He's making it secure that when the right moment comes, when the 403 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:52,480 when the when everything's set in place, he can blow the 404 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:55,720 trumpets if you want to say and cry and go out through all and 405 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,760 and everybody can say Absalom is king and he in Hebron, he's 406 00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:02,680 setting it all up. So he's working the system, 407 00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:05,880 making himself secure. He takes with him, we're told in 408 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:10,680 verse 11200 men from Jerusalem who were invited guests. 409 00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,040 They went in their innocence and they knew nothing. 410 00:24:14,040 --> 00:24:15,720 They knew nothing of the plan at all. 411 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:17,640 They knew nothing of what Absalom was doing. 412 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:20,480 But it was also of look, it would have looked good, of 413 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:22,680 course, for Absalom. Again, you know, having all 414 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,720 these people come with him. It looked like he would have a 415 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:30,720 real band of supporters. If you want to say and then to 416 00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:37,920 add to all the corruption he is managed, we see in verse 12 a 417 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:41,680 hippophile, the Gilanite. What happened? 418 00:24:41,840 --> 00:24:47,720 A hippophile the Gilanite was actually David's counselor. 419 00:24:48,800 --> 00:24:52,800 He was one of the key players in in the David's strategy. 420 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:59,120 He was Bathsheba's grandfather. And how it is that a Hippothel 421 00:24:59,120 --> 00:25:02,880 makes the shift from being a key commander or a key counsel maybe 422 00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:08,360 to David, he makes that shift to being part of this insurrection. 423 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,640 It's pretty amazing. It remains a question that we're 424 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,240 not going to know because, you know, we can think of maybe a 425 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:18,600 Hippothel resented the fact that David, the king who's supposed 426 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:21,120 to execute justice, did exactly the opposite. 427 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,400 He did nothing to execute justice because if remember that 428 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:28,520 what David did to Bathsheba's husband, he had him killed for 429 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,480 to cover up his own sin. We can read that back in Chapter 430 00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:34,360 11. In fact, what he executed was 431 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:38,440 very reverse and and in the impact it had on a Hippothel's 432 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:42,520 family was going to be felt for a very, very long time. 433 00:25:43,680 --> 00:25:45,200 So maybe that's the reason we don't know. 434 00:25:45,840 --> 00:25:53,120 So those are the 1st 13 verses. Hippothel gives his skills, all 435 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:56,960 of his experience, all that had been so valued by David and puts 436 00:25:56,960 --> 00:26:00,440 it at the disposal of Absalom and the rebellion. 437 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,120 So what's the response? What's David's reaction to 438 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:10,280 what's starting to happen here? And if we're reading this 439 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:16,800 through from the first time, you know, we can, we're kind of on 440 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:18,280 the edge of what David's going to do. 441 00:26:18,280 --> 00:26:20,720 You know, you would think David would would put an end to that 442 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:22,080 real quickly. But we're going to see 443 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:26,240 differently what happens here. And he says in verse 14, we're 444 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:30,120 told that David issues the command arise, let us flee. 445 00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:35,400 Arise and let us flee. Now, I don't want us to lose 446 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,160 sight that David knew exactly where his security lay. 447 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:44,600 He knew exactly knew that his his security didn't lie in the 448 00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:47,760 cedar house that he had built for himself, which is what he 449 00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:51,720 was going to leave behind. His security didn't lie in the 450 00:26:51,720 --> 00:26:55,520 really nice house that he had. It didn't lie in the mountain of 451 00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:59,080 the Lord. It it didn't. 452 00:26:59,280 --> 00:27:04,600 In fact, we can read in the third Psalm it says because 453 00:27:05,120 --> 00:27:13,040 there it's a cross French reference. 454 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:17,480 If you want to say he knows where his confidence lay, we can 455 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:19,000 find it out. David writes it there. 456 00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,720 This is David writing about him fleeing from Absalom. 457 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:26,760 So if there's any doubt, it says, Lord, how have they 458 00:27:26,760 --> 00:27:29,920 increased to trouble me? Many are who rise up against me. 459 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:33,800 Many are those are they who say to me, there is no help for him 460 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:35,880 and God, so where's the security? 461 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:42,880 He says, but you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and 462 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:47,640 the one who lifts up my head and you should say, well, OK, well, 463 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,760 that's enough, That's enough. That's all it should take, 464 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:52,760 right? Just having security in the 465 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:55,840 Lord, knowing the Lord who he is, He's a shield about us. 466 00:27:57,640 --> 00:27:59,560 It's not in our house. It's not in the mountain, Lord. 467 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,320 It's in the Lord. So why is David running if he's 468 00:28:02,320 --> 00:28:05,640 got that shield about him, if he knows where security is? 469 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,680 Well, I think the answer is because he's really sensible. 470 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:10,760 David understands what's going on. 471 00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:16,280 He still has his head about him. If you want to say he's saying 472 00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,440 you know, we need to get out of here because I know my son 473 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:22,560 absence coming for us and if we stay here, we're certainly going 474 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,080 to be overtaken. Remember, David is a military 475 00:28:25,080 --> 00:28:28,920 commander and he understands the art of war and all that goes 476 00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,880 along. He he knows that that we don't 477 00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:34,520 allow yourself to be trapped somewhere when forces are coming 478 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:36,800 against you. It's not sensible no matter how 479 00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:38,880 much you say the Lord is a shield about you. 480 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:45,680 Now listen, the Lord does not disengage our mind when he 481 00:28:45,680 --> 00:28:51,040 promises us security. He expects us to be reasonable 482 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:54,920 and sensible. He expects us to exercise our 483 00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:59,960 own wisdom that came from God in the 1st place. 484 00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:02,720 And that's exactly what David does. 485 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,840 You know, we, we just don't throw caution to the wind 486 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:07,960 because our, our security is in God. 487 00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:10,160 You know what He gave us the wisdom, He gave us knowledge, He 488 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,400 gave us experience so we can execute that for His glory. 489 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:17,160 And so he says we're going to prevent the possibility of us 490 00:29:17,160 --> 00:29:21,280 taking down all of us being taken down at the edge of the 491 00:29:21,280 --> 00:29:24,840 sword. And verses 14 and 15, his 492 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:29,520 servants respond to them saying we are ready to do whatever my 493 00:29:29,520 --> 00:29:33,720 Lord the king decides. And we might actually notice 494 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:39,200 that the emphasis on the word king here in these 3 verses, it 495 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,080 comes again and again and again. It says in the King's servant 496 00:29:43,080 --> 00:29:46,160 said to the king, We're your servants ready to do whatever my 497 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:50,040 Lord the king commands. Then the king went out with all 498 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:53,440 this household after him, but the king left ten women 499 00:29:53,440 --> 00:29:57,800 concubines to keep the house. And the king went out with all 500 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,200 the people after him and stopped at the outskirts. 501 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,920 So we need to remember that there's, when there's a 502 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:08,120 repetition of things that we're seeing in the Bible, we need to 503 00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:10,040 pay attention to those repetitions because they're 504 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:15,520 there for a reason. There's, there's, it helps us to 505 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,840 grasp things and says, remember, you know, as we're reading, you 506 00:30:18,840 --> 00:30:21,880 know, we need not to forget who the king is at this time. 507 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,480 It's King David. It's not absent yet. 508 00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,160 It's King David, the king, the king, the King David is the 509 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,440 king. He has been set by the Father, 510 00:30:30,440 --> 00:30:35,320 by God on his holy hill, and it is God who promised him a house. 511 00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,000 Second Samuel 7, verses 5:00 and 11:00. 512 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,880 This is paraphrase. It says you, you're concerned 513 00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:43,960 about a house for me. Well, I'll build a household for 514 00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:47,800 you is what God told David. We keep that in mind when we 515 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:51,560 look again at verse 16. It says the king went out with 516 00:30:51,560 --> 00:31:00,640 all his household after him. Well, the Lord had promised him 517 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:02,000 that he would build his household. 518 00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,400 And now it looks as though there's an entire household 519 00:31:05,640 --> 00:31:10,040 collapsing around him. One son is dead, the other one 520 00:31:10,040 --> 00:31:14,520 is seeking insurrection. And so he says, what we're going 521 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,760 to do is we're all going to going to, we're all going to go, 522 00:31:18,760 --> 00:31:20,840 but we'll leave these 10 concubines behind. 523 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:25,760 And that actually is a really bad decision on his part when 524 00:31:25,960 --> 00:31:27,600 especially related to Absalom in the future. 525 00:31:27,600 --> 00:31:29,880 We'll get to that. But actually the king goes out 526 00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,800 and all the people go after him. And we're beginning to actually 527 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,480 see the king, King David, in a way that he actually used to act 528 00:31:36,480 --> 00:31:38,600 before. He's becoming very decisive now. 529 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,720 Again, in all of his actions. What he knows that needs to be 530 00:31:41,720 --> 00:31:46,240 done, He he's he's done as well as a well, you know, he was a 531 00:31:46,240 --> 00:31:48,520 fugitive in the past. He did fine at that point. 532 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,440 He's not unaware of the wilderness, where he's going to 533 00:31:51,440 --> 00:31:52,880 go. He spent many times in the 534 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,560 wilderness and so on. And and they go on their way. 535 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:02,960 And then we're told in verse 17 it says and the king went out 536 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:06,400 with all the people after him and stopped at the outskirts. 537 00:32:07,920 --> 00:32:10,000 And that's an interesting little phrase, stopped at the 538 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:12,800 outskirts. Why would he stop at the last 539 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,440 house? This is King David exiting 540 00:32:15,440 --> 00:32:19,280 Jerusalem on his way to exile, knowing that Absalom is coming 541 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:22,960 to take over. So Dave is getting out of town. 542 00:32:22,960 --> 00:32:24,800 He's getting out of Dodge, if you want to say so. 543 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:29,560 He would stop at the outskirts. Some translations say the last 544 00:32:29,560 --> 00:32:33,640 house. Well, we're told they stopped in 545 00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:37,160 order that they may have, I think, what is called a military 546 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,040 parade. You know, we see in the 547 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:43,080 following verses here that it's exactly what's happening by far, 548 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:45,400 but at a higher, higher level. They're on the outskirts of 549 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:47,480 city. It's the Last Post if you like. 550 00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:50,920 And and so all of David's servants passed by him. 551 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:57,360 And we'll notice here who's in verse 18, the Cherithites, the 552 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,160 Palathites in the 600 of the of the Gitites from Gath. 553 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:12,320 Now in Gath is is another interesting city, David. 554 00:33:12,320 --> 00:33:15,520 When David was running away, he decided in first Samuel 21 555 00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:19,320 versus 10, he says if I go into any enemy territory, I'm going 556 00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:23,000 to be safer in enemy territory then I'm going to be here. 557 00:33:23,240 --> 00:33:27,400 So he escaped to enemy city and it was quite a move and clearly 558 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,000 it impressed many people. And during that time he picked 559 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,120 up many friends and established for himself a base that extended 560 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:36,240 beyond even the tribes of Israel. 561 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:40,320 He did that in Gal, and what we're looking at here is that 562 00:33:40,320 --> 00:33:42,880 these foreigners were now actually more faithful to the 563 00:33:42,880 --> 00:33:49,000 king than his King's own people. And the Kingdom is, his Kingdom 564 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,600 collapses and the foreigners are there to pick up the pieces if 565 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,120 you want to say they're there to support him. 566 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:58,800 Years after this, Isaiah is going to prophecy. 567 00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,280 We can see it in Isaiah chapter 2. 568 00:34:00,280 --> 00:34:03,760 Two of a day that will come when all the nations of the world 569 00:34:03,760 --> 00:34:06,040 will flow up to the mountain of God. 570 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,639 All the nations will flow up to the mountain of God. 571 00:34:12,320 --> 00:34:13,760 Your rivers don't flow up, right? 572 00:34:13,920 --> 00:34:17,639 Streams don't flow up. Streams flow downhill. 573 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,199 But it's an amazing picture that we can see running against the 574 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:24,280 tide of history. If you want to say running 575 00:34:24,280 --> 00:34:27,360 against the normal expectations, there will be it. 576 00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:30,120 There will come a day, says the prophet, when the nations of the 577 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:33,120 world will flow up to the place of God's authority. 578 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,000 And then if we go on, you know further in the Bible on 579 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:40,400 Bethlehem and follow Jesus as he moves around, we can hear him, 580 00:34:40,760 --> 00:34:44,239 you know, in Matthew talking to the centurion, he says, the 581 00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:45,679 centurion says, I need your help. 582 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,560 And Jesus responds to him. And the centurion says, you know 583 00:34:49,600 --> 00:34:53,440 Jesus, you can just say the word and it will be fine, and my 584 00:34:53,440 --> 00:34:57,280 servant will be healed. Because I have servants and. 585 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,720 I say, you know, to this guy, do this, this one, do that, and 586 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:03,080 they do it just because of who I am. 587 00:35:06,080 --> 00:35:08,520 And remember what Jesus says. His response to me says I've 588 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:12,640 never found a faith like this in all of Israel. 589 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:18,280 Matthew 88 through 10. It's a foreigner. 590 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,520 It's it's a person from the Roman army who's who's has this 591 00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,400 faith, not somebody from the tribe of Israel. 592 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,160 And then Jesus says in Matthew 8 and 10 says, truly, I tell you, 593 00:35:28,160 --> 00:35:31,680 I've not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 594 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:36,520 Verse 11. Says I say to you many listen, 595 00:35:36,520 --> 00:35:39,840 listen, I tell you, many will come from east and from West and 596 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:42,920 from the West, and reclined at the table with Abraham, Isaac, 597 00:35:42,920 --> 00:35:44,840 and Jacob in the Kingdom of heaven. 598 00:35:47,360 --> 00:35:49,240 Last point. I want to make here verse 9 599 00:35:49,640 --> 00:35:51,720 starting in verse 19. It tie the Gethite. 600 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:57,440 It tie the gethite. The king said to I tie the 601 00:35:57,440 --> 00:35:59,240 gethite. Why are you going with us 602 00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:02,600 speaking as a representative of the 600, basically saying 603 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:04,960 David's telling. This guy go. 604 00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:07,920 Back. Go back, you don't need. 605 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:13,080 To come with us. He says remain or. 606 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,120 Stay with the king, stay with the king. 607 00:36:15,120 --> 00:36:17,760 And of course, David's talking about Absalom. 608 00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:20,560 Stay with the king because that's who's going to be king 609 00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:23,400 very shortly. Verses 20 and 21 tells us that 610 00:36:23,400 --> 00:36:24,880 it's tied. To get tied is letting David 611 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:27,520 know that that David, you are the king. 612 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:29,560 I want to stay. With you. 613 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,920 You are the the King that God has set in place. 614 00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,760 And David said, well, not according to the people are 615 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:37,480 here. You know, Absalom is the future. 616 00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:39,400 Stay with the king. You're a foreigner. 617 00:36:39,400 --> 00:36:41,760 You're in exile. You've only just shown up. 618 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:43,720 You know I'm and now you're going to ask you to wander 619 00:36:43,720 --> 00:36:45,560 around with me and I don't even know where I'm going. 620 00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:51,960 I don't have no idea so. David again says go back, take 621 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:55,000 your brothers with you, that the Lord may show steadfast love and 622 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,680 faithfulness to you because that's what he needs. 623 00:36:58,360 --> 00:37:00,000 Stay here because you're going to get care. 624 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:02,600 You're going to get love. You need to know the covenant of 625 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:04,520 the love of God. You need to go to know God in a 626 00:37:04,520 --> 00:37:07,240 steadfast. You need to know that God is 627 00:37:07,240 --> 00:37:09,640 faithful. He's telling Hittite to stay in 628 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:15,720 place. We can kind of see. 629 00:37:15,720 --> 00:37:20,200 Here that maybe David's talking to himself a little bit. 630 00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:22,920 You know, if we know ourselves and we're trying to give 631 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,800 somebody advice on something or we try to press something on 632 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,280 somebody, you know, you need to do this, you need to do that, 633 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:31,560 you need to do this. You know, a lot of the times 634 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:36,840 we're telling ourselves the same thing, You know, maybe that's 635 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:38,080 what's going on. I don't know. 636 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:41,760 We made this, you know, we can say, hey, we're now we're in 637 00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:43,560 this predicament. There's no question about this. 638 00:37:43,560 --> 00:37:45,000 A lot of this is in my own doing. 639 00:37:45,240 --> 00:37:47,240 I made these foolish choices. I'm in this mess. 640 00:37:47,240 --> 00:37:52,920 But you are a faithful God. It's high, you need. 641 00:37:52,920 --> 00:37:56,320 To know that I'm concerned in time about your spiritual 642 00:37:56,320 --> 00:38:00,000 warfare, what David was telling him, but it's high in verse 21 643 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:06,560 said to the king, as the Lord lives and as my Lord king lives, 644 00:38:06,560 --> 00:38:09,880 surely in whatever place my Lord the king shall be, whether in 645 00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:13,440 death or life, even there also your servant will be. 646 00:38:14,840 --> 00:38:16,520 Verses 22 and 20. Three. 647 00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:20,960 And David says, well then in that case, go on, he says. 648 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,960 Come on then, if. That's the case, then. 649 00:38:23,960 --> 00:38:26,320 It's hard to get Titan. His men and all the little ones 650 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:30,840 we were with him crossed over, and all the country wept with a 651 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:32,800 loud voice, and all the people crossed over. 652 00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:35,880 The king himself also crossed over the Brook Kidron, and all 653 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,320 the people crossed over toward the way of the Wilderness. 654 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,600 Like I said, my intent. Is next month. 655 00:38:43,600 --> 00:38:47,920 It's to capture the second-half of this chapter, but I want us 656 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,040 to recognize maybe a little statement here. 657 00:38:50,600 --> 00:38:54,520 Sounds a lot like another person that we can read about. 658 00:38:54,520 --> 00:38:57,520 Not a man, but a lady Ruth the Moabite. 659 00:38:58,960 --> 00:39:02,120 Ruth the Moabite is Naomi. Says to her, go back, go back, 660 00:39:02,480 --> 00:39:04,760 you come with me. I'm triple bereaved. 661 00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:07,720 Go back is what Naomi tells Ruth. 662 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:10,080 And remember what Ruth said to her. 663 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:14,880 Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after 664 00:39:14,880 --> 00:39:17,600 thee. Wherever thou goest I will go, 665 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:19,840 and where thou dwellest I will dwell. 666 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:25,920 Thy people shall be my people, and thy God, my God, it's. 667 00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,520 How you saying the same? Thing I'm going to go with you 668 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:33,680 wherever you go, King David, no matter, no matter what, and I'm 669 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:37,760 going to trust in God because God has put you a king of Israel 670 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,520 and I'm going to follow you wherever are you trusting God in 671 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:46,200 our life and our family, our future, and that's the question. 672 00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:53,080 There's a little map up here of. Kind of the the. 673 00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:58,360 I guess the exile of. David, if you want to say I'll 674 00:39:58,400 --> 00:40:00,840 probably put this in some future ones, but it's just up there. 675 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:05,880 Shows how David gets on from Jerusalem and heads to Gilgal, 676 00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:10,240 crosses over the the Jordan and the Henan M and then the great 677 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:13,840 battle at the Forest of Ephraim. Will read about in the future. 678 00:40:17,000 --> 00:40:18,640 Maybe there's? One here who needs to hear the 679 00:40:18,640 --> 00:40:22,840 gospel plan of salvation. Hear the word. 680 00:40:22,840 --> 00:40:26,560 Of God Romans 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by 681 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,840 the word of God believe Hebrews 11/6. 682 00:40:29,840 --> 00:40:33,160 But without faith it is impossible to please him, for he 683 00:40:33,160 --> 00:40:35,560 who comes to God must believe that he is. 684 00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,560 Acts 238 teaches. Us that we need to repent it 685 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,880 says then Peter said repent and that everyone of you be baptized 686 00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:46,920 in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins confess 687 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:51,080 that Jesus is the Son of God. We see that in Acts 3836 and 37, 688 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:56,040 the the eunuch and went down into the water with a man and he 689 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:57,800 said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 690 00:40:57,800 --> 00:40:59,080 And they were baptized right there. 691 00:40:59,160 --> 00:41:02,480 He was baptized right there and baptized ISM of course. 692 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:05,400 And then and only then we come in contact with the blood of 693 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:08,400 Jesus Christ. Mark 1616 says he who believes 694 00:41:08,720 --> 00:41:13,560 and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will 695 00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,600 be condemned. Maybe there's one here who needs 696 00:41:16,600 --> 00:41:18,120 that. We can accommodate that very 697 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:20,760 quickly. Maybe there's one here who needs 698 00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:22,640 the prayers of the church or needs to make a public 699 00:41:22,640 --> 00:41:25,400 confession in any manner. We actually come while we stand, 700 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:26,040 while we see.