WWUTT 344 David Grieves Over Saul and Jonathan?

When going from 1st Samuel to 2nd Samuel, we go from Saul being king to David being king.

But there's something else significant that we find in 2nd Samuel, a clear promise of a

Messiah when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature

New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Today we begin a new book in our

Old Testament study. It is the book of 2nd Samuel. So if you want to open up your Bible and join with me there,

I don't really have much backstory to give to you heading into 2nd Samuel. It's a continuation of 1st

Samuel. We pick up right where we left off. The dividing line is between who is king.

In 1st Samuel, Saul is king. In 2nd Samuel, David is king.

Now the themes that we were looking for in 1st Samuel carry over into 2nd

Samuel as well. I don't know if you remember all this going back several weeks when we began our study of 1st Samuel. What were the three main themes that we were looking for?

God's kingship, God's providence, and God's sovereignty. First of all,

God's kingship. He reigns from heaven enthroned on high. Whether Saul was king of Israel or David was king of Israel, they were both earthly representations of the

God who reigned from heaven. And neither one became king without God's ordination.

He sent Samuel, his prophet, to Saul who anointed him with oil to be the next king of Israel. Then Israel cast lots to decide who was going to be their king and the lot fell on Saul.

Hey look at that. Proverbs 1633 is true. The lot falls into the lap but its every decision is from the

Lord. God had already appointed Saul the next king before Israel had cast lots.

Then Saul falls out of favor with God. God tells Samuel, take up your horn with oil, sends him to the house of Jesse.

And among Jesse's sons, David is the one who is appointed king. Saul was a king after the heart of Israel.

Israel told Samuel, hey we want a king. Give us a king. And so the king that God gave to Israel was a king that was a reflection of the heart of Israel.

David, on the other hand, was a reflection of the heart of God. This is why he is referred to as a man after God's own heart.

But even after David was anointed king, he defeats Goliath, people sing his praises,

Saul has killed his thousands, David his ten thousands. Even after David had been anointed and he achieved such military success, he did not take matters into his own hands and tried to unseat

Saul, taking over the throne of Israel. Saul, as far as David was concerned, was

God's anointed. There was a reason why God still had Saul alive. And so David was not going to touch him.

He was not going to take matters into his own hands. Even when David had an opportunity to kill Saul.

Saul's anger was kindled against David, tried to kill David. David fled. There were two opportunities in two different caves where David could have killed

Saul and instead spared his life. In one instance, Saul was relieving himself. David snuck up behind him, nicked off a piece of his robe and and showed it to Saul, said,

I could have killed you, but I spared your life. Saul wept and said, I realize that you are more righteous than I am.

But Saul's anger was not abated. He continued to pursue David yet again. There was another opportunity where Saul was asleep on the ground and David had a chance to kill

Saul and didn't do it. He took his spear and a water jar and held them up and said, hey, look,

I could have killed you. I could have pinned you to the ground with your spear. But instead, I have spared your life.

And Saul once again wept and said, you are more righteous than I am. And I also love what

David said of himself. Who is it that you come after? I'm a dead dog. I am a flea. I am nothing.

Who is it that you are trying to kill? David proving to Saul that he had no quarrel with him to kill him, for he was

God's anointed. So after that second occasion that David had spared Saul's life, then

Saul pursued him no more. And David went to live in Ziklag among the

Philistines. That's where we will pick up the story in Second Samuel. So anyway, before we get there, though, let's review our two other themes.

So we've talked about God's kingship. Secondly, God's providence. What is providence?

It is God caring for, guiding over all things that are on earth.

And it is it is benevolent. Whenever we talk about providence, it is God's goodness in his guidance.

There's a reason why he directs everything a certain way. And it's ultimately to his glory.

You think about David writing in Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

So God doing all things providentially for his glory and goodness.

Everything that happens over the course of First Samuel is because God has directed these things to happen in such a way.

We talked about this particularly when David was going to rise up against the house of Nabal.

But then Abigail comes out and appeals to David and begs him to spare his sword against the house of the fool

Nabal, who was her husband at the time. And she said, if you do this thing, you're going to you're going to bring blood guilt even upon yourself.

And David praises the woman for for coming out and and begging for the life of Nabal and his whole household, as well as looking out for David that he would not do this thing and bring a blood guilt upon himself and then ascend to the throne with this guilt on his conscience.

And David says to Abigail, blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel who sent you this day to meet me.

Blessed be your discretion and and blessed be you who have kept me this day from blood guilt and from working salvation with my own hand.

And so David is saying that it is the Lord that sent you out here to me and it is the Lord that has stayed my hand.

So because he goes on in verse thirty four or I'm sorry, I'm in chapter twenty five verse thirty four. For as surely as the

Lord, the God of Israel lives, who has restrained me from hurting you unless you had hurried and come to meet me truly by morning, there had not been left to enable so much as one male.

So David says it is God who sent Abigail to stop me from doing this, and it is

God who stopped me from doing this. So all of the credit is going to the Lord God.

God is being praised for his providential care over everything that is going on over the course of the book of First Samuel.

And this is one of the reasons why David is referred to as a man after God's own heart, that he would understand the

Lord this way when Saul had no fear of God and was trying to take matters into his own hands.

Yet David gives praise to the Lord because of his providential hand caring for and guiding every situation.

We read this also in the Psalms, where David says of the Lord that every one of his tears had been bottled by God and had been written down in his book.

In other words, this was David being reminded that though he is under duress and though he is stressed out about the situation that is going on, particularly with Saul pursuing him and threatening to take his life,

David is reminded that none of these things are happening outside of God's providence. He knew of every one of these situations before any one of them happened.

So what have I to fear? As David is writing these things out in the Psalms, he is being reminded that the

Lord still reigns on high. He is providentially guiding every single one of these situations, these circumstances, as they take place.

And so he is comforted in these facts as being one who has anointed the next king of Israel.

The Lord will deliver his servant. So far, the themes we've talked about,

God's kingship, God's providence, and lastly, God's sovereignty. Now, what would the difference be between providence and sovereignty?

Because providence is God's benevolent, loving, guiding hand over all of creation, ordaining events as they happen.

Nothing happens outside of the will or the providential guidance of God. But that's typically the way that we define sovereignty.

So what is sovereignty? Well, sovereignty is supreme power or authority.

And God's authority is always good. It is always to the praise of his great name.

He chooses or rejects people according to his absolute sovereign will and purpose.

From a human perspective, sometimes it might look like that God has changed his mind.

And we saw that talked about in 1 Samuel, where the Lord's favor was no longer with Saul.

And instead, it was time for David to be anointed the next king. But all of these things are still happening under God's sovereign ordination.

And there is a reason why he has those events take place in exactly the way that he does. He is absolute and nothing happens without God's sovereign direction.

I believe that it was R .C. Sproul who said, if there is one rogue molecule in the universe that has fled outside the will of God and is doing its own thing, then none of God's promises can be trusted.

But because God is sovereign and his absolute rule and authority means that he will carry out his decrees and his plans to the praise of his glorious grace, then we can know and be certain that the promises of God will be fulfilled.

And that is especially significant as we move into 2 Samuel, where we have two more themes that are being added here that we don't have thematically as prominent in 1

Samuel, but are definitely more so in 2 Samuel. And that is what's referred to as the

Davidic covenant and also the messianic promise. And both of these things are prominent, particularly in 2

Samuel 7, where God makes a covenant with David and gives the promise of the

Messiah, this deliverer who was going to come from the line of Seth, from the line of Shem and from the line of of Abraham.

And so we're getting more and more specific as we go through the genealogy of Christ, getting now to the line of David, where God says that on the throne of David, he will establish his kingdom forever.

So we have that messianic promise that is coming in here in 2 Samuel. And it's a it's a turning point, really, in God's promise of a deliverer for his people.

So let's begin a study of 2 Samuel and we'll begin here in chapter one, where David hears of the death of Saul.

We saw Saul's death at the end of 1 Samuel in chapter 31. He and his son,

Jonathan, both killed at the hands of the Philistines. In 2 Samuel chapter one, beginning in verse one, after the death of Saul, when

David had returned from striking down the Amalekites, David remained two days in Ziklag.

And on the third day, behold, a man came from Saul's camp with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.

And when he came to David, he fell on the ground and paid homage. David said to him, where do you come from?

And he said to him, I have escaped from the camp of Israel. So the picture of this man coming to David with dirt on his head and with his clothes torn indicates that the man has been mourning because Saul and his armies lost against the

Philistines. And so he is not only mourning the death of Saul and Jonathan, but the loss of Israel.

Verse four, David said to him, how did it go? Tell me. And he answered, the people fled from the battle.

And also many of the people have fallen and are dead. And Saul and his son Jonathan are also dead.

Then David said to the young man who told him, how do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?

And the young man who told him said, by chance, I happen to be on Mount Gilboa.

And there was Saul leaning on his spear and behold, the chariots and the horsemen were close upon him.

And when he looked behind him, he saw me and he called to me and I answered, here I am. And he said to me, who are you?

And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. And he said to me, stand beside me and kill me for anguish has seized me and yet my life still lingers.

So I stood beside him and I killed him because I was sure that he would not live after he had fallen.

And I took the crown that was on his head and the armlet that was on his arm and I have brought them here to my

Lord. Now there are some skeptics that will want to say that these stories are inconsistent because that's not the way that Saul died in 1

Samuel chapter 31. He fell on his own sword. He committed suicide. His body was cut up by the

Philistines and displayed in different places. But here this Amalekite is saying, I killed Saul. So it's not that the story is inconsistent.

The Amalekite is trying to earn David's favor. And because Saul had been trying to kill David, the

Amalekite thinks that, oh, hey, I can get David's favor by showing that I killed

Saul. I did this for David, but, but I, you know, he's still going to say, I did this righteously because had

I not killed Saul, well, the armies were just going to overtake him and kill him anyway. So I did this for my

Lord. And so he's done these things to earn David's favor, bringing the armlet that was on his arm and also the crown that was from the head of Saul.

Verse 11, then David took hold of his clothes and tore them. And so did all the men who were with him.

They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan, his son, and for the people of the

Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. And David said to the young man who came to him, where do you come from?

And he answered, I am the son of a sojourner, an Amalekite. And David said to him, how is it that you were not afraid to put out your hand to destroy the

Lord's anointing? Then David called out to one of the young men and said, go execute him.

And he struck him down so that he died. And David said to him, your blood be on your own head for your own mouth has testified against you saying,

I have killed the Lord's anointed. So David is saying this is so to say that David has, though David has demanded his execution, the man's blood is not on David's hands.

It's on his own hands. David himself feared the Lord. The Lord was the one who appointed

Saul king and had him on the throne. And though he had become a wicked king, the Lord still had him there for a purpose.

And so David, out of fear of the Lord, did not strike down Saul, the Lord's anointed.

And in fact, we see the affections of David for a man who had been anointed by God.

And though he had fallen away from God and was not worshiping God or honoring

God, David yet mourned in his heart so much for this man that he could have repented from his sins and followed after the

Lord. And so it is true what it says in the scriptures in Ezekiel 33, that the

Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. And so as David is a man after God's own heart, so he did not find pleasure.

He did not delight in the death of Saul, but he mourned the death of God's anointed.

And so there should be no delight in our hearts whatsoever. Even when the wicked are struck down.

We should desire that all men would repent of their sins and come to know

Christ. Only the Lord truly knows who are his. Only God knows who the elect are.

We don't know that. God does. But just as God in his heart is grieved over the wickedness of man, so we also should be grieved in our hearts and be compassionate and desirous for all men to turn from their sin and worship

God. David had this kind of affection for Saul, though Saul was a man who tried to kill

David. And so we should have that kind of love and sympathy, showing mercy and grace to all those who are around us who need to hear the gospel of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Let's finish up here with David's lament for Saul and Jonathan as we wrap up our study of 2

Samuel 1. David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and Jonathan, his son, and he said it should be taught to the people of Judah.

Behold, it is written in the book of Jashar. He said, Your glory,

O Israel, is slain on your high places. How the mighty have fallen. Tell it not in Gath.

Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon. Lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.

You mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields of offerings for there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul not anointed with oil.

And it was there on the mountains of Gilboa where Saul had died, where he had fallen on his own sword.

And so David was saying that no dew or rain should fall upon that place.

Let there be no blessing there because that was the place where the Lord's anointed fell.

From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely, in life and in death they were not divided.

They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions. Now this song is meant to be very praising of Saul and Jonathan, not critical because it's remembering their gloriousness in their deaths.

So it doesn't talk about the division between Saul and Jonathan, and we're also led to believe that the two, the father and the son, were probably reconciled with one another.

Even though Saul had tried to kill Jonathan at one point because he felt like Jonathan was protecting David, or Jonathan was in cahoots with David, you can put it that way, because Jonathan was protecting

David. Somewhere in there, Saul and Jonathan had been reconciled. And David describes them as beloved and lovely, meaning that they were majestic.

They were glorious in their rule and in their reign over Israel. Verse 24, you daughters of Israel weep over Saul, who clothed you luxuriously in scarlet, who put ornaments of gold on your apparel.

How the mighty have fallen in the midst of the battle. Jonathan lies slain on your high places.

I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.

How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished. If you would consider this a song, what would the chorus be?

Well the continuing, the recurring theme there is, how the mighty have fallen. And this was

David's lament in his heart that Saul and Jonathan had died. They were mighty and they had been killed.

Now where David says of Jonathan, very pleasant have you been to me. Your love to me was extraordinary, surpassing the love of women.

We talked about this weeks ago when we were looking at the friendship between Jonathan and David. There are many that will try to take this particular passage and say that there was some kind of sexual relationship between Jonathan and David, which simply is not the case.

That is not what's being implied here at all. But no woman had ever given

David more than Jonathan had given David. That's simply what David is saying.

Jonathan was the rightful heir to the throne of Israel. He was the son of Saul. And yet Jonathan was willing to not pursue what rightfully belonged to him because he knew that David was the next anointed king of Israel.

And even said, Jonathan said of David, you will be king, and I will be with you, and I will be by your side.

And so Jonathan gave so much more to David than even a woman who loved him had ever given

David. And so that's simply the reference. It is not a reference to a romantic relationship that did not exist between David and Jonathan at all.

So do not listen to the will of the culture. Let us come and understand the will of the

Lord according to what is revealed in his scriptures. We will finish up our study of 2

Samuel there today and pick up again with chapter 2 next week. Tomorrow we are answering questions taken from listeners.

And remember, you can always send an email when we understand the text at gmail .com.

This is the protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find us on the web at www .utt