I want to go ahead and read the chapter before we go into prayer
and get into our lesson this afternoon, This morning, Second
Samuel, chapter 16, and it's recorded there, says when David
was a little past the top of the mountain, there was Ziba, the
servant of Mephibosheth, who met him with a couple of saddled
donkeys, and on them 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of
raisins, 100 summer fruits. And a skin of wine.
And the king said to Zeba, What do you mean to do with these
things? So Zeba said, the donkeys are
for the King's household to ride on, the young bread from summer
fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for those who are
faint in the wilderness to drink.
And the king said, And where is your master, son?
And Zeba said to the king, indeed he is staying in
Jerusalem, for he said today the House of Israel.
Israel restored the. Kingdom of my Father to me.
So the king said to Zeba, Here all the thing, all that belongs
to Mephibosheth, is yours. And Zeba said, I humbly bow
before you, that I may find favor in your sight, my Lord, O
king. Now when King David came to
Bahiram, there was a man from the family whose House of of the
House of Saul, whose name was Shimmy Eye, the son of Guerra,
coming from there. He came out cursing
continuously, and came and threw stones at David.
And all the servants of King David and all the people and all
the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left also
Shimmy. I said thus when he cursed, Come
out, come out, you bloodthirsty man, you rogue, The Lord has
brought upon you all the blood of the House of Saul, and whose
place you have reigned, and the Lord has delivered the Kingdom
into the hand of Absalom your son.
So now you are caught in your own evil, because you are a
bloodthirsty man. Then Abishai the son of Zeariah,
said to the king, Why should this dead dog curse?
My Lord the king, please let me go over and take off his head.
But the king said, What have I to do with you, you sons of
Zeariah? So let him curse, because the
Lord has said to him, Curse David.
Who then shall say, Why have you done so?
And David said to Abishai and all his servants, See how my
son, who came from my own body, seeks my life.
How much more now may this Benjamite let him alone and let
him curse. For so the Lord has ordained,
ordered him. It may be that the Lord will
look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with
good. For what?
His cursing for his cursing this day.
And as David and his men went along the road, Shimmy Eye went
along the hillside opposite of him, and cursed as he went and
threw stones at him and kicked up dust.
Now the king and all the people who were with him became weary.
So they refreshed themselves that there.
Meanwhile Absalom and all the people of the men, the men of
Israel, came to Jerusalem, and Ahithophel was with him.
And so it was. When?
Who? Shy the archive.
David's friend came to Absalom, that Hushai said to Absalom,
Long live the king, Long live the king.
So Absalom said to Hushai, Is this your loyalty to your
friend? Why do you not go with it with
your friend? And Hushai said to Absalom, No,
but whom the Lord and this people and all the men of Israel
choose, His I will be, and with him I will remain.
Furthermore, whom should I serve?
Should I not serve in the presence of his son?
As I have served in your father's presence, so will I be
in your presence. Then Absalom said to Ahithophel,
Give advice as to what we should do.
And Ahithophel said to Absalom, Going to your father's
concubines, whom he has left to keep you the house, and all
Israel will hear that you are aboard by your father.
Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.
So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house.
And Absalom went into his father's concubines and all the
side of Israel. Now the advice of a hippophile
which he gave in those days was as if one had inquired at the
Oracle of God. So was all the advice of the
hippophile, both with David and with Absalom, correctly read.
We're going to study this chapter this morning.
Hopefully we can shed light on some of the things that were.
Going on during this time and, and we can what we can do with
those things today in our life. But before we go any further, we
want to go to our God in the word of prayer at this time.
As has already been mentioned, we're so thankful for all who
have made it here this morning to worship God.
And we're thankful for you If you consider yourself a visitor.
And if you are a visitor, please, anytime you have the
opportunity to come back and worship with us, please feel
free to do so. If there's any questions you may
have, please ask one of the brethren and we'll do the best
we can to answer those questions.
Well, we're continuing our study in Second Samuel of the exile of
David. Basically Absalom, his son, his
evil son, is trying to overthrow David as king.
And that was all kind of set into place into chapter in
chapter 15. And David was in the middle of
great trouble. He was opposed by those who were
supposed to have been his friends, particularly
Ahithophel, with whom we dealt with last time a little bit.
It was David's counsellor. Hepophil had actually gone over
to now support Absalom. And we shared the the conjecture
that given that Hippophel, he was the grandfather to Bathsheba
and there may be a little bit of, of personal agenda that a
Hippophel had maybe towards David concerning that we're not
told, but maybe that was the case.
Maybe that was what is in his heart or in his mind.
But without question, he was a traitor.
He's the Old Testament equivalent of Judas Iscariot.
And David, we have seen has gone over the Brook Kidron.
He is ascended over the Mount of Olives.
And the description of him is really a sad one.
He's weeping, he's got his, he's barefoot, his head is covered.
And, and an expression really of his mourning that he's being
exiled out of the city of Jerusalem.
And without question, that picture we have of him there is
a far cry from the man he used to be, for sure.
But what we need to keep in mind, and it's very important
that we do so, is that he is still the king.
David is still the king. He is the king.
He is the Lord's anointed. And therefore, when we consider
what is taking place here in terms of a rebellion towards
him, it's just not some kind of interaction between two guys who
have the same equal status. It's not the case.
He's the one who's been set apart by God.
He is the man after God's own heart.
In other words, God's heart was filled with David.
God loved David for who he was. And God had promised to David
that there will come one who will sit on the throne forever
and ever. But then we read these chapters
and we might start to think to ourselves, well, you know, at
this point in time in David's life, it really doesn't seem
like the David's kingdom's really going to survive at this
point with everything that's going on.
We could say that David is holding on to the prayer that he
gave back in chapter 15 and verse 31.
It says, and David said there, and that's this is his prayer.
Oh Lord, please turn the counsel of a hippophile into
foolishness. In other words, at this time,
his basically David's Kingdom, the future of the Kingdom from a
human perspective is hanging on that prayer.
David's hoping that that prayer comes to light.
Who shy, which was David's friend was sent back to
Jerusalem to spy on Absalom. A hit the fell, which was
previously counseled to David defected and went to Absalom's
side. And if we remember who shy
appears on the scene and David immediately recognizes that this
is more than possible, that the actions of who shy very well may
be the answer to the prayer that David gave back in 15 in chapter
15. And what he did is he sends
Hushai back to Jerusalem as a spy.
And he has a straightforward objective to of seeking to
overturn or to to feed the counsel of a hippophile.
And now we have reading through the chapter one part of the
council without a hippophile that we saw in that chapter.
Reading is really, really bad advice, really bad counsel.
And the next part of it will come at the beginning of chapter
17 and and we'll wait till then till chapter 17.
It's in verse 5. And to see how that all went.
And, and what's been provided for us here is that the by the
writers that we have a series of encounters between individuals
and King David. And we saw him encounter with
his encounter with Itai to get tight and then with Abby Athar
and with Zadok. And now we're going to see the
encounters with with Zeba, who deceived David and then as a
curse, cursed by shimmy eye, supported by who shy and as
opposed by a hippothel. And that's kind of the framework
that I hope to take our lesson moving forward this morning.
But first of all, in all these opening verses, we find that he
is here deceived by Zeba. Now Zeba is not a new character
to David. I'm so thankful forgot people
who put these charts together who have the time to do so.
Because when we read through that Old Testament and all the
characters and the relationships and and all that it is, you have
to be a scholar to remember and to know those things.
And people who do stuff like this make it so, so easy.
But you see here that that we have Saul, Saul, King Saul up
here. If I can get that to work.
You see the relationship down here to Ziva.
Ziva was a steward under the House of Saul, and we're
introduced to Zeba back in Chapter 9.
And Zeba was given the responsibility to care for
Mephibosheth, which was Saul's grandson, the son of Jonathan.
We're introducing him in back in Chapter 9.
And then in that encounter with Mephibosheth, you know, he was
lame in both his feet and he really needed somebody to care
for him. Well, Zeba was given that job of
caring for Mephibosheth. And in Chapter 9, verse 10, the
word was given. It says you and your sons and
your servants. This is Zeba and his sons and
servants shall till the land for Mephibosheth, and they shall
bring in the produce that your master's grandson may have bread
to eat. And Mephibosheth shall always
eat at my table. That's the job that King David
gave Zeba. That's what he was instructed to
do. And here we find him showing up
on this occasion basically, essentially with a large amount
of food to King David. This may not be an unfamiliar
scene that we've seen. In fact, back when the Bible
first introduces us to David, he was kind of engaged in a similar
responsibility. We remember all the times that
he had to go to his father and and his father said to him, I
want you to go to your brothers in the battlefield.
I want you to strengthen them and encourage them.
And he took with him an ephib of parched grain, 10 loaves and 10
cheeses back in chapter 17 of First Samuel.
And now David is actually on the receiving end of food coming his
way. David is belaboured.
He's weary. His company, his companions are
stressed out from leaving Jerusalem.
He's running for his life, if you want to say.
And here into his inner into his circle of influence comes Zeba
and the provisions that are far greater than and then David ever
took on any occasions that he had that opportunity.
Donkeys here in the translation of the word couple here could
also be translated into a string.
So a string of donkeys. And it would seem that you may
need a string of donkeys for all the stuff that Ziva brought out
to to David. I think 2 donkeys would be hard
pressed, but donkeys, bread, Raisin, summer fruit and wine.
And in encountering this, David says to him, he says, what do
you mean to do with these? The answer that Zeba gives is
not really the answer to the question that David is really
asking. Which you know, maybe there's
other translations. Maybe you could translate this
to say like what are you doing with these things?
Why have you brought these here? What am I supposed to do with
all this food? What's this all about?
I think is what David is asking Zeba.
And I think the inference is probably that King David knows
that you're supposed to be doing another job that I gave you.
You're supposed to be taking care of Mephibosheth, and you're
over here bringing me all this food.
I didn't give you that job. And there's something about the
gesture, the gesture of generosity that doesn't quite
meld with the fact to, to his loyalty.
If you want to say his generosity is, is expressed here
to David. But Zia Zeba's loyalty actually
lies with with Saul, still with the House of Saul.
He is a servant of Saul. And this is where, again, we
have to understand the whole story in mind when we're reading
stories like this. We need to understand that Saul
was dethroned as King David was put in the power.
And and even though that happened, there's still battles
going on between the Philistines.
For a long time they would fought against those Philistines
because they were coming for him again and again and again.
And that that issue still hadn't ended.
And so this little encounter with Ziba has to be set within a
wider framework. And it makes us wonder, you
know, why then is isn't that why David then sends and where is
your master son? He's asking him, where's your
master son? And that word son is used quite
liberally in the Old Testament writings.
It's actually Saul's grandson. Jonathan's son says, where's
your master son? And Zeba says to the king,
indeed, he is staying in Jerusalem.
That's a true statement. Then he says, today the House of
Israel will restore the Kingdom of my father.
To me. That is a false statement.
So he has a true statement of saying that Mephibosheth is in
Jerusalem, and then the false statement of saying that the
House of Israel that will be restored of my father to me.
So how do we know it's not true? Well, because by the time we get
to chapter 19, Mephibosheth will tell us that Ziba slandered him,
threw him under the bus. If you want to say before the
time being, we're having to read it just as David was receiving
it. You know, David doesn't have the
books written out for them to know the end of the story.
So David's receiving this information.
We know more than David at this point in in the story.
So therefore he says, well, that's quite fascinating.
In other word, in other words, Mephibosheth has now decided
that although myself is King David, I've given him all these
things. I've had somebody watch over him
and care for him. He's eating at my table, looked
after him that now he has decided that he's going to swing
back over to the House of Saul. So what has happened here is
that Ziva has really put in put words in the mouth of
Mephibosheth today, the House of Israel, restore the Kingdom of
my father to to me. In other words, he says, this is
what Mephibosheth is saying to me and I'm I'm telling King
David Now that's not what David wants to hear, Of course.
It's certainly not what he expects.
But what happens is David, based on that information, makes a
snap real quick decision. Look at what David says and he
says, well then, OK, well here all the belongings, all that
belongs to Mephibosheth is now yours.
It's quite amazing. I think David makes a snap
decision. He may have made some snap
decisions in the past we can read about, but this is really
an interesting one to me. It's almost if he says to
myself, you know, man alive, how much more is going to come to
me? You know that my, my kingdom's
falling. I've got my inner counsel who's
now turning aside and going with my son.
He was trying to overtake me. I've got Mephibosheth, who I've
done so many good things for coming against me.
Well, fine, if that's the case, then fine, see, But you can have
all that I gave to him. It's all yours.
Now. If you want to say it's what
David is telling Zeba and Zebra says, well, I'll pay homage and
you bet your life you paid homage.
That's a great deal. Zeba brings in this lie and the
David just turns over all the everything to Zeba.
So of course Zeba would pay homage.
Zeba is certainly an opportunist for sure, for sure.
You know some. I started thinking, I wonder if
Zeba was really kind of a jealous person.
It's not easy to do what David asked Zeba to do, to take care
of somebody to Zeba and his sons and his servants tells them
you're going to till the land all you're going to grow all the
food and you're going to serve King Saul's grandson
Mephibosheth. That's a hard thing to do.
That's a heavy load for somebody serving an invalid and and
working and and that's all you're working for.
I wonder if Zebra maybe was a little jealous and we're not
told that, but something to think about.
It wouldn't be surprising. But he's more of an opportunist
than anything. He's motivated entirely by his
self-interest. And what's interesting is that
David, who on previous occasions has been very, very meticulous
in dealing with encounters like this way back in chapter, the
1st chapter of Second Samuel when he hears about the death of
Saul. David really, I mean, the, the
person who brought the information that King Saul was
dead to David, Dayton presses this guy and presses this guy
and asking question after question after question, wanting
to know the details. But here David just makes a snap
decision of what to do. Kind of interesting to David's
character at this point. But in this instance, I guess he
may be distressed or he's discouraged.
His judgement is off. He makes a snap decision.
So this is not the point of lesson, but the point is just a
point in passing. Let us, let us just be careful
not to make snap decisions when we're under a heavy load, maybe
when things are not going the way we want.
Be careful not to make those snap decisions when life is
turned against us, when we're disheartened, when we're
discouraged. Don't write important letters
then don't change your job. Don't rearrange your
relationships. Don't just keep working.
Keep your head down and keep working.
Trust God. So then from Zeba, who having
benefit benefited from the his deceit, then displays his
homage. And it's kind of creepy when you
really think about it. All this was taking place while
David was beyond the summit, and that's the summit of the Mount
of Olives. And now we pick up the story in
verse 5 when King David became came to Bahiram.
Bahiram is not that far away from Jerusalem.
It's maybe a couple miles out of the city of Jerusalem to the
east NE a little bit. And Beharim is not the first
time. This is not the first time we
hear in this city either. Beharim is where David went to
get his wife Macau Michael back from pal TL because Saul, out of
a sense of grudging disrespect towards David, gave Michael to
his this guy Paletel. And David shows up and he says I
want Michael back and they're in Beharim.
Palatal comes out and he arrives weeping.
Weeping along the way, of course, is this lady he's been
partnered with is now taken from him.
We can read that in Second Psalm chapter 3.
And that was a sad scene, but nothing compared to the scene
that we have here. So now we have not simply David
deceived by Zeba, but now he's cursed by Shimmya.
And I think it's fair to say that Shimmya was not a very
happy guy based on what he does here out of the abundance of his
heart. The mouth speaks.
He's an angry man. He's filled with rage, and he
curses continuously. And his curses are an expression
of his condemnation of David. It says, get out, get out of
here. He calls him a worthless man, a
bloodthirsty man. And of course, the fact that
David was already out of the city.
He was out of Jerusalem. He had already crossed over the
Brook Kidron. He was on his way into the
wilderness of, of the Judean wilderness.
And now this guy Shimmyai, which was an he's an antagonist,
arrives and he speaks in this way.
I want to read again verse 7 and 8 what Shimmyai has to say to
him. It says also Shimmyai said thus
when he cursed. Come out, come out.
You bloodthirsty man, you rogue, the Lord has brought upon you
all the blood of the House of salt and whose place you have
reigned, and the Lord has delivered the Kingdom into the
hand of Absalom, your son. So now you are caught in your
own evil because you are a bloodthirsty man.
Now, as we read this, you will recognize that all those shimmy
eyes words are half wrong. They're also half true in the
same manner. They're half wrong, first of
all, because what he's saying is that David has evil upon him and
that David, David is a worthless man.
And David is a man in blood. And he's as he's responsible for
the deaths and the murders that kept taking place all in the
House of Saul. And we'll have to remember, of
course, that that Joe AB and Abishai, who had another brother
called Assayel, who remember they took a spear and in the
belly when he was running behind his enemy.
And remember that those boys were also involved, involved in
the subsequent murder of Abner. Saul had died.
Jonathan had died. And the rumor at that time was,
is that although David himself may have not actually stuck the
dagger in, he was responsible for the death and he was
actually behind all of that. And the accusation that is
coming from Shimmy Eye, this man is actually true.
And that that is the case. He says you oppose the House of
Saul, you blood on your hands in this relationship to this.
And as a result of that, God has decided that you're done, you're
out of here, you're getting removed from power and Absalom's
coming in behind you. So he's half wrong, but he's
also half right, I believe, because evil has fallen to
David. David is a man of blood, if you
want to say. And the word that had come from
Nathan the prophet to him was Nathan said, I will raise up
evil against you out of your own house.
Second Samuel 12 verse 11. And David knew that because the
word of God had been spoken to him.
So this man says to him, you know, evil is upon you, meaning
the accusations regarding the House of Saul.
So David recognizes, you know, you're wrong on that, but you're
actually right because evil has fallen upon me.
You're wrong in saying that I'm that my worthlessness lies and
what I did to the House of Saul. But you're right, because on
that afternoon and that incident that began on the roof, that was
the action of a worthless man engaged in a worthless endeavor
to create a worthless end. Now then, David then as he hears
what this man is saying, is processing kind of things all
along his lines and he's thinking about it.
Abishai comes up to him and he says, why don't we just do what
we're good at doing that? Why don't we just take this
guy's head off and move on the way?
We're good. We're the sons of Zarya.
Let's just take this guy's head off and be done with them.
We don't have to hear him cursing anymore and let's just
move on with life. So the condemnation comes from
the lips of Shimmy eye. The proposed solution comes from
the mouth of Abishai. And the word of correction then
comes from David. At first he says, why are you
sons of Zehariah always interfering, always getting in
the way? What am I supposed to do with
you guys? What have I to do with you?
He says there in verse 10. So instead of retaliating, David
says what we need to recognize is the distinct possibility that
the Lord himself is speaking to me through shimmy eye.
In other words, although he's half wrong, I recognize that
he's half right. And if I'm a paraphrase, I
paraphrase, I can imagine him saying kind of sort of, well,
think about this. In fact, it's in the text.
If we see in verse 11, think about this, my own son is
seeking to kill me is what he's saying.
So why would this be a surprise if Absalom once we did old this
old crazy guy shimmy eye all the stones, all his cursing, that's
nothing compared to what Absalom my son can do to me.
And what has actually happened here is simply that what shimmy
eye implied, which was that David had been guilty of these
blood offenses against the House of Saul.
What Shimmy eye implied is that David heard what he what shimmy
I said when David heard were two different things.
Again, he accused him of something that he didn't do.
And it's simply reinforced in David's mind the reality of what
he actually did do. It's funny how guilt works
sometimes. We may be totally innocent,
innocent of things that may be going on around us or maybe
happening to us or whatever it may be.
But yeah, we feel a little sense of responsibility, what's
happening around us. At the same time, Guilt's funny
like that. Shimmy Eye says you're a
worthless man. David says, I thinks you know I
am chosen by God, but what a worthless act by a worthless man
on a what provided to be a worthless afternoon.
Shimmy Eye then says, your hands are full of blood.
Maybe I can think of David saying, well, I never touched
any of those people. I wasn't responsible for the
death of Saul, but I'm always that responsible for the death
of Uriah. Shimmy Eyes motives are wrong,
his accusations were wrong, and yet God reveals his purpose and
his plan to David through an unlikely source.
And here again at a very important piece of this entire
story, we're at, because now once again, we're dealing with
an intersection between the sovereign purpose of God and the
responsibility of man. And in reality, the reality, the
mystery of the way in which that we said all works and we said
all happens being that which was that is evil in the hand of God
may be brought to good. There's a mystery in that.
We can think of it maybe if you want to think about Joseph with
his brothers, the same issue. He says to them, you intended
for all this evil, but yet God intended it for good.
And for that God was not responsible one piece in any of
the evil acts that happened. And yet here again, once again,
we see the same thing in verse 12.
Listen to the to this from the lips of David.
It says it may be that the Lord will look on my affliction or it
could actually mean look on the wrong done by me and that the
Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day.
You see, in the midst of all of this, David had a deep seated
confidence in God of Amazing Grace, of God's Amazing Grace.
He understood it, he grasped it, he held on to it.
This is Amazing Grace because he still knows that the word came
from the lips of Nathan. To him it says, God has put away
your sin. It was an expression of the
unguessable grace and mercy of God.
One commentator said, and I thought this was really great.
He said His mercy is so great that he forgives great sins to
great sinners after great leaks of time and gives great
privileges and great favors. That's who God is.
That's who we serve. That's who we follow.
The curses were a response. They were part of the
consequences of his iniquity. But David recognizes that God is
not only able, but God is also willing to look at this guilt
and return it to good. We have, this is a special word
to us who are Christians, Christians who believe that we
have. Maybe we've made a royal mess of
our lives. Maybe we just continue to mess
up, mess up and mess up and do a really good job at it.
You know, we're not talking about unbelievers.
David was a believer. We're believers.
Dave was a friend of God. David was a choice of God.
He made he, but he made an absolute mess of his life with
some of the decisions that he made.
Therefore, despite the fact that you and I may have ignored his
standards, maybe we've denied his word.
Maybe we have rejected his commands.
Maybe we've suffered and suffered miserably as a result
of that. And we say, well, yeah, you
know, I've repented. I've been forgiven.
We all say that. We know that.
But somehow we who have done that have repented and forgiven.
We still kind of feel like maybe we're, we're not on the varsity
team anymore. God, if you want to say maybe
we're just being Christians on the bench.
We're not playing for the A-Team.
You know, we can't see ourselves as maybe really a warrior for
God anymore because of the things that we've done.
But that is not so that can't be so as long as God is God because
he is God. And David tells us who does not,
who does not treat us as our sins deserve, that He puts them
as far from us as the East is from the West, that he buries
them in the sea of his forgetfulness.
God can only forget one thing, and that's our sins.
And that's not because he that he's a forgetful God, but that's
because he chooses to forget. And if you meditate on that
concept for a long time, it really is amazing what God has
done for us. He's got to see into the depths
of the sea. We'll cast all of our sins.
If you throw something into the sea, you're not finding it.
There was a time where we went on vacation one time and me and
the girls were out snorkeling in the ocean.
That was probably a good 15 foot deep water.
It was Clearwater, but the bottom of the scent of the where
we were at was sandy and it had rocks all the same time, kind of
speckled all over the place. And we're out there, you know,
snorkeling and everything. And all of a sudden, I don't
know what is about salt water, but it makes your skin shrink a
little bit. On my my ring was loose enough
to where my ring, my wedding ring slipped off of my finger
and it sank. We got waves and everything else
and I just go into panic mode. It's gone forever.
Well, Emma, the fish as she is, she somehow or another dove and
able to see a glimmer of my ring and she went all the way down to
the bottom 15 feet deep and picked that thing up.
I don't know how she did it, but she found it.
But when you cast something into the sea, you don't ever see it
again. And that's what it says here.
God will cast all of our sins into the depths of the sea.
What an amazing concept if we've succumbed to that devil's lie.
If I did this, I did that. I did the next thing about the
whole thing up, you know now we just now what do we do if the
devil has got that line our mind We just tell that evil 1 tell
the devil go back to where he belongs because I take my stand
with the unguessable grace of God, the God who and despite the
fact that David was in the story and it is in this predicament.
Yet it is to him and through him that Christ will be born in
Bethlehem and that the nations will hear the voice of the words
of the Lord. That response on the part of
David did not bring an end, of course, to the cursing.
It's not the a major point, but I think it's an important point
for us to notice. And sometimes I think when we
say, you know, once we kind of understand the Scripture and
we've got everything resolved, once we're prepared to
acknowledge that God is in control and so on and let him
know, then we'll be able to proceed accordingly and all is
well. I want to make sure that we
notice in that in verse 13 says it says that David and his men
went along and as they went along shimmy, I kept up the same
old stuff, throwing rocks and cursing him and flinging dust in
the air. And so we're told as David and
his company kept going on, having continued to receive that
abuse, it just kept coming at them, coming them.
And they they arrived weary, which was no surprise.
And they refreshed themselves arriving at the Jordan River.
And there he and all this company refresh themselves.
And presumably he said, well, maybe since I got all this stuff
from Zebra here now, maybe this is a good spot to eat all this
good food that was brought to us.
The scene switches then to meanwhile back in Jerusalem,
because back in Jerusalem, while this is, while David's getting
out of town, Absalom has made his way back into Jerusalem.
And the way in which his entry there has been described to us
gives us the notion that, and it's an accurate notion that all
the balance of power is now on the side of Absalom and all the
people, the memory of Israel and they came into Jerusalem.
So it's looking pretty good for Absalom at this point, it seems
like. So David having been deceived by
Ziva, having been cursed by Shimmy Eye, we're now going to
find him supported by his friend, who shy and of course
opposed by his one time counsellor, Ahithophel.
And as we come to the self, we have to keep reminding ourselves
to keep, you know, our bearings and where we're at all the time.
We've got to see kind of where we're headed in the story.
And remember, David has been unsettled by the news of a
Hippophel's defection. And as a result of that, David
of course prayed the prayer that he prays that the Hippophiles
council will will would be overturned, that God would
overturn that council. He has at the same time
dispatched Hushai, the archetype to whom we were are reintroduced
now. He sent him back into Jerusalem
to be a spy, to be a double agent, if you want to say.
And he sent him back in the hope that he will be able to become
the answer to David's prayer. And in somehow or another,
through the actions of Hushai, the counsel of a hipophile will
be defeated. Oh, God, defeat the counsel of
the hipophile. And then he says, who should I
go up to Jerusalem and fulfill the role of a spy?
Now earlier we said, and it's almost obvious from this vantage
point that all of the balance of power and significance and
influence had been found at this point on the side of Absalom.
And indeed, if Who Shy is not a successful in fulfilling this
spy mission, then the prayer of David may not be answered.
It's hard to see that David's Kingdom can continue any further
if Who Shy does not successfully help answer the prayer that
David prayed. So what we have here is a group
that are in a far a country outside of Jerusalem that needed
refreshment. Absalom a hippophil and his
company company dually installed in Jerusalem with all the odds
of victory of course on Absalom side at this point.
But who shy was David's friend we see in verse 16 and we knew
what his part was to play. And as we read these, we need to
remind ourselves that Absalom has no idea of the conversation
between Who Shy and David. Absalom's oblivious to what
David has set in place as far as who Shy being a spy.
This is taking place without Absalom's knowledge.
Therefore, when when who side Who Shy shows up and encounters
Absalom in this setting? Absalom doesn't know the
background to it all, and it's not surprising that he presses
him and really in the way that he does.
The presumption on the part, the presumption that is part and
parcel of Absalom psyche. Remember, Absent thinks he's the
greatest there is. He really thinks highly of
himself. He's very self-centered man and
he's really stuck on himself. And this really makes it
possible. It makes it distinctly possible
for Hushai to be able to con him in the way that he does.
If Absalom was any different from who he was, it wouldn't be
any as easy as it turns out to be that we can read about.
For example, he says who shy says Long live the king, Long
live the king and immediately Absalom cells says, well that's
nice. This guy's already saying Long
live the king because Absalom absolute assumes that it's a
reference to himself. He thinks who shy saying Long
live the king, long the king about Absalom after all, Maybe,
maybe Absalom says, well, he knows that the Trump of declared
him king in Hebron in chapter 15.
And Absalom must have been saying self.
Well, that's very wonderful, isn't it?
Now, now I got I've got one of David's really good friends now
saying that I'm the king and and he feels like he's in a really
good spot about that. And then he says, Absalom says,
let me just ask you about this, though, Is this how you show
loyalty to your friend? Why are you here with me rather
than there with him? Well, who should I said to
Absalom? No.
For whom the Lord and his, this people and all the men of Israel
choose. His I will be, and with him I
will remain. Who should I is doing a pretty
good job, right? Because who should I hasn't said
anybody's name yet. He hasn't attributed it to
David. He hasn't assigned it to
Absalom. No, he says, the one that the
Lord has chosen, I will be with him, and with him I will remain.
Once again, in Absalom's mind, this is clearly a reference to
him. And so apparently he's beginning
to convince himself that Hushai will actually be loyal to him.
Now, this is the very reason, of course, because because Hushai
is going to be used to overturn the Council of the Hippophel.
And the ambiguity. Ambiguity.
Guilty. I can't say the word ambiguity.
I don't know, say it. Ambiguity.
There it is. Ambiguity of Hushai's words
really allow Absalom to conclude that what Hushai saying is
really about him. And of course, the wonderful
thing is that Hushai is David's friend and that Hushai is
actually the friend of a king. Few weeks ago we sing what a
friend we have in Jesus and it reminded us about that amazing
truth that we become a friend of the king.
It's a great song. But I want to remind us quickly
about the relationship to Jesus and his disciples that we see in
John chapter 15 where Jesus speaking to his followers and he
says to them, this is my commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than
this, than to lay one's life down for his friends.
You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.
No longer do I call you servants, for your servants does
not, for a servant does not know what his master's doing.
But I have called you friends for this, for all things that I
have heard from my father, I've made known to you.
And we need to understand that to be a friend of the king as
who I was, who I was to David. It's not a symmetrical thing.
The relationship between king and whoever was the friend of
the king was a relationship that was disproportionate, if you
want to say so that it was entirely legitimate, if you want
to say for King David to say who should I is my friend, but it's
not legitimate for who should I to say King David is my friend.
And what I mean by this is that while we're very happy to sing
that song, what a friend we have in Jesus.
You know, we sang that a few weeks ago.
Like I said, Jesus looks upon us.
He says Jack, Cindy, Virgil, Brent, you are my friend and
Jack and Cindy and Virgil and Brent respond and Jesus, you are
my king. You see the relationship is not
symmetrical. Jesus is king and we will extol
him and the fact that he calls us friends is a miracle of his
grace and thanks be to God for that.
Now the reason that all of this is so important is because it's
paving the way for the fact that in verse five of the next
chapter, Absalom says completely out of the blue, he says call
who shy the archive and let us hear what he has to say.
And it's a pivotal moment and that would not have happened if
the dialogue that we just talked about had not unfolded in the
way that it did. And the the Absalom taking the
words from who shy in a selfish way, he received those words
thinking that who shy was talking about himself, created
with himself, maybe him thinking, well, who shy?
I can count on who shy now because he's talking about me.
He said long with the king, he's going to follow the king and so
on. So Absalom really kind of feels
like who shy is on his side at this point, unbeknownst to him
that Hushai was actually still acting as a spy.
And of course, they're parts of the advice that is coming this
way that will change things entirely.
Now then, that gives us enough on the matter of the advice of
the spy and how we in turn, finally we're going to turn to
the traitor of Ahithophel, which he is absolutely a traitor.
And I mentioned. Earlier that Ahithophel is the
Old Testament equivalent to Judas Iscariot, even as he was a
traitor of Jesus the King. So Ahithophel is a traitor to
King David. Fascinatingly, it says Absalom
says to to Ahithophel give advice as to what we should do.
Well, you need to be careful who you ask advice from.
I think it's what we need to learn from this.
It's not unusual for David to have inquired, but I think when
we read the Old Testament in the story of David, David inquired
of the Lord. That's who David went to for
information. And here Absalom inquires of a
hippophile. And we know of course, that a
council, that this council stated in verse 23, the council
that a hippophile gave was as if was consulted of the word of
God. Now there's something very
dangerous, I think about that and I'll show it, hopefully show
it in a moment or two as we conclude that this, there's
something very wonderful about it as well.
And the danger is that that going to people who give counsel
who are so definitive on things that when they say they kind of
pass themselves off as they were actually counseling you on the
word of God. Make sure that when we go and
ask advice from anybody that they do it with an open Bible.
Make sure that they're counseling you out of the clear
instruction of Scripture, not out of the wisdom of the
Scripture, but scripture itself. Because there are a hippophiles
out there and we got to make sure that we go to the right
people for guidance. And of course, a hippophile is
as clear as he is concise. What shall we do?
A hippophiles said to Absalom, he said go into your father's
concubines who he who he has left to keep the house.
And remember that we said in a previous study in chapter 15
that David had decided when they left Jerusalem that he was going
to leave the 10 concubines in Jerusalem behind.
We said that in passing that it was going to prove a significant
decision on his part. And we're going to see the
answer here. It is.
It says sleep with the King's concubines in the sight of all
Israel. Or if you would like, if you
want to put in a contemporary words, sleep with the King's
concubines and make sure it goes out on every single social media
platform. That's what the advice from a
hip tell was. It doesn't mean that everybody
in Israel is going to watch the story, this sorry spectacle
occur. It just means that it was going
to be public knowledge. And he says, if you do this, it
will be really foundational for your kingship because it will be
obvious to everybody that you have entirely burned your
bridges with your father and the possibility of any
reconciliation with him in the future.
And it'll it'll put a stamp that you have taken over the Kingdom
of Israel. Because in ancient E at that
time there was when there was a transition from one king to
another, all the material, all the physical, and also all the
social dimensions of that Kingdom were transferred over to
the new kingship. And in so in one sense, Absalom
is simply just doing what would normally be done, if you want to
say. But what is being described here
as being done is something so beyond the realm of ordinary and
a hippothel, you know, as we learn what a guy, huh?
He says to him, Well, we'll get things organized for you.
Why don't we, since we, you know, we want to make clear that
every your stands what this is, why don't we pitch a tent on the
roof on the top of the house? And if you know the story, you
know that same rooftop, it's the same place, it's very same roof,
the same roof that David had been lounging on and we're told
stood up and gazed out into to find Bathsheba bathing.
And what then followed in that incident was hidden from public
view. And what follows now is
unashamedly displayed for public knowledge.
It's really a sorry picture. It's really a sorry part of
Scripture. When Absalom went in and he went
in, we see that there can be great danger in the gifts of God
to us. You can ask ourselves, well, how
can there be great danger of them?
Well, unless they're sanctified, they those gifts can be a real
problem because Speaking of David, from the sole of his foot
to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him.
That's talking about David's physical appearance, but now
we're talking about his character.
His outward appearance was such that he was a married by all and
he was coveted by all and surely, surely coveted by maybe
the female population. But his character was something
different from his outward appearance in a hit the fell.
He was so powerful who shy. We don't know what's going to
happen with him from here now, but in actual fact, we're told
in the conclusion of this incident, the conclusion that
we're going to see here is actually the key and we want to
remember that we said it's a dangerous word, but it's
actually a wonderful word. In the same time, it says now in
those days that the council that a hip fell gay was as if one had
inquired at the Oracle of God. So think about it.
What was the word of God? What was the Oracle of God?
If you want to say look at second Samuel 12, verse 11 says,
thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise up evil against you
out of your own house, and I will take your wives before your
eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall live with
your wives in the sight of the sun.
And then verse 12 reads, for you did it in secretly, but I will
do this thing before all of Israel before the sun.
God, it means exactly what he says.
He's going to do exactly what he says.
He says this 5 chapters ago. God speaking through the prophet
Nathan telling David, and God does it.
It's pretty remarkable. In other words, the evil that
Ahithophel conveyed in the activity in which Absalom
engaged in that activity was under the provision of a
sovereign God, that Absalom, by his own willpower, did what
Ahithophel in such contemptible and wicked way advised him to
do. And of course, the mystery is
this, that the evil act was at the same time the Lord's doing
something to really think upon. Listen, evil never ever, ever
forts God's good purpose. Ever.
It can't. It doesn't.
Neither is evil ever justified because it is used by God for
good. There's no situational ethics
here. There's no there's no way that
it that evil transmutes into good evil.
This evil lies or lies, sins and sin.
But the mystery of it all in the words of the Hippophel, I mean
notes to him, he's actually setting forward what God had
said through the prophet before. Well, let's end with the apostle
Peter at Pentecost, Acts 2 verse 22 and 23 men of Israel hear
these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man
attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and
signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves
know, this Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan
and foreknowledge of God. You crucified and killed by the
hands of lawless men. That there that scene there at
the very cross of Christ, the very central point at which the
devil thought that he had had it taken care of, that he's getting
rid of Jesus. This is my world now the devil
thinks he's going to have victory over God and and and
he's at that point and it said and Peter filled with the Holy
Spirit. He's given a grasp and an
insight maybe that he previously not had is able to preach so
greatly and make the point to the Jews that had previously
missed it missed it that the goodness of God's great plan
will always defeat evil every time It's pretty fantastic.
There's a song that's out right now it's called his mercy is
more. I want to read the words to
this. What love could remember no
wrongs we have done Omniscient all knowing He counts not their
Son thrown into a sea without bottom or shore or sins they are
many, His mercy is more. What patients would wait as we
constantly roam. What Father so tender is calling
us home? He welcomes the weakest, the
vilest, the poor. Our sins there are many.
His mercy is more Praise the Lord.
His mercy is more stronger than darkness knew evermore.
Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more what riches of
kindness He lavished on us. His blood was the payment, His
life was the cost. We stood neither debt we
couldn't ever afford our sins there are many, His mercy is
more. Praise the Lord, His mercy is
more stronger than darkness new evermore our sins there are
many, His mercy is more. Do you believe that?
I hope you do hope all of us do Gospel plan of salvation.
Hear, believe, repent, confess and be baptized.
Romans 10/17 So then faith come by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God. Hebrews 11/6 says, but without
the faith is impossible to believe him, it is impossible to
please him, for he who comes to God must believe that he is.
Acts 238 And then Peter said, repent and let everyone of you
be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins. Acts 83036 and 37 where the
Ethiopian eunuch God baptized he.
He confessed that he believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of
God by his lips. And then Mark 1616.
We're taught that he who believes and is baptized will be
saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned.
Is there 1 here who needs to follow those steps?
Is there 1 here who needs just the prayers of the church or
needs to make a public confession in any way?
We ask you to please do so as we stand and as we see.