1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:03,600 Well, if you haven't been with us for the past few months, I've 2 00:00:03,600 --> 00:00:07,480 been going through some of the chapters in Second Samuel, 3 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:11,040 beginning with Absalom. David's sons revolt against him 4 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,560 beginning in about chapter 15. And we've been kind of going 5 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:17,640 through that, just kind of continued on going through these 6 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:22,400 chapters and the chaos. We've seen all the all the 7 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:28,160 things that have happened, all the turmoil that's in David's 8 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:35,120 rule, if you want to say have really disrupted his his reign 9 00:00:35,120 --> 00:00:37,920 being disrupted. We might tend to ask ourselves, 10 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:39,480 you know, is this thing going to end well? 11 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:42,280 Is there going to be a happily ever after? 12 00:00:42,280 --> 00:00:45,880 If you want to say to all that David is trying to achieve and 13 00:00:45,880 --> 00:00:49,320 all the things that have gone on, I mean, how many more deaths 14 00:00:49,320 --> 00:00:51,480 and how many more murders are going to take place? 15 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:56,440 And, and, or we just, you know, in five chapters have that many 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:58,400 deaths already. And we're not done because we're 17 00:00:58,400 --> 00:01:01,280 just going to be two more deaths that we're going to study about 18 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:06,640 here in chapter 20. So the return of David to 19 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,960 Jerusalem after he left there, he had fled to escape his wicked 20 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:13,160 son, Absalom, as we mentioned. And all these things have 21 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:15,560 happened in, in that short period of time. 22 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,360 Absalom's rebellion actually ended with Absalom's death. 23 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:22,960 And here the people are getting him back across the Jordan to 24 00:01:22,960 --> 00:01:25,920 Jerusalem. But it's not a return to peace 25 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:32,200 and tranquility as he would have hoped in Second Samuel 8 and 15. 26 00:01:32,200 --> 00:01:34,880 You know, a lot of things have transpired since the writer of 27 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:39,040 Second Samuel told told us back in Chapter 8 about David 28 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,400 reigning over all of Israel, administering justice and equity 29 00:01:42,400 --> 00:01:45,440 to all his people. You know, those days are gone. 30 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:49,120 Those days have passed. His Kingdom is now fragile. 31 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:53,080 It's unstable. There's going to be another 1000 32 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:56,720 years before the one whom this Kingdom points finally arrives. 33 00:01:56,720 --> 00:02:00,160 When the wise men's questions ring out, you know, where is 34 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,400 this, that he's born king of the Jews? 35 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:05,160 We're looking for him as we read in Matthew 2 and two, kind of 36 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,320 paraphrased and here, David 1000 years before Christ. 37 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:14,320 His crown is now tarnished. His leadership is faltered, his 38 00:02:14,320 --> 00:02:16,680 attempts to put things back together and failed. 39 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,280 But why would we be surprised? Why would be be surprised? 40 00:02:22,280 --> 00:02:24,040 It's not a unique story in any way. 41 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:26,720 It's actually the story of all earthly kingdoms. 42 00:02:27,480 --> 00:02:30,280 It's the story of all empires. It's just. 43 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,840 And that's why we need to make sure that what we affirm about 44 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,400 the word of God is being the light in the darkness and the 45 00:02:35,400 --> 00:02:39,160 hope for the hopeless and so on, that we actually truly believe 46 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:43,360 that because here we are in the final weeks of a year, a period 47 00:02:43,360 --> 00:02:46,080 of time that's gone. You know, we've seen so much 48 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:50,600 turmoil in our country and we have people in communities that 49 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,480 always saying no, is this thing going to be fixed? 50 00:02:52,480 --> 00:02:53,720 Is the economy going to be right? 51 00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:55,120 All these things that are happening. 52 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:58,240 Has the world spun off its its access? 53 00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:00,520 Is this thing broken for any forever? 54 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:03,280 Is there anybody that can repair the brokenness that we find in 55 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:05,720 our living? And see, that's our human 56 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,640 nature. Our human nature is always 57 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:12,080 looking for a solution to our social problems. 58 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:14,400 We're always looking for a solution. 59 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,640 Maybe if it was education that would cure us, we would think 60 00:03:19,640 --> 00:03:23,920 that it would be cured by now. Maybe science can fix us. 61 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:26,680 But some, most of the time, science can't agree with itself. 62 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,880 Perhaps we're able even to find, you know, great political 63 00:03:30,880 --> 00:03:34,400 Nirvana as it will. You know, maybe everything kind 64 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:36,560 of everybody kind of finally works everything out. 65 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,000 After all the Founding fathers, you know, we got rid of King 66 00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,240 George the Third during the Revolutionary War. 67 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:46,200 We thought that would be the answer for America. 68 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,960 And little did we realize that others would emerge just as bad 69 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:54,680 as him or, or many times not as good as him or as good as him. 70 00:03:54,680 --> 00:03:59,800 And church, sometimes, you know, we get question, you know, why 71 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,360 aren't we teaching on the the political things or the things 72 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,280 in the social? Why are we teaching on those 73 00:04:05,280 --> 00:04:06,920 things? Because a voice needs to be 74 00:04:06,920 --> 00:04:09,880 heard. You know, we need that stuff in 75 00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:11,760 America. We need to be teaching on that 76 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:15,600 to solve these these issues. You know, things are crumbling. 77 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,160 We've got you guys are just you're talking about the same 78 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:22,720 thing all the time. Because Simply put, the reason 79 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:25,200 what we teach on what the Bible teaches and we're always in the 80 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,200 word and we're always going back to the word every single time 81 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,560 and not getting involved in politics, not getting involved 82 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,720 in social issues is because the answer is in the book. 83 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:39,400 It's in the scriptures. Simply put, it's actually in a 84 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:43,120 very specific way in Second Samuel because it's the promise 85 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:44,920 that God had first made to Abraham. 86 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:50,160 It's now reinforced to David in Second Samuel 12 that speaks to 87 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,720 the answer of the longings of the human heart, one who can 88 00:04:53,720 --> 00:04:55,600 save and rule the world, who can reign. 89 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,000 So what we're actually doing in studying the Old Testament and 90 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,560 the Bible as a whole is at the very heart of the matter. 91 00:05:05,920 --> 00:05:08,800 And it's the promise of God that is sustained the people of God 92 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:10,600 all the way through the history of their lives. 93 00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:14,920 For example, when Nebuchadnezzar came in the vastest of 94 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:18,600 Nebuchadnezzar's power, when Babylon seemed to crush 95 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,280 everything that the people of Israel knew. 96 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:24,320 And they took away elements of the temple when they paralyzed 97 00:05:24,320 --> 00:05:26,200 the people, people were paralyzed when they took their 98 00:05:26,200 --> 00:05:30,000 best into exile, when they were tempted to maybe quit rejoicing 99 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:34,160 or quit singing their songs and and they thought it was an end 100 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:35,480 of it. You know, what does God do? 101 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:42,000 Well, he raises up a few young men and Daniel and Nebanezer, he 102 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:43,840 can't sleep. We can read about it and and 103 00:05:43,840 --> 00:05:48,200 Daniel and and he can't even remember the dreams that he has. 104 00:05:48,200 --> 00:05:51,240 So he goes to his soothsayers and he has the soothsayers, the 105 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:53,800 first tell him the dream that he had and then interpret the 106 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:54,960 dreams. Well, who could do that? 107 00:05:55,280 --> 00:05:57,800 Nobody could do that. Not one of us could do that, but 108 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:02,320 God could. God could, God's man. 109 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,840 And the dream that he had, it was this great big statue. 110 00:06:06,840 --> 00:06:09,680 And Daniel said, well, I can tell you exactly what that is. 111 00:06:10,080 --> 00:06:13,520 Daniel explains the dream to Nebuchadnezzar and and it's 112 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:15,280 simple. Daniel said, it's simple. 113 00:06:16,680 --> 00:06:21,080 All the kings, all the empires that are represented in that 114 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:24,800 great statue are actually going to be destroyed one day is what 115 00:06:24,800 --> 00:06:29,200 Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar. And we're not here to study 116 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,520 Daniel, but in Daniel 2 verse 44, it's in case we're you're 117 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,200 wondering where it says it. He says, and in those days, in 118 00:06:37,200 --> 00:06:41,640 the days of those kings, insert any Kingdom you want, Alexander 119 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:47,080 the Great, the Roman Empire, any empire, the USSR, Hitler's Third 120 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:51,360 Reich in Germany, the British Empire, the American Empire as 121 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,440 we live in it. Put any of them in there and 122 00:06:53,440 --> 00:06:55,440 listen to what it says. It says the God of heaven will 123 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,640 set up a Kingdom that shall never be destroyed. 124 00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:01,560 It shall break the pieces of all these kingdoms and bring them to 125 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:06,520 an end, and it shall stand forever, forever. 126 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,320 Now, here's the question that's posed to us by that statement. 127 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,960 Do we believe that? Do we believe that? 128 00:07:18,280 --> 00:07:23,440 It's a rhetorical question. And if we're saying yes, then we 129 00:07:23,440 --> 00:07:26,800 need to encourage ourselves. We need to encourage ourselves 130 00:07:26,800 --> 00:07:30,560 to say, you know, you know, we need to help our we can even 131 00:07:30,560 --> 00:07:33,000 pray, Lord, help me to believe what I believe. 132 00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:36,840 Help me to be reaffirmed in what our belief is on the Bible. 133 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:40,320 Help me to doubt my doubts and believe my beliefs. 134 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,800 And that's what I want to say to you as a study of ancient kings, 135 00:07:46,040 --> 00:07:49,520 all the Israel kings that we see up to date and and could 136 00:07:49,520 --> 00:07:51,920 possibly consider and that may be in front of us. 137 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:58,360 There's one king that's going to stand forever, forever. 138 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,080 And we need to have that in our mind as we kind of go through 139 00:08:01,080 --> 00:08:05,600 the Old Testament, seeing King David and all his predecessors 140 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:09,240 and those that are ruling at that point. 141 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:12,480 Now, I plan to go through this chapter just a couple different 142 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,680 ways here. Number one, considering the 143 00:08:14,680 --> 00:08:17,440 rebellion of Sheba. It's there in the text. 144 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:19,840 And then secondly, by considering an intervention of a 145 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:22,800 wise woman. And there's much more in between 146 00:08:22,800 --> 00:08:26,000 all those things as we go through this chapter, one of the 147 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,360 things that the Old Testament does for us, it kind of leaves 148 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,240 us with unanswered questions. And it's intentional like that. 149 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,960 In many ways, it's kind of like an unfinished Symphony or 150 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:38,280 unfinished harmony. You know, you're waiting for the 151 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:42,080 grand finale to to come to place, but the But the Old 152 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:44,920 Testament isn't the grand finale because we look forward to the 153 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,640 New Testament, which is the grand finale. 154 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,880 So let's understand it as we move forward and try to get 155 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:57,080 through this. So first of all, let's see what 156 00:08:57,080 --> 00:08:58,960 the Bible says. These things were written down 157 00:08:58,960 --> 00:09:04,000 for us so that through our encouragement of the Scriptures 158 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,400 that we may have hope, as stated in Romans 15, verse 4. 159 00:09:07,800 --> 00:09:11,520 So first of all, the rebellion of Sheba. 160 00:09:12,320 --> 00:09:14,760 Now there happened to be a rebel whose name was Sheba. 161 00:09:15,680 --> 00:09:18,800 So here we have Sheba. Absalom's rebellion has been put 162 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,040 down. At the end of 19, chapter 19, it 163 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:25,080 was made clear to us that all is not well. 164 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:29,160 There's, there's tribal tension if you want to say with Israel 165 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:30,560 and Judah. There's quarreling, there's 166 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:36,600 jealousy, there's instability. And in that context, Sheba, this 167 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:42,320 guy from Victory, sees this as an opportunity to for himself to 168 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:44,080 do what Absalom has not been able to do. 169 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:47,320 It's kind of, he's kind of riding the coattails of Absalom. 170 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:50,160 He's not, it's not a separate insurrection in and of itself. 171 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,600 It's kind of him just taking over what where Absalom left off 172 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:59,760 to remove the Kingdom from the control of David, a continuing 173 00:09:59,760 --> 00:10:01,840 attempt rather than a separate attempt. 174 00:10:01,840 --> 00:10:04,680 He's a troublemaker. And he rallies some of the 175 00:10:04,680 --> 00:10:07,280 others who are not quite happy of whom were. 176 00:10:07,280 --> 00:10:10,480 There's quite a few, it seems like, with a blast of a trumpet. 177 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:14,040 And you'll notice when we get to the end of the trumpet blow, 178 00:10:14,080 --> 00:10:16,520 blow. Actually, there's a beginning in 179 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,880 the chapters of Trump blow of a trumpet. 180 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,360 At the end there's a blow of a trumpet. 181 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:25,440 Basically we're starting the insurrection and at the end of 182 00:10:25,440 --> 00:10:26,960 the chapter says we're concluded. 183 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,920 And so he sends out the word and he says in verse one, we've got 184 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:32,480 nothing to do with David. There's no future for us with 185 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:34,960 the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents. 186 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,080 O Israel, let's get out of here. Let's get on here. 187 00:10:37,320 --> 00:10:39,920 We're not going to live under the control of David, is what 188 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:44,320 Sheba is saying to everybody. And as a result, we find in 189 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:49,680 verse 2 that all the men of Israel with withdrew from David, 190 00:10:51,080 --> 00:10:53,160 basically a wholesale collapse, if you want to say. 191 00:10:53,160 --> 00:10:54,680 So they go and they follow Sheba. 192 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,840 But the men of Judah, which is a smaller number, followed their 193 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:04,160 King David steadfastly. So we have Sheba and his guys. 194 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,800 They they leave and Judah and the followers of the king cling 195 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:13,360 to David steadfastly. And then we have verse 3 just 196 00:11:13,360 --> 00:11:15,640 kind of right in our faces here, verse 3. 197 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,280 It's really kind of fascinating that this statement is right 198 00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:20,320 here. I would think if it was me 199 00:11:20,320 --> 00:11:22,520 writing something, I would think maybe this is going to be at the 200 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:24,920 end where he's kind of listening to where everybody's at, all the 201 00:11:25,480 --> 00:11:28,360 all the government officials and then what they were the 202 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:31,280 concubines are AT and so on. But he doesn't do that. 203 00:11:31,280 --> 00:11:34,560 The writer wants us to come face to face with this right here. 204 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:38,520 I believe he says, and David came to his house at Jerusalem. 205 00:11:39,560 --> 00:11:43,320 David was coming home. There's just something about 206 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:47,400 being able to go home after maybe what David went through or 207 00:11:47,400 --> 00:11:51,200 any of us, we want to go home after a long trip or travelling 208 00:11:51,200 --> 00:11:53,000 or whatever it may be. You're somehow going home. 209 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,520 But it's a little different this time for David going home. 210 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:03,680 There's no celebration that he's back ruling. 211 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,640 There's no music playing for him, there's no trumpets, 212 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:10,480 anything like that. You know, how would you think 213 00:12:10,480 --> 00:12:12,480 that David maybe would have walked up to his home? 214 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,800 You know, it was his home, but wasn't really a house after the 215 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:22,440 things that had gone on When we studied earlier, I mentioned 216 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,640 that, that David's decision to leave the concubines back to 217 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:27,920 look after his house would prove a really bad decision. 218 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:30,640 And we remember that. And if you want to go back and 219 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:33,600 read that in, in the 16th chapter of Second Samuel, you 220 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,080 can read it on your own. But if if he would have never 221 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:39,560 taken these concubines in the 1st place, Absalom would have 222 00:12:39,560 --> 00:12:41,120 never been able to do what he did to them. 223 00:12:42,360 --> 00:12:45,480 And so he would not be returning to the sad, sorry place. 224 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:49,000 I don't want to spend a whole lot of time on this, but there's 225 00:12:49,000 --> 00:12:50,160 something I want to say about it. 226 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:54,080 You know, we can drive around and we can see sometimes 227 00:12:54,480 --> 00:13:00,440 billboards of what is being referred to as human 228 00:13:00,440 --> 00:13:03,320 trafficking. You know, the movement of women 229 00:13:03,320 --> 00:13:07,440 and girls. The great focus on the media has 230 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:11,520 has right now, they're they're getting ready to focus again on 231 00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:17,120 the whole Epstein debacle that's going on and everything that 232 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:22,240 goes on with that. And we could say to ourselves, 233 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,120 you know, how could our world ever descend into such a thing, 234 00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:27,480 into such a place? How could somebody ever do such 235 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:32,240 a thing? Murder, incest, chaos is a 236 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:35,480 result of the fall, and it is a result of the heart of man. 237 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:38,480 And what did it mean for these women? 238 00:13:38,480 --> 00:13:41,440 Look at what it says here. Did he did for them? 239 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:45,600 He says he put them in seclusion and supported them, imprisoned 240 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:48,320 them. Did he imprison them? 241 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:50,840 No, it didn't say that. It says he protected them. 242 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:53,400 He took care of them. After all. 243 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:54,840 We look at what happened when he was gone. 244 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:57,600 He provided for them, but he didn't see these things kind of 245 00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,480 play out the way as as he hoped, it says. 246 00:13:59,480 --> 00:14:02,520 And they were shut up until the day of their death, living in 247 00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:07,600 widowhood. It's been taught here, we've 248 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:12,960 taught on this year what it means to be beautiful or 249 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:17,000 handsome. And I think, you know, on this 250 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:21,120 occasion, do you think that they may have wanted to curse their 251 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:24,280 beauty? You think of what they had in 252 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,120 their hearts. Maybe they this would have been 253 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:28,920 an occasion for them to curse their beauty. 254 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:32,520 I came upon a quote from somebody who is a very prominent 255 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:36,320 in the world of politics of years ago and she commented on 256 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:42,320 the fact she said that not being beautiful was a blessing because 257 00:14:42,320 --> 00:14:45,120 she said the pretty girl has a handicap to overcome. 258 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:50,520 And it's a reminder to us that it is one thing to make 259 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:54,480 ourselves look attractive, but it's another thing to make 260 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,840 ourselves look seductive. And women know the difference 261 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:04,200 and men know the difference. And let us learn a lesson that 262 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:07,200 the picture of purity and beauty provided in first Peter is the 263 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,520 one for which we strive for for which we long for our children 264 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:13,000 and our grandchildren. And that is it should be that 265 00:15:13,000 --> 00:15:16,040 your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet 266 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:19,600 spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. 267 00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:27,720 This surely this verse 3 is one of the saddest pictures in the 268 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:32,400 entire story. But life goes on. 269 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,960 It goes on for these women. They live in widowhood until the 270 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,840 day they die. And now David has to make sure 271 00:15:41,200 --> 00:15:43,960 that what is before him in terms of Sheba gets dealt with 272 00:15:44,000 --> 00:15:47,280 quickly. And so we'll notice that the 273 00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:51,920 urgency that David has is he's he's he's going to address it 274 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:54,840 here quickly. In verses 4 through 6, he 275 00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,240 assigns A Massa to call together the men of Judah and to do it 276 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,760 within a three day period and and to get here himself. 277 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,360 And Massa does not manage to do so for whatever reason. 278 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,240 We don't know why, we're not given the reason why. 279 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:11,840 So David goes to Plan B and he decides, well then if a mass is 280 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,640 unable to get here in time, we're going to go ahead and ABBA 281 00:16:14,640 --> 00:16:16,640 Shy, you're going to go ahead and do what I want you to do. 282 00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:20,280 And so he tells ABBA Shy, he says this guy Sheba, he's 283 00:16:20,280 --> 00:16:22,720 actually going to do more harm to us than Absalom has ever 284 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:24,960 done. And So what I want you to do is 285 00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:27,880 get to the people, all the people together, pursue him, and 286 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,640 prevent him from being able to hold himself up in a fortified 287 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:33,600 city. Paraphrasing what's being said 288 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,080 there. But that's what David's telling 289 00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:37,720 Abishai to do. And that gets us through verse 290 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,760 6. And then in verse 7, the 291 00:16:40,760 --> 00:16:43,640 following, first of all were introduced to the men, of 292 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,600 course, and then they are described as Joab's men. 293 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,320 Joab may have been set aside in preference for a Massa by David, 294 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:56,320 but Joab is really at the very heart of things here as he's 295 00:16:56,320 --> 00:17:02,720 always been, and the combined forces appear to be determined 296 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,640 by his influence. The mission in verse 7 is 297 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:09,560 stated, is stated to pursue, pursue Sheba. 298 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:14,800 And then in verse 8 there's a meeting that takes place at a 299 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:19,280 stone, which is obviously significant meeting point in 300 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,480 Gibeon and Amasa came to meet them. 301 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:27,319 Now we don't know whether it was a scheduled meeting between 302 00:17:27,319 --> 00:17:30,240 Amassa and those men or if they just happen to meet there. 303 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:33,520 We don't know. And he could have never known. 304 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:37,200 Amassa could have never have known that he was walking to his 305 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:40,200 death. He could have never have known, 306 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:44,160 but he was. And then we have the record of 307 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,520 his murder that set up the set up is described there. 308 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:56,120 We don't have the description of a soldiers garments here, the 309 00:17:56,120 --> 00:17:58,720 clothing and everything and all by large. 310 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:00,760 But you don't, we don't have all the details of that. 311 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:06,240 But here the soldiers garment had a belt and there was a sword 312 00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:10,080 fastened to his thigh. And as he went forward, as it 313 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,040 fell out. And we can't tell from the text 314 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:15,480 whether it fell out purposefully or whether it fell out 315 00:18:15,480 --> 00:18:18,560 inadvertently. But there's no question here 316 00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:23,440 that if it happened inadvertently, Joab scooped it 317 00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:26,920 up and took advantage of what was presented before him. 318 00:18:28,600 --> 00:18:32,080 You see, Joab didn't think Amasa was worthy of being in charge. 319 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:37,800 So Joab took it upon himself and he reached down and grabbed that 320 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:42,920 sword and at the same time he went to grab the beard of Amasa. 321 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,600 As an Eastern fashion, you would take hold of the beard as to 322 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,080 give him a kiss and say, how's it going, Amasa, how are you? 323 00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:53,880 How's your health? We Fast forward 1000 years to 324 00:18:53,880 --> 00:18:57,200 the Garden of Gethsemane and the traitor comes and he embraces 325 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:00,400 Jesus and he said and Jesus the King says, would you betray me 326 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:05,920 with a kiss? Job says how are you doing? 327 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:09,640 Job doesn't care how he's doing. Job doesn't care how a mass is 328 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:13,480 doing. Joab has a plan, his very own 329 00:19:13,480 --> 00:19:16,840 reasons that he wanted to eliminate a masa and he does it 330 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,040 so swiftly, swiftly and silently and mercilessly. 331 00:19:20,040 --> 00:19:25,200 And they're a massive lies in a pool of blood. 1 of Joab's men 332 00:19:25,200 --> 00:19:29,960 is given the responsibility to try and make sure that all the 333 00:19:29,960 --> 00:19:33,520 people that are in pursuit of Shiva to just keep following 334 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:37,800 Joab and Abishai. And then notice the sentence 335 00:19:37,800 --> 00:19:41,560 there at the end, it says then Joab and Abishai's brother 336 00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:43,360 pursued Shiva, the son of Bickery. 337 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:47,560 I mean, you talk about cold heart. 338 00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,720 Cold heart brutality is quite immense in this passage. 339 00:19:53,720 --> 00:19:56,240 You know, he kills him on on in one blow. 340 00:19:56,240 --> 00:19:58,160 It's a devastating impact. And he turns around. 341 00:19:58,160 --> 00:20:00,000 He says his brother, OK, now that's taken care of. 342 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:01,800 Let's go ahead and keep on pursuing Shiva. 343 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:08,200 Meanwhile, what happens next is that is what we see and we know 344 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:09,600 as. Rubbernecking. 345 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:13,840 This is going to be happening right here, says meanwhile. 346 00:20:14,680 --> 00:20:17,320 So Joab leaves and one of he leaves one of his voices. 347 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,520 If you're on the side of Joab, which puts you on the side of 348 00:20:19,520 --> 00:20:22,440 David, just keep moving and you'll be fine. 349 00:20:22,440 --> 00:20:25,680 But the people stop to look to see a mass on the side of the 350 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:32,400 road wallowing in his own blood. And then what happens is he 351 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:35,960 realizes that he's got to get a Massa off the road, he's got to 352 00:20:35,960 --> 00:20:39,400 get him out of the way so these people can keep on following 353 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:41,760 Joab and Abishai to take care of Sheba. 354 00:20:42,760 --> 00:20:48,680 So 1 of Joab men pulls Amasa off the road, throws something over 355 00:20:48,680 --> 00:20:50,400 him to cover him. And now the people aren't 356 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,040 distracted by what's happening at that moment. 357 00:20:54,720 --> 00:20:56,680 And that's exactly what's there in verse 13. 358 00:20:56,680 --> 00:20:59,960 They moved him out of the road and all the people went after 359 00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:02,120 Joab to pursue Sheba, the son of Bashir. 360 00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:04,920 So they knew all. They knew what they were doing. 361 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:10,080 And then verses 14 and 15, it says in Joab, Joab once again 362 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:12,320 stays true. You know, Joab, he's a very 363 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:13,840 consistent guy, to say the least. 364 00:21:15,040 --> 00:21:20,040 He stays true to himself. He seeks to advance his cause by 365 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:23,000 attacking the city of Abel, of Beth McCaw. 366 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,480 You know, Joab knows what he's doing. 367 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:29,880 This is not his first rodeo. If you want to say he's done 368 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:33,200 this before, he's good at it. He's a military man. 369 00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:38,000 Job is an interesting man in really a lot of ways, since I've 370 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:40,680 been kind of picking up on him through these studies. 371 00:21:41,240 --> 00:21:44,760 Really an interesting guy because his commitment is where 372 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:49,720 his commitment is to King David and to the the growth and the 373 00:21:49,720 --> 00:21:52,360 security of the Kingdom of David. 374 00:21:52,920 --> 00:21:55,600 His commitment is to the anointed king of God. 375 00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:02,200 His motive seems to be largely right, but his method is so 376 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,480 bizarre on how he goes about this. 377 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:10,120 He's already left a trail behind him of death and he continues to 378 00:22:10,120 --> 00:22:12,280 do it. It's basically a warning. 379 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,120 He's warning each to each person who was tempted to say, you 380 00:22:15,120 --> 00:22:17,880 know, I think I can advance the Kingdom of God by military might 381 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:24,200 or by muscle, by power. And if we think about it, that 382 00:22:24,200 --> 00:22:26,040 notion is still alive and well today. 383 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:29,040 We see that happen, the advancement of the Kingdom of 384 00:22:29,040 --> 00:22:34,280 God by fighting by by brutality, by whatever means may be 385 00:22:34,280 --> 00:22:39,800 possible, by human nature. That's the Joab way. 386 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:45,760 And Jesus says in John 18, verse 36, my Kingdom is not of this 387 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:48,000 world. If my Kingdom were of this 388 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:51,800 world, my servants would fight. But we don't fight. 389 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:57,720 You see, we're not involved in a building of an American empire, 390 00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:03,360 or any empire for that matter. You see, we're the servants of a 391 00:23:03,360 --> 00:23:12,240 humble king who's a friend of the US broken people who receive 392 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:15,720 all kinds. We, we receive everything that 393 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:20,440 we have coming to us. Jesus received far more interest 394 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:24,160 from prostitutes than he did from religious professors. 395 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,320 He welcomed people into his fold, some most unlikely people 396 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:31,600 that we could ever imagine. His own family tree is riddled 397 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:37,720 with messed up people because he came to save all those types of 398 00:23:37,720 --> 00:23:40,480 people that had all, all kinds of issues, each one of us. 399 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:44,360 So let's not be, let's be careful when maybe we see the 400 00:23:44,360 --> 00:23:47,400 Joab come out in us. If you want to say we want to 401 00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,280 make sure we check ourselves. If we're getting a little too 402 00:23:49,280 --> 00:23:52,520 aggressive with things or pushing on somebody too hard or 403 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:58,480 whatever it may be, then we have a wise woman. 404 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:06,040 Time to hear from a wise woman. OK, a wise woman. 405 00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:10,600 Maybe she can help us out. Maybe she can help Joab decide 406 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:17,520 which way to go on this. A shrewd woman, a woman who's 407 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,760 able to think outside the box. You see, Joab had previously 408 00:24:20,760 --> 00:24:24,000 used a wise woman. If we remember, we tried to, he 409 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:26,840 tried to bring reconciliation between David and Absalom. 410 00:24:26,840 --> 00:24:30,440 We see that in Chapter 14. We're not told of the woman's 411 00:24:30,440 --> 00:24:35,080 name, but we know Sheba's name, and he's a troublemaker, but we 412 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:37,520 don't have her name. But her influence is powerful, 413 00:24:37,520 --> 00:24:40,040 as we're going to see here. Very, very powerful. 414 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,160 And I started thinking about women who may be wise women that 415 00:24:44,160 --> 00:24:49,400 Wayne we may be Privy to or know of in our history. 416 00:24:50,200 --> 00:24:51,640 You know, we think of wise women. 417 00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:53,640 I thought about maybe Margaret Thatcher. 418 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,880 She was a wise woman, Rosa Parks, she was a wise woman. 419 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,560 And the things that she did seemed to be pretty wise Mother 420 00:24:59,560 --> 00:25:03,280 Teresa, wise in her ways, wise women. 421 00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:09,040 But then I came across a woman who her name is Golda Mere, and 422 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:15,240 she was actually the first Prime Minister woman of Israel and the 423 00:25:15,280 --> 00:25:17,360 only woman prime Prime Minister on Israel. 424 00:25:17,360 --> 00:25:20,440 I had no idea who she was until I found a couple of her quotes. 425 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:25,640 Some may remember who she is, but she was able to be bold 426 00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,240 enough to think outside the box and to say things that were on 427 00:25:28,240 --> 00:25:31,240 her mind. A couple of the quotes that I 428 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:34,520 came across really struck stuck stuck with me. 429 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:40,320 One, she says 1 cannot and must not try to erase the past 430 00:25:40,720 --> 00:25:42,440 because it does not fit the present. 431 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:49,200 It's a wise saying. Another one, she said old age is 432 00:25:49,200 --> 00:25:52,080 like a plane flying through a storm. 433 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:54,480 Once you're on board, there's nothing you can do. 434 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:00,840 A pretty good one. So listen to the woman as she 435 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:05,160 shouts. She says here, here or listen, 436 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:09,600 listen to tell Joab. Let's try to think about this 437 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:11,160 for a moment. Let's paint this picture in our 438 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,760 mind. Here the city is being besieged. 439 00:26:14,760 --> 00:26:17,840 The city Abel of Beth Macaws being besieged by Joab and all 440 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,520 of his men. Maybe they built a ramp. 441 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,320 They're going to get battering ramps to take the walls down. 442 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,840 So it's not some sort of like quiet a sneaky attack. 443 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,800 If you want to say it's kind of like noise, banging, clanking, 444 00:26:32,160 --> 00:26:36,280 hammers, nails, everything, armor and Shields and Spears and 445 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:42,160 everything just making a racket trying to take this this city 446 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:47,320 walls down. It's not quite in any way. 447 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,320 And Joabs down there, he's on the mountain, He tells and she 448 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:53,240 tells them, tell him to come here so I can speak to him. 449 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,400 And he came near and the women said, are you Joab? 450 00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:58,280 And he said, yeah. And she said, we'll listen to 451 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:01,320 the words of your servant. He said, I'm listening. 452 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:06,160 And then she said, you know, they used to say that Abel that 453 00:27:06,160 --> 00:27:10,920 you're trying to destroy was the place where there was answers. 454 00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:12,880 It's kind of like a mother city to Israel. 455 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:16,520 People used to come here so they can get answers to their 456 00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:18,200 question. You're just trying to destroy 457 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:18,640 it. Now. 458 00:27:19,360 --> 00:27:20,680 You want to tear this thing down. 459 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,200 You know, this is a historic place in Israel for Israel's 460 00:27:23,200 --> 00:27:25,560 people. Why would you want to do this? 461 00:27:26,360 --> 00:27:28,920 Why would you want to swallow up the heritage of the Lord? 462 00:27:30,120 --> 00:27:35,200 And you know, it's really surprising that that Joab 463 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:39,760 responds the way he does. Joab answered. 464 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:43,200 He said, far be it from me, far be it from me. 465 00:27:44,360 --> 00:27:45,720 I mean, are you kidding me, Joab? 466 00:27:46,080 --> 00:27:49,680 We can see right through that. You know, this guy has left a 467 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:54,160 trail of destruction and he's saying I would never do such a 468 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:55,960 thing. Well, give me a break. 469 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:57,720 Job. We we know who you are. 470 00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:03,200 We know what he's about to do and he's able to do Mr. 471 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:05,600 Destruction, if you want to call him that when it comes to his 472 00:28:05,600 --> 00:28:07,200 dealings. But of course, he's he's 473 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,040 actually the swinging, swinging. He's trying to tell him the 474 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,520 point of what what's really going on. 475 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:12,800 He said that's not true. I'm not going to destroy the 476 00:28:12,800 --> 00:28:14,720 city. I'm here to get a hold of Sheba, 477 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,280 the son of Mercury, because he's lifted his hand up against the 478 00:28:17,280 --> 00:28:19,760 king and he deserves to be destroyed. 479 00:28:20,400 --> 00:28:22,720 And you can't do that woman is what he's telling her. 480 00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:29,360 And the woman says to Joab, watch, his head will be thrown 481 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:35,560 to you over the wall. Well, if we heard that, if any 482 00:28:35,560 --> 00:28:38,640 of us heard that, I kind of wonder how Joel responded here 483 00:28:38,640 --> 00:28:42,800 and looked at his guys went, well, OK, let's see if she can 484 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:47,480 do that or if he was like, yeah, we got someone on the inside 485 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:48,680 who's going to take care of him for me. 486 00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,640 I don't know how he responded, but what it went like. 487 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:54,960 But I think he looked, as guys say, well, I wasn't expecting 488 00:28:54,960 --> 00:28:58,120 that to come out of her mouth, but it did. 489 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,520 So she's up on the wall and she and they're down and job's not 490 00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,480 going in. And we find out she was not 491 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,320 going to be coming out and they're all waiting to see if 492 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,080 his head comes flying over the wall. 493 00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:14,080 I could only imagine one of the soldiers saying, you know, well, 494 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:15,840 she going to be able to do this. Where'd she go? 495 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:17,640 Is she going to take care of this like she said? 496 00:29:17,880 --> 00:29:22,760 And you know, I think, you know, what was it? 497 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,680 Tell us there It says in in her wisdom there in the text, she 498 00:29:26,680 --> 00:29:28,480 went to share her wisdom with the people. 499 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:33,000 She's a wise woman. So she went to talk her wisdom 500 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:34,600 to them. In other words, she went to tell 501 00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,040 the other people in the city their plan, her plan. 502 00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,480 And again, I, you know, I could think of maybe Job and this 503 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:44,240 guy's kind of conversing back and forth. 504 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,080 One of Job's guys asked Job, Well, they do you think they're 505 00:29:47,080 --> 00:29:49,880 really going to go ahead and with this and deliver like she 506 00:29:49,880 --> 00:29:53,320 said she was. And you know, I think Job may 507 00:29:53,320 --> 00:29:55,440 have said, well, we're going to find our answer soon enough. 508 00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:00,360 Well, the head come flying over the wall landed. 509 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:03,960 The trumpet sounded as we can read there and the men have went 510 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,440 home and Joab returned to Jerusalem to King David. 511 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:16,120 So we got the rebellion of Sheba taken care of another murder, 512 00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:17,640 two more murders that we read about. 513 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:23,280 So can we say at this point that everybody's going to live 514 00:30:23,280 --> 00:30:26,560 happily ever after? Well, there's still more to 515 00:30:26,560 --> 00:30:30,560 come. David's going to suffer the 516 00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,680 results of his old age. His life is going to continue to 517 00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:37,040 tumble and ruin. He wasn't wise enough or good 518 00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:39,880 enough to establish a Kingdom that would last forever. 519 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:45,480 There's only one. There's only one wise enough, 520 00:30:45,640 --> 00:30:49,600 good enough to establish the Kingdom that lasts forever. 521 00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:53,520 And it's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my spirit, 522 00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,640 as God says in Zechariah 46, says the Lord. 523 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:01,480 You know, we see today throughout the world today, all 524 00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:06,160 the children of the Kingdom are meeting all kinds of places, 525 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,960 sharing the same songs, declaring the same king, namely 526 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,880 Jesus. That's why you see the. 527 00:31:13,040 --> 00:31:16,600 The Old Testament ends with a period of 400 years of silence 528 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:21,600 and darkness where generations simply are left with just the 529 00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:27,560 promises of God and that's it. And when their grandchildren or 530 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:31,440 their children ask for, you know, when, when are all these 531 00:31:31,800 --> 00:31:34,120 promises going to be fulfilled? When is it going to happen? 532 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,200 When are we going to see the fulfillment of the Messiah? 533 00:31:36,200 --> 00:31:37,480 When are we going to see all this? 534 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:40,480 These things come to you know, we've been taught that God keeps 535 00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,640 his promises. Why are we seeing those promises 536 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:49,400 kept? Well, that's the cry of the new, 537 00:31:49,400 --> 00:31:52,760 new chest, you know, it's, it's the cry of us as well, you know. 538 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,600 But there's a longing, there's a waiting. 539 00:31:54,600 --> 00:31:58,200 God hasn't fulfilled all of his promises yet, but we believe his 540 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,720 promises are going to be fulfilled by the coming of Jesus 541 00:32:00,720 --> 00:32:04,120 at one of these days, The final promise. 542 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:08,800 He comes to save, He comes to rule, and he comes to reign. 543 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:15,480 So we see a rebellion of Sheba, a worthless man, and then an 544 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,440 intervention that came by the way of an unnamed woman who 545 00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:23,400 exercise great wisdom in her circumstance. 546 00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,000 And that leaves us with the concluding few verses. 547 00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:33,040 Here, 23 through 25, it says. And Joab was over all the army 548 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:38,320 of Israel, Ben and I, the son of Jehoiadai was over the 549 00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:42,640 Cherithites and the Pelathites. Adiram was in charge of revenue 550 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,240 and interesting enough, Adiram was in charge of revenue instead 551 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:50,440 of revenue. It says. 552 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:52,960 In some other translations it says forced labor. 553 00:32:54,320 --> 00:32:59,440 Jehoshaphat the son of Ahila was a recorder, Shiva was a scribe, 554 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:04,840 Zadok and Abby Athar were the priests and Ira the Jairite was 555 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:09,240 a chief minister under David. Seems almost kind of anti 556 00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,040 climactic, right? We're just going to go ahead and 557 00:33:12,040 --> 00:33:14,640 read the officers and the government officials in. 558 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:18,800 Well, what do we have here? It's simply appears to be simply 559 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:22,840 just a list of members, if you like, David's Cabinet, the 560 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:25,040 crucial people within the structure of the government 561 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:26,200 that's going to proceed from there. 562 00:33:27,960 --> 00:33:31,560 And the way in which we need to think about this is in 563 00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:34,480 relationship to the fact that this is the second occasion in 564 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:39,680 Second Samuel where we see such a list provided to us on 565 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:41,400 previous occasion, Second Samuel. 566 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,440 You can read it and in chapter 8 of Second Samuel, I believe in 567 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:53,200 verse 15 or so there at the it's familiar in length, largely the 568 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:54,760 same, but there's some differences. 569 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:58,640 For example, we're told immediately here that Joab was 570 00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:01,360 in command of the army of Israel. 571 00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:06,440 In Chapter 8, it says what Joab was identified as being command 572 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:08,840 of the army of Israel. And I think there's an 573 00:34:08,840 --> 00:34:12,400 indication in a way that falls to the very fact that Joab had 574 00:34:12,400 --> 00:34:18,239 really ascended in his military might, in his military ways. 575 00:34:18,239 --> 00:34:21,239 Now he's in command over all the armies of Israel. 576 00:34:23,639 --> 00:34:27,480 Joab, I think, also took into account maybe in his own mind 577 00:34:27,760 --> 00:34:32,280 that he was kind of filling in the gaps for David that David 578 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,719 could not do. In his own mind, Joab was taking 579 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,159 care of those underlying battles that needed to happen in order 580 00:34:38,159 --> 00:34:39,560 for the advancement of King David. 581 00:34:46,420 --> 00:34:48,219 We have an important distinction, though. 582 00:34:48,580 --> 00:34:52,580 It's in verse from verse 15, in chapter 8. 583 00:34:52,580 --> 00:34:55,460 The rider wants us to understand, I think, one thing. 584 00:34:55,739 --> 00:34:59,860 It says David reigned over all Israel, and as he did so, he 585 00:34:59,860 --> 00:35:02,300 administered justice and equity to all the people. 586 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,360 So his position as king was, is significant. 587 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:10,640 And, and the implications of his kingship were not seen only as 588 00:35:10,720 --> 00:35:13,880 in the decisions that he made, but in the way that he conducted 589 00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:16,160 his life and in the way that he organized everything that was 590 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,000 going on. And by the time we get to 591 00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:21,120 chapter 20 in this list that we read here, things have changed a 592 00:35:21,120 --> 00:35:23,240 little bit. For example, we'll notice in 593 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:27,320 verse 24 that this man Adoram was in charge of the revenue or 594 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,080 in charge as some transitions say, forced labor. 595 00:35:33,520 --> 00:35:36,560 We don't have any record record of that before there was nobody 596 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:38,960 in charge of forced labour or force Rep or revenue. 597 00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,480 If you want to say people could sustain themselves by just 598 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:45,480 helping each other during that for early part of David's reign. 599 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:50,000 But now things have changed to where that role is necessary. 600 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:55,200 See the Kingdom of David is no longer as it was when it was 601 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:58,080 back then. The highlights of his rule have 602 00:35:58,080 --> 00:36:00,280 been overshadowed. If you want to say they've taken 603 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:04,600 a less the the kingdom's not as remarkable as it used to have 604 00:36:04,600 --> 00:36:08,000 been. Just like Saul's dynasty failed, 605 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,200 David's dynasty is failing as well as Solomon's that will read 606 00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:19,240 on in in further will also fade. Saul faded politically, Solomon 607 00:36:19,240 --> 00:36:22,800 is going to collapse religiously and of course David we knew his 608 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:27,880 failure was a moral failure. It's actually impossible to read 609 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:33,600 this without recognizing even if we start back, I think about 610 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:35,240 Chapter 11 all the way through verse 20. 611 00:36:35,240 --> 00:36:39,760 We read this story of painfully aware that the fact that 612 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,000 everything is on a decline in David's rule. 613 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,680 It can be traced to the one offence David did on that one 614 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:52,120 afternoon that he stayed home and all of his men went out to 615 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:56,440 war and he and he and he took that offence with Bathsheba. 616 00:36:59,440 --> 00:37:01,360 You see choices have significance. 617 00:37:01,840 --> 00:37:03,960 The choice that David made was significant. 618 00:37:04,320 --> 00:37:08,120 The choices we make are significant and the choice that 619 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,320 he made on that one occasion not only impacted him, but it 620 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,640 impacted Bathsheba, it impacted the future of his reign and 621 00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:18,600 impacted Uriah and everything that is wrapped around all that. 622 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:23,560 So the consequence of his sin has really undermined the 623 00:37:23,560 --> 00:37:28,600 goodness of his Kingdom. I think David could look back 624 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:31,840 and say, man, if I could just do it all over again, if I could 625 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:34,120 just have that moment again, I'd do it all over. 626 00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,400 If I could just turn back the clock just a little bit and redo 627 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:39,920 things. And I don't think there's a 628 00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:43,280 person here that has the same thought about anything in their 629 00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:45,480 lives. If we could just turn back the 630 00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,200 clock a little bit and redo things a little different than 631 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:52,080 we did years ago, or maybe just some recently, whatever it may 632 00:37:52,080 --> 00:37:55,520 be, if there's a way I could go back and deal with that 633 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:59,560 differently. Well, it was dealt with in 634 00:37:59,560 --> 00:38:01,920 David's case. And if we believe Christ is 635 00:38:01,920 --> 00:38:05,360 dealt in our case as well. Because on account of God's 636 00:38:05,360 --> 00:38:09,720 immense mercy and his Amazing Grace, David was forgiven and he 637 00:38:09,720 --> 00:38:11,480 was forgiven and he was restored. 638 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:14,920 But he wasn't restored to the wonder in the and, and what had 639 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:17,280 gone on before to who he was originally. 640 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:19,920 He was handicapped, if you want to say. 641 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:24,240 And the prophecy of Nathan in chapter 12 was fulfilled in 642 00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:26,880 graphic detail that we can read about. 643 00:38:28,480 --> 00:38:30,520 We read it. And when you read in chapter 12 644 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,240 the prophecy there in light of all that we've been through and 645 00:38:35,240 --> 00:38:37,120 realized, it was quite the statement. 646 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:39,640 If you want to say, Nathan said to him, thus says the Lord, 647 00:38:39,640 --> 00:38:42,680 Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own 648 00:38:42,680 --> 00:38:46,480 house, and I will take your wives before your eyes and give 649 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,240 them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the 650 00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:52,160 side of the sun. For you did it secretly, but I 651 00:38:52,160 --> 00:38:55,280 do this thing before all Israel and before the sun. 652 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:03,040 And we read these things and we recognize that this is a warning 653 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:06,240 to us, if you want to say. And as the story goes on from 654 00:39:06,240 --> 00:39:09,440 here, what happens, of course, is again and again and again. 655 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:13,560 And it's represented a way that we see through all kings, all 656 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:17,280 all the kings and judges, all the every kings in the Old 657 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:21,720 Testament that, you know, the people of Israel wanted a nice 658 00:39:21,720 --> 00:39:25,560 big, handsome man to be king, King Saul, someone who stood 659 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:27,120 head and shoulders ever everybody. 660 00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,120 That didn't work. Maybe when we think of kings 661 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,040 like David, the ideal king, a man after God's own heart, well, 662 00:39:36,040 --> 00:39:39,320 that didn't work either. And then perhaps Solomon and all 663 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:41,560 of his glory who asked for wisdom and that wisdom was 664 00:39:41,560 --> 00:39:45,960 granted to him, but yet he got married to 700 times and had 300 665 00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:48,600 concubines. It doesn't sound like wisdom to 666 00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:51,800 me. And so eventually the people are 667 00:39:51,800 --> 00:39:55,600 not simply looking for a king, they're not even looking for a 668 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,080 better king. They're actually looking for a 669 00:39:58,080 --> 00:40:01,240 perfect king. They're looking for perfection. 670 00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:06,400 And that's the question, where can we find a perfect ruler? 671 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:10,600 That's the question people are asking then, and that's what 672 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:12,760 we're asking now. Where can we find the perfect 673 00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:14,680 ruler? Who's going to take care of 674 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:15,880 everything? Who is this king? 675 00:40:15,880 --> 00:40:19,200 Where might he come from? And that answer is actually 676 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,280 found in the opening sentence of the New Testament in Matthew 11, 677 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:29,280 the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, 678 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,800 the son of Abraham, the son of man. 679 00:40:33,880 --> 00:40:40,760 So here is a point that is not stated, but we look, we, we, we 680 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:44,480 understand and I hope that we can see just through the 681 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:50,040 imperfections of man of themselves, the way they try to 682 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:55,640 rule sin that affects all the rule and reign of every king 683 00:40:55,640 --> 00:40:58,200 that we read about and will read about in the future. 684 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:03,120 There's only one who's going to be able to restore everything, 685 00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:09,360 to restore a relationship with God and it's found only solely 686 00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,120 in our Lord Jesus Christ, period. 687 00:41:15,240 --> 00:41:23,160 And we thank God for that. So are we able to say, and they 688 00:41:23,160 --> 00:41:26,640 lived happily ever after? Well, we're not able to say that 689 00:41:26,640 --> 00:41:30,640 yet, except in the completion of God's work. 690 00:41:31,720 --> 00:41:35,840 When the King of King, Lord Jesus Christ, comes in return 691 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:38,880 and calls it all to a limb to an end. 692 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,160 We will then all live happily ever after. 693 00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:46,600 Is there one here who needs to follow the gospel set forth 694 00:41:46,600 --> 00:41:51,360 before us in the Scriptures? We are to hear the Word of God, 695 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:57,200 believe the Word of God. Believe is an action word. 696 00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,080 It takes action. Once we believe, it's just not a 697 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:02,240 belief in our heart. The demons believe. 698 00:42:02,240 --> 00:42:07,160 A belief demands a response. We're going to change the way 699 00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:08,960 that we've been doing things. We're going to change the way 700 00:42:08,960 --> 00:42:10,000 we've been living. Living. 701 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:11,280 We're not going to live in sin anymore. 702 00:42:11,280 --> 00:42:12,560 We're going to live for Jesus now. 703 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:15,760 We're going to repent of our old ways. 704 00:42:16,640 --> 00:42:20,680 Then we understand that we need to confess the name of Christ, 705 00:42:21,360 --> 00:42:24,000 recognizing that Jesus is the Son of God. 706 00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:27,880 And then we are baptized for the remission of our sins, as we 707 00:42:27,880 --> 00:42:30,760 have examples in the Bible. And then, and only then, we 708 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:34,320 can't contact the blood of Jesus and are forgiven of our sins. 709 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:36,240 And that's the beginning of our Christian life. 710 00:42:37,800 --> 00:42:39,840 Maybe you need to do that today. And we can accommodate that 711 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:41,560 today. We had two great baptisms 712 00:42:41,560 --> 00:42:43,400 yesterday. Wonderful 2 New brother and 713 00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:49,520 sister in Christ, new life, new transformation. 714 00:42:51,120 --> 00:42:53,560 Maybe you're here and you have believed the word of God but 715 00:42:53,720 --> 00:42:55,400 have slipped in some way publicly. 716 00:42:55,400 --> 00:42:58,080 You need to make a public confession in any manner to make 717 00:42:58,080 --> 00:43:00,560 it right with God. Or you just need the prayers of 718 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:02,360 the congregation. We actually come at this time, 719 00:43:02,360 --> 00:43:04,320 while we stand and while we sing.